Do pensioners get a better deal than working-age people?

Summary: Departing Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith has warned that the government risks dividing society by protecting pensioner benefits at the expense of working people. But do some key policies over recent years back up his comments?

It's become a growing complaint among younger parts of the UK population that the retired and those about to retire are getting a better deal. So, what do current policies implemented under the Conservative and coalition governments, and the previous Labour administration, mean in practice? Pensions triple lock Since April 2011, the basic state pension has been protected by a "triple lock", meaning that it will rise each year in line with average earnings, consumer price inflation or 2.5% - whichever of the three is highest. This means that wage earners, on average, can never do better than pensioners, in terms of increase. Prime Minister David Cameron has promised this will be maintained. In 2011-12 the weekly basic state pension was £102.15. For 2015-16 it was £115.95. That represents a 13.5% rise. In a similar four-year comparison, average weekly wages rose from £467 in January 2012 to £497 in January this year. That's a rise of 6.4%. The Institute for Fiscal Studies says pensioners have been "remarkably well protected from tax and benefit changes" and has questioned whether the triple lock should go. But the prime minister has promised to keep the triple lock, saying it is a fair reward for people who have worked all their lives and deserve security in old age. And the basic state pension only comes to just over £6,000 a year. Under triple lock, pensions have only gone up by a greater amount than would have happened under the old system once in five years, says Neil Duncan-Jordan of the National Pensioners Convention, adding that it's wrong to try to "create a phoney war between generations". Working-age benefits Most working-age benefits, such as tax credits, will be frozen for four years from 2016, following a 1% maximum level for rises imposed for the previous three years. Meanwhile, the benefit cap will be reduced from £26,000 a year to £23,000 a year in London, and £20,000 in the rest of the country. Any family with a third or subsequent child born after April 2017 will not qualify for Child Tax Credit, which amounts to up to £2,780 a year per child. The IFS argues the changes have hit and will hit working families on lower incomes, particularly those with children. There have been "significant losses for those of working age in the bottom half of the income distribution", it says, adding: "That is not surprising as a result of various cuts to working-age benefits have taken effect." Income tax But a key policy of the coalition and Conservative governments has been to raise the personal allowance - the income level below which people pay no income tax. It's gone from £6,475 in 2010/11 to £10,800 in 2016/17. The IFS says this initially benefited the lowest earners but, since many have already been taken out of income tax, further rises in the threshold will benefit those on middle incomes. Pensioner 'perks' Under a policy introduced by Labour in 2001 and maintained by subsequent governments, any UK household with someone over 75 living in it can get a free TV licence. This currently saves the beneficiary £145.50 a year. If the person gaining it lived to 83 (the average for men who get past 65), this would save £1,164. Or if they lived to 86 (the average for women who get past 65), £1,600.50 - at the current rate. Men and women are entitled to a winter fuel payment of £100 or £200 when they reach 63. The maximum payment per-person rises to £300 when people reach 80. Men and women in England are entitled to a free bus pass when they reach the age at which women receive a state pension. This is currently 63 years old or 62 years and 11 months, depending on the woman's exact date of birth. From 6 July it will be over 63 for everyone. In London everyone can claim the pass at the age of 60, with Tube travel also free. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, men and women can both get a pass at age 60. In Wales and Scotland they may also get cheaper train travel, while in Northern Ireland this is free. A survey of 2,000 adults for PwC in February and March suggested that 48% thought pensioners should keep all these benefits - TV licences, bus passes and the fuel allowance - while 42% thought they should be means-tested. "Avoidable" winter deaths would be "considerably worse" without the fuel payment, says Caroline Abrahams, charity director for Age UK, who adds: "It is also crucial that older people are able to get out and about, especially as the evidence shows this helps them retain health and independence for longer." But the Taxpayers' Alliance has said these benefits can and should be cut. Retirement Age From 6 July the age at which the state pension is payable will be over 63 for women and 65 for men. Until 2010 the age was 60 for women. By 2018, men and women will both receive the state pension from age 65. This will rise to 66 by 2020 and 67 by 2028. It will then reach 68 by 2046. Because of an ageing population, with more people living well into retirement, this is deemed necessary to try to manage expenditure on pensions. During the whole debate on generational differences, many will point out, it must be remembered that young people will one day become pensioners too. Low interest rate Of course, the Bank of England, rather than the government, sets the interest rate. But since March 2009, it's been 0.5%. As recently as 2007 it was 5.75%. This has hit savers, more common among the elderly than the young. But the Institute for Fiscal Studies says the income derived from interest on accounts is vastly smaller than that for state and private pensions. Many of those with flexible mortgages, especially those on tracker mortgages, have benefited. However some lenders have been accused of not passing on the benefits of lower rates. But in recent years UK inflation has been extremely low and this seen as good for those on fixed incomes - such as pensioners. Help to Buy Possibly the biggest intergenerational difference in the UK is in property wealth. Older homeowners have benefited from years of soaring house price growth, allowing them now to downsize and use the profits to help fund their retirement. Younger people have never faced a more difficult housing market. The average age for a first-time buyer is 30, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders. This has stayed roughly the same since the crisis, although the proportion receiving help from family to get a deposit together increased sharply as banks tightened-up lending in 2008. There has been some suggestion that recent housing policies - focused on helping younger buyers - have in fact further driven up prices. In 2013 the government brought in Help to Buy. Under it, the government provides equity loans for up to 20% of the price of a new-build home in England, worth up to £600,000. First, the buyer must save up a 5% deposit. The remaining 75% must be in the form of a mortgage. The homelessness charity Shelter estimated last year that Help to Buy had added £8,250 to the average house price, as supply hadn't grown quickly enough. It said the scheme had "helped a small number of people to buy, at the expense of worsening the overall affordability crisis for everyone else". But the Council of Mortgage Lenders says Help to Buy has worked in helping cut the number of first-time buyers needing family help, although not yet to pre-crisis levels. "In reality this is largely substituting one form of assistance for another - state assistance has replaced some of the help from parents," a spokesman says. Help to Save In his latest Budget, George Osborne said low-paid workers who put aside savings could receive a top-up of up to £1,200 over four years. Those on in-work benefits who put aside £50 a month would get a bonus of 50% after two years - worth up to £600. This is repeatable after another two years of saving at the same rate. If taken up, this is beneficial to lower earners, but it's debatable how many could afford to do so. In 2010 Chancellor George Osborne dropped the Labour scheme, which also matched 50p in every pound of savings from low-income workers, saying it was "not affordable". But, unlike the Labour scheme, "Help to Save" is available for four years rather than two, and is open to workers earning up to £30,000 a year, according to the Resolution Foundation social policy think-tank. Lifetime Isa Under plans announced by George Osborne in the Budget, people aged under 40 in April next year will be able to save up to £4,000 each year into the Lifetime Isa. They will receive a £1 contribution from the government each year for every £4 saved. This top-up, available from age 18, will last until savers reach 50. The funds can be used to help buy a first home costing up to £450,000 or can be withdrawn from age 60 for use in retirement. Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.

प्रस्थान कार्य और पेंशन सचिव इयान डंकन स्मिथ ने चेतावनी दी है कि सरकार कामकाजी लोगों की कीमत पर पेंशनभोगियों के लाभों की रक्षा करके समाज को विभाजित करने का जोखिम उठाती है। लेकिन क्या हाल के वर्षों में कुछ प्रमुख नीतियां उनकी टिप्पणियों का समर्थन करती हैं?


Leroy Logan: Who is the Met Police officer in Steve McQueen's Red, White and Blue?

Summary: Star Wars actor John Boyega is set to star later in the BBC's true story of a trailblazing black police officer in 1980s London who gave up a job as a scientist to try to change racist attitudes from within the police force. So, who is Leroy Logan?

Leroy Logan is a former superintendent in the Metropolitan Police, and was one of London's top officers until his retirement seven years ago. A former chairman and founding member of the Black Police Association, Logan was involved in the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry and the inquiry into the killing of Damilola Taylor. Born in 1957 to Jamaican parents, Logan was awarded an MBE by the Queen in 2001 for his role in developing anti-racist policies for the police. He is an advocate for good relationships between the police and Britain's minority ethnic communities, the founder of social justice charity Voyage - which aims to empower black young people - and an adviser on knife crime. Logan's life was also the inspiration for director Steve McQueen's Red, White and Blue, one of five original films in the Small Axe series about the black British experience. After finishing university, Logan became a research scientist in north London's Royal Free Hospital. Within three years he decided he wanted to join the Met Police, but between applying to join the force and receiving his starting date, Logan's father was assaulted by two police officers. Speaking in August - ahead of the publication of his book Closing Ranks, My Life as a Cop - Logan said the incident left him wanting to "put that idea to one side", until he "started to see that my worst nightmare could be my biggest breakthrough". McQueen's film will show Logan first had to face the consequences of his father's disapproval, and the subsequent blatant racism he experienced in his new role as a constable. Speaking to BBC Breakfast earlier this week, the former officer told how he grappled with the decision join the force. "I thought 'no way am I going to leave the world of science and go against my father', but the calling kept nagging at me," he said. "All my nearest and dearest, my wife, my friends, everyone was saying why are you doing this?" He added that he did eventually get the support of his loved ones, but the move left him "questioning my sanity for about 10 years". Logan said he asked himself: "Why have I left the comfortable world of science in a great hospital, the Royal Free, to go and work in a very militaristic type of culture, which had the casual racism and you know quite a hostile environment for a black person?" He has called for people to watch Sunday's the film, saying actor John Boyega "does me proud". And in a tweet in August, Logan wrote: "Never in my wildest dreams would I've thought my life story would get to the attention of film director Steve McQueen, starred by John Boyega and part of the [BBC's] Small Axe series. "You couldn't make this up and I've had to pinch myself." Logan is an established commentator on policing in black communities, and the justice system. In an interview with the BBC earlier this year, he said policing was regressing to where it was more than 20 years ago, and reminded him of a "pre-Macpherson era". The Macpherson report, published in 1999, investigated the Met's response to the death of Stephen Lawrence, a black teenager who had been stabbed to death in a racist attack in south-east London six years earlier. It concluded the investigation had been "marred by a combination of professional incompetence, institutional racism and a failure of leadership". Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick, who is also Britain's most senior police officer, has previously said that she does not believe the force is still institutionally racist. Red, White and Blue will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer at 21:00 GMT on Sunday, 29 November.

स्टार वार्स अभिनेता जॉन बोयेगा 1980 के दशक में लंदन में एक पथप्रदर्शक अश्वेत पुलिस अधिकारी की बीबीसी की सच्ची कहानी में अभिनय करने के लिए तैयार हैं, जिन्होंने पुलिस बल के भीतर से नस्लवादी दृष्टिकोण को बदलने की कोशिश करने के लिए एक वैज्ञानिक के रूप में नौकरी छोड़ दी थी। तो, लेरॉय लोगान कौन है?


Naturalising Newham - radical plan to boost integration

Summary: The mayor of Newham in London is on a mission to make the people of his borough, which has the lowest white population in the UK, more integrated. Sir Robin Wales has brought in a range of measures to this end, but by pushing integration is he uniting people or alienating them?

By Catrin Nye BBC Asian Network and BBC Newsnight "I am very strongly of the view that if you try to segregate people into different groups and keep them separate, that is not only bad for everybody in the community, it's very bad for the particular community that you do it to," Sir Robin says when I meet him in East Ham in the heart of Newham. "Apartheid was wrong in South Africa, it would be wrong here, so keeping people separate is a bad thing." Newham in east London, which played host to the London Olympics last year, has a population of about 300,000 people. It is one of the UK's most ethnically diverse places and the white British population stands at 16.7%, the lowest in the UK. Sir Robin has been the directly elected mayor of Newham since 2002 and in that time has brought in a series of bold measures aimed at making people speak English and adopt British values. Translation cutbacks At Newham's libraries he has removed all foreign language newspapers, though he emphasises that free internet access at those libraries allows people to access information in their native languages, and he has stopped funding single community events such as a Bangladeshi or a Turkish street party. "We won't support single ethnic or religious groups to do things themselves within those groups, it's not our job to support that," he says. "Our job is to support when people come together. So our grants, our government grants, will be £250 if you want to throw a street party but it must be inclusive." More controversially the council has cut most of the translation services it provides. Large documents such as public reports are no longer translated, although the council says that if a resident needs help understanding part of a large document, telephone interpreters are on hand to assist. And overall translation services have been cut by 72% in Newham since 2010. 'Draconian measures' "We have said we will only translate in those cases where it suits us - so child protection cases, paying your council tax, those sorts of things. We won't translate otherwise, you have to bring somebody in with you if you want to access anything else," Sir Robin says. The reduction in translation services is a change that has been criticised by some. Andrew Boff, leader of Greater London Authority (GLA) Conservatives, says he finds the measures very draconian: "I can understand if you are not using your translation services at a time when local authorities have to save money, but if you're actually removing them from vulnerable people who need them for ideological reasons then that starts to make you question what the values are of the people who are doing that," he says. "This is about real multicultural London, it's about respecting the differences between people, not just trying to impose sameness, in Newham they're imposing sameness, in other boroughs they value what each community brings to London and accommodates them and there is nothing wrong with that... What's happening in Newham is a big backwards step," he adds. Learning English Attending one of the citizenship ceremonies that take place every Tuesday in East Ham town hall I meet Mini and Shibu Abraham from Kerala in India. Mrs Abraham was recruited from Mumbai to work in East London hospitals. They live in Upton Park, a part of Newham, and they say the diversity of the area was clear as soon they arrived: "It was like we are in India or somewhere - the shops, people talking their national language," Mrs Abraham says. The couple say that in some ways this has made it easy to adapt however, Mr Abraham says, they have concerns that this does actually make integration with other communities harder: "There are people from different parts of the world coming and they are forming their own little groups, it would be much better if we could all interact." The couple admit that despite their desires it is largely Indians they spend their time with and it is this instinct that Newham's mayor wants to counter. Sir Robin insists that his measures are not about forcing people to integrate, but encouraging them to do so, and he believes that ensuring people acquire English is the absolute foundation of this: "The government slashed English language funding, which is ridiculous because that's the one thing that helps people get into work and also, lets people access the culture and all the opportunities that are here in our country... "So we support that. We're currently experimenting with a range of different ways of providing cheap or free English language, but what we do is provide free English language teaching to anybody that wants to work." Unique experiment Whether you agree or disagree with the tactics, officials from other ethnically diverse parts of the UK are watching what happens in Newham with great interest. Max Wind-Cowie is head of the integration programme at the think-tank Demos and says because Newham is so unique Sir Robin has been able to bring in more controversial measures than other politicians may dare: "Newham benefits from being incredibly genuinely diverse. There's no single population that dominates the political landscape or the resource landscape. Instead what they have are people from almost every ethnic group that exists in the UK. "What that means is politically Sir Robin and Newham council are able to take quite brave steps in terms of promoting integration without risking alienating huge voting-blocks who may object to what he is doing." Listen to Catrin Nye's radio documentary Naturalising Newham on Thursday 19 September 2013 at 1700 BST on BBC Asian Network and see her film on BBC Newsnight at 2230 on BBC Two.

लंदन में न्यूहैम के महापौर अपने नगर, जिसमें ब्रिटेन में सबसे कम श्वेत आबादी है, के लोगों को और अधिक एकीकृत बनाने के मिशन पर हैं। सर रॉबिन वेल्स ने इस उद्देश्य के लिए कई उपाय किए हैं, लेकिन एकीकरण को आगे बढ़ाते हुए क्या वह लोगों को एकजुट कर रहे हैं या उन्हें अलग-थलग कर रहे हैं?


Historic Inverness bridge repair to cost at least £550,000

Summary: A historic wrought iron suspension bridge in Inverness could be closed while funding is found to carry out urgent repairs to it.

Highland Council said it could cost at least £550,000 to fix the 140-year-old, 83m-span (272ft) Infirmary Bridge. The footbridge crosses the River Ness near Eden Court Theatre. The council said the rate of the bridge's deterioration was being monitored, but warned it might have to be closed for public safety reasons. Built in the 1880s, the crossing comprises of wrought iron trusses supported by steel hangers, steel cables and wrought iron latticework towers. Highland Council currently there has no funding allocated for the category B listed bridge within its budget.

इनवर्नेस में एक ऐतिहासिक लोहे के निलंबन पुल को बंद किया जा सकता है, जबकि इसकी तत्काल मरम्मत के लिए धन पाया जाता है।


Talks held over All-Ireland Fleadh venue

Summary: The County Derry branches of the Irish music organisation Comhaltas have held a crunch meeting on whether the all-Ireland Fleadh should come to Londonderry next year.

The fleadh attracts a quarter of a million people and City of Culture organisers are pushing to bring the event to the city in 2013. Delegates have so far refused to comment on the outcome of the meeting. Derry's bid cannot proceed without the local delegates' approval. It's expected the final decision will be known by the end of January. If the fleadh is awarded to Derry it will be the first time it will come north of the border.

आयरिश संगीत संगठन कोमाल्टास की काउंटी डेरी शाखाओं ने इस बात पर एक महत्वपूर्ण बैठक आयोजित की है कि क्या ऑल-आयरलैंड फ्लीड को अगले साल लंदनडेरी आना चाहिए।


Family-meal image wins international food photo contest

Summary: A photo of a young family joyfully preparing a meal at home in China has won a major food photography award. Li Huaifeng has been named Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year 2021 for an image titled Taste, taken in Licheng, Shanxi.

"This picture is technically outstanding in its use of light and composition," awards founder and director Caroline Kenyon says. "But what raises it to the level of historic importance is the depth of its storytelling and emotion. "It tells of a year of isolation and living indoors, living in tiny communities of immediate family. "Here, the scene is bathed with love, with echoes of Madonna and Child. "An exceptional shot which perfectly demonstrates that photography need not shock or disturb to be great or memorable. "This exquisite image lingers in the mind," With the competition now in its 10th year, judges sifted through almost 10,500 entries from more than 70 countries around the world and the winners announced online via a livestream event. Here are some of the competition category winners, with descriptions by the photographers. Bring Home the Harvest: Drying Okra, by F Dilek Uyar, Turkey Champagne Taittinger Wedding Food Photographer: Many a Slip, by John Armstrong-Millar, France Food Stylist Award: Winteropulenz, by Martin Grünewald, Germany Fujifilm Award for Innovation: Making Rice Noodles, by Abdul Momin, Bangladesh Pink Lady Apple a Day: Apple in Cake, by Natalia Bogubowicz, Poland Street Food: Enjoying, by Viet Van Tran, Vietnam Marks & Spencer Food Portraiture: Mulled Pears, by Harriet Harcourt, Australia Student Food Photographer of the Year, supported by The Royal Photographic Society: Beetroots Still Life, by Sarah Blandford, UK Food Influencers: Lumière d'automne, by Deborah Trocchia, Italy Winterbotham Darby Food for Sale: Street Vendor, by Joseph P Smith, Malta World Food Programme Food for Life: Drinking from Garbage, by Md. Mahabub Hossain Khan, Bangladesh All photographs courtesy Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year 2021.

चीन में एक युवा परिवार की खुशी से घर पर भोजन तैयार करने की तस्वीर ने एक प्रमुख खाद्य फोटोग्राफी पुरस्कार जीता है। ली हुआफेंग को लिचेंग, शांक्सी में ली गई स्वाद नामक तस्वीर के लिए वर्ष 2021 की गुलाबी महिला खाद्य फोटोग्राफर नामित किया गया है।


Meet the 'pylon spotters'

Summary: Until the launch of a new design this week , British pylons have been built to the same "lattice" design for the best part of a century. You might be forgiven for thinking they were all the same. But not so, as the nation's "pylon spotters" attest.

By Emma AilesBBC News To some they are a blot on the landscape; to others they have a kind of skeletal beauty. Whatever your personal opinion, chances are you haven't spent much time thinking about pylons. But for a small number of pylon enthusiasts, these giant structures hold a lifelong fascination. Queen of the "pylon spotters" is 39-year-old Flash Bristow from east London. She runs the Pylon Appreciation Society and has collected more than 530 photos of pylons from 36 different countries. But why? "I think my interest started when I was a kid," she explains. "There was a National Power advert showing pylons striding across the land with arms, legs and a head, and it just caught my attention - I know that's silly. "From there, I started looking at pylons on car journeys - other people spot number plates, but I would look at pylons. I began to notice the different designs. "I'm the first to admit that standard pylons are pretty boring, but there are ones that go round corners, some that go over rivers, and they're structurally different. "I think they are quite beautiful. It's something about noticing something extraordinary in the ordinary - something you go past every day. "It's also the fact that in terms of engineering, pylons are just decent solutions." Among the 88,000 pylons dotted across the UK, Flash says her favourites are near Cressing Village in Essex, because they are "unusual in design and route cables on the left circuit under the right circuit into a substation". But she also pays tribute to the tallest pylons in the UK, which span the River Thames at Thurrock - at 630ft (190m) high they are taller than London's BT Tower - and the Pink Pylon (officially named ZP226) near Rochdale in Greater Manchester. Painted pink during filming for the 1998 pylon-based film Among Giants, it remained that way until it was taken down in 2003. It still has its own appreciation website. 'Bit geeky' Flash's collection also features "weird Japanese pylons with nine or 12 arms", pylons in France that are painted the colour of their surroundings and "beautiful football goal-type pylons" in Iceland built to withstand ice storms. Her ultimate goal is to see a transposition tower that regulates cables spanning hundreds of miles - which even she admits is "a bit geeky". "It looks like this weird thing with arms going everywhere," she says. "Unfortunately the UK doesn't have them. I'd need to go to Africa to see one. "Whenever I go on holiday, my poor long-suffering husband comes to power stations with me. Because that's where you find the most interesting pylons." Strange as it might seem, Flash is by no means alone in her passion for pylons. The society has over 600 members and boasts an active message board. "They range from schoolchildren who are obsessed with pylons, right through to retired engineers who used to shin up pylons in the 70s," she says. "They like the fact they can talk about technical details and be appreciated. Other people just post pictures and say 'this one looks pretty'." Another aficionado is Kevin Mosedale, 47, a physics teacher from Oxfordshire. He started the website Pylon of the Month as a joke but was astonished by the reaction. A potted history of pylons The first electricity pylon in the UK was built near Edinburgh in 1928. It was designed by leading architect Sir Reginald Blomfield. Its "lattice" design sought to be more delicate than the brutalist structures used in Europe and the United States. His design was inspired by the root of the word pylon - meaning an Egyptian gateway to the sun. Over the next five years, more than 26,000 went up around the country - ahead of schedule and on budget. Although materials and the amount of electricity pylons carry has changed over the years, Blomfield's design has remained largely unchanged until now. Source: National Grid Kevin says: "There was a previous pylon of the month website that we used to look and laugh. Then one day it had gone and I thought it was bit sad, so I decided to start my own. "I get pylon pictures from all over the world. It's really strange. There seems to be this strange fascination some people have with them. I don't know why. "My students think it's quite funny. I've been pretty much been banned from talking about it by my wife. "Probably because most people think, 'I can't believe you're sad enough to run a Pylon of the Month website'." So what do these "pylonophiles" make of the new design? "I think it's a cop-out - it looks like a lamppost with Pat Butcher dangly earrings," says Flash. "If you're going to have something that big on the landscape, why not make it a sculpture? "But they went for the safest, shortest option. What a wasted opportunity." Kevin disagrees, however. "I like them. They're a bit lower, and I think they blend in a bit better with the landscape, so I'm generally a big fan," he says. "They might even feature as pylon of the month at some point." A field guide to pylons Source: National Grid, Pylon Appreciation Society

इस सप्ताह एक नए डिजाइन के लॉन्च होने तक, ब्रिटिश तोरणों को एक सदी के सर्वश्रेष्ठ हिस्से के लिए एक ही "जाली" डिजाइन में बनाया गया है। आपको यह सोचने के लिए माफ किया जा सकता है कि वे सभी समान थे। लेकिन ऐसा नहीं है, जैसा कि देश के "तोरण खोजने वाले" प्रमाणित करते हैं।


Dutch head to polls as Covid crisis looms large

Summary: His government collapsed over a racial profiling scandal in the tax office, his country was the last in Europe to roll-out its vaccination programme, and with an average of 5,000 new daily infections, the Netherlands remains under its strictest lockdown to date.

By Anna HolliganBBC News, The Hague And yet, Mark Rutte, the prime minister who presided over all of this, is odds on for a fourth term in an election involving 37 different political parties. Why this election matters With coronavirus restrictions in place, polls opened for vulnerable voters on 15 March, and everyone else votes on Wednesday in what will be the first "Covid election" in the EU this year. The timeframe is laid out within the constitution, so the recent collapse of the coalition government is purely coincidental. When people enter the freshly-sanitised polling booths, the pandemic and its consequences will be on their minds. Many have lost jobs and family members. Entire industries have collapsed, including hospitality and tourism, and voters will be thinking about another summer where they will be unable to go on holiday or visit family. In fact, one in five voters say the crisis has influenced their choice of party. What's the Rutte appeal? While 2020 may have appeared to have been a disastrous year for the Dutch PM, Mark Rutte could not have wished for a more favourable environment. He has, after all, wiped out his key opponents. Under his smiling, bespectacled exterior, Mr Rutte is "super-cunning", according to Andre Krouwel, a political analyst at the Free University of Amsterdam. "Everyone who watches politics knows he's vicious and he has strategically eliminated every other candidate that might have challenged him," he says. The current health minister, Hugo de Jonge, is a member of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party. He gave up his leadership challenge to focus on the day job of an escalating Covid crisis. The leader of the Labour Party (PvdA), meanwhile, stepped down because of a childcare allowance scandal. Mr Rutte then convinced people he should stay on in power to keep things ticking over. In a time of chaos and uncertainty, the down-to-earth images of him munching an apple while riding his bike have appealed to many. And for those concerned about polarising rhetoric, spiralling conspiracy theories and parties tapping into the disinformation movement, Mr Rutte is seen as the antidote to all of this. People are rallying round his flag. "The Dutch aren't looking for a PM with big ideas who delivers great speeches," says Sheila Sitalsing, a journalist who wrote a book chronicling 2020 called Diary of an Insane Year. "They like a good manager. Mark Rutte creates the illusion that he is the most normal prime minister we've had." His centre-right liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) is clearly confident in him. Unlike previous years, it is Mr Rutte's face breaming out of billboards and tram stops rather than the party logo. "It's all about him being a leader... leading us through crisis, [but there is] nothing on immigration, housing, climate, healthcare," Ms Sitalsing says. "It's completely centred around Mark Rutte." But Mr Rutte is not without his critics. Kristie Rongen, a victim of the benefits scandal, was widely seen as challenging Mr Rutte more than any of his political opponents during one of the pre-election debates. Kristie told me she blamed the man she called "Teflon Mark" for her years of hunger, burnout, and depression. Huge number of parties In spite of his lead, Mr Rutte is going to need partners to govern. That is the norm in the Netherlands. The next government will need three, four or even five parties to secure a majority in the 150-seat parliament. And although the billboards featuring 37 party posters may suggest the Dutch are more polarised than ever, only a handful of parties matter when it comes to forming a government. Around 12 are expected to get enough seats to potentially influence policy. Who to look out for Geert Wilders: The familiar face of the anti-Islam populists leads a party - the Party for Freedom (PVV) - currently running second in the polls, but even he acknowledges he is unlikely to be invited to form a coalition. Few parties will work with him, and many consider his policies to be unconstitutional. Sigrid Kaag: A potential first female prime minister of the Netherlands is how her supporters see her. She swapped international diplomacy for domestic politics and has been standing out with her conciliatory tone. Their centre-right position could make her D66 party appealing coalition partners. Jesse Klaver: The idealistic Green Left leader told me his vision for the country involved speeding up the vaccine programme and improving testing. But walking out of previous coalition formation negotiations might make other parties - who all expect some level of compromise - reluctant to work with him. Thierry Baudet: Predicted to get about three seats, some analysts believe it could be more. "[He is] mobilising the fringes of Dutch society, alleging Covid-19 was invented by a political elite," says Mr Krouwel. "He's combining conspiracy theories with populist anti-elitism." Mr Baudet's FvD is the only party holding rallies during the pandemic. He has tweeted his support for former US President Donald Trump, and appears to see political capital in adopting a similar style. But that approach is unlikely to win him, or Geert Wilders, a place in the next government. What to expect Most Dutch voters do not have a fixed preference, with around half deciding where to mark their cross on election day. This means predictions should be flavoured with an extra dash of salt. Mr Rutte is performing well, so what's creating the most intrigue is who might govern alongside him. It may take a while, there may be some shifts, but at the end of it all - despite these extraordinary circumstances - we may end up with something very similar to now.

उनकी सरकार कर कार्यालय में एक नस्लीय प्रोफाइलिंग घोटाले पर गिर गई, उनका देश अपने टीकाकरण कार्यक्रम को शुरू करने वाला यूरोप में अंतिम था, और औसतन 5,000 नए दैनिक संक्रमणों के साथ, नीदरलैंड आज तक अपने सबसे सख्त लॉकडाउन के तहत बना हुआ है।


Jersey considers minimum alcohol pricing strategy

Summary: Minimum pricing on alcohol could be considered in Jersey.

Chief Minister Senator Ian Gorst said the States could consider it if it works in the UK. His comments come after the UK Government proposed a minimum price of 40p per unit of alcohol in England and Wales on Friday. The government believes the new strategy could transform the behaviour of those who cause the most problems for hospitals and police. Senator Gorst said it was something Jersey's health department were looking at. He said: "We do know that unfortunately alcohol and alcohol addiction is a problem within certain areas of our community. "As a community as a whole perhaps our alcohol consumption is higher than some other communities." But Mark Crowther, chief executive officer of the Liberation Group, one of the pubs, drinks and brewing businesses in Jersey, said setting prices should not be up to politicians. He said: "The government's role really should be about educating sensible drinking just as we do as a business. "I'm slightly reticent about governments getting involved in and telling businesses how much they should be charging for their products. "Whilst I know that the UK Government has announced a consultation about potentially introducing a 40p per unit minimum price, actually when you work through the numbers that would make absolutely no difference."

जर्सी में शराब पर न्यूनतम मूल्य निर्धारण पर विचार किया जा सकता है।


Lasantha shot dead

Summary: The editor of The Sunday Leader newspaper that's often critical of the government has been shot dead in the capital, Colombo.

Reports say Lasantha Wickramatunga was attacked by gunmen on motorcycles as he drove to work. He died in hospital after nearly three hours of emergency surgery to head wounds. The fatal shooting comes just two days after a privately-owned television station was attacked and set on fire. T he station had been labelled as unpatriotic by some sections of the state media for its coverage of the war against the Tamil Tiger rebels

अक्सर सरकार की आलोचना करने वाले द संडे लीडर अखबार के संपादक की राजधानी कोलंबो में गोली मारकर हत्या कर दी गई है।


Life at the coal face: Who are the UK's 21st Century miners?

Summary: The UK's biggest mining firm UK Coal has been fined a total of £450,000 for safety failings which led to the deaths of four men underground. It follows the deaths of a further five men at collieries this summer. With the dangers of the industry back in the news, who are the country's remaining miners and why do they do it?

By Alex MossBBC News "You get filthy and my nails have never been any good but I absolutely love being a miner." Stuart Foweather started at Cadeby Colliery in Doncaster in 1978 as a 16-year-old apprentice. Now aged 49, he is a mechanical engineer employed by UK Coal, which operates a handful of the country's remaining 12 deep coal mines. Mr Foweather is typical of many of today's working miners. They are men who started when coal production was booming and are now highly skilled in a specific industry which has rapidly declined over the decades. Explosive gases Looking back to when he first started, Mr Foweather said: "Coal mining then was very labour intensive. It was tough, hard work, with five to six hours of your shift spent shovelling. "I remember I got paid £27.10 a week. You went from being a lad at school to a young adult. That's just how it was in those days." Advances in technology have rapidly modernised the mining industry, with machinery reducing the need for hard, physical labour. But it does not eliminate the reality of dangerous work in dark, dirty, noisy chambers filled with explosive gases some 1,000 metres below the surface. UK Coal was fined after admitting offences under health and safety law in relation to the deaths of four men in 2006 and 2007. Trevor Steeples, Paul Hunt and Anthony Garrigan died in separate accidents at the Daw Mill colliery, near Coventry, in 2006 and 2007. Paul Milner died after being fatally injured at the now-closed Welbeck colliery, in Nottinghamshire, in 2007. More recently the mining industry has claimed the lives of an additional five men. Philip Hill, 44, Charles Breslin, 62, David Powell, 50 and Garry Jenkins, 39, died when Gleision Colliery in the Swansea Valley flooded on 15 September. That was followed by the death of Gerry Gibson after a roof fall at Kellingley Colliery, North Yorkshire, on 28 September. At the industry's height in the 1920s, 1.2m men were employed in the pits and approximately 2,000 died in accidents every year. Today there are only about 3,500 miners but each time there is a death it is national news. Figures from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) show that in the decade ending March 2011, there were 17 fatal injuries in the mining industry in Britain. Many of today's miners appear unfazed by the risks, the dangers offset by an opportunity to take home a good wage. Pay varies depending on the job underground. Covered in dust Working on the coal face - considered the best paid job in the pit - can earn a miner about £40,000 a year. Throw in bonuses and overtime and that earning potential rises to £50,000. Other jobs below the surface such as a beltman (the person who maintains the conveyor belt used to transport material) or a loco man (the miner who operates the locomotive) are less well paid, averaging about £16,000. At Maltby colliery in South Yorkshire, men return from their day shift underground covered head to toe in coal dust, dark rings under their eyes like heavy eye make-up. Steve Mace, a coal face worker and National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) official at Maltby, said: "It's a hard job but I love it. "The camaraderie is totally different to any industry because of the environment we work in. "Everyone is in it together and we all watch each other's backs." 'Very lucky' He added: "Mining is a highly skilled industry. You don't just get taken on and start down a mine straight away. "The men we have here have a wealth of knowledge and experience and that's invaluable." Many of Maltby's men are proud generational miners who have spent most of their working life below the surface. Some talk of being "lucky enough" to be given the opportunity of pit work and how they wanted to follow in their father's footsteps. Mr Mace, 44, started at the colliery as an apprentice when he was 21. "My dad worked driving the shafts and my uncle worked in the pits too," he said. "I was very lucky to get the opportunity and it was my family that got me into it. "In those days the younger lads got trained by the older miners and you were watched like a hawk. "If you did anything wrong you got a clip around the ear." The pit's history in Maltby dates back to 1907 when work on sinking the original shafts began, turning the area into a typical mining town. The colliery company at the time built an estate of 1,000 houses for its workforce. Kevin Barron, the MP for Rother Valley, worked at Maltby for more than 20 years, following both his grandfathers, father and older brother into the profession. "I enjoyed being a miner and that was because of the camaraderie you had," he said. "Given the environment you worked in if you didn't laugh you would have cried." He added: "I used to think the job could be bad at times but compared to the conditions my father worked in it was nothing. "I used to remember him going down the pit wearing just his helmet, boots and lamp. It was too hot for clothes." Although the town is no longer home to the colliery's workers, efforts have been made to keep the spirit of generational mining alive at the pit with a recent scheme which has seen the sons of current miners being given jobs. Seventy new men have been recruited to facilitate a new shift pattern at the colliery and 15 of those have joined their fathers who already work there. Mr Mace said: "There was so much competition as we had more than 500 people apply for the 70 vacancies." Nick Gawthorpe, 28, started at the colliery in February, joining his 54-year-old father Mick. "My granddad and uncle worked in the pits and I always wanted to go down," he said. "Before this I was a self-employed gas fitter but things had got pretty bad and I was going under." He added: "This has given me job security. It's meant me and my fiancée have been able to buy a house and we're now expecting our first baby." For today's miners, the dangers of working in such a high-risk industry seem less of a problem for them than the public perceive. Mr Foweather said: "Mining is now virtually as safe as it can be. Every effort is seriously made to make it as safe as possible." Ryan Gamble, command supervisor at Maltby, said: "Of course you've got to watch what you're doing but accidents happen when you do something wrong, it's as simple as that."

ब्रिटेन की सबसे बड़ी खनन कंपनी यूके कोल पर सुरक्षा विफलताओं के लिए कुल 450,000 पाउंड का जुर्माना लगाया गया है, जिसके कारण चार लोगों की भूमिगत मौत हो गई। यह इस गर्मी में कोयला खदानों में और पांच लोगों की मौत का अनुसरण करता है। उद्योग के खतरों के साथ समाचारों में वापस आ गया है, देश के शेष खनिक कौन हैं और वे ऐसा क्यों करते हैं?


Yemen war: Fighting rages over vital port of Hudaydah

Summary: Fierce fighting has been reported after pro-government forces in Yemen, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, launched an offensive on the rebel-held city of Hudaydah, a key port for aid supplies.

Thirty Houthi rebels and nine members of pro-government forces are said to have been killed. Coalition forces are now within two kilometres of the city's airport, the Emirati envoy to the UN says. The UN Security Council restated its fears about the fate of civilians. The emergency meeting on Thursday, called by the UK, saw members agree the port must be kept open to prevent a further worsening of Yemen's humanitarian crisis. About eight million people are at risk of starvation in the war-torn country and the coastal city is where most aid arrives for people in rebel-held areas. However, there was not enough support on the council for Sweden's motion to demand an immediate halt to the offensive on Hudaydah. Vassily Nebenzia, Russia's UN ambassador and president of the council in June, said the body urged "all sides to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law". Learn more about Yemen's war The Emirati news agency Wam said attacking forces had managed to "liberate areas... in the surroundings of the airport" and captured or killed "dozens" of Iranian-backed Houthis. It reported the "martyrdom" of four Emirati soldiers but did not give further details of the fighting. Medical sources in the region said early on Thursday that 22 Houthi fighters had been killed in coalition strikes. Houthi rebels, meanwhile, said they had struck a coalition warship with missiles, although there was no confirmation of this. The rebels also reported that they had successfully launched a missile towards the southern Saudi city of Khamis Mushait, although Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV said that Saudi air defences destroyed the weapon. The Hudaydah offensive, which analysts say could be the biggest battle so far in the Yemeni civil war, has raised fears of mass casualties among the city's population of 600,000 people. However, coalition spokesman Col Turki al-Malki said they wanted to avoid a street war with the Houthis "for the safety of civilians". He told al-Hadath TV that the aims were to win control of the airport and seaport as well as the main road leading to the capital, Sanaa. The pro-government assault began after Houthi rebels ignored a deadline to withdraw. Separately on Thursday, pro-Yemeni government media reported that President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and other senior officials had returned to the temporary capital of Aden. The government has spent much of its time in neighbouring Saudi Arabia since Houthi rebels seized control of Sanaa and other areas in the north-west of the country in late 2014. Alarmed by the rise of a group they saw as an Iranian Shia Muslim proxy, Saudi Arabia and eight other Sunni Arab states launched a military campaign in March 2015 to restore Mr Hadi's government.

यमन में सरकार समर्थक बलों द्वारा सऊदी के नेतृत्व वाले गठबंधन के समर्थन से विद्रोहियों के कब्जे वाले शहर हुदैदाह पर हमला करने के बाद भीषण लड़ाई की सूचना मिली है, जो सहायता आपूर्ति के लिए एक प्रमुख बंदरगाह है।


Reporting undercover from the prison front line

Summary: An undercover investigation by Panorama has revealed the reality of life behind bars in the crisis-hit prison system. From prisoner officers who say they've lost control to some inmates regularly taking drugs, undercover reporter Joe Fenton explains what it's like to work on the prison front line.

Prison custody officer Joe Fenton, Her Majesty's Prison Northumberland - this was my life for two months as an undercover reporter for the BBC's Panorama programme. HMP Northumberland is a prison with a problem. Many problems in fact. And within hours of being in the job, I was to see astonishing examples of this. On my very first day, I was taken into a room with some of the other new recruits where we were shown a table covered in drugs. It was a massive find by prison staff - 2.5kg of a drug called spice - a much stronger, cheaper, synthetic alternative to cannabis. Spice is now one of the most popular illegal drugs used in prison. Prisoners told officers this find had barely scratched the surface. In my first week, I was responsible for escorting 70 prisoners but in reality, it felt like they were escorting me. I didn't really know where I was going and I just followed the prisoners, opening the gates for them. It didn't take too long to realise that the inmates were, in effect, running this prison. I saw prisoners stumbling around drunk, others who were high on drugs and some struggling to cope with addiction. On a standard 10-hour shift, the demands from prisoners were endless. The work didn't stop from the moment we got there to the moment we left. You just can't work five or six days solid there - it ruins you and you don't feel like a person any more, you just exist. The prison officers were all drained and with the constant demands from prisoners, I felt like I was working in a very busy hotel with a lot of angry guests. I've seen staff at their wits' ends and staff who are struggling to cope. There were drugs everywhere in HMP Northumberland and I found myself walking through clouds of smoke, some of which were from prisoners smoking spice. Spice affected prisoners in different ways. Some would look a bit blurry-eyed. One reacted by moving his forearms around uncontrollably, his eyes completely vacant and his face expressionless. Officers called the nurses for this particular prisoner but they weren't called for every inmate who reacted badly to spice. It happens too often. The time officers had least control was during the couple of hours in the evening when prisoners were allowed to socialise - they could go into each other's rooms, close the door and even lock it from the inside, although we could then unlock it again. Often I would be alone on a landing and it wouldn't have been safe for me to challenge them by myself. I often felt that there was nothing I could really do if I suspected prisoners were about to deal or take drugs. Some officers told me they often don't confront prisoners because they are not confident backup will arrive if they are attacked. Prison officers have the power to challenge prisoners but the prisoners had lookouts and warning codes so they were often one step ahead. This enabled them to hide their drugs, put out their cigarettes or throw their mobile phone under the pillow. Those few extra seconds were all they needed. As in all walks of life you'll get people who can cope by themselves and those who need a little bit of help. It's the same in prison. I met one vulnerable prisoner who was being bullied - we're calling him John in order to disguise his identity. On one occasion, I witnessed him totally off his head while other prisoners watched, laughing - I suspect they had spiked his cigarettes with spice. He told me he'd previously had buckets of water thrown over him and had been burnt with cigarettes. It would be great if staff were there to look after these prisoners every step of the way but I felt there just weren't enough officers to protect people like John all the time. Prison officers repeatedly told me they had lost control of the prison. I saw officers worried about their safety and losing confidence. I witnessed one officer convulsing on the floor because he had inadvertently inhaled spice while patrolling a landing. It was hard to see this happening to a colleague, someone whose company I enjoyed. But this is what prison officers have to deal with and it wasn't an isolated incident. Sources have told us that at least three members of staff at this prison needed hospital treatment for inhaling spice smoke in the last seven months. And the drugs continue to flow in - prison officers told me that that's because of lapses in security. While working on one house block at HMP Northumberland, staff found black clothing, balaclavas and wire-cutting tools. I witnessed doors where the alarms weren't working and a hole in an internal security fence which would have allowed prisoners to collect drugs thrown in from the outside. I have a lot of sympathy for the prison officers I met while working at HMP Northumberland - there are many good people there trying to do a difficult job with limited resources. Prisoners are in prison for a reason and prisons must exist to both punish and rehabilitate. But from my experience, I didn't see much of either. Watch Panorama Behind Bars: Prison Undercover on Monday 13 February at 20:30 GMT on BBC One. Or catch up on iPlayer.

पैनोरमा द्वारा की गई एक गुप्त जाँच ने संकटग्रस्त जेल प्रणाली में सलाखों के पीछे जीवन की वास्तविकता का खुलासा किया है। कैदी अधिकारियों से लेकर जो कहते हैं कि उन्होंने नियंत्रण खो दिया है और कुछ कैदी नियमित रूप से ड्रग्स लेते हैं, अंडरकवर रिपोर्टर जो फेंटन बताते हैं कि जेल की अग्रिम पंक्ति में काम करना कैसा होता है।


The world of Nigeria's sex-trafficking 'Air Lords'

Summary: Last year, the BBC's Sam Piranty was given access by the Catalan police, Mossos D'Esquadra, to an investigation into a Nigerian sex-trafficking gang. He spoke to traffickers and women rescued from sexual slavery before filming an early morning raid in November, which led to 23 arrests. He also discovered that the gang is now using London as a gateway into Europe.

It's 08:00 in the Catalan Police Headquarters on the outskirts of Barcelona and Xavi Cortes, head of the anti-trafficking unit, waits patiently for his 22 teams to confirm they are in position. Finally, he gives the order. Two-hundred-and-fifty officers quietly climb out of their police vans. Single file, each team approaches a residential building watched by a few surprised neighbours. On reaching the door, one of the masked police officers uses his fingers to count down. Three, two, one. The door is knocked down, the silence shattered, the officers rush inside. The raid results in the arrest of the leaders of a Nigerian-based group running an international sex-trafficking ring in Barcelona. It's known as the Supreme Eiye Confraternity (SEC), or the Air Lords, and 23 people are now behind bars, with European Arrest Warrants issued for those who have left the country. This operation was 18 months in the planning and involved monitoring more than a million phone calls, tapping dozens of mobile phones and months of surveillance. Cortes and his team first came across the group in 2011 during a forgery investigation, but quickly discovered it was a huge network trafficking women and drugs. He asks me to look at his screen. On it is a map detailing all the locations they have identified where members of the SEC operate. Cities are marked in Europe, North, West and East Africa, North and South America, the Middle East and Asia. Eiye in Yoruba, the main language of south-western Nigeria means "bird". The group's insignia is an eagle and each city containing members is called a "nest", with the "mother nest" in Ibadan, about 100km (60 miles) north-east of Lagos. The group was started at the University of Ibadan in the 1970s, and the original intention was to make a positive contribution to society. Over time, however, many members went astray, committing violence in Nigeria and delving into crime abroad. The group now traffics human beings and narcotics (cocaine and marijuana) and forges passports. It has also facilitated the transport of stolen crude oil into Europe. "They are able to earn money in many ways, but we are focused on human-trafficking and the victims," says Cortes. His second-in-command, Alex Escola, then tells me something remarkable. "You know, one of the tappings showed us that last year, on 7 July, around 400 members of SEC met in Geneva. They had a big meeting, all together." It was an audacious display of arrogance. In a city where many of the world's global institutions are headquartered, including numerous UN agencies, a global criminal institution held its own parallel international gathering and no-one tried to stop it. Benin City, Nigeria, is a human-trafficking hub, and a good place to observe how the criminal operation works. After long negotiations, our team manages to speak to a recruiter, whose job it is to find girls. The recruiter explains that they either approach girls directly or through their families offering fake jobs abroad in a supermarket, or as a cleaner. However, not everyone is tricked. Many women approach the recruiters themselves, often in full knowledge that they will be working as a prostitute in Europe. Some parents, also aware of this, approach recruiters on behalf of their children. Destiny, who was 19 when she was trafficked to Spain three years ago, told me she knew sex would be involved but had never imagined she would be turned into a sex slave. "If you live in Benin, there are many girls who came back from [Spain] with lots of money. They told us they had to have sex sometimes," she says. "We are not stupid but I did not know I would be beaten and raped and have to have sex every night of the week." NGOs in Benin City say many of the recruiters now look outside the major cities in order to find girls who have not heard their warnings about the reality of life for trafficked women, or the stories of those like Destiny who have returned and are now alerting others to the dangers. Once recruited, the girls are then taken to Lagos or to northern Nigeria where they are picked up by men known as "coyotes" or "trolleys". The journey to Europe is perilous. Wire taps reveal how coyotes transporting women were stopped by armed groups in the deserts of Niger or southern Libya demanding thousands of euros for them to pass. "One phone call from a coyote to SEC showed how a coyote was saying, 'I have a gun on my head and they want money,'" says Cortes. A woman who was herself trafficked tells me about other horrors. "The journey took weeks," says Sarah, who arrived in Spain in 2013 at the age of 21. "One of the girls kept asking for water. The men did not like it so they threw her out in the desert in Libya. They left her and we continued the journey. They told the boss on the phone that she was killed by terrorists. We were not human beings. We were animals." Once girls are trafficked across the desert, they are then taken to "keepers", who often rape them before they cross to Europe. "When we got to Libya they put us in a house," says Sarah. "This is when I knew we would not be working in a supermarket. One man was taking care of us. He would have sex with us, rape us. Then I became pregnant." Women who insist they will not work as prostitutes are tied up in a position called "the crocodile". Their hands tied to their feet, they are left for days with no food or water. Some are left to die as an example to others. Keepers often get the women pregnant prior to making the crossing to Spain. With a child or pregnant, they stand a better chance of not being deported, and the men can use access to the child as a form of blackmail to keep the women under control. Two years ago, at a time when the coyotes reported Libya had become too dangerous, recorded phone calls show that the girls were taken instead to Greece, via Yemen, Iran and Turkey. And today, as the Mediterranean becomes more difficult to cross - and the authorities try harder to detect traffickers - the SEC has begun to use airports in the UK more frequently. "This is a more expensive option for the group," Cortes tells me. "They use forged documents and passports from Nigeria to fly into places like Gatwick. The language is also easier for them. These documents are expensive though and need co-operation of people working in the government to get." One evening in Barcelona, I head out with the undercover surveillance team. At around 10pm, plain-clothes officers in an unmarked car drive me to Badalona on the edge of the city. We are taken to a top-floor flat where police have spent hundreds of hours watching the house opposite. A light is on in the window and shadows move between the curtains, before someone appears on the balcony - a madame. Most of the women that make it to Europe live in flats with a few other women and their madame - almost always a trafficked woman, who has managed to pay off her debt. Girls arrive knowing they must earn a sum, which may be from 30,000 to 60,000 euros (£22,000 to £44,000), before they will be free. There are two ranks of madame. Lower-ranking madames prowl the streets - many on la Rambla, the main tourist strip in the centre of Barcelona - constantly texting and calling their girls to check on their whereabouts. Girls are told to earn about 500 euros (£370) a night to stay in the madame's good books. But clients, mostly tourists, may pay as little as 20 euros (£15) for sex, so this is often impossible. After a night's work, girls return home and divide their earnings into three. One part goes to pay for the flat, the second to pay for food and the third goes to the SEC. If they are not earning enough or refuse to work, the madames may beat them. Higher-ranking madames collect money from their subordinates to pass on to local SEC leaders known as ibakkas. Always men, the ibakkas run the whole operation. They facilitate payment through the hawala system - a form of money transfer based on trust and one that is difficult to trace. Ibakkas make sure that if any of their girls step out of line, their families back home are threatened. Family members have been known to be abducted and "disappeared" when girls refuse to pay their madames. One woman, Jessica, who was trafficked to Spain in 2009, says two of her daughters, now in their early 20s, left home in Benin to escape the gang. One is in Dubai, the other in Morocco waiting to cross to Spain. But in escaping one group of traffickers, they have put themselves in the hands of another. "In order to pay the debt, they will be prostitutes too," says Jessica. Tragically, this is not an isolated case. It's a few days after the raid and Cortes seems content. Back in the office, dressed in full uniform, he details the large quantities of phones, computers, fake passports and documents seized at the time of the arrests. Despite that, there is a hint of frustration in his smile. "The size of the network means those arrested will be replaced," he says. According to recent wire taps, one of the major European co-ordinators of the group is looking to restructure the gang. The ibakka, based in London, was trying to get his 95 other European counterparts together for a meeting. This kind of organised crime cannot simply be tackled locally. Arresting madames and taking women off the streets merely increases the demand for more women from Nigeria. This is an organised crime group, run by men, operating across the world. This is a network which requires a global police response. Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.

पिछले साल, बीबीसी के सैम पिरांटी को कैटलन पुलिस, मोसोस डी 'एस्क्वाड्रा द्वारा नाइजीरियाई यौन-तस्करी गिरोह की जांच के लिए प्रवेश दिया गया था। उन्होंने नवंबर में सुबह की छापेमारी को फिल्माने से पहले यौन दासता से बचाए गए तस्करों और महिलाओं से बात की, जिसके कारण 23 गिरफ्तारियां हुईं। उन्हें यह भी पता चला कि गिरोह अब लंदन को यूरोप में प्रवेश द्वार के रूप में उपयोग कर रहा है।


Police officer hit by hammer thrown from crowd

Summary: A police officer was taken to hospital after being hit on the head by a hammer thrown from a crowd which gathered outside a house in Kilmarnock.

The police were called to a gathering of about 250 people in Hareshaw Gardens at 19:00 on Monday. The male officer was taken to Crosshouse Hospital for treatment and was later released. Ch Insp Steven Meikle said the safety of his officers was "absolutely paramount". "No-one should expect to be subjected to violence while doing their job - and that includes police officers," he said. "We respect people's right to peacefully protest but someone brought a hammer to this protest and one of our officers was struck on the head with it. This changes the landscape entirely. "The consequences could have been more harrowing, the hammer could have landed on a child's head, and our officers would have been expected to respond accordingly."

किल्मरनॉक में एक घर के बाहर जमा भीड़ से फेंके गए हथौड़े से सिर पर चोट लगने के बाद एक पुलिस अधिकारी को अस्पताल ले जाया गया।


Bournemouth stabbing: Two charged with attempted murder

Summary: Two people have been charged with attempted murder after a man was found seriously injured.

The man, in his 50s, was found with stab wounds to his chest and neck in Argyll Road, Bournemouth, shortly after 02:00 BST on Sunday. He remains in hospital in a serious but not life-threatening condition. A man, aged 63, and woman, 42, who are both from the town, are due to appear at Poole Magistrates' Court later.

एक व्यक्ति के गंभीर रूप से घायल पाए जाने के बाद दो लोगों पर हत्या के प्रयास का आरोप लगाया गया है।


Germany’s coalition deal: The young activists hoping to derail the agreement

Summary: Germans could be going back to the polls if members of the Social Democrats vote against a new alliance with Angela Merkel's conservatives. The results will be announced on Sunday, and it's a decision that pits the party's old guard against the new, as Jenny Hill reports from Hamburg.

It's a delightful institution, the German kiosk - a place where you can post your parcels, buy basic provisions, read a newspaper and drink a beer. On a Hamburg street corner, door closed against the winter chill, a cheerful shopkeeper hands over online deliveries to customers waiting under shelves crammed with bottles. And in the corner, leaning against a makeshift table fashioned from beer crates, an old man and a young woman talk politics. "The grand coalition that's just ended wasn't as bad as it was painted within the CDU, the SPD and the media," says Michael Sachs. He's a lifelong member of Germany's centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) and sat on the regional government here. "We have high economic growth, low unemployment, a foreign policy which aims to create peace in the world. We don't have a Trump or a decision like Brexit." As you might expect, Mr Sachs voted in favour of another grand coalition between the SPD and Angela Merkel's CDU/CSU bloc, describing another four years with the conservatives as "the best thing that could happen to us". Across the table, Anne-Marie Hovingh, a 30-year-old SPD member, is horrified by the idea. "We can only debate properly in opposition. As soon as we're in government the inner party discourse is stifled," she says. The ink's barely dry on a hard-won coalition agreement. It holds no incentive for this young party activist. "We need to try to solve the problems of the century - one of which is the integration of refugees. If I read the coalition treaty, I can't see answers to that." Waiting for a stable government Nearly six months on, Germany is still talking about September's general election. They are still waiting for the stable government Angela Merkel promised the country. This coalition - with her old SPD allies - is her only realistic shot now at forming a government. A minority government is possible but it's considered unsustainable. Mrs Merkel failed to build an alliance with the Green and liberal Free Democrat parties. If this deal falls apart, the spectre of fresh elections looms. Mrs Merkel's future, it's said, now lies now in the hands of a chap called Kevin. The 28-year-old leader of the SPD's youth wing, Kevin Kuehnert, has passionately led an internal revolt against the proposed new coalition. His supporters believe that their last term in Mrs Merkel's shadow damaged the party and that to reprise the role of wing man to her CDU/CSU union would finish it altogether. The SPD leadership is in favour of the deal. It emphasises concessions won during coalition negotiations, such as the party claiming finance minister - a key post. But the party's members are horribly divided and all 460,000 of them get the final say. An ageing party It's a struggle, broadly though not exclusively, divided along generational lines. The old guard against the new. "We're an ageing party," says Anne-Marie, smiling across the table at Michael Sachs. "I don't want to insult anyone present but we have a lot of old men in the party. "I'm the youngest regional parliament member and do you know who I have to fight against the hardest? My own people." "I was young once too," Michael says. "I've been in the SPD in both opposition and government. It's a tradition in this party that, in opposition, the left wing and the young are given lots of freedom. "It's the same for Labour in the UK. Once they join the government, they don't implement all those grand ideas." The SPD's anthem rings rather hollow now. Its opening lines - "when we walk, side by side" - belie the division and the confusion over its very identity. Its former leader Martin Schulz was supposed to take the party to a glorious election result. Instead he led them to one of the worst outcomes in its electoral history. Many blame his indecision for the current crisis. First, he rejected another grand coalition. Then, he capitulated. He then ruled out taking a post in the new cabinet, only to announce he'd be foreign minister. He later abandoned that plan. After his resignation last month, Andrea Nahles was appointed leader-designate. Once officially in the job, she'll have to reunite, rejuvenate and modernise the party. An identity crisis? The internal schism has laid waste to what were already dismal approval ratings. The SPD is now virtually neck and neck with the far-right Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) in the opinion polls. Michael Sachs believes the problem is deep-rooted. He says a leadership crisis began when Gerhard Schröder, Germany's chancellor between 1998 and 2005, stepped down. "The leaders don't know where they want to go. Which is why we have this crazy situation where the leadership has negotiated a grand coalition and at the end holds a referendum." But the party, he continues, must navigate a different world, divided into those who benefit from globalisation and those who fall victim to its consequences. "In the last few decades the old class society has disappeared. We don't have the blue collar workers who are trade unionists and, at the same time, Social Democrats." "The world," Anne-Marie echoes, "has changed and we need new answers". She and Michael finish their coffees, wrap up warm and prepare to leave the kiosk for the bitter cold outside. Little unites the two factions of a party in the midst of a profound identity crisis. Regardless of which emerges triumphant on Sunday, as Michael puts it, "there won't be any winners in this".

अगर सोशल डेमोक्रेट्स के सदस्य एंजेला मर्केल के रूढ़िवादियों के साथ एक नए गठबंधन के खिलाफ मतदान करते हैं तो जर्मन चुनाव में वापस जा सकते हैं। परिणाम रविवार को घोषित किए जाएंगे, और यह एक ऐसा निर्णय है जो पार्टी के पुराने संरक्षक को नए के खिलाफ खड़ा करता है, जैसा कि हैम्बर्ग से जेनी हिल रिपोर्ट करता है।


Gwent Police officers get body-worn video cameras

Summary: Police officers will be issued with video cameras to mount on their clothing.

Gwent Police is rolling out the initiative following a pilot in Newport city centre in August. The force said the cameras will help to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour, increase public confidence and provide transparency around officers' actions. The approach has been used by other forces, including North Wales Police.

पुलिस अधिकारियों को उनके कपड़ों पर लगाने के लिए वीडियो कैमरे जारी किए जाएंगे।


Big data 'can stop malaria outbreaks before they start'

Summary: A ground-breaking study in Bangladesh has found that using data from mobile phone networks to track the movement of people across the country can help predict where outbreaks of diseases such as malaria are likely to occur, enabling health authorities to take preventative measures.

By Richard GalpinBBC News Every year, malaria kills more than 400,000 people globally - most of them children. Menpaw Mro lifted his young daughter on to his shoulders and began the long journey to the nearest hospital, in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, first on foot, then by boat and finally in a small motorised rickshaw. Time was desperately short. For several days, he had assumed the fever afflicting six-year-old Rum Rao Mro was not serious and she would soon recover at home, in their village in this remote region of Bangladesh. Instead, the fever steadily worsened, putting her life in danger. "She could not sleep, she was crying all the time and had breathing difficulties," he says. They never reached the hospital. Rum Rao died on the last leg of the journey. She'd been suffering from severe malaria. Although in many areas of Bangladesh the number of people falling ill or dying from the malaria has dropped dramatically in recent years, it remains a persistent problem in the Chittagong Hill Tracts - with the region recording the highest number of cases in the country. If these stubborn pockets of malaria were now to be tackled successfully, it would open up the tantalising possibility of Bangladesh finally being able to declare itself free of the deadly disease. Drug resistance But doctors in the Hill Tracts believe they have only a short window of time to achieve this, because the parasites carrying the disease are becoming increasingly drug resistant. Many anti-malarial medicines now have no impact. This drug resistance originated in Cambodia and has now spread to Myanmar, which shares a border with the Chittagong Hill Tracts, as do parts of eastern India. "It's concerning because the malaria figures in India and Myanmar are worse than ours," says Dr Kamrul Hasan, who works in one of the main hospitals in the Hills Tracts. "Their rate of infection is much higher than ours… that's why there is the possibility of the disease spreading into our country." But now help is at hand from an unexpected source: the mobile phones of millions of Bangladeshis. It is part of a project based in the Chittagong region that for several years has been anonymously tracking the movements of people in the area using the data from their mobiles. The big data provides an accurate picture of where they've travelled to in the region and beyond, making it possible to predict where malaria outbreaks are likely to occur. While malaria is caused by mosquitoes biting people and in so doing introducing malaria parasites into the bloodstream, the insects themselves have a very short range of travel. It is humans travelling to different parts of the country who can spread the disease. If they are carrying malaria parasites, these can be passed in to the local populations through mosquito bites. Preventative action Thousands of kilometres away in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, the phone company Telenor collates all the anonymous data and sends it to be analysed by academics at Harvard School of Public Health and a research unit in Thailand run by specialists from Oxford and Mahidol universities. "This is the first time we are using the mobile data to address the mobile and migrant population within the country," says Dr Mohammed Akataruzzaman, of Bangladesh's National Malaria Elimination Programme. "This kind of big data through the mobile phone recording and also patient surveys about the disease will obviously help with the elimination of malaria within the country." The different types of data, including medical information provided by the Bangladesh ministry of health, are used to create risk maps indicating the likely locations of malaria outbreaks so the local health authorities can then be warned to take preventative action, including spraying insecticides and stockpiling bed nets and medicines to protect the population from the disease. "I believe it is extremely important to use accurate information about travel patterns in order to understand how these diseases spread," says Kenth Engo Monsen, Telenor's senior research scientist. "And a mobile operator has that information, So if you are truly going to eliminate these threats, then you also have to a use this information. It's one piece of the puzzle." That is a view shared by Dr Caroline Buckee, of Harvard School of Public Health, who says that understanding where parasites move to and from in Bangladesh is a major step forward. "This is going to be absolutely critical to achieve elimination [of malaria]," she says. And this innovative use of big data could be used to help tackle other diseases, according to Mr Monsen, who believes the Bangladesh project could change the way mobile data will be used in the future.

बांग्लादेश में एक महत्वपूर्ण अध्ययन में पाया गया है कि देश भर में लोगों की आवाजाही पर नज़र रखने के लिए मोबाइल फोन नेटवर्क से डेटा का उपयोग करने से यह अनुमान लगाने में मदद मिल सकती है कि मलेरिया जैसी बीमारियों के प्रकोप कहाँ होने की संभावना है, जिससे स्वास्थ्य अधिकारियों को निवारक उपाय करने में मदद मिल सकती है।


Two men held after car shown speeding at 201mph on M23

Summary: Two men have been arrested after a video of a car speeding at 201mph during the coronavirus lockdown was posted on social media.

The stunt was apparently filmed on the M23 southbound between Gatwick and Crawley in West Sussex. It showed the speedometer of a black Audi RS6, later seized by police. Both men, 38, from Crawley and Horsham, were arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving. One of them was also held on suspicion of aggravated vehicle taking. One was released while inquiries continue, while the other was released on conditional bail until 9 July. The video was posted on social media on 22 May. Follow BBC South East on Facebook, on Twitter, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk.

कोरोनावायरस लॉकडाउन के दौरान 201 मील प्रति घंटे की रफ्तार से एक कार का वीडियो सोशल मीडिया पर पोस्ट किए जाने के बाद दो लोगों को गिरफ्तार किया गया है।


Woman's death in Skegness 'unexplained'

Summary: The death of a woman whose body was found in a Lincolnshire seaside resort is being treated as unexplained, police have said.

Emergency services were called to an address on Roman Bank, Skegness, at about 12:40 BST. A police spokesperson said inquiries were ongoing into the death of the woman, who was in her 40s. The force has appealed for anyone with information to get in touch. A police cordon remains in place.

पुलिस ने कहा है कि एक महिला की मौत, जिसका शव लिंकनशायर समुद्र तटीय रिसॉर्ट में मिला था, को अस्पष्ट माना जा रहा है।


Belgrade rediscovers its confidence

Summary: The word "Belgrade" conjures up images of war and "ethnic cleansing". But a new Belgrade is emerging - of music festivals and nightclubs, pedestrianised streets and designer boutiques - as Serbia prepares to rejoin the European mainstream.

By Martin BuckleyBelgrade The Trans-European "Express" had already broken down and had its locomotive replaced. A heatwave gripped the Balkans, but there was no water on the slow moving train and no air conditioning. What was chilly, however, was the behaviour of the border guards, who demanded and stamped our passports - with no glimmer of a smile. As far as Croatia, the train was packed. But after entering Serbia it slowly emptied. When we finally reached Belgrade, at nearly 3am, barely 20 passengers climbed down. Outside, the magnificent neoclassical 19th Century station, heat-dazed stray dogs wandered dozily around. Close by stood tower blocks shattered by cruise missiles - reminders of Nato's 1999 assault on the Milosevic regime. Belgrade has long been one of the most cosmopolitan cities in Eastern Europe, but it has a slightly faded charm. Its history has been fundamentally edgy, a gateway to the world beyond Europe. It is a city of cafes, of chain smokers, of immigrants, many of them displaced from across the former Yugoslavia as a result of the recent wars. It still feels on the edge. But Belgrade is also an intriguing city and one eager to rediscover the confidence of its heyday. Built around a commanding crag at the confluence of the Danube and Sava rivers, it was an important Roman settlement. Marina Sibalic, an architect, took me up to the immense Kalimegdan Fortress, a bastion that has seen plenty of conflict - largely religious. Indeed, the Siege of Belgrade in 1456 is remembered as a fight for the very survival of Christianity. The Christians won - then for four centuries, Belgrade swung between Muslim and Christian domination, repeatedly captured, sacked and rebuilt. In the 19th Century it finally became the sophisticated capital of the independent Kingdom of Serbia. But today it is inevitably linked with the break-up of Yugoslavia and "ethnic cleansing". The bitter aftertaste has not disappeared. Serbia lingers in the waiting room of EU membership. In fact, Serbian public support for joining Europe has fallen to just 50%. I met a former official of the old regime - I will call him Dr X. Improbably dressed like a CIA man in an American-tailored pale blue summer suit, he spoke angrily of the West's "betrayal" of the Serbs. He insisted that Serbia might never join the EU, and, his eyes glittering with malice, he predicted the collapse of the entire European enterprise. Naturally, younger Serbians want to shrug off the legacy of that generation. We had walked in baking heat along the elegant Prince Mihailo street, now pedestrianised and packed like the centre of any modern capital with designer boutiques. We were heading to the famous Hotel Moskva for afternoon tea. Serbian cakes are orgiastic creamy concoctions, emblematic of the city's past - with names like Alexander Cake, Moscow Cake, and Reform Tart. As we tucked in, Marina's daughter Iva, who has studied in England, told me younger Serbians see themselves as citizens of the world. She was planning a night on the town and that is one way the Serbian young are reclaiming their city, for Belgrade has, improbably, become one of Europe's clubbing capitals. Serbia is now home to two internationally renowned music festivals and Belgrade has a vast number of nightclubs, many of them located on scores of barges that line the riverbanks. Those converging rivers really are at the heart of Belgrade. And I will not easily forget a lazy day we spent on the river Sava. We had driven through Belgrade's steadily expanding suburbs, to our friends' little shoreside weekend house. We motored to an uninhabited, forested island where small boats were moored on a sandy beach. Butterflies fluttered about and crates of beer lay all around, as Serbian families splashed in the warm, chocolate-coloured water. Later, we ate fried sturgeon on a restaurant barge, with a bottle of wine from a vineyard called Radovanovitch. Propped beside the bar was the neck of an enormous amphora, perfectly preserved and almost certainly Roman. It had been recently pulled from the muddy riverbank, the waiter told me. A manifest symbol of Belgrade's very ancient history. A proud history that is worth preserving - especially, perhaps, if it helps eclipse uneasy memories of the more recent past. And a few miles east in central Belgrade the Sava is spanned by a magnificent new bridge, the kind of landmark statement modern cities like to make, a declaration of Belgrade's determination to re-enter the European mainstream. How to listen to From Our Own Correspondent: BBC Radio 4: A 30-minute programme on Saturdays, 11:30 BST. Second 30-minute programme on Thursdays, 11:00 BST (some weeks only). Listen online or download the podcast BBC World Service: Hear daily 10-minute editions Monday to Friday, repeated through the day, also available to listen online. Read more or explore the archive at the programme website.

"बेलग्रेड" शब्द युद्ध और "जातीय सफाई" की छवियों को दर्शाता है। लेकिन एक नया बेलग्रेड उभर रहा है-संगीत समारोहों और नाइट क्लबों, पैदल चलने वाली सड़कों और डिजाइनर बुटीक-क्योंकि सर्बिया यूरोपीय मुख्यधारा में फिर से शामिल होने की तैयारी कर रहा है।


Macron Leaks: the anatomy of a hack

Summary: It's still unclear who hacked incoming French President Emmanuel Macron's emails. But what does the way they then spread across the internet tell us about the way hackers and political movements work in tandem?

By Megha MohanBBC Trending It was a huge story that broke in the very final hours of coverage of France's presidential election campaign. But whoever dumped the leaked Macron emails online, did not by themselves turn them into a global topic of discussion. That job was left to a network of political activists, aided by bots and automated accounts, and then ultimately signal boosted by the Twitter account of WikiLeaks. BBC Trending has spoken to the main activist who took the data dump from a fringe message board to the mainstream - and we've pieced together the story of how the hack came to light. Just before 19:00 BST on Friday 5 May, a huge trove of files appeared on the anonymous document sharing site Pastebin, under the title "EMLEAKS". They had first been posted on various threads on an online library site called archive.org. However, as these threads have since been deleted, it's not possible to gauge what time this first happened. The timing is crucial. It was just hours before the start of the pre-election news blackout within France, and so media outlets acted with extreme caution. However, a network of online actors moved quickly to spread the leaks. Those who monitor internet politics know all about "/pol/". It's the anarchic political discussion forum on the anonymous messaging board 4chan, and although frequented by video gamers and internet culture obsessives, it's also a favoured hangout for a number of political activists associated with extreme right-wing groups. By 19:35 on 5 May, a link to the Pastebin files appeared on /pol/. The only detail about the identity of posters on the forum is a flag signifying the country of their computer's registered IP address. However, these are easy to fake. A Latvian connection? The /pol/ forum is crucial to the story, because rumours of a data dump seem to have been circulating there for several days previously. On Wednesday 3 May, two days before the email leaks, a user on separate thread on the board posted a different set of documents - ones which suggested Macron had a secret bank account in the Cayman Islands. There was vigorous debate on the board about whether the documents had been doctored. Macron's political movement, En Marche!, said they were fake and filed a lawsuit over the online rumours. Those first documents were posted from a user who had a Latvian IP address. But it's likely they were faking their location. "This user is probably not from Latvia, and used a proxy to hide their identity from 4chan," says Jules Darmanin, a reporter at BuzzFeed News France. That account is backed up by a later post by the user themselves, who said "I am not in Latvia". The poster boasted of using proxy servers - a mechanism by which users can mask or fake their location online. "Seven proxies" is also a reference to an old 4chan joke about the ease of hiding online: The user who dumped the Macron emails on Friday had a US flag included in their post on 4chan. But of course, they too could have been using a proxy. The leak goes mainstream The man who popularised the data dump says he was expecting it and was poised to spread it. Fourteen minutes after the Friday leaks on 4chan, at 19:49 BST, Jack Posobiec, a journalist who writes for far-right Canadian outlet Rebel Media, posted a link to the thread to Twitter using the hashtag #MacronLeaks. He told BBC Trending that the user with the Latvian IP address, responsible for the first anti-Macron leak, had alerted him to the upcoming dump. "The same poster of the financial documents said to stay tuned tomorrow for a bigger story - so I pretty much spent the next 24 hours hitting refresh on the site," he told us. How did Posobiec's tweet go viral so fast? It was reportedly retweeted 87 times in the first five minutes, suggesting, says Ben Nimmo at the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab, that the message was being boosted with the help of bots. "A bot is a Twitter profile which does not have a single human operator behind it," Nimmo tells BBC Trending, "For its profile picture it will have an image of someone else or a random picture like a mountain or a bird. it will be run by a computer programme, by an algorithm, which will essentially retweet everything from listed accounts or to retweet any tweets that mention certain words. So it is fully automated." BBC Trending documentary: How The ‘Great Meme War’ Moved To France Visit the Trending Facebook page There were some fully automated accounts spreading the tag - but it wasn't just bots. Thousands of real people shared the tweet too. Several accounts that specialise in political messaging, in this case linked to the US "alt-right" movement, shared Posobiec's tweet. It's notable that this happened mostly outside of France. Initially those sharing these messages were mostly English speakers, rather than French speakers. Wikileaks The biggest initial boost, however, came not with bots or alt-right activists, but in the form of the official WikiLeaks Twitter account, which shared the 4chan link in a cautiously worded post. The leaks then began being shared by well-known National Front accounts, this time in French. Around 47,000 tweets were posted in three hours and the hashtag #MacronLeaks began to trend in France. By Saturday morning, it had reached the worldwide trend list. Crucially, this meant the story was spreading, despite reporting restrictions in force in France. Discord By this time, an informal and global network of political activists was working hard to spread the story. Conversations in private, English-speaking, pro-Le Pen groups on the messaging app Discord were discussing how to amplify Posobiec's hashtag and use internet-friendly memes to further discredit Macron. The political response As the reporting restrictions approached and the hashtag reached full volume, politicians from both camps scrambled to respond. Florian Philippot, the vice president of Marine Le Pen's National Front, responded to the story at 22:40 BST (23:40 French time) by tweeting "Will #MacronLeaks teach us something that investigative journalism has deliberately killed?" Sylvain Fort, a campaign spokesman for Emmanuel Macron, responded by calling Philippot's tweet "vile". Five minutes before the restrictions were due to start, Macron's team released a press release condemning the leak, saying that they had been subject to a "massive and coordinated piracy action". 4chan's owner Hiroyuki Nisimura tweeted, attempting to distance his site from the leaks. Who's behind it all? It still remains unclear who is behind the leaks. But the Macron campaign said that some of the sites spreading the leaks were "linked to Russian interests." Similar allegations have been made in the past. In March 2017, David Grout, from cybersecurity firm FireEye, told BBC Trending that there appeared to be "interest from Russian hacking group APT 28, also known as Fancy Bear, in influencing the French election." After the latest leak, a number of cybersecurity firms have also attributed it to the APT 28 group. The group has previously been accused of attacks on the Democratic National Committee during the US election. More from BBC Trending: Conversations with hacker Guccifer 2.0 The Russian government has not commented on these allegations. In the past it's denied political meddling of this sort, saying they have "never interfered" with a foreign election. The leak, and similar online activity, will continue to have political ramifications. So far, however, it seems not to have swayed most voters. On Sunday, France chose Macron as their next president, with 66% of the vote. Blog by Megha Mohan Additional reporting by Mike Wendling You can follow BBC Trending on Twitter @BBCtrending, and find us on Facebook. All our stories are at bbc.com/trending.

यह अभी भी स्पष्ट नहीं है कि आने वाले फ्रांसीसी राष्ट्रपति इमैनुएल मैक्रों के ईमेल को किसने हैक किया। लेकिन जिस तरह से वे इंटरनेट पर फैलते हैं, वह हमें हैकर्स और राजनीतिक आंदोलनों के साथ मिलकर काम करने के तरीके के बारे में क्या बताता है?


Suspected armed robber hurt in A64 crash

Summary: A man suspected of being involved in armed robberies in the south of England was arrested after a car crash in North Yorkshire.

The man, who is in his 40s, was in a car which collided with a police vehicle on the A64 at Malton at about 10:00 GMT on Saturday. Police said officers had tracked the vehicle after it was seen on the A64 in Scarborough earlier that day. The two cars were travelling in the same direction, police said. The man was treated for abdominal injuries before being released for questioning.

इंग्लैंड के दक्षिण में सशस्त्र डकैती में शामिल होने के संदेह में एक व्यक्ति को उत्तरी यॉर्कशायर में एक कार दुर्घटना के बाद गिरफ्तार किया गया था।