Latest stage of Donald Trump's golf plans backed

Summary: The latest stage of American tycoon Donald Trump's plans for the "world's greatest" golf course in Aberdeenshire have been approved by councillors.

Members of the Formartine area committee met in Ellon and approved plans for Menie by nine votes to two. They were considering 30 conditions for the project laid down by the Scottish government, but more will have to be approved before work can begin. The Trump Organisation welcomed the vote. Mr Trump wants to create a championship course as well as a hotel and hundreds of holiday homes. Scottish ministers earlier approved the application but with many conditions. Mr Trump last month vowed to cut the ribbon on his golf resort within 18 months. He said the total cost of the project was likely to be about £750m.

एबरडीनशायर में "दुनिया के सबसे बड़े" गोल्फ कोर्स के लिए अमेरिकी टाइकून डोनाल्ड ट्रम्प की योजनाओं के नवीनतम चरण को पार्षदों द्वारा अनुमोदित किया गया है।


Encounter with Italian tanker scars survivors

Summary: India and Italy are scrambling to defuse a diplomatic row over the deaths of two Indian fisherman mistaken for pirates by Italian marines guarding an oil tanker. Supriya Menon has been speaking to the fishermen's crewmates and family in the southern Indian state of Kerala.

Fisherman J Fredy was asleep on board the trawler St Antony when he first heard gun shots. "I suddenly saw my colleague Valentine who was steering the boat slumped over the wheel with blood oozing from his ear and nose and thought he was sick. "It was only later that I noticed gun shots. I didn't stop to think and just steered the boat away from the gunfire trying to get far away from the big ship that I saw." The big ship that Fredy is referring to is the Enrica Lexie, the Italian oil tanker that was on its way from Singapore to Egypt with a crew of 34. Walking me around the small fishing boat, 30-year-old Fredy points out bullet marks. He says he is still terrified thinking about the incident and considers himself fortunate to be alive. "In my 10-year-long fishing career I have never come across something like this. I don't want to go back to the sea now. I am scared and so is my family. Earlier it used to be fun to be out in the ocean, now there is no guarantee that I will come back alive." The St Antony is now docked, guarded on all sides by police boats. Compensation claim Just a few kilometres away is the fishing village of Moothakara. Valentine, 48, used to live here with his wife and two kids. Since his death, the family has had several high-profile visitors, including India's Defence Minister AK Antony. Valentine's wife Dora says she wants justice for her family and has asked the government to ensure the safety of fishermen out at sea. The family has filed a compensation claim of 10m rupees ($200,000; £126,000) from the Italian shipping company. Their lawyer, C Unnikrishnan says they will ask for a larger sum. "Our claim is only $200,000 which is [low by] international standards. We are planning to amend it and ask for at least $500,000." There are now indications that the matter may be settled out of court. However, public sentiment is strong on both sides. Local fishermen want to see the marines punished here in India. Italy on its part has been lobbying hard to get the marines released, saying the incident took place outside of Indian jurisdiction in international waters. The incident has also triggered a debate on the wider issue of piracy in the Indian ocean. The Indian government is now looking at changing laws and ensuring better policing of its coastline. That may not be so easy given India's vast coast. There's also the issue of posting armed guards on ships to fight off pirates; while it may scare off potential pirates, it can also lead to tragedies for some families.

भारत और इटली एक तेल टैंकर की रखवाली कर रहे इतालवी नौसैनिकों द्वारा गलती से समुद्री डाकू माने गए दो भारतीय मछुआरों की मौत पर एक राजनयिक विवाद को शांत करने के लिए हाथापाई कर रहे हैं। सुप्रिया मेनन दक्षिणी भारतीय राज्य केरल में मछुआरों के चालक दल के सदस्यों और परिवार से बात कर रही हैं।


Willerby crash: Six-year-old boy on bike seriously hurt

Summary: A six-year-old boy suffered life-threatening injuries when he was knocked off his bicycle by a car in East Yorkshire.

The child was riding his bike on Kingston Road, Willerby, on the outskirts of Hull, at about 18:10 BST on Thursday, Humberside Police said. A spokesperson for the force said the car involved stopped at the scene and no arrests had been made. Officers have appealed for witnesses and any CCTV or dash-cam footage. Follow BBC East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk.

ईस्ट यॉर्कशायर में एक कार द्वारा अपनी साइकिल से टकराए जाने पर एक छह वर्षीय लड़के को जानलेवा चोटें आईं।


Tryfan walker dies after 150ft Snowdonia mountain fall

Summary: A walker has died after falling 150ft from a Snowdonia peak.

More than 20 members of Ogwen Valley, Llanberis and Aberglaslyn mountain rescue teams found her body on Tryfan on Saturday morning after a night-time search. The woman, from Stockport, had been walking with her husband on Good Friday. Rescuers said she had been well-equipped but fell after wandering into a steep gully.

स्नोडोनिया की चोटी से 150 फीट नीचे गिरने से एक पैदल यात्री की मौत हो गई है।


A year of war that has set Yemen back decades

Summary: Ahmed Sharif stood on top of a mound of rubble, waving a dinner plate. "The Saudis attacked this," he said. "There was no weapons facility. There was no military site. This was a tourist attraction."

By Orla GuerinBBC News, Sanaa He descended from the wreckage of a house that had stood for 1,400 years to gave me a tour of Kawkaban - an ancient citadel perched on a cliff top. Locals say this Yemeni treasure was hit by Saudi airstrikes in February, killing seven civilians. Mr. Sharif's brother-in-law was one of them. He pointed to fragments of clothing in among the rubble. "That's what's left of him," he said. The dead of Kawkaban are among at least 3,200 civilians killed here in the past year. The United Nations says most were victims of airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition. A UN panel has accused the Saudis and their allies of bombing schools, health facilities, wedding parties and camps for the displaced. 'The pain is so intense' Saudi Arabia says it makes every effort to avoid hitting civilian targets, but that's little consolation to the burn victim we met in hospital in Sanaa. Abdel Bari Omar survived an airstrike outside the city last month, but only just. The van driver lay in bed, bandaged from the chest down. He was transporting gas cylinders when the fighter jets struck. "The pain is so intense only God can understand," he said, through trembling lips. "Whatever way I turn I am in agony. I'm afraid this pain will stop my heart." His other fear is about the future of his children now their breadwinner has burns on more than 40% of his body. Saudi Arabia's bombing campaign was supposed to reinstate Yemen's ousted President, Abed Rabbu Mansour Hadi, and contain the Shia Houthi rebels who drove him out. Riyadh claims they are puppets of its regional rival, Iran. A year on, the president remains out of sight, and the Houthis remain in control of the capital. "We can keep fighting forever," said Mohamed Ali Al Houthi, the rebel leader who occupies the Presidency building, and has a traditional dagger in his waistband. "If they continue the war we are ready for that, and if they want peace we want it even more." The Houthis too are accused of killing innocent civilians by indiscriminate shelling - something they deny. But the troubling questions here aren't only for the warring parties. The British connection Yemeni businessman Ghalib al-Sawary wants to know why Britain has played a role in ruining his life's work. He walked me through the wreckage of Radfan Ceramics, a factory outside Sanaa that employed 350 people before the war. Airstrikes last year - which reportedly killed one man - reduced the factory to a shell. "We built it over 20 years," he said, "but to destroy it took only 20 minutes." Mr Sawary showed me hunks of mangled metal bearing the label of a British manufacturer - GEC Marconi Dynamics - which he says were recovered after the airstrike. He keeps plenty of them, under lock and key. The campaign group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has identified the remnants are part of a British made cruise missile. For Mr Sawary the pain of loss was heightened by the origin of the weapon. "I studied in Britain in 1988. We respect the British people and we like them," he said, "but we are blaming them for supplying this weapon." Campaigners say the attack on the factory - which appeared to be producing only civilian goods - was an apparent violation of the laws of war. They believe it may also have violated the UK's rules on arms exports. A British government spokesman denied there had been any breach and said the UK had robust controls for arms exports. At a police station in Sanaa, Yemeni security officials put a US made cluster bomb unit on display. They claim it was dropped in the Western suburbs in January scattering deadly bomb-lets over a civilian area. They produced several from a pink plastic shopping bag. The coalition has denied using the weapons, which have been banned by more than 100 countries. Much of the death and destruction here in the past 12 months has gone unseen - one more war in a troubled region. "Yemen was already forgotten, prior to the escalation of the conflict," said Johannes van der Klaauw, of the UN's refugee agency, the UNHCR. He believes the crisis has not had the attention it deserves in part because Yemenis aren't reaching Europe's shores. "I am afraid there is a link," he said. "I see that the international community and particularly Europe has now galvanised more support and also political action because the Syrians and the Iraqis are coming in large numbers to Europe. If the Yemenis would do the same I am sure there would be more attention for Yemen." For most Yemenis there is no hope of escape, but more peace talks are planned for next month, to be accompanied by a ceasefire. Whatever the outcome, UN officials fear that one year of war has set the Arab world's poorest country back decades.

अहमद शरीफ मलबे के एक टीले के ऊपर खड़े थे, खाने की थाली लहराते हुए। "सऊदी ने इस पर हमला किया", उन्होंने कहा। "हथियारों की कोई सुविधा नहीं थी। कोई सैन्य स्थल नहीं था। यह एक पर्यटक आकर्षण था।"


Letter from Africa: Free in Freetown

Summary: In our series of letters from African journalists, Joseph Warungu leaves the hubbub of Nairobi to finally make his maiden visit to Sierra Leone's capital, where he finds people determined to overcome their history of civil war and Ebola.

I am in Freetown and I feel truly free. Free from the pressures and pretensions of life in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, where the struggles of the middle class are over who drives the latest model of which car, and who lives in the poshest neighbourhood. In Nairobi, many people, especially the young, are obsessed with the nauseating celebrity culture, whose lifestyle glitters so much it can blind you. Landing from the heights of Nairobi's razzle-dazzle, Freetown humbles you. First, if your heart was in your mouth as the aeroplane shook and trembled in the rainy season, then your heart will be in your hand on the ground as you take the ferry from Lungi International Airport, to Freetown. You can tell who is a foreigner by the strained look in their faces, as the small ferry dances and slices across the waves. I have been waiting to get to Sierra Leone for the last 20 years. I reported on the country since the early 1990s, from the safety of London. I played my favourite Sierra Leonean music on the BBC Network Africa breakfast show, but never made it to Freetown. So when an opportunity arose, to come and train young journalists at the Africa Young Voices TV station, I seized it with both hands and feet! Alighting from the ferry at Freetown, you can immediately tell the state of unemployment in the country, by the vast number of baggage handlers employed by the ferry companies. The drive through the streets immediately brings home the effects of more than a decade of civil war, and the tragedy that was Ebola. The city is overcrowded, with lots of informal settlements, and the infrastructure is bursting at the seams. There is a serious problem of waste management. The current government, which has put a lot of effort into infrastructure projects and stabilising the economy, has its work cut out. The people of Freetown are desperate to be free from the threats of disease. Joseph Warungu: "As soon as we began to talk politics, my spirit was brought crashing down" But it is in my interactions with people that lift my spirits. They do not call it "Sweet Salone" for no reason. The people here are warm, friendly and generous. And whether it is as a result of trying to forget the pain of the past or not, it is clear they love to have a good time. Everywhere you go, you will find clubs and social places where people gather to set themselves free from the struggles of the week through great music, dance, food and laughter. So I have had more than my fair share of Jollof rice and cassava leaves. For an east African, the pepper in the food is on the side of plenty-oh, and so a glass of water is always at hand - much to the amusement of my hosts. I run a national mentorship programme for young journalists in Kenya in the form of a TV programme called Top Story. So I became completely at home when I eventually began to train the young Sierra Leonean journalists and broadcasters. Their hunger for knowledge and skills and enthusiasm sent me on a high. But as soon as we began to talk politics, my spirit was brought crashing down. Like my own country and many others in Africa, corruption is a big threat to the people. Like Kenya, here too society is divided into the two rival sides that will be seeking office in the next election. And the issues are exactly the same - a high cost of living, unemployment and demands for better governance. After my first week here, I was ready to explore some of the key towns whose names have been on my lips as a broadcast journalist in the last 20 years - Bo, Makeni, Kabala, Kenema and Koidu… Then I will perhaps be ready to re-engage with the rat-race of life and the paralysing traffic of Nairobi. More from Joseph Warungu: Kenyans beg for mercy Should degrees be necessary for leaders? What to look out for in Africa during 2017 How to stop exam cheats Party time in Kenya

अफ्रीकी पत्रकारों के पत्रों की हमारी श्रृंखला में, जोसेफ वारुंगु अंततः सिएरा लियोन की राजधानी की अपनी पहली यात्रा करने के लिए नैरोबी के हबब को छोड़ देता है, जहाँ वह लोगों को गृह युद्ध और इबोला के अपने इतिहास से उबरने के लिए दृढ़ पाता है।


Jose Blanco-Medina: Police appeal over escaped prisoner

Summary: A man who is part-way through a three-year sentence for dangerous driving has escaped from a prison in Doncaster.

Prison officers found Jose Blanco-Medina, 28, had absconded from HMP Hatfield at about 22:00 GMT on Saturday 19 December by forcing a fire door. Blanco-Medina is described as about 5ft 8ins (1.7m) tall and has links to Riddlesden, near Keighley, and Bradford, South Yorkshire Police said. Anyone with information about his whereabouts is asked to call police. More Yorkshire stories Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk or send video here. Related Internet Links HMP Hatfield

एक आदमी जो खतरनाक ड्राइविंग के लिए तीन साल की सजा से आंशिक रूप से गुजर रहा है, डॉनकास्टर की एक जेल से भाग गया है।


British forests under new threat from pests

Summary: A year after the first case of ash dieback in wild trees in Britain, the disease has now spread across much of England, Wales and Scotland. The public is being asked to be the "eyes and ears" of the countryside amid concern about new global threats that could spell disaster for forests.

By Helen BriggsBBC News In a London park, forester Simon Levy is checking a moth trap strung high in the canopy of an oak tree. He is searching for signs of the oak processionary moth, which is present in parts of the capital and Berkshire. When the moth's caterpillars emerge from their nests, they can strip oak trees bare and harm human health. "What we're looking for in these oak trees we see around us is their nests," says Mr Levy. "They're like a grey wart on the side of a tree that can range from the size of a golf ball, if not smaller, to things that are almost a couple of foot in size." It is the moth's caterpillars - with their thousands of tiny hairs - that are the hazard. Touching the caterpillars or their nests can cause skin rashes or, in extreme cases, sore throats, breathing difficulties and eye problems. In Croydon, inspections are being carried out for the moth around a 2km zone as part of a rigorous programme of control and monitoring. Infected areas are sprayed with a bacteriological agent to destroy nests and caterpillars. The traps - which contain a sex hormone that attracts male moths - are set outside from July to September, when adult moths are in flight, to see how far they have spread. "We've actually created a ring of traps for these moths round the infected area just to see if the moths are flying beyond where we would expect them to be," says Mr Levy. Dr Nigel Straw from the Centre for Forestry and Climate Change at the Forestry Commission says monitoring is key to organising a control programme - including surveys from the ground and pheromone trapping. Any moths captured are sent to the Forestry Commission's research station in Hampshire for analysis. "We will look at how many moths have been caught and at which locations and this will tell us where we are likely to have trees with eggs which will lead to infestations next year," says Dr Straw. Officials hope the outbreak in Croydon can be contained. But they accept the battle is lost in west and south-west London - where the moth is here to stay. Britain should expect "many hundreds" more pests and pathogens to arrive in the coming years, say scientists at Exeter University. The rise in global trade means pests that damage crops such as fungi, beetle and moths are now moving into new territories faster than other wildlife, aided by climate change, they report in the journal Nature Climate Change. Hundreds of pests and pathogens have shifted their ranges towards the poles by an average of about 3km a year since 1960. Insects are moving even faster, expanding their range by tens of kilometres a year, says Dr Daniel Bebber. "We know things are spreading and part of that spread is due to climate change. It's just one more impact that climate change is having on us. Things are being introduced all the time to different places. Climate change can help things to establish." In Croydon, Simon Levy is concerned about a decline if not a "potentially catastrophic loss" of some of Britain's dominant tree species, including the oak. He says acute oak decline is present in the area, but it is difficult to identify. "There's huge pressure on resources in terms of actually getting out there and identifying them," he says, "I suspect that if things progress as they do, we might face a real problem with our oak trees - a significant change in our landscape similar to the landscape changes when Dutch elm disease had its heyday in the '70s." With only limited government resources to monitor for new pests, some of that job may fall to the public. This is not unprecedented. In the past, the citrus longhorn beetle, which can arrive on deliveries from Asia of tree and shrub plants, and goods in wooden crates and packaging, has been spotted by vigilant members of the public. In July, Martin Ward, the UK government's chief plant health officer, asked for help from the public to spot Asian longhorn and citrus longhorn beetles. "Government plant health services cannot do this work alone, and we need the public to act as our eyes and ears in gardens, parks, woodlands and workplaces to help us spot threats quickly before they become a serious problem," he said. "The public can really help us at this time of year by looking out for these two potentially serious beetle pests. They thrive in climates similar to ours, and their establishment could result in losses of trees from a wide range of species." The Woodland Trust is currently training volunteers to look out for signs of tree diseases, while a citizen science project, known as Opal (Open Air Laboratories), is harnessing people-power to build a national picture of tree health. In the long term, however, there are big questions about the future shape and role of Britain's treescape. "What protects trees in the long term is diversity both in species and genetics," says Dr Bebber. "We don't have a very diverse tree flora - both in genetics and species diversity. We lost our elms in large because they were so genetically uniform. "We can learn from the science of ecology and evolution and look at the natural world and see that diversity is the protection. We certainly don't want to see the oak disappearing, the ash disappearing - it would be a sadder Britain."

ब्रिटेन में जंगली पेड़ों में राख गिरने के पहले मामले के एक साल बाद, यह बीमारी अब इंग्लैंड, वेल्स और स्कॉटलैंड के अधिकांश हिस्सों में फैल गई है। नए वैश्विक खतरों के बारे में चिंता के बीच जनता को ग्रामीण इलाकों की "आंख और कान" बनने के लिए कहा जा रहा है जो जंगलों के लिए आपदा का कारण बन सकते हैं।


Election footing: no, not that one

Summary: Holyrood is now 18 months from its next election. Nicola Sturgeon's Programme for Government on Tuesday, laid some of the groundwork for it. It won't be all about independence. The economy, and in particular the green part of it, is playing a prominent role. Within that, a lot of money is being ploughed into buses. Prepare for a response to Labour's proposal that bus transport be made free to all age groups, with an offer to those aged up to 26.

Douglas FraserBusiness/economy editor, Scotland Ruth Davidson's resignation as Scottish Tory leader has served several purposes. One is as a klaxon to remind us that Holyrood politics is beginning to re-orient itself towards its next election. You'll recall that the prospect of fighting that as the Conservative leader filled her "with dread" - leaving it open to interpretation as to how much this was due to the state of politics, or to the relative appeal of being back home with toddler Finn. Of course, Holyrood politics is over-shadowed by Brexit, Westminster and a possible UK election within a few weeks. But with rather less noise, the heavy machinery is being slowly moved into place, and the groundwork laid for the Holyrood contest in May 2021. You could assume it'll be all about independence, and you may be right. But in the Programme for Government, published on Tuesday, there were some interesting indicators about electoral positioning on other fronts, in the ministerial corridor of St Andrew's House. This used to be described as Holyrood's "Queen's Speech without the flummery" (though, on reflection, it may only have been me that described it that way). But this hardy annual in the political calendar has become a lot more than a list of legislation. It's about that, but also progress-chasing in public, setting new priorities, drafting a manifesto, stealing some thunder from the choices being made this coming winter by the finance secretary, while injecting some new tigress into the governing party's political tank as the new term starts. On the buses Nicola Sturgeon set the bar high for expectations of what can be achieved towards cutting climate-changing emissions. The Green MSPs, who have kept her in power through the current parliament's budgets, will surely question if it's high enough. But having learned, over 11 years, that one has to be strategic about priorities - putting a lot of her political and financial capital into childcare in the current parliament - the environmental one looks like being a strategic choice for 2021 and beyond. Much of that has to do with infrastructure spending on public transport. These are the big ticket items in the programme for government - electrifying more rail lines, and throwing half a billion at improved bus corridors. That's gambling a lot on the buses. It's not all going into the coffers of Sir Brian Souter, the Easdale brothers who own McGill's, and whoever takes over First Bus. There is also the eye-catching proposal that the Fife to Edinburgh bus corridor - that's the one over the barely-used Forth Road Bridge - is to be the trial run for autonomous buses. (Am I the only one, of a certain vintage, to be reminded of a childhood memory of watching the Love Bug, a 1969 film about an autonomous and emotionally complex Volkswagen Beetle called Herbie, trying to throw itself off the Golden Gate Bridge? Don't believe me? You can look it up.) Another of the more innovative policies for green transport is to pioneer zero-emission aviation in the Highlands and Islands. Orkney is soon to see trials of electric aircraft. Talinn trolleys I digress. Please note that one distinctive policy put forward by Scottish Labour for the next election is the idea of making all bus transport free. Not just for those aged 60 and over, but for everyone. Sounds either improbable or impossible? Well, it's being tried in Estonia. The Programme for Government carries a heavy hint that those under 26 might be included in public transport concessions, you can see that Nicola Sturgeon is preparing her response to Labour's largesse. The SNP doesn't like to be outbid on free stuff. Line to take For those who followed my recent reports on the construction industry - and for anyone else, indeed - you may be interested to note that new building standards are to be introduced, bringing an end to conventional gas or oil-fired central heating in new homes from 2024. There is also some seed funding to help prime and expand the expansion of plug-in points for electric vehicles. So, yes, green transport is a priority. Business and the economy also see a pledge of a new focus on attracting inward investment - at which Scotland already punches above its weight. On research and development by business, where Scotland has long punched well below its weight, there is more money to help stimulate it. But the more you read the Programme for Government, the more a sense of priorities becomes dissolved into a very long list - less about choices than about defensive moves to show there's an answer to every policy challenge. In government's media centre, there is a long list of issues on which there is the "line to take" when journalists ring up or email with a query. You'll hear them parroted also in ministerial answers to MSP questions. The line taken is far from being an answer to many of the questions posed, but that approach - "we have an answer to everything" - is a window into a defensive mindset. Place-based If you look particularly at the chapter on the economy, you can see a lot of effort has gone into a perceived weak area for the Sturgeon administration. There are lines to take on life science, biotechnology, space, financial technology and on various aspects of manufacturing. It includes a lot of reviews under way, starting with an infrastructure investment committee feeding into a five-year capital plan from early 2020. So it covers much of the next parliament. And there are yet more strategies: on artificial intelligence, the maritime economy, on national transport, a new one for tourism and a crofting national development plan. Everything digital gets a lot of space. Some of the business measures have been welcomed by Scotland's business groups, grateful for once not to be talking only about Brexit. But some are cautious also about the prospect of more regulation and red tape - on coffee cups and unhealthy food promotions, for instance - with not enough being done to reform or replace business rates. And then, yes, sometimes the Scottish government jargon takes over. There is to be a "trial place-based approach to integrated business support for micro-enterprises operating in rural areas". The acronym, to save you time, is TPBAIBSMEORA.

होलीरूड अब अपने अगले चुनाव से 18 महीने दूर है। सरकार के लिए निकोला स्टर्जन के कार्यक्रम ने मंगलवार को इसके लिए कुछ आधार तैयार किया। यह सब स्वतंत्रता के बारे में नहीं होगा। अर्थव्यवस्था, और विशेष रूप से इसका हरा हिस्सा, एक प्रमुख भूमिका निभा रहा है। इसके भीतर, बसों में बहुत पैसा लगाया जा रहा है। लेबर के प्रस्ताव के जवाब के लिए तैयार रहें कि सभी आयु समूहों के लिए बस परिवहन को मुफ्त बनाया जाए, जिसमें 26 वर्ष तक की आयु के लोगों के लिए एक प्रस्ताव हो।


First boat since 1926 to pass restored Cwmbran lock

Summary: A lock has been restored on a former derelict section of a canal in Cwmbran - with a boat passing through for the first time since 1926.

The Ty Coch Lock Restoration Project aims to restore locks along a mile of the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal. The Heritage Lottery funded project began in 2012 and has been carried out mainly by volunteers who were taught stonemasonry and carpentry skills. A further four locks will be restored by September. Torfaen council leader Bob Wellington said: "Our goal is that we will see the canal fully navigable for people to enjoy."

क्यूम्ब्रान में एक नहर के पूर्व परित्यक्त खंड पर एक ताला बहाल किया गया है-1926 के बाद पहली बार एक नाव गुजर रही है।


My Money: 'People have started leaving their houses again'

Summary: My Money is a series looking at how people spend their money - and the sometimes tough decisions they have to make. Here, Jen Smith, a children's TV presenter from Shenzhen in southern China, takes us through a week in her life, as the country slowly emerges from the coronavirus pandemic. Over to Jen…

Since being in lockdown I've been bingeing on Keeping Up With the Kardashians. It starts with one episode after dinner, blink, and suddenly it's 3am. YouTube, Facebook, Google and Instagram are all banned here, so you'd think I'd be a binge-free socialite after a year and a half living in China. Well, those sites are banned unless you have a VPN - I pay $120 (£97) a year for mine, so Sunday was a late night, with a lie-in until 10.30 this morning. I go for a run - mask and all, as it's currently illegal to be outside without one. I make my coffee (bought in the UK), fruit smoothie (about 20 yuan, $2.82, £2.27) and cereal (80 yuan a packet) before cycling to work. Today is a bit of a crazy day in the studio. I work as a children's TV presenter. My company has profited from the lockdown as more children are watching the shows non-stop - meaning a rapid turnaround for us. We shoot two shows from 2-6pm then "break" for a meeting. We discuss tomorrow's shoot while I eat dinner - homemade aubergine curry. It is normal for the Chinese to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner at work. Normally the company gives all staff 25 yuan through a food-ordering app, and the whole company would eat together. However, because of the current social distancing, that social time is in the far distant past! I make it home for 8pm, order some deep-fried cauliflower as a snack (45 yuan) and start the inevitable Kardashian binge. Total spend: 65 yuan ($9.10, £7.37) It's a much earlier start (7.30am), but the same morning routine. On my cycle to work I notice that the traffic is almost back to normal - Shenzhen is inhabited by well over 12 million people, so as you can imagine rush hour is intense. This doesn't change the fact that everywhere you go you have to scan a QR code - leaving my apartment, using the walkway by the river, and getting into the building I work in. After a morning of shooting I eat homemade potato curry and settle down for a nap. Naptime is such a commonality in China that people store camp beds at the office. I order a coffee and banana chips (20 yuan) for a pick-me-up before the afternoon's shooting. It's St Paddy's Day so I head to the local pubs area, catch dinner at a French restaurant (222 yuan), then a few drinks (25 yuan - mainly bought by men at the bar for us) before a very tipsy cycle home. Total spend: 242 yuan ($34, £25) The morning's shoot (thankfully) was cancelled, so I nursed a hangover in bed until around 11am, at which point I had a phone meeting for a company that I do "plus-size" modelling for (for context I'm a UK size 12). I eat a bowl of cereal and order more cauliflower (45 yuan) while I watch a film. At 2.30pm an intern picks me up, and we head to the government building to apply for a new work visa. Ironically, the image taken for my visa is Photoshopped to remove wrinkles, freckles and my frizzy hair. When I ask why this is being done for an identification document, the intern replies that the government wants it to be neat, and "the Chinese way" is to have altered photos. I don't argue, and have an interview before I hand in my passport. The whole process takes around two hours, so I order food to my house while on the way home (150 yuan for burger, salad and cake!) I take a taxi across town which ends up being 39.05 yuan. Total spend: 234.05 yuan ($33, £27) My Money More blogs from the BBC's My Money Series: The day starts at 8.30am with coffee and reading, before I get a manicure (280 yuan). My nail lady has been very worried about the state of my hands during the virus, so she spends a whopping two and a half hours treating them while I watch a film (0.99 yuan - bought by her). Because the manicure was so long I don't have time to eat lunch before our fitness shoot, which runs from 2-5.30pm. I then have an appointment to sign into a building which I'll shoot in tomorrow. The building is near a supermarket called Ole (one of the only western supermarkets), and I pick up groceries for 183 yuan before heading home to cook, listen to podcasts and prep for the big day of shooting on Friday. Total spend: 463 yuan ($64, £52.5) Fridays are generally my busiest day. The way the Chinese seem to function, is a boss will say "I want this done now" and then employees rush to finish it. Generally, they will write scripts on Monday and Tuesday, discuss Wednesday, then we shoot later in the week. The poor editors, despite mandatory office hours during the week, then have to work tirelessly through the weekend to achieve a Sunday evening deadline. I start with mashed avocado and a hard-boiled egg before work. The morning shoot runs from 9.30-11.40am, and I have an early lunch - homemade curry again, before my regular nap time. The afternoon shoot is three hours, so I have time to pop home and shower before a live stream at 6pm. I take a taxi to and from the live stream which ends up being 28 yuan. Total spend: 28 yuan ($3.92, £3.18) Finally the weekend! Although things are slowly getting better in China after the coronavirus outbreak, there's still not too much to do. So I use this time to write, play my piano and generally chill inside. Around 3pm, I venture outside to the shops to pick up some snacks (159.60 yuan) before settling in to ring my family back in the UK with a homemade cocktail - a friend of mine in Canada is doing a daily live stream, "quarantinis" where he teaches you how to make cocktails! What's interesting is that a lot of people have started leaving their houses again, but it is still illegal to go outside without a mask on, and temperature checks are taken everywhere. I was even refused entry to a building due to being foreign. I imagine this is because recently the only new cases are being brought in by non-Chinese travelling back to China. Total spend: 159.60 yuan ($22, £18) It's another slow day for me as many foreigners have not yet returned to China, so most of my friends are out of the country. I start the day by reviewing potential scripts. This takes me to 1.30pm without realising I haven't eaten. I decide to go for a quick run and I return to eat mashed avocado and a hard-boiled egg. I home-bleach my hair with products bought in the UK, then head back to editing again. About half way through the afternoon I take a little break to practice Chinese. I use an app which is fantastic and free! Definitely worth everyone downloading this during social distancing so you can learn new skills! For dinner I order online again, a three-dish meal for 160 yuan. Total spend: 160 yuan ($22.4, £18) Overall weekly spend: 1352 yuan ($189, £153)

माई मनी एक श्रृंखला है जिसमें देखा जाता है कि लोग अपना पैसा कैसे खर्च करते हैं-और कभी-कभी उन्हें कठिन निर्णय लेने पड़ते हैं। यहाँ, जेन स्मिथ, दक्षिणी चीन के शेनझेन की एक बच्चों की टीवी प्रस्तुतकर्ता, हमें अपने जीवन में एक सप्ताह के माध्यम से ले जाती है, क्योंकि देश धीरे-धीरे कोरोनावायरस महामारी से उभरता है। जेन...


Somali concern at US troop withdrawal

Summary: Tensions are rising sharply in Somalia, as the country's fragile political system wrestles with a bitterly contested election process, the withdrawal of some vital US military forces, and renewed concerns about an increasingly well-resourced militant Islamist insurgency.

By Andrew HardingBBC News, Mogadishu Diplomats and observers are warning that the country - three decades after it collapsed into anarchy - is once again at a crossroads, with recent progress on rebuilding a shattered state now at risk. "Somalia is at an important pivotal moment," the UN Secretary General's special representative James Swan told the BBC, warning that "posturing and brinkmanship" by the country's national and regional leaders - as they argue over a delayed and watered-down parliamentary election process - could lead to violence. A group of powerful organisations and states - including the UN, the EU and the African Union's peacekeeping mission - has issued a forceful statement urging Somalia's political elites to seek dialogue. "Any threat of use of violence is not acceptable," they wrote. Somalia was due to hold its first "one-person-one-vote" election last year - a huge milestone for a long-fractured nation. But clan-dominated opposition parties are boycotting the process over concerns about rigging, a carefully-brokered deal is now in tatters, and the country's President, Mohamed Abdullahi "Farmaajo", is being blamed by some for seeking to impose his will on Somalia's increasingly assertive regional leaders. "It could turn out to be a disaster if it's not put back on the right track with these current elections. Everybody knows our democracy is in jeopardy, and we need to fix it," said Mr Farmaajo's former national security advisor, Hussein Sheikh Ali. Adding to a nervous mood in the capital, Mogadishu - a city once torn apart by rival clan warlords - is a growing concern about al-Shabab militants. The Islamist group withdrew from the city, and was pushed out of most other Somali towns, by African Union and Somali troops, but it retains an overwhelming hold on the countryside. It has also begun to operate what amounts to a shadow government within Mogadishu, where it taxes and intimidates many businesses, administers Sharia courts, carries out targeted killings, and stages suicide attacks on hotels and government offices. "Everybody is taxed by al-Shabab, directly or indirectly, including the president - the food he eats is being taxed [by them]," Mr Farmaajo's former advisor told the BBC. "They have been getting stronger over the last four years. A lot of people underestimate al-Shabab and say they're becoming mafia-like. But they're a well-organised and coherent organisation with a strategic vision to conquer this country." Fifteen people were killed last August when al-Shabab attacked a prominent new beach-side hotel, the Elite, in Mogadishu. The owner said he thinks the hotel was targeted because he had refused to give money to the militants. "It's like a ransom. They were aware we weren't going to make any payment to Shabab," said Abdullahi Nor, who quickly repaired the building and remains open for business. "Even after what happened, we are ready to deny them and to defend ourselves," he said. But Mr Nor, like many of his customers and other families enjoying the adjacent Lido beach late one afternoon, expressed deep concern about a new development - the withdrawal of some US troops from Somalia, on the orders of President Donald Trump. "It's highly disturbing to us," the hotel owner said. "We still need the Americans, particularly for security." Western diplomats in Mogadishu have sought to play down the significance of an abrupt White House decision to move some American special forces out of Somalia. There are thought to be around 700 US soldiers in the country. "They've described it themselves as not a change in policy but just a change in force posture. I think the Americans are very clearly committed to help secure Somalia for the long term," British ambassador Ben Folder said. But a former US ambassador to Somalia, Stephen Schwartz, blasted the move as "a gratuitous public relations and operational windfall to al-Shabab". There is particular concern that - even though the US' often controversial drone attacks against al-Shabab targets will continue - the hands-on training and oversight that the Americans provided to Somalia's elite Danab special forces may suffer. "It's only the American airstrikes and special forces have been hitting al-Shabab hard and slowing it down," said Mr Ali. "Otherwise they could have made even more headway. This could have a serious impact on counter-terrorism efforts in Somalia. [Danab could now] be vulnerable to being used as a political tool" by rival forces within the state, he added. Those tensions within Somalia's fragile state institutions are also being fuelled and manipulated by other countries in an increasingly unpredictable region, with rising instability in Ethiopia, the Gulf and elsewhere, and with five foreign African armies and military advisors from many other nations, now active in Somalia's internal conflicts. Huge progress in Somalia "The problem is that Somalia's conflicts have not entirely been resolved yet. There are different views about what sort of country it should become. Differences within Somalia are being exploited or widened, sometimes by international partners," said ambassador Fender. Somalia has undoubtedly made huge progress in many areas in the past few years. The state has become more effective at revenue collection, younger Somalis and members of the diaspora are active in civil society, Mogadishu itself is changing fast, and if politicians can overcome the current impasse and hold another election this year, it would mean the country has managed a third peaceful transition in less than a decade. But that progress remains entirely dependent on the AU force, Amisom, made up of some 20,000 African troops, which protects the government and has, for years, taken the lead in fighting al-Shabab. More about Somalia: Critics of the mission say it has become too comfortable with the status quo, and is not doing enough to wipe out the militants. But senior Amisom officials say attempts to build a cohesive Somali national army to support their campaign against al-Shabab have largely failed. Last line of defence "We haven't done our job. It's a fact," said Mr Ali of efforts to build a Somali army. "But Amisom have also not been doing enough." A decade ago, when al-Shabab still controlled more than half of Mogadishu and furious trench-warfare engulfed the city, it was widely accepted that the militants would overrun the capital within an hour if Amisom were to withdraw its troops. Today, according to one senior military official who spoke on condition of anonymity, it would now take "just 12 hours" for al-Shabab to seize Mogadishu and most other towns if Amisom pulled out.

सोमालिया में तनाव तेजी से बढ़ रहा है, क्योंकि देश की नाजुक राजनीतिक प्रणाली एक कड़वी चुनावी प्रक्रिया, कुछ महत्वपूर्ण अमेरिकी सैन्य बलों की वापसी और एक तेजी से अच्छी तरह से संसाधन वाले उग्रवादी इस्लामी विद्रोह के बारे में नए सिरे से चिंताओं से जूझ रही है।


Coronavirus: England's contact tracing app trial gets under way

Summary: A trial of the English coronavirus app is getting under way.

By Leo KelionTechnology desk editor It will be limited to residents in the Isle of Wight, the London Borough of Newham and NHS volunteer responders to begin with. The app will be available in Apple and Google's online stores, but users will need to enter a code to activate it. The software will tell users to self-isolate for a fortnight if the app detects they have been close to someone else diagnosed with the virus. Baroness Dido Harding - who heads up the wider Test and Trace initiative - had earlier voiced concern about implementing the automated contact-tracing feature because of fears many people who had been falsely flagged might be told to go into quarantine. The app has several other functions, including: It initially works in five languages, with plans to add more soon. The contact-tracing element of the software is based on Google and Apple's privacy-centric system. The developers acknowledge there are still issues with measuring the distance between handsets, meaning some people will be incorrectly logged as being at high risk. Official social distancing guidance says that two people should not be within 2m (6.6ft) of each other for 15 minutes or more. But when trying to detect this, lab tests indicate: However, if the boundary is set at 5m, the accuracy rates radically improve. Then the handsets detect each other in more than 99% of all cases, regardless of whether iPhones or Android devices were involved. This is not useful in practice, but indicates the flaw that caused the original NHS Covid-19 app to be cancelled has been solved. That product often failed to detect cases involving two iPhones because of restrictions imposed on third-party software by Apple. The team behind the new app acknowledges more work needs to be done to reduce the number of false positives and false negatives that occur at 2m, but is optimistic they can achieve this. Part of the problem at present is that Apple and Google refuse to share the raw Bluetooth signal data involved. While the two show no signs of backing down, they will shortly release a new version of their tool that should improve matters. This development has also been welcomed by those involved with Switzerland's SwissCovid app. "While the updated Google/Apple exposure notification API [application programming interface] still aggregates and shuffles data for privacy reasons, it will expose more information needed by the app to compute exposure more precisely," explained Prof Mathias Payer from the EPFL university in Lausanne. 'Battle to persuade' The pilot comes at time when clusters of people testing positive have led to local lockdowns, and major changes are being made to the way England's manual contact-tracing system is run. Test and Trace officials say the motivation for the app is to give "maximum freedom at minimum risk", but acknowledge it is not a "silver bullet". "By launching an app that supports our integrated localised approach to NHS Test and Trace, anyone with a smartphone will be able to find out if they are at risk of having caught the virus, quickly and easily order a test, and access the right guidance and advice," said Baroness Harding. However, she is not yet ready to say when a national rollout could occur. An academic who had served as an ethical advisor to the original scrapped app was positive about the fact that the trial was not limited to the Isle of Wight this time. "This time it's a more diverse area - and not just one full of older white people - because it was clear that before very little could be gained from analysis of the demographics" said Prof Lillian Edwards. But she added that the government still had a "battle to persuade people" to install the software. "The evidence from Italy is that people aren't installing their Immuni contact-tracing app, but they might when the number of infections rises again." Another public health expert was even more sceptical. "Even if they have got it working, the app is unlikely to make a difference," said Prof Allyson Pollock from Newcastle University. "The issue is not just the contact tracing but the ability to get people to isolate and quarantine. And that means financial support needs to be provided by the government."

अंग्रेजी कोरोनावायरस ऐप का परीक्षण चल रहा है।


Labour seeks to dispel the Lamont lament

Summary: Remember Johann Lamont? Silly question; of course you do. She remains, after all, a prominent member of the Scottish Parliament. A committee convener, no less, and one who, I am told, now displays her innate wit and drollery on a particular social medium.

Brian TaylorPolitical editor, Scotland Start again, Brian. Do you remember Johann Lamont complaining that the party she led, the Scottish Labour Party, was treated "like a branch office" by comrades in London? I certainly do. And I also remember the conversation with a senior Labour figure who told me: "Brian, we're not treated like a branch office. We are a branch office." But, of course, you remember all this. It was, at the time two years ago, a defining condemnation of Labour's relationship with Scotland - only faintly reduced in force by the fact that it was delivered by Ms Lamont on demitting office, when a little vitriol is perhaps to be expected. That comment has hovered over Scottish Labour since, a decidedly unwelcome Banquo - although one cannot stretch that metaphor too far, not least because the recent leitmotif of Labour in Scotland has been famine rather than feast. Now, finally, Scottish Labour is seeking to dispel the Lamont lament. To push it away. To diminish its lingering force. More precisely, the UK party as a whole is enacting a plan for greater Scottish autonomy - after a prolonged period of consultation and consideration. In October last year, Labour's leaders, Jeremy Corbyn and Kezia Dugdale, agreed the outlines of internal party devolution. Now it has been endorsed by the UK party's National Executive Committee (NEC) and should be carried by the pending UK party conference in Liverpool. Broadly, it gives the Scottish party control over Westminster candidate selection, constituency party organisation and policy, both devolved and reserved. 'Enhanced devolution' Ms Dugdale has voiced delight. Whaur's yer branch office noo, as she so nearly said. Further, she told me it entrenched the position of the Scottish leader as heading an autonomous, distinct Scottish party. She was, she said, the boss of the party in Scotland, taking orders from nobody south of the border. However, there are limits. This is, deliberately and explicitly, enhanced devolution rather than independence. Indeed, the extent of continued co-operation across the border is stressed and vaunted by the party. Kezia Dugdale told me that the party in Scotland remained firmly part of "the Labour family" and was fully committed, for example, to working flat out for the return of a UK Labour Government at Westminster. So the limits? Firstly, funding remains as is. Consider primarily the cash from affiliates - that is, mostly, trades unions. Generally, their cash goes to the UK party - with an impact across the UK, including in Scotland. But, when Holyrood elections are pending, there are donations to the party in Scotland. In addition, individual unions support individual candidates who are affiliated to their cause. It has been decided that there will be no attempt to unpick this. Which, of itself, involves a substantial degree of cross-border co-operation. Again, vaunted by Scottish Labour, without caveat. Then there is policy. Ms Dugdale says the new approach entrenches policy autonomy for the Scottish party. Over devolved and reserved issues. They can debate what they like, consider what they like - and adopt relevant policy positions. Except these policy positions, as endorsed by the Scottish party, will not necessarily feature in the manifesto advanced by Labour at a UK General Election. Such a manifesto is, inevitably, a digest of policy positions as set out in the party programme, determined by Clause 5 of Labour's rule book. This will still be the case, even after Scottish party autonomy. So, in the new set-up, Scottish Labour will participate in the Clause 5 meeting which decides the party's policy programme, presumably advocating positions agreed by the Scottish party. Where there is a difference between the Scottish position and that adopted, say, by the UK conference, then there will be discussion and debate. A reconciliation process designed to lead to a common position. At a UK General Election, Scottish Labour candidates will stand upon the same platform as candidates elsewhere in the UK. Again, consider context. Labour is seeking UK power, on an agreed UK policy platform. It cannot, credibly, offer voters a pick and mix. But, I asked Kezia Dugdale, what if the Scottish party wants to scrap Trident - and the UK party does not? There would be, said Ms Dugdale, a reconciliation process with regard to any issue where there was a range of positions. 'Internal insurrection' The difference, she said, was that the Scottish party would have a distinct, autonomous position - and would be able to argue for that within the counsels of the wider party. Devo Max, remember. And that "Labour family"? Somewhat strained, of late. Less The Broons. More Kane and Abel. Alongside ratifying Scottish autonomy, the Liverpool conference may be a mite - just a tad - preoccupied by the declaration of its leadership contest. It seems fairly certain that Jeremy Corbyn will win out, over Owen Smith. What then? Will the internal insurrection against Mr Corbyn, driven mostly by MPs, subside? Perhaps, for a period at least, if and when he wins a further democratic contest. And what will the newly autonomous Kezia Dugdale do? She backed Owen Smith, suggesting that Mr Corbyn lacked the broad appeal to win power for Labour. Will she continue with that tone? I would reckon not. Such comments, appropriate to a leadership contest, have to be shelved when the outcome is declared. Expect an acceptance of the outcome and an appeal for unity. Reconciliation, Clause 5 style. For now.

जोहान लैमोंट को याद है? मूर्खतापूर्ण सवाल; निश्चित रूप से आप करते हैं। आखिरकार, वह स्कॉटिश संसद की एक प्रमुख सदस्य बनी हुई हैं। एक समिति संयोजक, कम नहीं, और वह जो, मुझे बताया गया है, अब एक विशेष सामाजिक माध्यम पर अपनी जन्मजात बुद्धि और मूर्खता का प्रदर्शन करती है।


Deficit, the budget charter and Labour's U-turn explained

Summary: Labour's decision to change its policy on George Osborne's plan to try to make it legally binding on future government's to balance their books each year, has brought to the surface some of tensions within the party following Jeremy Corbyn's journey from rank outsider to party leader.

By Tom MoseleyPolitical reporter Few MPs had backed the member for Islington North, and many were unhappy that he chose his ally from the Labour left, John McDonnell, as shadow chancellor. When Mr McDonnell explained his decision to reverse his support for Mr Osborne plan - which are set out in an updated Charter for Budget Responsibility - to labour MPs, shouts of criticism were audible outside the room, and one ex-minister described the process as a "shambles". What the charter says The charter commits the government to keep debt falling as a share of GDP each year and achieve a budget surplus by 2019-20. Governments will then be required to ensure there is a surplus in "normal times". This will be when the independent Office for Budget Responsibility judges that the UK is experiencing real GDP growth of less than 1% a year, as measured on a rolling four-quarter basis. Key terms explained Osborne's objective Chancellor George Osborne's plan has been seen as a potential trap for Labour and a test of its willingness to commit to spending cuts. His number two at the Treasury, David Gauke, however, insists that is not a political stunt. He told the BBC it would improve accountability and help ensure a "sound framework for delivering sound public finances" with any chancellor having to suffer the "political embarrassment" if they did not meet its requirements. The U-turn Soon after his appointment, Mr McDonnell said he would support the charter, saying Labour was serious about deficit reduction - although he had a markedly different approach to the Conservatives towards balancing the books (he says Labour would spend more and grow the economy and collect more taxes from companies to balance the books rather than balancing the books by cutting spending). But he has now pointed to a "growing reaction" to the "nature and scale" of public spending cuts, saying Labour will vote against the charter to "underline our position as an anti-austerity party". Labour will set out an alternative plan for tackling the deficit, he says. The reaction Many Labour MPs agree the charter should be opposed, but are unhappy at the way the decision has been reached. Mr McDonnell's predecessor as shadow chancellor, Chris Leslie, says the decision to "go from one extreme to the other... sends the wrong message to the general public". Mr Corbyn's supporters say the Parliamentary Labour Party should accept the mandate of his comprehensive victory in the leadership contest, with shadow international development secretary Diane Abbott saying some in the party are still "coming to terms" with his victory. Wednesday's vote on the charter will not be the final time Mr Corbyn's leadership is tested in the House of Commons. Other potential flashpoints Nuclear weapons is an issue where Mr Corbyn's views are in direct conflict with party policy. Labour is presently committed to renewing the Trident missile system, but the party's leader is committed to opposing it, and has said he would not fire nuclear weapons if he were prime minister. Mr Corbyn says Trident will form part of a defence review being carried out by shadow defence secretary Maria Eagle. But unless he can change Labour's policy - and a bid to get it debated at conference last month was rejected - he faces the unusual prospect of rebelling against his own party when Parliament votes on the issue next year. Labour MPs could be given a free vote, which means they will not be bound by party lines, to avoid this happening. Syria air strikes David Cameron is hoping to build Commons support for air strikes on so-called Islamic State militants in Syria. Mr Corbyn is opposed to any military intervention, but not all of his MPs - or his shadow cabinet - share this view. The divisions were underlined by a bad-tempered Twitter exchange involving shadow international development secretary Diane Abbott, who criticised Labour MP Jo Cox for proposing military action to protect civilians. Ms Abbott was branded an "internet troll" by Labour MP John Woodcock after she accused him and Ms Cox of wanting to "support Cameron in his long held desire to bomb Syria". In his party conference speech, Mr Corbyn said "the answer to this complex and tragic conflict can't simply be found in a few more bombs". Also at the party conference, Mr McDonnell suggested a free vote could be held, saying he did not expect consensus within the party and that he believed a vote on military action in Syria should be made "on the basis of conscience". Welfare cap The government's cap on overall household benefits had already split the Labour Party before Mr Corbyn took over, with 48 of its MPs opposing the Welfare Reform and Work Bill, which will reduce the cap to £23,000 in London and £20,000 in the rest of the country, in defiance of the then interim leader Harriet Harman's order to abstain. Mr Corbyn has said he wants to scrap the cap altogether, calling the policy "devastating". But Owen Smith, his shadow work and pensions secretary, has said Labour is only opposing plans to reduce it. Crises averted On some key policy issues, Labour has managed to defuse potential rows. One big one that was looming was over the EU referendum - would Mr Corbyn, who had appeared lukewarm during the leadership election, go against almost all his MPs and push for a UK exit? Had he done so, he would have risked mutiny from his MPs and resignations from his front bench. But last month, under growing pressure to clarify his position, he told the BBC while policy was "developing" he could not foresee a situation where Labour would campaign for a "Brexit" under his leadership. Labour appears united in its opposition to tax credit cuts, and on one of Mr Corbyn's flagship pledges - rail re-nationalisation - after the leader said he would adopt the line-by-line approach put forward by Andy Burnham in the leadership contest. Outside the Commons The nucleus of Mr Corbyn's support lies away from Westminster, in the party's wider membership which propelled him to his overwhelming victory in the leadership contest. Given the lack of support for the leader among the Parliamentary party, some MPs fear they will be ousted as party candidates by Corbyn supporters. This fear has been fuelled by the creation of a new group, Momentum, which aims to capitalise on Mr Corbyn's victory and create a "mass movement for real progressive change". Former shadow Cabinet member Mary Creagh is among those to suggest the group could lead to a purge of those in the centre-left of the party, and MPs voiced their concerns during Monday night's Parliamentary Labour Party meeting. Corbyn-supporting MP Richard Burgon, who was reportedly heckled at the meeting, has said his colleagues have "nothing to fear" from Momentum, which will not be "inwardly meddling".

जॉर्ज ओसबोर्न की योजना पर अपनी नीति को बदलने के लेबर के फैसले ने भविष्य की सरकार पर हर साल अपनी किताबों को संतुलित करने के लिए इसे कानूनी रूप से बाध्यकारी बनाने की कोशिश की है, जेरेमी कॉर्बिन की रैंक बाहरी से पार्टी नेता तक की यात्रा के बाद पार्टी के भीतर कुछ तनाव सामने आए हैं।


Neath sinkhole filled with 64 tonnes of concrete and stone

Summary: A sinkhole which forced the closure of a main road in Neath Port Talbot has been filled with 64 tonnes of stone and concrete.

Police sealed off Cimla Road, Neath, on Thursday morning following its discovery at the bottom of Cimla Hill. Although it was only 1.5ft (0.5m) wide on the surface, the council said the void below was 20ft (6m) wide and deep. The repaired road will be resurfaced once the concrete has hardened and is expected to reopen on Monday. Refuse and recycling collections unable to take place because of the road closure will also be carried out Monday.

नीथ पोर्ट टैलबोट में एक मुख्य सड़क को बंद करने के लिए मजबूर करने वाले एक सिंकहोल को 64 टन पत्थर और कंक्रीट से भर दिया गया है।


The struggles of war babies fathered by black GIs

Summary: About 100,000 black GIs were stationed in the UK during the war. Inevitably there were love affairs, but US laws usually prevented black servicemen from marrying. So what happened to the children they fathered? Fiona Clampin met two such children in Dorset, now in their seventies, who have not given up hope of tracing their fathers.

A bottle of champagne has sat on a shelf in Carole Travers's wardrobe for the past 20 years. Wedged between boxes and covered with clothes, it'll be opened only when Carole finds her father. "There's an outside chance he might still be alive," she reflects. "I've got so many bits of information, but to know the real truth would mean the world to me - to know that I did belong to somebody." The possibility of Carole tracking down her father becomes more and more remote by the day. Born towards the end of World War Two, Carole, now 72, was the result of a relationship between her white mother and a married African-American or mixed-race soldier stationed in Poole, in Dorset. Whereas some "brown babies" (as the children of black GIs were known in the press) were put up for adoption, Carole's mother, Eleanor Reid, decided to keep her child. The only problem was, she was already married, with a daughter, to a Scot with pale skin and red hair. "I had black hair and dark skin," says Carole. "Something obviously wasn't right." The difference between Carole and her half-siblings only dawned on the young girl at the age of six, when she overheard her parents having an argument. "Does she know? Well, it's about time she did," said her stepfather, in Carole's retelling of the story. She remembers how her mother sat her down at the kitchen table and told Carole the truth about her background. "I was chuffed I was different," she says. "I used to tell my friends, 'My dad's an America,' without really knowing what that meant." In 1950s Dorset there were very few mixed-race or black children, and having one out of wedlock carried a huge stigma. Although Carole doesn't remember any specific racist remarks, she recalls the stares. Parents would shush their children when she and her family got on the bus. Carole says her "blackness" was considered cute when she was a child, but as she grew up she became more aware of her difference. "I remember once being in a club and there was a comedian who started making jokes about black people. I'm stood there and I'm thinking: 'Everyone's looking at me,'" she says. "I always felt inferior. As a teenager, I would stand back, I thought that nobody would ever want to know me because of my colour. "I was going out with one boy, and his mother found out about me. She put a stop to it because she remarked that if we had kids, they would be 'coloured'." Seventy-two-year-old John Stockley, another child of an African-American GI stationed further down the Dorset coast in Weymouth, does remember the racial abuse in striking detail. John was called names to such an extent that at the age of seven he decided he would try to turn his skin pale to be like his classmates. "I worked out that if I drank milk of magnesia [a laxative] and ate chalk I would make myself go white," he chuckles. "I think I drank over half the bottle! You can imagine the effect. It wasn't good and it tasted disgusting." In one playground incident a boy insulted him with the N-word and called him "dirty", but when John thrashed him he found himself summoned to the school office. "It was a winter's day in the early 1950s," John explains. "I was playing football and I collided with another guy. By this time I was quite fiery, I wouldn't take it, and a blow was struck. I made his nose bleed. To this day I can see the blood on the snow. "My mother lived less than 100 yards from the school, and she was summoned to the office with me. I remember her shaking next to me, holding my hand. The secretary told her what had happened and he said to my mother: 'You have to remember, Mrs Stockley, these people cannot be educated.' That puts my hackles up now." Shocking though the racism seems to us today, it was arguably family life which had a more pernicious effect on these mixed-race children. "Your mum made a mistake," one of his aunts once told John Stockley. "The 'mistake' is me," he says. John's description of his childhood spent living with his grandparents in a village behind Chesil Beach sounds idyllic. But that's to ignore the reason why he went there in the first place. Determined to punish his wife for her double transgression, John's stepfather did not allow him to live in the family home except from Monday to Friday during school term. Even then, John was not permitted to enter the house by the front door. At weekends he was packed off to his maternal grandparents, who provided him with the stable and loving family life he craved - and a refuge from his stepfather. "Of course, coming back from the war and finding his wife with a black child must have been a great shock," John acknowledges. "And they never had any children together. But there was no love at all for him from me, because of what he did to my mother. She was effectively kept in a position of restraint, and I'd see her go through depression because she wanted to do things she couldn't." John says his stepfather - a gambler and philanderer - exercised control over his mother despite the fact that she ran a successful guesthouse. He decided who John's mother could or could not be friends with, John says. "And he didn't like us to be too close. If some music came on the radio when he wasn't there, I would dance with her because she loved to jitterbug. But not when he was around. We were told to stop." Carole Travers's stepfather began divorce proceedings when he found out what his wife had done in his absence. However, when it appeared that he wouldn't get custody of their daughter (Carole's half-sister), he returned to the family home and Carole took his surname. He appeared to accept Carole on the surface, but towards the end of his life he telephoned her and dropped a bombshell. He wouldn't be leaving her anything in his will, he told her, "because you're nothing to do with me". "The money didn't matter," says Carole. "But what he said really hurt me. I told him, 'You're my dad, you've always been my dad, and you're the only dad I've ever known'." Married and with children of her own by this time, Carole started trying to trace her biological father, based on the scraps of information her mother had given her in the weeks before she died. "It just didn't occur to me to ask questions when I was younger," she says, the tone of regret in her voice clear. "My stepfather would always bring me up in any argument with my mother, referring to me as 'your bastard', and I learned not to rock the boat. I just got on with my life." Find out more Not all GI babies were able to stay with their mothers. Dr Deborah Prior was born in 1945, to a widow in Somerset and a black American serviceman. Her mother was persuaded to give her up, and for five years Deborah lived in Holnicote House, a special home for mixed-race children. Deborah spoke to Woman's Hour along with Prof Lucy Bland, who is researching this under-reported chapter of social history. Like Carole, John Stockley wanted to protect his mother by keeping quiet. "I could see it was going to upset her if I asked too many questions, and upset her was the last thing I was going to do," he says. He would take his chance occasionally, although his mother would always evade his enquiries. But John remembers with characteristic clarity the last time he brought up the subject of his real father. "I remember her saying to me in the course of a minor argument between us: 'You don't know what I've been through because of you.' "And I said to her: 'You don't know what I've been through because of you!' She went pale, and realised what she'd said and how she'd put her foot in it. But we never went any further than that. She just looked at me in a sad sort of way, and I said, 'Have I ever done anything to make you ashamed of me?' And she said no. And that was the last we ever spoke about it." It was turning 70 that prompted John to start looking for information about his father, whereas Carole has spent almost half her life searching for a man she knows only as "Burt". Neither of them has many facts to go on - Carole believes her stepfather destroyed the only photos and letters that could have helped her identify Burt. But while their searches may come to nothing, they both take solace from the fact that their mothers loved them against all the odds, and that they were born of loving relationships, not one-night stands. "My mother told me my father was the only man she ever really loved," says Carole. "And I've had Mum's friends say to me since her death: 'Don't ever feel ashamed of your background, because you were born out of love and your mum wanted you.' She knew he was going back to America and she wanted something of him, something to hold on to." Listen to Fiona Clampin's report on Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4. Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.

युद्ध के दौरान ब्रिटेन में लगभग 100,000 काले जी. आई. तैनात थे। अनिवार्य रूप से प्रेम संबंध थे, लेकिन अमेरिकी कानून आमतौर पर काले सैनिकों को शादी करने से रोकते थे। तो उनके बच्चों का क्या हुआ? फियोना क्लैम्पिन डोरसेट में ऐसे दो बच्चों से मिलीं, जो अब अपने सत्तर के दशक में हैं, जिन्होंने अपने पिता का पता लगाने की उम्मीद नहीं छोड़ी है।


Eccentric and edible: England's attachment to vegetables

Summary: Vegetables. Not a word which immediately conjures up joy, celebration, and a great day out. But across England, towns and villages hold annual fairs - or often "fayres" - in honour of the humble onion, the delicate asparagus and peppery watercress.

By Bethan BellJournalist, BBC News England's festivals in celebration of both fruit and vegetables may not have the exuberance of Spain's Tomatina - where participants hurl tomatoes at each other in a frenzy of delight - but English stiff upper lips unfurl enough to sing the praises of peas, rhapsodise over rhubarb, and cheer about cherries. And while not the foodie heaven of France, it is worth taking a tour around England's green and pleasant land to enjoy the delights of the edible and the eccentric. Moved to tears Newent Onion Fayre, Gloucestershire In the 13th Century, drovers from Wales would pass through the village of Newent and stock up on onions at the onion fayre. The market survived until the beginning of the 20th Century, when it dwindled through the war years. But the event was resurrected in 1996 as a way to showcase - in the words of the organisers - the "magnificent onion". Now in its 19th modern year, it hosts an onion-eating competition, an onion show, a biggest onion contest, demonstrations of onion recipes, and a competition for the best onion character. Gone today, hair tomorrow Alresford Watercress Festival, Hampshire Watercress has been used historically to remedy hair loss and was used by Roman generals to help them make bold decisions. Alresford, then, should be full of hirsute risk-takers, as it prides itself on being the UK's "capital of watercress". Streets come to a standstill as the first watercress, freshly cut from a nearby farm, is brought into town on a traditional horse and cart. The newly-crowned watercress king and queen ride on the cart and hand out the peppery crop to the public. Why watercress? It stems back to the original "watercress queen", Eliza James, who created vast watercress beds in Hampshire. Born in the mid-1800s, by the age of five she was already hawking bunches of wild watercress around factories in Birmingham, later moving to London and establishing a near monopoly on the city's watercress restaurant and hotel trade. She set up her own farms, becoming the biggest owner of watercress sites anywhere in the world. At the time of her death in 1927 at the age of 72, the company she founded was handling 50 tonnes of watercress every weekend. Her fields are still used for watercress production. Night stalkers Wakefield Rhubarb Festival, West Yorkshire Although the plant is a native of Siberia, a 9-sq-mile (23-sq-km ) region between Wakefield, Morley and Rothwell has become known as the "Rhubarb Triangle", famous for producing early forced rhubarb. West Yorkshire once produced 90% of the world's winter forced rhubarb, which is not a fruit but a vegetable, and grown in the dark. The 10-day festival includes rhubarb tasting, rhubarb recipes, and tours of rhubarb sheds - which are so popular they are ticket-only events. Too tart to eat raw, the cook's default is crumble, although chef Gregg Wallace recommends having it with gammon. Over the years, farmers in the Rhubarb Triangle have developed secret methods to produce the most tender and sweet version of rhubarb. It is thought many of the closely-guarded techniques involve an upturned bucket. Growing, growing, gone Evesham Asparagus Festival, Worcestershire A vegetable with only an eight-week season, asparagus has the unusual distinction of being both an aphrodisiac and a diuretic. Asparagus has been a tasty delicacy for millennia - methods for cooking it are in the oldest surviving book of recipes, (if you are not familiar with it, it is Apicius's first-century AD De Re Coquinaria), but the vegetable only became popular in England in the 16th Century. Asparagus beds take about three years before they can be harvested, but once established the spears can grow as speedily as an inch every hour. Arthur Young, an 18th Century agriculturalist, visited Evesham in 1768 and his book, A Six Months Tour of the North of England, published in 1771, documents how asparagus was carried from Evesham to Bath and Bristol. The Round of Gras in nearby Badsey lays claim to being the only pub in the world to be named after a bunch of asparagus. The festival includes the crowning of the asparagus king and queen, asparagus-eating competitions, and a display from an "asparamancer" - who predicts the future by reading the way stalks fall on the floor. Predictions for 2014 include: the weather situation in the Far East will worsen, a supergroup will announce it is splitting up, and sportspeople will have a miserable and unsuccessful year. Give peas a chance Peasenhall Pea Festival, Suffolk One of the earliest crops cultivated by man, more than 1,000 varieties of pea are in existence today. Most of England's peas are grown in East Anglia or Lincolnshire, and only 5% are sold fresh. Britain's top-selling frozen vegetable, nearly 200-sq-miles (about 500-sq-km) of peas are grown annually for human consumption and nearly 300-sq-miles (about 800-sq-km) for animal feed. The name of Peasenhall is thought to have come from the Middle English for "where peas are grown". Visitors to the festival can join in pea-related games, share pea recipes and even have a shot at becoming a world champion at the World Pea Podding Championship. "We are quite confident in saying it is the World Pea Podding Championship," its organisers said, "because it is the only pea podding championship." Cherry on top Faversham Cherry Festival, Kent Perhaps the ultimate "I-can't-stop-eating-them" fruit, all things cherry are celebrated at this two-day festival. Keen spitters can try their hand - or rather their mouth - at breaking a world record at this cherry fete. The current holder of the cherry stone spitting world record is Brian Krause of the USA. He managed to project his pip 28.5m (93ft 6.5in). People unconcerned about their waistline may like to enter the pie-eating competition. Cherry-tasting, cherry displays, and cherry experts are also on offer. Plumming the depths Pershore Plum Festival, Worcestershire If sugarplum fairies dance in your head, you could do worse than head to Pershore, where an annual plum festival is held in honour of its orchards which date back to medieval times. A 1920s poster advertising the event described it as the "largest plum show on earth" - not that there was much competition - and in 1927, Great Western Railways enhanced the town's reputation by naming a train "The Pershore Plum". Festival highlights include a "plum charmer", who plays his clarinet to the fledgling plums - thus ensuring a bumper crop. He follows in the 400-year-old footsteps of Thomas Nevill, a farmer who swore that his plums tasted sweeter after he had played the penny whistle to them. The festival draws in the celebrities too - Antiques Roadshow stalwart Henry Sandon is usually in attendance, impressionist Alistair McGowan is the event's patron and actor Trevor Harrison (who plays Eddie Grundy in The Archers) has also been known to grace the event with his presence. Proud of its plum-related heritage, in 2011 the town council wanted new streets named after varieties of the amygdaloideae. But the district council pulled rank and told it to abandon its fruity ideas. The streets were named after war heroes instead.

सब्ज़ियाँ। ऐसा कोई शब्द नहीं जो तुरंत आनंद, उत्सव और एक महान दिन का संकेत देता हो। लेकिन पूरे इंग्लैंड में, कस्बों और गाँवों में वार्षिक मेले आयोजित किए जाते हैं-या अक्सर "फेयर"-साधारण प्याज, नाजुक शकरकंद और काली मिर्च के सम्मान में।


Didcot: The power station that inspired poetry

Summary: Beautiful to some, a blot on the countryside to others, Didcot Power Station's monumental cooling towers have dominated the landscape of rural Oxfordshire for decades. But they will produce clouds of dust rather than steam when they are demolished on Sunday.

By Michael RaceBBC News The power station's gigantic, concrete towers in the heart of Midsomer Murders country have stood in stark contrast to their surroundings for more than 50 years. Public opinion is divided over the structure's good, bad, and ugly aspects. Some point to the jobs and communities it has created, while others highlight its 655ft (199.5m) smoke-belching chimney - one of the tallest structures in the UK - and say it is part of dirty industry they want to abolish forever. Country Life readers voted the landmark Britain's third worst eyesore in 2003 and the site has long been the site of protests by environmentalists. But to others the towers have been a source of inspiration. The novelist, Dame Marina Warner, who made a BBC documentary about the power station in 1991, described them as "like the dark satanic mills [but with] a sort of incredible furious beauty". "It appealed to me because I just used to find the cooling towers very beautiful when I saw them from the road," she said. "The big streaming clouds of steam over this beautiful valley and also there were points to make. I wanted to make a point about the ecology. "I just thought they should be recognised as achievements and also of expressions of a certain moment of triumphalism, a sort of human excessive triumphalism over nature which we now must say goodbye to." To the poet Kit Wright, who published An Ode to Didcot Power Station in 2014, they are "a marvel of the plain". "No-one would normally think that a coal power station was actually tremendously beautiful, but you get lured into it, you get to think it - so it becomes so," he said. "The eye becomes accustomed to places and so does the heart really. "It sort of earns its place it ones emotions. It'll be interesting to see what it looks like when nothing is there." That enough people will be sad to see the towers go is possibly due to their design. The architect Sir Frederick Gibberd, who had already designed Liverpool's Metropolitan Cathedral, took care to ensure the cooling towers and chimney were "sympathetic" to the landscape. Artists Rachel Barbaresi and Susanna Round, who were commissioned to photograph the station prior to it being decommissioned, discovered Sir Frederick's early drawings of the power station at the back of a filing cabinet in the coal plant. Plans from 1965 showed eight cooling towers standing together before Gibberd reduced the number to six and constructed them in two sets of three, a mile apart, to mitigate their visual impact. "You cannot see it without being aware of the environmental consequences, but in terms of the design we found it very fascinating," Ms Barbaresi said. So why was this concrete pile placed in the middle of the verdant Thames valley? For the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB), which commissioned the power station back in 1964, it was a strategic decision. The site, a former Ministry of Defence depot, was "freely available" to the government at the time, according to Lyn Bowen, who switched on the power station in 1970 and turned it off in 2013. The town's railway line and proximity to the Thames also meant the location was right for the tonnes of coal and gallons of water the power station would require. Despite local protests - employment benefits outweighed the landscape concerns - the six towers were completed in 1968, before the power station joined the National Grid in 1970. During its construction, a recruitment campaign was launched in areas where heavy industry jobs had been cut, but experienced workers remained. At the age of 25, Des Healy, had already been made redundant three times from jobs in Glasgow's shipyards and steel works. Unemployed and with a young family, the skilled engineer signed up and moved to Didcot. "We went to a local library to ask where Didcot was and I had three little librarians with maps of the south of England trying to find out and making phone calls," he laughed. "One guy said I think it is in Oxfordshire and the second question was 'Where is Oxfordshire?'." The 72-year-old said journeys like his were not uncommon, with workers drafted in from industrial areas in Scotland, northern England and south Wales. Mr Healy would go on to become a senior shop steward and retire after 28 years in the town, where he still lives today. The arrival of new employees saw houses built and new communities forged as the historic railway town entered a new era and identity. Lyn Bowen, who moved to the area to run the plant, said the "only thing missing" when he first visited Didcot was "tumbleweed". The 79-year-old remembers the excitement he felt, flicking the switch in the control room as the power station was turned on. "All the pieces had been put together and it works," he recalled. From that day, its boilers consumed 185 tonnes of coal every hour, which was burned to raise the temperature of the steam so high - 568C - so that it powered four mighty turbines. The turbines then spun a generator rapidly to produce 2,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity to power millions of homes. The steam, still roaring hot, was condensed and allowed to escape through the six giant cooling towers. But despite an increase in jobs and prosperity, Mr Healy said opinions were always split on the station. "A lot of people felt it was dirty and noisy, which it was, because coal by virtue of what it is, coal is dirty," he said. "If this power station had been built on the Clyde or the Tyne, I'm sure there would be a different attitude because all the money and jobs it brought to this area - those areas would have welcomed it with open arms." Mr Healy, who became a Labour councillor and was mayor between 2015 and 2016, said he "always wanted to give back" because "Didcot was good to me and my family". After new EU reduced emissions rules were brought in, the owners RWE Power decided to decommission the power station in 2013. The three southern cooling towers were demolished a year later, but in February 2016, as engineers prepared the rest of the site for demolition, tragedy struck. The 10-storey boiler house collapsed, killing workers Ken Cresswell, 57, John Shaw, 61, Michael Collings, 53, and Christopher Huxtable, 34. It took more than six months for their bodies to be recovered from the site. Three years on, investigators have examined 870 tonnes of the collapsed structure and Thames Valley Police and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) are investigating possible manslaughter and health and safety offences. Mr Bowen said it was a "poignant moment" when he switched off Didcot A after 43 years of service. "The big sadness I have got with it going is that it reflects the end of British Engineering," he said. "It's the end of an era." Mr Healy, who says he will watch the towers come down with his family, added: "People who are happy to see it come down will be rejoicing. "People like myself who were brought out of unemployment and who were given secure futures for our families will think of the good times it brought us." The future of the site is not known, although more than 15,000 new homes are set to be built in the area over the next 20 years. Perhaps these developments will signal the start of another new era for the town, with new families moving in just as the power station workers did in the 1970s. The government plans to phase out the UK's last coal-fired plants by 2025 to reduce carbon emissions. Dame Marina believes the architects of such stations should not be "vilified". "The work these buildings were doing was for everybody," she says. "This was the engine of society - this kind of fuel consuming and fuel making machine." Between 06:00 and 08:00 BST hundreds will watch on as the three northern cooling towers are blown down, leaving the giant chimney to stand alone until the autumn. The Oxfordshire skyline will never look the same again.

कुछ लोगों के लिए सुंदर, दूसरों के लिए ग्रामीण इलाकों पर एक धब्बा, डिडकोट पावर स्टेशन के स्मारकीय शीतलन टावरों ने दशकों से ग्रामीण ऑक्सफोर्डशायर के परिदृश्य पर अपना दबदबा बनाया हुआ है। लेकिन जब रविवार को उन्हें ध्वस्त किया जाएगा तो वे भाप के बजाय धूल के बादल पैदा करेंगे।


Norwich Cathedral peregrine falcons: Watching the watchers

Summary: A grey blur with flashes of yellow streaks across the sky at speeds of 200mph - a "pure muscle assassin" chasing down its prey one minute, a doting parent feeding three chicks at the top of a wind-buffeted cathedral spire the next.

By Martin BarberBBC News, Norfolk The daily wildlife drama surrounding the Norwich Cathedral peregrine falcon family has become addictive viewing for millions of people watching online around the world and for thousands of visitors to the cathedral's watch point. For one man, observing the chicks' progress has become a labour of love as he spends hours in his "den" recording them via a live web stream to tell their story. "I really try not to get paternal - but I probably do," said Dave Gittens, a volunteer with the Hawk and Owl Trust (HOT) who is responsible for the live nest-cams. "I try really hard to be objective, they are wild animals, they are doing things we might find distasteful or difficult to watch - and when they die naturally, to watch a chick go through its last moments of life is terrible." Mr Gittens said he spends what "feels like 90 days" watching the breeding season - but quickly adds "it's not an arduous task, it's a real privilege to be in a position where you can see these birds." The peregrine falcons, nesting on a special platform on the cathedral spire 246ft (75m) above the ground, have been breeding in Norwich since 2011 as part of an urban peregrine breeding programme managed by the Hawk and Owl Trust. This year's chicks, among the first in the city for more than 200 years after the pair's first successful clutch in 2012, hatched at the end of April. Mr Gittens said the moment was exhilarating. "The excitement of seeing the first chick hatch, watching with trepidation as they walk up and down the nest ledge. "Your knees go weak, you get bouts of vertigo for them, you can almost hear the people screaming on Facebook - at this stage they are right on the cusp of being flight ready - but they're only just ready. "Until you see them flying around and all the rest of it - it's heart-stopping," he said. 'Hands-on' approach Mr Gittens describes himself as "a cog in the wheel" with more than 100 volunteers working on the urban peregrine project. While he watches the birds in their nest from the comfort of his den, others tackle the elements to take a more "hands-on" approach to capturing images of them. "I quickly became addicted to these superb and charismatic birds," said Norwich-based photographer Andy Thompson, who can spend more than 270 hours taking pictures of the adults and their chicks during the breeding season. "It can be quite cold and bleak... but any activity gets the adrenaline going as you follow them around the skies." "Fledging time is often the most exciting period... but it can also be quite an upsetting time as unfortunately the birds do have accidents and may get killed," said Mr Thompson. "This is a natural thing that happens in urban and rural nesting areas, but it is still somewhat a blow when a bird you have watched for many weeks is suddenly no more." 'Pure muscle assassin' The birds are the fastest thing on earth with an ability to fly at more than 200mph (322km/h) when diving for prey, making them faster than a cheetah and on-par with a Formula 1 car. Wildlife presenter Chris Packham, who returns to RSPB Minsmere in Suffolk for the new season of Springwatch on 25 May, is a big fan of the peregrine and the urban projects. "They are the fastest things on earth... which struck me as almost unbelievable when I was 10 and still does now," he said. "They look pure muscle assassin, brutal, totally hard, it's the eye and the moustacial stripe and the massive feet - their weapons. "If I was re-incarnated as another species of animal there is only one I'd be... and it isn't a pigeon." The wildlife expert and conservationist is also a keen supporter of the urban peregrine scheme. There are a number of nesting projects on buildings across the country including Bath, Derby and Nottingham. "If you own a tall building... you should be putting up nest boxes," he said. The hours Mr Gittens spends watching the peregrines needs an "understanding" from his wife Caroline. She says she is "very proud" of the work as it brings "so much pleasure to millions of people". "I totally support him... it's something we both enjoy and get a kick out of," she said. "They are just such a fantastic bird - it's great we have the technology to be able to see them 24/7 - to see the body language and the things they get up to - it's a privilege." 'Back to nature' Peregrine falcon numbers declined during the 19th and 20th centuries due to illegal shooting and use of certain pesticides on farms. The species became almost extinct in the 1960s but became protected in 1981. There are about 1,500 breeding pairs in the UK, according to the RSPB. The Norfolk-based British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) is currently collating data from a peregrine survey recorded last summer with the results expected later in the year. Early analysis shows "more peregrines are now breeding in lowland England than during the last survey in 2002, especially in the urban environment," said Dawn Balmer from the trust. Despite the long hours and heart-stopping moments, Dave Gittens said he would never change his hours of watching. "It's rewarding - it makes you feel you've provided a service to people to bring them closer back to nature."

200 मील प्रति घंटे की गति से आसमान में पीली धारियों की चमक के साथ एक धूसर धुंधलापन-एक "शुद्ध मांसपेशियों का हत्यारा" एक मिनट में अपने शिकार का पीछा करता है, एक चित्ताकर्षक माता-पिता एक हवा से भरे कैथेड्रल शिखर के शीर्ष पर तीन चूजों को खिला रहा है।


Man charged with Lincolnshire woman's murder

Summary: A man has been charged with murder following the death of a woman at a house in Lincolnshire.

Marie Gibson, 35, was pronounced dead at her home in Lacey Gardens, Louth on Saturday, police said. Shane Murphy, 27, of Little Lane, Louth is being held in custody and will appear at Lincoln Magistrates' Court later. Officers are appealing for witnesses who were in the area early on Saturday afternoon.

लिंकनशायर में एक घर में एक महिला की मौत के बाद एक व्यक्ति पर हत्या का आरोप लगाया गया है।


How gang that blew up cash machines was caught

Summary: A seven-man gang that blew up cash machines across the UK, including four in Scotland, stealing hundreds of thousands of pounds, have been handed jail sentences ranging from 10 years to life imprisonment .

By Steven BrocklehurstBBC Scotland news website During their year-long crime spree 13 banks and shops were targeted, with some ATMs blown up using "powerful explosives" and others being dragged away by stolen cars and attacked with high-powered tools to access the cash. The gang's getaways were compared to blockbuster movies such as Fast and Furious and the Italian Job after they made off at high-speed in stolen performance cars which were then hidden in a lorry that doubled as a hangout for the criminals to lie low. It was an attack on a cash machine at a Co-op in Carnoustie in Angus in February 2016 that proved to be the gang's last. They hauled the ATM out of the wall with a stolen Land Rover before seizing £16,000 in cash. Hours after the robbery an off-duty police officer spotted a suspicious car seven miles away in Arbroath. As shocked diners looked on, armed police swooped on the car park at the town's McDonald's. Five men, all from the Merseyside area, were arrested after the police fired tyre deflation rounds at the gang's Mercedes as they tried to get away. In the weeks leading up to the arrests, detectives in Scotland and England were already closing in on the gang. It was after an overnight raid on the cash machine at the Co-op in Kingswells, on the outskirts of Aberdeen, in August 2015 that police made a major breakthrough. CCTV from a nearby industrial estate picked up a rendezvous between a lorry and high-performance car as the gang headed back to England. Det Supt Alex Dowall told BBC Scotland: "We became aware that the group actually had access to a stolen HGV and they were using high-powered motor cars to commit these crimes." The gang had hammocks in the back of the HGV so they could use it as a portable base and additional fuel so they did not need to be seen going to service stations. The lorry, which was traced to a yard in Wigan, also had gas equipment, power tools and ramps to drive a stolen Audi in and out. Det Supt Dowall said: "They were transporting the Audi within the HGV in order to not draw attention to themselves travelling the length and breadth of the country." He said the gang were "highly organised" and came up with "pretty ingenious" ways to avoid detection. "They had even cut out a small area within the outer skin of the HGV covers to allow them access in and out without drawing attention to themselves by opening the rear of the lorry," the detective said. The gang's technique for blowing up the ATMs involved running oxy-acetylene canisters directly into the cash machine and igniting the gas with a spark from a car battery. In total, the robbers stole £550,000, including £110,000 from four raids in Scotland. They raided cash machines in Sonnings Common and Woodstock, Oxfordshire; Alsager and Culcheth, Cheshire; Huyton, Merseyside; Hucclecote, Gloucestershire; Swindon, Wiltshire; Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk; as well as in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Carnoustie, and Perth. They stole a £56,000 Audi RS4 from a house in Garthdee, Aberdeen, in May 2015. A month later they took £51,000 from a cash machine at a Tesco Express in Newtonhill, Aberdeenshire. The Kingswells Co-op raid in August resulted in £16,000 and in January 2016 the gang stole £27,000 from a Co-op in Perth. The police said there did not seem to be a pattern to the places targeted in the raids. They said the techniques they used were extremely risky and it was fortunate no-one was hurt. The gang and their sentences:

स्कॉटलैंड में चार सहित पूरे ब्रिटेन में नकदी मशीनों को उड़ाने वाले सात लोगों के गिरोह को 10 साल से लेकर आजीवन कारावास तक की जेल की सजा सुनाई गई है।