Reality Check: Who gets social care and who pays for it?

Summary: We know our population is ageing and, as we live longer, many of us will need support in old age. There has also been an increase in the numbers of people living with a disability who may rely on some level of social care.

Niall Dickson, the head of the NHS Confederation, which represents NHS providers, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the system was trying to cope with "huge amounts of extra demand" as a result of there being "many many more" older people. Between 2005 and 2015, the number of people aged 65 and over in the UK increased by 21%, while the number aged 85 and over increased by 31%. More than a million more people were living with a disability in the UK in 2016 than 10 years earlier because people are living longer with disabilities than before. This is all good news. But at the same time, directors of adult social services in England say they have had to cut £4.6bn from their budgets since 2010. So who is getting care, what kind of care are they getting and who is paying for it? Unlike the NHS, in England social care is not free at the point of delivery - a lot of people have to pay for at least some of their care, and a lot of that care is delivered by private providers. That can be anything from someone coming to your house to help you get out of bed or washed, to full-time accommodation in a care home. It's a little different in the rest of the UK - home care is capped at £60 a week in Wales and free for the over-75s in Northern Ireland, while Scotland provides free personal care, that is help with things such as washing and dressing, in both care homes and people's own homes. The UK Homecare Association estimates that more than 70% of homecare services in the UK are bought by local authorities, with the rest bought by people paying for their care themselves. In 2014-15, that equated to 646,000 people being cared for in their homes with the state paying. This doesn't necessarily mean 70% of people who need care at home are paid for by the state. In 2015, Age UK estimated that more than a million older people in England were living with unmet social care needs (such as not receiving assistance with bathing and dressing), a rise from 800,000 in 2010. People not eligible for funding may just be doing without the care they really need or relying on informal care from friends and family. When it comes to residential care, the latest figures from 2014 suggest local authorities across the UK paid for 37% of people, while the NHS funded 10% of care home places. The rest was made up of people who either paid for all of their care (41%), or topped it up with a contribution from their local council (12%). On 31 March 2016, in England, there were 199,305 people in nursing and residential home places and 452,990 people accessing long-term care in the community for whom the local council had some role in funding or providing care or assessing the needs of the person receiving it. The most recent data doesn't tell us how many people were cared for overall in England, but we can say that there were 1.8 million requests for support in 2015-16. Of those, 28% were from people aged 18-64 and the remaining 72% were aged 65 and over. But of these requests, 57% resulted in no direct support from the council. For the over-65 group, almost a quarter of requests for support were from people being discharged from hospital. Think tank the King's Fund says the number of older people getting state-funded help in England alone fell by 26% between 2009 and 2014. This is in the context of an ageing population. The government has said English councils' social care departments are getting an extra £3.5bn by 2020. Almost £2bn of this comes from council tax, which local authorities have been allowed to raise by 3% this year and next year provided they spend it on adult social care. Find other Reality Checks here

हम जानते हैं कि हमारी आबादी बूढ़ी हो रही है और जैसे-जैसे हम लंबे समय तक जीवित रहेंगे, हम में से कई लोगों को बुढ़ापे में सहायता की आवश्यकता होगी। विकलांग लोगों की संख्या में भी वृद्धि हुई है जो कुछ स्तर की सामाजिक देखभाल पर निर्भर हो सकते हैं।


Teenager held after forensics van torched

Summary: A 13-year-old boy has been arrested after police in Leeds were attacked with bricks and a forensics van was torched.

Officers were called to Halton Moor on Thursday where a window had been smashed. They were confronted by youths throwing bricks and the van was later set alight. The boy, from Halton Moor, is being held on suspicion of criminal damage, police said. Meanwhile, West Yorkshire Police said a 31-year-old man, who was arrested on Friday, had been charged with criminal damage offences. He has been released on bail and is due to appear at Leeds Magistrates' Court next month. Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk. Related Internet Links West Yorkshire Police

लीड्स में पुलिस पर ईंटों से हमला करने और एक फोरेंसिक वैन में आग लगाने के बाद एक 13 वर्षीय लड़के को गिरफ्तार किया गया है।


Talks start over £25m Gwynedd council cuts

Summary: Gwynedd council is holding a series of meetings about plans to make £25m in budget cuts affecting public services.

The first evening meeting takes place at Ysgol Dyffryn Ogwen in Bethesda on Monday, with informal drop-ins starting on Tuesday at Y Felinheli. The council's Gwynedd Challenge consultation has been launched amid concerns it faces tough decisions due to budget cuts. Councillors will decide which services to protect and which to cut in 2016. One unpopular idea is to close public access on Barmouth bridge to save £30,000 a year, which would mean walkers and cyclists facing a 16-mile (26 km) diversion.

ग्वेनेड परिषद सार्वजनिक सेवाओं को प्रभावित करने वाले बजट में 25 मिलियन पाउंड की कटौती करने की योजना के बारे में कई बैठकें कर रही है।


Hair loss: What is female-pattern baldness?

Summary: For some people it may be the stuff of nightmares, but baldness isn't just a male problem. Loose Women panellist Nadia Sawalha has posted an emotional video talking about losing her hair at the age of 52. But what is female baldness?

By Laura LeaBBC News The TV presenter admitted her trademark curls were fake and that she was going through the perimenopause, which is the start of the menopause. She revealed a doctor told her she had the balding gene. What is the balding gene? Genetic or pattern hair loss - androgenetic alopecia by its proper name - is the most common cause of hair loss in men and women, explained Iain Sallis, director of the Institute of Trichologists. It is inherited from one or both parents and can be triggered by hormones at any time after puberty. Hair is lost at the front, top and the crown of the scalp. The hair loss can vary from thinning to complete baldness. NHS England estimates that around 50% of women over the age of 65 experience female-pattern baldness. There are three main things that can cause this type of hair loss: age, inheritance and the hormone testosterone. Hayley Jennings, who set up the Yorkshire Hair Loss Clinic, said the majority of her clients were women - especially mothers - in their 30s and 40s with female pattern hair loss. "This effects one in four women. I have clients who feel embarrassed and unattractive at a time when they should be feeling their most confident," she said. What has it got to do with the menopause? It's all about hormone changes, which women can experience after puberty, pregnancy or menopause. Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) is the main hormone responsible. "After menopuase, the oestrogen is no longer in the body to counter the testosterone," said Mr Sallis. According to the Association of Dermatologists, DHT causes a change in the hair follicles on the scalp. The hairs from those follicles become smaller in diameter, shorter in length and lighter in colour until the follicles stop producing hair all together. In her video, Sawalha admitted her hair "really started to change" after she had her children. This post-birth hair loss, Mr Sallis explained, is often experienced three months after birth and is due to shock, a hormone drop and anaemia. The hair often bounces back another three months later, Mr Sallis added. Former TV presenter and 1980s pop star Cheryl Baker began to lose her hair aged 50 when she hit the menopause. Following the death of her mother, it became worse. She told the Victoria Derbyshire programme: "You're in disbelief in the beginning. I have shed a lot of tears. It was such a distressing thing to go through. "I bought hair pieces, wigs and hats and stopped appearing in public because I felt ashamed of myself." Living with hair loss Sawalha said she sounded "absolutely pathetic" for being so upset, but the public response she has received suggests otherwise. Hundreds have since commented on her Facebook video, praising the TV star for her bravery. "The psychological impact of hair loss is huge," said Mr Sallis. One of those who could relate to the video was Catherine Adams, 67, from Southend-on-Sea, who has Alopecia Totalis, which affects her whole body. She lost her hair suddenly aged 20. 'Sense of humour' "It completely destroys your confidence. You think people are looking at you - you feel a bit freaky," she said. Some hair grew back when Catherine was pregnant, but she later lost it again. "You miss out on things - hair is so important for women," she explained. "I've been reluctant to go away with friends or do some activities even now, in case they see me without the wig. So I'm still very self conscious." Compared to when she was younger, Catherine said it was "easier now", with more people talking openly about it and better support now available. Her advice is stay positive. "It's with you all the time. I've realised it's never going to grow back, I still get upset. You've got to go with it and have a sense of humour about it." What can you do about it?

कुछ लोगों के लिए यह बुरे सपने की बात हो सकती है, लेकिन गंजापन केवल पुरुषों की समस्या नहीं है। महिला पैनलिस्ट नादिया सावला ने 52 साल की उम्र में अपने बाल झड़ने के बारे में बात करते हुए एक भावनात्मक वीडियो पोस्ट किया है। लेकिन महिला गंजापन क्या है?


'Sinister' arson attack on Antrim house investigated

Summary: An arson attack on a house in Antrim on Friday night has been described by police as "sinister".

The fire at Altmore Close was reported to police at about 21:25 GMT. The property was badly damaged in the attack although no-one was in the house at the time. Neighbours had to leave their home as firefighters dealt with the blaze, which police have said they are treating as arson with intent to endanger life. Detectives have appealed for anyone with information about the attack to contact them.

शुक्रवार की रात को एंट्रिम में एक घर पर आगजनी के हमले को पुलिस ने "भयावह" बताया है।


G20 summit: Leave your kayak and snake at home

Summary: G20 summits are a magnet for protesters.

The last time it was held in Australia, in Melbourne in 2006, there were violent clashes between police and demonstrators. This conference, in Brisbane, will see Australia's biggest deployment of police and soldiers, and police have been given extended powers. Twenty-seven different groups have been given permits to protest at designated areas and thousands of people are expected over the weekend. But there is an eclectic list of items which they will not be allowed to take into the security buffer zone near the venue. Eggs In fact, no projectiles at all. The examples given are "stones, ball bearings or eggs". Animal manure, and any other "noxious or offensive substance", are also out. Weapons Unsurprisingly, any kind of weapon is banned. The list includes longbows, spear guns, bolt guns, arrows, blowpipes, swords, antique firearms and explosives. Climbing No climbing "onto, under, over or around" barriers erected by the G20 security. Large signs Protest signs are welcome - and as ever, are likely to be creative in their criticisms of world leaders. But the legislation contains specific restrictions on the size of banners and placards allowed. They must be no more than 100cm high x 200cm wide. Political billboards Brisbane Airport, which will welcome world leaders to the summit, would not allow two adverts to be displayed on the grounds they were overly political. One of the adverts campaigned against climate change, the other corruption. In a statement the airport said "we believe the airport shouldn't be used as a platform for partisan views, whether we agree with those views or not". Kayaks The laws forbid "a manually operated surf ski or surfboard, kayak, boat or canoe". Fires Do not start fires near the G20 summit. But you can be exempt from this rule with a lawful excuse. The very Australian example given is "a chef at a restaurant in a declared area who lights a gas barbecue". Masks Masked protestors have been a feature of previous G20 summits, but this one bans masks, balaclavas, and anything capable of disguising or concealing a person's identity. There are exceptions for religious clothing, which is pertinent given Australia's recent political wrangling over Islamic attire. Reptiles Bad news for anyone wanting to bring a pet snake to a protest. "A reptile, insect or other animal capable of causing physical harm if released in close proximity to a person" are all prohibited. Kites "... or other device suspended by airflow and controlled by a string or cord attached to it." Toy cars and model planes are out too. And one that was not banned... A Brisbane roundabout Ahead of the meeting, President Obama's delegation wanted the demolition of a roundabout in Brisbane so that his armoured limousine aka The Beast would not have to slow down, according to reports in newspaper The Australian. But the request was denied. Brisbane Times, however, quoted a transport ministry spokeswoman as saying she was not aware of any such request.

जी-20 शिखर सम्मेलन प्रदर्शनकारियों के लिए एक चुंबक हैं।


Glencoe Mountain plans to make artificial snow

Summary: The operators of Scotland's oldest ski area have raised enough money to lease a snow-making "factory".

Glencoe Mountain plan to have the unit in place next month, while continuing to raise further funds through a crowdfunding campaign to buy it. The ability to make artificial snow would allow the site to guarantee snowsports every season. The snow would be spread on the resort's new Coire Pollach ski run and sledging area. The centre, which dates to 1956, said last season was its worst on record. Only 32 days of skiing was possible in poor conditions.

स्कॉटलैंड के सबसे पुराने स्की क्षेत्र के संचालकों ने बर्फ बनाने वाले "कारखाने" को पट्टे पर देने के लिए पर्याप्त धन जुटाया है।


Cameron urged to call cabinet meeting once EU deal is done

Summary: Timing can be everything. And as the days tick down to a likely deal with the rest of the EU, ministers' minds are turning to what happens as soon as the ink is dry, or more like the complicated agreements are run off the printers in the European Council.

Laura KuenssbergPolitical editor@bbclaurakon Twitter I'm told the prime minister is being urged to hold an emergency cabinet as soon as the crucial EU summit in Brussels concludes and he can get back to London. Some cabinet ministers fear that if, as expected, David Cameron concludes the deal with the rest of the EU on Friday 19 February, that the cabinet will not meet until Tuesday to decide formally the government's position. That would give the prime minister, and those fighting to stay in the EU, a head start in the vital early days of what's likely to be a short campaign. And some even believe the issue is of such importance that House of Commons could even be recalled over that weekend to debate the likely deal. The deal is far from being concluded, but politicians are lining up to express confidence it can be done next month. Several cabinet ministers therefore believe that David Cameron must guarantee that the cabinet will meet as soon as he returns from Brussels on the Friday. One told the BBC it is "inconceivable" that the prime minister would be able to make the case for his deal before meeting senior colleagues, some of whom are likely to campaign for Out. Another senior Conservative said that it would be "right and proper" for the cabinet to meet on the Friday. A No 10 source said the focus was on reaching a deal, rather than what happens afterwards. But the concerns over choreography are real, a symbol of how much is at stake.

समय सब कुछ हो सकता है। और जैसे-जैसे दिन बाकी यूरोपीय संघ के साथ एक संभावित सौदे की ओर बढ़ रहे हैं, मंत्रियों का दिमाग इस ओर मुड़ रहा है कि स्याही सूखने के तुरंत बाद क्या होता है, या जैसे कि यूरोपीय परिषद में प्रिंटर से जटिल समझौतों को हटा दिया जाता है।


Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue training 'improved'

Summary: A fire service criticised by a public watchdog in March has improved its crews' training, fire chiefs have said.

Serious concerns were raised about how Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service was run and the level of training provided to its crews. A peer support team, involving senior officers from HIFRS and other brigades, was set up to help guide improvements. Following the team's latest meeting, HIFRS said hard work was paying off but added that some challenges remained. HIFRS said one area where marked changes had been made was in breathing apparatus training.

अग्निशमन प्रमुखों ने कहा है कि मार्च में एक सार्वजनिक प्रहरी द्वारा आलोचना की गई एक अग्निशमन सेवा ने अपने चालक दल के प्रशिक्षण में सुधार किया है।


Suspended Aberdeen Labour members 'to learn fate in October'

Summary: A group of Aberdeen councillors suspended from Labour could learn their fate next month.

All nine members of the Labour group on the city council were suspended by the party when they formed a coalition with the Conservatives. Scottish Labour said its investigation was "ongoing" but it expected it to be concluded, and a decision reached, by the end of October. The SNP is the largest group at the council but is in opposition. The Labour group signed a deal with the Conservative and independent groups in May.

लेबर से निलंबित एबरडीन पार्षदों का एक समूह अगले महीने अपना भाग्य जान सकता है।


The town fighting the Ford factory closure

Summary: It was a uniquely Welsh protest - 55 members of the Bridgend male voice choir stood out in front of Ford's headquarters in Essex, belting out the Welsh national anthem "Land of My Fathers" beneath a Welsh flag waving in the wind.

By Laura Heighton-Ginns & Katie Prescott Business reporters They were making a stand against the closure of the car manufacturer's engine factory in Bridgend, which will see the loss of 1,700 jobs. "I think we are a nation that love a bit of nostalgia, but it was meant as a sincere protest," says the choir's chairman Gareth Davies. The group meets weekly, and was formed almost 60 years ago. A number of attendees formerly worked at "Fords", as they refer to it. Since the protest, a video of it has gone viral, with tens of thousands of views - including on the plant shop floor. Jason Evans has been a Ford assembly worker for 10 years. "They were playing it in the plant. People were coming over to me saying, 'have you seen the video, have you seen the video?'" Workers come from all over South Wales for the highly paid and highly skilled jobs in the Ford factory - jobs that aren't easily replaced. Since the announcement, "it's like working under a dark cloud," he says. Unite represents the majority of the plant employees. Bryan Godsell, officer for the union, says that workers feel betrayed by Ford. They've rejected the closure proposal on offer - including a redundancy package of early pension access, a cash payment and continuity payments. The union is willing to pull any levers it can to keep at least some jobs here. "What the company needs to understand is that there's a national policy within Unite and our sister unions," says Mr Godsell. He thinks this could escalate to an industrial action ballot across all Ford UK plants. "Ford like to talk about the Ford family. Well, Ford workers look after each other." He adds: "We're Welsh, we're proud of the work we do." Dedicated taskforce A taskforce has now been set up to look at ensuring the economic survival of the area. It pulls together Welsh government, Ford and the unions. One of the leaders is the former Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones, who has represented Bridgend for more than 20 years. He thinks about 400 staff will retire, and others will go to Aston Martin, which is advertising 500 jobs only 10 miles away in St Athan. But that still leaves 800 workers without jobs. He wants to see Ford provide compensation comparable to what they agreed for Bordeaux workers earlier this year. "They produced a significant support package, about €100m (£89.6m) I think - so we'd look for Ford to provide similar here." Communication, though, seems to have broken down. "There was no discussion beforehand to see if anything could be done to avoid a closure," he says. "They seem not to want to communicate." The politician talks as though lamenting the end of a relationship. "There was always someone they could contact, if there was a problem they'd see a minister, no problem." It could make for a tense meeting when the Welsh government, Unite and Ford sit around the table for taskforce talks. The Welsh government has promised to do whatever it takes to secure jobs that are as skilled and as well-paid as those at Ford - including through financial incentives. Carwyn Jones says some people have already approached the government, because the rail-connected plant and workforce are so attractive. Community impact For many people here, the planned plant closure is still an abstract concept. Beth Daniel owns a hair salon in the centre of town, and business is booming. A customer settles a bill as another waits to book an appointment, while the phone rings as customers call to book appointments too. "Everybody has been talking about it, but I don't think it's going to have a huge impact on the town centre," says Beth. But as she speaks, the radio on the counter is playing an advert for services to help people into work. The Ford announcement isn't the first such bad news the town has had in recent years. A number of big employers have left the area, taking skilled jobs with them. Phil Lewis runs a cafe next to the Ford factory complex. He lists off the names of firms that have left. "If we roll the clock back, Sony were here, Diaplastics were here, Smith Kendon were here. The last one standing is Fords," he says. Phil's popular shop is a newsagent and cafe combined, but people also seem to visit just to seek Phil out for a chat. The waitress says she can check if he's available to speak to us too, adding, "he's a lovely manager". But it's hard to see how the cafe will continue to thrive if Ford leaves - along with its social element, which can't be accounted for in economic terms. For Gareth Davies, the Ford plant is "a big thing in our social history." It's perhaps this notion, as much as anything else, that compelled the Bridgend male choir to make their voices heard.

यह एक विशिष्ट रूप से वेल्श विरोध था-ब्रिजेंड पुरुष वॉयस कॉयर के 55 सदस्य एसेक्स में फोर्ड के मुख्यालय के सामने खड़े थे, हवा में लहराते हुए वेल्श ध्वज के नीचे वेल्श राष्ट्रगान "लैंड ऑफ माई फादर्स" बजाते हुए।


Scottish election 2021: Many manifestos, but for what?

Summary: A lot of work goes into election manifestos. They may not be read by voters, but they matter. The Holyrood election shows there is more convergence and consensus than divergence and dispute on what is required for the next five years, apart from one big issue. It is worth considering what they don't include, as much as what they do, and watch out for messages that are less about winning votes but also to warn the public about change ahead.

Douglas FraserBusiness/economy editor, Scotland The sixth Scottish Parliament elections, with less than two weeks to go, will surely be remembered as the Covid campaign - fought with lockdown and social distancing between candidates and voters. The result may be decisive, either way, for the independence movement. But with all the manifestos now published, what do they tell us about the broader challenges, the pressures and the decisions that lie ahead for MSPs elected on 6 May? Having read the main parties' manifestos, here are some themes. SIGN UP FOR SCOTLAND ALERTS: Get extra updates on BBC election coverage Manifestos matter Compiling a manifesto usually gets a lot more attention within a political party than it does within the electorate. That can be because that's where tensions get resolved inside each party. Labour has long specialised in factional battles over what goes in and what comes out. Or it can be to establish a mandate for pushing certain policies once elected. A manifesto can be an important element in reaching a coalition deal, though we haven't had one of them at Holyrood for 18 years. For a governing party, it sets out priorities. And at Holyrood, it becomes the programme of work for ministers, and a way of enforcing discipline in government ranks. If something's in the manifesto, it's much harder to rebel against it. So manifestos matter. And they're an important guide to our politics and priorities in public life. The main ones don't differ that much At considerable risk of generalising, I'm struck by how parties approach a narrow range of big issues in similar ways. On reading them, you don't get a sense of markedly different futures. Even if you take Scottish independence as the big fault line, the argument in this campaign is not what it would look like but whether there should be a referendum. The different portraits of a future Scotland that the main parties sketch out in these manifestos are not that different. You might expect Scottish Conservatives, for instance, to have a clearly different view of the role for the state in people's lives. That's not what you get. Tories have moved into the consensus area where things are provided for free to everyone, including student tuition, prescriptions, school meals. (Twenty years ago, when Tommy Sheridan proposed free school meals, other parties saw that as too radical.) (This reflects on the five main parties. There are 23 others standing at this election, many on a narrower range of issues, and some deeply radical in what they want to achieve.) Allocating funds takes priority over making change The economy is one area which takes top billing in several manifestos, and you'll find similar priorities: jobs for young people, re-skilling for those who lose jobs and have to find a new one, tax breaks for shops and capital spending to improve transport and broadband. Everyone talks about transition to more renewable energy. All of these could help improve productivity - a persistent, deep-seated problem, but it's tackled in manifestos in terms of where to allocate marginal amounts of money. Perhaps it needs something more profound about the way business operates and invests, how managers manage and motivate workers, and what, if anything, governments can do to influence that. On the economy, the consensus doesn't stretch to Scottish Greens. They're outliers among the five main parties, with more of a challenge to the way the economy works. The others vary, but they all go with the grain of the way business operates. They want extra help, at the margins, for small businesses, co-operatives and women entrepreneurs. But the role of big business doesn't get much attention. SCOTLAND'S ELECTION: THE BASICS What's happening? On 6 May, people across Scotland will vote to elect 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs). The party that wins the most seats will form the government. Find out more here. What powers do they have? MSPs pass laws on aspects of life in Scotland such as health, education and transport - and have some powers over tax and welfare benefits. Climate change requires harder choices and sacrifice by the public. There's a consensus about climate change and the need to address it. The positive messages are about jobs from renewable power, and the importance of the COP26 summit. But there are hard messages also. There are implications if Scotland, the UK and other countries are to get to net zero in the next three decades. Sacrifice is required, with change and cost. And it's up to politicians to decide how those sacrifices are distributed. Oil and gas jobs will go. Car use will be constrained and road space cut back. Air travel will surely continue, but at a higher polluter-must-pay cost. There will be a shift to more expensive electric vehicles. Nothing hits home in Scotland more than how your home is heated. Expect an enforced shift away from gas heating, requiring new homes not to include it from 2025, and then phasing out of new gas boilers. The manifestos tell us about plans to improve energy efficiency in homes. With almost every brick cavity now filled, the challenge is to retrofit older stone-built homes. That could be very expensive, disruptive and unpopular. Scottish Greens go further and faster than others on this. They're talking about, possibly, whole streets being required to retrofit together. That probably means taking old buildings and cladding them internally. And if you haven't reached a minimum level of energy efficiency in your home within five years, Greens would bar you from selling it. So an election can engage people with difficult issues as well as easy giveaways, and on climate change, we're seeing some of that. Law and order takes a lower priority The classic modern manifesto, honed by the New Labour electoral machine, has simply communicated memorable commitments on as few as four issues. Each party has to have something to say about the economy with jobs, health, education and crime. It is assumed that a promise of several thousand more teachers or nurses is more easily understood as a commitment to education than reassurances about the quality of teaching or healthcare. While all the parties talk about law and order, or public safety, and want to address public concerns about it, its prominence as a campaign issue has been reduced. That's probably a sign either recent policies have worked, or that public perceptions have come into line with the less worrying reality, or a bit of both. The problem is this: if an issue ceases to get much attention and is not an area of party dispute, it is harder to get resources allocated to it. Spending matters a lot more than taxing Holyrood has significant new powers to change income tax. It diverged in 2018, with a break from the thresholds and rates set at Westminster. But there's little difference in what to do with those powers next. The Conservatives have been critical of the SNP's choices as they affect above average earners, and Tories say they would like to re-align with Westminster. But their priority is to spend, not to cut tax. That has dominated Scottish Parliament thinking since 1999, and the addition of new tax powers hasn't changed much. With so much uncertainty about future tax revenue and block grants, the manifestos offer, at best, a very sketchy picture of how budgets can be balanced. Scottish Labour has a long and expensive wish list, but it's particularly vague on how to pay for them. MSPs also been able to reform council tax and business rates for 22 years. Neither is seen as fit for purpose in the modern era. There's widespread support for change, but if you want a worked-out, detailed plan, you won't find one in this election campaign. Conservatives have parked council tax reform, and look to Downing Street to lead on business rates reform. Others at Holyrood hold out, vaguely, for cross-party agreement. It is now 30 years since the only valuation of property ever carried out for council tax, at the time it was introduced. That is indefensible, but no party is offering to update that. What difference can Holyrood make anyway? The answer to that depends on your attitude to independence. There's a lot that can be done at Holyrood, and done differently. Reforming business rates, for instance. And a lot of economic levers at Westminster shape the economy in Scotland. You emphasise what can be done, and what can't, according to political taste. At this election, government borrowing, to pay for furlough and colossal crisis support for business, is a hugely significant feature of getting the UK and Scottish economies through the crisis. Holyrood can allocate funds, but doesn't determine the scale of them or when they're withdrawn. That's for Downing Street. But be careful of the idea that the levers of economic power, spending and tax can be pulled by one government or another, and things happen. It's not that simple. There's so much more that cannot be controlled; the impact of global economic forces, business investment decisions, consumer sentiment, social change, and new, disruptive technologies. Government, whether Holyrood or Westminster, can only hope to steer a course through economic waters that can sometimes be very turbulent. Now is one of those times.

चुनाव घोषणापत्रों में बहुत काम होता है। वे भले ही मतदाताओं द्वारा नहीं पढ़े जाते हों, लेकिन वे मायने रखते हैं। होलीरूड चुनाव से पता चलता है कि एक बड़े मुद्दे के अलावा अगले पांच वर्षों के लिए क्या आवश्यक है, इस पर मतभेद और विवाद की तुलना में अधिक अभिसरण और आम सहमति है। यह विचार करने योग्य है कि वे क्या शामिल नहीं करते हैं, जितना कि वे क्या करते हैं, और उन संदेशों पर ध्यान देते हैं जो वोट जीतने के बारे में कम हैं, लेकिन जनता को आगे के बदलाव के बारे में चेतावनी देने के लिए भी।


Attempted murder arrest in Asda car park in Queensferry

Summary: A man was arrested in a supermarket car park on Tuesday afternoon on suspicion of attempted murder.

Roads around Asda in Queensferry, Flintshire, had to be closed while police dealt with the incident. North Wales Police stopped the car at the request of Staffordshire Police and a 48-year-old from Longton in Stoke has been taken into custody. It came after a woman suffered multiple knife wounds following a "domestic incident" in Stoke-on-Trent. She is being treated in the Royal Stoke University Hospital. All roads have reopened except for the entrance into Asda.

हत्या के प्रयास के संदेह में मंगलवार दोपहर एक सुपरमार्केट कार पार्क में एक व्यक्ति को गिरफ्तार किया गया।


Council tenant: 'Cockroaches bit my baby's face'

Summary: Residents living in the one remaining block of flats on a north-London estate undergoing redevelopment say they are being "left to rot", with pest infestations and security issues. They told the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme how they had decided to do something about it.

By Sean ClareBBC Victoria Derbyshire programme "When my daughter finds the cockroaches, she tries to keep it quiet," Annie says. "She warns me there's a cockroach and says, 'Mummy, don't cry.'" Annie first saw cockroaches in her flat two years ago. Since then, pest control officers have visited her 25 times and a number of the other residents on Barnet's West Hendon housing estate have also complained about the pests. The cockroaches have bitten her 10-month-old son on his eyelid and her four-year-old daughter on the arm. Annie herself developed an infection after also being bitten on the eyelid. "At first I didn't say anything because I was embarrassed," she says. "I didn't even know they could bite." The 28-year-old lives with her partner and two children in a one-bedroom flat on Marsh Drive. The original estate of 680 homes was built in the 1960s, for low-income families. These properties are being demolished and replaced with a mixture of social, affordable and mainly private flats costing up to £600,000. Most of this work has been completed and new residents have moved in. Annie's block is the only one still standing and will remain for at least two and a half more years. Meanwhile, Annie - an NHS administrator - cannot cook in her flat and uses only disposable cutlery, cups and plates, because she has seen cockroaches in her cupboards. "I physically couldn't eat here. It made me feel sick, it made me feel dirty," she says. The family rely on takeaways and food cooked by friends and family. Annie spends five hours a day cleaning and her GP says she is showing signs of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). A letter from the doctor to the council, seen by the programme, states they are "totally unacceptable living conditions". It concludes: "I would very much hope that you would be able to rehouse them in the immediate future as this absolutely unsuitable housing is taking its toll on this mother and children's physical and mental health." After her 10th appointment with pest control, Annie went to speak to the council. She told officials: "We can't carry on living here. We're not living how people should be living and we're paying the full rent." Barnet Council says it has started an extensive pest-baiting programme across the estate. The residents say drug users come into the communal areas because the security doors no longer work - the control panel has been disconnected. It's understood the council does not believe it is economical to repair the doors - as the estate is to be knocked down. During filming for the Victoria Derbyshire programme, Annie gets a message from a neighbour who has been burgled that morning. They say they had seen heroin addicts on the stairway, watching them leave beforehand. Another parent on the estate recently recorded footage of drug users semi-conscious after injecting as she left to take her children to school. One of their needles was still there when BBC News filmed on the estate. Residents also say the communal areas on every floor fill with water every time it rains. Annie's neighbour Simone, who sleeps in her living room, says this contributes to damp in her children's bedroom - which has caused black mould to grow on the walls. Barnet Homes - which provides housing on the council's behalf - said urgent work to fix flooding in the flats was "due to start very shortly". More than 100 of the residents - including Annie and Simone - are on non-secure tenancies. These week-to-week agreements can be terminated with just four weeks' notice - some have been on them for more than 10 years. When their flats are eventually demolished, the council says it will do its best to find these residents homes in the local area, but not on the regenerated estate. "We have no rights. It's, 'Put up and shut up and be grateful for it, regardless of how you live,'" Simone says. "They don't care. They're knocking this down, they don't want to put money into it. We are social cleansing at its best." Earlier this year, Annie decided to do something about it. "I'd had enough really," she says. "I felt like I wasn't be listened to by Barnet Council, I felt like they were telling me one thing and other people another. "So I began knocking on every single person's door, took their numbers, put them in a WhatsApp group and now everyone chats. It's come together like a community now." The non-secure tenants have now organised themselves into a residents' association. "Now we're coming together as a group, we're now being listened to," Simone says, "because in our last meeting over 50 people turned up and they weren't expecting that." In a statement, Barnet Homes told the programme it was "extremely sorry" for the standard of some homes on Marsh Drive. "Barnet Homes is firmly committed to ensuring any concerns are dealt with quickly, whilst also recognising that these buildings will only continue to be used for a relatively short period of time," it added. It said it was "addressing the problem with vermin and pest infestation, including the implementation of an extended baiting programme across the estate". Follow the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme on Facebook and Twitter - and see more of our stories here.

पुनर्विकास के दौर से गुजर रहे उत्तर-लंदन एस्टेट पर फ्लैटों के एक शेष ब्लॉक में रहने वाले निवासियों का कहना है कि कीट संक्रमण और सुरक्षा मुद्दों के कारण उन्हें "सड़ने के लिए छोड़ दिया जा रहा है"। उन्होंने बीबीसी के विक्टोरिया डर्बीशायर कार्यक्रम को बताया कि कैसे उन्होंने इसके बारे में कुछ करने का फैसला किया था।


Chalk Back: Kenyan women fight back against street harassment

Summary: Young women and girls in Kibera, one of Africa's largest informal settlements, are writing their street harassment experiences on roads and canvasses to highlight the damaging nature of sexual harassment. Warning: Some readers may find part of this article distressing

By Esther Akello Ogola Women's Affairs Journalist, BBC News, Nairobi Zubeida Yusuf has lived in Kibera, in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, all her life, and for as long as she can remember, street harassment has been a part of her life. "Men will say things like: 'You're very fat. Is your mother a butcher? Did God use his last piece of clay on you because you have large breasts and a big behind.' "It's a lot for us to take in when we walk out here (in the streets)," says the 22-year-old. But over time, Ms Yusuf has learnt to fight back and she is helping other women in Kibera claim their voices back in situations where some women say they feel powerless. Using chalk and markers, in a campaign dubbed "Chalk Back", Ms Yusuf and other girls and women are writing down their experiences of street harassment. The campaign, they hope, will spur conversations around the damaging nature of street sexual harassment. "Nowadays, when the men insult me, I stop and ask them to their faces, why they are insulting me. However, for underage girls fighting back may be harder," she says. "That's why campaigns like these are important. More of us need to push back and tell people it is not okay to speak to women this way." Shocking messages "Respect my body," one message on the road screams. Others, written in Swahili, reveal more disturbing messages. "Unaringa, wewe ni vajo" (You think you are too good for us, yet you're still a virgin). "Chura hii" (slang for prostitute, which also means frog in Swahili). Caroline Mwikali, who is 20 years old and also a Kibera resident, confesses some of the slurs used against her have cut deeper than the perpetrators realise. "You really can't walk down these streets without a man saying something nasty to you. Sometimes we're even likened to animals. "It affects one's self esteem. When I sit by myself, I wonder: 'Am I really as worthless or as ugly as that person has said I am?'" But it's not just the emotional cost of street harassment that is the problem. No-go areas for women According to the UN, the lack of conclusive and comparative national data and policies on street harassment within countries is one among many of the challenges when it comes to combating the problem and ensuring the safety of girls and women in public spaces. A 2019 Plan International street harassment survey of five cities revealed that less than one in 10 of the women and girls interviewed reported their experiences to the authorities. This is because women were unsure of what exactly authorities could do, and whether street harassment could be termed as a "serious" crime. Experts agree that street harassment continues to curtail women's participation in public spaces socially and economically. Often, women are forced to modify their behaviour to fit in. "There are certain places and scenarios I avoid. When I see a large group of men congregated somewhere, I won't pass there," says Ms Mwikali. "There are also places, especially in the evening that will never find me outside. Women have been raped in some of these areas." You may also be interested in: As the world continues to mark days of activism against gender-based violence, women around the world have been marching to demand more action and justice when it comes to such crimes. As Ms Mwikali and other women continue to write on the streets, some men gather around. They confess that the women's revelations of the impact of street harassment has been eye-opening. "Our mentality for a long time has been that we are entitled to women. We think if we talk to a girl she must talk back. We didn't know that it was not OK until recently. We are slowly learning," says 25-year-old Wilson Maina. "I think we know better now. We have been enlightened about issues surrounding sexual and gender-based violence and how to deal with it," 26-year-old Jairus Omulando adds.

अफ्रीका की सबसे बड़ी अनौपचारिक बस्तियों में से एक, किबेरा में युवा महिलाएं और लड़कियां यौन उत्पीड़न की हानिकारक प्रकृति को उजागर करने के लिए सड़कों और प्रचार स्थलों पर अपने सड़क उत्पीड़न के अनुभव लिख रही हैं। चेतावनीः कुछ पाठकों को इस लेख का हिस्सा परेशान करने वाला लग सकता है।


Relief, disbelief, despair and concern

Summary: Relief for the Liberal Democrats who held on despite everything.

Nick RobinsonPolitical editor Disbelief for UKIP who came close to an extraordinary mould-breaking victory and might have secured it if they'd believed it possible. Despair for many Conservatives seeing themselves forced into third place in a seat they need to win to form a majority government in the future and by a party they now fear will rob them of that chance. Concern for Labour who, even when the coalition is so unpopular, found themselves an irrelevant fourth. Even though the Eastleigh constituency did not change hands, this by-election will change politics - spurring on those Tories who insist that David Cameron is driving their party over an electoral cliff. Energising Nigel Farage and UKIP to believe and to claim that they are a new force in national politics. Fuelling those who criticise Ed Miliband for not extending Labour's appeal enough. And giving Nick Clegg a small respite after being forced into this by-election by a scandal, having his campaign overshadowed by another and being told he and his party were finished. The result is a reminder that politics is still local - a popular local council and strong local party helped the Eastleigh Lib Dems to weather a national storm. That storm will now switch its focus to the prime minister who will face one question again and again from his own MPs and activists - what on earth do we do about UKIP?

लिबरल डेमोक्रेट्स के लिए राहत जो सब कुछ के बावजूद बने रहे।


Chester man dies in city-centre scooter crash

Summary: A man has died after his scooter crashed into a barrier in Chester city centre.

The collision, involving a silver Piaggio Fly scooter, happened on Liverpool Road, near to the Fountains roundabout at about 08:55 GMT on Sunday. The rider, a 29-year-old local man, died at the scene, Cheshire Police said. The force has appealed for any witnesses to contact them.

चेस्टर शहर के केंद्र में एक स्कूटर के बैरियर से टकराने से एक व्यक्ति की मौत हो गई है।


Q&A: The meaning of synthetic life

Summary: Researchers in the US have developed the first synthetic living cell. Their work, which many scientists have called a landmark study, is a key step towards the design and creation of new living things. BBC News examines the issues raised by this controversial breakthrough.

Have these scientists created synthetic life? They are calling this a synthetic living cell. But they did use an existing cell as a template and as a recipient for their home-made DNA. Strictly speaking, it is only the genome - the DNA in the cell - that is entirely synthetic. This bacterial cell, the researchers say, is the first life form to be entirely controlled by synthetic DNA. The researchers also employed "nature's tools" to build their new chromosome (the package of DNA that contains all of the genetic material the cell needs to live and function). They chemically constructed blocks of DNA then inserted them into yeast cells, which assembled the blocks into a complete bacterial chromosome. What will the scientists do with these synthetic bacteria? These particular cells are just copies of existing or "wild type" bacteria. But they show that making a living cell with a synthetic chromosome is possible. Dr Craig Venter and his colleagues hope to use this technology to design new bacteria from scratch - cells that could carry out useful functions. He and his colleagues are already collaborating with pharmaceutical and fuel companies to design and develop chromosomes for bacteria that would produce useful fuels or even new vaccines. They say they hope eventually to "build" bacteria that absorb carbon dioxide and therefore help repair damage to the environment. Could they use this same technique to make more complex synthetic organisms - like plants or animals? Theoretically, yes. But the current aim is to design and build bacterial cells. They are an ideal first candidate because they could potentially produce substances that we want. Dr Venter believes such tailor-made bacteria could "create a new industrial revolution". And, in genetic terms, bacteria are very simple organisms. They typically have a single, circular chromosome of DNA. On the other hand, every single cell in the human body contains 23 pairs of much larger, linear chromosomes. So bacteria have much less information in their genomes and it has been possible to sequence and copy all of this information. Dr Venter says that extending the technique to higher organisms, such as plants, might be possible, but it will take scientists many years to work out how to build such large and complex genomes. Are there ethical concerns about making new life? Some critics have accused Dr Venter and his colleagues of "playing God" and believe that it should not be a role for humans to design new life. There are also concerns about the safety of this new technology. Professor Julian Savulescu, from the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford says the potential of this science is "in the far future, but real and significant: dealing with pollution, new energy sources, new forms of communication". "But the risks are also unparalleled," he continues. "We need new standards of safety evaluation for this kind of radical research and protections from military or terrorist misuse and abuse. These could be used in the future to make the most powerful bioweapons imaginable. The challenge is to eat the fruit without the worm." Dr Venter stresses that he and his colleagues have been addressing these ethical and safety issues since they began their first experiments in the field of synthetic biology. "We asked for an extensive ethical review of the approach," he explained. "In 2003, when we made the first synthetic virus, it underwent extensive ethical review that went all the way up to the level of the White House. "And there have been extensive reviews including from the National Academy of Sciences, which has done a comprehensive report on this new field. "We think these are important issues and we urge continued discussion that we want to take part in."

अमेरिका में शोधकर्ताओं ने पहली सिंथेटिक जीवित कोशिका विकसित की है। उनका काम, जिसे कई वैज्ञानिकों ने एक ऐतिहासिक अध्ययन कहा है, नई जीवित चीजों के डिजाइन और निर्माण की दिशा में एक महत्वपूर्ण कदम है। बीबीसी न्यूज इस विवादास्पद सफलता से उठाए गए मुद्दों की जांच करता है।


Byker Grove: When Ant and Dec were PJ and Duncan

Summary: Twenty five years before "gritty" and "groundbreaking" became standard TV adjectives, the BBC's teen soap Byker Grove was just that. Filmed on Tyneside, based around a local youth club, its cast was recruited from ordinary schools, unearthing future stars who say they would not be where they are today without it.

By Francesca Williams and Murphy CobbingBBC News Although it is almost unthinkable, it was a time when Ant did not automatically come with television co-presenter Dec. Declan Donnelly played Duncan in the first series of Byker Grove but Anthony McPartlin's PJ did not appear until series two. "I don't really remember you being there," Ant has said. "You weren't really on my radar." Dec has admitted they did not "hit it off". Their characters became friends before they did. Starting on 8 November 1989, the show's first run was only six episodes long. But the BBC's decision to bring in EastEnders director Matthew Robinson was testament to its commitment. Storylines about teenage pregnancy, drug addiction and child abuse hauled in the audience and earned it a Bafta nomination. With success came complaints from parents and, in the case of the famous gay kiss, nationwide tabloid outrage and calls for Robinson's head. Although Noddy Fishwick's shy peck at Gary Hendrix's cheek in a dark '90s cinema was angrily unrequited, it was the first gay kiss on UK children's television. Former head of BBC children's television, Anne Home, has said it "did cause a certain amount of furore". "We had a number of complaints but often adults don't watch long enough to see that actually there is a very strong moral at the end of it." Location manager and assistant director Si King - now one half of the Hairy Bikers - believes the show was "loud and proud" of its regional identity and its focus on serious issues "everybody in the country could relate to". It lasted for 17 years and more than 340 episodes. A clutch of presenters, actors, actresses and singers - including Donna Air, Jill Halfpenny, Charlie Hardwick, Chelsea Halfpenny, Andrew Hayden-Smith and Ant and Dec - owe something to the platform it gave them. "If it wasn't for Byker Grove we wouldn't be where we are today," Ant says. "We kind of owe everything to Byker Grove," Dec adds. "It's where we learnt to do what we do." The show taught them discipline, how to turn up on time and behave on set, Dec says. It taught them professionalism. Set painter Ray Arkless was one of many who knew "without a doubt" they had a future. But would they have been successful anyway? The rest of the cast learned the same and not all went on to become household names. As Spuggie, Lyndyann Barrass was, at one point, earning more than her parents but found it hard to be taken seriously as an adult actress. "I do think I found it hard because Spuggie was type-cast," she says. "But I haven't ever not worked. I've still done the odd thing, but just not as high profile as the boys have done." She was the first on the soap to be cast - as a "short, stumpy, flat-chested, hormonal 12-year-old". Easy to recognise, with a shock of ginger curls, she would attract shouts in the street of "Spuggie" or "tennis balls" (after a puberty-related flirtation with DIY breasts). "I don't think any of us ever realised what an institution Byker Grove was and how big it was and the amount of millions of viewers we got," she says. "We were on par with Eastenders and Coronation Street at the time, we had that many viewers." She later worked in Fenwick's department store, where impromptu visits by Ant and Dec would leave her colleagues star-struck. Her children still shout "Mam! Your friends are on the telly!" Constructing Byker Grove: Bob Boagey and Ray Arkless "Bob used to make the sets, then I would go in and do what had to be done to them - paint them, wallpaper them, age them, dust them down with Fuller's earth and make them look really, really old," Ray says. "We built a cottage in Kielder and it looked so realistic there were these Canadians on tour and they asked was it for sale. It looked so real but, if they'd walked behind it, there was just nothing there. "We had to reproduce the general room [the main room in the youth club] down in this big warehouse. "We actually had to set fire to it. It was when Billy Fane [youth leader Geoff] got caught in the fire and a beam came down and killed him. That was a real fire, that. We literally set fire to it." Ian Fenton worked as a scriptwriter for the show between 2004 and 2006. "I was in this room with all these kids and basically it was their show. They weren't unpleasant but they were quite cocky. They'd done it a million times," he says. "If the script worked, if they laughed, if they got it, that was your first audience really. But equally, if you'd written stuff that didn't work, then you really knew." The scripts reflected life to such an extent the two sometimes became blurred. Longest serving cast member Anne Orwin found her role as foster mother Lou Gallagher had an effect on real foster children. "Foster kids would come up to me and say, 'I was having a really hard time and wasn't very happy in my foster home but Lou kept me going and I always wanted to be in your house,'" she says. "That just breaks your heart. That's much more than an acting job." She also remembers filming at the busy Gallowgate bus station, when the producer barked at a family of extras to get off a bus so the shot could be done again - only to discover it was a real family, on a real bus. Children loved the soap for the same reason their parents did not. "It showed the North East in all its diversity, in all its character, in all of its beauty, in all of its grot, in all of its grime," Si King says. "Bang up to date with the issues and values that mattered to kids." Those who worked on the show also say it gave the North East a voice. A voice that Anne Home, who commissioned it, remembers having a very "broad" accent. "We did have problems with people not quite asking for subtitles but almost," she once said. "But I think that was the grown ups. I think the kids understood perfectly well."

"किरकिरा" और "अभूतपूर्व" मानक टीवी विशेषण बनने से पँचिश साल पहले, बी. बी. सी. का किशोर साबुन बाइकर ग्रोव बस यही था। एक स्थानीय युवा क्लब के आसपास स्थित टाइनसाइड पर फिल्माया गया, इसके कलाकारों को साधारण स्कूलों से भर्ती किया गया था, जो भविष्य के सितारों का पता लगाते हैं जो कहते हैं कि वे आज इसके बिना वहां नहीं होते जहां वे हैं।


Sheringham Shoal windfarm's first turbine starts up

Summary: The first turbine at a large new windfarm off the Norfolk coast has been installed and has started producing electricity for the UK national grid.

The turbine is one of 86 planned for the Sheringham Shoal wind farm. It is two years since work started and the project is expected to be finished in a year's time. There are around 30 vessels and 500 people working offshore on the installation and once it is complete 50 full time workers will run it. They will be based at Egmere near Wells-next-the Sea. Scira Offshore Energy will also indirectly employ about 25 people in logistics and support functions.

नॉरफ़ॉक तट पर एक बड़े नए विंडफ़ार्म में पहला टरबाइन स्थापित किया गया है और इसने ब्रिटेन के राष्ट्रीय ग्रिड के लिए बिजली का उत्पादन शुरू कर दिया है।


Condor Ferries considers winter timetable revision

Summary: Condor Ferries may revise its winter timetable to provide later crossings from the Channel Islands to France.

There are currently nine "after work" crossings at 1800 BST, but more may be included over the winter period. In order to analyse past patterns and customer feedback, Condor is extending its customer research programme. However the company pointed out that passengers travelling on to unfamiliar locations may find the earlier departure time more attractive.

कोंडोर फेरी चैनल द्वीप समूह से फ्रांस तक बाद में क्रॉसिंग प्रदान करने के लिए अपनी शीतकालीन समय सारिणी को संशोधित कर सकती है।


Antarctica loses three trillion tonnes of ice in 25 years

Summary: Antarctica is shedding ice at an accelerating rate.

By Jonathan Amos and Victoria GillScience correspondents Satellites monitoring the state of the White Continent indicate some 200 billion tonnes a year are now being lost to the ocean as a result of melting. This is pushing up global sea levels by 0.6mm annually - a three-fold increase since 2012 when the last such assessment was undertaken. Scientists report the new numbers in the journal Nature. Governments will need to take account of the information and its accelerating trend as they plan future defences to protect low-lying coastal communities. The researchers say the losses are occurring predominantly in the West of the continent, where warm waters are getting under and melting the fronts of glaciers that terminate in the ocean. "We can't say when it started - we didn't collect measurements in the sea back then," explained Prof Andrew Shepherd, who leads the Ice sheet Mass Balance Inter-comparison Exercise (Imbie). "But what we can say is that it's too warm for Antarctica today. It's about half a degree Celsius warmer than the continent can withstand and it's melting about five metres of ice from its base each year, and that's what's triggering the sea-level contribution that we're seeing," he told BBC News. Space agencies have been flying satellites over Antarctica since the early 1990s. Europe, in particular, has an unbroken observation record going back to 1992. These spacecraft can tell how much ice is present by measuring changes in the height of the ice sheet and the speed at which it moves towards the sea. Specific missions also have the ability to weigh the ice sheet by sensing changes in the pull of gravity as they pass overhead. Imbie's job has been to condense all this information into a single narrative that best describes what is happening on the White Continent. Glaciologists usually talk of three distinct regions because they behave slightly differently from each other. In West Antarctica, which is dominated by those marine-terminating glaciers, the assessed losses have climbed from 53 billion to 159 billion tonnes per year over the full period from 1992 to 2017. On the Antarctic Peninsula, the finger of land that points up to South America, the losses have risen from seven billion to 33 billion tonnes annually. This is largely, say scientists, because the floating ice platforms sitting in front of some glaciers have collapsed, allowing the ice behind to flow faster. East Antarctica, the greater part of the continent, is the only region to have shown some growth. Much of this region essentially sits out of the ocean and collects its snows over time and is not subject to the same melting forces seen elsewhere. But the gains are likely quite small, running at about five billion tonnes per year. And the Imbie team stresses that the growth cannot counterbalance what is happening in the West and on the Peninsula. Indeed, it is probable that an unusually big dump of snow in the East just before the last assessment in 2012 made Antarctica as a whole look less negative than the reality. Globally, sea levels are rising by about 3mm a year. This figure is driven by several factors, including the expansion of the oceans as they warm. But what is clear from the latest Imbie assessment is that Antarctica is becoming a significant player. "A three-fold increase now puts Antarctica in the frame as one of the largest contributors to sea-level rise," said Prof Shepherd, who is affiliated to Leeds University, UK. "The last time we looked at the polar ice sheets, Greenland was the dominant contributor. That's no longer the case." In total, Antarctica has shed some 2.7 trillion tonnes of ice since 1992, corresponding to an increase in global sea level of more than 7.5mm. The latest edition of the journal Nature has a number of studies looking at the state of the continent and how it might change in a warming world. One of these papers, led by US and German scientists, examines the possible reaction of the bedrock as the great mass of ice above it thins. It should lift up - something scientists call isostatic readjustment. New evidence suggests where this process has occurred in the past, it can actually constrain ice losses - as the land rises, it snags on the floating fronts of marine-terminating glaciers. "It's like applying the brakes on a bike," said Dr Pippa Whitehouse from Durham University. "Friction on the bottom of the ice, which was floating but has now grounded again, slows everything and changes the whole dynamic upstream. We do think the rebound (in the future) will be fast, but not fast enough to stop the retreat we've kicked off with today's warming. "Ocean warming is going to make the ice too thin for this process to help." In Imbie's last assessment, the contribution of Antarctica to global sea-levels was considered to be tracking at the lower end of the projections that computer simulations had made of the possible height of the oceans at the end of the century. The new assessment sees the contribution track the upper end of these projections. "At the moment, we have projections going through to 2100, which is sort of on a lifetime of what we can envisage, and actually the sea-level rise we will see is 50/60cm," said Dr Whitehouse. "And that is not only going to impact people who live close to the coast, but actually when we have storms - the repeat time of major storms and flooding events is going to be exacerbated," she told BBC News. Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos

अंटार्कटिका तेजी से बर्फ गिरा रहा है।


Brit Awards 2016: The winners in full

Summary: The winners and the full nominations for this year's Brit Awards:

British male solo artist British female solo artist British group British breakthrough act Critics' choice Brits global success award British single British album of the year British producer of the year British artist video of the year International male solo artist International female solo artist International group

इस वर्ष के ब्रिट पुरस्कारों के लिए विजेता और पूर्ण नामांकनः


Man denies murdering Anil Vegad at Coventry home

Summary: A man has pleaded not guilty to the murder of a man at the home they shared in Coventry.

Police found the body of 57-year-old Anil Vegad at the property in Eden Street on 1 June. He had been stabbed. Matthew Chibnall was charged with his murder after handing himself in to police later the same day. The 54-year-old, who was remanded into custody at Warwick Crown Court on Monday, will stand trial there on 9 November. Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk

एक आदमी ने कोवेंट्री में साझा किए गए घर पर एक आदमी की हत्या के लिए दोषी नहीं होने का अनुरोध किया है।


Game maker Valve Software recruits hardware experts

Summary: Valve Software has started searching for hardware engineers.

The game maker has posted an ad seeking applicants for the post of "industrial designer". The job description on the ad said Valve was "frustrated" by the lack of innovation in computer hardware and wanted to change that state of affairs. It is not yet clear what gadgets successful applicants will be working on but the ad suggests it could involve replacements for mouse and keyboard. Before now Valve has let it be known that it wants to expand beyond games into hardware but has revealed few details about those plans. Game gear The job ad acknowledges Valve's debt to the personal computer but said the firm was trying to speed up the pace of innovation by "jumping in" itself. "Even basic input, the keyboard and mouse, haven't really changed in any meaningful way over the years," reads the advert. "There's a real void in the marketplace, and opportunities to create compelling user-experiences are being overlooked." Successful applicants will have logged at least six years in product development and be familiar with 2D and 3D design tools. Valve has released no more details about the mystery project. In the past it has dismissed claims that it is working on a console-like device that would put its Steam online gaming service into a stand-alone box. However, tech news site Ars Technica pointed out that Valve has a patent on a controller with swappable parts. News about the job posting came a day before Valve is due to expand its Steam online store to include non-game software. The exact list of non-game titles will be revealed on 5 September. So far, Valve has only said that it will involve creativity and productivity applications. Developers keen to get their software in front of Steam users have been asked to submit their creations via the Steam Greenlight portal. Since its creation, Steam has primarily been a way for gamers to buy and download games. Currently more than 1,500 games are available via the service and it is believed to have more than 50 million users.

वाल्व सॉफ्टवेयर ने हार्डवेयर इंजीनियरों की खोज शुरू कर दी है।


Arlo Parks: 'I cried at the end of my first gig'

Summary: She is still just 18 years-old but London newcomer Arlo Parks' debut track Cola, released at the end of 2018, fizzed with original confessional lyrics mixed with a smooth funky groove and a dash of jazz for good measure.

By Kev GeogheganArts and entertainment reporter Its heady delights were such that in April Lily Allen made the track one of her top five songs on Apple Music. "She's from Hammersmith - same as me... Honestly, this song just knocked me off my feet," Allen gushed. "That was really crazy," laughs Arlo on the Brighton beachfront ahead of a packed out show at the Great Escape in Brighton in May. "I really had no expectations when I put it out," she continues. "Because I was like, there's so much music out there. Like, I shouldn't be too upset if it doesn't catch on or anything. But people seem to really like it. "And I made it in a living room with this guy called Luca (LA-based producer Gianluca Buccellati). So yeah, I'm just super pumped, but I never expected it." The song, essentially a stinging riposte to a former lover and delivered with Park's laid back jazzy flow also alludes to her phase as a teenage goth, referencing her love of My Chemical Romance and punk music - sonic influences not exactly made obvious from the song's style and tempo. I'll miss your T-shirt in the rain / The one the makes you look like Gerard Way I know it's kinda dumb / But I miss the way you dressed all punk / With the black and the studs and the ripped up gloves / Bet she loved your tough-guy front "I definitely had that emo phase," she says, "and that's kind of stayed with me, I guess. I like kind of dropping in references to make the story a bit more vivid." If anything, the emo influence plays out in a much more obvious way in Parks' track Super Sad Generation, in which she dissects the ennui of "Generation Z", pressured by social media, self-medicating with drugs and with their finances strangled by the high cost of living. We're a super sad generation / Killing time and losing our paycheques "I would say in Super Sad Generation, it's connected to emo in terms of like, being emotional and being in touch with your feelings," she explains. "But there's no kind of like thrashing guitars or screaming and stuff. You know, I wish I could do that. But I can't." The video for the song features her younger brother: "He's super supportive of me. It's very, very sweet. And he worked for free," she laughs. Raised in West London, the teenage poet and singer has played just a handful of gigs, selling out a BBC Introducing show in June. "This [the Brighton show] is my first official gig since I've released any music properly," she says. "The first one was terrifying, I was so scared the whole way through and I cried at the end. "Tears of joy, though!" Her father "used to play like a lot of jazz in the house. And that's what kind of inspired me and I was always making songs, just acoustic songs in my bedroom. "I liked The Strokes, Erykah Badu, MF Doom and then Nick Cave. So, a broad range of different things and I take a lot of inspiration from literature and stuff. "I was really into Brave New World and a lot of poetry. So like Ezra Pound, Sylvia Plath... I kind of like the grittier side of literature." Next up for Parks are sets at Glastonbury and Latitude, plus a support slot with Kiwi soul star Jordan Rakei on his European tour in October. "I think I'm going to put out a double single sometime during summer," she says. "I'm going back to my kind of guitar roots after two songs which were a little bit more electronic. "I'm going to keep kind of pushing the bounds of what my music is." Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.

वह अभी भी सिर्फ 18 साल की हैं, लेकिन लंदन में नवागंतुक अरलो पार्क्स का पहला ट्रैक कोला, 2018 के अंत में रिलीज़ हुआ, जिसमें मूल इकबालिया गीतों के साथ एक चिकनी फंकी ग्रूव और अच्छे उपाय के लिए जैज़ की एक झलक मिली हुई है।


Middlesbrough FC: George Boateng on time at Boro

Summary: He went from playing five-a-side on the streets of Nkawkaw in Ghana, to helping Middlesbrough win the only major trophy in the club's 145-year history, but George Boateng never forgot his roots.

By Matty Jones and Matty NixonBBC Radio Tees At the age of nine, the fresh-faced youngster arrived in Holland to embark on a career that would see him go on to make almost 400 Premier League appearances and win the League Cup. He told the BBC Radio Tees Sport Boro podcast: "I remember flying over Amsterdam, it was a cold winter in 1985, I think. "I remember sitting on the flight and asking my uncle: 'Why have they put salt on the floor?'. I'd never seen snow in my life. In my first three steps outside of the terminal I fell on my backside and my uncle replied: 'That is snow!'. Boateng found it tough to adapt to life in Rotterdam, the second biggest city in the Netherlands, but he picked up the language within a few months and football always helped him socially. His father was keen for him to pursue an academic career, but it wasn't until his Feyernood debut that he realised that his son had the potential to reach the top. "I remember when I made my debut for the Feyernoord first team. It was a big thing - you see your face on TV and in newspapers. He was really happy but I didn't really feel the same buzz from my dad." That was until the day his father went to the barbers. Boateng remembers the tale well. "My dad went to the hairdressers where he'd been going for the last 10-15 years and he said: 'George guess what happened today? The guy cut my hair and as I went to pay, he said wasn't that your son who played for Feyernoord the other day? If your son plays for Feyernoord, I don't charge you.' He didn't get it until then, and then he was buzzing." Despite playing for his boyhood club at the highest level, Boateng wasn't happy with life at De Kuip stadium and a move to England beckoned, with Coventry City's Highfield Road the destination of choice. That meant life under Scottish midfield legend Gordon Strachan, with Boateng excelling in a talented side that survived in the Premier League, with a move to Aston Villa following on. His spell in the West Midlands holds great memories, but it was his move to the North East that brought Boateng's most successful period. "I was really not looking forward to signing for Boro, but Steve McClaren rang my agent," he said. "I spoke to Jaap Stam, who was in the national team with me and he spoke really highly of Steve. "Steve said to me 'I know we're not a big club right now, but in the next two years we are going to play European football', and that was it for me." Boateng was then part of the Middlesbrough squad that won the club's only major honour - the 2004 League cup. Boro beat Bolton Wanderers 2-1 at the Millennium Stadium. "I think the game against Bolton was won in the hotel in Cardiff. I remember Steve showing us a film of Al Pacino [in Any Given Sunday] with the famous speech and everyone was so quiet and focused, you could see on everybody's faces we were ready to go to war. Now with me being a coach you are always looking to inspire your team. Steve, on that day, hit the nail on the head." The former Netherlands international went on to play for Hull City, Skoda Xanti and Nottingham Forest, before a spell in charge of Kelantan FA in Malaysia ignited his passion for coaching. Time as a youth team coach at Blackburn led him back to Aston Villa, where he's now assistant manager to a former teammate, Mark Delaney. As demonstrated in a spirited 4-1 defeat to Liverpool in the 3rd round of the FA Cup this season there's plenty of talent at Villa Park. But it is Boro where the club legend's heart remains. "My peak time was spent at Middlesbrough. The love I got back from the people was just unreal, every time I put on a Boro shirt, whether it was home or away, really made me think to myself, I'm going to give everything I have." Follow BBC North East & Cumbria on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to northeastandcumbria@bbc.co.uk.

वह घाना में नाकॉकॉ की सड़कों पर पांच-ए-साइड खेलने से लेकर क्लब के 145 साल के इतिहास में मिडल्सब्रो को एकमात्र बड़ी ट्रॉफी जीतने में मदद करने तक गए, लेकिन जॉर्ज बोटेंग कभी भी अपनी जड़ों को नहीं भूले।


Portugal's austerity government feels the pinch

Summary: The resignation in quick succession of two of Portugal's biggest political beasts has left many questioning whether the right-of-centre government, which has enthusiastically embraced austerity measures, can survive much longer.

By Alison RobertsBBC News, Lisbon In a statement to the nation on Tuesday night, Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho pledged to stay the course, saying the country desperately needed political stability in the current economic crisis. He said it would be "hasty" to accept the resignation tendered hours earlier by Foreign Minister Paulo Portas, who also leads the junior partner in the two-party governing coalition, and that he had therefore not asked the country's president to relieve Mr Portas of his duties. But Portuguese political commentators expressed scepticism that Mr Portas might go back on a decision that he described in his resignation statement as "irrevocable". He also said it was one of conscience, resulting from the fact that he had argued against the prime minister's choice of new finance minister but his advice was not taken. Mr Portas announced his resignation minutes before Maria Luis Albuquerque was formally appointed finance minister to replace Vítor Gaspar. Mr Gaspar resigned on Monday citing: These factors, he said, meant he lacked the authority to stay on. The prime minister's choice of Ms Albuquerque, who until Monday was Mr Gaspar's treasury secretary and is almost as closely associated with austerity as her boss, to succeed him, was taken as a clear signal that the current economic policies would continue. In his own resignation statement, Mr Portas publicly baulked at that prospect, arguing that the reshuffle should have been seen as an opportunity to "open a different political and economic cycle" - in other words to break with the hard-core austerity pursued by Mr Gaspar. He himself had recently been charged with overseeing the drafting of plans for far-reaching reform of the state that were expected to entail billions of euros in spending cuts over the next few years. Trouble ahead Portugal is suffering its worst economic recession since the 1970s, with a jobless rate at almost 18%. With youth employment more than twice that level, tens of thousands of members of the country's most highly educated generation have been leaving to seek work abroad. Though the yields on Portugal's bonds had been falling fairly steadily this year, the outlook for the economy now looks bleaker than it did in January, and both the government and international institutions have repeatedly downgraded their forecasts for growth - and raised those for state indebtedness. The outlook for the government, meanwhile, now looks bleak - not to mention that for the economy. Mr Portas had been designated number two in the government as a result of Mr Gaspar's departure, but retained that status for less than than a day. His move took many in his own party by surprise, but the party's ministers were notably absent from the ceremony on Tuesday afternoon at which Ms Albuquerque was appointed. The prime minister's centre-right Social Democratic Party (PSD) alone does not have a majority in parliament. It was already trailing the opposition Socialist Party in the polls, with some showing the Socialists garnering as much support as the PSD and the People's Party combined. There is also a new-found unity outside of parliament, with the country's two main trade union federations joining forces in a general strike last week. Many activists for the governing parties were already dreading September's local council elections: although there is no direct link between such elections and national politics, the fallout from poor results at the local level can have significant national ramifications. Back in December 2001, Antonio Guterres resigned as prime minister after disastrous local election results for his Socialist Party. Portugal's president then dissolved parliament and called early elections, which were won by the PSD. In the current circumstances of widespread disillusionment with the established parties, though, many observers worry that early elections would bring no clear results - just at a time when the country needs a sense of direction and confidence.

पुर्तगाल के सबसे बड़े राजनीतिक जानवरों में से दो के त्वरित उत्तराधिकार में इस्तीफे ने कई लोगों को सवाल छोड़ दिया है कि क्या केंद्र की दक्षिणपंथी सरकार, जिसने उत्साहपूर्वक तपस्या उपायों को अपनाया है, बहुत लंबे समय तक जीवित रह सकती है।


Gloucester woman died after wheelchair 'capsized' into pit

Summary: A pit in the grounds of a hospital, which caused an 88-year-old woman's death when her wheelchair "capsized" into it, had been there for at least six years, an inquest heard.

Audrey Worrall fell from her wheelchair and suffered head injuries outside Gloucestershire Royal Hospital and died four days later, in December 2018. The inquest heard the hospital trust had failed to make the pit safe. Mrs Worrall's son, Gary, said her death "could have been prevented". Assistant Gloucestershire coroner Roland Wooderson concluded Mrs Worrall's death was accidental. Gloucestershire Coroner's Court heard Mrs Worrall, of Horton House residential home in Gloucester, was being pushed by a carer to a taxi after she had been treated for a broken wrist when it happened. The carer, Lorraine Ferron, told the hearing the lighting in the car park was "not very good". "As I was pushing her slowly around a corner the chair all of a sudden dipped and twisted. Then it capsized on the right-hand side," she said. Andrew Seaton, an NHS trust safety officer, told the inquest it was "clear there was a trip hazard in that area which we recognised and have now corrected". Mrs Worrall's son told the hearing he had checked on Google Earth and found the tree pit was there in its hazardous state as far back as 2012. "All the evidence is here that this could have been prevented," he said. Mr Seaton said: "We cannot explain why we didn't do anything in 2012." He said Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust had accepted the failure to make the tree pit safe before it happened. "There was a defect identified some years ago which was not acted upon and the root cause of the capsizing of Mrs Worrall's wheelchair was the unprotected tree pit," he said, Follow BBC West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: bristol@bbc.co.uk

एक अस्पताल के मैदान में एक गड्ढा, जिसके कारण एक 88 वर्षीय महिला की मौत हो गई, जब उसकी व्हीलचेयर उसमें "पलट गई", कम से कम छह साल से वहाँ था, एक पूछताछ में सुना गया।


Body found at Thurrock lake in search for missing teen

Summary: A body has been found by police searching a lake at a shopping centre for a missing 15-year-old.

Essex Police were called after it was reported the teenager had disappeared from Lakeside Shopping Centre in Thurrock at about 20:50 BST on Friday. Specialist teams searched the lake and surrounding area. The body was found shortly after 12:40 BST and the search suspended. The family have been informed and a formal identification carried out later. Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk

पुलिस को एक लापता 15 वर्षीय लड़के के लिए एक शॉपिंग सेंटर में एक झील की तलाश में एक शव मिला है।


Armed guards provided for threatened lesbian couple

Summary: Payal and Kanchan fell in love as they trained to become policewomen. But their love has faced resistance and they have faced threats, forcing them to go to court to seek protection from their own families, reports BBC Gujarati's Bhargav Parikh.

When Payal met Kanchan, back in 2017, she had no idea she would fall in love with her fellow trainee. In 2018, India’s Supreme Court ruled that gay sex was no longer a criminal offence, overturning a previous judgement that upheld a colonial-era law. But age-old customs and regressive attitudes survived, making it difficult for same-sex relationships to be accepted by larger society. The women, both now 24, have been living together as a couple since 2018 in the western Indian state of Gujarat, and they know first hand what the discrimination feels like. Their love story was thrust into the limelight last month when they approached the high court. “Our families are against our relationship. They are threatening us,” Payal said, adding that the two filed an application before the court, asking for police protection. The court ruled that the couple should be protected by armed guards. So-called honour killings - when someone is murdered by a family member due to the belief that they have brought shame upon the community - are not uncommon in India and other South Asian countries. One study found that hundreds of people are killed each year in India for falling in love or marrying against their families' wishes. Payal and Kanchan grew up in two remote villages in Gujarat, where a conservative and patriarchal culture reigned supreme. Both said they wanted to break barriers and felt inspired to enter a field dominated by men. They settled on policing. In 2017, when they first met, they said others in the force were reluctant to speak to them since they came from rural parts of the state whereas the rest were from bigger towns and cities. Instantly, they felt alienated from their peers. The two women were assigned the same room during police training. They fell into a comfortable routine - in the evenings, exhausted from exercise, they would meet to catch up and discuss their day. Soon, their chats stretched to include their lives and families, and the two became best friends. “If Kanchan washed my clothes, I cooked food for her. With time, our friendship grew stronger and we exchanged phone numbers to keep in touch after training finished,” Payal said. Coincidentally, the two were then posted to the same city and they decided to live in police accommodation, sharing a room. “If Payal had night duty, I handled all the work at home and if I had to work at night, Payal managed all the housework," Kanchan said. “We were happy with our work and as time passed, our lives started to revolve around each other.” It was around this point in their friendship that the two fell in love. “On 31 December 2017, we hugged each other on New Year’s Eve just before the clock struck midnight. It was maybe the first time we had hugged each other - and we felt completely different,” Kanchan said. Soon, the families of the two women began asking them to get married - Kanchan’s family had already lined up suitable matches for her - but they managed to stave off the pressure. It was at the end of last year when their colleagues living in the police quarters found out about their relationship that the couple decided to tell their own families. “They were in shock,” Payal said. The women claim that their families started following them and keeping a constant check on their movements. And then, earlier this year, things got really ugly. “One day, my family followed us when we were on duty. They stopped our vehicle in the middle of the road and threatened us,” Payal alleged. “They also came by the police quarters once and created a scene there, calling us names and using abusive language. “A few days after this incident, I received an anonymous death threat. That’s when we decided to approach the court for protection,” she said. The couple are happy that the court has ruled in their favour and granted them protection - it’s given them some time to think of the future. “Once the coronavirus pandemic ends, we want to go to southern India on a sort of honeymoon,” Kanchan said. The couple also want to adopt a child in the future. While homosexuality is no longer illegal, there is no law in India that facilitates same-sex couples to get married - or spells out their rights, including that of adoption. But the women are hopeful. “We’re only 24 now but we want to start saving money and adopt a child, raising them well with access to good education,” Payal said. Illustrations by Nikita Deshpande The names of the two policewomen were changed to protect their identities.

पायल और कंचन को प्यार हो गया क्योंकि उन्होंने महिला पुलिस बनने के लिए प्रशिक्षण लिया था। लेकिन उनके प्यार को प्रतिरोध का सामना करना पड़ा है और उन्हें धमकियों का सामना करना पड़ा है, जिससे उन्हें अपने परिवारों से सुरक्षा लेने के लिए अदालत जाने के लिए मजबूर होना पड़ा है, बीबीसी गुजराती के भार्गव पारिख की रिपोर्ट।


The Pac Man effect: Boxer boosts Philippines economy

Summary: In the southern Philippines city of General Santos, there is a dusty little barangay, or village, where boxer Manny "Pac Man" Pacquiao recalls having slept in the streets, starving and hungry.

By Leisha ChiBBC Business reporter, Manila He grew up there with a family so poor, they often went to bed having only drunk warm water for dinner. To earn money, he dropped out of school as a teenager to fight at local fiestas for a winning purse of 100 pesos, or less than $4 (£2.60). In a sign of how far he's come, this weekend he earned at least $100m in the "fight of the century" against American rival Floyd "Money" Mayweather Jr. The highly anticipated bout took about half a decade to organise and is the richest event in the history of boxing. Pacquiao wasn't able to defeat Mayweather. Despite his loss, the 36-year-old remains a hero in locals' eyes and there is speculation he may turn to politics and possibly run for president in the coming years. Following his sporting success, he's become so influential in the Philippines it can be said that he single-handedly boosts the economy each time he fights. Some analysts have gone so far as to claim the Philippines' currency the peso rises ahead of his matches. One media report said the peso strengthened against the US dollar in six out of 10 of his last critical fights. 'Virtual standstill' Whenever Pacquiao enters the ring, the South East Asian nation is famously said to come to a virtual standstill. This past weekend was no different. The normally gridlocked streets of its capital, Manila, stood mostly empty in the hours leading up to and during his match against Mayweather. Across the country, millions gathered in private homes, town halls, schools, cinemas and stadiums to watch him fight across the Pacific, cheering loudly each time he managed to land a blow on his arch rival. It is estimated that seven out of 10 people in the Philippines watched the match on Sunday. And that level of viewership translates into a lot of money. Tickets to the match at the MGM Grand Garden in Vegas officially ranged from $1,500 to $10,000. They were sold out in minutes. In the Philippines, most people would never be able to afford that. It is estimated that more than a quarter of its population live under the poverty line, or with less than $2 a day. However, many paid out of pocket to watch the Pacquiao-Mayweather match at home, a bar, hotel or casino, and a variety of businesses have cashed in. Sky Cable charged a pay-per-view rate of 2,500 pesos. Others paid 800 pesos per head to watch Sunday's fight in a cinema. Operator SM Prime Holdings said it sold 100,000 tickets for showings in 200 of its 300 cinemas. Even the Philippines' biggest power distributor Manila Electric (Meralco) benefited. It said electricity usage is about 10% higher during Pacquiao fights. On the islands of Palawan and Mindanao, residents were advised to turn off their refrigerators to save electricity ahead of the match due to intermittent power outages. Then there are the lucrative sponsorship deals. When Pacquiao first went professional, he only had one advertiser willing to pay for their logo to feature on his trunks. In Las Vegas on Sunday, they generated about $2.5m after at least six companies paid for a space on his shorts, including Philippines telecoms giant Smart Communications. It's also impossible to escape his mug in the sprawling capital of Manila; its plastered on flyers in shopping malls and in multiple sections of the daily newspapers. Brands such as Nike, Rexona and Nestle's Butterfinger Peanut Butter Cups also hawk merchandise with his name or likeness on them. Small businesses have benefited from the "Pac Man effect" as well. In a small shopping mall in Quezon City, a suburb of Manila, the Bunny Baker café has seen an increase in traffic after its owners created a life-sized cake of the boxer. "I think Pacquiao is phenomenal for the economy," co-owner Zach Yonzon said. "Whenever there is a fight, everybody goes out. If you're not watching at home, you're going outside to eat at a restaurant. "When Filipinos are happy, they spend money," he added with a smile. Money matters The biggest and simplest way Pacquiao contributes to the local economy is through taxes. As one of the world's most highly-paid athletes, Pacquiao is the Philippines' top individual taxpayer despite having been accused of under-declaring his income. He drew $42m in earnings last year, according to Forbes, a figure that will exponentially increase following his fight with Mayweather. Their bout was the richest in boxing history having generated as much as half-a-billion dollars. Pacquiao, who dropped out of high school aged 14, has also demonstrated business savvy over the years. In General Santos, known as the country's tuna capital because of its fishing industry, Pacquiao has set up a gym and hotel, where you can buy an "8 World Title" or "Pound for Pound" Pacquiao burger at its Roadhaus restaurant. The poverty that Pacquiao famously grew up in is long gone. Now he lives in large mansions and will never go hungry again. And that's why he has captured the Philippines' consciousness. His is the true Cinderella story, and millions of Filipinos still aspire to emulate his escape from grinding poverty and make their own mark on the world stage.

दक्षिणी फिलीपींस के शहर जनरल सैंटोस में, एक धूल भरा छोटा बारंगे या गाँव है, जहाँ मुक्केबाज मैनी "पैक मैन" पैकियाओ सड़कों पर भूखे और भूखे सोने को याद करते हैं।