Prominent women attacked as Afghanistan eyes peace

Summary: Just minutes after Saba Sahar had left her home in Kabul, her husband heard gunshots ring out. The actress, film director and senior police official had received warnings of threats to her life in the past, so Emal Zaki frantically called his wife.

By Secunder Kermani and Mahfouz ZubaideBBC News "She answered the phone and told me to come as soon as possible. She said she had been shot," Mr Zaki told the BBC. He was the first person on the scene and found his wife crouched down by a wall where she and her bodyguards had been trying to fend off the attackers. She had been shot multiple times but was still alive. He bundled her into a car and rushed to hospital. Ms Sahar is one of Afghanistan's first female film directors. Fiction and real life have interwoven for her at times, as she has starred in and helped produce a TV series about the Afghan police, and also holds a high-level role with the police force and Ministry of Interior. She is now recovering in hospital, and is gradually starting to walk again. Her husband believes she was targeted for her work promoting women's rights. "Those who raise women's voices are always at risk of being targeted," Mr Zaki told the BBC, before adding defiantly, "but I think these attacks will never succeed in silencing the voices of the women of Afghanistan." Under Taliban rule in the 1990s women were not allowed to attend school or work. Since the hard-line group were overthrown in 2001, fragile progress has been made in bringing more Afghan women back into public life, though challenges remain. The Taliban now say they don't oppose women's education, or them working. But some remain sceptical. The attack on Saba Sahar is one of a number of assassination attempts that have taken place in Kabul in recent months, often targeting prominent figures. In many instances, including the shooting of Ms Sahar, the Taliban has denied being responsible, but no other militant group has admitted involvement either. The spate of attacks - targeted shootings or blasts caused by small magnetic bombs attached to moving cars - come as other forms of militant violence in the Afghan capital have decreased. Since the Taliban signed an agreement with the United States in February, there have been far fewer large-scale suicide bombings, though violence in more rural areas has continued. With talks between the Taliban and Afghan officials due to begin in the coming days in Doha, there are fears the attacks are attempts to marginalise vocal figures and intimidate civil society. Victims include a senior Ministry of Education official who had participated in informal discussions with the Taliban in the past, while on Wednesday, First Vice-President Amrullah Saleh, who has been a staunch opponent of the militants, survived a roadside bomb blast that targeted his convoy. Women have also been repeatedly targeted. The killing of Fatima Khalil, a bright young employee of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, in June caused particular outrage and despair. Last month, politician Fawzia Koofi, who is part of the negotiating team due to meet with the Taliban, was shot whilst returning to Kabul from a neighbouring province. She survived, with injuries to her arm. She told the BBC the shooting would not deter her from her work or from attending the talks when they begin. "In fact, it has given me more strength," she said. "I could see that the whole public stood by me. Even those who have views that are different from my views condemned this attack." Ms Koofi, who has been a vocal proponent of women's rights, believes she may have been targeted both because of her political stance, and in an effort "to spoil the peace talks". So far, no-one seems clear exactly who is behind the attacks. Could the Taliban be responsible, and deliberately not claiming them publicly? Or could other militants such the Islamic State group, or even regional intelligence agencies be trying to play a disruptive role? The targeting of prominent female figures is also, however, feeding into wider concerns about what the outcome of the peace process will mean for Afghan women, and whether there could be a rolling back of the progress made in the last two decades. Ms Koofi says she worries in the coming weeks and months that more women will be targeted. "We will, unfortunately, have to pay a bigger price before peace." You might also be interested in:

सबा सहर के काबुल में अपने घर से निकलने के कुछ ही मिनटों बाद, उसके पति ने गोलियों की आवाज सुनी। अभिनेत्री, फिल्म निर्देशक और वरिष्ठ पुलिस अधिकारी को अतीत में उसकी जान को खतरे की चेतावनी मिली थी, इसलिए इमाल ज़की ने गुस्से में अपनी पत्नी को फोन किया।


MLA pay cut: reaction to Karen Bradley's announcement

Summary: Politicians have largely welcomed Karen Bradley's announcement.

The Northern Ireland Secretary said Stormont Assembly members' pay would be cut from £49,500 to £35,888. She also ruled out calling an election and is to bring forward legislation to allow civil servants to make decisions in the absence of devolution. Northern Ireland has been without an executive since January 2017 after a bitter row between the governing parties, the DUP and Sinn Féin. Here are some reactions to the announcement: Sinn Féin deputy leader Michelle O'Neill "Faced with the prospect of a court-ordered election, Karen Bradley has now moved to suspend her powers to call an election as set out in the legislation. That is a retrograde step. "Any attempt to move away from the Good Friday Agreement or towards direct rule will fail. "Clearly, the British government's reliance on the DUP remains a central problem and if any process around restoring the institutions is to be credible, Karen Bradley must begin prioritising the rights of citizens over Tory Party self-interest. "The reduction in MLA pay should have been introduced months ago." DUP leader Arlene Foster "The proposal to reduce the pay for MLAs is a sensible step as we are not able to fulfil our full role as legislators. "We would prefer to have a fully functioning local Executive where decisions about our schools, roads and hospitals are being made in Northern Ireland. "Sinn Féin is the roadblock to an Executive. It is the only major party boycotting the Executive. All other parties would elect ministers today without preconditions. "We stand ready to form an Executive today and enter an Assembly with nothing but our mandate." UUP leader Robin Swann "For months the Ulster Unionist Party has been urging the secretary of state to take action. "However, this looks like another holding statement from Karen Bradley. "It's only a sticking plaster on a huge political mess in which Northern Ireland finds itself, and the blame for that lies squarely with Sinn Féin and the DUP. "What we need is a fully functioning Assembly and Executive where locally elected MLAs can hold local ministers to account and get to grips with the crisis in the health service, in education and take the whole range of decisions that have been put 'on ice' in the absence of executive ministers." The chief executives of Retail NI, Hospitality Ulster and Manufacturing NI "We welcome the proposed legislation to allow government departments to make more decisions and we hope that the big infrastructure projects can now move forward. "In our New Deal for Northern Ireland that we launched at parliament, we called for rapid decisions to be made to support our economy in these challenging times." Alliance Party leader Naomi Long "The public anger at the political drift here is growing, so if the secretary of state is confident that what she has outlined will be the catalyst to get things moving again, particularly with respect to key decisions that are required, then that is to be welcomed. "There is up to £2bn of investment being held up due to the inability to take strategic decisions, and it is imperative that the secretary of state's proposals unblock that as a matter of urgency. "It was also clear on Monday when, in the absence of any kind of leadership from the SOS and her team, representatives of all parties responded to my invite to get around the table and begin the process of finding lasting solutions to the many issues that still divide us, that there was a clear need for the two governments to live up to their respective responsibilities." SDLP leader Colum Eastwood "This political vacuum that we have found ourselves in has already gone on for far too long. "The truth remains, without a functioning Assembly, MLAs are not fulfilling the full job that they were elected to do. "The SDLP has been clear time and time again, we are ready and willing to engage. We did not create this political vacuum and we have absolutely no desire to remain in it." Margaret McGuickan from Survivors and Victims of Institutional Abuse "Disappointed, heartbroken. "I thought today was going to be the day she would do something for us. "Left us out and didn't even mention us. I'm nearly in tears. "Ignored, rejected and dismissed." TUV leader Jim Allister "At last the secretary of state is moving to cut MLA salaries. Good - about time. "However, by continuing to duck her responsibility to govern, by planning to legitimise decision-making by civil servants, demonstrates, again, a lack of mettle. "It is the appointment of ministers accountable to parliament that is required, not the poor substitute of empowering unelected civil servants." Chief executive of NI Chamber of Commerce and Industry Ann McGregor "NI Chamber has been asking the secretary of state to put in place special legislative measures to allow civil servants to take important decisions for some time now. "Therefore the announcement is warmly welcomed and should allow civil servants to proceed with vital decisions which are to the benefit of everyone in Northern Ireland." Green Party leader Steven Agnew "This is a political impasse that the two main parties appear content to stay stuck in and I don't think a reduction in MLAs salary will push those parties closer to an agreement. "However, I hope it will satisfy the nurses, teachers, drivers and all hard working people across Northern Ireland who have expressed understandable anger at a lack of political progress from full salaried MLAs." Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Simon Coveney "The announcement further underlines the seriousness of the absence of the devolved institutions in Northern Ireland, and the urgent requirement for all with responsibilities to do everything in their power to get them operating again. "I will be engaging further with the secretary of state for Northern Ireland on how both Governments can most effectively support that urgent work in the period immediately ahead."

राजनेताओं ने कैरेन ब्रैडली की घोषणा का काफी हद तक स्वागत किया है।


How can parliamentary bullying be fixed?

Summary: MPs should not be allowed to sit in judgment on other MPs. That is the key view we have heard from clerks inside the House of Commons, as parliament starts to consider how to stamp out bullying and harassment by our legislators.

Chris CookPolicy editor, Newsnight@xtophercookon Twitter This might require major overhauls in Westminster. At the moment, MPs who bully or harass clerks, the apolitical staff who run the House of Commons, can only be sanctioned by the Standards Committee - half of which are MPs. But a complaints procedure where investigations and sanctions are decided without the involvement of MPs is the bare minimum of what clerks now consider acceptable. A serving clerk, whom we have referred to as Woman M in our reports, told us: "Members should have no role whatsoever in judging alleged misdemeanours of their colleagues." "After all, nobody in their right mind would make the friends, colleagues and business relations of the defendant sit in judgment in an employment tribunal? So why should the rules be different here?" But there are broader problems, too. Clerks need to be confident that complaining will not damage their career prospects. That means MPs cannot make personnel decisions more broadly. Woman M told us: "The only way to make things better is to separate roles and responsibilities so that Members - including the Speaker - have no role in the appointment and promotion of staff of the House at any level." Can the fate of MPs be left to politicians? The case of Paul Farrelly, Labour MP for Newcastle-under-Lyme, is cited by clerks who are sceptical about whether MPs can be relied on to act on allegations of bullying and harassment. Mr Farrelly was the subject of a formal inquiry in 2012, in relation to allegations of bullying Emily Commander, the clerk of the Culture, Media and Sport committee. She was unable to stay in her post - an outcome she attributed to Mr Farrelly's behaviour. Mr Farrelly denies bullying her. But this was not the only time concerns were raised about Mr Farrelly's conduct: Some committee chairs have a good reputation for protecting clerks. But Newsnight has heard criticism of Mr Whittingdale's chairing of the Culture, Media and Sport committee, of which his perceived failure to protect clerks was a key part. Mr Whittingdale told the 2012 inquiry into Mr Farrelly's behaviour that he did not believe that Mr Farrelly had bullied Ms Commander, blaming the stress of the inquiry for her stress. However, in testimony to the inquiry that he believed would be anonymous, Mr Whittingdale added that Mr Farrelly "does have a tendency to bully. His manner is like that…" When asked to clarify, he added: "He can be very impatient, very sharp in his comments. He doesn't like people to tell him he can't do what he wants. He gives some quite rude responses. I can see it is different to speak that way to a colleague than to a staff member who can't answer back, and he shouldn't do it. He's not blameless." Mr Whittingdale has been contacted for comment. The party machines Current and former clerks have also been critical of the whips. Concerns about Dame Rosie Winterton have been raised with Newsnight. Dame Rosie was the Labour chief whip who received the complaint against Mr Farrelly in 2011. She is now a member of the House of Commons' governing body - the House of Commons Commission. Next Monday, she will be one of the MPs who will decide on the remit of the House inquiry into bullying. It is not clear whether, for example, the role of whips will be investigated, and whether individual cases - such as that of Mr Farrelly - will be examined. That would entail checking her own decisions. Dame Rosie has declined to comment. Clerks have also expressed surprise that the Labour party has declined to act on the testimony relating to Mr Farrelly that was reported last week by Newsnight. The party's response has been to note that there has been no formal complaint to them, and that the complaint against Mr Farrelly from 2012 - from which much of the testimony was drawn - was not upheld. But the reason for the complaint not being upheld was that the House's processes were suspended because the legal basis for sanctioning an MP were regarded as lacking, because MPs did not have a right of appeal and because House staff, who might be deemed to be partial, conducted the inquiry. At an earlier stage in that inquiry, a member of the House staff did overall uphold the complaint against Mr Farrelly. While the report could not prove that Mr Farrelly had intended to be a bully, they concluded his behaviour amounted to "an abuse of power or position, unfair treatment and undermining a competent worker by constant criticism… The conduct was offensive and insulting." Furthermore, there is an outstanding complaint raised with the Labour party in relation to Mr Farrelly's behaviour in relation to a Labour councillor: Woman O. Her complaint about his "bullying style" has not yet been resolved by the party. Mr Farrelly says her complaint, which was made in December, is "bandwagon-jumping". Mr Farrelly denies bullying Emily Commander, Woman H, Woman M, Woman O and Woman P - a clerk whose testimony was given to the 2012 inquiry. Mr Farrelly denies any bullying but also stated "It is, of course, impossible to comment fully on anonymous complaints or documents I have never seen". He says that he is only aware of the complaints relating to Ms Commander in 2012.

सांसदों को अन्य सांसदों पर निर्णय लेने की अनुमति नहीं दी जानी चाहिए। यह प्रमुख विचार है जो हमने हाउस ऑफ कॉमन्स के अंदर क्लर्कों से सुना है, क्योंकि संसद इस बात पर विचार करना शुरू कर देती है कि हमारे विधायकों द्वारा बदमाशी और उत्पीड़न को कैसे समाप्त किया जाए।


Ethiopia tackles ghosts of elections past

Summary: Ethiopians prepare to vote in a national election on Sunday with the memories of a 2005 election blighted by violence and rigging allegations fresh in their minds, as the BBC's Uduak Amimo in Addis Ababa reports.

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi took over the country's leadership in 1991 and has held it ever since. His reputation inside and outside his country is a big one - he is the African Union's spokesman on climate change and he was one of the African leaders who served on the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Commission for Africa. The Horn of Africa is an unstable neighbourhood and Mr Meles has been a reliable Western ally in containing both Somalia and Eritrea; international aid has continued to flow into his country. Old comrades, new foes But he faces growing internal opposition and criticism of his record and policies. For the first time, he faces a challenge in his Tigray province constituency of Adwa - from 56-year-old Aregash Adane, a former colleague in the liberation struggle. At one time she was the most senior woman in the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) which is the main party in the governing Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) coalition. But she is now running under the opposition Arena-Tigray banner, which has put up candidates in most of the 38 constituencies in Tigray. Embassy warning The role of donors - aid groups and Western countries - in Africa's second most populous country has also been questioned by international human rights groups which accuse them of turning a blind eye to violations. Relations between the European Union and Ethiopia took some time to recover after the head of the observer mission to the 2005 election, Ana Gomez, concluded that those polls had failed to meet international standards. The EU is again observing this election, along with the African Union. Local embassies including the US - Ethiopia's biggest donor - have been warned against attempting to observe the elections themselves. The government says it does not want its bilateral relations complicated by electoral hassles. Non-lethal force And Mr Meles says he has taken every precaution to ensure that Sunday's vote does not descend into the violent protests that broke out during the 2005 parliamentary election, which claimed the lives of 200 civilians and seven policemen. Several opposition leaders were imprisoned for life after the 2005 poll. Although they were later pardoned and released, one of them - Birtukan Mideksa - was rearrested and remains in jail for reportedly violating the terms of the pardon. This time, security forces have been trained and, according to Communications Minister Bereket Simon, have been ordered to use non-lethal force to quell any disturbances. The government points to the introduction of public financing for opposition parties as a sign of progress. But this has not convinced the opposition. 'Donor democracy' More than 60 parties are contesting the polls, eight of them have formed a coalition known as the Forum for Federal Democratic Unity, or Medrek in the national Amharic language. They claim that their members and supporters are being intimidated, harassed and even killed. Their leader Merera Gudina says his campaigns in the most populous Oromiya region are being obstructed by ruling party sympathisers. Medrek is seen as the most potent opposition force in the country at the moment - it is fielding the second-largest number of candidates after the EPRDF. But it refused to sign up to the country's first-ever political parties code of conduct, dismissing it as a sham and an attempt at shoring up Ethiopia's "donor democracy". Ethiopia's government says that it has investigated the opposition's complaints and found them baseless. Claim, counter-claim The government accuses the opposition of using the foreign media to air their grievances instead of attempting to address them internally. Officials also claim that the opposition are provoking incidents to trigger public backlashes - which Mr Bereket says was the reason behind the killing of a policeman in the Oromiya region in May. He says that the suspects had implicated Mr Merera, who has since denied the allegation. For the EPRDF, this election is about winning a renewed mandate to continue their ambitious rapid industrialisation programme. Ethiopia is one of Africa's fastest growing economies, despite the widespread association with famine, which the government and many Ethiopians resent. Much of that growth is based on agriculture, coffee and wheat. Foreign investors, from countries such as China, India and Turkey, are now being drawn to the country by huge tracts of farming land on lease as well as oil and gas reserves in the south. The final results are expected to be announced on 21 June. People in Addis Ababa says they do not expect any surprises; the ruling party will win.

अदिस अबाबा में बीबीसी के उदुआक अमीमो की रिपोर्ट के अनुसार, इथियोपियाई लोग रविवार को एक राष्ट्रीय चुनाव में मतदान करने की तैयारी करते हैं, जिसमें उनके दिमाग में हिंसा और धांधली के आरोपों से त्रस्त 2005 के चुनाव की यादें ताजा होती हैं।


Meet the man who turned the Queen's head

Summary: It was only ever going to be a matter of time.

By Marie JacksonBBC News Richard Quinn is "the printmaster fashion needs", wrote Paper magazine in 2016. A designer to watch, said magazines 10 and Dazed and Confused, the New York Times and the Sunday Times. Lady Gaga is apparently a fan and internationally-renowned photographer Juergen Teller shot his graduate collection for a Modern Matter magazine front cover. But until Tuesday, most people had never heard of British womenswear designer Richard Quinn. In only his second year at London Fashion Week, he got a publicity boost that must be the stuff of dreams - a 91-year-old in duck-egg blue on the front row. The Queen, sitting beside fashion's queen bee, Vogue's editor-in-chief Dame Anna Wintour in trademark sunglasses, made for a compelling shot that was splashed across Britain's front pages. The runway show showed off Quinn's bold prints, retro florals and models in motorcycle helmets and scarves - in fashion-speak his collections bring a "colourful optimism". At the end, the Queen presented Quinn with the very first Queen Elizabeth II award for British design. For Quinn, dressed in baseball cap, Nike trainers and five o'clock shadow, it was all "a bit surreal". He told reporters he was given only a couple of days' notice, so decided to add a few "Queen touches" giving his models headscarves and scarf patterns. "We really hammed it up," he told the Telegraph. "It's a tongue-in-cheek take on Balmoral - my take on it, basically," he said. The Queen was "definitely a fashion icon", he said, but it's Meghan Markle, soon to be married to the Queen's grandson, Prince Harry, who he dreams of dressing one day. Quinn was born in south-east London, and has stayed close to his roots. He studied fashion at London's Central St Martin's, following in the footsteps of fashion giants John Galliano, Roksanda Illincic, Christopher Kane and Alexander McQueen. Another alumnus, Stella McCartney, sponsored his MA on the fashion programme of 2016 through her foundation. His work draws on a little known artist from the 1960s, Paul Harris. Quinn became obsessed with the idea of transforming a woman into a textile by covering her entirely in colour and print. "I wanted to create a strong image," Quinn said in an interview with Dazed and Confused. The result is an odd, otherworldly look. His womenswear is currently stocked in Matches Fashion, Machine A and Liberty London. His love of prints led him to set up a textile studio in Peckham, near the headquarters of his father's scaffolding company. From there, he makes prints for the fashion and interior design industries, but also opens up the facilities and workshops to everyone from students to professionals. And it's that collaborative approach that was a factor in his royal win. Sarah Mower, ambassador for emerging talent at the British Fashion Council, said Quinn's printworks showed a "community-minded business sense" which was contributing to British fashion manufacturing. "I congratulate Richard for cementing this link between fashion and British industry," she said.

यह केवल समय की बात होने वाली थी।


Britain's oldest man marks 110th birthday

Summary: Britain's oldest man is celebrating his 110th birthday.

A public concert was held on Saturday night for former church minister Reg Dean, from Wirksworth, Derbyshire, although he was unable to attend. The Dalesmen Male Voice Choir, which he set up, will sing for him later. Mr Dean, who was born in Tunstall, Staffordshire, on 4 November 1902, says the secret of his longevity is being lazy, but his family says it may be down to a potion he drank in India. Having been unwell, Mr Dean was presented with his cake in bed. Indian elixir Asked how he felt, he said: "A year older than when I was 109! It has been a long year but I feel much better now. "I can't say enough (about the birthday celebrations), it's all very kind and I did not expect it and of course I shall have another one when I am 130." Mr Dean, who has lived in Derbyshire since 1947, has lived through two world wars and 24 British prime ministers. Stationed in Burma as an army chaplain during World War II, Mr Dean continued to work as a minister until his retirement at the age of 80. He also spent 10 years working as a teacher and has been married three times. His son, Christopher said the family had its own theory about his long life. "When he was out in India, just before World War I, he was given an elixir by a local there. "He did a favour for one of the locals and this guy said, 'drink this and you'll live til at least 100'. "And he said being naive 'I just drank it' - this muddy mixture and here he is now - no one can argue with that now." Mr Dean became Britain's oldest man after the death of 110-year-old Stanley Lucas, from Cornwall, in June 2010. The current world record holder is 115-year-old Jiroemon Kimura from Japan.

ब्रिटेन के सबसे बुजुर्ग व्यक्ति अपना 110वां जन्मदिन मना रहे हैं।


A Point of View: The all-American drive to legalise marijuana

Summary: The gradual legalisation of cannabis across US states is a triumph for the American Dream, says Sarah Dunant.

I've recently returned from the west coast of Canada, where a fiery gold autumn was the perfect backdrop for an outpouring of national optimism after the Canadians elected the 43-year-old Liberal leader Justin Trudeau as their prime minster. Greeting voters on the subway next morning, trick-or-treating with his children - the arrival of this dynamic newcomer, sprinkled with dynastic fairy dust, ended almost a decade of Conservative government during which Canada suffered something of an identity crisis. For a country that successfully defined itself as not being the United States, his predecessor's policies on tax, foreign affairs and the environment severely blurred that distinction. As one Vancouverite put it: "I used to make a point of saying I was Canadian, not American, when I travelled. In recent years I haven't bothered." But if Trudeau is to make his mark by being different, there's one area where he'll be learning by example from the US, or at least a handful of them. His election platform included legalisation of marijuana for recreational use (it's legal for medical purposes now), which means that he and his policy makers will be busy studying Washington State, Oregon and Colorado, all of which have done so already. In the fraught international conversation about drugs, there's one thing everyone agrees on, though some politicians might close the door before they say it - 50 years of war hasn't worked. Instead it has produced international crime syndicates, financed terrorism, destabilised governments of the countries that produce the drugs and clogged up the justice system and prisons of those that consume them. When it comes to cannabis some of the loudest critics of the law are law enforcers themselves. As an ex-chief of police in Vancouver said in a recent CBC documentary: "The only thing prohibition achieves is putting revenue into organised crime." It's taken more than plain-speaking police chiefs to bring about the change in the US. Admittedly Oregon, Washington and Colorado are liberal-leaning states, but the underlying social and political forces that moved them towards legislation also exist in the rest of the country. To understand them you have to go back to those much-quoted words from the Declaration of Independence: "The inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." To which one might add - not even that cynically - "...and profit". First happiness. During a book tour in 2010, I visited Colorado just after the state granted commercial licences to grow cannabis for medical purposes. In the town of Boulder I met a friend of a friend who had set up a warehouse factory. Sitting together at the bar, I ordered a cocktail, while he had water. "'Fraid I over-medicated last night," he explained with a wry smile. I remember I laughed out loud. Over-medicated. It was the first time I'd ever heard the term. It wouldn't be the last. Risks associated with cannabis Source: NHS Choices To medicate - take some kind of drug to make oneself feel better. As befits a country with private health care, legal pharmaceuticals are mega-business in the US. While mind-altering substances have been around throughout history, on the journey from pain to pleasure the US has played a starring role. She was the first country to successfully use analgesics in an operation (Boston in the 1840s, when under ether a man had a tumour cut out of his neck). One hundred and fifty years later she was also was the first to embrace Prozac. As physical agony diminished, we could start to address mental and emotional suffering, often equally disabling. Life was a crapshoot - depressive DNA, the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, rising poverty and the ever-accelerating pace and toxicity of modern life. It's no surprise if we need a little mental massaging at times. If there is a drug to address depression or anxiety, to make one happier, why on earth not take it? To medicate. As soon as the word became aligned to cannabis it heralded a subtle but powerful shift in moving the drug out of the darkness of illegality into the light, first of the doctor's office and the dispensary, and then into the brighter surroundings of retail therapy. Enter profit. Colorado, where cannabis has been legal for almost two years, is the site of a modern gold rush - a late flowering of the American dream. A whole new industry, mixing horticulture and science, run by energetic young entrepreneurs (everyone is a business graduate these days) is out to make a killing through investment and hard work. As with all start-ups, market lore prevails. Lore and language. No more Cheech-and-Chongs with reefers and doobies. Instead, company directors talk of "exciting new user demographics" and "the high-end luxury consumer package good" and that most magic consumer word of all - choice. The little bag of weed or lump of hash changing hands on the street has grown into a shop wall of dozens of varieties, quantities and strengths. There are tinctures and oils, patches and lotions, infused tooth-picks. But the big commercial breakthrough has been the edibles market - snacks, candy bars, mints, bread, ice cream and beverages, from cannabis cola to latte. Professional chefs cook marijuana dinners and out-of-state visitors take cannabis tours, factory-to-tasting, one ending in a painting class to show enhanced - or at least less repressed - creativity. Jobs created, profits flowing and taxes rolling. Of course there are regulations. As with alcohol you have be to 21 to buy and have the ID to prove it. You can only get an ounce at a time and there's no smoking in public, though I doubt police officers check takeaway latte on the street. Other rules are stranger. Armoured trucks transfer bags of tax money (it's a strictly cash-only business) to the appropriate government building because banks, operating under federal law, can't touch drug money. This year's tax revenue is estimated at $97m (£64m) - a welcome addition to an economy struggling out of a recession. With more states voting on the issue every year, the legislation of cannabis, like gay marriage, appears to be gaining political traction. There is also pressure from another direction. The US is panicking about its prison population. At present it incarcerates more of its citizens per capita than any other country bar the Seychelles. At last count 51% of all inmates in federal prisons were in for drug-related crimes and 27% of those for non-violent ones concerning marijuana. Only this month President Obama released 6,000 prisoners, the result of a retroactive sentencing bill, reducing penalties for drug offences in the future. The message is clear. It costs society too much, in all senses, to criminalise so many people - and disproportionately young black or Latino men - for doing something which, legalised, could create jobs and help balance the budget. Imagine a chain of coffee shops all staffed by retrained biker baristas? The image makes one stoned already. This is probably the moment for full and frank disclosure. Legalisation of marijuana interests me not only because I'm an observer of political and social change but because I've been using it on and off for 40 years. Throughout my adult life it has relaxed and invigorated me, enriched my friendships, peopled my solitude, rendered me helpless with laughter and, when writing, oiled the hinges on the doors of perception. Though I agree that enhanced strains - particularly when taken by teenagers - can be dangerous, in my experience it's a manifestly less dangerous drug than tobacco or alcohol, and regulated in terms of age of consumption and quality would be even safer. When all us self-indulgent hippies sat lighting up at rock festivals dreaming of a brave new world, legalising pot was only one of many changes we envisaged (the end of the Vietnam war along with sexual and racial equality were also on the agenda, though no-one remembers such things now because our houses have gone up so much in price). However, be careful what you wish for. Faced with the prospect that in my lifetime I could be shopping in cannabis stores, confronted with the same mind-numbing choice as say shampoo or yoghurt, with two for one offers, or early-bird discount on names such as Kool Aid Kush, Jack Flash and Blue Dream sold by cheery assistants urging me to have a good day - I find myself, well, less than ecstatic. Doubtless it's the last vestige of the rebel in me. Perhaps a little radicalism would help. Remember the lottery? That sly tax to fund sport and heritage initiatives. How about using cannabis revenue to top up the NHS? Or help fund higher education? Now there's an idea that could give an old stoner joy. Or in the new argot, add enhanced pleasure to the process of self-medication. More from the Magazine Cannabis is illegal and yet in the UK shops selling cannabis paraphernalia operate openly on the High Street. The "head shop" is an institution that shows no sign of going away. Cannabis accessories: The strange world of the "head shop" (November 2014) A selection of your comments Great article. However, weed is NOT widely embraced in the entire USA. Many see the negative aspects (you did a great job also pointing them out) along with the fact that weed is a gateway drug to harder/more addictive substances. Unfortunately, a great many lives will continue to be destroyed by those who just want to sit on their butts and smoke weed. Steve D, Florida, US Sarah Dunant has written an absurd article with nonsensical conclusions. She conflates legalising pot with liberalism and democracy, when, in reality, marijuana is an intoxicant which is both opposed and supported by both sides of the political spectrum. She makes a muddy connection between "pursuit of happiness" and taking drugs, hardly interchangeable concepts. She skirts the many health risks of pot. And she suggests that legalization will lower the prison population, when, in fact, very few convicts are in jail for marijuana; the few that are incarcerated for pot have been convicted for smuggling massive amounts of the drug, not merely smoking a joint. Jeffrey Zekas, Oregon, US I too have used cannabis, on and off, for over 40 years. I also work in mental health care and have seen the misery it provokes in those susceptible and their families. Continuing criminalisation makes cannabis a focus of rebellion against the state in those who are probably most at risk - poor and deprived young people. It also enables some of the less savoury elements in society to thrive on the illicit profits. Maurice, Burton, UK I agree that the war on drugs has not worked and has only promoted an underworld of crime. However, cannabis and other drugs, do not behave in the body like alcohol and so policing activities such as driving is not at all easy. There must be a quantitative, scientific assessment of a drug's effect before decriminalisation can be possible. Barry Collins, Bridgend, UK This is an edited transcript of A Point of View, broadcast on Friday on Radio 4 at 20:50 GMT and repeated on Sunday at 08:50 GMT. Catch up on BBC iPlayer Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.

सारा डुनेंट कहती हैं कि अमेरिकी राज्यों में भांग का क्रमिक वैधीकरण अमेरिकी सपने के लिए एक जीत है।


Elgin welcomes RAF Lossiemouth homecoming parade

Summary: Hundreds of people turned out as RAF personnel who have just returned to Moray from Afghanistan took part in a homecoming parade in Elgin.

More than 150 RAF Lossiemouth personnel returned last week after a six-month tour of duty. They marched through Elgin on Wednesday afternoon, the timing allowing local school children the chance to attend. A formation of four Tornados from RAF Lossiemouth also performed a fly past to mark the event. The troops - specialists in guarding airfields - were involved in a major firefight with Taliban insurgents who attacked Camp Bastion in September. It left two US marines and 14 of the attackers dead. Several members of the contingent were wounded during the tour of duty.

हाल ही में अफगानिस्तान से मोरे लौटे आरएएफ कर्मियों के रूप में सैकड़ों लोग एल्गिन में घर वापसी परेड में भाग लिया।


The brave women fighting for Afghanistan's future

Summary: Nineteen-year-old Rita Faizi oozes confidence.

Lyse DoucetChief international correspondent@bbclysedouceton Twitter Taller than her classmates, when she waves a small Afghan flag, it flutters above a sea of white headscarves in the courtyard of the Zarghuna Girls' School in Kabul. "I'm proud of my flag, and proud to go to school, so I can build my country," she declares as she approaches me at the start of the school day on a chilly winter morning in Kabul. "Do you think a girl in Afghanistan can now do what she wants?" I ask this poised teenager, expecting another burst of youthful enthusiasm. "Oh no, absolutely not," she shoots back, without a moment's hesitation. "If you want to go out, you can't go out alone. As you know, there are a lot of rapes." Girls like Rita know sheer force of personality is no match for the very real threats to Afghan girls and women. Listen to the voices of those who boldly speak out, and you're constantly struck by this double-edged sword that hovers, all too closely, over all their lives. My recent trip to the Afghan capital was intended to build on the true stories in a new play "Even If We Lose Our Lives" commissioned by the human rights organisation Amnesty International. But the three women featured in the script lost their voices in the more dangerous drama of daily life. A gynaecologist who only uses her initial Dr D, as well as school headmistress Parween, were forced to go into hiding because of threats linked to their work. Women's activist Maneesha also faces risks. So, I went in search of other voices for our programme "Speaking out, Losing Lives" for BBC Radio 4 and the World Service, produced by Beaty Rubins. At Kabul's Rabia Balkhi hospital, I found a more reassuring window on a women's world. Nurses in lilac Well-educated Afghan women doctors are in charge, trained female nurses attend to female patients. In the hallway I run into a gaggle of young women in lilac-coloured medical coats and caps. They've come to the capital from remote impoverished areas of Daikundi province to train as community midwives. Meela Sarwar, who heads the training programme, is also brimming with confidence, and the conviction of her mission. "After two years we will send them back to their own areas, where there is no clinic, no nurse, no doctors, they are the nurse, doctor, midwife, everything," she tells me. Afghanistan's maternal mortality rate, once one of the highest in the world, is now said to be inching down, partly because of the growing presence of competent midwives, and more clinics and better practises in some areas. A comforting sense of order and routine is suddenly shattered when an elderly woman holding a baby swaddled in a tiny white blanket hurries toward us. "Girl or boy?" I ask as she approaches. "Dead," replies a grieving grandmother as she draws her arms more closely around the stillborn child. The distraught mother then rushes out the door in her all-enveloping blue burka. The garment, which only reveals a woman's eyes, cannot conceal her grief. In a country where many women's main role in life is simply to bear children, it's a tragic turn. Meela shakes her head. "She waited seven years to conceive but then waited through nine months of pregnancy before she came to the hospital to see us." It's still the story of all too many women. Children attacked Female professionals in hospitals are also fighting on another front. A new department has been established to tackle gender-based violence. "We deal with many cases - physical trauma, emotional trauma, sometimes sexual trauma including rape cases," Dr Aweed Dehyar, head of Rabia Balkhi hospital, explains as she sits in her office in her crisp white medical coat and cap. She tells me about cases involving teenagers and even children as young as five, or even three years old. "Are there many cases that age?" I ask. "I think one case in three months but in Afghanistan, all cases don't come to the hospital. Out of ten cases, maybe one comes here." Last month the case of three-year-old Neelofar, attacked by an 18-year-old boy, shocked many. But women's activists hailed the fact that at least it came to light. There are more legal weapons to protect Afghan women now. The landmark Law on the Elimination of Violence against Women went into effect in 2009 but, aside from a few exceptions, most evidence shows it is largely unimplemented and unenforced. Defiant schoolgirls To advance women's rights, education is fundamental which is why the scenes at schools like Zarghuna in Kabul are so significant. When the impressive Rita Faizi takes me along to her English class, I ask what seems like a whole classroom of confident girls whether they fear the return of the Taliban which once banned their education. "With our knowledge, with our education, we want to defeat them," rises the defiant young chorus from the neat rows of wooden desks. Last week, at the London Conference on Afghanistan, their newly elected President Ashaf Ghani made it clear that empowering women is one of his top priorities. When I ask him whether he's ahead of his time in his still deeply conservative country he insists: "We have gone back in time. I just want to give opportunities to Afghan women that my grandmother had. What's wrong with that?" In Kabul, I meet his wife Rula Ghani in her new office inside the heavily fortified palace for the first First Lady most Afghans have known. "You know the expression, show don't tell?" Lebanese-born Rula Ghani asks. "I think my husband is showing in the way he's allowing me to proceed that women can have a role." Now, as Afghanistan enters a new political chapter, millions more men, and women, are being called upon to do the same. Speaking out, Losing Lives is broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 20:00 GMT on Monday 8 December and 15:00 GMT on 31 December. You can also catch it online.

उन्नीस वर्षीय रीता फैजी आत्मविश्वास से भरी हुई है।


Sales tax hike is a bitter pill Japan needs to swallow

Summary: The issue of a consumption tax rate hike has been at the top of the agenda of Yoshihiko Noda, Japan's Prime Minister and the leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), since he rose to his current position in September 2011.

By Takuji OkuboChief Economist, Societe Generale, Tokyo The DJP is expected to submit a bill by the end of March to increase Japan's sales tax rate from the current 5% to 8% in 2014 and then to 10% in 2015. A rise in the tax will help narrow Japan's fiscal deficit, currently as large as 44tn yen ($532.1bn; £332.9bn) in the financial year ending in 2012 and equivalent to 8.9% of Japan's gross domestic product (GDP). A one percentage point rise in the tax rate is expected to bring in tax revenues of 2tn yen. While the consumption tax rate hike alone will not solve Japan's fiscal problems, it could substantially improve Japan's fiscal balance. Alternatives While there are other taxes that can be raised, consumption tax is considered to be one of the most appropriate in Japan's circumstances. Personal income tax has formed the backbone of tax revenues in Japan. However the decline of Japan's working population has been eroding its tax base. The ratio of working population to total population has declined from 65% in the early 1970s to 59% in 2011. As the share of pensioners with financial assets but low incomes rise in Japan, consumption, rather than income is becoming a better measure for tax base. Major hurdles It is far from certain if the Japanese government can actually raise the sales tax rate in 2014. There are two major hurdles. Firstly, there is a possibility that Prime Minister Noda may fail to pass the bill. The issue of consumption tax rate hike has been a source of serious divide within the DPJ. Nine parliamentary members of the DPJ left the party last December when Mr Noda formally proposed raising consumption tax. More members are threatening to oppose the bill or leave the party, including a former party head, Ichiro Ozawa. While the DPJ currently holds a majority in the lower house, if he allows further defections from the party its majority will come under threat. Secondly, and much more importantly, economic circumstances may not allow a consumption tax rate hike in 2014. Even if Mr Noda succeeds in gathering enough votes to pass the bill this year, the Japanese parliament could overturn the decision before 2014. The bill that the DPJ is expected to propose is likely to include certain conditions, such as a risk of recession, under which the tax hike can be postponed. When the consumption tax rate was last raised in 1997 from 3% to 5%, Japan fell into a deep recession culminating in a financial crisis that saw failures of a few of Japan's largest banks. Although it's probable that the financial crisis would have taken place even without the consumption tax hike, it no doubt contributed to it. Fear of recession Indeed, if the Japanese government is to proceed with the tax hike in 2014, we believe it will trigger another recession. Judging from the current trend in the economic cycle, the Japanese economy is expected to experience a boom between 2012-2013. The Japanese government passed a total of four supplementary budgets in 2011, totalling 20tn yen and equivalent to 4% of GDP. Due to the difficulty of cleaning up the disaster affected areas from the earthquake and tsunami last March, the bulk of the reconstruction projects are yet to be implemented. We think Japanese economic growth will receive a substantial boost from reconstruction spending, as much as 1.9 percentage points in 2012. As a result, we expect Japan's economy to grow by 2.4% in 2012, followed by a 2% growth in 2013. However towards the end of 2013, the economic boom from reconstruction spending is likely to be reaching its end. Under such circumstances, the chances are high that the consumption tax rate would again trigger a recession. Should the Japanese government abandon the sales tax hike plan then? It is a tough call. Ideally, the best timing for the tax rate would have been in either 2012 or early 2013 so that the negative economic effects from the hike could have been offset by the positive effects from the reconstruction spending. Having said that, policy making has to be done within various constraints including political ones. In our view, while a consumption tax hike in 2014 will probably cause a recession, it is a bitter pill that Japan needs to swallow. The opinions expressed are those of the author and are not held by the BBC unless specifically stated. The material is for general information only and does not constitute investment, tax, legal or other form of advice. You should not rely on this information to make (or refrain from making) any decisions. Links to external sites are for information only and do not constitute endorsement. Always obtain independent, professional advice for your own particular situation.

सितंबर 2011 में अपने वर्तमान पद पर पहुंचने के बाद से जापान के प्रधान मंत्री और सत्तारूढ़ डेमोक्रेटिक पार्टी ऑफ जापान (डी. पी. जे.) के नेता योशीहिको नोडा के एजेंडे में उपभोग कर की दर में वृद्धि का मुद्दा शीर्ष पर रहा है।


The diary of a girl with the little known eating disorder 'diabulimia'

Summary: Lisa Day was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when she was 14.

By Tracy OllerenshawNewsbeat reporter It meant her body didn't produce insulin so to stay alive she had to inject it daily as well as take extra care with the food she ate. She died on 12 September 2015 after years of suffering with diabulimia. The term, which isn't yet medically recognised, refers to diabetic people who deliberately take too little insulin in order to lose weight. Lisa's older sister Katie Edwards has been looking through the diary her sister wrote just after she was diagnosed. Lisa started writing the diary just after she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in September 2001. Boxing Day 2001 "I feel really fat. I want to lose weight. Think I'm about 9 stone." New Years Day 2002 "I have to do my injections in a mo. I am going to ring Sam tonight so that I can meet with him tomorrow. I've just made myself sick twice." Flicking through the pages, Katie describes Lisa: "She was my younger sister. She was fun, but serious at times. She had a lot of friends. She loved life but you could tell that there was something deep down that was troubling her. "She always had a bit of a sad shadow following her around." You can also explore this story in a different way. Newsbeat Explains is a new way of experiencing news piece by piece - click here to try it with this story. 13 February 2002 "Non-uniform day. I feel so FAT. Everyone looked great today but me. I threw up my food today. I have to quickly do my art homework." 5 March "I am so pleased and I feel great. Haven't eaten chocolate in four days and I've lost half a stone. Mike texted me last night and everything is good. Must learn not to go red. "I weigh 55.8 kg. "I think I am bulimic." Katie says she didn't realise how bad things were. She and her mum only recently found the diary. "I'm not sure which came first, diabetes or eating problems," Katie tells Newsbeat, as she looks through photos of her sister. "But I know that before Lisa was a diabetic she was completely happy, would eat what she wanted and wasn't funny about food at all. "When she was diagnosed as diabetic she was told to keep diaries and write down what she was eating and what her sugar levels were." 14 March "I keep having to make myself sick otherwise I feel guilty about what I've eaten." 15 March "I feel so fat. I hate myself. I start working at the pet shop tomorrow. Disco at FC tomorrow, going with Holly." 18 March "I had a really bad hypo at lunch. I was sitting with Mike and his girlfriend. I don't think he thinks I'm fit any more." Almost everyone with type 1 diabetes will have a "hypo" at some stage. Hypos (hypoglycaemia or low blood glucose) happen when your blood glucose level drops too low. In people who don't have diabetes, the right amount of insulin is usually produced at the right time so their blood glucose level doesn't go too high or too low. But in people with type 1 diabetes, the balance of insulin, food and physical activity sometimes isn't right and blood glucose levels drop too low. 30 April "I went to dance today and the gym. I haven't made myself sick for ages! Saw Mike again today. V boring day." At this point Lisa wasn't aware of diabulimia. "Over Lisa's time as a diabetic it changed," Katie tells Newsbeat. "They [diabetics] have to look really hard at what they eat when diagnosed. "I think Lisa looked at it too hard. It was to the point where when she ate food she wouldn't have any sauce, any butter, no nothing on it. "Sometimes she would just have half a jacket potato or she would just have fish not cooked in oil, no nothing, and she would lose a hell of a lot of weight." "I remember once Mum gave her an ice cream and she was so proud that she'd eaten this but she was so ill because her stomach rejected it as she hadn't been eating enough." 29 May "I hate being diabetic. I can't eat when I want (like not having to eat in the evening) cos I don't want to put on extra weight." Katie remembers how Lisa changed her eating habits as time went on. "She was clever to start with - not eating a lot - but when she got the pump and things - she realised if she didn't take her insulin she would lose weight anyway - if she didn't take her insulin she could eat all the foods she wasn't supposed to." An insulin pump is a battery-operated device that provides regular insulin throughout the day via a tiny, flexible tube (cannula), inserted under the skin. It can give someone with type 1 diabetes more flexibility. 15 August "I've been doing stomach exercises and bum exercises and going to the gym like every day, I can't do any more or I'll die from exhaustion, but maybe that's a good thing as I'm so fat. "I'd better go and burn some of my dinner off like doing star jumps or something, please let me die." At this stage, in 2002, Lisa's family didn't realise just how bad things were getting. "The diabetic is in charge of their care, they know how much insulin is needed and it's up to them to look after themselves," Katie tells Newsbeat. "Me and my family, we assumed she knew what she's doing. There was nothing we could do and if she said she's done something... she's basically had her life in her own hands." 23 October "I went swimming today and did about six lengths. Boring. I've been hiding skimmed milk in my room so I don't get as much fat from semi-skimmed!" 12 November "Didn't go to school today. I've now been writing a diary for a year. "So in the past year I've become bulimic - but I'm getting better. Yeh. "But I've lost 1 and a half stone. I now weigh 7 and a half stone." 13 November "Went back to school today. Lesley and Phoebe had a fight. I threw up some pasta, I ate too much. I don't want to lose any more weight before I go to the hospital in two weeks." 25 November "One month until Christmas! I really want to go to hospital on Thursday so I can eat lunch without feeling guilty, but I'm a bit scared about my weight. I felt really bad on Sat coz I didn't eat round Holz." 4 December "Joe and Tom texted me. I've been told they think I'm well fit. GREAT my weight loss is paying off." Katie talks about her sister's love of "baking cakes and cooking curries" adding that she just "ate it because she didn't take her insulin". "As time went on she realised she could run her blood sugars high, not take insulin, eat what she wanted and lose weight anyway. "She wasn't knocking back desserts, coke and sweets but when it came to food she'd literally eat what she wanted." With that it brought on awful side-effects and, Katie says, "problems with her stomach, problems with her feet". "She's just generally getting worse and worse and you can tell, there's a picture here - see how pink her cheeks are - that's one of the signs of it. "Whenever you saw Lisa, if her cheeks were that colour you knew she wasn't taking her insulin." Lisa also developed serious stomach pains. "She had this stomach condition where she was eating food but her stomach wasn't processing it and it was coming out the same the other side and she was getting terrible pains - and in and out of hospital between January and April last year. "They said it was damage she had done through her misuse of insulin and it really got her down." This was one of Lisa's last entries in this diary. 23 June 2004 "I feel as if I'm going to succeed, hit my red dress again and lose one to one and a half stone by September." Lisa's mum still has the red dress that her daughter obsessed over. "Lisa said a million times, 'That's my target dress,' which is pretty sad. I don't even think it's a proper size eight and she was gagging to get back into it. There's no way I could get in that." In the years after this diary, Katie says Lisa was in and out of hospital and "even when she was smiling you could tell there was something else going on". "Looking back now since she's died I've realised everything she had to do and how hard it must've been for her. "I was aware she had to take insulin," says Katie. "But I didn't know how involved she had to be, and with this diabulimia thing I didn't realise about other people having it and that's only really come to light since she's died. "I just think it's really sad. If Lisa had help 10 years ago maybe she'd still be here because she'd be looking after herself." The UK's first ever diabetes and eating disorder service has launched at King's College in London. The charity, DWED (Diabetics With Eating Disorders) has been campaigning to have omitting insulin to lose weight officially recognised as a mental illness. A new set of guidelines for the treatment of eating disorders, which includes how best to treat those who also have diabetes, is expected to be released by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (Nice) in early 2017. On Monday it will be a year since Lisa died. "I don't want to sit here all day and be crying all day and upset 'cause it was the most awful week of my life," says an emotional Katie. "I just want to turn it into something more positive and a bit more cheerful but we will remember her in some way, yes." There's more information on diabetes at BBC Advice. Find us on Instagram at BBCNewsbeat and follow us on Snapchat, search for bbc_newsbeat

लिसा डे को 14 साल की उम्र में टाइप 1 मधुमेह का पता चला था।


G8: Lock down on Lough Erne

Summary: A large section of lower Lough Erne becomes an exclusion zone from Sunday as the security net tightens around the hotel where the G8 leaders will meet on Monday afternoon. Michael Cairns got up close to the fleet of police and military boats guarding the G8 leaders.

By Michael CairnsBBC News While hundreds of police officers were getting soaked in the rains of Belfast as G8 protestors made their point, on Lough Erne their water-borne colleagues were making the most of the uncharacteristic blazing sunshine. Dressed in black fatigues and baseball caps the police may look similar but their accents give away the fact they have come from across the UK. As we approached the resort's shore, all our boats became a honey pot for the worker bees in their ribs, but at this stage it was pleasantries and not stings. I ask the officers where they are from, one crew is from London and the last time they used their boat was at the Olympics. They are happy to swap pleasantries and to remind us that soon the area we are in will be out of bounds. Two others we encounter are operated by PSNI officers from the boat section and they were happy for us to film, once they had put their helmets on to hide their faces. All the crews are based at the Lough Erne Yacht Club on the opposite shore to the G8 conference site. When our skipper took us inshore, we saw a row of ten high-powered boats tied up, all ready to police the no access area, and moored in front of them a row of cruisers hired from a local company to provide sleeping accommodation. US Marines But of particular interest are two larger grey boats on trailers on the shore. We hear those are owned and manned by the US marines and are part of back-up plans, apparently factored into worst case scenarios in relation to the most high-profile G8 attendee, President Obama. Our boat is ushered away firmly as we outlive our welcome and it is back to the lough. The officers will patrol an inner and outer cordon marked by large yellow buoys put in place on Saturday, and enforced for three days over the conference period. The inner cordon, which is within sight of the golf course of the Lough Erne resort, is made up of a linked boom and net, but the main line of defence is the police boats. The net, it is rumoured, is to stop divers but it would be quite a swim for anyone planning that as a form of protest. We get the view of the bunker-sloped green of one of the holes on the Lough Erne resort, and sitting below it, the incongruous vision of a white armoured Land Rover. Clearly the green keepers may have some additional work to do once the G8 summit is all over. And as for Lough Erne itself, it hasn't seen so much powerful machinery on its waters since the 1940s, when the flying boats used it to hunt down the unseen enemy of that era, the German U-boat fleet.

निचले लोफ एर्ने का एक बड़ा हिस्सा रविवार से एक बहिष्करण क्षेत्र बन जाता है क्योंकि होटल के चारों ओर सुरक्षा जाल कड़ा हो जाता है जहां सोमवार दोपहर को जी8 नेता मिलेंगे। माइकल केर्न्स जी8 नेताओं की रक्षा करने वाली पुलिस और सैन्य नौकाओं के बेड़े के पास उठ गए।


Ricky Tomlinson granted Freedom of Liverpool

Summary: Ricky Tomlinson has been granted the Freedom of Liverpool.

The actor and trade unionist is best known for his television roles in The Royle Family and the Liverpool-based soap opera Brookside. Tomlinson is still fighting to overturn a conviction following the 1972 builders' strike, which saw him jailed for two years. The 75-year-old actor said: "To be given the freedom of the city I love is a highlight of my career." Liverpool's Lord Mayor, Councillor Erica Kemp, said the actor was a "fantastic ambassador" for the city who was never afraid to speak out for others. 'Versatile and talented' Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson also paid tribute to him. "I can't think of many people more deserving than Ricky Tomlinson to receive the Freedom of Liverpool," he said. "As well as entertaining the nation as a versatile and talented actor, he has raised and donated millions of pounds to good causes and campaigned to raise the profile of hugely important issues, ranging from Hillsborough to human rights." The son of a Liverpudlian baker, Tomlinson was a plasterer before his conviction for conspiracy to intimidate, unlawful assembly and affray in relation to his union activities during the 1972 builders' strike. Unable to find work in the building trade on his release from prison, he ended up as an entertainer. Tomlinson was spotted by Alan Bleasdale, who cast him in a small role in TV drama Boys From The Blackstuff in 1980. His big break came two years later when he was given the part of trade unionist Bobby Grant in Brookside, the first soap opera on the newly established Channel 4. Various television parts were to come his way, the best known of which was the couch potato Jim Royle in the BBC 2 comedy The Royle Family.

रिकी टॉमलिंसन को लिवरपूल की स्वतंत्रता प्रदान की गई है।


Bristol Blitz: Recalling the bombing, 75 years on

Summary: On Sunday 24 November 1940, Germany dispatched 148 bombers to attack Bristol. The first bomb dropped at about 18:00 and the raid continued for six hours. Coventry had suffered a devastating air raid 10 days earlier, but that night the Luftwaffe was to wreak havoc on another historic city.

By Caroline Le MarechalBBC News, Bristol Bristol had to endure six more bombing raids until April 1941 - over those five months, almost 1,300 people died and 1,303 were seriously injured. The plan that November night was to destroy the port and Bristol Aeroplane Company, but it was the city's mediaeval centre which bore the brunt of the bombs. The port was an important Luftwaffe target as a distribution centre for essential supplies and shipyards where warships were made and repaired. On that first raid, on 24 November, more than 200 people died, 187 were seriously injured and 1,400 were made homeless. BBC News spoke to some Bristolians who remember the Bristol Blitz. The nurse: Sybil Moores, now 100, was a casualty nurse, at the Bristol Royal Infirmary (BRI), during the raids. Mrs Moores said although there was a shelter outside the infirmary, she "never went down it" because she was always too busy. Recalling the night of the raid, when there were just two nurses on duty, she said: "You just didn't have much time to think. You just got on with it. Some of the casualties were pretty bad." The BRI dealt with injuries below the neck, while the General Hospital took those with injuries above the neck. "But that didn't always happen," she said. "You found yourself with all the casualties in the end." As the raid wore on, the General Hospital closed its accident department and she assumed staff were being sent to her, but, to her surprise, they were then sent elsewhere. "When I rang matron, she said, 'Don't try me, you'll just have to get on with it won't you?'" She then went to the matron's office in person to tell them her department was "absolutely seething" - but was again told she could not have any extra staff. "I went back to my office and I slammed the door. I paced up and down for a few minutes and dear old Mr Fitzgibbon, the surgeon, was in casualty at the time and said 'What's up sis?'" She said she explained the lack of staff and he told her he "would see to that" and got her four extra nurses. "It [the Bristol Blitz] was challenging because it was so busy and everything was chaotic. " The schoolgirl: Mildred Ford, now 85, was 10 years old in 1940 and staying with her aunt and uncle, in Totterdown, on the night the bombs first fell. "I spent that evening in a big cupboard under the stairs," she said. "[My uncle] had made it up all quite comfortable for us all. "It's very strange because a part of you was frightened and the other part very inquisitive. You really wanted to get out and see what was happening. "I suppose there was a lull in the bombing and I went out. I could twist my uncle round my little finger and I took his tin helmet and stood out in the garden." She said she could see the flames from the Holy Nativity Church on Wells Road and described it as a "strange feeling - excitement but frightening at the same time". "It wasn't until we went to see what happened that it really struck home. The devastation was quite terrible and in a child's mind you think 'how the devil did all that happen'? "And you think 'I won't be able to get my ice-cream at Melhuish's'. It was things like that, it was the places you used to frequent that you thought about really." The fire watcher: Eric Tyley, now 97, was a volunteer fire watcher a day shy of his 23rd birthday when the Luftwaffe struck his home city for the first time. His responsibility involved monitoring the bombing and then reacting to the resulting fires, helping put them out. He and his colleagues didn't appreciate the danger they faced at the time. He said they "scooped up" the bombs shells with shovels. "We didn't want to get too close to the damn things - they were hot you know - but we were all surprised by the severity of it. "It was very scary. We hadn't experienced anything like it before." He said he saw "bright red flames" on the night of the raid, but added "you couldn't hang about and enjoy the scenery" and said the bombing was "pretty noisy". The following day, on his way to work at a city centre shipping business, he was stunned by the "terrible" scenes of buildings "all blitzed out" and still alight. The schoolboy: Monty Britton, now 86, grew up in an end-of-terrace house in Horfield, north Bristol. He said everybody "knew we were likely to be bombed" because Bristol was a "prominent city with industry". Along with his friends at Ashley Down primary school, the boys would compete to scavenge the "biggest piece of shrapnel" from the previous night's raid. When the air raid started he was at home as his grandmother "issued instructions" for the family to get under the stairs. "That night, in our little cul-de-sac, the men - including the boys of my age - had a patrol and we called it 'our bomb patrol'. "We had a bucket of sand, the stirrup pump and a bucket of water. If the incendiaries were falling, we'd go out and put out the bomb - very hazardous. But at the time, the important thing was to deal with it and get rid of it." He said as a boy he had found it all "very exciting", but one memory of the night still stands out. Two lodgers who lived with him and his grandmother coped with the stress by getting "blind drunk". He said he and his uncle "rescued" them in his grandmother's wheelchair after they collapsed on the street. "At the time I found it tremendously funny. But they were scared, petrified stiff and that had never occurred to me." Related Internet Links Bristol Record Office Bristol Blitzed » The Blitz Bristol City Council

रविवार 24 नवंबर 1940 को, जर्मनी ने ब्रिस्टल पर हमला करने के लिए 148 बमवर्षक भेजे। पहला बम लगभग 18:00 पर गिराया गया और छापा छह घंटे तक जारी रहा। कोवेंट्री को 10 दिन पहले एक विनाशकारी हवाई हमले का सामना करना पड़ा था, लेकिन उस रात लूफ़्टवाफे को एक अन्य ऐतिहासिक शहर पर तबाही मचानी थी।


Pain and redemption of WWII interned Japanese-Americans

Summary: Seventy years ago, in the wake of the Pearl Harbor attacks, the US West Coast was cleared of Japanese-Americans. More than 110,000 people were put into internment camps, in what was the largest official forced relocation in US history. For many who lived through it, the story remains a painful one.

By Cordelia HebblethwaiteBBC World Service Now aged 87, Mary Matsuda Gruenewald cuts an elegant and strong figure. She speaks vividly and with almost photographic detail as she recalls the time she and her family spent in internment camps during World War II. But it wasn't always so - it was only many years after she left the camp that she felt able to tell the story, even to her own children. "I was afraid that if I started talking about it, I would cry. "And I didn't want to cry in front of my children, so I kept it all in." Mary was 16 years old at the time of the Pearl Harbor attacks, and had been living an idyllic life on Vashon, a small rural island just off the coast of Seattle. Her parents ran a strawberry farm, and were regarded as upstanding members of the community - good, hard-working and church-going. Mary and her brother Yoneichi were born in the US, and considered themselves both American and Japanese. So they were just as shocked as the rest of the nation when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, killing more than 2,400 Americans. The nation was now at war and, because of their Japanese connections, they overnight came to be seen as the enemy. "We were not white and so we stood out - there was no way for us to hide." "The propaganda in the newspapers, on the radio, in the magazines, the caricatures - all this was overwhelming, and it just kept coming and coming," she recalls. "We knew that something really bad would happen to us - we just weren't sure what it would be." Leaving home On 19 February 1942 - just over two months after Pearl Harbor - President Franklin D Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. It allowed the military to designate "exclusion zones" and cleared the way for the removal into internment camps of more than 110,000 Japanese-Americans. The government feared Japan's next move might be an attack on the US West Coast, and that the large community of Japanese-Americans living there might act as spies or collaborators. The public was right behind the measures. "There was very little dissent at the time," says Prof Greg Robinson, a historian at the University of Quebec at Montreal, and author of A Tragedy of Democracy: Japanese Confinement in North America, and By Order of the President. "On the West Coast the political class was for it. In the rest of the country, people really didn't know or care - they just thought if the government was moving people, they knew what they were doing." In May 1942 that order became a reality for Mary. Her family were given eight days to leave their homes. "We didn't know how long we would be going for, or where we would be going," remembers Mary. She packed enough socks and underwear for one week, together with one coat and one pair of shoes. Each family had a number assigned to them and were given tags to wear. After arrival in Seattle, Mary and her family were walked past a large crowd of the city's residents. "A few men swore at us, and shook their fists, and some spat on us. "But the majority were silent as they watched us walk from the ferry dock to the waiting train." The windows on the train were obscured and no-one knew where they were headed. After three days, the train stopped at Pinedale, near Fresno in California, and an Assembly Centre where Mary and her family spent the first two months before being moved to the Lake Tule camp, and then a further two camps over the years. Life inside The accommodation in the internment camps was basic - army barracks divided into a number of compartments. Mary's family stayed in a bare room approximately 20ft x 24ft (6m x 7m) with one small window and a bare light-bulb. They were each given a woollen blanket and an army cot for a bed. Like many of those who were interned, her family referred to their accommodation as their "apartment". It was however, she says, a euphemism. "It was a prison indeed… There was barbed wire along the top [of the fence] and because the solders in the guard towers had machine guns, one would be foolish to try to escape. "There were these big searchlights that rotated all night long and they would flash through our window." There were schools in the camps, but - as with the living quarters - the facilities were basic. Mary recalls how - in the absence of typewriters - typing classes involved tapping their fingers on an imaginary keyboard. Many of the teachers were from inside the camps, but some came from the outside. To the young students - confined, rejected and cut off from the wider world - they were a source of both curiosity and of comfort. "We saw these teachers and we thought, 'Oh my goodness, this is a white person, in here, to teach us, why are they here? "They were trying to act as a counterbalance to what the rest of the nation was doing, and we truly appreciated it," says Mary. Freedom One day they were given a questionnaire to fill in, asking whether they would be willing to serve in the US Army, and if they would pledge allegiance to the US and renounce loyalty to the Emperor of Japan. Though they did not know it at the time, those who answered yes to both questions - as Mary's family did - would be classified as "loyals" and would be allowed to leave. The young men, such as Mary's brother, were drafted into the US Army. "As my brother got on the bus, drove through the gate and left, my mother and I wept, and wondered when it would be our turn to leave." Her turn came soon afterwards, in August 1944, when she was sent to Chicago as part of the US Cadet Nurse Corps. She relished her new-found freedom and embraced it wholeheartedly. "It was incredible - the sense that I could walk anywhere I wanted to, and enjoy the flowers, the grass, the trees and hear the birds - it was like being in heaven." Two older nurses took her under their wing, treated her as an equal. "I learnt a lot about what it means to feel despised, to be hated, to feel ashamed of who I was [during the internment]. "So to be treated as a responsible, respectful person, I can't tell you the relief and the awe that I felt." Just over a year later, in September 1945, her parents left the internment camp too. But, for many, the life they returned to was very different to the one they left behind. "The best estimate that I have heard is that 75% of people [who] moved, ended up losing their land," says Prof Robinson. "Everybody lost something and many people lost everything." For years, many Japanese-Americans stayed silent about what had happened. "The shame that came from this whole period permeated our people, and nobody talked about it," says Mary. In the 1980s, the US government issued a report stating that the internment had been "unjust and motivated by racism rather than real military necessity". President Ronald Reagan took steps to try to redress what had happened, which culminated in 1992 with an apology from President George HW Bush and $20,000 (£12,600) paid out to each surviving member of the camps. Mary treasures the letter of apology she received from President Bush and only regrets that her parents and her brother died before it came. "I took that as evidence that - in spite of the things the government did - this is a country that was big enough to say, 'We were wrong, we're sorry.'" Mary Matsuda Gruenewald is author of Looking Like the Enemy: My Story of Imprisonment in Japanese-American Internment Camps.

सत्तर साल पहले, पर्ल हार्बर हमलों के बाद, अमेरिका के पश्चिमी तट को जापानी-अमेरिकियों से मुक्त कर दिया गया था। 110,000 से अधिक लोगों को नजरबंदी शिविरों में डाल दिया गया था, जो अमेरिकी इतिहास में सबसे बड़ा आधिकारिक जबरन स्थानांतरण था। कई लोगों के लिए जो इससे गुजरे थे, कहानी एक दर्दनाक बनी हुई है।


Subdued anticipation at the SNP conference

Summary: Party conferences are curious affairs, collective by definition yet frequently singular in nature. They have an intensity all their own, perhaps even more so than in parliamentary debate where fundamentally different standpoints are always readily available.

Brian TaylorPolitical editor, Scotland@tannadiceladon Twitter An issue which can seem crucially important in the conference hall and even more so on the fringe tends to evaporate when confronted with the air outside. This present SNP conference in Aberdeen is of the genre. Perhaps, indeed, the surreal content is amplified by the strange days surrounding us. There is the venue for one thing, commodious and welcoming but decidedly remote, far from the city centre and hard by the sea, with an intriguing view of offshore wind turbines and moored supply vessels. Then the surrounding tempora and mores. Brexit, with increasingly bizarre manoeuvring inside the Westminster bubble, viewed with puzzlement by 27 other EU nations, once the comments have been rendered into the 24 official languages of the Union. One wonders whether Boris Johnson's random comments, obtained by subterfuge or otherwise, tended to lose or gain in translation. Self-evidently, this atmosphere permeates the Aberdeen conference. Not, to be clear, that there is a gloomy outlook here among the delegates. Very far from it. They read a poll suggesting that their party's vote is up, even after more than a decade in devolved power. They spot another survey indicating that the uncertainties of Brexit may be tempting more Scots into considering independence an asset to the economy (albeit without, at this stage, a concomitant marked increase in overall support for independence). They notice too, with enthusiasm, the BBC survey which reflected the concept that people in Scotland may be more inclined than their counterparts south of the Border to believe that the best days lie in the future. They clock all these elements. They count the considerable number of feet marching in support of independence, cajoled by grassroots movements, not the SNP. They notice. They observe. And they wonder. Could something be happening, they ask each other? With subdued anticipation. Subdued? I refer my Honourable readers to the comments I offered earlier. Yes, they yearn for independence. But they know there remains a considerable job to be done to convince their fellow Scots to share that enthusiasm, to shed their doubts. Most folk I have talked to here in Aberdeen get the concept. They want independence. The day after tomorrow, if possible. But they appreciate the obstacles which lie in the path of Nicola Sturgeon in calling the necessary referendum and, even more, in winning the ballot. Firstly, there is Brexit. Yes, it may be said to create the conditions for indyref2, because people in Scotland are, arguably, being removed from the EU against their declared will. But, as I have argued umpteen times, the independence offer in Scotland is predicated upon confidence. Brexit undermines confidence, tending to challenge the very prospect it creates. There is another element to this. For all there are people who are impelled towards independence by Brexit, there are voters shifted in the opposite direction. They dislike the EU and consequently dislike the notion of an independent Scotland embracing Brussels anew. Then there is the economy. The SNP has just published its growth commission report, attended by inevitable controversy. Not that you would know from this particular event in Aberdeen. There has been no direct debate at this conference. The issue was raised on the fringe, with objections to the package voiced by former MP George Kerevan. Conference speakers have referred to the content with approbation. But nothing thus far in terms of a full debate. To be fair, though, the new deputy leader Keith Brown, to whom congratulations, intends to convene three National Assemblies over the summer on each of the chapters in the report. He plans further to engage with civic Scotland, the wider Yes movement, business and unions. All of which, it is fair to suggest, will take time. All of which adds to the impression that Nicola Sturgeon is unlikely to rush to polling. Some here in Aberdeen are unhappy at the way the report was handled. One or two feel they might have been a little more inclined to defend the content against external attack, had they been more involved in its formulation. These are natural instincts, which I understand. However, perhaps they partly miss the purpose of the exercise. The growth commission is not an SNP policy paper. It is not designed to square competing interests within the party, to paper over cracks. It is almost exclusively aimed at external interests. It is intended to show that the SNP has listened to concerns which were raised in 2014 - the economy, deficit and debt, the currency - and has responded. Has at least heeded those worries. It is designed to placate the sceptics, not to enthuse the faithful. That is why Mr Brown will consult widely, well beyond the party membership. 'Now is not the time' Then, finally, on the referendum, there is the point that the timing is not solely in Ms Sturgeon's hands. She accepts that indyref2 would require a further Section 30 transfer of temporary power, as happened prior to the 2014 plebiscite. Right now, it seems all but certain that the Prime Minister would refuse such a request. She would say, as she did previously, that the time is not right, that dousing Brexit disquiet must take precedence, gently sidestepping the source of that disquiet in the first place. All of which, again, points to a longer timetable for any putative referendum. Will the party be patient? Mostly, I think, they will. For now, they will prepare, they will debate, they will march, they will evangelise. They will wait. And they will hope.

पार्टी सम्मेलन जिज्ञासु मामले होते हैं, परिभाषा के अनुसार सामूहिक लेकिन अक्सर प्रकृति में एकवचन। उनकी अपनी एक तीव्रता होती है, शायद संसदीय बहस की तुलना में और भी अधिक जहां मौलिक रूप से अलग दृष्टिकोण हमेशा आसानी से उपलब्ध होते हैं।


Selsey: Nine suspected illegal immigrants arrested

Summary: A number of suspected illegal immigrants have been detained after they were seen running from a lorry.

Police said they were alerted to the incident in Chichester Road, Selsey, West Sussex, at about 12.42 GMT. Officers assisted by the National Police Air Helicopter carried out an extensive search of the area and arrested eight men and a teenage boy. They are being held on suspicion of immigration offences, and the incident has been handed to the Home Office.

कई संदिग्ध अवैध प्रवासियों को एक लॉरी से भागते हुए देखे जाने के बाद हिरासत में लिया गया है।


Kim Streets takes over at Museums Sheffield

Summary: A new leader has been appointed for Sheffield's museums.

Kim Streets, who has worked in the city's museums since 1991, took over as Museums Sheffield chief executive on Wednesday. Her appointment follows the departure of Nick Dodd, who decided to take voluntary redundancy in February amid job losses. In February, 44 redundancies were announced after the organisation lost out on an Arts Council funding bid. Ms Streets, who has lived in Sheffield since 1986, began her career as a social history curator before becoming director of learning at Museums Sheffield. Cheaper exhibitions She said morale was "tough" with 44 out of 107 jobs going by September. Museums Sheffield said every area of the organisation would be affected by the redundancies and 13 people have already left. "There are a combination of voluntary and compulsory redundancies. Everyone knows their individual position," said Ms Streets. "We're saying goodbye to people who have worked here longer than I have - 25, 30 years. People are very sad, and they're also fearful for their own jobs and what the future might hold." Ms Streets said the next step was to stabilise the organisation while putting on less expensive exhibitions. "We have some fab sites and some great collections," she said. "We need to get real about what we can afford - make the most of the assets based here in Sheffield. "We'll be looking at shows that aren't necessarily as expensive as some we've had recently." Ms Streets said when she joined Sheffield's museums in 1991, the financial situation was similar. "[In 1991] we had no money, a small team and the prospect of year-on-year cuts. "But we managed to do great things with the resources we had." Transitional funding from the Arts Council meant Museums Sheffield could go ahead with their planned summer exhibitions.

शेफ़ील्ड के संग्रहालयों के लिए एक नया नेता नियुक्त किया गया है।


Oldfield Primary School green belt relocation plan approved

Summary: Plans to build a school on green belt land in Berkshire to meet a growing demand for places have been approved.

Oldfield Primary School in Maidenhead intends to increase its intake from 240 to 420 pupils ahead of a relocation from Chiltern Road to Bray Road. Its proposals were passed by the Maidenhead development control panel. Final approval for the £10m scheme must now be given by the secretary of state for communities and local government, due to the site being on green belt. If approved, the building is expected to be completed by March 2015. The school will use temporary blocks to accommodate new pupils until it relocates.

स्थानों की बढ़ती मांग को पूरा करने के लिए बर्कशायर में ग्रीन बेल्ट भूमि पर एक स्कूल बनाने की योजना को मंजूरी दी गई है।


Finding a solution to Canada's Indigenous water crisis

Summary: Many First Nation communities across Canada have been under long-term boil water advisories. One community is trying some innovative solutions. Graduate students from the University of British Columbia report from Lytton, British Columbia. This project is in collaboration with the Global Reporting Centre.

Karen Dunstan lifts a large metal pot up to the sink and turns on the tap. The water is crisp, cold and clear, but it isn't clean. When the pot is nearly full, she puts it on the stove to boil. Only then can she and her children have a drink. For more than 20 years, this was part of her morning routine. "You would have flu-like symptoms and have diarrhoea and vomiting from drinking the water [without boiling]," says Dunstan, 53. Like many in her community, she lived under a boil water advisory for decades. Dunstan lives in Lytton First Nation, a rural on-reserve Indigenous community of 945 people in British Columbia, Canada's westernmost province. Lytton is just one among hundreds of First Nations that have suffered from a water crisis in Canada. Despite the fact that Canada has the world's third largest per-capita freshwater reserve, the water many Indigenous communities depend on is contaminated, difficult to access, or at risk due to faulty treatment systems. Water Advisories in Canada Source: Indigenous Services Canada and First Nations Health Authority. This data doesn't include Saskatoon Tribal Council and north of 60th parallel Nestled deep in the Fraser Canyon, the community of Lytton is centred around the confluence of two mighty waterways. It's here the dark blue-green waters of the Thompson River mix and quickly disappear into the muddy-brown water of the Fraser, British Columbia's longest river. A patchwork of 56 reserves spread over 14,161 acres, Lytton draws its water from these rivers and the creeks feeding into them. But animal faeces and agricultural activity upstream release coliform bacteria such as E. Coli into the water, making it potentially unsafe to drink. For years, residents resorted to buying bottled water or simply drank it untreated, which elders in the community link to a number of children's deaths. "If you go to some of our reserves you almost wonder like, wow, isn't this the 21st Century? Why are they still living like that?" says Warren Brown, 45, the water operator at Lytton First Nation. "It's like a third-world country sometimes." A paramedic-turned-water operator, Brown is at the centre of Lytton's struggle for clean water. He spends his days travelling across the reserve lands, inspecting and maintaining water treatment facilities. If an advisory needs to be issued, Brown is the one who makes the call. There are currently 75 long-term drinking water advisories affecting more than 50 Indigenous communities across the country, according to Indigenous Services Canada. A 2014 UN report described the water situation in First Nations reserves as "troubling," with more than half of the water systems posing medium or high health risk. Non-Indigenous communities in Canada have nowhere near this level of risk. Safe water supply off-reserves is the responsibility of the provincial governments. But First Nations and the reserves they live on fall under the jurisdiction of the federal government. This two-tiered governance structure means that, while most communities benefit from binding provincial water quality regulations, there are no such enforceable regulations on reserves. In March 2016, the Trudeau government announced new commitments and funds to end all long-term water advisories by 2021. It's not the first time the government has pledged money to address these issues. Past investments involving billions of dollars failed to produce lasting results. The lack of binding water quality regulations coupled with erratic funding, insufficient infrastructure and degraded water sources have led to systemic problems with drinking water on reserves. Under the current structure, the federal government holds the purse strings for water systems on reserves. When Lytton's aging Nickeyeah Creek water facility could no longer provide safe drinking water, they submitted an upgrade proposal, as required, to Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, the federal department previously responsible for services in Indigenous communities. It was subsequently replaced by Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) by the Trudeau government. Their proposal was rejected for not being "cost effective". An engineering firm had quoted Lytton C$1.3m (£780,000) for the work - too much, the department decided, for a facility that only serviced six houses. Warren Brown and his uncle Jim Brown, Lytton's previous water operator for 35 years, were determined to get safe drinking water for their community. A tall man with a wry smile, Jim connected with RES'EAU-WaterNet, a research network at the University of British Columbia which specialises in small, affordable water systems. The network conducted a year-long study on the facility, consulting with water operators and community members. Because of the large distances between facilities and a small number of staff, communities like Lytton require a creative approach, explains Dr Majid Mohseni, scientific director at RES'EAU. RES'EAU decided to build a new facility altogether. The facility was designed to be smaller, low on maintenance and to fit inside a shipping container - all for the price of C$500,000. When the water system was completed in 2015, the community had a celebration. "I told the guys nobody can bring bottled water, we're drinking water right out of this [facility]. And we did," says Jim Brown. Karen Dunstan's house is one of the six serviced by the new facility. For the first time in her life, she no longer has to boil her water. "Having clean drinking water from the tap is a blessing," says Dunstan. Even with the new treatment plant, Lytton's water problems were far from solved. While ISC is responsible for providing clean drinking water in Indigenous communities, there's a catch. It only considers groupings of five households or more as eligible for funding. When Lytton's reserves were created, the government assigned them a patchwork of 56 parcels of land, some more than 100 km (62 miles) apart. Many of these reserves have fewer than five houses. "I think water should be the right of all our people, regardless of how many people are living on a certain reserve," says Warren Brown. Ted Philips, 48, lives on a reserve with only three houses. He's been drinking untreated water his whole life. "We were told it wasn't good but we drank it regardless," says Philips. "We were just never told or we never knew any better." Warren and RES'EAU had to come up with a new solution to bring clean water to Lytton's more isolated houses, such as Philips'. They developed a Point-of-Entry (PoE) system that treats water as it enters each home and costs C$10,000 per unit. So far, five homes have been fitted with one. Lytton was fortunate to have strong local leadership and the help of RESEAU's technology and expertise, and 11 houses now have clean water. But 13 houses across several reserves are required to boil or haul water, their water sources too unreliable to support a PoE. Across Canada, the situation remains worse for many other Indigenous communities. The success found in Lytton is something Mohseni believes is scalable to a national level. "I think there is great potential," he says. "I think it's a sustainable way of ensuring that these boil water advisories are lifted and, more importantly, remain lifted." National Water Concerns Grassy Narrows, an Ontario First Nation, has lived under 'do not consume' advisories since 2013, a result of industrial pollution that contaminated their water with mercury throughout the 1960s and 70s. One research report suggested 90% of residents experience the debilitating effects of mercury poisoning. In neighbouring Manitoba, Shoal Lake 40 First Nation was cut off from its traditional source of clean drinking water in the early 1900s, with waterways diverted to provide water to the province's capital city. Since their advisory was put in place more than 20 years ago, the First Nation of 71 residents has been forced to import bottled water at an annual cost of C$100,000. While the number of boil water advisories has decreased since the government's promise, dozens of new advisories have been called. A recent report from the David Suzuki Foundation, an environmental advocacy organisation, highlighted many of the challenges in achieving the target. Many are centred around one issue: Indigenous communities do not receive enough education, training and support when it comes to water management. The government insists it is "firmly on track" to meet the 2021 target. "We are following this very closely with meticulous detail to have exact timelines and targets for every one of the long-term drinking water advisories that are still in place," Minister of Indigenous Services Jane Philpott says. Warren says if Lytton is going to continue its success, it needs to work hard to maintain its water systems. He is looking for long-term solutions within his community, beyond government-set timelines and targets. Warren spends time training young water operators, and even conducts water facility tours for school groups, in the hope of enticing kids into the profession from an early age. He knows it's not an easy job, and one that requires dedication. The job bears the intimate responsibility of shaping a community's relationship to their water. It means protecting and providing a kind of normal that is often taken for granted: the taste, smell, and clarity of safe drinking water. "When I first started this job, I always just turned the tap on and the water was there. I never bothered to understand where it came from," says Warren Brown to a tour group from a local school. He conducts these tours regularly, encouraging youth to think about where their water comes from - but, more importantly, to find the next generation of water operators. Written, filmed and edited by Sharon Nadeem, Joanne Pearce, Andrew Seal, Marc Attallah, Amelia Duggan, Yannick Gayama, and Farah Kashaf. Production assisted by Peter Klein, Kim Frank, and Moura Quayle.

कनाडा भर में कई फर्स्ट नेशन समुदाय लंबे समय से उबलते पानी की सलाह के तहत हैं। एक समुदाय कुछ नवीन समाधानों की कोशिश कर रहा है। ब्रिटिश कोलंबिया विश्वविद्यालय के स्नातक छात्र, ब्रिटिश कोलंबिया के लाइटन से रिपोर्ट करते हैं। यह परियोजना ग्लोबल रिपोर्टिंग सेंटर के सहयोग से है।