Covid rules: What's law and what's not?

Summary: The lives of people in Scotland are currently governed by an unprecedented range of rules and restrictions. But which of the coronavirus suppression measures can be enforced by law, and which ones are guidance?

By Philip SimBBC Scotland News Visits at home People have been banned from visiting other households indoors since 25 September, with some exemptions for couples who don't live together, extended households and childcare arrangements. Restrictions on household visits in Scotland are legally enforceable - as has been demonstrated by police breaking up hundreds of house parties and other large gatherings. Should any part of Scotland be moved into Level 0, then up to eight people from three households will be allowed to meet indoors there. And in future Level 1 may be tweaked to allow six people from two households to meet indoors - but at present, the law prohibits this. Travel In recent months, the only travel rules which have been enforceable by law have been quarantine rules for people travelling from some other parts of the world. When the new five-level Covid alert system was introduced it did not include mandatory travel restrictions, with Ms Sturgeon acknowledging that these would be difficult to enforce. However, from 18:00 on Friday 20 November, that changes. New regulations will make it an offence to travel in or out of a council area which is in level three or four without "reasonable excuse". There is an extensive list of possible exemptions listed in the regulations - including travelling for work, essential shopping, accessing childcare, or visiting a care home. And the rules don't just apply within Scotland - there are also to be "restrictions on leaving or entering Scotland". This section of the law carries a similarly long list of exemptions, but the thrust is clear - people who live in Scotland should not leave without good reason, and those living elsewhere in the UK or even in the Republic of Ireland should not enter. Beyond the new laws, there continues to be advice on avoiding public transport unless absolutely necessary and not to car-share - but this is guidance rather than a legal requirement. Face coverings The wearing of face coverings in various settings is included in the law, and can be enforced on anyone over the age of five. There are exemptions for people with specific health conditions, couples taking part in marriage or civil partnership ceremonies, shop staff who are physically separated by plastic screens and emergency responders. These laws cover public transport (other than school transport) and most indoor places, including: While immediate sanctions could include people being refused service in shops and restaurants for failing to comply with the rules, the police can also intervene and levy fines for non-compliance. Shopping and eating out The rules covering whether or not shops, pubs and restaurants can open are underpinned by regulations, running from very few closures in Level 0 areas to wide-ranging ones in Level 4. They have been simplified somewhat under the latest set of regulations, with there no longer being a need for a legal definition of what constitutes a "cafe". Many of the rules affecting staff and customers are also subject to legal requirements. It is the law that food and drink can only be served to a customer who is seated, and who remains seated while consuming it. Businesses have a duty to collect customer contact details for the Test and Protect system - and to store them securely in line with data protection laws. However, customers technically do not have a legal requirement to provide them. Premises are advised to refuse service to people who refuse to provide their details. Those responsible for businesses and places of worship also have a responsibility in law to make sure people maintain physical distancing "so far as reasonably practical" and to take steps to minimise the risk of the virus spreading, for instance by installing screens or changing the layout of the premises. This extends outside, if there is a queue to enter - businesses must make sure they only admit sufficiently small numbers of customers to maintain physical distancing inside, and ensure people remain two metres (6ft 6in) apart in the queue. Work Throughout the pandemic, people in Scotland have been advised to work from home wherever possible. Employers have been urged to "make every reasonable effort to make working from home the default position". There is not a specific set of Covid-19 regulations underpinning this - other than where the law forces businesses to close altogether, and the responsibility it places on firms to maintain workplace health and safety. However, there is a raft of guidance in place for those operating offices and other workplaces to maintain physical distancing and increase hygiene and cleaning routines. They have also been encouraged to take measures to reduce the wider risks for staff who do have to come to work, such as by staggering start and finish times to ease the traditional "rush hour". One thing that has been put down in law, as noted above, is the wearing of face coverings in communal areas of offices.

स्कॉटलैंड में लोगों का जीवन वर्तमान में नियमों और प्रतिबंधों की एक अभूतपूर्व श्रृंखला द्वारा शासित है। लेकिन कोरोनावायरस दमन उपायों में से किसे कानून द्वारा लागू किया जा सकता है, और कौन से मार्गदर्शन हैं?


Libya air strikes: Conflict linked to wider Middle East

Summary: US allegations that United Arab Emirates (UAE) warplanes based in Egypt bombed Tripoli in recent days puts into stark relief the way in which the domestic conflict in Libya has been dragged into a wider crisis emerging in the Middle East.

By George JoffeUniversity of Cambridge The immediate cause of the incidents has been an intensifying dispute between Islamists and nationalists in Libya about legislative elections that created a new parliament in June. The new House of Representatives was to replace the interim assembly, the General National Congress (GNC), elected in 2012. Moderate Islamists fared far worse than they had in the previous elections and have been unwilling to accept the legitimacy of the new body. Instead, they claim, the GNC, sitting in Tripoli is the only legitimate legislative body and the House of Representatives, sitting in Tobruk, over 1,000km (600 miles) to the east, is not. GNC members are particularly opposed to calls by the new body for foreign intervention to improve security in Libya, where 350 militias have taken the place of the national army and police force. Islamist advances In Tripoli, the dispute erupted a month ago into a struggle to control the international airport. The Libya Dawn alliance, which backs the Islamists, has just wrested control of the facility from the Zintan militia coalition, which supports the nationalists. Libya Dawn, which is now in complete charge of the capital, was targeted by the raids. It regards the bombing as flagrant interference in Libya's internal affairs by the UAE - which has denied involvement. Meanwhile, since June, a motley collection of militias, air-force units and army groups under a former general, Khalifa Haftar, has been trying to eliminate pro-Islamist and extremist militias in Libya's second city, Benghazi. It has been relatively unsuccessful and Islamist militias there have forced out his key ally, the al-Saiqa elite army unit. Despite this, Gen Haftar has warned that he would extend his campaign across north-western Libya. The bombing raids, which he claimed his forces had carried out, seem to be the harbinger of this. Gunning for the Brotherhood Whoever was behind the raids, other countries have always been involved in Libya's problems. Britain, France, the US, the UAE and Qatar intervened in the 2011 civil war that toppled Col Muammar Gaddafi. Qatar has supported moderate Islamist groups since then. That support has now drawn in other countries, too, for there is a wider crisis in the Middle East as well - the struggle to eliminate the Muslim Brotherhood as a political force in the wake of the Arab Spring and the July 2013 army-backed coup in Egypt. Battle for Libya: Misrata-led alliance (Libya Dawn): Zintan-led alliance: Why is Libya lawless? Guide to Libya's militias Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have come together to confront the Muslim Brotherhood and similar groups wherever they appear - in Egypt, the Gaza Strip or Libya, for example. The three anti-Brotherhood allies have also targeted Qatar, for its support for the Islamist groups they oppose, hence the raids on Tripoli. Egypt has also denied being involved in the attacks, but it soon will be, simply because of its fears that radical Islamist militias in Benghazi will soon spill over its borders. That is no doubt why Gen Haftar is a frequent visitor to Cairo. Indeed Egypt must also be very worried about the situation in the eastern town of Derna, where local extremists have declared a caliphate in imitation of the much-feared Islamic State - which controls swathes of Iraq and Syria. Nor are the Egyptians alone, as Europe begins to worry that such extremism may soon cross the Mediterranean.

अमेरिका का आरोप है कि हाल के दिनों में मिस्र में स्थित संयुक्त अरब अमीरात (यू. ए. ई.) के युद्धक विमानों ने त्रिपोली पर बमबारी की, जिससे लीबिया में घरेलू संघर्ष को मध्य पूर्व में उभरते व्यापक संकट में घसीटे जाने के तरीके से पूरी तरह से राहत मिली है।


Why the border in Kashmir is restive again

Summary: Ten years after India and Pakistan agreed a ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) that divides Kashmir between the two countries, mortars and shells are once again being exchanged on the disputed border. The BBC's Geeta Pandey reports from Poonch in Indian-administered Kashmir.

The fragile peace in Mohammad Deen's life was shattered on 22 August. "My wife Noor Jaan had just stepped out of the house to water the buffaloes when a shell fell in front of her. As she turned around to escape it, the second one fell right behind her," he says. Her body riddled with shrapnel, she's now unable to move. Ever since the attack, the couple's two children have refused to go to school. "They are petrified. They live in constant fear. They ask me not to step out, they think I will get hit too. But I don't have an option. I have to go out to till the land, look after the crops and take care of the buffaloes," Mohammad Deen says. The family lives in the village of Keerni in Poonch district in Jammu region. Parts of the village are in Pakistan and the two sides are demarcated by a narrow stream. 'Sitting ducks' The Indian part of Keerni is inside the fence the army built on the LoC some years ago to make it difficult for militants to cross over. Outsiders are not allowed to travel to Keerni so Mohammad Deen takes me to the mountains across the valley and from there points out the glistening metal roof of his home and the Indian army positions. Locked between the fence and the LoC, Mohammad Deen says the 120 families or 600 residents of Keerni are like sitting ducks for the incoming fire from across the border. Before the November 2003 ceasefire, the village was shelled regularly, but since then a tenuous truce brought some respite to the residents along the 740km (460-mile) LoC. Every now and then, the two sides exchanged fire, but this year the firing has been the heaviest in many years. Since January, the Indian army says, there have been nearly 100 instances of cross-border shelling and for the first time since 1999 when the two sides fought a limited war in Kargil, fire was exchanged in the region. India says six of its soldiers were killed and a number of civilians injured. Casualties have also been reported on the Pakistani side and both sides have accused each other of "unprovoked aggression". 'People are afraid' The incessant shelling has created an atmosphere of fear in the areas along the disputed border. Shamsher Hussain, the senior-most police official in Poonch, says ceasefire violations by Pakistan have "gone up a lot in the area, some people have been injured, there has been damage to property and cattle". "Shells have been falling once or twice every week. People are afraid, they can't work in the fields, can't take their cattle out," he says. Shamim Dar, a social worker from Keerni who lives in Poonch town, says "people are worried that the pre-2003 situation may return again" . It is difficult to say which side fired the first shot, but Mr Hussain believes the border has been volatile because the Pakistani army is trying to help militants sneak into Indian-held territory. "It's a diversionary tactic, sometimes they fire at the army posts to keep them occupied so that a group of militants can cross the border." Kashmir has been a flashpoint between India and Pakistan for over 60 years and, besides the Kargil conflict, the reason for two full-fledged wars. Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif says he wants peace with India amid expectations that he would meet PM Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week. Predictably, the latest trouble on the border threatens to derail the fledgling peace process between Delhi and Islamabad with many in India trying to dissuade PM Singh from meeting Mr Sharif. Threats from militants The meeting is expected to go ahead and few expect the border skirmishes to lead to full-scale fighting, but many in Kashmir are worried that things may get worse. In recent weeks, there have been threats from India-baiting militants in Pakistan like Syed Salahuddin that they would "flood Kashmir with fighters" once the US forces withdraw from Afghanistan in 2014. Although Abdul Ghani Mir, the inspector general of police in Srinagar, says "whatever comes, we are ready to fight it", the threats are causing some unease in India. This year, there have been "some high-profile attacks on the security forces and about a dozen village council members have been killed", says Tahir Mohiuddin, chief editor of Srinagar-based Urdu newspaper Chattan. "The situation is not as bad as it was at the peak of militancy in the 1990s, but after the quiet of the last few years, it appears the militants are regrouping and trying to revive militancy," he says. In recent years, the two decade-long insurgency against Indian rule in Kashmir, backed by Pakistan, has waned. And over the last decade, Delhi and Islamabad have worked on confidence-building measures by easing visa restrictions and allowing trade and people-to-people contacts. 'Leaves of the same tree' Poonch has been a big beneficiary of improved ties - in 2006, cross-border trade and travel was allowed and a weekly bus service was started between Poonch and the Pakistani town of Rawalakot. But the renewed tension has the people here worried and not without reason. In January, the crossing was shut for a fortnight after India accused Pakistan of killing two soldiers. On a Monday morning in September, families are gathering at Poonch stadium to take the bus to Rawalakot to meet relatives. Some are here to see off relatives visiting from Pakistan. Sixty-four-year-old Mohammad Ayub, who left India in 1965 and lives in Rawalpindi, arrived in Poonch on 29 July to visit his sister and her family. "We are all leaves of the same tree," he says, surrounded by sister Aleema Bi, her family and other relatives. "The Poonch-Rawalakot bus has made our lives a lot easier. We are very unhappy over the renewed tension. It will be very sad if the bus service is suspended because of shelling," he says. Standing near him, Aleema Bi begins to weep. "He left a long time ago. I've seen him after many years, who knows whether we'll be able to meet again," she says. Mohammad Nazir, Mr Ayub's nephew, sums up the sentiment well. "It is usually hard to say goodbye. For us, it is harder for who knows what tomorrow may bring?"

भारत और पाकिस्तान के नियंत्रण रेखा (एलओसी) पर युद्धविराम पर सहमत होने के दस साल बाद, जो दोनों देशों के बीच कश्मीर को विभाजित करती है, विवादित सीमा पर एक बार फिर मोर्टार और गोलों का आदान-प्रदान किया जा रहा है। बीबीसी की गीता पांडे भारत प्रशासित कश्मीर के पुंछ से रिपोर्ट करती हैं।


Rare short-eared owl rescued from marshes near Flint

Summary: A "rare" short-eared owl found emaciated in Flintshire is now recuperating well, the RSPCA have said.

The owl was found on marshes at the former Bettisfield colliery in Bagillt. RSPCA inspector Jenny Anderton said the bird had no major injuries but was "extremely thin and just needs time to fully recuperate". The bird is now a rarely seen guest at the Stapeley Grange Wildlife Centre - where just five of the owls have been treated in the last decade.

आर. एस. पी. सी. ए. ने कहा है कि फ्लिंटशायर में क्षीण पाया गया एक "दुर्लभ" छोटे कान वाला उल्लू अब अच्छी तरह से ठीक हो रहा है।


Yorkshire Dales road crash leaves biker dead

Summary: A motorcyclist was killed when she crashed as she overtook a tractor on a North Yorkshire road.

Officers said the 42-year-old woman, from the Bingley area of West Yorkshire, died on the B6479, on Saturday. She was riding towards Horton-in-Ribblesdale and officers are trying to determine the cause of the accident. Officers want to trace the rider of a black Suzuki bike, who overtook the tractor just before the woman.

नॉर्थ यॉर्कशायर रोड पर एक ट्रैक्टर को ओवरटेक करते समय दुर्घटनाग्रस्त होने से एक मोटरसाइकिल सवार की मौत हो गई।


Bernie Sanders capitalises on anti-Obama sentiment

Summary: On the eve of the Nevada caucuses, in an outdoor amphitheatre in a suburb of Las Vegas, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders outlines to the crowd of several thousand the forces arrayed against his upstart presidential campaign.

By Anthony ZurcherNorth America reporter "This campaign has taken on the big money interests in the economic establishment. We've taken on the political establishment, and we've taken on the media establishment," he said. "And we're gaining ground every day." For many in the audience, that "political establishment" includes the leader of their own party for the past seven years, Barack Obama. Their disillusionment with a president who campaigned on hope and change eight years ago is palpable. "He disappointed me," says Leslie Liston from Henderson, Nevada. She says she supported Mr Obama in 2008 because of the groundbreaking nature of his being the first black US president, but her priorities have now shifted. "I'm not just going to vote for someone to be the first of something, I'm going to vote for somebody because they know what they're talking about and they want to do the right thing," she said. More on Bernie Sanders Who is he? How the self described "Democratic socialist" has shaken up the Democratic race 17 things Sanders believes: The Vermont senator in his own words The billionaire vs the socialist: How he compares with the other key outsider candidate, Donald Trump Ms Liston said this was the first political rally she had ever attended - and Saturday will be the first time she has participated in the Nevada caucuses. Others in the crowd, however, were veterans of the first Obama campaign in 2008 and painted a picture of a inspirational candidate who had gone astray once in power. "Obama seemed to start with the right idea, motivating people, getting young people energised and activated to vote," said Debra Mayes of Los Angeles. "Where he failed is not sustaining that movement. He just dropped the ball on that." Sanders supporters focused on what they see as the shortcomings of the Obama administration, and of moderate Democrats beholden to their corporate donors. The establishment Democrats, they said, essentially wasted the majorities the party had built during the years leading to Mr Obama's sweeping victory. If Democratic leaders, including Mr Obama, had been more ambitious, they would have been able to establish a lasting congressional majority, the argument goes. "He was supposed to bring universal health care, and he just sacrificed that at the very beginning of the discussion," said Noah Neumark, who travelled from Los Angeles to help the Sanders campaign in Nevada. "I know he had a lot of contention with the Republicans, but when you're negotiating you want to start from the high point." Instead, he says, Mr Obama's election was a promise of change unfulfilled; a great hope dashed. The Sanders fans in Nevada are not arriving at these views by chance, either. In many ways they are reflecting the position of the man they spent Friday evening cheering. Earlier this month during a television interview, Mr Sanders said that Mr Obama has been unable to provide the leadership to "close the gap" between the views of the American people and the actions of a conservative-dominated Congress. "What we need, when I talk about a political revolution, is bringing millions and millions of people into the political process in a way that does not exist right now," Mr Sanders continued. It is a revolution that some may have thought Mr Obama would usher in, instead of the progressive-tinted pragmatism that his presidency represented. Mr Sanders's disagreements with the president go back much farther than this current campaign. In 2012 he repeatedly said that the nation would benefit from a progressive candidate challenging Mr Obama's re-election campaign in the party primaries. "In a democracy, it's not a bad idea to have different voices out there," he said during an interview. According to Patrick Caldwell of the progressive magazine Mother Jones, the Obama campaign even began preparing for a possible challenge from Mr Sanders. That never materialised. But the Vermont senator gave only a tepid endorsement of Mr Obama during the general election, noting that the president "has not been as strong as he should standing up to Wall Street". In the past few years Mr Sanders has opposed Obama-backed legislative priorities, including the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal (which Mrs Clinton also now is against), government surveillance programmes and the president's budget compromises with congressional Republicans. According to a report by CQ Weekly, Mr Sanders voted against Mr Obama's interests 17.5% of the time last year - more than all but four Democratic senators. Another strike against the president came in the form of a cover blurb, written by the senator, for a book titled Buyers' Remorse: How Obama Let the Progressives Down. "Read this book," Mr Sanders urged. What it all amounts to is a campaign for the Democratic nomination that is leavened with critiques of the sitting Democratic president - a man still immensely popular with many in the party. That has created an opening for Mrs Clinton, who at the Democratic debate on 11 February went on the attack. "The kind of criticism that we've heard from Senator Sanders about our president, I expect from Republicans," she said. Mr Sanders replied that her attack was a "low blow" and that he has worked with Mr Obama in the past. There is a bit of irony in Mrs Clinton's recent move to contrast herself with Mr Sanders as the heir to the Obama legacy. Just last autumn she seemed to be trying to do exactly the opposite - perhaps as a way of protecting her political left flank. Mr Sanders' early success in Iowa and New Hampshire however has proved that strategy unsuccessful. Now the former secretary of state needs help from those who still strongly support the president - particularly black voters. In 2011, when Mr Sanders was musing about how someone on the left should challenge Mr Obama's re-election campaign, he gave a speech denouncing billionaire Wall Street crooks and a Democratic Party that was little different from the Republicans. All these themes should sound familiar to anyone following the 2016 Democratic campaign. Mr Sanders also had some advice for Mr Obama: "Fight for a progressive agenda, and do not equivocate," he said. "You're not going to be able to win unless you're prepared to fight." Now, looking ahead to what could be a long battle with Mrs Clinton for the Democratic nomination, it seems Mr Sanders is taking his own advice to heart.

नेवादा कॉकस की पूर्व संध्या पर, लास वेगास के एक उपनगर में एक बाहरी एम्फीथिएटर में, वरमोंट के सीनेटर बर्नी सैंडर्स ने उनके राष्ट्रपति अभियान के खिलाफ कई हजार बलों की भीड़ को रेखांकित किया।


St Kilda digitally laser scanned to create 3D images

Summary: The remote St Kilda archipelago is being digitally laser scanned to create 3D images to aid in the conservation of the group of small islands.

New Lanark in Lanarkshire and Neolithic sites on Orkney have already been scanned. Historic Scotland and Glasgow School of Art are carrying out the work for a project called Scottish Ten, which is recording Unesco World Heritage sites. St Kilda lies 41 miles (66km) west of the Western Isles. In a separate project, survey work in a five-year project to produce the most complete mapping record of human occupation of St Kilda is nearing completion. The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) and National Trust for Scotland (NTS) have been working on the maps.

दूरस्थ सेंट किल्डा द्वीपसमूह को डिजिटल रूप से लेजर स्कैन किया जा रहा है ताकि छोटे द्वीपों के समूह के संरक्षण में सहायता के लिए 3डी छवियां बनाई जा सकें।


Underage 'invasion': Spinning the immigration crisis

Summary: As tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors from Central America stream across the southern US border, a debate rages over whether US President Barack Obama should get a first-hand look at the situation.

By Anthony ZurcherEditor, Echo Chambers Mr Obama was in Texas on Wednesday and Thursday to deliver a speech on the economy, participate in a roundtable immigration discussion and attend several big-money fundraisers. Given his proximity to the border, calls for a presidential visit reached a crescendo. Critics said it was the president's "Katrina moment" - a reference to President George W Bush's delay in travelling to New Orleans to view the extensive flooding following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. "It's shocking that the president would avoid visiting ground zero of what essentially constitutes an invasion of America," writes conservative strategist Ed Rogers in the Washington Post. "How can President Obama get away with not standing with the citizens and government officials on the front line?" George Washington University Prof Lara Brown says that a border visit would be good politics for the president: How exactly did Obama's advisers ever gain a reputation for political savvy? How is it that they missed that if Obama wants movement on immigration reform - something more than executive actions - then, plain and simple, he needs to put congressional Republicans in a corner? How best to do that? Go to the border. Talk about the dire need for immigration reform. Others aren't so sure. The National Journal's James Oliphant and George E Condon Jr say that the president is in a lose-lose situation. "If Obama goes to the border, he owns the problem," they write. "If he doesn't, he's blasted for a lack of leadership." According to the Atlantic's Noah Gordon, presidential on-site visits can serve two purposes: to gather information and to serve as an "emotional figurehead" in times of crises. But Mr Obama's administration already has plenty of data on the scope of the immigration problem, he says, and the situation doesn't lend itself to the morale-boosting duties of a comforter-in-chief: Rebuilding homes, or supporting the troops, is universally popular, and it's easy to strike a pose of resolve in the wake of a storm. How to adjust immigration policy is more divisive and complicated. Does Obama embrace the illegal migrants whom Speaker John Boehner wants to dispatch the National Guard to stop? Or stand in the doorway, hands on hips, reminding these children there's likely no safe haven here? Does he hand out water bottles or Notices to Appear? On Wednesday Mr Obama addressed the situation during a stop in Dallas: This isn't theatre. This is a problem. I'm not interested in photo-ops; I'm interested in solving a problem. And those who say I should visit the border, when you ask them what should we be doing, they're giving us suggestions that are embodied in legislation that I've already sent to Congress. So it's not as if they're making suggestions that we're not listening to. In fact, the suggestions of those who work at the border, who visited the border, are incorporated in legislation that we're already prepared to sign the minute it hits my desk. In classic media style, "I'm not interested in photo-ops" was reduced to "I don't do photo ops", which sparked a renewed burst of outrage on the right, since Mr Obama has never been one to shy away from staged events. This makes him no different than any of his predecessors, of course, dating back to the invention of the daguerreotype. The president is back in the White House now, and the talk of border visits will likely trail away. Such is the nature of the controversy-of-the-day culture that has gripped Washington, in which every story is analysed in terms of what it means for the president's favourability ratings. "The news cycle spins so fast that controversies become trivia within weeks," writes Slate's Dave Weigel. "Remember the Bowe Bergdahl prisoner deal? Remember the VA scandal? One was a fascinating story about a troubled soldier and his angry, betrayed comrades. One was a vast public health story with a high body count. Neither is getting any political coverage now, but at the time the Story was what they meant for Obama." Just because the press has stopped talking about the Veteran's Administration, the problem hasn't gone away. And whether or not Mr Obama ever visits the border, the current immigration crisis will continue. So focus now turns to Congress, which the president has asked to approve a $3.7b (£2.16b) bill to provide immediate support for the children who are being held in government detention centres, increase border patrols and help Central American governments staunch the migrant exodus. While prospects for passage of the bill seem good, a bipartisan agreement could come apart when talk turns to long-term solutions - whether it's amending a 2008 human-trafficking law that delays deportations for minors or providing a permanent home for the detained children.

जैसे ही मध्य अमेरिका से हजारों अकेले नाबालिग दक्षिणी अमेरिकी सीमा पार कर रहे हैं, इस बात पर बहस छिड़ गई है कि क्या अमेरिकी राष्ट्रपति बराक ओबामा को स्थिति को प्रत्यक्ष रूप से देखना चाहिए।


Ulster Unionist MLA Robert Coulter to retire

Summary: The Ulster Unionist MLA Robert Coulter is to retire from the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Mr Coulter, who is in his 80s, has not put his name forward for selection in North Antrim. He is currently the second oldest member of the Assembly after Ian Paisley. The two candidates now vying for selection are Robin Swann and Councillor Bill Kennedy who is also the mayor of Ballymoney.

अल्स्टर यूनियनिस्ट विधायक रॉबर्ट कोल्टर उत्तरी आयरलैंड विधानसभा से सेवानिवृत्त होने वाले हैं।


Emirates Mars Mission: Hope spacecraft enters orbit

Summary: The United Arab Emirates is celebrating its first mission at Mars.

Jonathan AmosScience correspondent@BBCAmoson Twitter It has put a probe called Hope in orbit around the planet, making it only the fifth spacefaring entity to do so after the US, the Soviet Union, Europe and India. The spacecraft, which left Earth seven months ago, had to make a braking manoeuvre to be sure of being captured by Mars' gravity. UAE scientists can now look forward to studying the planet's atmosphere. Their satellite carries three instruments that will observe, among other targets, how neutral atoms of hydrogen and oxygen - remnants from Mars' once abundant water - leak into space. In the process, Hope will return spectacular, high-resolution, full-disk images of the planet. Tuesday marked the most critical phase in the mission. Hope had been approaching Mars at over 120,000km/h (relative to the Sun) and needed to execute a precise 27-minute burn on its braking engines to scrub some of that speed or risk skipping off into ever deeper space. The manoeuvre, performed by six thrusters on the probe, commenced at about 19:30 GST (15:30 GMT), with confirmation received at Earth some 11 minutes later - the delay being the time it took for radio signals to traverse the 190-million-km separation between Mars and Earth. The official announcement on the burn's completion when it came was calm, and the applause relatively restrained. Perhaps it was the relief speaking after a nerve-shredding wait for the positive telemetry. "Mars orbit insertion was the most critical and dangerous part of our journey to Mars, exposing the Hope probe to stresses and pressures it has never before faced," said Omran Sharaf, the Hope mission's project director at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre "With this enormous milestone achieved, we are now preparing to transition to our science orbit and commence science data gathering." The past few days have witnessed tremendous enthusiasm for Hope and its mission, with public monuments, buildings and heritage sites across the federation all lit up in red. Dubai's Burj Khalifa, the tallest human-made structure on Earth, had been flashing a countdown to Tuesday's big moment. Hope is regarded as a triumph for a small gulf nation that dared to think seven years ago that it could inspire the next generation by launching the first Arab interplanetary space mission. "We wanted to arrive at Mars; (I'm) really grateful, and it's like a weight of seven years has been lifted from my shoulders," said Her Excellency Sarah Al Amiri, UAE minister of state for advanced technology and chair of the UAE Space Agency. "On arriving at Mars. I'm now truly looking forward to the scientific discoveries. And I truly hope this mission will impact an entire generation to strive to do things that are even bigger," she told BBC News. Hope is now running in an initial ellipse around Mars that comes as close as 1,000km from the planet and goes out to almost 50,000km. Over the course of the next few weeks, this will be trimmed to a 55-hour, 22,000km-by-43,000km orbit that is inclined to the equator by about 25 degrees. "It depends on what that initial orbit looks like but we would need around three manoeuvres to get into our science orbit," said propulsion engineer Ayesha Sharafi. This path is very different to those of previous satellites which have tended to operate with greater proximity to Mars to facilitate high-resolution imagery of the surface and communications with landed robots. But it's from this high perch that Hope plans to carry out some novel research. It's going to trace how energy moves through the atmosphere from the very bottom to the very top. A key influencer in this respect is dust which can on occasions blow up into storms that envelop the entire planet. "Dust plays a hugely important role in the Martian atmosphere. There are a few places on Earth where the atmosphere can be that dusty, but they're localised and maybe for short times," explained Prof David Brain, a University of Colorado at Boulder planetary expert who is working with the UAE team. "Dust absorbs a lot of energy; it can become very warm and radiate energy. And so when you're talking about energy transport, dust is a much larger part of the big picture at Mars." Hope is leading a wave of missions to Mars this February. On Wednesday, it will be the turn of China with its Tianwen-1 orbiter. Like Hope, it must complete a braking manoeuvre to be captured by the planet's gravity. Tianwen-1 is carrying a rover that will be despatched to the surface, most likely in May. Next week, on Thursday 18 February, the Americans will arrive at Mars with another of their big rovers. The Perseverance robot is being aimed at a crater that once held a giant lake. It will look for signs of fossilised life.

संयुक्त अरब अमीरात मंगल ग्रह पर अपने पहले मिशन का जश्न मना रहा है।


‘Six minutes of terror’

Summary: Come August, we'll be right in the middle of the London Olympics - the greatest show on Earth. But you'll excuse me if I'm a little distracted towards what is sure to be the greatest show off Earth.

Jonathan AmosScience correspondent@BBCAmoson Twitter This will be the landing on Mars of Nasa's Curiosity rover, also known as the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL). The Americans have despatched the biggest ever robotic rover to the Red Planet and it is due to touch down right in the middle of our sports spectacular. "To give you the specific time so you can put it on your calendar - Monday 6 August, at six o'clock, 30 minutes and 13 seconds. British time," says Dr Charles Elachi, who heads the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where the rover mission is being managed. Dr Elachi has been in London this week to enthuse about all things space but Mars in particular. On Monday evening he gave a lecture to the Royal Academy of Engineering. Curiosity is the latest spacecraft to come out of the Nasa centre he has directed since 2001. Launched from Cape Canaveral last November, this 900kg behemoth is about half-way to its destination. The $2.5bn robot is by far the most capable machine yet built to touch another world. It's packed with scientific instrumentation and even carries a laser to zap rocks to determine their chemistry. Its great bulk means engineers have had to design a new type of landing mechanism for Curiosity. They call it the "skycrane". It's a kind of rocket-powered cradle that will hover over the Martian surface and gently lower the rover to the ground. But to get into this position, the mission first has to survive what Dr Elachi calls the "six minutes of terror" - the fiery entry into the Martian atmosphere and the herculean effort to slow the speed of the descent to zero with the aid of a heatshield, a parachute and those retrorockets on the skycrane. "We'll be very nervous. Landing on another planet is not a walk in the park," the JPL director says. "It's roughly a one-tonne rover. With the heatshield and the carrier, it will be about three tonnes of mass, coming in at a speed of 12,000mph and we have to land softly within less than six minutes. "To give you an idea about the energy when you are coming at 12,000mph with that kind of mass - that's the equivalent of 25 high speed trains going at full speed. That's the amount of energy we have to dissipate in those six minutes so we can land softly on the surface. "The accuracy with which we have to point, to be at the right angle and the right location, is equivalent to me being in Los Angeles and hitting a golf ball to St Andrews here in the UK, and the ball going straight in the cup. "That's how accurate we have to have the navigation. And to make it a little bit more challenging, that cup is moving because Mars is moving at high speed." If you haven't yet seen the animation of how this landing attempt is meant to proceed - then do watch it. If MSL pulls this one off, everyone in the JPL control room will be slapping their chests like Usain Bolt, and deservedly so. There is a huge amount riding on this rover. President Obama has decided to slash Nasa's Mars budget: down from $587m this year to $360m next year - a 39% reduction. And unless Congress intervenes or the president has a change of heart, this funding profile is expected to remain in place for the duration of his second term (assuming he wins one in November). It means that MSL could be the last American surface mission to the Red Planet for many years. It therefore adds a little extra tension to 6 August. But Dr Elachi remembers well the landing of Nasa's previous Mars rovers (Spirit and Opportunity) in 2004, and the expectation heaped on the agency back then. "When we landed Spirit and Opportunity - that was shortly after the Columbia shuttle accident. And there was a lot of people who were saying, 'Nasa has lost its way; Nasa doesn't know how to do things'. "So, you can imagine the pressure that was on us to show that we can still do bold things. There will be similar pressure with MSL. "Everything depends on those six minutes. For sure, we're going to land. The question is will the media say we are heroes or bums the following day. It's black or white. There's no in between; either you land safely or you crash." I can only imagine the disappointment at JPL on hearing the president's budget request. Dr Elachi conceded there was some, but then went on to explain how the Nasa Administrator Charles Bolden had visited the centre to emphasise that Mars exploration was still central to the agency's mission. "We're going through a process of re-planning, and there's still a fair amount of money for that," he told me. "Of course, we would have loved to do a 2016 and a 2018 mission jointly with Europe, but the budget situation means that looks unlikely now. Nasa [itself] is looking to a 2018 or 2020 opportunity." And he added: "There will be a Mars exploration programme. The issue is not 'if', the issue is 'how much'. What capability will we be doing? Will we be doing orbiters or landers? And on what pace will we be doing them?" Europe, as I indicated in a previous posting, has had to go back to the drawing board following the Americans' decision to pull out of their joint 2016 and 2018 missions. We will find out next week what state the revised European plans are in when national delegations to the European Space Agency (Esa) meet to discuss the so-called ExoMars project. Esa officials have been discussing the possibility of carrying through the missions with the Russians as partners instead.

आओ अगस्त, हम लंदन ओलंपिक के बीच में होंगे-पृथ्वी पर सबसे बड़ा प्रदर्शन। लेकिन आप मुझे माफ कर देंगे अगर मैं पृथ्वी पर सबसे बड़ा प्रदर्शन होने के लिए थोड़ा विचलित हूं।


Why did North Korea's internet go down?

Summary: There is a great paradox about technology in North Korea.

By Stephen EvansBBC News, Seoul On the one hand, the country is very tech-savvy (one in 12 North Koreans have smartphones) and computers are not uncommon. But, on the other, the great mass of the people are blocked from the world wide web. They can access the country's own intranet, with websites of North Korean news, cookery and innocuous topics, but can't get anywhere near outside websites. So determined is the regime to prevent this view of the outside world that embassies in Pyongyang were ordered not to use wi-fi, because North Koreans might be able to get access from outside the building. This means that the disappearance of the internet inside North Korea would not have been noticed by many ordinary people. It's true that the main newspaper Rodong Sinmun's website was inaccessible, but it could have been viewed on North Korea's internal system, the intranet system which some ordinary people can use. Access to the world wide web is reserved for the trusted elite and for students training for commercial or military work. Who did it? If the North Korean system was brought down, the obvious suspect is the United States. President Obama promised/threatened a response to the Sony intrusion "in a place and time and manner that we choose". It would be proportionate. A spokeswoman for the administration said that some responses would not be revealed to the public: "As we implement our responses, some will be seen, some may not be seen." This is not a universal view among tech experts, though. The blog North Korea Tech says it was probably a cyber attack but cites experts who think it may well have been committed by individuals. "I'm quite sure that this is not the work of the US government," said Dan Holden of Arbor Networks. He argued that the US wouldn't make an attack so obvious: "Much like a real world strike from the US, you probably wouldn't know about it until it was too late. This is not the modus operandi of any government work." He wondered if "Lizard Squad" did it. These are the people responsible for the denial of service attacks against Xbox Live. Or maybe Anonymous, which is said to be unhappy at North Korea over the pulling of the film The Interview. If, however, it was the Americans, were the Chinese colluding or even helping? They've denied it but we are in a dark world where denial on all sides is obligatory. 'Cleaning up their mess' It is thought that China is exasperated with its troublesome neighbour. A retired Chinese general recently wrote about how he found the Democratic People's Republic of Korea tiresome: "China has cleaned up the DPRK's mess too many times. But it doesn't have to do that in the future." This is not the kind of statement published without some sort of approval. The sole route for the internet into North Korea is through China. It may be that if the United States was behind the attack, China helped or at least turned a blind eye. But we are in the realms of wild speculation now. Was the attack worth it? According to Chang Yong Seok, an expert on North Korea at Seoul National University, a cyber attack on North Korea would not cause serious disruption and so be an exercise in futility. "Even if their internet is shut down, the inconvenience will be shared only by members of the power elite." But that may be the point: just sending a message to those in power that they are vulnerable.

उत्तर कोरिया में प्रौद्योगिकी के बारे में एक बड़ा विरोधाभास है।


Alexis Tsipras: Syriza leader 'symbol of new generation'

Summary: As Greece faces the consequences of an inconclusive election, BBC Radio 4's Profile looks at the rise of the leader of the left-wing Syriza Party who rejects EU austerity plans as "null and void" and is now playing a critical role in determining the country's future.

By Andy DenwoodRadio 4's Profile At 37, Alexis Tsipras is Greece's youngest political leader - and a champion for Greek voters, young and old, outraged by tax rises and spending cuts. His hard-hitting campaign in last week's election catapulted his Syriza coalition of left-wing and green parties into an unexpected second place, presenting a potentially historic opportunity for the Greek left to establish itself as one of the country's main political forces. High school protester Alexis Tsipras was born in Athens three days after the fall of the Greek military junta in 1974. The junta cast a long shadow over Greek life, but the Tsipras family was not especially political, and it was the more benign shadow of the nearby Panathinaikos football stadium that dominated Alexis's life growing up in Athens - he remains a fan, attending every home game. However, his interests were not confined to sport for long. When a new right-wing government threatened unpopular education reforms in 1991, pupils responded by taking over their schools. 17-year-old Alexis led the occupation of his high school, with pupils living, eating and sleeping in their classrooms, guarding the doors and cleaning the school for several months. Matthew Tsimitakis, then a pupil at another Athens school, remembers meeting the young Alexis Tsipras at the height of the action. "He struck me as very intelligent, calm, passionate but also very aware - he could represent the balance of a few hundred thousand kids who weren't very sure of what they were demonstrating about." "I think it has something to do with the fact that he was a member of the communist youth, and was used to dealing with this kind of situation." At the time, many young Greek students were getting involved in politics - but Mr Tsipras stood out, says Mr Tsimitakis. "He was very well informed about what was going on in the educational system... he would negotiate with the minister and I think he was the only one who could deal with the press." These were heady days for the teenage Alexis, experiencing his first taste of political success as the student occupation won concessions from the government - he also met the woman he planned to spend his life with, fellow student activist Betty Baziana. A charming campaigner After high school, he began a course at the National Technical University in Athens to study civil engineering, where the siren call of politics remained strong. Soon, in a move that foreshadowed later political struggles, he was welding together a new coalition of radical leftist and green student groups. After university politics came city politics. In 2006 he represented the new left-wing Syriza coalition in the Athens mayoral election. The results were impressive - against seasoned opponents, the political amateur representing a brand new party came third. His modest, direct approach won support from party workers and the electorate, recalls Elpida Ziouva, a civil servant who works for the Athens assembly: "No-one had a bad thing to say about him," she says. "He toured around neighbourhoods in Athens, and tried to have close contact with potential voters. "It reminded voters of the old times when people knew politicians by their first name and they used to answer direct questions." Just four years after entering local government, Mr Tsipras was chosen to lead the national party. At 34 years old, he was now the youngest political leader in Greece. Over the past two years, he has repeatedly condemned government support for the Greek financial recovery plan proposed by the so-called "troika" - the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He has insisted cutting jobs and services is a failing policy and, as international creditors demanded more job cuts and privatisation, Mr Tsipras declared "soon they will tell us to abolish democracy". His relaxed manner has also grabbed headlines - he chooses to cross Athens by motorbike rather than the limos favoured by other Greek political leaders, and prefers open-necked shirts to a suit and tie. 'Not honest' Evidently, he enjoys thwarting convention - former student activist Matthew Tsimitakis recalls a presidential party a few years ago, commemorating the end of the junta's rule. "Alexis decided to go in a simple suit, no tie, and he was escorted by a young black woman, who was an African immigrant - that was considered a shock in conservative Greece. "Alexis became the symbol of a new generation trying to enter a political scene which was occupied by the elders." When the Greek people went to the polls earlier this month, the Syriza coalition won nearly 17% of the vote, confounding expectations and making Mr Tsipras the leader of the second-largest party in the Greek parliament, establishing him as a key political player. But he is not without critics. Some suggest he has not fully explained how his opposition to the EU's austerity plans can be squared with his support for the euro and for continuing Greece's EU membership. Miranda Xafa, an economist and leading member of Greece's free-marketeer Drassi Party, argues that he will not admit the truth: "His message is a populist one, telling his supporters that he will put an end to austerity, and keep Greece in the euro area, which is an impossibility." The charge is dismissed by long-time friend and Syriza party member Yiannis Bourgeois. "That's a smear campaign. He repeatedly stated that it is not our choice to leave the eurozone." One to watch But there are more serious criticisms - Mr Tsipras has also been accused of supporting violent anti-austerity demonstrators, which he denies. "He was persistent in supporting and saying that the public has the right to revolt if unfair austerity measures are imposed on them," says Dr Vassilis Monastiriotis, an expert on Greek politics at the London School of Economics. "He didn't back off despite the fact that many people, both in the media and the political spectrum, were criticising his stance for inciting violence in the streets of Athens." Such criticisms may explain why, when his moment came on Wednesday last week, he was unable to construct a viable coalition government for Greece. But with a new election looking likely, one opinion poll suggests that he would emerge as the winner - commanding the largest single group of MPs. If that were to happen he could soon be negotiating at Europe's top table. "We don't know how good a negotiator he is and how solidly he can put forward his position in the European forum where he will be talking to [German Chancellor] Angela Merkel, [French] President [Francois] Hollande and the ECB [European Central Bank]," warns Dr Monastiriotis. But his supporters, like old friend Yiannis Bourgeois, insist that the charismatic Alexis Tsipras is a different brand of leader: "The Greek people have had enough of the inadequate negotiators. "You saw the results - our country is collapsing. Let's try something new." This edition of Profile was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Saturday, 12 May 2012. Listen again via the Radio 4 website or download the podcast.

जैसा कि ग्रीस एक अनिर्णायक चुनाव के परिणामों का सामना कर रहा है, बीबीसी रेडियो 4 की प्रोफ़ाइल वामपंथी सिरिज़ा पार्टी के नेता के उदय को देखती है जो यूरोपीय संघ की तपस्या योजनाओं को "शून्य और शून्य" के रूप में अस्वीकार करता है और अब देश के भविष्य को निर्धारित करने में एक महत्वपूर्ण भूमिका निभा रहा है।


Violence against sex workers: 'He was there to kill me'

Summary: Sex workers say they are being left more vulnerable to attack by laws making it illegal for them to share premises for safety, and that they feel unable to report abuse. Two such women have spoken to the Victoria Derbyshire programme.

By John OwenBBC Victoria Derbyshire programme "I understand I am a sex worker for a living, but I deserve the same human rights as everybody else," says Suzanne - not her real name. Born in Romania, she has been a sex worker in Soho, London, for five years. "Every time I come forward to report violence I end up threatened to be arrested and prosecuted for working in a brothel," she says. "Next time I suffer violence, I sure as hell won't report it." Campaigners say this is a familiar story for sex workers, and Suzanne believes in one incident she came close to dying. It began like a normal arrangement, she explains: "The person came up, discussed the price, agreed a time, and paid." But, she continues: "At the time of the service the person just put his hands around my neck. He kept on pressing with one hand on my throat, and punched me in my face until I passed out. I was in agony, I was bleeding. During the attack I lost two teeth." She adds: "The person was there to kill me. I was lucky because I passed out, but if I hadn't he would have done it until I was definitely dead." Working illegally In England and Wales - while the sale and purchase of sexual services between consenting adults is legal - many activities connected with selling sex, such as brothel keeping and soliciting, are illegal. Suzanne says the law around brothel keeping acts as an incentive for women to work alone in order to avoid prosecution - since if they work collaboratively, they may be charged. As a result, she says, women are left more vulnerable to attack. She claims that were it not for the brothel's receptionist calling the emergency services she may not be alive, and says she will continue to work in a brothel for her safety despite it being illegal. "I would rather be prosecuted, than die," she says. Maria - not her name - says when armed men carrying knives entered the brothel she was working at and stole money, the police were as much interested in the women's activities as the robbery. She says the police "asked about the guys that went there - but they were talking more about the work inside of the place, how much money they got, how many girls, how many customers". A week later, they received a letter from police. Maria - originally from Portugal - says it told them they "could go to jail or be deported, because we were working in a brothel". She says it is for this reason that many sex workers are reluctant to report incidents of abuse and violence to police. Because criminal gangs know this, she adds, they deliberately target sex workers who choose to work collectively. "The police will just see the place where they are working, and just say, 'Leave'," she says. Niki Adams, from campaign group The English Collective of Prostitutes, says such grievances are heard frequently. "Women know that by going into sex work you're taking a risk because there is a lot of violence," she explains. "[But] at every turn our efforts to keep safe are sabotaged by the law. "We have heard of many, many situations where women come forward to report violence and instead of the attackers being pursued and prosecuted by the police, sex workers get prosecuted instead. "That is appalling because when that happens it's a big deterrent for women to come forward and report violence." 'No plans to change law' In 2016, MPs on the cross-party Home Affairs Select Committee recommended a change in the law "so that soliciting is no longer an offence and so that brothel-keeping provisions allow sex workers to share premises, without losing the ability to prosecute those who use brothels to control or exploit sex workers". But the government said it could not introduce the change because "we do not have at present a robust evidence base regarding the scale and nature of prostitution in England and Wales". As of September 2017, the Home Office said it had "no plans to change the law around prostitution". But, it added: "This government's priority is to protect those selling sex from harm and exploitation, and target those who exploit vulnerable people involved in prostitution. "We will continue to work closely with the police, Crown Prosecution Service, other front-line agencies and wider partners to ensure that the current legislation achieves these aims." The Metropolitan Police said since 2012 it had "developed strong working relationships with a number of sex worker support agencies and begun to change the way we work with sex workers directly. "This has seen us realise that taking enforcement action, based on legislation, is not always the best way to support sex workers, who often have complex lives with little or no support around them." For Suzanne, a change in legislation needs to come soon. "I've learned working in the sex industry, that a perpetrator will seek to attack someone who is vulnerable, who is not protected by the law. "And we, as sex workers, are not protected by the law." Watch the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme on weekdays between 09:00 and 11:00 on BBC Two and the BBC News Channel.

यौनकर्मियों का कहना है कि उन्हें सुरक्षा के लिए परिसर साझा करना अवैध बनाने वाले कानूनों द्वारा हमले के लिए अधिक असुरक्षित छोड़ दिया जा रहा है, और वे दुर्व्यवहार की रिपोर्ट करने में असमर्थ महसूस करते हैं। ऐसी दो महिलाओं ने विक्टोरिया डर्बीशायर कार्यक्रम से बात की है।


Would you take a ride in a pilotless sky taxi?

Summary: Tech companies are competing to develop the first viable passenger-carrying sky taxis, whether manned or pilotless, but how soon could these clever copters really be whizzing over our cities? And would you trust one?

By Padraig BeltonTechnology of Business reporter Dubai is racing to be the first to put drone taxis in the air. In June, its Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) signed an agreement with a German start-up Volocopter to test pilotless air taxis towards the end of this year. The firm has received 25m euros (£22m; $30m) from investors, including German motor manufacturer Daimler, to develop the 18-rotor craft capable of transporting two passengers at a time. The promotional video claims a top speed of 100km/h (60mph) and a maximum flight time of around 30 minutes, while nine independent battery systems ensure safety. "You will never require" the onboard emergency parachute, Volocopter assures us. Dubai's RTA has also teamed up with China's Ehang and is testing the drone maker's single passenger Ehang 184 "autonomous aerial vehicle". But the largest city in the United Arab Emirates faces stiff competition. It seems the whole world has gone gaga for air-cabs. In February, ride-sharing giant Uber poached Nasa chief technologist Mark Moore and set him to work heading their Project Elevate - "a future of on-demand urban air transportation". Airbus, the French aircraft maker, is also working on a prototype air taxi, Vahana, saying it will begin testing at the end of 2017 and have one ready by 2020. They all spy opportunities in the air because traffic is becoming increasingly clogged on the ground. To take an extreme example, in Brazil's Sao Paulo, the world's 10th richest city, traffic jams average 180km (112 miles) on Fridays, and sometimes stretch to a barely credible 295km. Yet the world's megalopolises are continuing to grow. No wonder air taxis are capturing people's imaginations. Ehang carries a single passenger, Volocopter two, while City Airbus is looking at four to six. And each of these companies is pursuing electric propulsion, seeing it as greener and quieter. The preferred horizontal rotor technology allows for vertical take off and landing, which makes sense in densely built up urban spaces. And composite materials, such as carbon fibre, help keep weight to a minimum. But how will they work in practice and will they be affordable? Uber's Mr Moore says the cost, with three or four passengers sharing a pool, will be "very similar to what an UberX [car] costs today". More seriously, given the trade-off between power and weight, how long will these things be able to stay up in the sky relying on battery power alone? Because if you don't like your mobile going flat, you definitely won't like it when your air taxi does. China's Ehang drone currently flies for 23 minutes. But US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulates stipulate that aircraft require a spare 20 minutes of fuel. So this would limit the drone to a commercially unviable three-minute flight. "It's really a problem," says Janina Frankel-Yoeli vice-president of Israel's Urban Aeronautics, a firm taking a manned, combustion-engine approach to air taxis instead. But Mr Moore argues that improvements in batteries are "on the track we need for them to be there in 2023", when Uber plans to have its first 50 air taxis ready. The vastly increased investment in electric cars around the world is improving recharging speeds and capacity, he says. "We don't need long range - 60 miles covers the longest trip across a city." So rapid recharging capability is more important than range, he argues. Another solution may involve a two-part drone, with the batteries stored in a detachable base that can be swapped quickly between flights, says Tim Robinson, editor of the Royal Aeronautical Society's magazine, Aerospace. "If there was a drone waiting and it had a flat battery I'm pretty sure it wouldn't let you take off, whatever your journey was," he says. In other words, it's very unlikely that a sky taxi would run out of juice mid-flight. Once battery levels reached a critical point, the drone would make an emergency landing. "I think we'll see multiple redundancy and back-up systems," says Mr Robinson, "like a ballistic parachute which would trigger automatically if it detected a descent rate beyond the parameters." Another major challenge is managing the airspace and avoiding collisions. Most major cities already have air corridors set up for helicopters that air taxis could use, Mr Moore says. But requesting to enter the corridors is currently done manually. More Technology of Business "You'd fly to the edge of that airspace, request to enter, and maybe be told 'Nope, hold, wait'," he says. So Nasa's NTX research centre is exploring how flight corridors can work without voice interactions. This includes improved "sense-and-avoid" technology that will allow drones to communicate with other passenger aircraft to avoid one other. But perhaps the biggest drag on sky taxi development is regulation. While commercial aircraft are already "virtually capable of taking off, flying and landing on their own", says Ms Frankel-Yoeli, the US FAA and European Aviation Safety Agency will not allow them to fly without a pilot. It may take a long time for autonomous drone tech to win regulatory - not to mention public - trust. And that's ignoring the potential complaints about the noise all these buzzing copters would make in our cities. Uber's Mr Moore believes air taxis will have autonomous capability built in from 2023, but will have human pilots for the first five-to-10 years while enough data is collected to convince regulators that sky taxis are safe. Meanwhile Dubai seems to be racing ahead, with ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum saying "by 2030, 25% of the mass transportation in the city has to be autonomous". But Dubai is a harsh aviation climate, where "winds can go up to 40-50 knots [46-58mph], there's sand, there's fog", warns Mark Martin, an aviation consultant working there. Perhaps Dubai is moving too quickly and should work more closely with the slower US and European regulators, he argues. "If one crashes, who's ever going to take a drone?"

तकनीकी कंपनियाँ पहली व्यवहार्य यात्री ले जाने वाली स्काई टैक्सियों को विकसित करने के लिए प्रतिस्पर्धा कर रही हैं, चाहे वे मानव चालित हों या पायलट रहित, लेकिन ये चतुर हेलीकॉप्टर वास्तव में कितने जल्दी हमारे शहरों पर चक्कर लगा सकते हैं? और क्या आप एक पर भरोसा करेंगे?


Final parade held in Warwick for Fusilier's battalion colours

Summary: An army battalion's colours have been paraded for the last time and laid up in a church.

The colours of the now disbanded 2nd Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers were paraded in Warwick. Troops marched through the town for the annual veterans' parade before a service at St Mary's Church. The Fusiliers has recruited in Warwickshire for centuries and has an area headquarters at St John's House in Warwick. The 2nd Battalion was granted the freedom of the county in 2014.

एक सेना बटालियन के रंगों को आखिरी बार परेड किया गया और एक चर्च में रखा गया।


Shift in Taliban tactics alarms Afghanistan government

Summary: The killing of General Mohammad Daud Daud, the police commander for northern Afghanistan, on Saturday by a suicide bomber who infiltrated security wearing a police uniform, highlights a recent change in Taliban tactics, says the BBC's Bilal Sarwary in Kabul.

Attacks by rogue soldiers or police and Taliban infiltrators have increased in frequency and ambition in recent months, say Afghan officials, and have sparked panic among President Hamid Karzai and his government. A week before his death, Gen Daud said that militants had tried to infiltrate his security. He had had warnings about a threat to his life. "The Haqqanis [Pakistan-based militant network] and Taliban groups tried to offer money to some of my police, some of my guards," Gen Daud told me in his heavily armoured convoy as he travelled to a meeting with visiting US Senator John Kerry in Mazar-e-Sharif. "I am very vigilant. I have made a lot of changes in my movements, and keep a close eye on who guards the front and rear of my headquarters, but I have to travel all over northern Afghanistan, to different provinces. It is becoming tiresome." He said the success of Nato's International Security Assistance Force and their Afghan partners was playing a role in the shift of Taliban tactics. "They are not able to achieve any big victory in clashes with the security forces, so they have turned to rogue soldiers. Such attacks create mistrust within security agencies and demoralise them." 'Nightmare' Until earlier this year, such attacks were sporadic and largely ignored by the authorities and the media. But when a militant dressed as a soldier managed to get past the fortified walls of the defence ministry headquarters in Kabul in April killing several soldiers before being shot dead by Afghan soldiers, the government panicked. The attacker was after Defence Minister Gen Abdul Rahim Wardak, who was not in the building at the time. "The insurgents struck the very heart of the government," an official close to President Karzai told the BBC, requesting anonymity. He said Mr Karzai was very upset and angry over the incident. Officials say rogue soldiers have tried to carry out at least 25 suicide attacks in the past two months. Afghan security forces managed to prevent nine of them, Gen Wardak told the country's parliament recently. A senior general with the country's interior ministry said suicide attacks by rogue soldiers was like a recurring nightmare. "The only difference is that these nightmares turn into a reality." One of the most audacious of these attacks was on a team of US special forces, which was teaching Afghan soldiers how to fire mortars in the eastern province of Nagarhar. During a break from the training, an Afghan named Ezatullah, who had served with the border police for three years and had a spotless record, offered tea to the American trainers. The trainers relaxed, put their weapons down and removed their flak jackets waiting for the tea to arrive. It was then that Ezatullah opened fire, killing six of the Americans on the spot. Afghan policemen then killed Ezatullah, the chief of border police in eastern Afghanistan, Gen Aminullah Amarkhel, said. The general said investigators later found songs promoting Taliban activities on his mobile phone. Gen Amarkhel said the Taliban had recruited Ezatullah some time ago. Recruiting flaws An official working for Afghanistan's intelligence agency, the National Directorate of Security (NDS), in Jalalabad, said US forces were also responsible for the incident to a certain extent. "They use the F-word," he said. "We have had complaints that Afghan soldiers are not given meal or prayer breaks when on training with American forces. "All this hurts their sentiments and develops a breeding ground for anti-American feelings, which the Taliban exploits. We need to train not only the Afghans but also the Americans on how to behave when in the company of Afghans." Flaws in the recruiting process are also being blamed for the attacks. Aides close to Mr Karzai say the president is upset with his ministers in charge of building up Afghanistan's army and police for failing to carry out effective background checks on recruits. "After one such incident, the president told some of his ministers: 'You are incompetent and irresponsible'," one official said. "Seek guarantees from village elders and family members before recruiting anyone," he told the defence and interior ministers. But a spokesman for the NDS, Lutfullah Mashal, says the Afghan government is now getting a handle on the problem. "Intelligence officers have been instructed to go to the villages and talk to the friends, neighbours and others about the temperament, attitude, leanings and values of a potential recruit," he said. "The Afghan National Army and police have been asked to carefully study the dossier prepared by the intelligence officers before offering a job to anyone." He said background checks could prevent incidents such as the killing of the police chief of Kandahar province, Khan Mohammad Mujahid. Mr Khan Mohammad was killed in a suicide attack carried out by his own bodyguard. The bodyguard had served Mr Khan for years and was known to enjoy a good rapport with him. The attack left the establishment perplexed. "How can we explain this to the people, especially the Americans?" an aide to Mr Karzai asked. "He was not a Taliban 10 years ago, he was not Taliban five years ago. Of course, he was recruited recently. Why and how did we fail to detect this?" Related Internet Links Afghanistan Government Nato in Afghanistan

काबुल में बीबीसी के बिलाल सरवरी का कहना है कि उत्तरी अफगानिस्तान के पुलिस कमांडर जनरल मोहम्मद दाउद दाउद की शनिवार को एक आत्मघाती हमलावर द्वारा हत्या, जिसने पुलिस की वर्दी पहनकर सुरक्षा में घुसपैठ की, तालिबान की रणनीति में हाल के बदलाव को उजागर करता है।


My time in Africa: Lessons, experiences and concessions

Summary: We've paid off the six armed guards who've been protecting us, haggled over excess baggage, and I'm now writing this in a small plane heading south from the sun-baked Somali port of Bosaso, across the vast, yellow-brown plains of the Horn of Africa, towards Nairobi.

Andrew HardingAfrica correspondent@BBCAndrewHon Twitter It's a special moment for me. I've spent just over a decade living and working on this continent, and this is the end of my final trip in this particular job, and so a chance - first of all - to say thank you for taking the trouble to read this blog, and the many others I've written, in courtrooms, under trees and stars, in tents, hotel rooms, stadiums, bars, huts and airports all over Africa. Generalisations It's been a wonderful, enthralling, sometimes sobering privilege. And now, of course, comes the temptation to offer you some grand conclusions about the future of the continent. But fear not. "I don't like generalisations," Nelson Mandela's lawyer, George Bizos, once told me, chidingly. Besides, the more I've travelled here, the more I've come to appreciate the difficulty of trying to draw useful comparisons between, say, South Africa and Sierra Leone, and, for that matter, to resent reading about or hearing from foreigners who "have fallen in love with Africa" or who feel that single word - "Africa" - can still be applied to events - Ebola, famine, terrorism - that have left so much of this huge continent untouched. And then of course there's the simple fact that humble journalists like me are, more often than not, at the mercy, not of grand themes, but of mere events. I have travelled to many parts of the African continent over the years I have been here and met many wonderful people. It is one of the most dynamic places I have worked and lived in. It's been a wonderful, enthralling, sometimes sobering privilege. I wasn't expecting to spend my 44th birthday on a small fishing boat laden with weapons, heading into the besieged Libyan city of Misrata; nor arguing with a government soldier to spare the life of a colleague in the chaos of Ivory Coast's civil war; or watching France's President Francois Hollande emerge dazed and delighted from a giddy crowd of Malians celebrating the liberation of Timbuktu; or standing on a roadside in Sierra Leone, watching an old man try to save his Ebola-ravaged wife from dying; or, need I add, spending weeks - or was it months? - sitting in a Pretoria courtroom tweeting manically about Oscar Pistorius's trial. And yet, of course, there have been themes. World-beating economic growth statistics and enduring inequality, China's phenomenal infrastructure programme; the growing number of democratic - sometimes nominally democratic - elections; the movement to restrict presidents to two terms in office; and the rival trend of leaders amending the constitution "democratically" to hold on to power; the emerging backlash against traditional foreign aid; the slow fight to address climate change; Islamist extremism; the impact of mobile phones and social media; the all-too-often-deadly migration to Europe; and the rise of an increasingly assertive middle class. Taken in northern Ethiopia, near the village of Korem - which was at the epicentre of the 1984 famine, ahead of the UN conference on funding development, in July. We'd stopped at the side of the road to get some shots and these kids appeared. But it is in relation to that last point that I now find myself digging my heels in, and discovering my own emerging bias. Foreign correspondents like me are often harangued in Africa for painting an unduly negative picture of the continent - of relishing the gloom in obstinate defiance of all the good news. Perhaps there are times when that is true. Voiceless majority But it's always worth looking at these things in terms of power, and access to power. Who has influence? Who has a voice? Why do South African newspapers always discuss the alleged "genocide" against white farmers, while ignoring the far more bloody and systematic campaign of violence against impoverished Somali shopkeepers in Soweto or around Cape Town? Why do the television crews still gravitate towards foreign humanitarian workers during emergencies, with their convenient planes and well-stocked compounds? And - in the same spirit - how much unquestioning focus should one give to the "Africa Rising" narrative, so well articulated by the social-media-wired, urban, aspirational middle classes of Nairobi or Lagos? Because the truth, hard-learned on dirt roads and neglected corners, is that the majority - the often-voiceless majority - on this continent are still facing daunting challenges: from soaring prices, to unemployment, wretched schools and hospitals, an absence of justice, and most pressingly of all - insecurity. That applies in the beleaguered townships of South Africa, in the forests of the Central African Republic, the besieged towns of north-eastern Nigeria, the slums of Monrovia, and on the endless battlefields of South Sudan. Of course there is plenty going impressively, fantastically right here - the arc of history bending towards optimism and all that. But it seems to me that a bias towards the powerless and voiceless is a reasonable and necessary one - especially when they still seem to be in the majority. This was taken at the end of our first trip to cover Ebola in Sierra Leone. It was the trip when we did that big piece about Kigbal village, with the living on one side of the road and the dying on the other. The quickest way to get to Freetown's airport is by boat. I could go on... But, the captain has just announced that we're coming in to land at Mogadishu's airport. A stiff wind is blowing spray off the waves and over the dunes beside the runway. I have so many favourite places in Africa. A speedboat down Lake Kivu, the swaying bars of Lubumbashi, lobster on the beach outside Freetown, the pink-rock highlands of Ethiopia, the star-crowded night sky outside Timbuktu. But for some reason Somalia - violent and irrepressible - seems to have got under my skin more than anywhere else. In recent years it has managed to pull off the remarkable feat of appearing to display this continent's myriad nations' possible futures simultaneously - an ambitious, globalised, resurgent state, rallying at impressive speed; a divided, stagnant, might-have-been, wrestling with corruption and poverty; and a wretched failure, exporting terrorism to its neighbours. I'm a glass-half-full kind of person. So I'm still betting on Somalia to find a way forward. In the meantime, I'm now taking a break from daily news to write a book about some of the garrulous, irascible, wonderful people I've come to know in Mogadishu and beyond. I hope to be back, somewhere, before too long.

हमने उन छह सशस्त्र गार्डों को भुगतान कर दिया है जो हमारी रक्षा कर रहे हैं, अतिरिक्त सामान पर सौदेबाजी कर रहे हैं, और अब मैं इसे एक छोटे से विमान में लिख रहा हूं जो दक्षिण की ओर बोसासो के धूप में पके सोमाली बंदरगाह से, हॉर्न ऑफ अफ्रीका के विशाल, पीले-भूरे रंग के मैदानों में, नैरोबी की ओर जा रहा है।


Beheadings and racial tension: Life under Islamic State

Summary: Just as the so-called Islamic State (IS) group seemed to be putting down roots in the Libyan coastal city of Sirte - its only stronghold outside Syria and Iraq - various forces began lining up early this year to remove it. By early June the city was surrounded. BBC Monitoring looks back over the past four months to see what people have been saying on social media and what IS itself has been publishing as the campaign to retake the city developed.

8 February - IS dispenses death and donations; a rival emerges It is one year since Islamic State seized Sirte. The group appears to be trying to demonstrate that it is in control by releasing a video showing its morality police enforcing their strict interpretation of Islamic rules, including one which demands that men wear their trousers short. While it publishes pictures showing alms being handed out to the poor, IS also distributes images of public floggings. Pictures on social media show "crucified" corpses in the main roundabout after executions by IS. Meanwhile, Libyan prime minister-designate Fayez Seraj seeks to gain approval for a cabinet. The UN is encouraging him to bring order to a country in chaos since Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in 2011. Libya is torn between two rival governments, one based in the east of the country and one in the west, allowing IS to prosper in the central area. 6 March - Car sales in the caliphate IS wants to show that life goes on as normal in Sirte, posting images of public services department workers pruning trees, sheep-grazing, bee-keepers at work and an open-air showroom with dozens of cars on sale. IS branches in Syria, Iraq and Libya regularly publish scenes of everyday life to recruit members and give the impression that they are effectively administering the land under their control. Social media users, however, post pictures of people having fun on the beach in the days "before the terrorists arrived". "God willing, Sirte will return to how it was," says one user. Communication between Sirte and the outside world is difficult, because of notoriously unreliable internet connections as well as IS restrictions. Some residents appear defiant, one tweeting: "I'm staying, #Daesh (IS), and I will continue to spread news of my city #Sirte to the world via Twitter, even if you cut our necks". 9 March - New leader, same racial friction IS names the new leader of its Libyan branch to replace his predecessor who was killed in a US air strike in November 2015. Shaykh Abd-al-Qadir al-Najdi is thought to be a foreigner, like his predecessors. His name suggests he is from Saudi Arabia. The presence of foreign fighters is a source of friction, with locals complaining that the outsiders look down on them, and the IS fighters complaining of racism. One social media user asks: "Why does #Daesh prefer foreign commanders to Libyans?" Weeks later, IS calls a reconciliation meeting between locals and foreign fighters. The meeting is advertised in a flyer, which has been circulated on social media and which also invites city residents to the public execution of two of the group's own Libyan commanders, apparently to set a disciplinary example. A separate IS letter to residents says racism towards foreign fighters will not be tolerated and warns the people of Sirte to show loyalty to the creed of Islam rather than to their tribe or city. The author vows to "fix this Libyan problem before it is too late". Separately, an IS video featuring Sirte-based militants from Mali, Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal encourages West Africans to travel to Libya to join the group - another sign that IS may be struggling to co-opt locals. 23 March - IS celebrates Brussels attack Following the bomb attacks on Brussels claimed by IS, the group's media arm shows pictures of sweets being handed out in Sirte in celebration of the assaults. Days later the new "unity" government arrives in Tripoli. Its arrival in the capital represents another stage in efforts to stabilise and unify the country which is split among rival factions, including IS. The ministers arrive by boat because opposing forces have blocked the city's air space. 18 April - Religious education, IS style IS publicises the religious education of residents with pictures of a graduation ceremony for hundreds of ordinary people at a big conference centre in Sirte. This appears to be the culmination of a major series of events that IS forced people to attend in an attempt to make everyone conform to its strict interpretation of Islamic law. Some take to social media to complain. According to local Twitter accounts, attendance of the course was mandatory for all males aged 15 and above, with all shops and businesses closed between afternoon and evening prayers, and movement in the street prohibited during this time. One account said that two young men were arrested for failing to attend the course, but were released days later. One tweet comments wryly that IS itself, rather than the local population, was "most in need of this kind of course". 2 May - Residents flee, IS gains territory Amid reports of an impending military advance on Sirte, hundreds of families reportedly flee the city in the latest of several waves over recent months. Al-Wasat website says fleeing residents told troops at roadblocks west of the city that their cars were searched by Libyan, Tunisian and Chadian IS members, who prevented them from taking their furniture, cooking utensils and gas cylinders. Reports from the city suggest that the hospitals are barely functioning, the staff themselves having fled or staying away out of fear. Over the next few days IS forces advance west towards Misrata, seizing territory including the strategic town of Abu-Qurayn, where they carry out a series of suicide attacks. IS appears to be trying to seize the initiative to pre-empt any attack on its stronghold. 7 May - Central government announces push against IS The unity government, having gained the support of some significant factions, announces the formation of a coalition to crush IS. The anti-IS operation is headquartered in the town of Misrata, whose forces are a key component of the coalition. Misrata has ample supplies of weapons and its fighters were crucial in the overthrow of Gaddafi. The Misrata militia also has Islamists leanings - like many of the other militia - and has been accused of brutal behaviour. The headquarters soon starts reporting battlefield developments to local TV channels and posting updates on its Facebook page under the name Operation Solid Structure, a reference to a Koranic verse which is often invoked by IS itself. 8 May - Not-so-compliant tribes IS publishes pictures supposedly showing tribal leaders pledging their support for the self-styled caliphate. However, it becomes clear that these large tribes - Wlad Sliman, Warfala and Gaddadfa - won't or can't provide realistic support to IS with reports over the next few days of clashes between tribesmen and IS militants in nearby towns. An informant from the town of Abu Hadi, a few miles south of Sirte, tells the Libyan news website Al-Wasat that young men from the Gaddadfa tribe had attacked a convoy of IS "Islamic Police" hunting for tribesmen. There have been numerous reports in Libyan media saying that since it took root, IS has dealt harshly with these tribes. IS militants reportedly arrested and executed scores of Gaddadfa tribesmen, the people of former leader Gaddafi. The large Warfala tribe has reportedly seen many of its towns taken over by IS, and tribesmen who had worked for the police, military or judiciary have been executed. 17 May - Government gains valuable ally The government in Tripoli manages to convince one the most successful commanders in eastern Libya - Lt Al-Mahdi al-Barghathi - to become minister of defence. On his way to assume his duties in the capital, he visits the strategic oil port of Sidra and secures the support of the Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG) - the men who are supposed to guard Libya's oil wealth, but who have turned into a rogue private army. Their support is key to encircling Sirte from the east, while militia from Misrata attack from the west. The odds are now stacked in favour of Operation Solid Structure. 21 May - 'We'll fight to the death' A defiant message from IS spokesman Abu-Muhammad al-Adnani appears to prepare supporters for the loss of one of its strongholds. He mentions Sirte alongside Raqqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq, underlining the importance of its Libyan bastion. "Will we be defeated if we lose Mosul or Sirte or Raqqa or all the cities and go back to how we were before? No. Defeat is only losing the desire and the will to fight." He warns that IS will fight to the death, enacting a scorched earth policy in the event of being dislodged from any of its strongholds. 30 May - Sirte surrounded The government-led advance recovers towns from IS to the east, west and south before entering Sirte. Within days the anti-IS forces, surprised by their own progress, corner IS militants holding out in a small area in the centre of the city. 19 June - Radio war Operation Solid Structure announces that it has started test broadcasting on an FM frequency previously used by IS's Al-Bayan Radio. The unity government-backed forces claim that they have been jamming IS radio. Since the beginning of June, fighting between the two sides has continued with IS carrying out a series of suicide bombings and government forces bombarding IS positions in the centre of the city. BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. You can follow BBC Monitoring on Twitter and Facebook. .

जिस तरह तथाकथित इस्लामिक स्टेट (आईएस) समूह लीबिया के तटीय शहर सिर्ते में जड़ें जमा रहा था-सीरिया और इराक के बाहर इसका एकमात्र गढ़-इसे हटाने के लिए इस साल की शुरुआत में विभिन्न बलों ने कतार लगाना शुरू कर दिया था। जून की शुरुआत तक शहर को घेर लिया गया था। बीबीसी मॉनिटरिंग पिछले चार महीनों में पीछे मुड़कर देखती है कि लोग सोशल मीडिया पर क्या कह रहे हैं और शहर को फिर से हासिल करने के अभियान के रूप में आईएस खुद क्या प्रकाशित कर रहा है।


The NHS at 70: How can we help it survive?

Summary: The National Health Service was set up to provide healthcare from the cradle to the grave.

But as it celebrates its 70th birthday, there are questions over how long it can last in its current form. With an ageing and increasingly unhealthy population, the NHS is in crisis. So what can the public do to help ease the situation? We spoke to six experts across the Welsh NHS to find out what can be done to help.

पालने से कब्र तक स्वास्थ्य सेवा प्रदान करने के लिए राष्ट्रीय स्वास्थ्य सेवा की स्थापना की गई थी।


Penarth homes evacuated as bomb disposal team sent

Summary: A road has been shut and homes evacuated after military ordnance was found at a home in Penarth.

The weaponry was found in at Barry Road in Cogan, and a bomb disposal team is attending. A number of neighbouring properties have been evacuated and the road is closed between the junction with Penarth Road and the turning into Llandough. Motorists are advised to take alternative routes.

पेनार्थ में एक घर में सैन्य आयुध मिलने के बाद एक सड़क को बंद कर दिया गया है और घरों को खाली करा लिया गया है।


Princess Elizabeth Hospital cancels more operations

Summary: High numbers of emergency hospital admissions and a shortage of beds has led to the cancellation of more "non-essential operations" in Guernsey.

Non-emergency operations at the Princess Elizabeth Hospital have been cancelled until the end of the week, with more cancellations possible. The Health and Social Services Department said it had prioritised emergencies and urgent operations. It said the situation would be monitored daily. The department said all affected patients were being notified as far in advance as possible. The bed shortage was blamed on the continued closure of Ozanne Ward and unfilled nursing vacancies. The ward was closed due to work being carried out on its floor and was due to reopen towards the end of last year. However, problems with the floor structure meant the work would take longer and it is now due to reopen in the spring.

आपातकालीन अस्पताल में भर्ती होने की बड़ी संख्या और बिस्तरों की कमी के कारण ग्वेर्नसे में अधिक "गैर-आवश्यक संचालन" रद्द कर दिए गए हैं।


Telegrams STOP: End of service delivering joy and heartache

Summary: India's last telegram will be sent on Sunday night as the country's state-run telegraph service shuts down. It has been in decline for decades, but once touched the lives of millions of Indians every year, writes Geeta Pandey.

By Geeta PandeyBBC News, Delhi As a child growing up in Calcutta in the 1970s and 1980s, I always felt a sense of foreboding every time a knock on the door announced the arrival of a telegram. My parents would be visibly worried as telegrams usually brought bad news, like the death of a relative. They would imagine the worst about their elderly parents in rural Uttar Pradesh until the square piece of paper reassured them that all was well back in the village. For decades the main source of reliable and urgent communication, telegrams brought happy and sad news to millions of Indians every year. The telegraph service started in 1851 when the British East India Company built a 30-mile (48km) electric telegraph line from the city of Calcutta to its suburb of Diamond Harbour, primarily for official use. Over the next few years, telegraph lines were expanded to cover the entire country and in 1855, the service was opened for public use. Its success was instant, says CV Gopinath, the former deputy director general of telegraph services. The 1857 rebellion against the British, often described as the first war of India's independence, "failed because of this telegraph technology", he says. "Lord Dalhousie [the governor-general] once said that the telegraph saved India." It meant they could order the mobilisation of troops and resources quickly and confidentially. For more than a century thereafter, up until the end of the 1980s, telegrams were the fastest and most reliable form of communication. In the early days, telegrams arrived written by hand with fountain pens, and mostly carried business messages. Today, a telegram is a computer printout. It is the advent of newer, more modern technology that killed demand for telegraph services. The company has been losing billions of rupees a year. The last telegram will be sent at 22:00 India time (16:30 GMT) on Sunday 14 July. "The new generation doesn't even know about telegrams," says Shameem Akhtar, senior general manager at the state-run telecommunications firm, BSNL. At the Central Telegraph Office in Delhi's Eastern Court building, not far from India's parliament, the mood is clearly downbeat. Jagdish Chand, who was a telegram messenger for 31 years, points to the row of offices at the back of the building and says: "More than 4,000 people worked here. There were hundreds of teleprinter machines and the room was generally so noisy that you had to shout in the ears of the person sitting next to you to be heard." The machines are all gone, sold as scrap, and the the offices have fallen quiet, with only a handful of people around. Om Dutt, who has been delivering telegrams since 1983, says he used to deliver 30-40 messages a day in the 1980s, but now manages less than half of that. "Then, it used to be like day even at night at the telegraph office, because there would be so many people, so many cars, bright lights." Fellow messenger Jagdish Chand adds: "Our work never stopped. It didn't matter whether it was raining or whether it was the 43C summer heat or the peak of winter - we went out to deliver telegrams whatever the weather." In 1984, soon after Dutt and Chand started delivering telegrams, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated. "We got so many telegrams for Mrs Gandhi's house from all over the world, I had to deliver them in a sack," says Dutt. "We received 7,000 to 8,000 telegrams a day," says Chand. "People everywhere had heard about the anti-Sikh riots [which broke out after Mrs Gandhi was killed by her Sikh bodyguards] and they were worried about their relatives and were trying to get in touch with them." For three days, he says, they slept in their offices. "It was not safe to go out, but we wore our uniforms, had our identity cards and if we were stopped by the police, they would let us go because we were treated as emergency service workers." Their work was not easy. "In some areas, people thought that telegrams were bringing bad news and they would pelt the messengers with stones. In one instance, some people threw a glass bottle at us," he says. Mr Chand is obviously unhappy at the government's decision to stop telegrams. "When I joined the telegraph service, I was a young man of 20. I married here, had children, sent them to school. This has been like my home. I have a couple of years to retire, but now my future's uncertain." The authorities have said all of the nearly 1,000 workers will be redeployed, but Mr Chand still doesn't know where he will end up. As the end of the service approaches, there has been a last-minute rush of telegrams for staff to sort and stamp, ready for delivery. People from across the country have sent hundreds of telegrams over the past ten days to Telecommunications Minister Kapil Sibal, pleading with him to save the service. Others, resigned that this is the end of the service as they know it, are rushing to send their last telegram. Bulbul Tewari, 73, is filling in forms to send telegrams to her four grandchildren, aged between seven and 14, "so that when they are older, they realise that this is the way messages were sent, once upon a time". One of those final messages from someone wishing to mark the end of the almost 160-year-old service simply says: "TELEGRAM IS DEAD. LONG LIVE TELEGRAM." STOP You can follow the Magazine on Twitter and on Facebook

भारत का अंतिम तार रविवार की रात को भेजा जाएगा क्योंकि देश की सरकारी तार सेवा बंद हो गई है। यह दशकों से गिरावट में है, लेकिन एक बार हर साल लाखों भारतीयों के जीवन को छूता है, गीता पांडे लिखती हैं।