Great British Bake Off: A baker's dozen of things to know about the new series

Summary: Ah, it's that time again. Great British Bake Off is back next week, easing us into those cooler autumn evenings with talk of proving, the gingham altar and, of course, soggy bottoms.

By Emma SaundersEntertainment reporter This time we can relax - following last year's controversial move to Channel 4 from the BBC, our worst fears weren't realised. Sandi Toksvig and Noel Fielding had more chemistry than Heston Blumenthal's egg and bacon ice cream and Prue proved a fine replacement for her baking pal Mary Berry. And ol' blue eyes, aka Paul Hollywood, was there to steady the ship. This year, the Bake Off team are trying something new - having previously experimented with gluten-free bakes, the forthcoming series will feature a vegan week. "Veganism seems to be growing and we wanted to represent that," Paul tells the BBC. But there won't be any allowances for the lack of eggs and dairy. "You can't just say: 'It's okay for vegan [food].' It has to taste good, period," Paul explains. But when asked if he would consider going vegan, there's a stunned silence before he asks incredulously: "Are you joking?" So creme "pate" and Genoese sponge are very much still on the menu. Here are 13 - that's a baker's dozen, don't you know - other things we learned about the new series (we don't give too much away but if you really want to steer clear of any Bake Off revelations ahead of the first show, look away now). 1. THAT tweet. How could we forget the moment when Prue tweeted the name of last year's winner before the final had aired? Well, let's just say they don't shy away from the unfortunate event in the first episode's opening scene. In fact, it's pretty prominent. We don't want to spoil the surprise but Prue and Noel ARE in costume and if you like classic 80s movies, you won't be disappointed. Prue is now comfortable with her tweeting controversy. "I'll know I'm a has-been when people stop telling me not to tweet," she jokes. Paul certainly isn't letting her forget it - when England were playing in the World Cup during filming and they wanted to wait to watch it on catch-up after a long day on set, Paul told Prue: "I'm going to text you the result before you get back." 2. Paul Hollywood really IS scary Prue was "hugely relieved" the first series was a success. "I only got nervous when I realised how important it [Bake Off] was! I've judged food all my life so I was never nervous about the actual job [but] I was a bit frightened of Paul Hollywood." (You're not alone, Prue.) The culinary entrepreneur admits she's very comfortable bathing in the GBBO spotlight. "I'm such an egotist, I love it! I can't tell you what it does for my street cred with my grandchildren." 3. The hot weather is the baker's foe - again Every year, pretty much without fail, there's at least one episode where the heat in the tent causes serious baking issues. Chocolate and butter start melting under the pressure, along with the contestants. But surely this year's long-running heatwave proved more troublesome than usual? "There were a couple of challenges where the weather came into effect," Paul admits but he's not giving anything else away. Sorry. 4. Danish pastry anyone? It's not just vegan week that's new this year - there will also be a Danish week. Paul says "it seemed apt with Sandi (who is half Danish) - we asked her for ideas." Mmm, we're thinking berries, apple, cinnamon and custard. Not necessarily in that order. 5. The ones to watch There are a dozen bakers hoping to win and it's early days of course but here are our favourites so far: Rahul - a nuclear research scientist no less. Who can't stop talking. Paul can't get a word in edgeways. Neither can Sandy. And he has a lovely "chubby little face". Paul's words, not ours. Antony - could be this year's Selasi. Laid back, funny and cool as a cucumber. Unlike the temperature in the tent during this year's heatwave. Manon - she's French. Therefore, brilliant at baking. Obviously. And calls Wagon Wheels Wheelie Wagons. Too cute. Terry - elder statesman (ok, so he's only 56) with an amazing moustache. Former air steward and prosthetic technician who has his own microbrewery. We're hooked already. Moreover, he's the only one to use a 3D technique in the first technical challenge. Terry, we salute you. Ruby - wears her heart on her sleeve and her feelings on her face. If there are going to be any showdowns with Paul, we have a feeling Rubes might be in the mix (geddit?) Karen - Yorkshire lass who Paul describes as a cross between Su Pollard and Dame Edna (ok, that's how he describes her signature bake but it is a self-portrait). 6. The rude bits Laugh-out-loud moment of the first episode? Don't miss Kim-Joy's classic take on Dan's big biscuit. That's all we're saying. And if you're worried there's not quite enough innuendo in episode one, Prue tells us: "Don't worry, you'll get some." (Fnarr fnarr). Paul suggests there should be an outtakes show post-11pm for the really rude stuff - we NEED that commission! 7. Noel's naughty tricks Sadly for us, Prue says she's "learning to be discreet" after Tweetgate. Which means she won't reveal what tricks Noel plays on her and Paul off camera: "I'm not going to say them in public!" But Paul says he and Noel's "humour is very similar". Frightening. 8. Noel the musician Noel serenades Prue regularly with his own special version of Chris Isaac's Wicked Game: "I never dreamed that I'd love somebody like Prue." Who knew? He's also seen sporting an Elvis-inspired hair-do in episode one. And Paul says we'll see quite a few changes to Noel's barnet as the weeks go by. 9. The Fab Four all like each other outside the tent - really They usually eat (and drink!) together after a shoot. And they have a WhatsApp chat group. We want to join. "Sandi and Noel are really funny and exactly the same off set as on," says Prue, to our relief. 10. Is Paul mellowing? "I wanted to go back to basics to a point - we want to get the general public baking, so on the challenges, we reined it back a little bit [this year]. We've given a little bit more information on the more challenging technicals." And you may see some more of his famous handshakes: "I give a handshake when they deserve one - there are quite a few this year." 11. The Jaffa Cake debate is over Master baker Paul Hollywood says they ARE biscuits although sadly, he "can't quite fit them" in his tea for a dunk. 12. The first showstopper challenge is... drumroll... A biscuit selfie. Yep, you heard that right. Bit gimmicky but who cares? So what would Paul's selfie biccie look like? Prue suggests he'd be on a motorbike and would "have a squashy middle". Ouch. But Paul doesn't entirely disagree: "Crispy and hard on the outside, a little bit soft on the inside." Bless. 13. Trying the challenges themselves Prue says she likes to try things out herself - well, it's only fair. "I quite often bake it [the technical challenge] the week before so I know what I'm talking about. A lot of these things - it's years since I baked them. And then I quite often bake things after the show, I will get the recipes [from the contestants]. Paul kindly puts the onus on us: "People should challenge themselves at home, put the timer on, bake it and put it on Twitter." Paul, you make it sound so simple. The Great British Bake Off returns to Channel 4 on Tuesday 28 August at 8pm. Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.

आह, यह फिर से वह समय है। ग्रेट ब्रिटिश बेक ऑफ अगले सप्ताह वापस आ गया है, जो हमें उन ठंडी शरद ऋतु की शामों में आसान बनाता है, जिसमें गिंगम वेदी और, निश्चित रूप से, सूगी तलहटी साबित करने की बात होती है।


Q&A: The NHS shake-up

Summary: The government is carrying out major reforms to the NHS in England. GPs will be given much more responsibility for spending much of the budget, hospitals are to be set free from central control and an independent board will oversee services. It has been dubbed the most radical plan in the history of the NHS.

Who is responsible for the budget now and how could that change? About 80% of the budget is held by local managers working for Primary Care Trusts (PCTs). There are 151 of these in England and they are effectively in charge of commissioning local services, such as hospitals, GPs, mental health units and community clinics. Ministers will transfer much of that responsibility to GPs working in consortiums across the country. Around 50 have already signed up to the scheme. Both PCTs and regional bodies known as Strategic Health Authorities are to be phased out over the next few years, with funding going directly to GPs. The reforms do not affect the health service in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which are devolved to their national administrations. Has anything like this been tried before? Yes, although not quite on this scale. During the 1990s, the Tories created GP fundholding which allowed doctors to take charge of local budgets. Only half of them signed up in the end and the budget was limited to only the most basic parts of hospital care such as elective operations like knee and hip replacements. The latest model is far more wide-ranging. When Labour came to power, they scrapped fundholding, believing it had divided the profession. But within a few years ministers were launching their own version. This was called practice-based commissioning and encouraged GPs to work in partnership with neighbouring practices. However, many doctors said they have found it too bureaucratic and so it has not taken off across the country. Why does the government want to do it then? Health Secretary Andrew Lansley sees it as the key to making the NHS more responsive to patients. He believes GPs know what works best and wants to tap into their entrepreneurial spirit to drive improvement from the front-line. If it is successful, it may also help to save money. The NHS has been told to make up to £20bn of savings by 2014. Getting GPs to take on some management responsibility could help the health service cut the number of managers it employs. What do the experts think? The scheme have been criticised by some doctors, nurses and patient groups. They are concerned about the speed of reforms, and financial pressures on the NHS. The Commons Health Select Committee has said meeting efficiency savings will test the NHS to the limit. Doubts remain about whether there will be enough interest in every area to get effective consortiums of GPs set up across the country. It is also acknowledged that the policy is not without risks. Sceptics have questioned whether it is wise to give what are effectively independent businesses - GPs are not employees of the NHS in the same way other doctors are - such vast amounts of money. Some are also critical of the idea because they see it as unnecessary upheaval and reorganisation at a time when the NHS is under pressure to become more efficient. What about the independent board? The initiative has long been championed by the Tories. They have hailed it as a way of setting the NHS free from political interference. It is likely to be created from the current NHS management board which sits in the Department of Health and includes regional health chiefs. The board will be given responsibility for setting standards and holding GPs to account. It is also expected to take charge of paying for some services which are not being given to the GP consortiums. These include dentistry and specialist services such as paediatric intensive care, which are only done in the largest hospitals. In the future, the Department of Health could be renamed the Department of Public Health to concentrate on issues such as obesity and alcohol abuse. Are hospitals changing too? Yes, and potentially quite radically too. The White Paper talked about creating a "vibrant" industry of social enterprises. Key to this is getting all trusts to attain self-governing foundation trust status - nearly two thirds have so far. What is more, the cap on private income is to be lifted, allowing them to compete with private firms in a host of areas. This in itself is quite a significant step. The government has also talked about hospitals going a step further and becoming employee-led bodies as the retailer John Lewis is. However, that would be complicated to achieve. For one thing, hospitals have considerable assets, such as buildings, which are owned by the state and would need to be bought. This would prove too expensive if they were valued at market prices. What changes will patients see? Visually, none. They will still walk through the doors of their local GP surgery and talk to the same staff they always do. However, if the government achieves its aim they may find themselves with more control over their care. Mr Lansley has said the reforms set out a vision for an NHS led by patients and professionals, not by politicians. He has said patients will be handed more choice over how and where they are treated. They can already choose which hospital they want to go to for non-emergency operations, such as knee and hip replacements. In the future, this choice is to be extended to GPs. Practice boundaries will be scrapped, enabling a patient to register with any family doctor they wish to. Patients have been promised more and clearer information. Central to this will be HealthWatch, a patient body which will collate information on performance and feedback from patients themselves. What happens now? This year will see GPs start piloting the plans, before full roll out is completed by April 2013. The existing management structure - PCTs and Strategic Health Authorities - is likely to be abolished within three years. All NHS trusts should gain foundation trust status by 2013 as well. What is the situation elsewhere in the UK? Health is a devolved power and as such the plans affect only England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have not given responsibility to GPs on this scale. They have traditionally relied on more input from the medical profession for the management of local services. In Scotland, there are 14 health boards with doctors given senior roles. Wales has something similar following a restructuring last year which saw 22 health boards and local NHS trusts merged into seven larger health boards in charge of delivering and monitoring services. Northern Ireland has an integrated health and social care system with four boards in charge of monitoring the performance of NHS trusts.

सरकार इंग्लैंड में एन. एच. एस. में बड़े सुधार कर रही है। जी. पी. को बजट का अधिकांश हिस्सा खर्च करने की अधिक जिम्मेदारी दी जाएगी, अस्पतालों को केंद्रीय नियंत्रण से मुक्त किया जाना है और एक स्वतंत्र बोर्ड सेवाओं की देखरेख करेगा। इसे एन. एच. एस. के इतिहास में सबसे क्रांतिकारी योजना करार दिया गया है।


Open-air prison: Rohingya cut off in Myanmar town

Summary: Getting into Aung Mingalar as a journalist is relatively simple. We visited a couple of government offices, had a letter written for us and then after having our documents forensically examined, were allowed in.

By Jonah FisherBBC News, Aung Mingalar, Rakhine state For the Buddhists who dominate the Rakhine capital, Sittwe, it is even easier. Their buses, rickshaws and motorbikes just get waved through by the police. Many even use the main road as a short cut just to reach another part of town. For the residents of Aung Mingalar, however, things are very different. The 4,000 Muslim Rohingya who live inside are effectively prisoners - restricted first by the police checkpoints and then by the Rakhine Buddhist community that surrounds them on all sides and constantly looks on. "The police will not allow us out, because if they do, they know we will be beaten by the Rakhine [Buddhists]," a young Rohingya man said. Three years ago the Muslim and Buddhist communities in Sittwe lived fairly amicably side by side. Then in 2012 there were several outbreaks of sectarian violence and most of Sittwe's Muslims fled into camps to the north-west of the town. Both communities were affected, but the vast majority of those killed and displaced were Rohingya. Stateless and unwanted by either Myanmar (also known as Burma) or Bangladesh, it is thought that about 800,000 of them live in Rakhine state, their movements and rights heavily restricted. When violence swept through Sittwe, the people of Aung Mingalar were among the few Muslims who decided to stay in their homes. Their neighbourhood quickly turned into a Rohingya ghetto, wrapped in barbed wire and over-run by security. Cut off from the outside world, it is now a miserable open-air prison. Despite its central location, there are no regular aid deliveries here and just getting money to buy food is a struggle for many. Prior to the violence, Maung Ni was a successful tailor working mainly for Buddhist customers. Now he sits in a shack with a leaky roof, sewing on a machine that a friend has kindly lent him. "I've sold everything I can," he said. "My bicycle, my rickshaw - I just don't know what to do next." Healthcare 'backbone' Twice a week, the people of Aung Mingalar club together to make a shopping trip. On Wednesdays and Sundays, six Rohingya pay 20,000 kyat ($20, £12) each in return for a security escort from the police. There is a big market just round the corner, but such is the local animosity that they must leave Sittwe and go to the camps for displaced Rohingya to buy more supplies. There is also a hospital, Sittwe General, just a few blocks away. But for now the residents of Aung Mingalar have no access to doctors or healthcare. The medical aid agency Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF) used to visit regularly and, if necessary, would arrange an escort to one of the 10 beds in the hospital designated for Rohingya patients. That has now stopped after a well-organised campaign by Buddhist groups led to the government suspending MSF across Rakhine state. It has left a big hole in the international aid effort. "MSF has been the backbone of the entire international health response in Rakhine. They have been providing healthcare to over half a million people," said Mark Cutts, head of the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs Myanmar office. Few of the aid agencies operating in Rakhine will speak openly about their work. MSF's "crimes" in the eyes of their critics are two-fold. Firstly, by stressing that they assist people on the basis of needs rather than over simple even-handedness, many Buddhists believe the charity has favoured the Muslims over them. Secondly, in what may have been the final straw, MSF released information corroborating reports that Rohingya communities had been under attack. In January the government vehemently denied that there had been violence near the border town of Maungdaw, only for MSF to contradict them by saying their clinic had treated 22 people fleeing the area. "If MSF were just doing their job - they wouldn't have to leave," said Than Thun, one of the organisers of the anti-MSF demonstrations. "But MSF kept getting the wrong information about these Bengalis, or Rohingya, and giving it to the international community. They have inflamed the conflict here." During the day we spent in Aung Mingalar, we saw a sick baby girl, her ailing mother and several elderly people badly in need of medicine. For now there is no one to see them or offer treatment. The Burmese government say they will send medics from outside Rakhine state to fill the gap left by MSF's suspension. But after years as one the world's most poorly-funded healthcare systems, it is not equipped to move quickly, and the doctors may still not be accepted in Muslim communities. Thoughts are now turning as to whether the suspension might in fact be temporary and once emotions have cooled, MSF could be quietly allowed back. It is far from certain that the Buddhists will allow it to happen. Segregation has brought a degree of stability, but the deep scars from recent violence remain raw and show little sign of healing.

एक पत्रकार के रूप में आंग मिंगलार से मिलना अपेक्षाकृत सरल है। हमने कुछ सरकारी कार्यालयों का दौरा किया, हमारे लिए एक पत्र लिखा और फिर हमारे दस्तावेजों की फोरेंसिक जांच के बाद, उन्हें अंदर जाने की अनुमति दी गई।


Welsh constituency voting Labour for 99 years

Summary: At the eastern edge of the Welsh valleys, the constituency of Torfaen - and Pontypool, which preceded it - has voted Labour for 99 years. But, after opting heavily for Brexit in the referendum, is there a softening of support for the party?

By John Owen and Jim ReedBBC Victoria Derbyshire programme It doesn't take long to find evidence of the Labour Party's presence in the political DNA of south Wales, as Phyllis Roberts - the recently elected Mayor of Blaenavon, a tiny mining town - attests. At 93 - the UK's oldest mayor - she has borne witness to decades of Labour rule, and she herself has been active in local politics from a young age. But she tells the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme there isn't the "100% loyalty" to the party that there used to be in the Welsh Valleys. Although her own support for the Labour Party has never wavered, she acknowledges some early doubts about Jeremy Corbyn - even hoping at one stage he would step down. She now says she is "more than happy with him" following his performance in the campaign. Asked if she believes Labour will win power, she replies: "In my heart of hearts, I believe they have a chance." Find out more Watch Jim Reed and John Owen's full film here, on the Victoria Derbyshire programme website. A trip to Pontypool's market, however, shows Labour support is far from universal. Even among ancestral Labour voters, there are some doubts about recent spending commitments, the party's immigration policy and Mr Corbyn's leadership - although, like Phyllis, others also say they are warming to him. Several say that, after initial doubts, they are now comfortable casting their ballot for him. Torfaen's sitting MP - Labour's Nick Thomas-Symonds - currently holds a majority of more than 8,000, winning 44.6% of votes in 2015 to the 23.1% won by the Conservative candidate Graham Smith and both men are standing again this year. For many in the region, however, the Tories are still seen as "toxic". They are "for the rich" one man says, before itemising a litany of Tory policies he considers unnecessary and/or cruel. He'll vote Labour, although he ventures his view that Mr Corbyn is a "bit of a clown". Meanwhile, more than a smattering of voters mention Plaid Cymru, with one woman saying the party is the "patriotic choice" for Wales. The other Theresa At Pontypool's Conservative Club, aptly-named Tory supporter Theresa meets her son Jason, who is a Labour voter. The pair voted different ways in the EU referendum and will also put crosses in different boxes on their ballot papers on Thursday. Jason is totally behind Mr Corbyn's manifesto, complaining that "Labour has been too central for far too many years". He believes the party's tilt to the left will be "much better for people round here" and will help to reverse what he sees as a chronic underfunding of public services by the Conservatives. Theresa says Labour policies are superficially attractive, but she has serious doubts about their ability to deliver. On the biggest issue of the day - exiting the European Union - she's convinced that only her namesake has what it takes to strike a favourable deal. Above all: Brexit Britain's exit from the EU weighs heavily on people's minds in the region, which registered a 59.8% vote to leave. Some observers point to a balance sheet that shows south Wales to be a net beneficiary of EU investment, but the overall perception here is of resources squandered. To "regain control" of those resources in the interests of local people, many voters are anxious that Brexit must be done competently - and the forthcoming negotiations are a clear priority. Several voters express the view that only Prime Minister Theresa May has the proper experience and temperament to take on the negotiations - a perception which, although it may not affect the eventual outcome, will probably unnerve Labour activists. The third party in the region is UKIP, which has enjoyed considerable backing in recent years, often picking up support from ex-Labour voters as a result of local enthusiasm for Brexit. It received 19% of the votes in the 2015 general election. But while the party has just opened a fancy new office in the middle of Pontypool, many predict a post-referendum drift of its support towards the Conservatives. In Cwmbran, Jeff - a UKIP activist - won't deviate from the party, although he thinks the current leader - Paul Nuttall - falls some way short of Nigel Farage, for whom he still has considerable admiration. He's keen to draw attention to the still lively manufacturing sector - including the factory in which he works - and believes in due course, Brexit will pay dividends for the region. He describes himself as "optimistic" about leaving the EU and says that despite the constant "doom and gloom" in the media he is not alone. The party's candidate, Ian Williams, is standing in the area, against Graham Smith for the Conservatives, Plaid Cymru's Jeff Rees and Andrew Best for the Liberal Democrats. Labour, however, remain overwhelming favourites to retain the constituency - despite Conservative aspirations in the heady early days of the election, when polls showed a 20-point lead for the party UK-wide. But in the era of Brexit - where the certainties of the past have shifted - the old tribal commitment to Labour can no longer be taken as a guarantee of victory. Watch the Victoria Derbyshire programme on weekdays between 09:00 and 11:00 BST on BBC Two and the BBC News Channel.

वेल्श घाटियों के पूर्वी किनारे पर, टोरफेन के निर्वाचन क्षेत्र-और पोंटीपूल, जो इससे पहले था-ने 99 वर्षों के लिए लेबर को वोट दिया है। लेकिन, जनमत संग्रह में ब्रेक्सिट के लिए भारी चुनाव करने के बाद, क्या पार्टी के लिए समर्थन में नरमी आई है?


Charles Taylor: Preacher, warlord, president

Summary: A UN-backed war crimes tribunal has upheld the conviction of former Liberian leader Charles Taylor of aiding and abetting rebels who committed atrocities in neighbouring diamond-rich Sierra Leone and confirmed a 50-year jail sentence. The BBC's Mark Doyle looks back at his career.

Liberia's former President Charles Taylor is a frustrated showman. There is nothing this naturally confident man liked better than to strut the African stage playing the flamboyant statesman. When he was a rebel in the early 1990s, controlling most of Liberia apart from the capital, he turned up at a West African regional conference in Burkina Faso in full military combat gear. His equally well-protected bodyguards jogged alongside his car from the airport to the centre of the capital, Ouagadougou, in a show of strength and loyalty. When, as president in 1999, he faced accusations from the United Nations that he was a gun runner and a diamond smuggler, he addressed a mass prayer meeting clothed from head to foot in angelic white. The showman, who at the time was also a lay preacher in the Baptist tradition, prostrated himself on the ground and prayed forgiveness before his Lord - although he also denied the charges. Media savvy And even when he could not be seen by his public, the showman found a stage. Throughout the 1990s Taylor conducted a series of dramatic telephone interviews with the BBC's Focus on Africa programme. The first, from the then-relatively unknown warlord, announced his invasion of Liberia. In one famous exchange with former BBC Focus on Africa editor Robin White a few years later, Mr White suggested that some people thought him little better than a murderer. Taylor bellowed with a flourish to the effect that "Jesus Christ was accused of being a murderer in his time". Charles Taylor was born in 1948 to a family of Americo-Liberians, the elite group that grew out of the freed slaves who founded the country in the 19th Century. For what are suspected to be political reasons - broadening his appeal to the indigenous African majority - Mr Taylor added the African name "Ghankay" in later years, becoming Charles Ghankay Taylor. Like many Americo-Liberians he studied in the United States. He returned home shortly after Master Sergeant Samuel Doe mounted Liberia's first successful coup d'etat in 1980. Taylor landed a plum job in Doe's regime running the General Services Agency, a position that meant controlling much of Liberia's budget. Rogues' gallery He later fell out with Doe, who accused him of embezzling almost $1m (£626,000), and fled back to the US. Taylor denied the charges, but ended up in the Plymouth County House of Correction in Massachusetts, detained under a Liberian extradition warrant. Some reports say he managed to escape the prison by sawing through the bars; others that there was some collusion in his departure from Americans who wanted him to play the role he then proceeded to carve out for himself - overthrowing the corrupt, violent and generally disastrous regime of Samuel Doe. Taylor's rebellion succeeded partly because of Doe's incompetence. But it was also the fruit of Taylor's building of sometimes surprising alliances. Over the years, his friends included the late Colonel Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, the conservative former ruler of Ivory Coast Felix Houphouet-Boigny, the current President of Burkina Faso, Blaise Compaore, and a rogues' gallery of businessmen, local and foreign, prepared to flout UN disapproval to make money in Liberia. After winning power militarily, Taylor won elections in 1997. Although the polls were probably the most democratic the country had seen at the time, Taylor's critics say he bullied and bought the electorate. Some of his youthful supporters were heard to chant during the campaign: "He killed my ma, he killed my pa, I'll vote for him." When asked about it in a BBC interview, he said: "They mean it, you know, and they love me." Tennis Taylor has been married three times and has several children. In 2005, after he had left power, his then wife Jewel was elected to Liberia's senate. While president, he used to enjoy table tennis and lawn tennis, which he played behind the high walls of his Monrovia residence. He was detained by the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone in 2006 after a period of enforced exile in Nigeria. His arrest was appropriately dramatic for the showman that he still was - it involved his initial apparent "disappearance" from his residence in Nigeria, a chase across the country with Taylor in a disguised diplomatic car, and his eventual arrest, allegedly with huge sacks of cash, on the Nigeria-Cameroon border. His first arrival at the courtroom of the Special Court in Freetown was equally dramatic - he turned up there after his exploits in Nigeria in a UN helicopter surrounded by armed UN guards. He looked dishevelled and unshaven and donned a UN-issue bullet-proof jacket. But by the time he first appeared in court for the initial hearings in Freetown he was in a sombre European business suit with a classic red tie. The showman had returned, but in more reflective mood.

संयुक्त राष्ट्र समर्थित युद्ध अपराध न्यायाधिकरण ने लाइबेरिया के पूर्व नेता चार्ल्स टेलर की पड़ोसी हीरा-समृद्ध सिएरा लियोन में अत्याचार करने वाले विद्रोहियों की सहायता करने और उन्हें उकसाने की सजा को बरकरार रखा है और 50 साल की जेल की सजा की पुष्टि की है। बीबीसी के मार्क डॉयल अपने करियर को पीछे मुड़कर देखते हैं।


Ray Davies: Meltdown curator

Summary: Following in the footsteps of David Bowie, Patti Smith and Morrissey, Ray Davies - founder of The Kinks and widely-regarded as one of the UK's finest songwriters - is curating this year's Meltdown festival.

By Kev GeogheganEntertainment reporter, BBC News The arts and music event on London's South Bank will include performances from the likes of Madness, Yo La Tengo and The Fugs. Davies is also bringing back a live version of 1960s music show Ready Steady Go!, a precursor to Top of The Pops which featured performances from the likes of The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix. Formed in north London in 1964 by Davies' brother Dave, The Kinks played together for 30 years, but the brothers' fractious relationship contributed to the band's demise in the mid-90s. Have you curated a festival on this scale before? Not really like this, the South Bank is an institution and this year being the 60th anniversary is appropriate - it's 60 years since the Festival of Britain kicked off. It opened in 1951 so I've tried to resonate through the decades and get people who have connections with London, with bands like Madness, so its symbolic in many respects. I've never really done anything like this before but I've really enjoyed it. So how does it work, do you come up with a list of artists which the organisers then veto? I had a vision for it, I wrote a two-page proposal with suggested artists and they reflected that in all the side shows and what they've done for the South Bank. They've been very helpful, you know, you can't get everything you need but we tried the best to provide something that's a pretty good balance. Did you have some fun coming up with the list? It was a lot of fun, it's always fun to write your dream ticket but not everybody is always available. I would have liked to have got Bruce Springsteen over for an acoustic set but I'm very pleased with what we have. It's a good list of people. Are you conscious of Meltdown's past curators? Bowie, Scott Walker, John Peel. It's quite an intimidating list. I haven't really thought about what other people have done because they wanted something that was me. It was the same when I was with The Kinks, as an artist I've never thought about what other people do, I just do what I do and I retain that principle in most things. It's difficult I'm sure to pinpoint one thing that you're particularly looking forward to but what do think will be a real highlight of the festival? As a performer, I'm looking forward to doing the last concert. It's going to be the LPO (London Philharmonic Orchestra) and a choir of 90 people with me and the band. We're doing the whole of the Village Green Preservation Society album and I haven't played all those songs together since we recorded them. I went back to the songs and rearranged them. We couldn't reproduce a Kinks record which has its own sonic world, but with the band and the orchestra, it's opened up the songs to be more of a narrative. Will this be the biggest number of musicians you have ever had on stage with you? I think so, we did a show in San Francisco in the height of the hippie days and everybody in the audience kind of ended up on stage although that was more more drug-induced. But seriously I think it's the most musicians I've had on stage playing my songs. Why have you decided to bring back a live version of Ready, Steady Go!? I have such a fond memory of it, I think that it's something that is sadly lacking now. We were allowed to go and be ourselves but now on shows like The X Factor, people go on and it's what the judges want. Ready, Steady Go! encouraged bands to do what they wanted to do. You can't bring the show back but that spirit has to make a return to new music because people love to see raw energy. The Kast Off Kinks (made up of former band members) are also playing so your music will be well-represented through the festival. Yes, though I must stress that it isn't a reunion, the reunion couldn't happen, my brother couldn't do it unfortunately. The rumours never go to bed, he's still thinking about it. I still think about it. Being in a band is being part of amazing team - it's being in a team that I enjoyed. There's something special about growing up together like The Kinks did. The Meltdown festival runs from 10-19 June.

डेविड बॉवी, पैटी स्मिथ और मॉरिस के नक्शेकदम पर चलते हुए, रे डेविस-द किंक्स के संस्थापक और व्यापक रूप से यूके के बेहतरीन गीतकारों में से एक के रूप में जाने जाते हैं-इस साल के मेल्टडाउन उत्सव का आयोजन कर रहे हैं।


Syria chemical attack: What we know

Summary: A team of UN chemical weapons inspectors have confirmed that the nerve agent sarin was used in an attack on the Ghouta agricultural belt around Damascus on the morning of 21 August.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told the UN Security Council that he believed the attack constituted a war crime. The UN report, he said, detailed the "most significant confirmed use of chemical weapons against civilians since Saddam Hussein used them" in Halabja in 1988. What happened The first reported use of chemical weapons came at 02:45 local time on 21 August in Ein Tarma, in about 6km (3.7 miles) east of the centre of Damascus, and again at 02:47 in Zamalka, an adjoining district. Using witness statements, GPS information and satellite imagery, Human Rights Watch confirmed four sites in Zamalka where at least eight rockets struck - al-Mahariq Street, Naher al-Tahoun Street in the Bostan area, near the Hamza mosque, and near the Tawfiq mosque in the al-Mazraat area. In Muadhamiya, a town about 20km (12 miles) to the west of Zamalka, was struck by rockets at about 05:00 local time. One opposition activist said he counted seven projectiles falling in two areas - four next to the Rawda Mosque, and the other three about 500m (1,640ft) away in the area between Qahwa and Zeitouna Streets. Within hours, dozens of videos were uploaded of large numbers of distressed and visibly sick adults and children with no external signs of injury. In some of the most graphic footage, dozens of bodies, including many small children and babies, were seen laid out in rows on the floors of clinics and mosques, and on streets in Muadhamiya, Ein Tarma, Zamalka and nearby areas. The victims' symptoms - seen in the videos and described by medics - were consistent with exposure to a nerve agent, including shortness of breath, disorientation, runny nose, eye irritation, blurred vision, nausea, vomiting, general weakness, and eventual loss of consciousness. The international medical charity, Medicins Sans Frontieres, said that over three hours on the morning of 21 August medical staff at three hospitals it supported in Damascus province treated large numbers of patients with "neurotoxic symptoms". Death toll It has been difficult to establish a precise death toll from the attack, owing to the chaos resulting from the large number of casualties and the lack of any large hospitals in the affected areas. While activists initially said about 300 people had been killed, by the end of 21 August the main opposition alliance had put the death toll at more than 1,300. Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said at least 3,600 patients displaying "neurotoxic symptoms" had been treated at the hospitals it supported. Of those patients, 355 had died, it added. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based group that gets its information from a network of activists across Syria, later said it had confirmed at least 502 deaths. The Violations Documentation Centre (VDC), an activist-run site cited by the United Nations that uses internationally accepted norms to verify deaths, lists at least 588 fatalities, including 135 women and 108 children. It names almost all of them. A French intelligence assessment said that based on the technical analysis of 47 video tapes, no fewer than 281 people had died. A preliminary US government assessment determined that 1,429 people had been killed, including 426 children. Weapons used The UN report said several surface-to-surface rockets capable of delivering significant chemical payloads were identified and recorded at investigated sites. In Muadhamiya, the UN team were filmed inspecting an expended rocket motor found near the Rawda Mosque. In their report, they said the ordnance they found in the area was about 140mm wide and had an engine with 10 jet nozzles. They did not identify it, but arms experts said it was a Soviet-era 140mm surface-to-surface artillery rocket, known as the M-14. In Zamalka, videos and photographs were published online that showed the remnants of what appeared to be unguided rockets. The UN inspectors did not identify the projectiles, but based on the measurements they and opposition activists provided, arms experts said they were adapted 330mm surface-to-surface artillery rockets. The UN report estimated that the warheads on the 330mm rockets would have been able to carry between 50 and 62 litres (11-16 gallons) of chemical agent. Chemical agent used The UN report said samples found by Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons-designated labs to contain the nerve agent, sarin, were recovered from a majority of the rockets or rocket fragments inspected. Thirty environmental samples taken from impact sites and surrounding areas were also tested and the presence of sarin, its degradation and/or production by-products were observed in a majority, the report added. Furthermore, UN medical experts examined 36 survivors who they diagnosed as still showing symptoms consistent with an organophosphate intoxication. Blood and urine samples from 34 of them provided "definitive evidence" of exposure to sarin, the inspectors said. "The environmental, chemical and medical samples we have collected provide clear and convincing evidence that surface-to-surface rockets containing the nerve agent sarin were used in Ein Tarma, Muadhamiya and Zamalka," the inspectors conclude. Allegations The UN mission was not asked to ascertain who was behind the attack. However, by examining the debris field and impact area where the rockets struck in Muadhamiya and Ein Tarma, the inspectors found "sufficient evidence" to calculate azimuths, or angular measurements, that allow their trajectories to be determined "with a sufficient degree of accuracy". When plotted on a map, the trajectories converge on a site that Human Rights Watch said was a large military base on Mount Qassioun that is home to the Republican Guard 104th Brigade. Human Rights Watch said the Syrian military was believed to have M-14 rockets, and one of the three warheads produced for them can carry 2.2kg (4.8lb) of sarin. Rebel forces were not believed to possess M-14s nor the associated BM-14 launching system, it added. The organisation said the 330mm rockets were "of a type not listed in standard, specialised, international or declassified reference materials". However, the rocket type had been documented in a number of other attacks on opposition-held areas in recent months, it noted. Human Rights Watch said the 330mm rockets would be compatible with the 333mm Falaq-2 launcher produced by Iran, which the Syrian government is known to possess. Videos have emerged appearing to show Syrian troops using Falaq-2 systems to launch similarly adapted rockets. Human Rights Watch said no evidence had been produced showing rebel forces were in possession of the rockets or their associated launchers. Opposition forces are also not believed to have been in possession of the amount of Sarin used in the attack - hundreds of kilograms, according to Human Rights Watch's calculations - nor to have expertise in the specialised procedures required to load chemical warheads. Meanwhile, the Syrian military is widely believed to have more than 1,000 tonnes of chemical agents and precursor chemicals, including several hundreds of tonnes of sarin, as well as the required expertise. The White House said US agencies had assessed "with high confidence" that the Syrian government was responsible. Human, signals and geospatial intelligence revealed that Syrian chemical weapons personnel prepared chemical munitions in the Damascus suburb of Adra in the three days prior to the attack, it added. Intelligence, including satellite detections, also indicated that government forces had fired rockets and artillery shells from a government-controlled territory towards the suburbs where the chemical attacks occurred, the White House said. "We intercepted communications involving a senior official intimately familiar with the offensive who confirmed that chemical weapons were used by the regime on 21 August and was concerned with the UN inspectors obtaining evidence," it added. "On the afternoon of 21 August, we have intelligence that Syrian chemical weapons personnel were directed to cease operations. At the same time, the regime intensified the artillery barrage targeting many of the neighbourhoods where chemical attacks occurred." The French intelligence assessment concluded that the attack "could not have been ordered and carried out by anyone but the Syrian government". It said "the launch zone for the rockets was held by the regime while the strike zone was held by the rebels", and that at the time commanders feared a wider attack on Damascus from the opposition. It also said the section of the Syrian military responsible for filling munitions with chemical agents and for security at storage sites - "Branch 450" of the Syrian Scientific Studies and Research Centre (CERS) - was staffed only by members of the president's Alawite sect and was "distinguished by a high level of loyalty to the regime". Bashar al-Assad and certain members of his inner circle were the only ones permitted to give the order for the use of chemical weapons, it added. The Syrian government and military denied being behind the 21 August attack, describing the allegations made by Western powers as "false and completely baseless" and challenging them to present incontrovertible proof. President Assad accused rebel groups supported by the US, Turkey and Saudi Arabia of using chemical weapons to turn around the conflict in Syria because they were losing. He also said it would have been illogical for the military to use weapons of mass destruction in an area where its soldiers were present. Russia also challenged the US to present its evidence, with President Vladimir Putin describing claims that the Syrian government was responsible as "utter nonsense". Russian officials suggested that rebels had sought to provoke international military intervention. On 18 September, Russian media quoted the country's Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergei Ryabkov, as saying during a visit to Damascus that Syria's government had provided additional information that showed rebels had used chemical weapons not only on 21 August but on other occasions. He also criticised the UN inspectors' report, saying it was "distorted" and "one-sided", and based upon "insufficient" information. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov drew attention to sources on the internet and other media, including a sceptical analysis of the videos of victims that was written by a Lebanese Carmelite nun, Mother Agnes Mariam de la Croix. Mother Agnes, whose monetary is north of Damascus, said that she was convinced the entire attack was fabricated by the opposition - particularly the rows of apparently dead children whom she said had been drugged - with the goal of framing the Syrian government. Russian and Syrian media also noted that videos published online on 16 September purportedly showed Islamist rebels from Liwa al-Islam launching the rockets that hit the Ghouta on 21 August. Liwa al-Islam subsequently insisted that the videos were "completely fabricated".

संयुक्त राष्ट्र रासायनिक हथियार निरीक्षकों की एक टीम ने पुष्टि की है कि 21 अगस्त की सुबह दमिश्क के आसपास घौता कृषि क्षेत्र पर हमले में तंत्रिका एजेंट सरीन का इस्तेमाल किया गया था।


Lager laager: When the on-trade switches off

Summary: Tennent's lager reigned supreme in Scotland's pub trade, so how has it adjusted to lockdown and renewed restrictions? The shift from keg to tinned and bottled booze has been a vital part of the transition. While putting in their defences, companies with deeper resources are trying to ensure their business customers also survive and reach the other side of the pandemic.

Douglas FraserBusiness/economy editor, Scotland It's just a pint of lager, but according to Time Out website, it's brewed in the eighth coolest neighbourhood on the planet. With the current focus on the hospitality trade, Tennent's sheds some light on what's been going on in Scotland's pub trade. From its Wellpark brewery on the edge of Dennistoun in Glasgow, it has a huge reach into Scottish drinking habits. Lager is the biggest selling drink in the on-trade of pubs and restaurants. And within the lager category, Tennent's sells nearly half of the Scottish total. Or at least, it did. Now, we can't be so sure, except to note that, temporarily, there is no on-trade in Scotland. The market has been upended by lockdown and the subsequent months of tentative reopening of licensed premises, and now a renewed bar on selling alcohol for consumption on the premises. All companies have had to put up their defences - in this case, a sort of lager laager. And many have reached out to support business clients as well, in a bid to help them survive the pandemic onslaught. No/low alcohol So what can we learn from the half-year figures put out by Ireland-based C&C, owners of Tennent's for the past 11 years, and also of Magner's cider? The figures cover March to the end of August. Convenience wine With dependence on the on-trade in normal times, the company mobilised its financial firepower to help out with its trade customers. As an enthusiastic user of jargon, C&C points out that it is "structurally integral to the markets we serve". Old kegs, gone stale during lockdown, were replaced one-for-one. Moratoriums on loan repayments were agreed. There was support with the hygiene materials, screens and extra costs to prepare pubs for reopening. C&C has a stake in Admiral Taverns, including around 950 tenanted outlets. That required €7m of liquidity support. Big, long pub chains are more a feature of the English on-trade than the Scottish ones. And they're shedding jobs. In the case of Marston's, 2,150 are going. From C&C comes a strong hint that it could be going in the same direction: "We have begun to take action to permanently right-size our fixed cost base." Being diversified, C&C also owns wholesale distributors of drinks, Matthew Clark and Bibendum. It's the biggest such distributor to the hospitality sector in Britain and Ireland, supplying 35,000 licensed outlets. There too, a seemingly catastrophic fall in volumes, of 63% - from 16 million cases of wine and spirits to 5.8 million. So the company shifted suddenly into supplying the off-trade, and while that's dominated by the big supermarkets, Matthew Clark managers saw the opportunity in stepping up service to the independent convenience store operators, and throwing in a loyalty scheme. The result was revenues in those sales went up by 71%. 'Robust' condition You can also see the measures necessary to handle the financial challenges from such drastic changes in revenue. The Dublin company's half-year results show it had to persuade creditors to ease up on loan conditions, known as covenants, and that has been secured through to February 2022. Debt rose by €45m, to €371m, and liquidity was helped by making use of the Covid corporate financing facility, the support scheme aimed at big stock exchange-listed firms and operated through the Bank of England. That apparently puts London-listed C&C in reasonable (or in its word "robust") condition to withstand renewed restrictions, hospitality closures and constraints. But the prospects for having a recognisable on-trade of pubs, clubs and restaurants to recover its business model are not at all robust. The vital Christmas trade looks "uncertain and challenging", and in the jargon, there is "limited near-term visibility". In other words, none of us have the foggiest.r

टेनेंट के लेजर ने स्कॉटलैंड के पब व्यापार में सर्वोच्च शासन किया, तो इसने लॉकडाउन और नए सिरे से प्रतिबंधों को कैसे समायोजित किया है? केग से टिन और बोतलबंद शराब की ओर बदलाव संक्रमण का एक महत्वपूर्ण हिस्सा रहा है। अपने बचाव में डालते हुए, गहरे संसाधनों वाली कंपनियां यह सुनिश्चित करने की कोशिश कर रही हैं कि उनके व्यावसायिक ग्राहक भी जीवित रहें और महामारी के दूसरे पक्ष तक पहुँचें।


Noah replaces Jacob as top US male baby name

Summary: Jacob has lost its spot as the most popular name for newborn American boys after 14 years, knocked from its place by Noah, the government has said.

Data released by the Social Security Administration indicates the name Jacob fell to number three in 2013. Sophia remained the top girls name for the third year in a row, while Liam and Emma took second place. Over the last 100 years, Michael has held the top spot 44 times, while Mary has ranked number one 42 times. The other top-ten baby names of 2013 were Mason, William, Ethan, Michael, Alexander, Jayden and Daniel for boys, and Olivia, Isabella, Ava, Mia, Emily, Abigail, Madison and Elizabeth for girls. Jacob and Emily have thus far proven the most popular name of the 2000s. Michael and Jessica were at the top in the 1990s and the 1980s.

सरकार ने कहा है कि जैकब ने 14 साल बाद नवजात अमेरिकी लड़कों के लिए सबसे लोकप्रिय नाम के रूप में अपना स्थान खो दिया है, जिसे नूह ने अपने स्थान से हटा दिया है।


Okja: A genetic super pig and the environment

Summary: Video-streaming giant Netflix has released Okja, a film that could be the world's first ecological action movie. Speaking to the BBC's Heather Chen from Seoul, director Bong Joon-ho talked about environmentalism and nature, and how "selective ignorance" and corporate greed were often related.

Cautionary tales are not new to Bong Joon-ho's audiences, who are familiar with his style of weaving hidden messages into the cinematic narrative. The famed South Korean filmmaker is celebrated for combining action and horror genres with dark bite. His 2014 post-apocalyptic thriller Snowpiercer inferred much political meaning, displaying the worst of society's imbalances on a high-speed dystopian train. And there was an environmental message to his 2006 breakout hit The Host, which told the story of a mutated fishy creature that wreaked havoc in the streets of Seoul. The monster was created after radioactive waste was dumped on a US military base. His latest vision Okja continues that green parable. A bittersweet story about animals and humans, it centres around a lovable super-pig that's touted as an organic, ecologically-sound "revolution in the livestock industry". "All my films have different stories, some share common themes. But as a storyteller, I want to explore new worlds," Bong said. With Welsh journalist and screenwriter Jon Ronson (himself a vegetarian), they raise the uncomfortable question: where does one's meat come from? *Warning: Spoilers below* The story unfolds with young Mija, a farm girl played by actress An Seo-huyn who lives in the lush mountains of South Korea with her grandfather and their beloved genetically-engineered pig, Okja (an old-fashioned South Korean name without a specific meaning). The bond between girl and beast is sweet and strong but their peaceful life together sadly doesn't last long. With the arrival of washed-up celebrity zoologist Dr Johnny Wilcox (Jake Gyllenhaal) and his team, Okja is taken away from her family and thrust back into the hands of her creators, the Mirando meat corporation led by Orwellian nightmare CEO Lucy Mirando (Tilda Swinton) where her unfortunate fate is sealed. This is no Disney fairytale and the story shifts to Manhattan ("the heart of capitalism," according to Bong) where it takes a darker turn, foraying into the hellish realities of animal laboratories and factory meat farms. "We create psychological border-lines to avoid discomforts, so we separate our views of animals," Bong said. "Those we perceive as pets and the ones we place in our shopping carts are the same animals but we choose to separate them." But to enjoy the meat, you have to ignore the slaughter. Inspiration for his film's graphic scenes came from a personal visit he made to a commercial slaughterhouse. Depicting this was "absolutely necessary". "I wanted to crumble these borders and make the audience feel uncomfortable. It is witnessing your family being dragged into a slaughterhouse," he said. "Compared to my experience of visiting a real-life slaughterhouse, the film scenes were much milder and were expressed in a toned-down manner." A genetically-modified best friend Okja's physical appearance gives a nod to the controversial genetically modified foods (GMO) debate. She is special: a one-nipple, hippo-pig hybrid with some manatee resemblance (since they look "incredibly innocent and kind-hearted", Bong says). "I wanted Okja to be cute. Big yet lovely, shy and introverted. But she is a genetically modified organism and this debate is not restricted to Korea, it is prevalent all over the world," Bong said. The environment may have been a running theme but sinister notions of capitalism, greed and the global economy also played a role. "They'll eat it if it's cheap," snaps CEO Lucy Mirando in a telling scene after she's confronted with hesitations about public discomfort surrounding her organisation's meat products. "It is reasonable to fear the potential disasters and dangers that genetically-modified foods may bring," Bong said. "There are people who say the danger of GM foods is being overly exaggerated but nobody is able to prove their safety either." But Bong insists Okja isn't intended to be a fiery screen statement against eating animals. "In my movie, Mija's favorite food is chicken stew. I didn't make this film to oppose meat. Whether one is vegan or not is a matter of individual choice," Bong explained, adding that he wanted audiences to "witness and understand" how meat was being mass produced. "We coexist with animals and we should take time to consider their perspective. How we treat them today is a very recent phenomenon and came to be only after we included them in mass production," he said. "This is the state of capitalism today and this is what I wanted to convey." Okja is available on Netflix from 28 June and is on limited cinema release.

वीडियो-स्ट्रीमिंग दिग्गज नेटफ्लिक्स ने ओक्जा रिलीज़ की है, एक ऐसी फिल्म जो दुनिया की पहली पारिस्थितिक एक्शन फिल्म हो सकती है। सियोल से बीबीसी की हीथर चेन से बात करते हुए, निर्देशक बोंग जून-हो ने पर्यावरणवाद और प्रकृति के बारे में बात की, और बताया कि कैसे "चयनात्मक अज्ञानता" और कॉर्पोरेट लालच अक्सर संबंधित थे।


Is Nigeria on the brink after north-south clashes?

Summary: As thousands of Nigerians flee to their home regions following a spate of Islamist killings of southerners and revenge attacks on mosques and northerners, the BBC's Abdullahi Tasiu Abubakar considers whether the situation has parallels to the 1967 civil war, which left some one million people dead in Africa's biggest oil producer.

Ochenna Ike is an Igbo trader from south-eastern Nigeria who had relocated to the northern city of Yola in Adamawa state, where his business has been flourishing for the last four years. But when masked gunmen shot dead 11 people in an attack on a church in Yola last Friday, Mr Ike decided that it was time to head back home. On the same day as the church shooting, unknown gunmen killed 12 people, mostly southerners, in Mubi town - also in Adamawa state. "With all these," he told the BBC, shortly after loading his goods into a coach at the Yola Motor Park on his way home, "there is no option but to pack and go back to my village." Unfortunately for him, and others such as a young man and woman who wished to travel in the same vehicle, the coach was unable to move as a nationwide strike begun on Monday to protest at the removal of a fuel subsidy has affected inter-city transport across the country. They hope to travel over the weekend, now that protests have been suspended for two days. Following the killing of southerners and the warning from the Boko Haram Islamist sect which says it carried them out for all southerners to leave the north, there have been reports of reprisals against Muslims living in the south. Tanimu Abu, a northerner who last week fled the southern town of Sapele in Delta state after youths attacked a mosque and Islamic schools and threatened northerners with death, considers himself lucky. He had spent more than 10 years in the oil-rich Niger Delta working for a federal institution, he says, but had to run back home because he feared for his life. A few days after his departure, five people were killed by unidentified youths who attacked another mosque in Benin City in neighbouring Edo state. Some in the Nigerian media talk of a "massive exodus", but there is no evidence to show that the movement has yet reached a big scale. The vast majority of Nigerians living in regions other than their birthplace have not run away - and apparently many have no intention of doing so. Tony Ologbosere is an engineer of southern extraction who has been living and working in Yola for the past 30 years. He told the BBC that he was not going anywhere, and even pleaded with those who are fleeing to rescind their decision. "I have been living here for 30 years. This is where I raise my family; this is my home and I have no problem with anyone," he says. 'Double jeopardy' Nigeria's 160 million people are roughly equally divided between a mainly Muslim north and a largely Christian and animist south and there is a long history of tensions between the two regions, as well as the country's many ethnic groups. Many argue that the current movement of people is nowhere near the mass exodus witnessed in 1993 following the decision by the then-military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida, a northerner, to annul the presidential election presumed to have been won by a southerner, Moshood Abiola. Nor is it on the scale of the 1960s crisis that led to the three years of brutal civil war in the country. Still, some prominent Nigerians, mainly southerners - including President Goodluck Jonathan and head of the Christian Association of Nigeria Ayo Oritsejafor and even Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka - are drawing parallel between this crisis and the 1967 conflict. "The situation we have in our hands is even worse than the civil war that we fought," President Jonathan said, alleging that members of Boko Haram have infiltrated even his government. Pastor Oritsejafor said his members would do "whatever it takes" to defend themselves from the pattern of killings which suggested "systematic ethnic and religious cleansing". Nigerians - both Muslims and Christians - take their religions very seriously. In a 2004 survey by the BBC, Nigeria came out as the most religious country in the world with 90% of the population believing in God, praying regularly and affirming their readiness to die on behalf of their belief. Professor Kyari Mohammed of Modibbo Adama University in Yola admits that the current situation represents a "very dangerous trend" and has a similarity with the opening phase of the 1967 civil war. However, he says, the key difference is that Boko Haram is a fringe group fighting both the government and mainstream Muslims in northern Nigeria. "The major problem is that there is a huge deficit in the understanding of the situation, particularly by the government, leading to its inability to address the problem," he notes. "For an average northerner it is a double jeopardy. He is targeted [in the north] by the Boko Haram that does not believe in his version of Islam, and in the south by the people who feel that the attack by Boko Haram is an attack by Muslims." What helps unite the country now, he says, is the commonality of economic hardship suffered by everyone in Nigeria. Christians and Muslims, northerners and southerners, are marching side by side in the ongoing national strike against the removal of a fuel subsidy. During the protests in some cities this week, Christians have formed human shields while Muslim prayed - and Muslims have responded in kind. Despite its vast resources, Nigeria ranks among the most unequal countries in the world, according to the UN. The poverty in the north is in stark contrast to the more developed southern states. While in the oil-rich south-east, the residents of Delta and Akwa Ibom complain that all the wealth they generate flows up the pipeline to Abuja and Lagos. Nigeria's 160 million people are divided between numerous ethno-linguistic groups and also along religious lines. Broadly, the Hausa-Fulani people based in the north are mostly Muslims. The Yorubas of the south-west are divided between Muslims and Christians, while the Igbos of the south-east and neighbouring groups are mostly Christian or animist. The Middle Belt is home to hundreds of groups with different beliefs, and around Jos there are frequent clashes between Hausa-speaking Muslims and Christian members of the Berom community. Southern residents tend to have better access to healthcare, as reflected by the greater uptake of vaccines for polio, tuberculosis, tetanus and diphtheria. Some northern groups have in the past boycotted immunisation programmes, saying they are a Western plot to make Muslim women infertile. This led to a recurrence of polio, but the vaccinations have now resumed. Female literacy is seen as the key to raising living standards for the next generation. For example, a newborn child is far likelier to survive if its mother is well-educated. In Nigeria we see a stark contrast between the mainly Muslim north and the Christian and animist south. In some northern states less than 5% of women can read and write, whereas in some Igbo areas more than 90% are literate. Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer and among the biggest in the world but most of its people subsist on less than $2 a day. The oil is produced in the south-east and some militant groups there want to keep a greater share of the wealth which comes from under their feet. Attacks by militants on oil installations led to a sharp fall in Nigeria's output during the last decade. But in 2010, a government amnesty led thousands of fighters to lay down their weapons.

दक्षिणी लोगों की इस्लामी हत्याओं और मस्जिदों और उत्तरी लोगों पर बदले के हमलों के बाद हजारों नाइजीरियाई अपने गृह क्षेत्रों में भाग जाते हैं, बीबीसी के अब्दुल्लाही तसीउ अबुबकर का मानना है कि क्या स्थिति 1967 के गृह युद्ध के समान है, जिसमें अफ्रीका के सबसे बड़े तेल उत्पादक में लगभग दस लाख लोग मारे गए थे।


Will growth save Europe's banks?

Summary: BBC business editor Robert Peston on the European banks' stress tests

The results of tonight's stress tests on Europe's banks would be less momentous if economic growth in the European Union is reinforced. The widespread concerns that the tests simply aren't severe enough would not matter so much if the stresses that banks will actually face over the next two years or so turn out to be fairly mild. Think of it as the equivalent of testing the robustness and integrity of an aeroplane. The prudent thing to do is recreate the conditions of a Force 10 gale or worse and see if the plane stays in the sky in such hideous conditions. But if, in the engineering test, all that's simulated is a Force 5 gale, that wouldn't matter quite so much if in practice the relevant plane were never to fly through anything windier than that. Which is why for banks' creditors and investors, yesterday's news that manufacturing and services output in the EU - and especially in Germany - appeared to be growing faster than expected, well that was encouraging. The Purchasing Managers Indices indicated that EU growth may be picking up a bit of momentum. Which might mean that over the next year or two, the worst that confronts the banks will be a Force 5 gale, rather than a tornado. But here's the thing: most of us wouldn't chose to fly in a plane that couldn't prove its ability to remain airborne through a tornado. And, over time, creditors, depositors and investors will shun banks that have insufficient capital and liquid resources to withstand substantial financial shocks. That's why it's not just the results of the stress tests that matter, the publication of which banks have failed and need to raise capital: all the indications from governments, regulators and banks are that there won't be many of those. So as important as the test results will be the new details provided tonight by Europe's banking regulators on the calibration of the adverse financial and economic conditions that the banks would have to endure. As I've mentioned before, there are reasons to believe that the simulated macro-economic scenarios and the translation of those scenarios into loan and investment losses simply aren't severe or demanding enough. Banks have had to prove that they can cope with a comparatively mild recession, with falls in government bond prices of up to 25% (in the case of Greece) but not default by governments, and with losses when other creditors default that are less than for the UK's equivalent stress tests. What's more, two other arguable flaws in the tests are the Basel II definition of capital employed in the tests and the minimum ratio of capital to assets that banks have to prove they can preserve (see my note, Eurozone: Stressful 'haircuts' for why a 6% Tier 1 ratio under the Basel ll definition would allow some banks to disguise their intrinsic frailty). Probably the best that can be said of the stress tests is that at least we should have a lot more information about the risks being run by Europe's biggest banks. Transparency is almost always a good thing. But if the perception were to take hold that banks' weaknesses had been revealed but not corrected, that could undermine the confidence of creditors and investors in Europe's banks. So what do investors and creditors actually expect the tests to reveal? Well, Goldman Sachs has just published a fascinating survey of their views on the tests. Here are the results: 10 of the 91 banks won't pass the test; just under 40bn euros of new capital will be raised, with roughly half being provided by taxpayers; and banks in Spain, Germany and Greece are expected to raise the most capital (d'oh!). Perhaps more tellingly, some 37% of the 376 big investors who were polled fear that even after the stress tests and capital-raisings, European banks will still have too little capital. That carries a slightly nerve wracking implication for European banks and regulators - which is that if fewer than 10 banks flunk the tests, and if the banks are obliged to raise significantly less capital than 40bn euros, there's a danger that investors will regard the tests as lacking credibility. If the tests are perceived to lack credibility, they'll have solved very little, in that some European banks would continue to find it difficult to borrow from other banks and financial institutions - and the history of the past three years (and the history of the last few hundred years) shows that can be a precursor to meltdown. You can keep up with the latest from business editor Robert Peston by visiting his blog on the BBC News website.

यूरोपीय बैंकों के तनाव परीक्षणों पर बीबीसी के व्यापार संपादक रॉबर्ट पेस्टन


Bradley Gledhill: Boy, 17, in court over Batley stabbing

Summary: A 17-year-old boy has appeared in court charged with the murder of a man who was stabbed to death in a street fight in West Yorkshire.

The teenager is accused of killing Bradley Gledhill, 20, from Heckmondwike, who died after the attack in Park Croft, Batley, on 21 June. The boy, from Batley, is also charged with two counts of attempted murder. At Leeds Magistrates' Court on Thursday, he was remanded to youth detention accommodation. He is due to appear at Leeds Crown Court on 30 November. A total of six people have now been charged with murder during the investigation. More stories from around Yorkshire Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk or send video here.

वेस्ट यॉर्कशायर में एक सड़क लड़ाई में चाकू मारकर हत्या किए गए एक व्यक्ति की हत्या के आरोप में एक 17 वर्षीय लड़का अदालत में पेश हुआ है।


Labour conference: David Miliband back in spotlight

Summary: Can it really be a year since Ed Miliband pipped older brother David to the Labour leadership? As the party's annual conference gets under way in Liverpool, we watch David address delegates and ask if the right brother got the job.

By Brian WheelerPolitical reporter, BBC News, Liverpool "I am just a little bit in love with David Miliband. Don't tell my husband though!" Veronica Soliba is showing off her new Facebook profile picture, featuring a grinning David Miliband with his arm around her. She is excited because she has just watched her political hero address a packed fringe meeting at the Labour Party conference. The all-ticket affair is the former foreign secretary's one-and-only appearance in Liverpool. By the time Ed addresses the party faithful on Tuesday, the elder Miliband brother will be in the US. David says he does not want to deflect attention from his younger brother, and insists, in a BBC interview, that rumours of a rift between the two are "hooey and nonsense". The message does not appear to have got through to Veronica, however, who tells me she thinks it is high time the two rival camps stopped fighting and started working together for the sake of the party. "I hope I don't get into trouble for saying that," she adds. Tieless and lean Not everyone at the meeting is as big a fan as Veronica. Linda Wooding, a member of the party's National Policy Forum, says she voted for David in the leadership election but now backs Ed (his response to the phone hacking scandal was the turning point, apparently). But there is more than a hint of David mania outside the venue. Party members and hacks jostle for position, as Miliband, tieless and lean, in a crisp white shirt, sweeps in, trailed by a TV crew. Officially, he is here to promote Movement for Change - a new campaign to recruit 10,000 "community organisers" to the Labour Party's cause based around Barack Obama's election-winning effort. But the media pack have not queued up for half an hour to hear a debate about the reorganisation of the Labour Party. They want the thoughts of the Miliband many had long thought would be the man to succeed Gordon Brown. So does the audience, who whoop and cheer as the South Shields MP is introduced. "It feels like the X Factor panel," jokes fellow speaker Labour MP Stella Creasey, adding: "I hope I'm not the Louis". 'Do it yourself' Mr Miliband is clearly enjoying being back in the limelight, but he dutifully answers the audience's questions on the value of community organisers before delivering a 20 minute speech on his vision for Labour's future. There are no digs at Ed - subtle or otherwise - but there a few hints at the sort of speech he might have given this week if things had turned out differently last year. He speaks of the difference between the Conservatives, who he says believe in a "do it yourself Britain" and Labour, which believes in a "do it together" Britain. But, he adds, "we often fall into the trap of looking like we believe in 'we'll do it for you Britain' - we, the politicians, the state 'will do it for you'. "And I think in our latter years in government, the balance between rights and responsibilities, between popular action, got out of kilter. "That's why there was the space created for the Tories to move in, as the party of the Big Society." He also launches an impassioned attack on the "shocking" actions of the coalition government on tuition fees, the economy and range of other subjects. And he calls on Labour to rediscover its roots as a party of the people, to deal with what he describes as the demands of a far from "normal" political times. "We're all here because we want to put Ed into Downing Street, we want to put Labour into government. We want to put the country on the right track. "What I have said tonight is that if we are going to do that, we have to understand our country better. "We have got to broaden our family so that we represent the country better and we are going to have to govern the country in a different way." It would be misleading to suggest that there is widespread unhappiness in Liverpool with Ed Miliband's leadership - or that conference delegates wish David was their leader instead. Most seem to want to see David back in frontline politics though. And some of his supporters still hanker after the "star quality" they believe he brought to the party, even as they throw their weight behind Ed. "We have the leader we have and we will work with him," says Sally Mulready, a Labour councillor from Hackney. "We are very united. Everybody said there would be a schism last year, that the party would tear itself asunder and it didn't."

क्या एड मिलिबैंड को वास्तव में बड़े भाई डेविड को लेबर नेतृत्व में पीछे छोड़ते हुए एक साल हो सकता है? जैसे ही लिवरपूल में पार्टी का वार्षिक सम्मेलन चल रहा है, हम डेविड को प्रतिनिधियों को संबोधित करते हुए देखते हैं और पूछते हैं कि क्या सही भाई को नौकरी मिली है।


Is 'Brazilian butt lift' surgery a risk worth taking?

Summary: A mother of three died during "Brazilian butt lift" surgery in Turkey when a fat clot blocked one of her arteries, an inquest has found. Why is this procedure increasingly popular and is it more dangerous to have the operation abroad?

By Jennifer MeierhansBBC News Online Leah Cambridge, from Leeds, suffered a massive pulmonary embolism during the operation at a private hospital in Izmir in 2018, a coroner found. The 29-year-old beautician was undergoing a Brazilian Butt Lift (BBL) where fat from the stomach is injected into the buttocks. Ms Cambridge had opted for surgery abroad - which is often cheaper than in the UK - after growing paranoid about excess stomach fat after having children, her partner Mr Franks said. Her neighbours have described her as "absolutely stunning", adding that they believed she had gone to have the treatment against her partner's wishes. And Ms Cambridge is not the first British woman whose quest for the perfect behind ended in tragedy abroad. Joy Williams underwent buttock augmentation surgery in Bangkok, Thailand, in October 2014. Her wounds became infected, and the 24-year-old, from London, died under anaesthetic. Three years previously, 20-year-old Claudia Aderotimi, from Hackney, east London, died as a result of a botched "buttock enhancement" procedure at a US hotel. The BBL procedure is not considered to be any more dangerous than many other types of cosmetic surgery, according to consultant plastic surgeon Bryan Mayou. "The danger is the surgery being performed by unqualified surgeons outside a clinical setting without appropriate aftercare," says Mr Mayou, a member of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons. "If fat is injected deep into muscle tissue and lower down on the buttocks, there is a risk of incorrectly injecting fat into large veins. "The fat, now an embolus, can pass around the bloodstream, into the lungs and cause death." Mr Franks, 31, told The Sun: "Leah was under anaesthetic and complications happened due to fat getting deposited in her bloodstream and her oxygen levels fell. "She was brought back to stable but had three heart attacks and there was nothing they could do." Plastic surgeons from international societies have set up a taskforce to monitor and report on the BBL procedure, says Mr Mayou. The death rate following the procedure was found to be 1 in 3,000 and all the fatal cases investigated featured fat emboli being found in the buttock muscle, he says. The surgeon says he has noticed a rise in the number of bottom-boosting operations at his Cadogan Clinic in Chelsea, west London, in the past four years. "It's a current fad," he explains. "Years ago everyone wanted to be smaller and they would be saying 'can we have liposuction to make [my bottom] smaller?'" And that is the technique that would be used if the "bubble butt" goes out of fashion and BBL patients want the procedure reversed, he says. So why the obsession with having a bigger behind? For Mr Mayou, it's down to popular culture celebrating curvier physiques. "We live in an ethnically diverse world and there is an appreciation of different body shapes from our own, and then these techniques become available that make these shapes achievable." Celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner and Cardi B have huge followings on social media where they regularly post photographs flaunting their rounded posteriors. Jenner posted a video on her blog in which she attributed her curves to weight gain: "[I haven't had] ass implants. You know, I used to be 120 [lbs]. I was really skinny. Now I'm pushing like 136. But it's alright, I like the chunkiness." However, Cardi B has revealed that before she broke on to the music scene she had filler injected into her buttocks in a basement in New York - and the silicone leaked for five days afterwards. In an interview with GQ, she said she paid $800 (£564) for the procedure after seeing her stripper colleagues with bigger bottoms earning more than her. Chloe Simms, a star of reality soap The Only Way Is Essex, has been open about the bum-boosting cosmetic surgery she's had, having complained on the show that she had "the flattest bum in Essex". This Instagram post from 2013 shows her slim silhouette. While she appears much more curvaceous in this swimwear shot from July 2018. And as Mr Mayou points out, BBL surgery can be a particularly attractive idea for some women as it's seen as being able to solve two body hang-ups in one go. "For a lot of people you are really getting two benefits from one operation - removing fat from somewhere they don't want it and putting it somewhere they do," he says. In terms of cost, cosmetic surgery is cheaper in countries like Turkey than in the UK, Mr Mayou says. What does buttock augmentation surgery involve? He estimates a BBL procedure would cost about £8,000 in the UK. Some reports state Ms Cambridge paid as little as £3,000 for her surgery. "But we have people travelling from abroad to our clinics in London because our surgeons are qualified, regulated - our clinics are safe - so it's a two-way thing," he says. "I think people are being enticed by heavy marketing; it's all in a foreign language and they have no way of checking if the surgeons are safe," Mr Mayou adds. "It's a commercial enterprise and they are not going to turn down people. They will do everyone whether they are suitable for the operation or not. "By making the decision to undergo cut-price surgery, patients risk serious complications and even - as this tragic story illustrates - death." An earlier version of this story was published on 4 September 2018.

तुर्की में "ब्राज़ीलियाई बट लिफ्ट" सर्जरी के दौरान तीन बच्चों की माँ की मृत्यु हो गई जब एक वसा के थक्के ने उनकी एक धमनी को अवरुद्ध कर दिया, एक जांच में पाया गया है। यह प्रक्रिया तेजी से लोकप्रिय क्यों हो रही है और क्या विदेश में ऑपरेशन करना अधिक खतरनाक है?


Veganuary: Do this year's dishes rival the Greggs vegan sausage roll?

Summary: Hundreds of restaurants have launched tasty plant-based treats in conjunction with Veganuary, a campaign encouraging people to follow a vegan diet for the first month of the year. From pea protein pepperoni to watermelon steak, will any new products rival Greggs's vegan sausage roll success from last year?

By Alice EvansBBC News Late at night on New Year's Day, dozens of people queued up outside the Greggs on Grainger Street in Newcastle to be among the first foodies to taste the new vegan steak bake before it was first available to buy on 2 January. Food blogger Emma Phillips had been invited to the event by Greggs as a peace offering after she ate a non-vegan doughnut that had been mistakenly labelled as vegan. The 40-year-old from Gateshead said the launch became "quite an experience" after various partygoers joined the queue to see what all the fuss was about. "Bearing in mind it was New Year's Day, the Greggs in particular that they chose was on the corner beside quite a notorious area of Newcastle for revellers, shall we say - so a lot of quite inebriated people were walking past," Emma said. After a bit of "ribbing" from non-vegan passersby, "they started to join the queue as well". Inside, people were rewarded for their wait with trays of steak bakes, a DJ, and some iPads were even given away, Emma said. It might seem like a lot of hype for just one product. But Greggs knows how much one star snack can bolster an entire brand. After Piers Morgan criticised the vegan sausage roll when it launched during the 2019 edition of Veganuary, Greggs's marketing team jumped for joy. The ITV presenter's characteristically scathing retweet, followed by Greggs's witty reply, helped a video clip advertising the roll to accumulate a cool 5.3m views - and led to widespread media coverage. The roll became one of the fastest selling Greggs products for years and helped to contribute to what was described as a "phenomenal year" by the company's chief executive. Annual sales broke £1bn for the first time, with sales growing 13.5% compared to 7.2% in 2018 - and it was announced on Wednesday that all 25,000 staff members would get a share of a £7m payout to celebrate the success. So, it's safe to say that food chains have realised there is money to be made out of Veganuary. Food outlets jumping on the bandwagon include Wagamama, which has launched a "tuna" steak made of watermelon, Subway with its Meatless Meatball Marinara and Costa Coffee with its ham and cheese toastie - free from ham and, er, cheese. Caffe Nero has launched an entire new menu to help people get through the 31-day challenge - complete with raspberry croissants and "meatball" paninis. Pizza Hut, meanwhile, says it hopes its Veganuary special, a pepperoni-style pizza made from pea protein, will "appease" - oh dear - " even the greatest meat lovers". So far this year the pizza chain says it has sold an average of 1,400 vegan pizzas a day - up 50% on January last year. And Leon says its new chipotle and avocado burger has sold better than expected. The fast food chain's vegan burgers are now out-selling other burgers. Dominos has confirmed rumours it is "getting there" with developing a vegan pizza - but it looks like it is going to miss the chance to make the most of the Veganuary hype. 'Scream flavour, whisper health' Alison Rabschnuk from the Good Food Institute says the timing of Veganuary is "perfect" for businesses. "Health concerns are the primary consumer motivation for eating vegan and January is the number one month for new health-related resolutions," she says. But she also points out that not all vegan food has to be healthy - and new foods might actually sell better if they are marketed as an indulgent treat. "Scream flavour and whisper health" is Alison's advice. "The fact that a dish is plant-based is what cues health for the customer - there's no need to overemphasise that point." Veganuary launched in 2014 as a non-profit organisation encouraging people to try out being vegan in the first month of the year by signing the Veganuary pledge. It also supports businesses to develop plant-based products "as a way of protecting the environment, preventing animal suffering and improving the health of millions of people". The campaign claims 200 new vegan products were launched by restaurants and supermarkets at last year's event, when 250,000 people made the pledge. This year is even bigger. The number of sign-ups has already surpassed 370,000 (including 150,000 in the UK) and is "steadily rising", according to Veganuary's head of marketing, Toni Vernelli - who adds the "huge response" shows the "positive action" of the campaign is "exactly what many people need right now". Google Trends also suggests there's much more interest in Veganuary this year. While making money from vegan foods at this time of year should therefore be easy, some food outlets have faced barriers. Burger King cooked up a storm with its January roll-out of the Rebel Whopper which, although made of a plant-based patty, is not strictly suitable for vegans or vegetarians because it is cooked alongside meat products. But the Veganuary team has defended the new burger and warned non-vegan customers not to get too picky. It argues animals are better off with non-vegans eating plant-based burgers, even if they're cooked alongside their meaty counterparts. PETA has also urged vegans to accept this kind of practice because otherwise restaurants will be put off making vegan products. The risk of cross-contamination posed by the Rebel Whopper is one of several issues fast food chains encounter when rolling out vegan products. Another problem for full-time vegans is whether or not to buy food from restaurants which make most of their fortune from meat. Vegan social influencer Emily Woolnough has been grappling with this question for a while. When KFC trialled a vegan burger last year, the 20-year-old from Cleethorpes refused to eat it. "I was against buying something from KFC because they kill millions of chickens… [and] I don't want my money to be going into that," she said. But by the time the zero chicken burger launched across the UK on 2 January, Emily had listened to other influencers and had a change of heart. "It's good to increase the demand for vegan food," she says - adding that the "amazing" KFC burger is her favourite Veganuary product because "it tastes so realistic". Emma Phillips agrees it's the multinational big cheeses who will really be able to drive veganism to become mainstream. "They're not bothered about the animals… but I don't care," she says. "No business is there in an altruistic sense. For me, if veganism is to become mainstream... it has to be convenient, it has to be accessible. So the likes of Greggs and KFC are actually pushing that agenda in the way a niche movement wouldn't do." Toni Vernelli, head of communications at Veganuary, agrees with the bloggers about sometimes-demonised business such as KFC, McDonald's and Burger King. "We don't think we can achieve a vegan world without them," she says. She points out the huge advertising budgets and overflowing budgets enjoyed by these companies and says, with increased demand, industry giants might invest in growing their vegan menus. While they may not want to be too closely aligned with a store that sells 1.5m pork sausage rolls every week, Emma and Emily do have one thing in common with Greggs - they're all profiting from Veganuary. Emma says she got 1,000 new followers in the first week of January. And part-time Starbucks worker Emily, whose @naturally_vegan Instagram page is smaller than Emma's @veganwomble account, has still had about twice the number of new followers in the first week of January compared with her weekly average. "Posting the new foods gains a lot of attraction," Emily says. "It's the hot topic at the minute, it's what everyone's talking about."

सैकड़ों रेस्तरां ने साल के पहले महीने के लिए शाकाहारी आहार का पालन करने के लिए लोगों को प्रोत्साहित करने वाले अभियान वेगन्यूरी के साथ मिलकर स्वादिष्ट पौधे आधारित व्यंजन शुरू किए हैं। मटर प्रोटीन पेपरोनी से लेकर तरबूज स्टीक तक, क्या कोई नया उत्पाद पिछले साल से ग्रेग्स के शाकाहारी सॉसेज रोल की सफलता का मुकाबला करेगा?


Troubled teenager Paige Chivers groomed then murdered

Summary: After a row with her father, Paige Chivers threw her belongings into two carrier bags and left home in Blackpool. Within weeks, she was murdered by the one person she turned to for help. Her body has never been found. But how was a vulnerable 15-year-old allowed to drift then disappear without trace?

By Lynette Horsburgh & Helen CarterBBC News Paige Chivers had a troubled childhood. Expelled from school at 13, she drifted for the next two years, listlessly passing the time drinking alcohol and smoking cannabis. She had been due to return to education after a lengthy absence but she was murdered by Robert Ewing, 37 years her senior, who had groomed her for sex. He was convicted of murder at Preston Crown Court on 7 July following a three-month trial, but it could only be reported after the jury returned verdicts on his co-defendant, Gareth Dewhurst, 46, who was convicted of disposing of her body three days later. Both men were found guilty of perverting the course of justice by intimidating witnesses and laying false trails. The case has raised questions about why the authorities failed to protect a vulnerable teenager and how Lancashire Police made a significant error. Police error Paige Chivers' chaotic and dysfunctional family life began to spiral out of control in 2005 when she was expelled from Montgomery High School in Bispham. Two years later, in February 2007, her mother Sheila Houghton died. Her father Frank Chivers - who was accused of physically abusing her - offered Paige and her younger brother Jack, then 14, little support in their grief. He was rarely at the family home after starting a relationship with another woman. Jack, now 22, described Paige as a "wild" child. On the day she left home, 23 August 2007, their father called Jack telling him he would "kill her" when he got home for stealing from his wallet. It was then Paige packed her belongings and left. When Mr Chivers returned and found his daughter gone, Jack just "shrugged it off". It was not unusual for Paige to disappear for days on end. Three days later Frank, who was himself murdered on 11 August 2013, reported his daughter missing. But the time already elapsed was compounded when the police operator recorded the year of Paige's birth incorrectly - as 1962 not 1992 - and that she had left home voluntarily. The additional vital days were lost as officers were looking for a 45-year-old woman who had left home of her own accord, instead of a vulnerable 15-year-old. It was not until 7 September when this was rectified. Lancashire Police accepted the error and has voluntarily referred itself to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, but did this 12-day delay allow Ewing to cover up vital evidence? The jury heard she was murdered within a four-day time frame of leaving home. Blood spots matching Paige's DNA were found at Ewing's flat which he claimed was from a cut on her arm, but a forensic expert in court said they could not have come from a single cut. Ewing replaced a piece of carpet around the time Paige went missing, saying he had done so because his cat urinated on it. Anonymous call Paige had met Ewing through Tiffany Bell, the ex-girlfriend of her half-brother Peter Houghton. She was known to hang out with older people and had stayed overnight at Ewing's flat. He was 52 at the time. The trial heard he had an "inappropriate sexual interest" in Paige and exploited her chaotic family background to groom her. He denied sexual contact but police found photographs in his flat and on his phone of the teenager posed with her top pulled up and the word "sex" written on her abdomen with a downwards-pointing arrow. Less than a fortnight before her disappearance, Ewing "tested the water" with police when he contacted them anonymously and said a "problem child" had turned up on his doorstep after being thrown out by her father. The prosecution said Ewing had wanted to see what official reaction there would be to a 15-year-old girl turning up on the doorstep of a 52-year-old man. "The answer he learned... was very little," said Brian Cummings QC. She was clearly vulnerable but what did the authorities do to protect her? Little is known about her contact with social services and Blackpool Council has yet to comment on the case. In May 2007 Paige contacted Connexions, a council-run support centre in Blackpool for 13 to 19-year-olds. Ewing later claimed this was where she was heading when witnesses saw the pair together at a bus stop on 23 August. However, she never arrived. He was jailed for life and will serve at 33 years in prison. Dewhurst was jailed for eight years. Charlene Downes case Gabrielle Shaw, chief executive officer of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac), said it was "an extremely sad and disturbing" case. She said although safeguards were in place to protect vulnerable children she questioned if they did enough to protect Paige. The risk of grooming in the UK was a "significant and growing problem", she added. Child sexual exploitation referrals in West Lancashire, which includes Blackpool, rose from 393 in 2013-14 to 564 in 2014-15 - an increase of 44% - according to police data. There are striking similarities with the case of Charlene Downes, another Blackpool teenager who disappeared near the town's North Pier in 2003 and whose body has never been found. Police believe the 14-year-old was also groomed and then murdered. Joanne Cunliffe, reviewing lawyer for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) North West said: "At the time of her disappearance Paige had very little stability in her life and Robert Ewing took advantage of this. "He was a middle-aged man who befriended her, not for any charitable reasons, but because he had an inappropriate sexual interest in her. Although we will never know the exact circumstances, the jury in delivering their guilty verdict have found that soon after Paige went missing he killed her in his flat. Gareth Dewhurst knew about the murder and helped Robert Ewing dispose of her body." She said neither "has ever shown any remorse" and over the years since she went missing "they have done everything they could to cover their tracks, to divert inquiries away from them and try to put the blame on other people." The police and CPS "remained determined throughout to uncover the truth and bring justice for Paige," she added. In the wake of Charlene's case Blackpool Council and Lancashire Police launched Awaken, which the authority claimed was a flagship project to tackle child sexual exploitation. But Blackpool Council has declined numerous opportunities to comment about Paige. Stockport MP Ann Coffey said she remained concerned about missing children and the risk of sexual exploitation. In the wake of the Rochdale grooming case she produced a report called Real Voices, which stated the "wider sexualisation of children" remained a problem. She also said agencies clearly "need to understand the importance of sharing data". Ms Coffey said when a child was reported missing, information should be made available to police to ensure an "appropriate response". Sadly, in Paige Chivers' case, that never materialised.

अपने पिता के साथ एक विवाद के बाद, पेज चिवर्स ने अपना सामान दो थैलों में फेंक दिया और ब्लैकपूल में घर छोड़ दिया। हफ्तों के भीतर, उसकी हत्या एक व्यक्ति द्वारा की गई थी जिसे उसने मदद के लिए भेजा था। उसका शरीर कभी नहीं मिला। लेकिन एक कमजोर 15 वर्षीय को कैसे बहने दिया गया और फिर बिना किसी निशान के गायब हो गया?