How clan politics grew in Bradford

Summary: The Labour Party needs to appoint a new candidate to take on George Galloway in Bradford West, where a clan-based system is key to local politics. But what is the "biradari" and how important will it be in the forthcoming general election?

By Sabbiyah PervezBBC Look North The surprise withdrawal of Labour's newly-selected candidate has brought fresh attention to the constituency where the party suffered a shock defeat to Mr Galloway three years ago. Amina Ali, a councillor in the London borough of Tower Hamlets, quit the election campaign on Wednesday - just four days after she was selected - saying the campaign for a seat 200 miles away in Yorkshire would cause "massive disruption" to her children's lives. Her decision was pounced on by Mr Galloway who said: "The real reason is the war inside Bradford West Labour Party and she's retreated from it, badly wounded." It was Mr Galloway who inflicted wounds on Labour when the Respect Party founder romped to victory in March 2012 in a previously safe seat for Labour, in what he called "the Bradford Spring". Many at the time were frustrated by Labour's candidate Imran Hussein who had been criticised for failing to attend the hustings at which Mr Galloway connected with the electorate. But the Respect Party candidate's resounding win wasn't just to the credit of his silver tongue; there were many other factors in play. He mobilised the apathetic youth and the disengaged women - two sections of the community who had long felt ostracised by the biradari, or "clan" based system, which has been in operation for many years. For one to truly understand the dynamics of this system you have to know the history of the Pakistani community in Bradford. Pakistani men began arriving in Bradford from the mid-1950s. They were mainly single men who were encouraged to travel to the UK to work in the mills and factories. They relied on each other for support and basic survival. In the 1960s Britain witnessed a chain of migration from the sub-continent, a result of the existing migrants inviting other Pakistanis into the country through means of employment. This was operated largely through family networks. The single men who had migrated to the UK were reunited with their families by the 1980s. The fantasy of returning home soon dwindled as families settled and grew in the industrial towns and cities across the UK. Many recognized they had better job opportunities here, their children would receive quality education and generally an improved quality of life. But they soon realised that they needed advice to fill out certain forms, or to gain planning permission for building a mosque or halal butchers. Thus they sought out from among them, the adequately educated who were literate and had a basic understanding of the political system. These men then acted on their behalf and became their representatives, most commonly known as "community leaders". It is important to note that women at that time played little or no role in any of the decision-making; many of them were new to the UK and were expected to care for the extended family and the children. In addition, it was seen to be a man's job to make the decisions and a woman's voice was neither appreciated nor welcome. But also remember, this was the mood in politics in general at the time and it was not just a Pakistani phenomenon. Politicians soon recognized the influence of the community leaders; they realized that these appointed men could effectively grant them a bloc vote akin to that of the unions. The bloc vote was secured by heads of clans telling their families for whom to vote. Fatima Patel, editor of the Asian Sunday newspaper, which is published in Bradford and London, points out: "If someone is offering you a number of votes, which politician wouldn't take it?" The issue was highlighted in a report by the campaign group Democratic Audit, based at the London School of Economics. It noted that both Labour and the Conservatives were implicit in the political history of the Bradford West seat being "marred by patronage, neglect, bad organisation and even electoral fraud". Ratna Lachman, director of racial justice campaign group Just West Yorkshire, argues that while "in its initial genesis the biradari was set up so the Asian community got a fair deal, as time has gone on this positive context of the biradari has become corrupted and co-opted into politics". Once the biradaris realised they held a degree of power, they decided it would be ideal for them to put up their own man, who could relate to them and effectively become a puppet. Deals and bargains were struck between rival clans to secure positions of power. Many I have spoken to liken it to the Etonian or Bullingdon clubs for rich white men who support and promote each other into positions of power. The only difference with biradari is that the men aren't nearly as rich or educated. Some of the women I have spoken to told me they had little interest in engaging with politics in Bradford; they said it was dirty, corrupt and they felt that even if they did participate, it wouldn't make any difference. Other women argued against this notion, repeatedly using the example of George Galloway's win in 2012. They told me it was the mobilisation of women that helped secure his win. He sent bilingual campaigners into the community so that even those who did not speak English could engage and articulate their concerns. They told me it was this that motivated and mobilised them, as candidates had previously never bothered with them. Whether it was a strategic decision or not, Mr Galloway actively sought to involve them in his campaign. But while he empowered women, some say he did little to encourage their new-found political enthusiasm. Some were dismayed by his comments about the allegations facing Julian Assange, when Mr Galloway was criticised by anti-rape campaigners for suggesting the Wikileaks founder had been accused of nothing more than "bad sexual etiquette". Salma Yaqoob resigned as the Respect Party leader following Mr Galloway's comments and later stated in an interview that "it's been deeply disappointing, because I do feel that those women have been let down. [Comments like that] open the door to women being treated in a certain way." Mr Galloway responded by stressing that whatever his views on the Assange case he still believed: "No never means yes and non-consensual sex is rape." Mr Galloway also mobilised the youth of Bradford in their masses. One young voter I met at Bradford College told me "there was a real buzz around Galloway". It appeared that the young people who were frustrated by clan politics, and their elders telling them where to place their vote, were rebelling. As one young man wrote on Facebook: "2 fingers up at the 'Mirpuri village politics' imported to the UK, particularly Bradford... where voting is about who you know, financial and personal gain for the candidate... long live the youth that made this possible." The young people I spoke to told me they want to elect their MPs based on their commitment to issues such as education, employment and equality. They stressed that biradari politics would soon fizzle out as the young replace the old and move away from clan-based loyalties. One individual commented: "There is no place for it here any more. I want to elect someone who will make society a better place for me and my kids and not someone who asks for my vote simply because he is related to me or of the same colour." One businesswoman told me: "The politicians have let us down for so long, we need to pick this city up. "There are some amazing people here doing amazing things, we need to provide them with more opportunities so it benefits the city as a whole." A debate on the issue of biradari politics will be broadcast on Sunday Politics on BBC One at 11:00 on Sunday 1 March.

लेबर पार्टी को ब्रैडफोर्ड वेस्ट में जॉर्ज गैलोवे का मुकाबला करने के लिए एक नया उम्मीदवार नियुक्त करने की आवश्यकता है, जहां स्थानीय राजनीति के लिए कबीले आधारित प्रणाली महत्वपूर्ण है। लेकिन "बिरादरी" क्या है और आगामी आम चुनाव में यह कितना महत्वपूर्ण होगा?


Brazil Catholics await new pope amid challenges

Summary: Brazil, home to the world's biggest Roman Catholic population, will be closely watching developments as cardinals prepare to elect a new Pope next week. But the Catholic Church faces huge challenges in Brazil, as BBC Brasil's Julia Carneiro reports.

By Julia CarneiroBBC Brasil, Rio de Janeiro Few places in Brazil are a greater reflection of the devotion of the country's Catholics than the town of Aparecida half way between Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The town boasts the world's second largest basilica after St Peter's in Rome, built to honour Brazil's national saint, Our Lady of Aparecida. This huge red brick structure is visible from miles around, and attracts 11 million pilgrims each year. The parking spaces outside the building are packed with buses and cars that bring the faithful for religious services that begin every two hours. Some of the worshippers approach the altar on their knees in an act of devotion. There is no sign of crisis in Aparecida, but the Catholic Church in Brazil has seen a steady decline in the numbers professing the Catholic faith over the past 30 years. As cardinals meet in Rome to select a new Pope, worshippers in Aparecida think a Brazilian pope would help to revitalise the Church both nationally and in neighbouring countries. "We are rooting for a Brazilian Pope," said Cristina Soares, who came to attend Mass at Aparecida. "If he is not, may God do the best for us Brazilians." Renewal This hope has gained strength as Cardinal Odilo Scherer, Archbishop of Sao Paulo, is increasingly mentioned as a strong contender for the papacy. He would satisfy those who call for a Pope from the developing world, but within Brazil he is viewed as conservative for his stance against homosexuality and abortion. After celebrating a last Sunday Mass before leaving for Rome to attend the conclave of cardinals, the Archbishop of Aparecida, Cardinal Raymundo Damasceno Assis, reflected on the way forward. "The Catholic Church is the strongest church in Brazil, but we have to update the message for the people of the present," he said. "The Church in Latin America is constantly reaching out and renewing itself. Europe seems to have settled down and stagnated a bit." Pope Benedict XVI visited Brazil, including Aparecida, but he did not attract the same crowds as his predecessor, Pope John Paul II. In the Vidigal favela in Rio de Janeiro, older residents have fond memories of John Paul II's visit in 1980. He is credited with saving the shantytown - perched on a hilltop overlooking the sea, with the Christ the Redeemer statue visible in the distance - from being demolished. "I hope the next Pope follows in John Paul's style, the Pope who was closest to us and had the courage come to a favela," says Paulo Roberto Muniz. He was 25 years old at the time and today helps take care of the small, tin-roofed chapel built for the Pope's visit. "There is no use in saying that you are a man of the people. You have to come and get your feet dirty, like he did," he says. No connection But just a few houses away from the chapel, Maria Gerlaide shows little interest in the election of the next Pope. Ms Gerlaide is one of the many lapsed Catholics in this community. Here numerous simple buildings have popped up between homes to serve as places of worship. Ms Gerlaide and her entire family now attends an evangelical Church. "The pastors are much closer to the people," she said. "They talk to you, they are approachable, they spread the word, explain what we're reading. They show you things you don't see in the Catholic Church." Evangelical churches are growing in strength in Brazil. The Victory in Christ Church, for instance, was founded 12 years ago, and today runs 120 ministries. Its main place of worship is in Vila da Penha, a working class neighbourhood in the north of Rio de Janeiro. At a recent late night Sunday service, the church was so full that an overflow room offered latecomers the option to watch along on television screens. Silas Malafaia, a controversial pastor who presides over the congregation, believes the Catholic Church is losing ground for a combination of reasons, including what he describes as an antiquated preaching style and a weak connection to the faithful. "There is a lack of commitment to the faith and no incentive to live the gospel outside the church," Mr Malafaia said. Mr Malafaia, who preaches against homosexual marriage and abortion, estimates the evangelical population will surpass the number of Catholics within the next two decades. Faith and laughter But there is also a new generation of Brazilian Catholics intent on paving the way for a more promising future for their Church. And they hope World Youth Day, scheduled to be held in Rio in July, will be a galvanising event as it will be one of the first foreign trips for the new Pope. "We have always had strong youth groups, but now with this special moment coming up, the Catholic Church is even more focused on approaching the youth," says Fabio Alexandre Borges, who co-ordinates a youth group in Rio's Archdiocese. Mr Borges and his friend Cristiano Martins developed a stand-up comedy routine to teach the stories of the Bible while making people laugh. "Today the world offers us a wide array of information and we can't fall behind," says Mr Martins. "People can be Catholic and still be listening to music, make jokes, have fun. We don't need to be so serious."

ब्राजील, दुनिया की सबसे बड़ी रोमन कैथोलिक आबादी का घर, अगले सप्ताह एक नए पोप का चुनाव करने के लिए कार्डिनलों की तैयारी के घटनाक्रम पर करीब से नजर रखेगा। लेकिन कैथोलिक चर्च को ब्राजील में बड़ी चुनौतियों का सामना करना पड़ रहा है, जैसा कि बीबीसी ब्रासिल की जूलिया कार्नेइरो ने बताया है।


The Eddy: Will Gompertz reviews Netflix drama directed by Oscar-winning Damien Chazelle ★★★☆☆

Summary: The Eddy is an indie jazz club on the rundown outskirts of Paris, co-owned by Elliot (André Holland) and Farid (Tahar Rahim). They are good friends. Elliot used to be a famous American jazz pianist. Farid didn't, which is why he's in charge of the business side, while his cooler-than-thou colleague looks after the music.

Will GompertzArts editor@WillGompertzBBCon Twitter They have a house band. It is on the cusp of a record deal with a prestigious label. But they're not quite at it. Particularly singer Maja (Joanna Kulig), who is struggling to get over an affair with Elliot, who in turn is struggling to get over his own personal issues, which are the cause for him stepping out of the limelight. Farid doesn't have any such cares, he has two lovely children and a stocking-wearing wife, Amira (Leïla Bekhti). But he too has struggles. That's how it is with jazz. Money is his problem. The Eddy isn't going steady. Nor is Elliot. He's broken up with Maja and split up with his wife, who stayed in America (we meet her, he was right to move continents). The last thing he needs is their bolshy 16-year-old daughter coming to stay and giving him a hard time. But when your lucks out… Julie (Amandla Stenberg) duly arrives with a bad attitude and a big suitcase, which is a lot to squeeze onto a mis-firing Vespa. By the time they arrive at Elliot's apartment she's mouthed-off at some dodgy types driving a sedan, poked her nose into her dad's love-life, and demanded a cigarette with all the grace of President Trump at a press conference. And this, we find out, is her good side. It's not all woe, though. We are thankful for the music, the songs Maja's singing, thankful for all the joy they're bringing. Not to Elliot, obviously. He's too wrapped up in his own world, until he gets too wrapped up in Farid's, which he discovers is an uncouth underworld populated by gangsters who think The Bird is a girlfriend, not one of the greatest saxophonists of all time. At least he's got the The Eddy, his gritty subterranean jazz joint, a million metaphorical miles from the grand mainstream arts institutions of the 1st arrondissement. Its edgy, multi-cultural clientele is there to escape from the grim realities of their daily life, which disappear from view the moment they see the band play. They've come to be taken away by them. As you will be if you like jazz. The musical numbers aren't so much allowed time to breathe, but to luxuriate in a warm bath of televisual love followed by a lengthy manicure. I've seen spoilt children less indulged. Large chunks of each of the eight one-hour-plus episodes are devoted to the house band performing, jamming, rehearsing, riffing. It is the source of energy around which all else revolves: imagine Roddy Doyle's The Commitments (sans comedy) meeting French police procedural Spiral, and you'll have a sense of the vibe. This is not to suggest that The Eddy is a prog-rock length epic music promo, but to recognise jazz is not only the star of the show, but also its basis. The concept for the series started with a meeting in 2013 between exec producer Alan Poul (Six Feet Under) and lyricist and record producer Glen Ballard (Alanis Morissette's album Jagged Little Pill), who had written a bunch of jazz songs and assembled a band to perform them (two members of which are in the tv series). The narrative came second, which is rarely a good thing in a drama. There is so much that is right with The Eddy: The Cinema Vérité handheld camerawork instigated by Damien Chazelle (Whiplash, La La Land), who directed the first two episodes. The excellent casting (there's a standout performance from Adil Dehbi as The Eddy's bar-hand with ambitions), the multilingual script, the honest depiction of contemporary life on the edgelands of Paris, the cinematography, the actors's performances, the musicians for goodness sake. They're all great. But the story isn't. It is plodding at best: an all-too predictable sequence of events with as many twists and turns as a Roman road. Quite how this came to be is difficult to fathom. The series was written by the multi-award-winning Jack Thorne, a very talented man with a string of critical and commercial hits to his name (Harry Potter And The Cursed Child, Skins, This is England, His Dark Materials). There's nothing technically wrong with the script, which is refreshingly bold in the way it interweaves languages - sometimes mid speech. The problem is the plot, which would barely sustain a cheap-and-cheerless 1980's TV drama, let alone this oceanic-sized Netflix series which is becalmed on a sea of two-dimensional clichés: a heroin addicted bassist (called Jude leading to the immortal line "hey, Jude"), a stroppy daughter, a wrong'un brother, snobby in-laws, a bitchy ex-wife, a cash-strapped club. The Eddy needs an eddy. Maybe there's a grand plan afoot, and seasons two, three and four are already in the works, and the glacial speed of the story thus far will seem like the smartest set-up in the history of television. Maybe. But even the most committed improv jazz player knows there comes a point when freestyling has to resolve into something more concrete otherwise everybody falls asleep. That won't happen in The Eddy if you like the music, but if you don't you might well find yourself nodding off to the sound of the double bass. Recent reviews by Will Gompertz Follow Will Gompertz on Twitter

एड्डी पेरिस के बाहरी इलाके में एक इंडी जैज़ क्लब है, जिसका सह-स्वामित्व इलियट (आंद्रे हॉलैंड) और फरीद (ताहर रहीम) के पास है। वे अच्छे दोस्त हैं। इलियट एक प्रसिद्ध अमेरिकी जैज़ पियानोवादक हुआ करता था। फरीद ऐसा नहीं करता था, यही कारण है कि वह व्यावसायिक पक्ष का प्रभारी है, जबकि उसका ठंडा सहकर्मी संगीत की देखभाल करता है।


Arthur Jafa’s video for Kanye West’s Wash Us In The Blood: Will Gompertz's review ★★★★☆

Summary: "If I was a betting man", my father used to say when on holiday and eyeing up an incoming storm before taking us kids on a long hill walk, "I'd wager we'll be just fine". We never were. We always got soaked. It was the Lake District. If it looks like storming, it storms. The weather doesn't bluff in Cumbria.

Will GompertzArts editor@WillGompertzBBCon Twitter Kurt Schwitters (1887-1948) knew that. The emigre artist moved to Ambleside via Norway in 1945 having fled Germany after Hitler included his Dadaist collages in the Nazis's Degenerate Art (Entartete Kunst) exhibitions. Schwitters called his assemblages made from magazine cuttings and assorted debris, "Merz", an invented word to describe his carefully arranged collection of bit-n-bobs. Soon after he set up shop in the Lake District, he began the protracted process of transforming a humble stone barn into a Merzbau: a dwelling-cum-sculpture-cum-installation fabricated from twigs, string, wire, plaster and pretty much anything that came to hand. But the Cumbrian climate undermined his efforts; rainwater poured through the construction. Schwitters was thwarted by the weather, and by his failing health. He died mid-project, leaving behind a leaky barn and a lasting legacy for low-fi art made with "found" objects. His influence is evident in Robert Rauschenberg's Combines and Monty Python's animations; in the aesthetics of punk and the pioneering pop art of Eduardo Paolozzi. Amazing, really - that Schwitters, a somewhat eccentric artist from Hanover whose work was, on occasion, destroyed and ridiculed, who became destitute and sickly, should possess a vision so potent and vital that it continues to resonate right up to this very week. If I was a betting man, I'd wager that you have heard of Kanye West - who released a new track called Wash Us In The Blood on Tuesday - but probably not Arthur Jafa who made the accompanying video, although he's been around much longer and was awarded the Golden Lion at last year's Venice Art Biennale. Back in 1991, when Kanye was still in high school, Jafa won the cinematography award at the Sundance Film Festival for Daughters of the Dust. He then worked with Spike Lee and Stanley Kubrick way before West collaborated with Jay-Z on The Blueprint. But then Kanye stepped into the limelight in 2004 with his debut album College Dropout, while Arthur stayed behind the camera working mainly as a cinematographer on movies and pop promos. Their stars aligned in 2016 when Jafa was busy piecing together a bunch of video clips and stills he'd harvested from the internet. In the spirit of Schwitters, they were fragments of stuff that had caught his eye, which he thought could be seen differently, or just seen, if structured into a coherent form from a dense mass of footage: carved out like a sculpture. The images the Mississippi-born, architect-trained Jafa selected, coalesced into a melancholic meditation on the African American experience. There's a clip of Barack Obama singing Amazing Grace at a service for Reverend Clementa Pinckney, who was murdered in Charleston in 2015. That lasts a few seconds. Then, a little boy slaps his mother's face and shouts, "Mummy, wake up!", Michael Jordan is on court, a young woman twerks, Martin Luther King smiles, the molten surface of the sun burns, The Notorious B.I.G raps; all of this and much more in a seven-minute-plus compilation regularly interspersed with shocking scenes of police and racists brutally assaulting black citizens. Jafa had the video close to finished when he sat down one evening to watch Saturday Night Live, with Kanye West as the musical guest. The second number he performed, accompanied by a large choir, was the gospel-inflected Ultralight Beam. Jafa was astonished by it: a masterpiece, he thought - immediately adding it to his film. He was struck by how well it fitted, not only the mood, but also the selected images. Job done. He called his completed work Love is the Message, The Message is Death and showed it to his friend Kahlil Joseph, who showed it at the Underground Museum in LA, and then at Art Basle in Switzerland, where the gallerist Gavin Brown saw it, and showed it in New York, at which point a video Jafa was originally going to simply upload to YouTube was re-contextualised as a museum-quality work of art and quickly became an icon of the age. Maybe the same would have happened if Jafa had posted it online, but I wouldn't bet on it. As with Kurt Schwitters, Arthur Jafa was sourcing seemingly random, buried or discarded entities that had unconsciously caught his eye, and bringing them to the surface where they could be seen. Unlike Schwitters, he was doing it with images that wouldn't have existed in the German's time or even a decade or so ago. The smart-phone films of police brutality have only become possible because of 21st Century technology. Before the ever-present camera-phone existed, extreme and illegal acts of violence perpetrated by officers of the law were mostly unrecorded and therefore open to debate. They're not any more. Love is the Message, The Message is Death is an artwork crafted from this new medium, which presents a view of the world that has never, could never, have been seen before. Last weekend it was simultaneously shown by 13 museums across the globe on their websites. On Tuesday Kanye West posted Wash Us In The Blood, a single from his forthcoming album God's Country, with a video by Jafa. It could be read as Love is the Message: The Sequel, which is a damning indictment of the continued violence targeted at a community of people because of the colour of their skin. There's a clip of Ahmaud Arbery jogging shortly before he was shot and killed after being confronted by Gregory McMichael and his son Travis. And one of Breonna Taylor laughing and dancing at some point prior to the incident that led to her death having been shot eight times by police. Both fatal confrontations happened this spring. There are also Covid-19 references, two of which show footage of young black people struggling to breathe, a comment, perhaps, on the nature of the virus and how it affects different ethnicities and also, possibly, on the asphyxiation of George Floyd, a protest about which is where the film starts (in Fort Lauderdale after a policeman has gratuitously pushed over a kneeling black woman). There are cars doing donuts and taking out a section of the crowd, chains on the ocean that take the shape of Peter Saville's Unknown Pleasures album cover for Joy Division, and video game sequences in a split-screen with Kanye, whose head is covered in a clear plastic visual effect that shatters as he sings about people not wanting him to be himself. All of this imagery is secondary to Kanye's music and lyrics, which mixes polemic with prayer and biblical references: Genocide what it does Mass incarc' what it does Shortly followed by: Execution, thirty states Thirty states still execute Thou shall not kill, I shall not spill. And then… Wash us in the blood of Jesus. The hectic, driving urgency of the film and track subside at the end as pictures of Kanye's Sunday Service Choir rehearsing are accompanied by the sound of gospel singing. It is a good film. But it is not as good as Love is the Message, The Message is Death, or The White Album - the video about casual racism for which Jafa won at Venice. Wash Us In The Blood is clearly part of his oeuvre, a way of making art that Arthur Jafa has been perfecting since he was a little boy putting together books of Kung-Fu movie adverts. But it lacks the rhythm and clarity of his best work. I suspect that is because the video is ultimately in service to the song, whereas the music is an afterthought in Love is the Message. There is also an over-reliance on images and characters Jafa has used in previous pieces, perhaps because he thought a new mass audience might be unfamiliar with his earlier work. The trouble is, for those who are familiar with it, the sense of shock and discovery and sensory overload, on which his videos rely, is undermined. So, this is not his finest work. But Arthur Jafa remains an exceptional artist - or "specialist", as he would say - whose star within the art world has risen late but shines brighter than most. He might not be as famous as Kanye right now, but he will be in 100 years' time when he will be considered one of the most important artists of the early 21st Century. I'll take bets on it. Recent reviews by Will Gompertz Follow Will Gompertz on Twitter

"अगर मैं सट्टेबाजी का आदमी होता", मेरे पिता छुट्टियों में हमारे बच्चों को लंबी पहाड़ी की सैर पर ले जाने से पहले कहते थे, "अगर मैं सट्टेबाजी का आदमी होता और आने वाले तूफान पर नज़र रखता, तो मैं शर्त लगाता कि हम ठीक हो जाएँगे।" हम कभी नहीं करते थे। हम हमेशा भिगो जाते थे। यह झील जिला था। अगर तूफान जैसा दिखता है, तो तूफान आता है। कुम्ब्रिया में मौसम धुंधला नहीं होता।


Jersey's new police station cut in size

Summary: Jersey's new police station will be smaller than originally planned after neighbours raised concerns, a minister has said.

The Home Affairs department plans to build a new police headquarters on the Green Street car park site. The building will have four storeys instead of five with cells on the ground floor. Assistant Treasury Minister Deputy Eddie Noel said the changes complied with UK Home Office guidelines. The construction of the police station will mean the number of available parking spaces drops by 91 to 517. The design is due to go before planners this summer.

एक मंत्री ने कहा है कि पड़ोसियों द्वारा चिंता जताने के बाद जर्सी का नया पुलिस स्टेशन मूल योजना से छोटा होगा।


Inverness arts group appointments follow resignation

Summary: New appointments have been made to an arts group post vacated by a councillor in a row about a giant see-saw-like art installation proposed for Inverness.

Councillor Ken Gowans quit as chairman of Inverness City Arts Working Group saying he did not believe The Gathering Place to be a viable concept. About 200 people have opposed it in a public consultation. Councillors Thomas Prag and Helen Carmichael have been appointed to jointly hold the position. The arts group continues to review the project, as well as other arts schemes, proposed for on or near the River Ness where it runs through Inverness.

इनवर्नेस के लिए प्रस्तावित एक विशाल सी-सॉ जैसी कला स्थापना के बारे में एक पार्षद द्वारा खाली किए गए एक कला समूह के पद पर नई नियुक्तियां की गई हैं।


Newspaper headlines: Met faces Sarah Everard case inquiry and William hits back

Summary: Most newspapers lead on the inquiry into whether Scotland Yard responded properly to an allegation of indecent exposure involving the Metropolitan Police officer being held on suspicion of the kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard. The Sun asks "Did cops fail to act?"

By BBC NewsStaff For the Times, the revelation places renewed pressure on the Met Police over its handling of the case. The disappearance of Ms Everard - and the discovery of human remains in woodland in Kent - has brought the issue of violence against women and girls to the fore. More than 200 women have signed an open letter to the i calling on the government and the police to take more action on the issue. They include MPs, campaigners, charity workers, and council and parliamentary staff. The Guardian has pictures of some of the 118 women killed by men in the UK in the last year - and named by the Labour MP, Jess Phillips, in the House of Commons yesterday. It is, the paper says, a horrifying toll. Prince William's declaration that the royals are "very much not a racist family", is the main story for several papers. The Daily Mail says his reaction laid bare his clear hurt over the claims made by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in their TV interview. The Daily Express says he defended the Royal Family's honour. "Haunted by race slur, William strikes back", is the headline. The Daily Telegraph reports that Prime Minister Boris Johnson is to make clear that he won't grant a second Scottish independence referendum, even if the SNP wins a majority in the Holyrood elections in May. According to the paper, he will tell the Scottish Conservatives at their conference on Sunday that another vote, during the pandemic, would be reckless. The Times has been told that nurses could be offered a rise of more than 2% under plans being considered by ministers to try to defuse the NHS pay row. A government source is quoted as saying it's a matter of "when, not if" the current 1% offer is increased. The source says ministers are considering a rise of more than the 2.1% proposed in 2019 by the government - and suggests somewhere between 2% and 3% would be "realistic". Finally, in the annual league table of biggest garden pests, the i reports that slugs and snails crawled to first place in the rankings for last year. It says the troublesome gastropods dethroned the box tree caterpillar to reclaim their status for the first time since 2017. Vine weevils came second in the rankings - compiled by the Royal Horticultural Society - and box tree caterpillars slid into third place. The Times reports that the caterpillars - who have munched their way through gardens in the south of the country - may have reached their northerly UK limits... because of the colder weather. Sign up for a morning briefing direct to your inbox

अधिकांश समाचार पत्र इस जांच का नेतृत्व करते हैं कि क्या स्कॉटलैंड यार्ड ने सारा एवरार्ड के अपहरण और हत्या के संदेह में मेट्रोपॉलिटन पुलिस अधिकारी से जुड़े अभद्र प्रदर्शन के आरोप का ठीक से जवाब दिया। द सन पूछता है "क्या पुलिस कार्रवाई करने में विफल रही?"


Saintfield: Man detained after being found in 'purpose-built' hide

Summary: A man has been remanded in custody after he was found in "a purpose-built hide" behind a sofa in a house in County Down.

The man was discovered hiding in the property in Saintfield on Friday afternoon. Police also discovered a sizeable quantity of suspected class A drugs during the search. The man and a woman, who was also at the house, were arrested for drug offences. The PSNI said officers had attended the property following reports of suspicious activity. They said they believed the man had breached bail and was using the hide to avoid being detained.

काउंटी डाउन में एक घर में एक सोफे के पीछे "एक उद्देश्य से निर्मित छिपाव" में पाए जाने के बाद एक व्यक्ति को हिरासत में भेज दिया गया है।


Boy shines laser at Gloucestershire police helicopter

Summary: A 16-year-old boy has been reprimanded for shining a laser pen at a police helicopter to distract the pilot.

The teenager was arrested in Crabtree Place, Cheltenham, in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Sgt Mark Stephens said shining lasers at aircraft or vehicles was dangerous and could have serious consequences. "This person now has a criminal record but more importantly understands the potentially serious consequences of his actions," he said.

पायलट का ध्यान भटकाने के लिए पुलिस हेलीकॉप्टर पर लेजर पेन चमकाने के लिए एक 16 वर्षीय लड़के को फटकार लगाई गई है।


Report: Snapchat rejected $3bn bid from Facebook

Summary: Image messaging firm Snapchat, founded by Evan Spiegel, 23, rebuffed a $3bn (£1.9bn) acquisition offer from Facebook, according to the Wall Street Journal .

If Snapchat had accepted, it would have been Facebook's biggest purchase. Citing sources close to the matter, the Journal reported Snapchat was being pursued by others, including Chinese e-commerce company Tencent. Popular with teenagers, Snapchat has doubled its usage recently. According to the firm, more than 350 million images, or "snaps" are sent daily between mobile devices. Once received by users, they are erased after a few seconds. Created in 2011, Snapchat raised more then $60m from investors last June, which valued the company at more than $800m. However, the company has recently come under fire for claims that sent images delete themselves after being viewed. Several hacks have been created that allow users to save snaps, posing potential privacy issues.

वॉल स्ट्रीट जर्नल के अनुसार, 23 वर्षीय इवान स्पीगल द्वारा स्थापित इमेज मैसेजिंग फर्म स्नैपचैट ने फेसबुक से $3 बिलियन (£ 1.9bn) के अधिग्रहण प्रस्ताव को अस्वीकार कर दिया।


Beware hate speech, says Auschwitz Holocaust survivor

Summary: At the age of 13, Susan Pollack - now a retired grandmother living in north London - was taken from her home in rural Hungary, loaded into a cattle truck and transported by rail through German-occupied Poland.

By Allan LittleBBC News, Auschwitz She and her family were told they were going to be resettled. The journey took six days and some in the truck died on the way. "There was some straw on the floor," she told me. "It was dark, it was cold, it was so hostile. And hardly any space for sitting down. There was a lot of crying, lots of children. And we were trapped. Doors were shut, we knew this was not going to be any resettlement but we had no imagination of course of what was to come." The doors opened at Auschwitz. There, on the railway platform, Nazi officers separated those chosen to live and work from those sent immediately to die. Susan lied about her age. A prisoner on the platform whispered to her that she should say she was 15. It saved her life, but her mother was sent immediately to the gas chamber. "There were no hugs, no kisses, no embrace. My mum was just pushed away with the other women and children. The dehumanisation began immediately. I didn't cry, it was as though I'd lost all my emotions." Active collaboration Soviet forces entered Auschwitz on 27 January, 1945. The Nazis had abandoned the camp days earlier, leaving much of it intact. More than a million people, mostly Jews - but Poles, Roma and political prisoners as well - had been murdered there. Those railway lines - which can be still seen at Auschwitz-Birkenau today - extended to almost every corner of Europe. The Holocaust was not a solely German enterprise. It required the active collaboration of Norwegian civil servants, French police and Ukrainian paramilitaries. Every occupied country in Europe had its enthusiastic participants. More on Holocaust Memorial Day: MPs mark Holocaust Memorial Day Holocaust Memorial Day: What can we learn? Antiques Roadshow sheds new light on ring belonging to Jane Haining iWonder: Why did ordinary people commit atrocities in the Holocaust? After 1945, a great silence fell across the continent. The Jews who survived found that the world beyond the perimeter wire of the camps did not much want to know their story. It was only in the 1960s that popular consciousness began to catch up with the crime perpetrated against an entire people. Holocaust denial persists. The internet is full of claims that the destruction of the Jews never happened. "Sometimes they want to call themselves revisionist historians," says Pawel Sawicki, who works at the Auschwitz site, which now attracts two million visitors a year. "But they are not. They hate others. This is anti-Semitism." Judicial legacy At the Nuremberg trials after the war, leading Nazis were held accountable for the state-sponsored crimes that had been committed in Germany and German-occupied territories. For the first time, two new terms entered the grim lexicon of wartime atrocity - crimes against humanity and genocide. This is the Nazis' judicial legacy - that from 1945, sovereign states no longer had legal carte blanche to treat their own citizens as they pleased. "That's the amazing, revolutionary, remarkable change that happened in 1945," says Philippe Sands, an international human rights lawyer who has worked extensively on war crimes prosecutions. "Before 1945, if a state wished to kill half its population, or torture or maim or disappear, there was no rule of international law that said you couldn't do that. The change that occurred in 1945 - as we know very sadly - has not prevented horrors from taking place. "But it does mean that when horrors occur, there is now at least an objective standard that says to governments, to individual states, that as a matter of international law: 'you cannot do what you are doing'." Near the blockhouses where Auschwitz prisoners were housed, there is a large open trench about the size and shape of a swimming pool. During the war it was filled with water. Why? It was required by the camp's fire insurance policy. There is something grotesquely chilling about this - that a camp whose purpose was mass extermination would, at the same time, concern itself with sensible precaution and compliance with insurance law. And the company that insured the camp is still trading. There is a warning in this to posterity - to us, here today. As the UK marks Holocaust Memorial Day, Mrs Pollack issues a stark warning about the importance of learning the lessons from history. "We're not talking about barbarians," says Mrs Pollack. "We're not talking about primitive society. "The Germans were well-advanced, educated, progressive. Maybe civilization is just veneer-thin. We all need to be very careful about any hate-propaganda. "This is very important. It starts as a small stream, but then it has the potential to erupt - and when it does, it's too late to stop it." Correction 28 January 2017: This article has been amended to remove a reference to Polish train drivers being among those who collaborated with Germany. They were in fact conscripted back into work by force after the German occupation.

13 साल की उम्र में, सुसान पोलैक-अब उत्तरी लंदन में रहने वाली एक सेवानिवृत्त दादी-को ग्रामीण हंगरी में उनके घर से ले जाया गया, एक मवेशी ट्रक में लादा गया और जर्मन कब्जे वाले पोलैंड के माध्यम से रेल द्वारा ले जाया गया।


Abergavenny diver dies at Forest of Dean centre

Summary: A 55-year-old man from Monmouthshire has died after getting into difficulties while diving in deep water at a converted quarry.

The man from Abergavenny, who has not yet been named, was at the National Diving and Activity Centre in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire. He was with another diver when they got into difficulties. He was taken to Frenchay Hospital near Bristol by ambulance but was declared dead on arrival. When paramedics arrived they found both men lying on a jetty after they had been rescued from the water at the converted quarry at Tidenham near Lydney. The other man was treated by the centre's own doctor and then in a decompression chamber. Police say there were no suspicious circumstances and they are preparing a report for the Gloucestershire coroner.

मॉनमाउथशायर के एक 55 वर्षीय व्यक्ति की एक परिवर्तित खदान में गहरे पानी में गोताखोरी करते समय कठिनाइयों में पड़ने से मौत हो गई है।


On patrol with Kenya's locust hunters

Summary: Desert locusts in their millions are devouring their body weight in vegetation every day in Kenya. As spring breeding draws to a close it is now a race against time to kill their eggs before they hatch.

By Georgina SmithJournalist Tracking the insects is an art in itself, with daily surveillance operations across the country scrambling to confirm the latest coordinates of swarms before deploying spray planes to destroy them with pesticide. Every morning, Ambrose Ng'etich (left) from the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) boards a helicopter with Captain Iltasayon Neepe to locate the locust swarms in northern-central Kenya. The migratory pests, which carried on the wind can cover 150km (95 miles) a day, have devastated crops, pasture for livestock and livelihoods in recent months. Mr Ng'etich's job is to manage desert locust control efforts over the vast plains of Samburu, Isiolo, Laikipia and Meru. The sandy soils in this area are ideal for desert locusts to lay their eggs. "When the sun is warm enough, then you will know the quantity you are dealing with, they are spread all over. You can even have swarms covering up to 100km," says the FAO official. Before the coronavirus pandemic struck, it estimated that locust invasions would push more than 25 million people across East Africa into food insecurity. Last month, emergency financing to the tune of $43m (£34m) was approved by the World Bank for Kenya's desert locust response. On their daily rounds, Captain Neepe and Mr Ng'etich land the helicopter and talk to community members, gathering information about the locusts' possible whereabouts. "We have already trained a number of scouts that are going to help the community understand," says Mr Ng'etich. Residents are to identify the size of swarms and relay this information back to FAO surveillance teams. The next step in "recovery efforts and building resilience" will include cash transfer schemes when families are expected to be worst hit by food shortages. Pastoralists are being worst affected. Standing outside his empty goat pen in Samburu County, a three-hour drive north-east of Isiolo town, 32-year-old Tiampati Leletit explains that he lost 80 of his goats after the locusts came. He gave his four remaining goats to a neighbour, so they could be part of a herd. Mr Leletit had planted some maize, beans and other crops to feed his family in the meantime, but the locusts ate them too. "They cleared everything," he says. He has planted yet more crops, and hopes the locusts will not come back. But now the fear is that a new wave could hit this month, when crops are ready for harvest. "With the desert locust situation developing as it is, we are anticipating higher levels of food insecurity in the coming months," says Lane Bunkers, of Catholic Relief Services, working on acute malnutrition with mostly pastoralist communities in northern Kenya. Erupe Lobun, a 40-year-old Turkana herder and father of 13, says the recent wave of desert locusts has decimated the amount of food available for his herd of 60 goats. He believes pesticides have also affected his animals, but with Covid-19 restricting people's movements, he cannot summon the vet. Underfed mother goats are being kept apart from their young because they don't have enough milk to suckle them. "It means we have nothing to eat," Mr Lobun says. "Livestock are our strength." Grazing land is also under strain. "This is my first time to see the locusts. My father used to tell me stories about the locusts a long time ago," says Moses Lomooria, 34. "What we are used to is drought," he says, which has reduced his herd of cattle from 60 to 24. "We are worried," he says, adding that if herders on the other side of the mountain also run out of food, they will start coming for their pasture. "Resource-based conflict will increase," warns Josephine Ekiru, a peace-building co-ordinator for the Northern Rangelands Trust and herself a member of northern Kenya's Turkana pastoralist community. "Our people - we only depend on livestock," she says. "When there is no pasture, there is conflict." Her advice is that that everyone should be prepared. You may also be interested in: All pictures subject to copyright

केन्या में लाखों की संख्या में रेगिस्तानी टिड्डियां हर दिन वनस्पति में अपने शरीर के वजन को खा रही हैं। जैसे-जैसे वसंत प्रजनन समाप्त हो रहा है, अब उनके अंडे निकलने से पहले उन्हें मारना समय के खिलाफ एक दौड़ है।


Carillion: The audit industry's existential question

Summary: We've heard it all before - for decades in fact. After every big corporate failure, fraud or scandal, up goes the cry: where were the auditors? The latest angst - of course - concerns the collapse of Carillion .

Helen ThomasNewsnight business editor@helentbbcon Twitter MPs last week lambasted auditor KPMG and, more broadly, slammed the audit market as a "cosy club incapable of providing the degree of independent challenge needed". Policymakers want the competition watchdog to look again at whether the Big Four firms - KPMG, EY, PWC and Deloitte, which audit 99% of the FTSE 100 and 96% of the 250 index - should be broken up. And to consider whether arms doing audit work should be separated from those carrying out other consultancy or professional services. What's interesting about this latest round of soul-searching is that the audit firms appear to be active participants. So much so, in fact, that Newsnight has been told that the industry is on the hunt for a big name to lead an independent review of the market. The brief, though, wouldn't be to look at how the market should be structured, or how firms should manage conflicts of interest. Instead, the sector is chewing over a more fundamental question: what should audit actually be? This shift is important. In the world of audit, it's radical stuff. Pyrrhic victories Traditionally, auditors saw themselves as offering assurance, predominantly to shareholders, that the accounts presented a "true and fair" view of the company's position. But that doesn't necessarily mean the same thing to the profession as it does to the public, politicians, employees and customers who end up judging the results in a case like Carillion. For many years, criticism of the audit industry was met with two arguments. First, that those berating the sector just didn't understand audit. And second, that any proposed changes risked imperilling audit quality with unspecified but terrible consequences. These were rolled out to counter reforms proposed by the last competition inquiry into the sector in 2013 - and against European Union audit reforms, which included mandatory rotation of audit firm for public companies and limits on non-audit work. Past victories in resisting change perhaps feel rather pyrrhic, given where the sector now finds itself. If audit is seen as the last line of defence against fraud or as an important arbiter on a company's likely long-term health, it is time to tackle those expectations head on. Fix and break up? It's clear that previous attempts to shake up the market simply haven't worked. The Big Four have become even more dominant in the business of auditing large, listed companies. Hopes that other firms would break into that elite club have proved unfounded. Grant Thornton - which ranks fifth by fee income and with more than 4,500 people in the UK is hardly a minnow - this year it said it would stop bidding for new audit contracts. And while the growth in non-audit fees from audit clients has slowed (and some in the industry would be happy with an outright ban on this work), the importance of lucrative non-audit work to the firms as a whole has only grown. It is natural to seize on the idea of break-ups of the biggest firms as a remedy: it's a concrete solution that satisfies the clamouring that something must be done. The trouble is it isn't clear it would work - at least not on its own. Would a smaller firm, with more competitors, really be more minded to challenge a big client on questionable numbers or assumptions? Would smaller, audit-only UK firms mean higher-quality vetting of the big, multinational companies that make up the FTSE 100? And would changing the market's structure make it less likely that the public, investors and politicians end up feeling short-changed come the next corporate car crash? Other measures - like requiring joint audits, implementing market share caps, rethinking fees, looking at more regular tendering, or incentivising new entrants - would also be worth considering. Largely dismissed in the past, industry sources say that now everything is on the table. Opening up the audit process is also certainly merited: Despite some progress, shareholders often get little decent insight into a process that is supposedly done for their benefit. What is audit again? But none of this helps if auditors' view of what their job entails doesn't match the public perception of what they're meant to be doing. Hence the industry's desire for a credible big hitter to look at just that. This is part overdue evolution and part self-preservation. And it comes as technology opens up the scope of what an audit can feasibly check and investigate. After years of telling its critics they don't understand audit, the profession appears to be having second thoughts: perhaps, after all, they were the ones that misunderstood.

हम यह सब पहले भी सुन चुके हैं-वास्तव में दशकों से। हर बड़ी कॉर्पोरेट विफलता, धोखाधड़ी या घोटाले के बाद, चिल्लाहट बढ़ती हैः लेखा परीक्षक कहाँ थे? नवीनतम चिंता-निश्चित रूप से-कैरिलियन के पतन से संबंधित है।


Victory parade: Map and athletes

Summary: About 800 athletes are expected to take part in the victory parade for Olympic and Paralympic competitors. They will be carried along a three-mile-route, from the City of London to the finish in The Mall, by a series of 21 floats. Find out more about the route and who will be appearing on which float below.

Trafalgar Sq Strand Fleet Street Palace Trafalgar Square Rows of games makers sat on the steps in Trafalgar Square, where they were joined by thousands of other spectators. Strand Gold-medal-winner Jessica Ennis waved to the crowds outside the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand. Four-times gold medal winner, Paralympic athlete David Weir was travelling with her on the second of three floats carrying the athletics teams. Fleet Street Hundreds of thousands of spectators lined the route of the three-mile victory parade. Gold medallist Mo Farah was on the first of 21 floats carrying the athletes through the city. Buckingham Palace The Red Arrows concluded a flypast over Buckingham Palace, which was led by the British Airways plane that brought the Olympic flame to the UK. Who is travelling on which float? The floats carrying the athletes will be travelling in alphabetical order, so athletics will occupy the first floats, with waterpolo bringing up the rear.

ओलंपिक और पैरालंपिक प्रतियोगियों के लिए विजय परेड में लगभग 800 खिलाड़ियों के भाग लेने की उम्मीद है। उन्हें 21 फ्लोटों की एक श्रृंखला द्वारा लंदन शहर से द मॉल में अंत तक तीन मील के रास्ते पर ले जाया जाएगा। मार्ग के बारे में और पता करें कि कौन नीचे किस फ्लोट पर दिखाई देगा।


Ten key moments in the history of marriage

Summary: At the very heart of the debate about same-sex marriage is the definition of the word "marriage". To some people, it changes to meet social and economic needs, to others it remains firmly fixed. So what has the institution meant down the years?

By Lauren EverittBBC News Magazine Much of the recent debate has focused on the notion of who "owns" marriage - the Church or the State. Both, however, have played key roles at different times in the history of the institution. 1. Strategic alliances For the Anglo-Saxons and Britain's early tribal groups, marriage was all about relationships - just not in the modern sense. The Anglo-Saxons saw marriage as a strategic tool to establish diplomatic and trade ties, says Stephanie Coontz, author of Marriage, A History: How Love Conquered Marriage. "You established peaceful relationships, trading relationships, mutual obligations with others by marrying them," Coontz says. This all changed with the differentiation of wealth. Parents were no longer content to marry their children off to just "anyone in a neighbouring group". They wanted to marry them to somebody as least as wealthy and powerful as themselves, Coontz says. "That's the period when marriage shifts and becomes a centre for intrigue and betrayal." 2. Consent During the 11th Century, marriage was about securing an economic or political advantage. The wishes of the married couple - much less their consent - were of little importance. The bride, particularly, was assumed to bow to her father's wishes and the marriage arrangements made on her behalf. However, for the Benedictine monk Gratian the consent of the couple mattered more than their family's approval. Gratian brought consent into the fold of formalised marriage in 1140 with his canon law textbook, Decretum Gratiani. The Decretum required couples to give their verbal consent and consummate the marriage to forge a marital bond. No longer was a bride or groom's presence at a ceremony enough to signify their assent. The book formed the foundation for the Church's marriage policies in the 12th Century and "set out the rules for marriage and sexuality in a changing social environment", says historian Joanne Bailey of Oxford Brookes University. 3. The sacrament of marriage As early as the 12th Century, Roman Catholic theologians and writers referred to marriage as a sacrament, a sacred ceremony tied to experiencing God's presence. However, it wasn't until the Council of Trent in 1563 that marriage was officially deemed one of the seven sacraments, says Elizabeth Davies, of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. Following the development of Protestant theology, which did not recognise marriage as a sacrament, the Council felt a need to "clarify" marriage's place. "There was an underlying assumption that marriage was a sacrament, but it was clearly defined in 1563 because of the need to challenge teaching that suggested it wasn't," Davies says. 4. Wedding vows Marriage vows, as couples recite them today, date back to Thomas Cranmer, the architect of English Protestantism. Cranmer laid out the purpose for marriage and scripted modern wedding vows nearly 500 years ago in hisBook of Common Prayer, says the Reverend Duncan Dormor of St John's College at the University of Cambridge. Although the book was revised in 1552 and 1662, "the guts of the marriage service are there in 1549," he says. "All the things that you think of, 'to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer', all of that stuff comes from that point." The marriage service has had "remarkable continuity" compared with most other services, he says. But much of it was "pilfered from Catholic medieval rites", such as the Sarum marriage liturgy, which was all in Latin except the actual vows. "What makes the 1549 service significant is that it is the introduction of a Protestant service in English, and it's basically the words that we all know with a couple of small tweaks," Dormor says. 5. Divorce Before 1858, divorce was rare. In 1670, Parliament passed an act allowing John Manners, Lord Roos, to divorce his wife, Lady Anne Pierpon. This created a precedent for parliamentary divorces on the grounds of the wife's adultery, according to theNational Archives. This marked "the start of modern 'divorce'," says Rebecca Probert of the University of Warwick School of Law. It also set the precedent for more than 300 cases between the late 17th and mid-19th Centuries - each requiring an act of Parliament. It was only in 1858 that divorce could be carried out via legal process. Even then divorce was too expensive for most people, and there was the added challenge for wives of proving "aggravated" adultery - that their husbands had been guilty of cruelty, desertion, bigamy, incest, sodomy or bestiality, Probert says. The gates for divorce opened with the Divorce Reform Act of 1969. Instead of pointing the finger, couples could cite marital breakdown as the reason for the split. "Prior to 1969, the script was that marriage was for life" says Bren Neale, a University of Leeds sociologist. "The divorce law meant that people trapped in bad marriages need not stay in them forever." The emphasis on marriage shifted from a long-term commitment at all costs to a personal relationship where individual fulfilment is important, she says. 6. State control The Clandestine Marriage Act of 1753, popularly known as Lord Hardwicke's Act, marked the beginning of state involvement in marriage, says sociologist Carol Smart of the University of Manchester. "You've got these parallel strands going on of the secular and the religious sides, and that clearly hasn't gone away," Smart adds. The act required couples to get married in a church or chapel by a minister, otherwise the union was void. Couples also had to issue a formal marriage announcement, called banns, or obtain a licence. Most prospective newlyweds were already following these directives, which were enshrined in canon law. But with the act, "the penalty for not complying became much, much harsher," Probert says. "You can see it as the state increasing its control - this is almost too important just to leave to canon law, this needs a statute scheme and specific penalties if you don't comply," she says. "[It] put the formalities required for a valid marriage on a statutory footing for the first time." 7. Civil marriages The Marriage Act of 1836 allowed for non-religious civil marriages to be held in register offices. These were set up in towns and cities across England and Wales. The act also meant nonconformists and Catholic couples could marry in their own places of worship, according to their own rites. Apart from a brief period during the 17th Century, marriages had been overseen by the Church of England - even if the couples weren't members. "If you were Baptist, you might not want to get married in the Church of England but that was what you had to do," Probert says. "There's no point in going through a ceremony that didn't give you the status of a married couple." The state also started keeping national statistics for marriage around this time. Non-Anglican couples were required to have a civil official present to document their marriages. "They're not actually trusted, in a sense, to record marriages themselves," Probert says. 8. Love enshrined Roaming bards sang of love during medieval times and Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet acted it out on stage, but it wasn't until the Victorian era that it became accepted as a foundation for marriage. "The Victorians were really, really invested in the idea of love - that marriage should actually be based on love or companionship," says Jennifer Phegley, author of Courtship and Marriage in Victorian England. The growing importance of the middle class and new money blurred the traditional social boundaries for marriage. With more social mobility, there was a growing "distaste" among the middle classes for thinking of marriage as "a family-arranged event for exchanging a daughter into a family for gain", Phegley says. Aspiring lovebirds needed only look to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert for inspiration - the couple was upheld as the icon of the loving marriage. Their union may have been based on bloodlines, but Victoria frequently referred to it as a "love match". "If you read her letters and her diaries, she's very effusive about how in love with him she was, and this sort of filtered down into society," Phegley says. 9. More than baby-making Catholic and Anglican doctrine have historically elevated procreation as one of the primary reasons for marriage. But in the late 19th Century, a "silent revolution" began taking place, Dormor says. With more children surviving and family sizes ballooning, couples started using rudimentary methods of birth control to limit pregnancies. "It begins the process of decoupling procreation from marriage, at some level," Dormor says. "Before, if you're married, you have a sexual relationship, and you have kids. The idea that you would do something to stop yourself from having kids within a marriage doesn't seem to be part of the mental landscape, but in the last few decades [of the 19th Century] it's quite clear that things are changing." The Anglican Church cautiously accepted artificial contraception in the 1930s at a conference of bishops, but only where there was a "clearly felt moral obligation to limit or avoid parenthood". Today, the Church of England does not regard contraception as a sin or going against God's purpose. For the Catholic Church "the procreation of children" remains "one of the essential things that marriage is about", says Father Ashley Beck at St Mary's University College, London. When a couple is preparing to marry, the subject of children is often discussed with a priest. "If they were going to rule out having children, then we wouldn't marry them," he says. 10. Civil partnerships The first ceremonies under the Civil Partnerships Act took place in Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales in December 2005. At the time, campaigners said the law ended inequalities for same-sex couples. Meg Munn, minister for equality, said: "It accords people in same-sex relationships the same sort of rights and responsibilities that are available to married couples." Smart calls the event a "milestone" that "is marriage by any other name, essentially". She adds: "Legally speaking, there's only a tiny difference. "The actual allowing of same-sex couples to enter into a state-recognised, basically marriage, with all the same obligations, the same safeguards and so on is really, really significant." To many Christians, however, while a civil partnership confers all the legal rights of marriage, a church wedding is seen as a mystical event, the making of promises before God in a sacred setting, endowing the relationship with a special "blessed" quality.

समलैंगिक विवाह के बारे में बहस के केंद्र में "विवाह" शब्द की परिभाषा है। कुछ लोगों के लिए, यह सामाजिक और आर्थिक जरूरतों को पूरा करने के लिए बदल जाता है, दूसरों के लिए यह दृढ़ता से स्थिर रहता है। तो वर्षों से संस्था का क्या अर्थ रहा है?


Teachers fear for future of Design and Technology

Summary: A puncture-proof bike tyre, light-up indicator gloves, a healthy energy drink and an app to find lost bikes - these were the winning designs in the Great British Make Off competition for 11- to 14-year olds.

By Judith BurnsEducation reporter, BBC News The brief was to come up with innovations to improve cyclists' lives and develop them with sketches, models and prototypes. Richard Green, chief executive of the Design and Technology Association, which represents the subject's teachers, said the competition aimed to boost D&T in schools "because it's the only place in the curriculum where practical problem-solving takes place". Still one of the most popular GCSEs, it was being marginalised by government changes and, without intervention from ministers, may even cease to exist within five years, he added. Potential profit There were 150 entries, and the four winners got to perfect their products with the help of top innovators in the field. Some students definitely developed an eye for potential profit. "I am not signing anything until I know what my share of the money will be," said Airann, not entirely joking. Together with team-mates Shana and Paige, from St Benedict Catholic Voluntary Academy, in Derby, Airann developed the Spa Dew sports drink "in a cycling-friendly container". Top chef Steve Walpole who helped them refine their range of drinks during a "very messy" day in his kitchen, described their idea as "bang on trend". "If you are looking at it as part of a range from an entrepreneurial point of view, you would get some serious interest," he added. Design element D&T became part of the national curriculum in 1989, compulsory for five- to 16-year-olds. The design element was what made it different from the craft skills previously taught in schools, Mr Green said. "It is not woodwork, not metalwork, not needlework, and it is not cookery," he said in his speech congratulating the winners. Pupils worked with the latest materials and technologies - with computer-aided design and manufacturing techniques such as 3D printers, laser cutters and robotics available in some schools, he said. Ramneek, from Beal High School, in Essex, chose to embed a GPS chip into bike handlebars and design a computer app to track it in case it was lost or stolen. Her teacher, Lucy Joseph, said Ramneek had really understood the design brief and thought about it carefully. "It is really important to have the maths and science knowledge but also the creativity as well in order to be able to deliver the actual product for people to use," she said. "This country is trying to bring back design and manufacturing here instead of doing it elsewhere, so I guess it's our job as teachers to bring on those designers and technologists." Mr Green said the emphasis on D&T in schools since 1989 had contributed in no small part to the UK's international success in design, a sector employing some two million people and contributing more than £70bn a year to the UK economy. 'Challenges' The competition's purpose was to bring out "the inventiveness and creativity" of teenagers in their D&T lessons but also "to highlight the challenges the subject faces", he said. D&T is not included in the government's English Baccalaureate (EBacc) school-performance measure of good grades in a set of key subjects. These subjects are maths, English, the sciences and a language, plus history or geography. D&T had been retained in the new national curriculum but only just, Mr Green said. At one point there had been fears it might be left out entirely. And now, instead of being compulsory from five to 16, as it had been in the old curriculum, it was mandatory only until the age of 14, he said. Understandably teachers had been put off specialising in the subject in their initial training, so there was now a shortfall in their numbers of about 1,200, Mr Green said. Some head teachers still misunderstood the subject, he added, confusing it with the old-fashioned craft subjects it had replaced and had reacted to teacher shortages by cutting teaching time. The upshot is numbers taking D&T GCSE have dropped from about 450,000 10 years ago to just over 230,000 now. This is despite skills education being singled out by ministers as vital to our economic future. Mr Green urged them to "talk the subject up" and make it clear it was among the vital science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) subjects pupils were encouraged to take. He said D&T was a useful third A-level for would-be engineering students at top universities, alongside maths and physics. Computing should not be the only subject regarded as technology, he said. Mr Green wants the government to ensure it trains enough D&T teachers and gives them enough continuous professional development to keep across new trends. He said he had recently returned from China, where the cities of Shanghai and Nanjing had invited him to share his expertise. "They have realised they are not good at developing risk taking, creativity and innovation in students, despite being good at building knowledge," he said. "They are looking to introduce D&T while it is being marginalised and gradually eroded here. That thought is really quite scary." Curriculum 'transformed' Responding, the government said its plan was for schools to teach children "all the skills they need to succeed in modern Britain, including the next generation of successful British designers and engineers". "We have transformed the design and technology curriculum so children are kept up to speed with the fast-changing technology industry and innovations like 3D printers, laser cutters and robotics," said a Department for Education spokeswoman. "Pupils will analyse the work of leading designers from the past and present as well as how to make and design products. "For example, by learning how to incorporate and programme micro-processor chips into products they have made." More rigorous GCSEs and A-levels in D&T from 2016 could count towards a new performance measure, Progress 8, alongside other academic, arts and some vocational qualifications as well as the Ebacc subjects, said the spokeswoman. "This will ensure schools helping to produce the designers and engineers of tomorrow are recognised for that success."

एक पंचर-प्रूफ बाइक टायर, लाइट-अप इंडिकेटर ग्लव्स, एक स्वस्थ ऊर्जा पेय और खोई हुई बाइक खोजने के लिए एक ऐप-ये 11 से 14 साल के बच्चों के लिए ग्रेट ब्रिटिश मेक ऑफ प्रतियोगिता में विजेता डिजाइन थे।


Jersey Electricity says new power cable will improve supply

Summary: A new £40m underwater power cable should give Jersey a more reliable electricity supply, according to the island's only electricity company.

Jersey Electricity said the £40m cable was due to be in service by 2015. The company said the contract with Prysmian Group was the next step in a 10-year project for a cheaper, more secure power supply from France. The 35KM cable will connect Jersey to what Jersey Electricity called a more resilient part of the French grid. In 2012, the island's original supply cable failed, forcing the company to generate extra power at La Collette power station, which led to a 9.5% increase in electricity prices. In September, the island lost power when a submarine supply cable to France was broken. It was the third island-wide power cut in six years.

द्वीप की एकमात्र बिजली कंपनी के अनुसार, एक नई 40 मिलियन पाउंड की पानी के नीचे की बिजली केबल से जर्सी को अधिक विश्वसनीय बिजली की आपूर्ति मिलनी चाहिए।


Bogdan Nawrocki: Body hunt police offer £5,000 reward

Summary: A £5,000 reward is being offered by police seeking the body of a missing Polish man in Nottingham.

Bogdan Nawrocki, 22, has not been seen since 5 January in the Radford area of the city. Detectives said evidence led them to open a murder inquiry in April and they had searched several properties including an abandoned factory in Radford. A 27-year-old man from Sneinton has been charged with murder. Four other men arrested in connection with the case have been released on bail. Officers appealed for the public to come forward with information, saying Mr Nawrocki's family deserved justice.

नॉटिंघम में एक लापता पोलिश व्यक्ति के शव की तलाश में पुलिस द्वारा 5,000 पाउंड का इनाम दिया जा रहा है।


Facebook to join S&P 500 index

Summary: A little over a year after its stock market debut, Facebook has joined the S&P 500 index of some of the world's largest firms, replacing test equipment maker Teradyne.

Companies in the S&P 500 can be listed on either the Nasdaq or New York Stock Exchange. The S&P 500 is considered the best representation of the US stock market and a bellwether for the US economy. Facebook shares jumped 4% after hours on the news. After a botched public offering in May 2012, Facebook shares slid to less than half of their initial $38 (£23; 28 euro) price, before recovering during the summer of 2013. The company has been pleasing investors recently, notching better than expected earnings and strong mobile advertising sales, a crucial metric watched by analysts. It is now worth a little over $122bn (£74bn). Other firms added to the S&P 500 are Alliance Data Systems and flooring company Mohawk Industries. They replace retailer Abercrombie & Fitch and JDS Uniphase, a maker of optical technology.

शेयर बाजार में अपनी शुरुआत के एक साल से थोड़ा अधिक समय बाद, फेसबुक दुनिया की कुछ सबसे बड़ी कंपनियों के एस एंड पी 500 सूचकांक में शामिल हो गया है, जिसने परीक्षण उपकरण निर्माता टेराडाइन की जगह ली है।


Pilot dies after light aircraft crashes near Corby

Summary: A pilot has died after the light aircraft he was flying crashed shortly after take-off police have confirmed.

The aircraft crashed shortly after take-off from Spanhoe Airfield, near Corby at about 12:45GMT on Sunday. Northamptonshire Police said a passenger on board sustained serious but not life-threatening injuries and is in hospital. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch and the police are investigating the cause of the crash.

पुलिस ने पुष्टि की है कि उड़ान भरने के तुरंत बाद एक हल्के विमान के दुर्घटनाग्रस्त होने से एक पायलट की मौत हो गई है।


Iran nuclear deal has hungry investors circling

Summary: A preliminary deal between Iran and world powers, which will see international sanctions lifted in return for Iranian curbs on its nuclear programme, has boosted the appetite for doing business in Iran at the earliest opportunity.

By Amir PaivarBBC Persian The first time he answered his phone, Xanyar Kamangar was in the passport queue at Tehran airport, the day after Iran and world powers agreed on the framework for a nuclear deal. The second time was a couple of days later, well past midnight Tehran time, while Mr Kamangar was working on closing a deal of his own. He barely had time for a telephone interview. The 39-year old Iranian-born banker left his well-paid job at Deutsche Bank in London late last year to co-found Griffon Capital, a corporate finance advisory and asset management firm "betting on Iran opening up." "It's a generational opportunity and a chance to make a difference," said Mr Kamangar, a graduate of the London Business School. "If you think Russia was big, Iran is going to be even bigger, because Iran has the [financial] framework and regulations, but Russia was the Wild West when it opened up!" Mr Kamangar's firm has already valued, raised and closed significant investment from mostly European firms for DigiKala, a fast-growing online retail operation, valuing it close to $150m (£100m). Although modest by global comparison, this is the largest investment yet in a technology start-up in Iran. European investors had to apply for exemptions from sanctions from their respective governments. Starting gun Sanctions by the United States and the European Union on Iran's financial, energy and trade sectors have held back the country once described as "the biggest untapped market before Mars and the Moon" by Martin Sorrel of advertising giant WPP. Some anticipate a "gold rush" once Iran's 77-million-strong, highly educated, consumption-savvy market opens up. When asked how quickly economic sanctions could be removed, US Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters it depended on how fast Iran could deliver its side of the bargain by limiting its nuclear activities. Mr Kerry estimated the amount of work Iran had to do was "in the vicinity of four months to a year" from the date of the final deal, now aimed at 30 June. Since the Geneva interim nuclear deal with Iran in November 2013, many European and even American conglomerates have already drawn up plans to enter the market. They have found partners and agents and negotiated contracts. Some have even provisionally recruited staff, while others have been looking at properties to live or work in - all waiting for the "starting gun". More than Iranian expats, a nuclear deal and sanctions relief could benefit those living inside the country: from cancer patients who struggled to find their prized imported medicine, to the country's aviation industry crippled by lack of spare parts. But most of all, Iran's middle class is geared up for a resurgence. Risk factor Not all is that rosy when it comes to doing business in Iran. The economy is predominantly run by powerful entities close to the country's Supreme Leader, the security forces and the military, some of whom are hardly accountable to anyone, let alone the judiciary. In 2004, the powerful Revolutionary Guards kicked out a Turkish airport services company from a contract for Tehran's then-new airport, citing security concerns. The Turkish company was replaced by a local consortium. This happened under the watch of reformist President Mohammad Khatami but instigated by institutions over which his government had no control. His successor Hassan Rouhani could find himself in the same situation. "Did any of these stop multi-billion companies from rushing to China? Were they put off by shaky rule of law, violence or the military government in Egypt?" asks Emanuele Ottolenghi of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a US-based think tank that advocated increased sanctions against Iran. "No, for those companies, it is just another risk to factor in, but won't stop them from going in." Foreign investors flock to any forum that sheds light on the sometimes murky business mechanisms of the Iranian market. "Rather than speculating from the sidelines about the Iran 'gold rush', we need business leaders to think like stakeholders who will constructively shape Iran's future," says Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, who helped organise an investment conference on Iran in London last November. He is already planning the second Europe-Iran Forum, this time focusing on Iran's banking and financial sectors, in Geneva in September. "Such forums allow us to encourage transparent conversations between Iranian and foreign firms on this common goal," says Mr Batmanghelidj. The Iranian Ministry of Petroleum is also planning a major conference in London in September, where new oil contracts will be showcased for global energy giants. Road ahead But not all is final. The road ahead for nuclear negotiators is tough. If putting out what is in effect a press statement could take the two sides four months of day-long talks and over-nighters, what could hammering out the details entail? Opposition to the deal is strong, especially from Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and there is a chance it may not see the light of day on 1 July. "I see that as a very remote possibility," says Mr Kamangar. "If the deal does indeed fall through, we are a very patient bunch and believe in the unique long-term potential of the country."

ईरान और विश्व शक्तियों के बीच एक प्रारंभिक समझौते, जिसमें उसके परमाणु कार्यक्रम पर ईरानी प्रतिबंधों के बदले में अंतर्राष्ट्रीय प्रतिबंध हटाए जाएंगे, ने ईरान में जल्द से जल्द व्यापार करने की इच्छा को बढ़ाया है।


Welsh devolution: Deal was 'rushed' and 'incoherent' says Jones

Summary: A new devolution package for Wales was prepared in a "rushed, incoherent and unsatisfactory" way, First Minister Carwyn Jones has told AMs.

Mr Jones said the deal, announced by UK ministers on Friday, was "no more than a staging post" to a better system. The prime minister has argued the plan removes the "remaining barriers" to a referendum on tax powers. But, on Tuesday, Mr Jones said the proposals were a "missed opportunity" on issues such as funding. He has already rejected David Cameron's referendum call, saying a minimum funding offer for the Welsh government was merely a "vague promise".

प्रथम मंत्री कार्विन जोन्स ने एएमएस को बताया कि वेल्स के लिए एक नया हस्तांतरण पैकेज "जल्दबाजी, असंगत और असंतोषजनक" तरीके से तैयार किया गया था।


Eastbourne Pier fire: Before, during and after

Summary: Fire consumed a large part of Eastbourne's pier on Wednesday, destroying a significant section of the historic Victorian structure.

The pier has been a major attraction in Eastbourne since its official opening in 1870. Before, during and after During its lifetime the pier has featured, among other things, docking facilities for paddle steamers, a ballroom, a theatre, a music pavilion and a camera obscura. It was damaged by a mine during World War II, suffered a fire in 1970, and also received storm damage during the hurricane of October 1987. The pier has also appeared in a number of films and TV programmes, often standing in for Brighton.

बुधवार को ईस्टबोर्न के घाट के एक बड़े हिस्से में आग लग गई, जिससे ऐतिहासिक विक्टोरियन संरचना का एक महत्वपूर्ण हिस्सा नष्ट हो गया।


'Significant offer' to end National Museum Wales strike

Summary: National Museum Wales has made a "significantly enhanced offer" to staff taking part in strike action because of proposed changes to weekend payments.

By Huw ThomasBBC Wales arts and media correspondent The Welsh Government's leader of the house and chief whip confirmed that NMW made the offer to the PCS union at the weekend. Jane Hutt told AMs that the museum and the PCS were meeting on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the offer. About 300 of the museum's staff receive the payments and 220 are PCS members. The union has been holding strikes at NMW sites, while industrial action has been going on for more than two years. Staff have already been offered a lump sum equivalent to two years' worth of premium payments as part of the deal to end extra payments for working weekends and bank holidays.

राष्ट्रीय संग्रहालय वेल्स ने सप्ताहांत के भुगतान में प्रस्तावित परिवर्तनों के कारण हड़ताल में भाग लेने वाले कर्मचारियों के लिए "काफी बढ़ा हुआ प्रस्ताव" दिया है।


Japan: Tsunami widower searches seabed for missing wife

Summary: A Japanese man has learnt to scuba dive so he can search the freezing waters of the Pacific Ocean looking for his wife, who has been missing since the catastrophic Japanese tsunami of 2011, it's been reported.

News from Elsewhere......as found by BBC Monitoring Last week, Yasuo Takamatsu, 57, got the higher-level diving licence he needs for underwater searches and clearing debris. He decided to start training right away instead of waiting for warmer weather after the authorities made three unsuccessful searches in the last year for his wife Yuko's body, the Mainichi Daily News reports. "I want to start looking for Yuko as soon as I can, tomorrow even," he said. "I'll keep diving as many times as it takes. I'll get better, a little at a time." Takamatsu says Yuko was at work at a bank when she felt tremors on 11 March. Fearing a tsunami, employees went up to the roof of the 13m (42ft) building - but the wave was reportedly 20m high when it hit the town of Onagawa - one of the worst affected areas. Four bank workers were confirmed dead and eight others, including Yuko, were declared missing. The town of 11,000 lost around 1,000 people after the catastrophe. Use #NewsfromElsewhere to stay up-to-date with our reports via Twitter.

एक जापानी व्यक्ति ने स्कूबा डाइव करना सीख लिया है ताकि वह अपनी पत्नी की तलाश में प्रशांत महासागर के ठंडे पानी में खोज कर सके, जो 2011 की विनाशकारी जापानी सुनामी के बाद से लापता है।


Trump impeachment trial: What verdict means for Trump, Biden and America

Summary: Only five days after it began, Donald Trump's Senate impeachment trial has concluded. As was widely predicted, the final verdict was that the former president was not guilty of inciting an insurrection at the US Capitol last month.

Anthony ZurcherNorth America reporter@awzurcheron Twitter There have now been four presidential impeachment trials in US history, and this one was by far the shortest. What it lacked in duration, however, it will make up in consequence. A precedent - a former president standing trial - was set. Reputations were burnished and tarnished. And a tumultuous stage was set for political battles to come. Here's a look at some of the key players, and how they emerged from this moment in US history. Donald Trump New trial, same outcome. Trump once again avoided conviction by the US Senate because his fellow Republicans, by and large, stuck by his side. The final tally was 57-43, which left the prosecution 10 short of the two-thirds majority required. That, at its most basic level, is a win for the former president. He is still eligible to run for president again in 2024, if he so chooses. His base, by all indications, is still largely intact. Both in the House of Representatives and in the Senate, most Republican officeholders opposed the impeachment proceedings - and those who broke ranks are already facing ferocious criticism and, in some cases, formal reprimands from their Republican constituents. In a press statement, the former president celebrated his acquittal, condemned Democrats and said that his political movement was just beginning. Trump - and his movement - did not emerge from this impeachment trial unscathed, however. One of the most memorable portions of the prosecution case by House managers were the new videos of Trump's supporters, wearing Make America Great Again hats and waving Trump flags, ransacking the Capitol. Those images will forever be associated with the Trump brand. Every rally he holds from here on will evoke memories of that riot. It may not cost him among the Republican rank and file, but independent voters - and moderates - are unlikely to forget. Senate Republicans A year ago, only one Republican senator - Mitt Romney of Utah - voted to convict Trump. This time, he was joined by six others. It's no coincidence, however, that of those who broke ranks, three of them - Susan Collins, Ben Sasse and Bill Cassidy - were just re-elected and don't have to face voters for six years. Two - Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Richard Burr of North Carolina - are retiring. That highlights the challenge facing many of the Republican senators in the chamber. A vote to convict would have attracted the ire of primary voters, many of whom would view the turn against Trump as a betrayal. For those in safe Republican states, a challenge from a fellow conservative is a much more pressing concern than whichever Democrat faces off against them in November. Republican senators up for re-election next year in swing states - in places like Florida, Wisconsin and Iowa - may have to worry about their vote to acquit being used against them by their Democratic opponents in a general election. One can already envision the attack adverts, accompanied by video of the violence on Capitol Hill. A lot could depend on what Trump does next. Does he launch himself fully into US politics again, reminding his supporters - and his critics - of these impeachment battles as the next election day approaches? Or does he stick to seclusion of his private clubs and golf course? I think we all know which is more likely. Mitch McConnell If every Senate Republican had their own political calculation to make before casting their vote - weighing whether to risk the ire of their party or the judgement of general election voters - one particular senator's drama was on particularly stark display. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, leader of his party in the Senate, had been outspoken for weeks in his criticism of Donald Trump's conduct on 6 January. For a while, his final vote in the trial was in doubt. On Saturday morning, however, he informed his fellow senators he would support acquittal. After the Senate rendered its final verdict, he explained why. He condemned Trump's behaviour and said he engaged in a "disgraceful dereliction of duty." "There's no question that president Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day," McConnell said His not guilty vote, he said, was because former presidents were not eligible for impeachment trials. If such a precedent were followed, he said, any private citizen - regardless of status - could be impeached and ruled ineligible for public office by the Congress. McConnell's critics will view that as a cop-out, not a principled stand. And it is noteworthy that his procedural objection allows him to avoid being out of step with the majority of Senate Republicans, which is a risky place for a congressional leader to be. It's a fine line for McConnell to walk, and time will tell if his fellow Republicans are satisfied by his vote, if not his words. House Democrats For most of their careers, members of the House of Representatives languish in relative obscurity. Few in the 435-member chamber, save for the Speaker, ever get the kind of national spotlight that was cast upon the impeachment managers prosecuting the case against Trump in his Senate trial this week. The nine-member team put together a slick presentation over the course of the five-day trial, complete with packaged videos of the 6 January riot accompanied by maps of the Capitol showing how close the mob came to US politicians, including the Vice-President Mike Pence. Lead manager Jamie Raskin will probably best be remembered for his emotional opening remarks, where his voice caught as he recalled a conversation with his 24-year-old daughter after they were evacuated by the Capitol building. Throughout the rest of the week, he presided over the prosecution with a more cerebral detachment that hinted at his background as a constitutional law professor at American University. Second-term Congressman Joe Neguse has been considered a rising star in Democratic politics, and his turn in front of the cameras did little to dispel that notion. The biggest surprise from the team, however, was probably Stacey Plaskett of the US Virgin Islands. As a non-voting delegate from a US territory, she has little influence in Congress - but she gave some of the most impassioned, memorable monologues of the entire trial. Democrats might start rallying for Virgin Islands statehood after her performance. If there was one mark against the managers, it was their on-again, off-again attempt to call witnesses. Starting down that road, and then aborting, will be seen by some on the left as an unforced error, leaving a bitter taste in their mouths. Joe Biden The current president's strategy for handling the former president's impeachment trial was to keep the whole ordeal at arm's length. He wasn't closely following the proceedings, White House officials said. During the trial he kept a busy schedule of events related to the coronavirus pandemic. When Biden did comment, it was only to remark about the new videos of the Capitol violence - images that had been played repeatedly on television news. The Biden administration's calculation is that his long-term political fortunes rest on his success in dealing with the pandemic, the economy and the American public's other concerns, and not with the outcome of Trump's impeachment trial. In the end, the trial had little practical impact on his progress toward enacting his legislative agenda. The Senate lost only three days of business. The chamber won't be able to take up Biden's Covid relief bill until the House passes the version, which it has spent the week working on. With the trial concluded, the Senate also will resume confirming Biden's administration appointments, including attorney general nominee Merrick Garland, after it returns from a week recess. All of this should please Biden and his team. If the Democratic base decides, however, that the price of moving forward with Biden's political agenda was the failure to hold Trump fully accountable - for instance, by conducting a speedy trial without witnesses - he may pay a political price nevertheless. In the political battles ahead, Biden needs a united Democratic Party. If there is second-guessing after this impeachment trial, cracks might start to emerge. Donald Trump's lawyers Bruce Castor, the supposed lead lawyer on Donald Trump's legal team, may put that old saying that "there's no such thing as bad publicity" to the test. He opened the defence of the former president with a long, rambling discourse that may have pushed one senator, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, into siding with the Democrats. After that - and amid reports that Trump himself was displeased - Castor receded into the background, replaced primarily by Michael van der Veen, a fellow Philadelphian who primary law practice involves personal injury and liability law cases. Van der Veen did a much better job translating the former president's pugnacious attitude toward his political opposition into his legal presentations. He would frequently scrunch his nose into a wide sneer when referring to the House impeachment managers. At one point, he prompted jeers from Democrats when he derided a question presented by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. And he flashed anger when Democrats laughed at his threat to hold hundreds of depositions at his office in Pennsylvania if the Senate chose to call witnesses in the trial. In the end, he was able to navigate his way out of the prospect of an extended trial, however, and bring the proceedings to a speedy, satisfactory conclusion. Lawyers are ultimately judged by their wins and losses, and van der Veen, Castor and fellow lawyer David Schoen got their client off the hook.

शुरू होने के केवल पाँच दिन बाद, डोनाल्ड ट्रम्प का सीनेट महाभियोग परीक्षण समाप्त हो गया है। जैसा कि व्यापक रूप से भविष्यवाणी की गई थी, अंतिम निर्णय यह था कि पूर्व राष्ट्रपति पिछले महीने यूएस कैपिटल में विद्रोह को उकसाने के लिए दोषी नहीं थे।


Free swimming cash targets lessons for those in poor areas

Summary: Funding for free swimming for under-16s in Wales is to be targeted at lessons for youngsters in poorer areas.

The scheme, launched in 2003, first ran in the school holidays but was later amended to include weekend sessions. The budget is being cut from £3.4m in 2014-15 to £3m in 2015-16, but no county will lose all its funding. Deputy Sport Minister Ken Skates said: "We know that those from a deprived background are less likely to be able to swim."

वेल्स में 16 वर्ष से कम उम्र के बच्चों के लिए मुफ्त तैराकी के लिए धन का लक्ष्य गरीब क्षेत्रों के युवाओं के लिए सबक है।


Police praise Belladrum revellers

Summary: Police have praised revellers at the Tartan Heart Festival at Belladrum after making only six arrests.

Officers said despite more than 20,000 people making the trip to Beauly for the two day event, the crime rate was very low. The six arrests were in relation to assaults, disorder and the supply of drugs. One person is expected to appear at Inverness Sheriff Court on Monday.

पुलिस ने केवल छह गिरफ्तारियां करने के बाद बेलाड्रम में टार्टन हार्ट फेस्टिवल में प्रशंसकों की प्रशंसा की है।