Great Exhibition of the North artists on 'freedom, cheap rent and community'

Summary: The north of England has always been a place of big imaginations and ingenuity. That pedigree is being celebrated with The Great Exhibition of the North, an 80-day festival of art, design and innovation that is billed as "the country's biggest event in 2018".

By Ian YoungsArts & entertainment reporter It takes place in Newcastle and Gateshead and opened on Friday, and visitors can see objects like Robert Stephenson's Rocket, John Lennon's piano and Helen Sharman's space suit. As well as items that have shaped our past, there will be the chance to examine ideas and technologies that might shape our future, and the work of artists who are based in the north today. Here, three artists talk about how the north feeds their work, and what it means to them. Frances Disley "There's a lot of freedom," Liverpool-based Disley says when asked why the north is a good place to make art. She spent seven years in London, but a city like Liverpool doesn't have the fixed pecking orders and expectations of the capital's art establishment. What it does have is a go-ahead ethos, she says. "Nobody turns their nose up if somebody says, 'OK I'm sick of nothing happening - I'm going to set up a gallery and do something' or 'I've not been busy for a while - I'm going to put a show on'. Lots of DIY things can happen." Disley is showing two "activated" paintings (which come to life when a performer appears as part of the work) at the Baltic 39 gallery as part of the Great Exhibition of the North. The cheaper cost of living in Liverpool, compared with London, gives artists more security and makes it easier to focus on being creative. "You're not having to work six jobs and it's not exhausting," she says. Despite that, many graduates decide to move on to brighter lights - but there is "a really supportive community". "I think that feeds into the work because you're not necessarily afraid of somebody being really critical, so there's some room to make some awful things and play without being scrutinised 100%. That blank canvas is really useful." Harry Meadley The north has "this weird dual state of feeling both superior and inferior", according to Leeds-based Meadley. In some ways, it can't compete with the London-centric art world. But, Meadley says: "You have this sense that northerners do feel like we are 'better than', and we shouldn't have to play into the rules as set by what's perceived as a London-based establishment." All those hang-ups just end up holding people back, "and in different ways had held me back at times". The 30-year-old lived in the capital for a couple of years before moving back to Leeds and has decided that the art scene in the north is on an equal footing. "I had to see the north of England as a whole as an equivalent to London," he says. "If you view the entire area of the north of England, it is an equivalent in terms of the number of institutions, the number of opportunities and the number of people doing things - it's just slightly more stretched out." Meadley interviews artists for his Ey Up podcast and at Baltic 39, he is showing a video work - a fly-on-the wall look at another project he's doing, which is an attempt to exhibit Rochdale Council's entire fine art collection. The cheaper costs mean artists can be more experimental outside the capital, he says. "There's no way I could be in the position I am now and working the way I am now in London," he says. "If you fit into an easier commercial [art] model, then maybe it's possible - but even then for most that's not a reality." Becky Peach Between two pawn shops on Gateshead High Street, in the window of a shop that was once home to Woolworths and Poundland, Becky Peach is putting the finishing touches to her contribution to The Great Exhibition of the North. The shop has been taken over by The Newbridge Project, which was set up in 2010 to support and exhibit emerging artists, and Peach's installation has taken inspiration from the local surroundings. "I'm interested in little snippets of shapes of textures around the area that we may be not quite so aware of," the 28-year-old says. "I tend to blow them up or distort them." So she has made wallpaper using double yellow lines from the streets outside, the "o" from the Woolworths logo, images of brickwork and Perspex and window frames, all twisted and reshaped. "Part of it is to do with the fact we've become so immersed in technology you can really miss out on a lot of your surroundings," she says. Peach is based in Liverpool and is director of The Royal Standard, a studio and gallery complex in the city. "It's just got such a do it yourself attitude," she says. "If things don't exist there then people make them happen. And it's a really affordable place to be working as an artist. My rent's really cheap and I've been able to keep practising since uni for those reasons." What is the Great Exhibition of the North? Other Great Exhibition highlights Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.

इंग्लैंड का उत्तर हमेशा बड़ी कल्पनाओं और सरलता का स्थान रहा है। उस वंशावली को द ग्रेट एग्जिबिशन ऑफ द नॉर्थ के साथ मनाया जा रहा है, जो कला, डिजाइन और नवाचार का 80-दिवसीय उत्सव है जिसे "2018 में देश का सबसे बड़ा आयोजन" माना जाता है।


Undercover policeman 'said he was in love with me'

Summary: Eight women are suing the Metropolitan Police after men with whom they had relationships turned out to be undercover officers. The Met says it is conducting a review into the allegations. Here two of the women tell their stories.

Helen Steel, who had a relationship with John Dines "In 1987, I was involved with London Greenpeace (which had no connection with Greenpeace International) which was involved in campaigning on social justice issues. John started going along to meetings. "For three years we were friends and he was caring and committed to the same issues I was interested in. He asked me out and in 1990 he told me his mother had died in New Zealand and he needed money to go to the funeral. I lent him money to go and we became close. "I was helping him with his grief. Now I know that his mother had not died. "He moved into a bedsit and I spent time there. We rented a flat together and lived together for a year. We talked about having a family together and a smallholding and I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with him. "He told me he was in love with me and I felt I had fallen in love with him. "With all the women there are similarities in the patterns of conduct, with officers basically mirroring your behaviour and pretending to share all your likes and dislikes so you really feel like you have met your soulmate when actually they are just manipulating you. "[One day] I came home and there was a letter saying he couldn't cope any more and he was leaving. It was out of the blue. That was in the days before mobile phones so there was no way I could contact him. "But he did get in touch with me and apologised. He said he felt he had no-one else in his life. His parents had both died and the woman he had ever loved had left him and he feared I was going to do the same, so he was leaving to pre-empt that happening. "I know now that it was all false. His parents were alive and he was married. "He said he had thrown his mother's jewellery in the river because she didn't love him and I feared he might jump in the river. He wrote me deeply emotional letters and I was worried about his well-being. "He said he was in Ireland or France sorting his head out. Eventually he posted me a letter from Heathrow and said he was running away to South Africa. Then I got two letters postmarked from South Africa. He said he was sorry about what he had done but he couldn't cope. "It was like a bereavement but there was no body to bury. He had just disappeared. I tried to track him down in South Africa. But everything I looked up turned to dust." Helen says she trawled through birth and death registers and eventually found a death certificate which revealed that he had used the identity of a boy who had died of leukaemia, aged eight. "That meant I had been in a relationship with somebody and I didn't even know what their name was. I had all those memories and photographs and I didn't know his real name." Belinda Harvey, who had a relationship with Bob Lambert "After I finished university, I came down to London and lived in a house with friends. One night we went to a party and I met Bob. I noticed him looking at me and towards the end of the party, we started talking. "The electricity was instant. I felt like, wow. There was a great attraction between us and the more we talked, the more happy I became. "Like Helen it was almost like what he was saying was tailored. I felt like I'd met my soulmate. He was interested in human rights and equality and I had been on CND and gay pride marches (although never involved in any activism). "Bob introduced me to all his friends who were into anarchism and anti-capitalism. I started feeling guilty about my lifestyle. I worked full-time at the Central Electricity Generating Board and I felt guilty about my career. He seemed to be a better person because he was willing to sacrifice things for what he believed in, like animal rights. "He even tried to steer me away from buying a house. "I don't know if any of it was genuine. How can I know? Even if I spoke to him now I would not believe a single word he said. Everything he said and did was false. It was like having a relationship with an actor. "Since I found out he was an undercover cop it was really hard to believe it was true. I had heard rumours but not for a moment did I think that was true. "I never thought anyone could go undercover and live like that for years and years. "It showed how much institutional sexism there was in the police... It's outrageous. The fact that the police are destroying our lives and not caring that they are getting into our psyche. I was just used for sex and that is so, so hurtful. I was taken advantage of... "I want to know why was I targeted? Were there cameras in my house? Were there bugs? If the police were spending so much, they must have been after something. What have they got about my life? It's beyond the pale." Bob Lambert statement (to Channel 4's Dispatches) The work of an undercover officer is complex, dangerous and sensitive and it would take some considerable time and the co-operation of my former police employers to provide the full background, context and detail necessary to address the matters which have been raised. Statement from the Metropolitan Police "There is a thorough review and live investigation into allegations of inappropriate behaviour and practices involving historic undercover deployments. It would be inappropriate for us to provide a running commentary on specific allegations whilst this investigation is ongoing. The Metropolitan Police Service must balance the genuine public interest in these matters with its duty to protect officers and former officers who have been deployed undercover, often in difficult and dangerous circumstances. We are therefore not prepared to confirm nor deny the identity of individuals alleged in the media to have been working undercover, nor confirm nor deny the deployment of individuals on specific operations."

जिन पुरुषों के साथ उनके संबंध थे, वे गुप्त अधिकारी पाए जाने के बाद आठ महिलाएं मेट्रोपॉलिटन पुलिस पर मुकदमा कर रही हैं। द मेट का कहना है कि वे आरोपों की समीक्षा कर रहे हैं। यहाँ दो महिलाएं अपनी कहानियाँ सुनाती हैं।


Explaining India's new anti-rape laws

Summary: A bill containing harsher punishments for rapists was passed by India's parliament earlier in March. Karuna Nundy, a leading Supreme Court lawyer, explains the new laws. Why change the law?

Reacting to the massive protests that followed the fatal gang rape of a student in Delhi last December, the government set up a panel headed by a retired judge to recommend legal reform and other ways to reduce sexual violence. The Justice Verma Committee received 80,000 recommendations, held wide consultations and referred to laws and research from around the world. Its report gave many women the audacity to hope that freedom from violence and constitutional equality would be reclaimed by and for women. The new law is a combination of just thinking about gender and existing patriarchal attitudes in society, as well as those ingrained in the colonial Indian Penal Code of 1860. It also reflects the government's desire to be seen as tough on crimes against women. So "outraging the modesty of a woman" remains a legitimate legal standard, though some new crimes based on a women's right to bodily integrity and to be free of sexual harassment have also been incorporated. A clearly defined rule should have been to penalise violent, coercive activity. Instead, most marital rape is still legal, even the rape of a "married" child, aged between 15 and 18. If an unmarried girl and boy of about 17 years have consensual intercourse, though, the boy risks being sent to a juvenile home for three years, reported for statutory rape by unhappy parents, unofficial caste-councils, or religious moral police. Which new crimes are included?  The new laws are closer to addressing violence as women experience it. New crimes include stalking, which is intimidating and often leads to assault, even murder. Acid violence and disrobing, common now in India, are specific crimes. Voyeurism - spying on a woman when naked or circulating her pictures without her consent - is a new crime. The law also expands the definition of rape and says explicitly that the absence of physical struggle doesn't equal consent. A major reason such a tiny percentage of crimes against women are reported is that the police don't let complaints through. Now the security blanket that protected misogynist police officers and other public servants who failed to register complaints and compromised survivors' rights during investigations has been removed. Compulsory jail time has been prescribed for the non-military public servant who fails to register a complaint or himself commits sexual assault. Procedures for gathering evidence and the trial are a little easier on women now, and more careful of disabled people's rights. Also, all healthcare providers must now give survivors of sexual violence or acid attacks free and immediate medical care. There's a legal provision for compensation but the relevant governments have not set up systems to give survivors quick and adequate restitution. Are the laws tougher? The word tough can be a red herring: people often think it's about higher sentencing. The new laws increase jail terms in most cases, and bring in the death penalty for a repeat offence of rape, or rape that causes coma. We don't have comprehensive, long-term studies that measure the effect of higher sentences on the rate of sexual violence - but evidence from India and other countries shows that the death penalty is no deterrent to violent crime. There's also a concern that if sentences are thought of as too harsh by the judges, the already high acquittal rate in cases of sexual violence will rise further. Certain and swift justice is more likely to reduce crime. Without comprehensive expansion of the criminal justice system it's unclear how fast rape and assault trials will be, but there's a hopeful amendment in the Criminal Procedure Code - that trials "as far as possible" be completed two months from the date of filing charges. There are fears of false complaints, but the power to prosecute malicious complaints already exists under law. Besides, a recent UK study released earlier this month by the Crown Prosecution Service says false cases of rape and sexual violence are much rarer than many believe and compromise justice for women who have in fact been raped, assaulted or harassed. What about the age of consent? The 'age of consent' is a misnomer and lead to all sorts of confusion in public and parliamentary debates. The age of statutory rape would be more accurate. For about 30 years that age was 16 years. It was increased a few months ago to 18 years without much discussion by the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. There were those who thought keeping the age of consent at 16 years would be a social and moral endorsement of teenage sexual activity. But the criminal law doesn't tell you to do this or that. Families, schools, society and free will do. If two young people decide to engage in sexual intercourse with others around the same age, the truncheon of the criminal law is not the appropriate societal signal. Now boys of 16-18 years or slightly older may be branded rapists if they have consensual sex with a girl of the same age and the judge will have no discretion in the matter. This is against the "best interests" of teenagers, who weren't even consulted on this important decision, although India is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. A "proximity clause" is badly needed: one that clarifies that sexual intercourse between a teenager of 16-18 years with a person not more than four years older will not be criminalised. Parents, schools and communities are free to impart their social values to children, whatever they may be. What do the new laws not cover? That the new laws only protect women from rape and sexual assault and not men and transgender people is a major failure. The infamous section 377 of the Penal Code penalises "carnal intercourse against the order of nature". Even if it survives a Supreme Court challenge, the law is limited, and doesn't have violence or coercion at its core. The absence of a proximity clause means 18 as the "age of consent" criminalises intercourse between young adults that is neither violent nor forced. Marital rape is still legal - unless the couple are separated. Armed forces in "disturbed areas" are still effectively immune from prosecution for rape and sexual assault. They benefit from the boys' club protections that are enhanced in situations of sanctioned violence, committed against communities they are seriously alienated from. While in state and central legislatures politicians accused of crime may remain in office and benefit from the slow justice system until convicted. What lies ahead? The Justice Verma Committee report has laid out a comprehensive roadmap for women's constitutional equality - the panel was set up by the government, it should use that blueprint. It includes police reforms, educational reforms, training of personnel in the criminal justice system, services such as well equipped rape-crisis centres. The new amendments are only a start and a law is nothing if it's not enforced; but you have to have a law first. And for better or for worse, now we do. Karuna Nundy spoke to the BBC's Soutik Biswas.

बलात्कारियों के लिए कठोर दंड वाला एक विधेयक मार्च में भारत की संसद द्वारा पारित किया गया था। सुप्रीम कोर्ट की एक प्रमुख वकील करुणा नंदी ने नए कानूनों की व्याख्या की। कानून में बदलाव क्यों?


Airlines axes Derry-Dublin flight

Summary: The daily flight between City of Derry airport and Dublin was withdrawn on Thursday.

Aer Arann said it had ended the service because it was no longer commercially viable without Irish government subsidies. The airline company has also ceased operating regional flights to Galway, Sligo and Knock. The previous Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey announced in January that the contracts would end in July.

सिटी ऑफ डेरी हवाई अड्डे और डबलिन के बीच दैनिक उड़ान गुरुवार को वापस ले ली गई थी।


Aberdeen's City Garden Project: New vote date confirmed

Summary: A full meeting of Aberdeen City Council on the future of Union Terrace Gardens has been delayed.

A row had developed between the Labour-led administration and the SNP opposition over the timing of the meeting. Labour want to overturn the decision of a referendum to approve the multi-million pound City Garden Project. A meeting to sort out the issue has been postponed from June until 22 August.

यूनियन टेरेस गार्डन के भविष्य पर एबरडीन सिटी काउंसिल की एक पूर्ण बैठक में देरी हुई है।


Oklahoma tornado: Survivors' stories

Summary: A huge tornado has ripped through the suburbs of Oklahoma City, flattening at least two schools and claiming dozens of lives. Residents of Moore, in the south of the metropolitan area, recall their terror as the twister passed overhead.

Search and rescue crews worked through the night to sift through the rubble and debris in the city of Moore. Many of the people pulled from the wreckage were children. Two schools were destroyed when one of the most deadly tornadoes in America's history struck on Monday afternoon. Residents of Moore and nearby areas have been describing the third tornado to hit the city since 1999. 'Don't die with me' Teacher Rhonda Crosswhite sheltered six sobbing students beneath her body inside a toilet cubicle at Plaza Towers Elementary School. "I never thought I was going to die. The whole time I just kept screaming to them, 'Quit worrying, we're fine, we're fine, we're fine,'" Ms Crosswhite told NBC's Today show. "One of my little boys just said, he just kept saying, 'I love you, I love you, please don't die with me, please don't die with me.'" The sixth-grade teacher said a few prayers as she reassured the children. She was reunited with one of them, fourth grader Damian Britton, live on the Today Show. His mother joined the two in an embrace and added: "Thank you so much. Thank you all the teachers that were out there." 'A war zone' "Shock is probably the closest descriptive word. It looks like a war zone," said Sam Riojas. "I mean, you drive into Moore, and none of the buildings that you're used to seeing are there anymore. "Neighbours just... they don't have homes anymore. People are just in a state, they're just frantic. "I mean, that's the best way I can put it. People were screaming when I got here, they were yelling out for names." Mr Riojas said his own house was one of the few still standing - the tornado blew out all the windows and tore up part of the roof. 'Total darkness' "I was working near the airport, about four miles from where the tornado crossed the river and into Moore," said Jerry, in an email to the BBC. He lives in Edmond, about 30 miles north of Moore. "In about 10 minutes the skies just erupted. I called my wife and told her to pick up the children at school. The next thing I know I'm getting pounded by golf ball-sized hail against my truck and then the sirens started for the tornado warning. It was terrifying. "It was due south of me. The hail subsided and as I got out of my truck and looked towards the south, it was total darkness. I heard what I thought was a constant rumbling of thunder. It was the sound of the tornado. "A giant whhhhrrrr and gnashing of metal, debris, and concrete as it ripped across the town of Moore. I'll never forget that sound. Needless to say I made it home and held onto my children and wife. A terrible day." 'The street is gone' Kelcy Trowbridge described to the New York Times how she, her husband and their three young children took shelter in a neighbour's cellar. They could hear debris smashing against the cellar door. When they came out, they found their home flattened and their car upside down, hurled down the street. "My neighbourhood is gone. It's flattened. Demolished. The street is gone. The next block over, it's in pieces," she told the paper. When Ms Trowbridge's husband began sifting through the debris, he suddenly stopped and told his wife to call the police. He had found the body of a little girl, about two- or three-years old, she said. "He knew she was already gone. When the police got there, he just bawled." 'A low roar' Chris Calvert described how he saw the cloud approaching from about a mile away. "I was close enough to hear it,'' he said. "It was just a low roar, and you could see the debris, like pieces of shingles and insulation and stuff like that, rotating around it.'' His home was about a mile off the tornado's path, but it was still covered with debris. In his yard, he found a picture of a small girl sitting on the lap of Father Christmas. Dog reunion Pensioner Barbara Garcia was sitting amid the debris of her home as she described to a television crew from KWTV how she endured the tornado. She said her "game plan" was "sitting on the stool, holding my dog". But they became separated. "I never lost consciousness, and I hollered for my little dog, and he didn't answer, so I know he's in here somewhere." At that point, one of the crew alerted Ms Garcia to her pet's head poking out from the bricks and mangled metal. She was helped by the crew to release her trapped, dark-grey dog, Toto. "Well, I thought God just answered one prayer to let me be OK," she said as she stroked the pet. "But he answered both of them, because this was my second prayer." 'Scariest thing' Linda Preston told local news website News OK that she and her family were home when the tornado struck. "It was the scariest thing we ever went through. We could hear things hitting and there were two holes in the ceiling. "We waited a little bit after things had calmed down. The guys had to try to get everything out of the way before we could even climb out."

ओकलाहोमा शहर के उपनगरों में एक बड़ा बवंडर आया है, जिससे कम से कम दो स्कूल ध्वस्त हो गए हैं और दर्जनों लोगों की जान चली गई है। महानगर क्षेत्र के दक्षिण में स्थित मूर के निवासी अपने आतंक को याद करते हैं जब बवंडर ऊपर से गुजर रहा था।


Jersey and Guernsey ferries cancelled

Summary: Condor Ferries has cancelled its high-speed services between Weymouth, Jersey and Guernsey, blaming poor weather.

Services will be out of action until Wednesday when there will be a review. The firm said customers had been individually contacted and rebooked onto the conventional ferry service from Portsmouth. The forecast for the Channel Islands on Monday afternoon was for winds up to 40mph overnight increasing to nearly 50mph by Tuesday morning.

कोंडोर फेरीज ने खराब मौसम को जिम्मेदार ठहराते हुए वेमाउथ, जर्सी और ग्वेर्नसे के बीच अपनी हाई-स्पीड सेवाओं को रद्द कर दिया है।


Will Finland's basic income trial help the jobless?

Summary: "I was so surprised when I got the letter, and a bit sceptical too," says Liisa Ronkainen, one of 2,000 Finns chosen for a government experiment to provide unemployed people with a basic income.

By Maija UnkuriHelsinki Out of work for half a year, Liisa, 26 and from Helsinki, has been looking for a job without success. "While I'm unemployed I will only get €36 more per month with the basic income. I've always been positive about the idea, though, so it was nice to be one of those who were chosen." Basic income has frequently been suggested as a way of cutting welfare bureaucracy as well as poverty. But one of the main reasons why Finland's social insurance agency Kela is trying out the monthly tax-free payment of €560 (£490; $600) is to see whether providing a basic income will make the unemployed more eager to go into short-term jobs. Finland has some 213,000 unemployed, a higher rate than its Nordic neighbours, and a working population of 2,413,000. Short-term contracts here have steadily become a key feature of Finland's labour market. The benefit system in many cases provides people with little incentive to go into low-income jobs because welfare is generally cut back if you start earning. "Every single euro that a person earns diminishes his or her social benefits," says Olli Kangas, head of society relations at Kela. "In some cases an unemployed person is afraid of losing their benefits in the future, if he or she receives a temporary employment." The idea behind the basic income experiment is that any earnings would be a supplement; €560 a month may not sound much but it is a start. "The government wants to see if it's possible to eliminate at least the worst disincentives to work," says Mr Kangas. Where else in the world? Randomly selected from Finland's unemployed, the 2,000 taking part in the experiment were all receiving the lowest rate of unemployment benefit. After tax, it was little different from the €560 they now receive monthly in basic income. The difference is that they will receive it without filling in a form and irrespective of whether they get a job or not over the next two years. For Liisa Ronkainen, already looking for work for several months, it is certainly an attractive idea. "Now that I will get a salary in addition to the basic income I might try even harder," she suggests. And there was a similar message from another of the participants, Juha Jarvinen, who has been out of work for five years but now hopes to start a new business. "For my part, the basic income will mean I can escape enslavement and feel that I am a functioning citizen again," he told Finnish public broadcaster YLE. The trial has aroused interest worldwide, because it will answer the burning questions about how people out of work will respond to the idea of a basic income. Some might decide to acquire more education or change their career, to make themselves more attractive to the labour market. Others might seek to start a business. But there is always the chance that it could be used as an excuse to take it easy and work as little as possible. Cutting bureaucracy None of those chosen was given a chance to say no, so the outcome of the project will not be slanted. And no-one will receive less money than before. As for cutting red tape, the prime objective behind the pilot, there will be a partial improvement for those taking part. Most of those involved receive additional social benefits in the form of housing benefit or a higher unemployment benefit because they have children. The form procedure to get these will remain unchanged during the experiment. But for Finnish authorities bureaucracy will diminish considerably. If any of the 2,000 start studying, get a job or lose a job or even develop a long-term illness, they will not have to pass the information on. Their basic income will not change. More stories from Finland: As the experiment takes hold, researchers will watch how the chosen group fare in comparison with the rest of the country's unemployed. They have already suggested expanding the experiment, either to increase the number of unemployed people taking part or to widen it to other groups in society. The Finnish centre-right government of Prime Minister Juha Sipila has provided €20m to the project and the research group says most of the money will remain untouched until the start of 2018. "This is just a start," says Olli Kangas. "In 2018 we would like to start something better." As for the cost of the experiment, that depends on how many of the 2,000 will find work. The basic income will initially be covered by the money that would have been paid out in unemployment benefit anyway. Costs will only start to build up when people get a job.

बेरोजगार लोगों को बुनियादी आय प्रदान करने के लिए एक सरकारी प्रयोग के लिए चुने गए 2,000 फ़िन लोगों में से एक लीसा रोंकैनेन कहती हैं, "जब मुझे पत्र मिला तो मुझे बहुत आश्चर्य हुआ, और थोड़ा संदेह भी हुआ।"


Middlesbrough man faces explosives and terror magazine charges

Summary: A Teesside man accused of possessing explosives and extremist magazines and has denied all charges.

Anwar Driouich, 22, of The Avenue, Middlesbrough, is accused of possessing 10kg of explosive substance. He also faces seven counts of possessing a document likely to be useful to a person preparing or committing an act of terrorism. He was remanded in custody after a hearing at the Old Bailey, until a further appearance on 12 February. Related Internet Links HM Courts and Tribunals Service

टीसाइड के एक व्यक्ति पर विस्फोटक और चरमपंथी पत्रिकाएँ रखने का आरोप लगाया गया है और उसने सभी आरोपों से इनकार किया है।


Escorts 'essential' to take disabled children to school

Summary: Every day Emma watches her son go to school in a taxi worried about what will happen to him. When the car slows down at traffic lights, the 13-year-old, who does not talk or walk, will often punch himself in the face out of frustration.

By Rachel FlintBBC News But Emma, like many in her position, relies on the escort who accompanies her son school to make sure he is safe. She is among several parents of disabled children who contacted BBC Wales, worried about the potential loss of escort services, such as that in Bridgend, as councils try to make savings. "The escort distracts him with toys and sometimes needs to physically hold his hands to prevent him from causing himself harm," she said. "The service isn't just important - it's absolutely essential." Councils have a duty to provide home-to-school transport for disabled children, but there is no statutory requirement to provide escorts to sit with those who need one-to-one support on the journey, who are hired by taxi companies contracted by the council. Local authorities say they pick up hundreds of children every year, with all escorts being DBS checked and that issues are rare, but parents have spoken of problems with a lack of training, concerns over safety, criminal record checks and last-minute changes which see strangers turning up to take their child to school. However, some parents said escorts and drivers needed more training. Single mum Lisa lives in Swansea with her daughter who has autism and social anxiety. She started using a taxi to go to a specialist school with an escort when she was 14. Lisa said, while some taxi drivers and escorts were good, others made her daughter's anxiety worse. "She would get to school in a far worse state than when she was in the house," she said, "they would turn up late, or not at all sometimes. "Sometimes a different escort or driver would arrive, or they don't turn up at all - you're just sat watching the clock. One turned up at 07:00 GMT to get her there for 09:30, as soon as they started banging on the door she started having a meltdown." Lisa said she withdrew her daughter from the taxi service when one of the drivers behaved inappropriately, talking about his relationship and asking about her love life. "If it hadn't have been for the escort in the car I don't know how much worse it would have been, as much as they can cause a problem they can keep things calm and more importantly keep our children safe." "If they take a taxi and there is only the driver there, there is a risk of something happening to the children. It is essential to have another adult there for the safety of everyone." Sue - not her real name - has started working part-time to take her son to school after withdrawing him from school transport after learning the driver had been sent to prison. Her son, now nine, has autism and started using the service when he was three. But Sue became concerned about bullying and safety issues and learning of the conviction was the final straw. She said escorts had called him a "nightmare to his face", so that he questioned if something was wrong with him, and last-minute changes often saw strangers turning up to take him to school, sending him into a "meltdown". "They will turn up with no knowledge of my son, they would have no car seat, and expect them to let me go in a taxi with them," she added. Sue said she once refused to let him go with a driver she feared was under the influence and another escort was elderly and had cataracts so could not properly see what the children were doing. "The people coming to the door do not know anything about him and his needs, they turn up in the morning, sometimes it is a totally different person bringing them home," she added. She added: "They need to have proper training; a lot of parents take their children out of the service, because they don't feel it is suitable...there is a safety element, sometimes they try to open the doors and get out of a moving car." In response, Swansea council said it transported 700 children a year at a cost of £4m and all drivers and escorts had enhanced DBS checks and that parents were encouraged to highlight concerns. "We take this service very seriously to ensure the young people and the parents involved have the service they need," a spokesman said. "Additional measures in place in Swansea include a dedicated monitoring service which allows us to check all aspects of the service at the journey, origin, destination and on route - this will include ensuring the vehicle is clean, in good condition, licensed and the driver and that the passenger assistant are who we expect them to be. "We also check that the pupils are travelling on the correct routes."

हर दिन एम्मा अपने बेटे को टैक्सी में स्कूल जाते हुए इस चिंता में देखती है कि उसके साथ क्या होगा। जब गाड़ी ट्रैफिक लाइट पर धीमी हो जाती है, तो 13 वर्षीय, जो बात नहीं करता है या नहीं चलता है, अक्सर हताशा में अपने चेहरे पर मुक्का मारता है।


Profile: Major Nidal Malik Hasan

Summary: Major Nidal Malik Hasan, who has been charged with the murders of 13 people at Fort Hood in Texas, has been described as a devout Muslim whose commitment to the army may have been broken by his opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - and by plans to deploy him to a war zone.

He is said to have been affected by injuries he saw at the Walter Reed Medical Army Center, where he worked until recently as a psychiatrist treating troops returning from combat. But he also received poor ratings from supervisors and medical school faculty, with documents suggesting military officials overlooked signs he was not fit to be an army doctor. Maj Hasan, 40, was born and raised in Virginia. His parents moved to the US from a Palestinian town near Jerusalem, according to his cousin. After high school he joined the US Army, which put him through medical school. He has been described as devout and discreet. A local imam told the Washington Post that he attended daily prayers at a mosque when he worked at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington DC. "We hardly ever got to discussing politics," Faizul Khan said. "Mostly we were discussing religious matters, nothing too controversial, nothing like an extremist." In other comments Mr Khan said that Maj Hasan had tried, but failed, to find an equally religious woman to marry. On a form for those looking for spouses through the mosque he listed his birthplace as Arlington, Virginia, but his nationality as Palestinian, Mr Khan said. 'Worst nightmare' Reports suggested in recent years he had become unhappy in the military. He had recently been transferred to Fort Hood. His cousin said he had faced harassment over his "Middle Eastern ethnicity" and had been trying to leave the army. His aunt, Noel Hasan, also blamed his desire to be discharged on harassment. "Some people can take it, and some cannot," she told the Washington Post. "He had listened to all of that, and he wanted out of the military, and they would not let him leave, even after he offered to repay." Ms Hasan said her nephew had been upset by the injuries he saw at Walter Reed. "He must have snapped," she added. She said Maj Hasan had spent holidays and free time at her house, and that he "did not make many friends". He had joined the military over the wishes of his parents, who have since died, his aunt said. Despite his recent attempts to leave, "he would tell us the military was his life". Several reports said Maj Hasan was about to be deployed overseas against his wishes. "We've known over the last five years that was probably his worst nightmare," his cousin, Nader Hasan, told Fox News. The Associated Press cited an unnamed official as saying that Maj Hasan had received a poor performance evaluation from the Walter Reed Army Medical Center before transferring to Fort Hood in July. Dr Thomas Grieger, who was training director at the centre while Maj Hasan was an intern there, said told AP that he had had "difficulties" that required counselling and extra supervision. And in 2007. Maj Hasan was cited for unprofessional behavior, including inappropriately discussing religion. One instructor, Lt Col Donald Lundy, thought Maj Hasan risked developing a psychosis, the Associated Press reported. Internet postings However, Maj Hasan was "mostly very quiet", and never spoke ill of the military or his country, Dr Grieger added. "He swore an oath of loyalty to the military," he said. "I didn't hear anything contrary to those oaths." Col Terry Lee, who is retired but said he had worked with Hasan, told Fox that Maj Hasan had often got into arguments with military colleagues who supported the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Maj Hasan had hoped that US President Barack Obama would pull troops out, Col Lee said. One official was quoted by the New York Times as saying that the FBI had become aware of internet postings by a man calling himself Nidal Hasan. In one such posting, the act of a suicide bomber who kills himself to protect Muslims was compared to a soldier throwing himself on a grenade to protect other soldiers. However, officials said they had not confirmed that Maj Hasan was the author of the postings. Maj Hasan is charged with 13 counts of murder and 32 counts of attempted murder.

मेजर निदाल मलिक हसन, जिन पर टेक्सास के फोर्ट हुड में 13 लोगों की हत्या का आरोप लगाया गया है, को एक भक्त मुसलमान के रूप में वर्णित किया गया है, जिनकी सेना के प्रति प्रतिबद्धता इराक और अफगानिस्तान में युद्धों के विरोध से और उन्हें युद्ध क्षेत्र में तैनात करने की योजना से टूट गई होगी।


New £13.5m Wrexham police headquarters given go-ahead

Summary: A new £13.5m police headquarters in Wrexham county borough has been approved by councillors.

The facility on Llay industrial estate will replace the town centre station which faces demolition. Wrexham council's planning committee agreed the plans on Monday subject to conditions. But a decision on plans to open a smaller town centre station in the former Oriel gallery in the library was deferred over parking concerns.

रेक्सम काउंटी बोरो में एक नए £ 13.5m पुलिस मुख्यालय को पार्षदों द्वारा अनुमोदित किया गया है।


Berlin museum tours inspire Mid-East refugees

Summary: Museum visitors gaze awe-struck at an ornate azure blue arch. As tall as an office block, the Ishtar Gate is more than 2,500 years old, and was once one of the entrances to the ancient city of Babylon, in modern-day Iraq.

By Damien McGuinnessBBC News, Berlin Today the enormous arch is in Berlin's Pergamon Museum. For these visitors it is not only an impressive sight, but also a moving one. That is because they are refugees, and the gate is a reminder of home. Many of them are from Iraq. The rest are from Syria. The tours take in many of the ancient precious objects of the Middle East - today in Germany - and are organised by a group of Berlin state museums twice a week, free of charge, especially for refugees. But what is really unusual about this tour is that the guide, Bashar, is also a refugee. Bashar fled from Syria and has been in Germany for six months. He spent 20 years working in museums in Syria, specialising in antiquities. He is now one of 17 asylum seekers being trained here by Berlin's state museums to work as guides. They are paid the standard museum guide fee of €40 (£32; $46) per hour-long tour. The project aims to help them integrate into German society by easing them back into work and restoring a sense of self-worth. "I would like to pass the idea on to refugees that we should respect the country which has opened the door for us to come, and that we should also be proud of our cultures," Bashar told me. "When German people give me the chance to be active and practise what I did over the last 20 years, it's not only a chance for me, but it also shows other refugees that you will find very good people who will support you and will give you the opportunity to integrate and start a better life. For me this job in the Pergamon Museum is like a gift." Many of the participants on the tour are still living in provisional refugee shelters, often sleeping on camp beds in former sports halls. They are in a state of limbo, waiting for their asylum applications to be processed so they can start looking for work. In the meantime, projects like this give refugees access to cultural pastimes. Post-war recovery But it is also about fostering integration by enabling refugees to get to know the history of their new home. Many knew little about Germany before they came. But at Berlin's German Historical Museum they can learn all about Germany's past. And the project's organisers are surprised at what refugees are interested in. Pictures and video footage of post-war Germany in ruins prove particularly fascinating, says Prof Stefan Weber, director of the Museum for Islamic Art in Berlin, and the project's initiator. How Germany has rebuilt its cities and economy since World War Two shows that a country can recover after war. "The destruction of Germany is for many refugees very important, because they see the country like it was in 1945. It gives them hope that destruction in war is not the end of history. For many it's a kind of eye-opener and it gives them hope for the future of their countries." Rassan is one of the participants on the tour. He fled Iraq a few months ago, where he had studied English literature and worked for Iraq's Ministry of Defence. He crossed the Mediterranean from Turkey to Greece in a crowded inflatable rubber boat. He then spent two weeks working his way up the Balkans to Germany. Today he is living in refugee accommodation in a former supermarket in Berlin. I ask him whether he feels uncomfortable seeing these precious objects taken from his homeland, now here in northern Europe. In the past the Iraqi government has called on Germany to return the Ishtar Gate. "I am very happy to see the Arab civilisation here," says Rassan. "They take care of everything and it's not even their civilisation. Isn't that something beautiful? It's like a rebirth. The whole world can view the Arab civilisation here and see where it comes from. I can remember my country here through its civilisation." Bashar agrees, particularly given the partial destruction of Palmyra by so-called Islamic State militants. "After what happened with Islamic State, it's good these objects are here. While we have crisis and war we will have illegal excavations. For us these objects are a message that we are continuing our journey, our culture, our heritage."

संग्रहालय के आगंतुक एक अलंकृत नीले रंग के मेहराब पर विस्मय से टकटकी लगाते हैं। एक कार्यालय खंड जितना लंबा, इश्तार गेट 2,500 साल से अधिक पुराना है, और कभी आधुनिक इराक में प्राचीन शहर बेबीलोन के प्रवेश द्वारों में से एक था।


Snake Pass collision leaves motorcyclist dead

Summary: A motorcyclist has died in a crash with a car on the Snake Pass road in Derbyshire.

The 62-year-old rider, from Manchester, who has not yet been named, died in the collision with a Citroen Picasso in Glossop, at about 11:25 GMT. The crash happened on the A57 between Hurst Road and the Hurst Reservoir. The road, which connects Sheffield and Manchester, was closed after the incident but police said it was due to re-open by 17:00 GMT.

डर्बीशायर में स्नेक पास रोड पर एक कार के साथ दुर्घटना में एक मोटरसाइकिल सवार की मौत हो गई है।


Lifetime management: What are Serious Organised Crime Prevention Orders?

Summary: Nine members of a crime gang responsible for importing industrial quantities of cocaine and firearms into Scotland are facing Serious Organised Crime Prevention Orders on top of jail terms totalling 87 years. So what does this mean?

What are Serious Organised Crime Prevention Orders? Serious Crime Prevention Orders (SCPOs) form part of the Serious Crime Act 2015 and have been available to courts since March 2016. SCPOs are designed to ensure the "lifetime management" of criminals, including their business dealings, communications and movements once they are released from jail. The orders can also limit their access to mobile phones and require them to notify police about all foreign travel. In theory, they are designed to make it as difficult as possible for offenders to return to a life of crime when they are released. The model has been compared to the management of sex offenders in that it can place restrictions on criminals until they day they die. Have they been used before? Until the orders were imposed on gang members Gerard Docherty and Steven McArdle the powers had only been used three times in Scotland. Isabella Jackson, 72, was jailed for 45 months and given an SCPO in June last year after pleading guilty at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court to sending death threats to Prime Minister Theresa May. She also admitted making bomb threats to the London store Harrods, Edinburgh Airport and King's Cross Station in London. The SCPO order means her activity can be restricted for a period of five years beginning from the date she is released from prison. It also affects the number of communications devices she can own and police must be notified of any change of device or account she has. The pensioner must also declare all online and social media accounts. She was previously jailed for two years after she sent email threats to the US Embassy in London claiming there was a bomb on a plane and emails which said the then US President Barack Obama was "to be killed". Scotland's second SCPO was imposed on gun and drug trafficker Dean Kimmins in 2017. Kimmins, 33, from Maryhill, Glasgow was jailed along with three other men in October 2016 for a scheme that saw deactivated guns turned into firearms. The court heard he had a "managerial role" in directing two men to collect a large heroin load. William Wilson, 37, was the recipient of the most recent SCPO. He was jailed for five years in December after he admitted two of charges of supplying drugs and two firearms offences. The SCPO, which will last for three years, stops him from owning any chemicals which could be used to produce controlled drugs or new psychoactive substances. It also says he cannot buy or possess chemicals which could be used as cutting agents or drug manufacturing equipment and restricts his ability to own communication devices, including phones and laptops. Wilson is also required to let police know of all premises he owns or occupies and of any intention to change his name. What else is being done to target criminal assets? The Proceeds of Crime Act (2002) grants the courts various powers to hit criminals in the pocket. They include seizure of cash, criminal confiscation orders, restraint orders prohibiting property dealings and taxation of profits generated from crime. But from 31 January an amendment to the act will introduce Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWO). It will require individuals suspected of "serious crime" to explain the source of any property owned by them valued at more than £50,000. Previously it was up to police to prepare a case but the burden of proof will now switch to the suspects. And, crucially, an individual may therefore be made subject to an UWO regardless of whether any related court action has been raised against them.

स्कॉटलैंड में औद्योगिक मात्रा में कोकीन और आग्नेयास्त्रों के आयात के लिए जिम्मेदार एक अपराध गिरोह के नौ सदस्यों को कुल 87 साल की जेल की सजा के अलावा गंभीर संगठित अपराध रोकथाम आदेशों का सामना करना पड़ रहा है। तो इसका क्या मतलब है?


Tube strike: No beer and sandwiches

Summary: With London's Tube network set for a 24-hour shutdown for the second time in a month, critics say Boris Johnson should be building bridges with the unions - but the days of resolving disputes while enjoying light refreshments appear to be over.

By Karl MercerPolitical Correspondent, BBC London We are not in a time of beer and sandwiches. This is not the 1970s, when union barons and politicians shared snacks and hard talk at Number 10. In fact, these days the capital's union leaders can't even get their feet through the front door at City Hall. Since becoming mayor, Boris Johnson hasn't held talks with those who run London's transport unions despite numerous strikes. The only time he talked to Bob Crow, the former leader of the RMT, was when Mr Crow called in to a radio show the mayor was on. Critics say the mayor should play more of a role in building bridges, but the mayor says it's for his team at Transport for London to do the talking. But it's hard to split the politics from the process. Remember the root cause of this dispute: the mayor's ambition to run tubes through the night on Fridays and Saturdays. It was a decision announced on the very day he revealed that TfL was to close its ticket offices (before becoming mayor he'd promised that none would shut under a Johnson administration). As the unions went on strike over that decision, the mayor was happy to call for a change in the threshold for strike ballots - one that required the unions to get higher turnouts and higher majorities before they took action. It is a call that has been heeded in Westminster. The new government's Trade Union Bill will require a 50% threshold for ballot turnout and in key areas, like health, education and transport, require 40% support from all eligible members for action to go ahead. Interestingly, the current strikes would still have gone ahead even if that legislation had been in place since both turnout and support are well above the government's suggested levels. So where are we now with the current dispute? Despite weeks of talks the two sides remain some way apart. From the sidelines, the mayor has accused the unions of "playing politics" and, from the frontline, the unions have accused the mayor of - you guessed it - "playing politics". At least there's one thing they agree on.

लंदन के ट्यूब नेटवर्क के एक महीने में दूसरी बार 24 घंटे के लिए बंद होने के साथ, आलोचकों का कहना है कि बोरिस जॉनसन को संघों के साथ सेतु का निर्माण करना चाहिए-लेकिन हल्के जलपान का आनंद लेते हुए विवादों को हल करने के दिन समाप्त होते दिख रहे हैं।


Canal project under scrutiny

Summary: The proposed Sethusamudram project that would facilitate a shipping route across the Palk Strait, off the Tamil Nadu coast is to be scrutinised for its environmental impact.

Sri Lanka's Environment Minister, AHM Fowzie, told BBC Sandeshaya that he has instructed the Central Environment Authority (CEA) to make a study of the project and take necessary action. Fowzie also said that Indian government had not yet sought Sri Lanka's views on the project. Discussions with the Indian Government will be initiated once findings are available. The Indian government last month approved the establishment of a special authority to execute the project. The Minister said that such projects may undermine the importance of the Colombo Port. However he stressed that his concern is much more on environmental grounds rather than financial aspects of the canal project.

प्रस्तावित सेतुसमुद्रम परियोजना, जो तमिलनाडु तट से दूर पाल्क जलडमरूमध्य के पार एक नौवहन मार्ग की सुविधा प्रदान करेगी, की पर्यावरणीय प्रभाव के लिए जांच की जानी है।


London Elections 2021: How the mayoral and London Assembly elections work

Summary: The election for the Greater London Authority takes place on Thursday 6 May - a chance for London's 6.2 million voters to elect the mayor of London and a new London Assembly. But how does the day actually work?

Are you a voter? The deadline for registering to vote in this election is 19 April. If you are on the electoral register, you should have received a polling card. This contains your polling number and polling station address. Unlike in the general election, EU citizens living in London with a right to work or stay in the UK can vote. How do I find my polling station? Polling stations are usually in public buildings like community centres, churches and schools. If you have not received a polling card, or have lost it, you can find your nearest polling station on the London Elects website. Can I vote without my polling card? Yes. The polling card is for your information, although taking it with you can speed things up. When you arrive, staff will take your details and cross your name off their checklist. How do I vote? You will be given three ballot papers when you arrive, one for mayor of London and two picks for members of the London Assembly. In total you will be asked to mark down four votes. Take the ballot papers to a screened booth, where you will find a pencil to mark your vote with, although you can use your own pen if you'd prefer. Read what's there carefully and then vote for your chosen candidate by putting an "X" in the box next to their name. The pink ballot paper will be for your choice for mayor of London. You will be asked to pick your first and second choice for mayor. Each vote must be for a different candidate. Choose who you want to represent your local area on the London Assembly, voting on the yellow ballot paper. You then choose a second candidate for the London Assembly using the orange ballot paper, which is used to choose a member to represent the whole of the capital on the London Assembly. The London-wide seats are worked out in a way that benefits parties that did not win constituency seats. You must vote at the polling station to which you have been assigned any time between 07:00 and 22:00 BST on election day. If you are in a queue when the polls shut, you are guaranteed the opportunity to vote. If you make a mistake, you can get another ballot paper - as long as you have not put the first one in the ballot box. Votes made with a tick or even a smiley face may be counted if the voter's choice is clear, but will be disqualified otherwise. Will the polling station be Covid-19 safe? Polling stations might look a little different this year compared to the last time you voted. There will be extra staff on hand, as well as screens and sanitising stations to help prevent the spread of coronavirus. Voters are asked to wear a face-covering to the polling station, where social distancing will be enforced. Can I spoil my ballot paper? Yes. Some people spoil their votes as a protest vote. While these do not count towards any candidate, the votes are recorded. Only 0.2% of votes were rejected for being invalid at the 2017 general election. Can I vote without going to the polling station? Yes, as long as you have met the deadline to register to vote by post or to appoint a proxy to vote on your behalf. The deadline to apply for a postal vote is 17:00 on 20 April. For proxy votes the deadline is a week later, at 17:00 on 27 April. Postal votes must be received by the time the polls close. You must say why you are unable to vote in person on the proxy application form. I have a disability - can I get help with voting? Yes. You can ask the presiding officer to mark the paper for you, or bring a close family member who is over 18, or someone else who is eligible to vote, like a support worker, with you. If you have a visual impairment, you can ask for a device that allows you to mark your own ballot paper. A large print version should also be available. Polling stations are selected so that wheelchair ramps and disabled parking spaces are available. If a voter cannot enter the polling station because of a physical disability, the presiding officer may take the ballot paper to the elector. For help, call the Electoral Commission on 0333 103 1928. A dedicated helpline for anyone with a learning disability, their families and carers, and polling station staff has also been set up by Mencap, a partner of the Electoral Commission. The number is 020 7696 6009. Is voting compulsory? No. It is entirely up to you whether or not you vote. Voter turnout in 2016 was 46%. Who runs the polling stations and how are the votes counted? Staff are recruited to work at polling stations via the electoral services department in local councils. Jobs available include being the presiding officer, conducting the ballot, counting the votes and processing the postal votes. When will we know who won the election? The votes will start to be counted from 07.00 on Friday 7 May. The process is expected to take a little longer than usual due extra precautions being taken to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Results for the mayor of London race and London Assembly elections are expected to be announced on Saturday afternoon at the earliest.

ग्रेटर लंदन अथॉरिटी के लिए चुनाव गुरुवार 6 मई को होता है-लंदन के 62 लाख मतदाताओं के लिए लंदन के मेयर और एक नई लंदन असेंबली का चुनाव करने का मौका। लेकिन यह दिन वास्तव में कैसे काम करता है?


Brexit battle in Supreme Court: Key points

Summary: The UK Supreme Court has finished a historic four days of hearings on Brexit - and who has the power to trigger it. Now the 11 justices will deliberate on whether government or Parliament has that power. We are expecting the judgement in January.

Dominic CascianiHome affairs correspondent@BBCDomCon Twitter What must the Supreme Court decide? The government was appealing against a really simple challenge won by two claimants, investment banker and philanthropist Gina Miller and London hairdresser Deir Dos Santos. In the High Court, they jointly challenged the government's presumption that it had the right to trigger "Article 50", the exit clause in the treaty that makes the UK a member of the European Union. They argue, instead, that it is for Parliament to say what happens following the Brexit referendum vote. The Supreme Court's eventual judgement, whatever it may be, will not overturn the referendum result: it will simply determine which course towards exit is lawful. What were the government's arguments? James Eadie QC led for the government. He is the First Treasury Counsel - the government's top barrister in legal scraps. On Monday he kicked off the appeal making a simple point: ministers have the power to trigger Brexit under the "royal prerogative". The prerogative is executive power that used to belong to kings and queens - but as British democracy developed down the centuries, passed to an elected Parliament. Treaties are an exception. They're negotiated and agreed by government ministers under the power of prerogative. Mr Eadie argued the following: Mr Eadie said the 1972 act did not carry the same weight as other domestic law that could only be undone by Parliament. It's "neutral" on whether the UK should be a member because its job is to be simply a "conduit" to introduce EU laws or rights into our domestic law. From time to time the rights of being in the EU have been changed as the international agreement between the governments has developed. Therefore, membership can also be changed by the government - so the 1972 act ceases to be relevant. Best line? The entire case was a "constitutional trap" taking judges dangerously close to making up laws themselves. Most vulnerable? Attacked repeatedly by the other side for lack of evidence that ministers ever had the prerogative power to take away the right of EU membership. The case against the government David (Lord) Pannick QC led the response for Gina Miller. He said that the government was reducing the 1972 act at the bedrock of EU membership to "a lesser status than the Dangerous Dogs Act". He said there were seven grounds why the government was wrong, including: Dominic Chambers QC, for Mr Dos Santos, argued that ministers had lost the executive power to overturn acts of Parliament - including the 1972 membership legislation - as long ago as the 17th Century. As to Mr Eadie's argument that the 1972 act was not an expression of Parliament's views on membership, Mr Chambers quoted from the then Prime Minister, Sir Edward Heath. He had said entry into the club was a "moment of decision for Parliament". Best line? "It is so obvious, so basic… These are matters for Parliament." (Lord Pannick QC) Most vulnerable? Parliament passed the 2015 Referendum Act knowing full well that a vote to leave mandated ministers to get on with it. What if the government loses? The devolution question A series of QCs argued different points on whether or not the UK's devolution settlement played a role. For the government, there were submissions that devolution did not have a dog in this fight. While the devolved bodies dealt with EU matters, such as agriculture, Westminster had not devolved international treaty-making powers to Edinburgh, Belfast or Cardiff. But for the other side, lawyers argued the following: Other factors Helen Mountfield QC argued on behalf of the crowdfunded "people's challenge", brought by members of the public who are concerned about the loss of EU citizenship. She argued the government's claims for prerogative powers did not stand up to historical analysis. For 300 years those powers had been seeping away. Manjit Gill QC, for parents and children with a link to Europe - such as foreign-born workers - said they needed certainty and clarity: Brexit by ministerial order would drive a coach and horses through their lives as lawful residents of this country, leaving them as bargaining chips with "bags packed ready to go".

ब्रिटेन के सर्वोच्च न्यायालय ने ब्रेक्सिट पर चार दिनों की ऐतिहासिक सुनवाई पूरी कर ली है-और इसे शुरू करने की शक्ति किसके पास है। अब 11 न्यायाधीश इस बात पर विचार करेंगे कि क्या सरकार या संसद के पास वह शक्ति है। हम जनवरी में फैसले की उम्मीद कर रहे हैं।


Police investigate Sutton in Ashfield 'shots fired' report

Summary: A potential firearms incident is being investigated after police received reports of shots being fired in a Nottinghamshire town.

Officers were called to the area around Carsic Road in Sutton in Ashfield at about 19:15 BST on Saturday. There have been no reports of injuries. Extra "reassurance" patrols have been put on, and an appeal for witnesses has been made. A police spokesman said that "incidents of gun crime are extremely rare". Related Internet Links Nottinghamshire Police

नॉटिंघमशायर शहर में गोली चलाने की रिपोर्ट मिलने के बाद एक संभावित आग्नेयास्त्र घटना की जांच की जा रही है।


Nicola Payne 1991 murder suspects' custody extended

Summary: Police holding two men on suspicion of the abduction and murder of Nicola Payne 22 years ago have been given a further 36 hours to quiz them.

Ms Payne was last seen in the Henley Green area of Coventry on 14 December 1991, when she was 18 years old. Last week, West Midlands Police carried out new forensic tests on items recovered during the investigation. The men were arrested on Tuesday and police have now been given a second extension to hold them in custody. Officers now have until the early hours of Friday to charge or release the pair. A 51-year-old woman, who was also arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice, has been granted conditional police bail and released while enquiries are ongoing, police said.

22 साल पहले निकोला पायने के अपहरण और हत्या के संदेह में दो लोगों को गिरफ्तार करने वाली पुलिस को उनसे पूछताछ करने के लिए और 36 घंटे का समय दिया गया है।


'Africa's Che Guevara': Thomas Sankara's legacy

Summary: The late president of Burkina Faso, Thomas Sankara - an icon for many young Africans in the 1980s - remains to some a heroic "African Che Guevara", 27 years after his assassination at the age of 37.

By Alex Duval SmithBBC News, Ouagadougou Be it through the red beret, worn by firebrand South African politician Julius Malema, or the household brooms being wielded at street demonstrations in Burkina Faso, there are signs that his legacy is enjoying a revival. Praised by supporters for his integrity and selflessness, the military captain and anti-imperialist revolutionary led Burkina Faso for four years from 1983. But he is seen by others as an autocrat who came to power through a coup and valued discipline above human rights. Sankara was a staunch defender of all things home-grown - such as cotton - and yet the African textile industry failed to make him a T-shirt icon. While Burkina Faso's former leader may not be the poster boy of revolution, like Argentine-born Che Guevara, many taxis across West Africa have a round sticker of him in his beret on their windscreens. His influence is still felt as far afield as South Africa, argues columnist Andile Mngxitama. 'Common good' "The elections in South Africa [next month] are about the memory of Thomas Sankara," says Mr Mngxitama, who is also the commissar for land and agrarian revolution for South Africa's new Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party. "They are about the ideal that political power can and must be used for the common good." The EFF was launched by Mr Malema, who supports the partial nationalisation of South Africa's mining and farming sectors, as "the new home for voiceless, indigenous poor South Africans" after he was expelled from the governing African National Congress (ANC). Sankara's spirit is also behind a protest movement that began last year in his homeland of Burkina Faso, a former French colony. Called Le Balai Citoyen, meaning "the citizens' broom", it campaigns against moves by President Blaise Compaore to extend his hold on power beyond 2015. Once Sankara's deputy, Mr Compaore came to power after his friend was shot dead by a group of soldiers in October 1987. "We carry brooms because we want to sweep out the president and his clique," says 43-year-old musician Samsk Le Jah, the man behind Le Balai Citoyen. As a teenager he says he received his "political education" in Sankara's Pioneer youth movement. "The broom is also a tribute to Thomas Sankara, who organised weekly street-cleaning sessions," he says. "African leaders have so much to learn from Sankara about humility and public service." Benewende Sankara - no relation of the late socialist leader - agrees. "Sankara's spirit still floats over Burkina Faso," says the Sankarist politician, who is also the lawyer for the late president's family. At the moment the family is fighting a legal battle to win the right to open the tomb the government built in Sankara's honour and DNA test any remains found inside as there has been no real investigation into the exact circumstances of his death, which are still hazy. "He was ahead of his time. The values people agree on today - the need for good governance and reducing consumption - were what Sankara taught us," says the lawyer. "It was all about produce what you consume, be self-sufficient, be honest and live simply," he says. "His ministers drove small cars and travelled economy class, Thomas himself rode a bicycle. "Those are values that, if they are heard, appeal to the youth all over the world today." Sankara's revolutionary zeal is best remembered in West Africa. 'Discipline' But in neighbouring Ghana - whose former President Jerry Rawlings was a firm friend of Sankara - post-graduate law student David Guat, 50, sounds a note of caution when he talks to younger students. Sankara seized power not long after Flight Lieutenant Rawlings had led his second coup. "Sankara copied a lot of Rawlings' ideas. The two men were firm friends - to the extent that they wanted to merge their two countries. "In those days there was discipline. You went to work on time and you did not sit around reading The Graphic [newspaper]," remembers Mr Guat. "You actually worked. But people were not disciplined because they wanted to be; they were disciplined because they were being checked on. "Human rights were not respected. I have very mixed feelings about that period." Still, without achieving Che Guevara's fame, Sankara's legacy has spread far and wide. Eight years ago, when Australian communications specialist Shantha Bloemen had a son with a Zimbabwean human rights activist, Munyaradzi Gwisai, they named him Sankara. "I had read Sankara's essay on the rights of African women," she says. "He understood why women are so critical to Africa's transformation. Ms Bloemen, who works in China, says Sankara had ambitions for the whole African continent. "He wanted a fairer, proud, independent Africa that was equipped to tackle its challenges," she says. "I can think of no better role model for my son." For Serge Bambara, a co-founder of Le Balai Citoyen, it is this positive attitude that ensures his legacy. "It allowed us to be more proud to be African and to pull out of that inferiority complex, to realise we can accomplish things," he told the BBC. "[US President Barack] Obama was not the first to say, 'Yes we can.'"

बुर्किना फासो के दिवंगत राष्ट्रपति, थॉमस शंकर-1980 के दशक में कई युवा अफ्रीकियों के लिए एक प्रतीक-37 साल की उम्र में उनकी हत्या के 27 साल बाद भी कुछ लोगों के लिए एक वीर "अफ्रीकी चे ग्वेरा" बने हुए हैं।


How knowing your genetic code could lengthen your life

Summary: Fifteen years ago this month, the full human genome sequence was published for the first time, heralding a new era of medicine. Since then technology has markedly speeded up genomic sequencing and reduced the cost. But have those hoped-for medical breakthroughs materialised?

By Adi Gaskell & Matthew WallTechnology of Business, BBC News "We have embarked on one of the most exciting chapters of the book of life," said Prof Allan Bradley, director of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, as he welcomed the success of the Human Genome Project. Sequencing the human genome took 10 years and cost about $3bn (£2.2bn). Now advances in computing power have seen the cost of human genome sequencing fall to under $500. A firm called Oxford Nanopore has even developed a hand-held reader that can sequence genetic material in minutes. Dr Gordon Sanghera, the firm's chief executive, talks about creating "the internet of living things - real time connection of live DNA information" using such portable devices. And the applications won't just be for healthcare, he argues, but for establishing the provenance of food in restaurants, or the presence of dangerous microbes in food factories or water supplies. It could also be used for analysing DNA evidence at crime scenes. "It's like the ultimate barcode," he says. A single strand of DNA is one ten-thousandth the width of a human hair, but the hand-held reader, called MinION, squeezes each strand through a tiny hole - the nanopore - and reads its electrical signals. These signals are instantly converted into a DNA sequence. Dr Sanghera, whose firm has raised more than £450m in investment so far, believes the device could eventually be used to diagnose common infections at home and so reduce needless trips to the doctor and the over-prescription of antibiotics. Within the next 10 years, "everyone will get sequenced at birth", he says, and we'll be able to assess whether we have genetic dispositions to particular diseases and take preventative steps accordingly. This reduction in the cost of genomic sequencing has seen the number of completed sequences rise quickly. DNA sequencing company Illumina - worth $35bn on the US stock market - estimates that more than 500,000 human genomes have now been sequenced worldwide. But it is how this data will be combined with other data and analysed that is causing excitement. The UK Biobank, established in 2007 by the Wellcome Trust, has enlisted 500,000 volunteers who've shared their medical data anonymously in the hope of improving the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of illnesses. Scientists at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, used Biobank data to highlight the increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes among shift workers. The researchers found that people who worked irregular shift patterns were 44% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than people working permanent day shifts. Now, genetic data will be added to the mix. In April, UK Biobank announced that it plans to sequence the full genomes of 50,000 volunteers by 2019. The project will be funded by a £30m Medical Research Council grant and conducted by the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Cambridge. A consortium of companies, led by Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, has already vowed to read and analyse volunteers' exome data - a small subset of the entire genome - with each member investing $10m in the project. There are great hopes that such genomic data, analysed by artificial intelligence (AI), will help speed up the diagnosis of cancers and lead to more targeted treatments. Swiss company Sophia Genetics has developed an AI that has been used in the diagnosis of 200,000 patients in more than 400 hospitals across 55 countries. "Sophia has the capability of paving the way towards a collective intelligence that will help diagnose and treat every patient precisely and equally around the world," claims Sophia Genetics boss Dr Jurgi Camblong. Billions of data points are analysed in just a few minutes. These results are refined by the healthcare community, which helps the algorithm to become smarter. Tests that would normally take months can now be done in hours. More Technology of Business "We are entering a new era where we will be able to cluster patients' cancer cases in virtual cohorts and determine whether the cancer of a specific patient looks like the one of 10,000 other patients," says Dr Camblong. Doctors will then know which treatment worked best for that type of person with that type of cancer. The AI engine was recently boosted with radiomics capabilities, which is the ability to extract useful information from medical images - of tumours, for example. If you can predict how a tumour is likely to develop you can treat it more effectively, says Dr Camblong. "We are at the beginning of a revolution in healthcare," says Ruth March, vice-president and head of precision medicine and genomics at pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. "An increasing number of patients are being matched with precision medicines due to the growing understanding of the genetic drivers of disease. Patients can be treated with medicines most likely to benefit them." Some companies believe genomics linked with other health data analysis could help us lead longer, healthier lives. For example, human genome pioneer Prof Craig Venter is co-founder and chairman of Human Longevity Inc (HLI), a firm aiming to give us all "data-driven health intelligence". "We're fighting medical tradition where we wait until people are sick before we treat them," says Prof Venter. HLI has teamed up with Amra, a world leader in body composition analysis, to combine genomic analysis with metabolic profiling. The aim is to give patients a detailed understanding of their fat and muscle measurements from a simple six-minute scan. But dramatic medical breakthroughs have been tougher to come by than many had hoped at the start of the genomics era. "The completion of the human genome project held out much hope for the better understanding and treatment of diseases. "But as is usually the case, we had underestimated the complexity of the relationship of genome to disease and health," concludes IBM's Laxmi Parida. Yet this is only the beginning - in the genomics era, healthcare is irrevocably changing.

पंद्रह साल पहले इसी महीने पहली बार पूर्ण मानव जीनोम अनुक्रम प्रकाशित किया गया था, जिसने चिकित्सा के एक नए युग की शुरुआत की थी। तब से प्रौद्योगिकी ने जीनोमिक अनुक्रमण को गति दी है और लागत को कम किया है। लेकिन क्या उन अपेक्षित चिकित्सा सफलताओं को साकार किया है?


'Horrific' assault on woman found in Leicester play park

Summary: A woman is in a critical condition in hospital after being subjected to a "horrific" assault, police said.

The victim was found unconscious near a children's play park off Cedar Road, Leicester, at about 04:45 BST on Friday. The area where she was found was cordoned off by police. Leicestershire Police said officers are reviewing CCTV footage in a bid to trace the attacker, and called for any witnesses to come forward. Follow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk.

पुलिस ने कहा कि एक "भयानक" हमले के बाद अस्पताल में एक महिला की हालत गंभीर है।


Parkrun: What's all the fuss about?

Summary: Fourteen years ago, a group of mates met up on a Saturday morning to jog round their local park. Since then, five million people have signed up to the Parkrun website. Why is it so popular? And why do many people say running is not the main reason they do it?

By John HarrisonBBC News Young mum Gwen Twynam-Perkins became a mum before most of her friends. She was 24 years old, and her husband, Jonathan, often worked at weekends, leaving her at home with her baby, Rosie, on a Saturday. "You've got a baby," she says. "They can't talk to you in the same way as an adult and it can be very very lonely. "You don't want to disturb your friends at the weekend because that is their family time." Finding a way of exercising was also hard. "You can't sign up for a gym class unless you are really good at planning, and you always have to rely on someone else to look after your child." One Saturday, Gwen bundled Rosie up in a buggy and took her to her local Parkrun in Edinburgh. On some mornings Gwen, now 27, managed to finish the 5km run in under 30 minutes. Other times it took her almost an hour to push Rosie round . Once she did it on just three hours sleep after a particularly bad night. "There were always people there to talk to," she said. "For me, it was about getting back some of the independence that I'd lost." She now has two children, and eight-month-old Sam has joined his big sister Rosie, now aged two, as a Parkrun regular. "Sometimes it can be very cold, but they do love it," she adds. "For us it is just the best way to start the weekend." Lonely carer "One of the first building blocks of my life back in Leeds was Parkrun," Jonathan Turner says. Jonathan, 50, moved back to Yorkshire from Teesside in May 2014, after 24 years away. He returned to look after his mother, giving up his job and moving away from his friends. "I felt a real need in those first few months of wanting to connect with somebody." Jonathan had few friends remaining in the area, and spent most of his time caring for his mum. He was looking for a reason to get some exercise when he Googled "things to do in Temple Newsam". He found a local Parkrun and gave it a go. Jonathan came to rely on the release Parkrun gave him after his mother died later that year. "She died on the Thursday and I went down to the Parkrun on the Saturday even though I was in a daze." He went for a coffee with a couple of runners afterwards and talked about his mum. "People there were just really kind," he says. "For a while after my mum had gone I was really looking for somewhere to feel like home. "In those first few months Parkrun gave me a sense of belonging." Family bonding For Lynne Lewis, joining the Portobello Parkrun in Edinburgh gave her the chance to find some "common ground" with her son, Morgan. "I've always been a runner but I suppose over the years I had a few injuries and, as with a lot of women, I stopped running after having my children," she said. However, Morgan joined her at Parkrun when he was 14. He started as a volunteer as part of his Duke of Edinburgh award, and now regularly takes part as a runner. "What was really lovely is that neither of us are really sporty people and yet sport has brought us that common interest," she added. "It has become a fixture in our lives." Parkrun's founder is very aware the movement he helped start 14 years ago benefits its participants in many different ways. Running, says Paul Sinton-Hewitt, is the "smallest part of what we do." "We are in prisons, we help people with visual issues when they are running, we try and address a whole range of social ills, including loneliness. "We go out of our way to make sure people can join this party to be part of the community and to find the things that have been missing in our society for a very very long time." Five million people An indication of Parkrun's ability to appeal to runners of all ages and abilities can be found in the statistics over time. The average 5km time is now about seven minutes slower than in 2004. Paul is delighted by this, saying it is proof that the type of people joining and the range of abilities has diversified. He admits that running was a form of personal therapy when he started Parkrun 14 years ago. He says he was in a "dark place" in his life: "I got fired from my job, I lost my girlfriend, I got injured running." On 2 October 2004, he and 12 friends met for a jog in Bushy Park, Teddington, followed by cake and coffee in a local cafe. They liked it so much they started doing it every week, and they were soon joined by other runners. Within a couple of years the Parkrun phenomenon had spread. There are now runs in 20 countries, including Australia, Finland, Canada, Namibia and Malaysia. There is even one in Siberia. On Monday night, the five millionth person signed up to the Parkrun website and, this weekend, anniversary runs are taking place across the world.

चौदह साल पहले, साथियों का एक समूह शनिवार की सुबह अपने स्थानीय पार्क में टहलने के लिए मिला था। तब से, पचास लाख लोगों ने पार्करन वेबसाइट पर साइन अप किया है। यह इतना लोकप्रिय क्यों है? और कई लोग क्यों कहते हैं कि दौड़ना उनके ऐसा करने का मुख्य कारण नहीं है?


A696 near Otterburn reopens following turbine fall

Summary: A main route through Northumberland has reopened five days after it was blocked when a wind turbine stem fell off a lorry.

The 147ft (45m) shaft was left in the A696 near Otterburn on Monday and diversions set up. Cranes were brought in to remove it on Thursday and the road was reopened at about 17:00 BST following road repairs. Traders in the town said the closure had been "devastating" with no passing trade. Northumberland County Council said it had made reopening the road its top priority. The recovery operation involved building two large stone platforms to support the cranes to lift the stem. Parish councillor and pub landlord Clive Emmerson said the effect of the closure had been devastating and he was relieved the road was reopening.

नॉर्थम्बरलैंड के माध्यम से एक मुख्य मार्ग एक लॉरी से एक पवन टरबाइन स्टेम गिरने से अवरुद्ध होने के पांच दिन बाद फिर से खुल गया है।


A brief history of plastics, natural and synthetic

Summary: When you think of plastic, what springs to mind? Cheap toys from China? Packaging? Or maybe a plastic bag? Of course you would. But how about a woolly jumper? Or cornflakes? Or an antique oak wardrobe?

By Laurence KnightBusiness reporter, BBC News Believe it or not, from a chemist's perspective all these things are made of the same class of materials: Polymers. And the distinction between which ones we happen to call "plastics" and which ones we don't is fairly arbitrary. Polymers are extremely long repetitive molecules which, in the case of plastics, are primarily made of carbon. "You take a simple organic molecule and you react it with itself again and again and again," explains chemistry professor Andrea Sella of University College London. "A little bit like a bicycle chain, you attach one link, and you click on the next one and the next one and the next one, almost ad infinitum." Polymers are a very broad category. As well as plastics, they also include the silicones - based on silicon rather than carbon - used in everything from breast implants to fire retardants. They even include DNA. The polymers' shape is what gives plastics their plasticity, allowing them to be moulded into any shape. The individual strands "can simply slide past each other" says Sella. "Think of cold spaghetti." Humans have been using naturally derived plastics for far longer than you may imagine. For example, medieval craftsmen made lantern windows out of translucent slices of animal horn. Horn is made of keratin - a mixed carbon-nitrogen polymer - the same stuff that skin and hair, including wool, is made of. But the history goes back further. A millennium and a half before Christ, the Olmecs in Mexico played with balls made of another natural polymer - rubber. It was not until the 18th Century that the first European, French explorer Charles-Marie de La Condamine, stumbled upon the rubber tree in the Amazon basin. And it was only in the 1840s that the American Charles Goodyear and the British Thomas Hancock took out patents on either side of the Atlantic for "vulcanised" rubber - treated with sulphur to make it more durable. Vulcanisation made possible the rubber tyre for the bicycle, and later the motor car (hence the Goodyear tyre company). Thomas Hancock, meanwhile, collaborated with Charles Mackintosh to make water-resistant clothing. But the story of plastics goes back earlier even than the Olmecs, in fact as long as man has been using wood. That's because about half of your average piece of wood is cellulose - a polymer that provides the tough walls of plant cells, and wood its stiffness and durability. It is the long strands of cellulose that are separated by the pulping industry, and that give paper its strength. It was also cellulose that provided the raw material for the next great breakthrough in modern plastics - the material "Parkesine", modestly named by the British inventor Alexander Parkes, who put it on display at the 1862 international exhibition in London. Many early examples of Parkesine products - printers' moulds, cutlery handles, buttons, combs - can be found on display today at London's Science Museum. "Although he's a fantastic inventor, he's not a brilliant businessman," explains curator Dr Susan Mossman. "So he goes bankrupt." It was left to two Americans, the Hyatt brothers, to make a mint from the material - much to Parkes' chagrin. They added camphor, improving the plastic's malleability, and renamed it celluloid in 1870, thus providing what would become the raw material for the film industry. Cars and films are not the only technologies whose birth was facilitated by these early plastics. Electrification was first made possible by rubber, which could be used to insulate electrical switches, while the first submarine cables for telecommunications from 1851 were coated in a protective layer of a cousin of rubber called gutta percha. But the big breakthrough - arguably the birth of the modern plastics era - came in 1907, with the invention of Bakelite by the Belgian-born American Leo Baekeland. It was the first synthetic plastic - the first to be derived not from plants or animals, but from fossil fuels. Baekeland used phenol, an acid derived from coal tar. His work opened the floodgates to a torrent of now-familiar synthetic plastics - polystyrene in 1929, polyester in 1930, polyvinylchloride (PVC) and polythene in 1933, nylon in 1935. These brand new materials were considered the very height of glamour. "By the 1930s you've got synthetic plastics that can be produced in whites and pale luminescent colours," says Mossman. "You get Ginger Rogers dancing in a beautiful white laminate interior." But what really drove the industry's growth was the war effort, as plastics were used in everything from military vehicles to radar insulation. Petrochemicals companies built plants to turn crude oil into plastic by the lorryload, with the predictable result that, come the end of the War in 1945, the industry faced a horrendous glut. To keep production running, they were forced to think outside the box - or should that be inside the box? - as they turned their attention to the mass consumer goods market, with new products such as Tupperware, launched in 1948. Andrea Sella offers the example of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) invented in 1941, to show how versatile these cheap new materials could be. Today it is used to make fizzy drinks bottles, because it is strong enough to hold two atmospheres of pressure. He then flourishes a soft winter glove, as well as a sheet of plastic for wrapping flowers. "It's the same material," he says. The only difference is the way in which it has been cast. And that is just one plastic. "There are literally now hundreds of thousands of different kinds of polymers," says Sella. And their properties can be changed just by tweaking their structure. "A standard British milk bottle is made of polyethylene, made from a building block C2H4. "If you add just one carbon, and go to polypropylene, what you have is a much more robust material." He takes out a baby's drinking cup and lets it drop to the concrete floor. It bounces cheerfully back. "This was completely transformative. When they came in, they were replacing things like pewter, which gets dented, and glass and ceramics, which have the terrible problem that they smash." Synthetic plastics had the added advantage that they seemingly lasted forever. No organisms had evolved that were capable of digesting these complicated and alien materials. But that advantage is, of course, also a great disadvantage. Plastic might sit in a landfill, or litter a street, for thousands of years without decomposing. More worrying are reports that much of our plastic junk - including gazillions of tiny plastic micro-particles that might have broken off from plastic-based clothes in washing machines - have found their way into our oceans, where they collect in giant floating junkyards that go round and round in natural gyres in the ocean currents. There is some evidence that bacteria may be evolving to feed on this junk, exploiting the energy embodied in the polymers' hydrocarbon bonds. But there are surely better solutions - such as plastics designed to decompose. Polylactic acid (PLA) for example, is derived from corn starch, the same stuff that corn flakes are largely composed of. Starch, like cellulose, is a polysaccharide - a long chain of sugar molecules fused together. PLA can be used to make plastic bags, and fibres for clothing. Meanwhile, cellulose can be turned not only into celluloid, but also the food wrapper cellophane, or the fibre rayon. All of these polymers are compostable. Over months or years, they will be gradually broken down by microbes. Apart from the steady accumulation of plastic junk, there is another looming problem - where we get our plastics from in the first place. Currently, most of them come from oil and gas. But when these finite sources eventually run out, the obvious solution will be to go back to the days of Parkes and Goodyear, and look to biology. "The market is looking for more bio-derived plastics that are chemically identical to the plastics we use now," says Dr Jeremy Tomkinson, a York-based consultant who advises the UK government on bio-fuels and bio-materials. "The main thrust at the moment is polyethylene." Partly this has been driven by brand considerations - Pepsi and Coca Cola competed in recent years to boast the first 100% bioplastic PET bottle (Pepsi won). Normally derived from crude oil, the stuff is now being produced from sugar cane by the Brazilian petrochemicals firm Braskem. It uses vats of yeast that have been genetically modified to turn the sugar into ethanol, which can then be converted by stages into ethylene, polythene and PET. Such bioplastics also help battle climate change, Tomkinson argues, as the sugar cane draws carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, sequestering it into a product that can be recycled like any other - even if it is ultimately burned to generate energy, and the carbon dioxide released back into the atmosphere. But Tomkinson says that in the longer term, the main driver for the bioplastics renaissance will not be eco-friendly altruism, but the profit motive. The big chemicals companies realise that they need to find alternative feedstocks to replace crude oil, and this is already reflected in their research and development spending. For now, the oil price remains steady. And, thanks to the shale revolution, American gas prices are exceptionally low, turning the US into a major producer of PVC. "But when oil hits a certain dollar price per barrel, it will become too expensive to use," he says. "That's where industrial bio-technology could really begin to take effect." And that's where mankind's brief love affair with synthetic plastics will come to an end. Follow @BBCNewsMagazine on Twitter and on Facebook

जब आप प्लास्टिक के बारे में सोचते हैं, तो आपके दिमाग में क्या आता है? चीन से सस्ते खिलौने? पैकेजिंग? या शायद एक प्लास्टिक बैग? बेशक आप करेंगे। लेकिन ऊनी जम्पर के बारे में क्या? या कॉर्नफ्लेक्स? या एक प्राचीन ओक अलमारी?


Joey Trislander 'may fly for another year'

Summary: A popular aircraft affectionately known as Joey could see its service extended.

The airworthiness certificate of the trislander aircraft has been extended until April 2016 by the European Aviation Safety Agency. Joey has inspired books and a fan club with almost 5,000 people on the Save Joey the Trislander Facebook group. Airline Aurigny said no decision had been made on the future of the aircraft which flies between Guernsey, Alderney, Southampton and Dinard, France.

एक लोकप्रिय विमान जिसे प्यार से जॉय के नाम से जाना जाता था, अपनी सेवा का विस्तार देख सकता था।