Coronavirus: Latin American crime gangs adapt to pandemic

Summary: Mexico's President Andrés Manuel López Obrador made an unusual demand on Monday. He told criminal gangs to stop donating food packages during the coronavirus crisis and instead focus on ending the violence which had left more than 100 people dead the previous day. Mexican cartels are not the only ones who are continuing to operate - organised crime across Latin America, from Colombian gangs to Brazilian urban "militias", have continued to display their might throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, as BBC Monitoring's Latin America specialist Luis Fajardo reports.

By Luis FajardoBBC Monitoring Miami On the afternoon of 7 April, as Colombia experienced its 14th consecutive day under a nationwide quarantine decreed to stem the spread of coronavirus, a large funeral procession made its way through the working-class suburb of Bello in the city of Medellín. Hundreds joined the funeral cortège, held in blatant violation of social isolation rules, to honour Edgar Pérez Hernández. The man who was also known as "El Oso" (The Bear) was the alleged head of Medellín's powerful Niquía-Camacol criminal gang. He had died the day before of a heart attack while in jail. "Members of the crowd applauded, and fired their guns into the air," a local newspaper described the scene. Business as usual? Analysts have pointed out that, just like any other business in this unprecedented global health crisis, Latin American crime syndicates face an existential threat owing to the massive disruption to their international supply chains. Mexican columnnist Héctor de Mauleón has pointed out some of the difficulties faced by the drug cartels. He says that not only have sales of illegal drugs fallen in the United States - the main market for Mexican cartels - but some of the precursor chemicals needed to make the drugs have also stopped arriving from China. At the same time, with the US-Mexico border closed to everything but non-essential travel, drug smuggling has become more difficult. "This cocktail heralds a jump in numbers of violent incidents between rival groups: the 'narcos' will be fighting over the scarce criminal opportunities available," Mr de Mauleón writes. Figures gathered by Mexican daily Milenio seem to back Mr de Mauleón's fears. According to Milenio, March saw the highest monthly total of organised crime-linked homicides in Mexico in 13 years. In border cities historically beset by cartel violence, that trend is being felt, too. In Ciudad Juárez, 153 people were killed in March, more than any month since August 2018, El Diario reported. Smuggling galore Despite the disruption to their business, Latin American criminal organisations are still attempting to send large volumes of illicit drugs across borders. So far this year, Colombian security forces have been involved in operations leading to the seizure of 112 tonnes of cocaine, according to Colombian daily El Tiempo. On 31 March, the Colombian navy intercepted a narco-submarine off Colombia's Pacific coast carrying a tonne of cocaine towards the United States. It was the twelfth such vessel to be seized this year. Brazilian authorities have recognised the power of gangs in many urban areas Gangs try to win hearts and minds Drug cartels have also responded to the current crisis by trying to win over the local population. They have set up informal welfare schemes in communities which face economic ruin from the pandemic and which have received little or no help from the authorities. Among the Mexican syndicates reported to have handed out food parcels "courtesy" of their bosses are the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, the Gulf Cartel and "Los Viagras". The extent to which criminal organisations have replaced state functions in Brazil in poor neighbourhoods was brought home when then-health minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta told local officials earlier this month to talk with drug lords and gang leaders about how to stop the spread of coronavirus. Mr Mandetta said that the authorities had to be realistic about who was in power in poor neighbourhoods. "We have to understand that these are areas where the state is often absent and the ones in charge are drug traffickers," he said. A period of 'enormous weakness'? Some commentators have suggested that, despite their attempts at adaptation, the cartels have become vulnerable. "It is possible that in the next few weeks or months, a period of enormous weakness for organised crime will be reached, right at the moment when, as a result of the emergency, the state will broaden its faculties," wrote Mexican security expert Alejandro Hope in the Mexican daily El Universal. "As life in the country returns to normal, the old patterns of illegal trafficking and criminal activity will return," he added. "But it may be possible to make the most of this state of exception to create state presence where it has never existed, to dismantle the main gangs of organised crime, to subvert their legitimacy, and modify the relationship between citizenship and the security and justice apparatus," Mr Hope argued. Regardless of the long-term impact on the cartels, in the short term, their efforts to weather the Covid-19 crisis will likely bring continued violence and a persistent challenge to state authorities already struggling with the health emergency across Latin America.

मेक्सिको के राष्ट्रपति एंड्रेस मैनुअल लोपेज़ ओब्राडोर ने सोमवार को एक असामान्य मांग की। उन्होंने आपराधिक गिरोहों से कहा कि वे कोरोनावायरस संकट के दौरान खाद्य पैकेज दान करना बंद कर दें और इसके बजाय उस हिंसा को समाप्त करने पर ध्यान केंद्रित करें जिसमें पिछले दिन 100 से अधिक लोग मारे गए थे। मैक्सिकन कार्टेल केवल वही नहीं हैं जो काम करना जारी रखे हुए हैं-पूरे लैटिन अमेरिका में संगठित अपराध, कोलंबियाई गिरोहों से लेकर ब्राजील के शहरी "मिलिशिया" तक, ने कोविड-19 महामारी के दौरान अपनी ताकत का प्रदर्शन करना जारी रखा है, जैसा कि बीबीसी मॉनिटरिंग के लैटिन अमेरिका विशेषज्ञ लुइस फजार्डो ने बताया है।


US Election 2020: Meet the voters behind Bloomberg's surge

Summary: He's one of the richest men in the world, a polarising candidate in a crowded race and he's about to make his first appearance on the debate stage after rising to second place in the polls. So who are Mike Bloomberg's supporters, and why have they backed him?

By Ritu PrasadBBC News Recent polling by NPR/PBS/Marist puts Mr Bloomberg in second place, behind Bernie Sanders, with 19% of the Democratic vote. Mr Bloomberg will no doubt face questions on his political past - including recently revealed comments on women, farmers and minorities - on Wednesday, when he takes to the debate stage for the first time in Las Vegas, Nevada. He won't appear on any ballots, however, until Super Tuesday - 3 March, when some of the biggest states, like California and Texas, hold their primary contests. While liberals have attacked him over controversial policies during his tenure as mayor, his billionaire status and for having switched party affiliations in the past, Mr Bloomberg has also been a strong investor in many key causes for Democratic voters. He spent some $100m (£77m) backing Democrats in the 2018 mid-term elections, which saw a record number of women voted to Congress. He founded the nonprofit Everytown for Gun Safety group to lobby for gun control policies. He has given more than $1bn to public health causes and over $278m to climate change initiatives. Think of a Bernie Sanders supporter and there's a good chance an image pops into your mind of someone young, progressive, possibly male. But what does a Michael Bloomberg fan look like? Looking at polling data and anecdotally at rallies, it appears most of Mr Bloomberg's grassroots supporters skew older. Pro-Bloomberg groups on social media are run by older-than-middle-aged Americans; there may be some racial diversity, but little when it comes to age. A Quinnipiac poll last week found most of the former mayor's support came from voters aged 50 and up who make over $50,000 a year. Here's how Mr Bloomberg's grassroots supporters responded to some of the biggest criticisms against him - and why they say they are all in for Mike 2020. What about the money? For New Yorker Laura Wagner, Mr Bloomberg's money is far from a downside. "You have to be a billionaire [to run] and then when you are, you're criticised for it!" she says, noting how much campaigns must fundraise and that most modern US presidents have been very wealthy. Ms Wagner, a Sotheby's realty associate and contributing columnist to the Italian and English newspaper La Voce in her 50s, agrees the money plays a big factor in Mr Bloomberg's candidacy. But that, she says, is not a bad thing. "All the power to him because he's using it, in my opinion, so effectively. He's not going to be bartering with these big oil companies and organisations, the NRA [National Rifle Association], or trying to appease. "Donald Trump would like to be what Michael Bloomberg is in terms of the power, the money." All of the supporters who spoke to the BBC echoed that Mr Bloomberg's successful business record was a highlight, not a hindrance. "And being the mayor of New York City for three terms is pretty close to being president of the United States," Ms Wagner adds. What about 'stop and frisk'? Perhaps the biggest issue from Mr Bloomberg's mayoral past is this policy, which allowed police to question and search individuals for weapons or illegal items. Most people stopped were innocent; most were black or Latino. "Stop, question and frisk" pre-dated Mr Bloomberg but peaked during his tenure, with around five million stops over a decade. Analysis of the programme in the years since has suggested the random investigative stops did not have a meaningful impact on crime. In 2013, a federal judge ruled the tactic was unconstitutional, violating the rights of minority residents. This month, audio emerged from 2015 where Mr Bloomberg claimed male minorities perpetrate "the real crime". He's since apologised for the policy and "the impact it had on black and Latino communities". Sheikh Musa Drammeh, 58, is a religious leader and community activist who has lived in the Bronx and Harlem neighbourhoods of New York City for the last 30 years. When asked about the controversial policy, Mr Drammeh emphasised: "No candidate will ever do as much for the blacks and Latinos as Bloomberg." "I am black," Mr Drammeh continues. "Nobody can tell me about the ravages of crime in this city - I know it, I live it, I'm a victim of it. "And Bloomberg did not create stop and frisk, [but] Bloomberg's administration saw that you must have a habitable environment otherwise investors, residents, high-earning individuals who will pay taxes to support social services, will leave the city." Mr Drammeh says from what he has seen as an activist working to stop gang violence, people in his neighbourhoods have "benefitted from stop and frisk". "It's not discriminatory, it's life saving. The lives that are being saved are black and brown, not white." What makes him the best to take on Trump? Carla Shead, a 49-year-old from Maryland, told the BBC: "It'll take another New Yorker to beat Trump." Ms Shead adds that Mr Bloomberg has proven himself by being "a successful businessman and a successful mayor" and "has put his money where his mouth is". "When I started listening to his ads and what he had to say about building the community and what his plan was to do for the United States - he is everything Trump isn't. And that to me, is the bottom line." Ms Shead says that the divides in this country have been around for a long time. Her family is from Mississippi, she says, and many were active participants in the US civil rights movement. "America is looking for a saviour right now," she says. "Trump from the beginning has split the nation and has dredged up old wounds. "My family and other African-American families - are vested in this - in seeing the country coming together and I think Mike Bloomberg is doing the exact opposite of what Trump is doing." What are Bloomberg's key campaign issues? What about his comments on women? Mr Bloomberg has come under fire for sexist comments he allegedly made in 1990, including reportedly telling a pregnant employee she should "kill it", which he has denied under oath. The remarks have prompted comparisons to President Donald Trump. But Darryl Morin, 52, told the BBC that he does not see any similarities between these allegations of sexism. "I hear a lot of hearsay," he says. "I know there's been inflammatory rhetoric but I haven't seen any smoking gun like we did with Donald Trump." "Just seeing everything he's done to help people around him, people of colour, women - I take him at him at his word," Mr Morin says, adding that Mr Bloomberg has elevated women within his organisation. "Anybody who tries to say he's trying to hold minorities down, I'd argue vigorously he's done the opposite." Mr Morin, who lives in Franklin, Wisconsin, has also attended a number of rallies this election cycle and says while Mr Bloomberg has work to do when it comes to younger voters, he draws a generally diverse crowd. "I'm Hispanic, there's Asian Americans, African Americans, non-minorities. It really is a more thoughtful crowd rather than just supporting a person or idea." He says the rallies have been respectful and that the former mayor answers questions about policies and his past in an upfront way. "Once people see that, they realise that this is a man that really has spent the latter parts of his life trying to help everyone have equal access to that American dream." What about his electability? Despite his ad buys with Instagram influencers to target younger audiences, Mr Bloomberg's biggest support base still stems from an older crowd. But Joe Nicoletti, 53, who helps manage pro-Bloomberg groups on Facebook, says "that's what campaigns are for. Telling your story and widening your tent." Mr Nicoletti, who lives in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, told the BBC he liked "the fact that [Bloomberg] has been both a Republican and Democrat". And the former mayor's views, he added, are moderate, and "more in line with the majority of the country". According to a February Pew Research Center analysis of the candidates' supporters, Mr Bloomberg's base is much less liberal than his 2020 rivals. Only 29% describe themselves as liberal with the majority saying they are moderate or conservative. In this vein, 79% of Mr Bloomberg's base say they want a candidate who will work with Republicans and compromise on policies if need be. "There's a reason why Donald Trump and Donald Trump supporters want to face Bernie Sanders in the general election," Mr Nicoletti says. "Pete Buttigieg is an impressive candidate, but Mike despite the stop and frisk issue has much broader support with people of colour." He adds that some of the criticism levied at Mr Bloomberg is "hypocritical". "When Mike Bloomberg used his money to help flip the house, elect more women candidates, push gun control legislation, and help flip the Virginia house, I don't remember hearing them complain." Who will take on Trump in 2020?

वह दुनिया के सबसे अमीर लोगों में से एक है, भीड़भाड़ वाली दौड़ में एक ध्रुवीकरण करने वाला उम्मीदवार है और वह चुनाव में दूसरे स्थान पर पहुंचने के बाद बहस के मंच पर अपनी पहली उपस्थिति बनाने वाला है। तो माइक ब्लूमबर्ग के समर्थक कौन हैं, और उन्होंने उनका समर्थन क्यों किया है?


Profile: Magnus Carlsen, chess world champion

Summary: "I just try and make the best moves."

By David EdmondsBBC News Magnus Carlsen, the new world chess champion, makes it sound so simple. But the possibilities in chess are almost infinite, and quite how he routinely - and apparently so effortlessly - identifies the best moves, fills the chess world with awe. His chess genius has been recognised virtually from the moment he first learnt the moves, watching one of his two sisters play. By the age of 10, he was winning tournaments. He has since played chess almost daily for hours. He became a grandmaster, the top title in chess, aged 13 - at the time the second youngest to achieve this. That same year he drew with Gary Kasparov, who many regard as the greatest player ever. 'Complete player' But that reputation may pass to Carlsen. Chess has a numerical rating system. The Norwegian now has the highest rating in history, and he's only 22: it is probable that over the next few years he'll get even better. There is talk of him storming through the 2900 Elo rating barrier: in chess that would be a psychological breakthrough roughly equivalent to when Roger Bannister broke the 4-minute mile. But if we want to characterise Carlsen's chess style, we should turn to another sporting analogy. At his peak, Roger Federer was the complete tennis player. He had an astounding forehand and backhand, he could serve, volley and smash. Carlsen is the complete chess player. He is brilliant at strategy as well as tactics: he has mastery of the opening, the middle game, the endgame. His memory is prodigious, almost photographic. He is said to hold 10,000 games in his head. He can play 10 games blindfold (without looking at the boards). He's also physically fit - an essential ingredient to his success. Concentrating for hours at the board is - non-chess players may be surprised to hear - physically draining. Carlsen enjoys long games, grinding out victory after victory as he slowly, inevitably, wears down his opponents. That discipline and competitiveness is another vital component in his emotional make-up. American world champion Bobby Fischer said he enjoyed the moment when he could sense the ego of his opponent crumble. And, clearly, Carlsen also relishes the psychological warfare. New generation When Fischer beat Boris Spassky in 1972 it captured headlines around the world and chess became - briefly - sexy and wildly popular. That match caught the imagination in part because of the political overtones: the lone American taking on the might of the Soviet chess machine, and also because of Fischer's antics and eccentric, mercurial personality. Carlsen's victory against Anand has garnered more coverage than any title match since the end of the Cold War. Still, it seems unlikely that chess will take off as it did after the Fischer-Spassky match. For one thing, Carlsen is down-to-earth, unassuming - he does not have Fischer's mesmerising presence. Nonetheless, he is young, cool and handsome, and the chess world hopes that he will inspire youngsters to take up the game. Carlsen himself, already a millionaire, can expect to cash in. He has already done a fair amount of modelling - some for a Dutch clothing company, whose brand manager Cherbanker Ray described Carlsen as looking like a "cross between a boxer and a '50s gangster". In the world of chess, Carlsen's victory marks the arrival of a new generation. Vishy Anand is almost twice Carlsen's age - and several of the world's elite players are, like Carlsen, in their early 20s. Still, none is in Carlsen's league. The new king of chess could occupy the throne for years to come. David Edmonds is co-author (with John Eidinow) of Bobby Fischer Goes To War

"मैं बस कोशिश करता हूँ और सबसे अच्छा कदम उठाता हूँ।"


Residential care savings limit rises to £30,000 in 2017

Summary: People moving into residential care will be able to keep more of their savings from April, the Welsh Government has confirmed.

Labour made an election promise to more than double the amount people can keep from £24,000 to £50,000. Social Services Minister Rebecca Evans said the limit would rise to £30,000 in 2017 as a first step in the process. "This frees up more of people's money for them to use as they wish," she said. The Welsh Government estimates up to 4,000 people currently pay the full cost of residential care and up to 1,000 of them could benefit from raising the limit to £50,000. Meanwhile, Army veterans will have their war disablement pensions totally disregarded when councils assess charges for social care, Ms Evans added.

वेल्श सरकार ने पुष्टि की है कि आवासीय देखभाल में जाने वाले लोग अप्रैल से अपनी अधिक बचत रख सकेंगे।


Thousands of starfish wash up on Rosemarkie beach

Summary: The unusual sight of thousands of starfish stranded on a Black Isle beach could have been down to a behaviour known as "starballing", experts have said.

The unusual sight was at Rosemarkie Beach in recent days. Most are now believed to have been washed back out to sea. Experts at Plymouth University's Marine Institute coined the starballing phrase after observing starfish changing their location last year. 'Mass stranding' Dr Emma Sheehan, a research fellow at the Marine Institute, told BBC Scotland of their initial discovery: "It was not until we were filming near Brighton and the tides were very strong. "Suddenly we just started seeing these starfish roll up in a ball and fly along with the tide. "This looked like a behavioural change so they could move efficiently. "We suspect that if there is too much tide and wind it could end up in a mass stranding."

विशेषज्ञों ने कहा है कि ब्लैक आइल समुद्र तट पर फंसी हजारों स्टारफिश का असामान्य दृश्य "स्टारबॉलिंग" के रूप में जाने जाने वाले व्यवहार के कारण हो सकता है।


'I look fine but inside I feel like an imposter'

Summary: Claire Stephens was 27 and living in the Cayman Islands when an aneurysm ruptured in her brain. She had to be airlifted to Miami for lifesaving surgery - doctors had doubted she would survive the flight.

The surgery was successful but as she was recovering, she found out she had lost her job and consequently her island home. Now living in Penryn, Cornwall, Claire is sharing her story in a bid to challenge the stigma around brain injury. Here, in her own words, she explains how her ordeal has changed her. 'I want to drop out' I was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. My family is British and my parents have since moved back to the UK. I went to college but ended up doing what every parent dreads - I told them I wanted to drop out and move to the Caribbean. As much as they wanted me to finish uni they did support me and I later finished my degree through distance learning while living in the Cayman Islands. You have to have a job lined up to go out there so I started applying and got one straight away. I ended up living there and working in bars for six years. It was awesome. 'He is mine' I met my partner Joe there. Not a lot of eligible bachelors come to the island so when he started working for the same company as me, I hate to say it but I claimed him. He knows it. He arrived and I told everyone "he's mine, I've lived here long enough". It may have been a bit stalker-ish but we've been together four years now. I've always had headaches but then I had about three or four months of really severe headaches that would last days and nothing would get rid of them. I wasn't particularly worried. We were always having a drink and I was a smoker so I thought it was a consequence of the lifestyle I was living. 'It felt like a pop' My parents were visiting and my mum and I decided to go for a massage. We were right next to each other, just having a laugh and they were massaging my feet when it happened. Brain aneurysm An aneurysm is a bulge in a weakened blood vessel where the blood pressure causes a small area to bulge outwards like a balloon. Most brain aneurysms only cause noticeable symptoms if they burst, which leads to a serious condition called a subarachnoid haemorrhage. Source: NHS It felt like a pop and I screamed "call 911". It was like someone had taken a metal pole to the back of my head. That's what they call a thunderclap headache. It's described as the worst headache of your life and it was. It's when the aneurysm ruptured. 'I didn't know if I was going to live or die' I was in so much pain that I couldn't process what was going on. Once they realised there was a bleed you just saw people running out of the room. They said they had to do an angiogram, which is where they go in through the femoral artery in the groin and get a better picture. It turns out my next-door neighbour was the one who to do that. There's no modesty living on a small island. Unfortunately, the one neurosurgeon on Grand Cayman was on holiday. They didn't allow my family to be with me so I spent that night alone in the ICU, not knowing whether or not I would live or die. The next day I got airlifted to Miami. 'Is she alive?' They didn't think I'd survive the flight because you aren't supposed to fly with a burst aneurysm. That's such a terrifying thought. By that point they had me on fentanyl so I wasn't in a state to be comprehending information but I remember landing in Miami and a customs agent asked "is she alive?" I was rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital and taken to their neuro ICU ward. My surgeon was amazing but he had to tell me about the risks of surgery. That was horrific. He talked about the risks of death and severe disability. It made me sick - I was vomiting and choking. Not having the surgery would kill me but having the surgery could kill me. They operated on 15 March last year - two days after the aneurysm ruptured. 'A grim place' I spent three weeks in hospital. I was the only verbal patient on the entire neuro ICU ward. It was a really grim place to be. In Miami my family was with me every single moment and that had such a massive impact on my recovery. I can't imagine people going through it now with Covid, not being able to have family there. The day I was being discharged, Joe was at work and my manager came up to him and said 'could you find out when Claire's coming back to work? I'd hate for her to lose her job'. Two weeks later I got fired. It was devastating. I'd been working there for five years. Everything I had known was stripped away in a matter of weeks. We decided to move to the UK to be closer to my parents but I felt incredibly lost. Joe was excited because for him it was coming home; for me it was starting over. I was looking forward to creating friendships. I thought it would be as easy as it was in the Cayman Islands but I've found it harder than I thought. 'Everything was different' Nothing prepared me for how different I was going to feel after the operation. My attention span is different, my memory is different, the way I handle emotions is different. These things have changed and, while they seem small, they are huge to me. I've also had a headache ever since, a constant headache that would probably debilitate most people. I've been having trouble getting treatment. They were trying pre-Covid and were going to try Botox and nerve blocks. There are so many options but I can't seem to get appointments any more and that's really disheartening. On the outside I look fine but on the inside I feel like an imposter, I feel like a completely different person and it's hard but the show must go on. '600 rejections and counting' Since March, I've applied for hundreds of jobs. It has been pretty brutal, over 600 rejections and counting. I can't really see any reason other than the fact that I have been open and honest about my aneurysm. When anyone hears I've had a brain injury I think they automatically think of something so negative. That's part of why I want to talk about my experiences. There's such a negative stigma around brain injury. For me, hearing positive stories helped so much. Having an aneurysm doesn't mean that you are a ticking time bomb. These things grow for 15 or 20 years inside your head so it's not like you're going to suddenly pop up another one. 'Incredibly lucky' I want people to read this and know it is OK to have bad days but there are so many good ones ahead. Look at my story - I've survived against all the odds. This has been an incredibly testing 18 months, the hardest of my life. I've shed a lot of tears but I do feel lucky. I may not have found my sole purpose just yet but it has got to be coming. I haven't given up. I'm still trying and I'm ever hopeful that something is going to turn out. Yes, I've had a bit of a rough time but I'm alive and that's a positive. As told to Johanna Carr

क्लेयर स्टीफंस 27 साल की थीं और केमैन द्वीप समूह में रहती थीं जब उनके मस्तिष्क में एक धमनीविस्फार टूट गया था। उन्हें जीवन रक्षक सर्जरी के लिए मियामी ले जाया गया था-डॉक्टरों को संदेह था कि वह उड़ान से बच जाएंगी।


What could boundary changes mean for Scottish MPs?

Summary: The Boundary Commission for Scotland is to outline its plans to reduce the number of Scottish MPs from 59 to 53 on Thursday. Here, BBC Scotland's Andrew Kerr looks at the reasons for the changes - and what they could mean for Scottish MPs.

By Andrew KerrBBC Scotland political correspondent This is a story as old as our parliaments, as old as representative democracy. Where do we get our officials from to represent us and how many should there be? Remember from the days of school history - the stories of the "rotten" or "pocket" boroughs". Just a few voters so the landowner could send someone to parliament. Old Sarum, near Salisbury in Wiltshire, was perhaps the most notorious. The practice was swept away in the 1832 Reform Act. There are now new plans afoot for Scottish MPs - the 59 people who fly down to Westminster every week to represent our views. It is possible that SNP MPs could have to fight each other to stand in the next general election and that pro-union MPs will face a struggle to get back into parliament. The former prime minister, David Cameron, had pledged to reduce the number of MPs from 650 to 600 and to more evenly distribute the number of voters in each constituency. That's six fewer MPs for Scotland. The technical name for this is actually the Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster Constituencies, deferred from 2013. Labour and the Liberal Democrats blocked it. There are four separate boundary commissions for the UK. The Boundary Commission for Scotland will report on Thursday. The others have already made their suggestions. You can check out the changes in the rest of the UK here. The old PM decreed that each constituency in the UK should contain roughly the same number of eligible voters, the so-called "electoral quota" which is reached by dividing the total electorate of the UK by the number of required constituencies. After excluding the Isle of Wight and two Scottish island constituencies, the quota currently stands at 74,769, based on the electoral register as it stood on 1 December 2015. This cut-off date has caused some controversy because the switch to individual electoral registration meant that 770,000 names dropped off the list. More on that later. The impact of the changes means some people are forecasting Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, and George Osborne, the former Chancellor, could see their seats abolished. But what could it mean in Scotland? Prof John Curtice of Strathclyde University gave me his prediction: "We know that at the last general election, the SNP won 56 out of 59 seats so inevitably the lion's share of any losses is going be at the expense of the SNP. That said, the particular interest lies in the three MPs who didn't come from the SNP. "Alistair Carmichael, the MP for Orkney and Shetland, is safe because that's carved out now as a special constituency and it's allowed to have its own seat. "However, neither David Mundell in Dumfriesshire nor Ian Murray in Edinburgh South, our sole Conservative and Labour representatives respectively, can be sure of surviving this review. "Certainly, if you look at what the Boundary Commission was proposing five years ago, before the last review was abandoned, then both David Mundell's seat and Ian Murray's seat could well end up being carved up quite heavily into constituencies which are no longer ones that we would necessarily assume that Mr Mundell would have won or Mr Murray would have won in 2015." 'Musical chairs' Prof Curtice adds that they could well be faced with a tougher task on their hands to maintain their political careers as a result of the review. For their political opponents, there's trouble ahead too with the professor saying there's going to be a "game of musical chairs within the SNP". He points out the MPs with the most to worry about are those representing relatively small constituencies where the electorate is well below the Scottish average. "It's very difficult to anticipate in advance who's going to end up fighting a battle with whom", he says. The MP for Aberdeen North, Kirsty Blackman, is the SNP's House of Lords spokesperson at Westminster. She queries the claims of cutting the cost of politics when she describes the Lords as "incredibly expensive". But on the "musical chairs" point, she says: "I don't know what's going to happen. We don't know what the proposals are going to be. We haven't seen them yet. We haven't seen which constituencies are at risk and which ones aren't at risk. "I think we're going to have issues with geography and I think that's going to be our key concern - to make sure that everybody is adequately represented." Late breakfast As some MPs prepare for this disruption, I popped down to Mr Mundell's constituency. We went to the southern end where the road bridge at Gretna Green crosses the border at the River Sark. As people sat in the Old Toll Bar Cafe having a late breakfast, no-one was particularly perturbed at changes or plans to save money on politics. Suitably fortified, we headed further up the road, but in Moffat Mr Mundell wasn't too keen to speak either. It seems it's not really the done thing for MPs and secretaries of state to comment on their own constituencies in the review. It's a quasi-judicial process and they don't want to be seen to be interfering with the commissioners' work. A UK government spokesman provided this statement instead: "Our parliamentary system needs to represent everyone equally. "That is why the independent Boundary Commission for Scotland will shortly bring forward proposals to achieve equal-sized constituencies, ensuring an equal say for each voter. "The case for these reforms was agreed by the last parliament - we are committed to ensuring fair and equal representation for the voting public, as well as cutting the cost of politics." But Labour aren't happy with that. 'Cost of politics' So to Edinburgh we go, and to Scotland's sole Labour MP, Ian Murray. He's got the same issue - he doesn't want to comment on what might happen to his seat of Edinburgh South. But he did hit out at the process. "I've no problem with there being equalisation of constituencies - which is what this is about - or indeed about reducing the cost of politics", he says. "What I do regret is the fact the Conservatives are pushing this through on a register that's missing so many people. We wouldn't need to reduce the numbers if they used a register with the number of people that should be on it and also they're doing it under this veil of reducing the cost of politics while plugging all their cronies into the House of Lords." So despite the final result being an impartial decision, there is a distinctly political impetus behind this. Prof Curtice steps in here again: "It's not wholly uncontroversial - not least because we are carving out these constituencies on the basis of electorates as of December last year and we know from the referendum on the European Union that a lot of people got themselves added to the electoral register since that date. "So there have been arguments, particularly from the Labour Party, that this review is being conducted on the basis of an out-of-date electorate. "However, certainly so far as Scotland, it's not going to make that much difference which set of electoral figures you use - so far as the partisan consequences are concerned. "Actually it's not even clear across the UK as whole, even if we were using more up-to-date figures, if it would make that much of a difference to the kind of constituencies that are going to emerge when finally the commissioners report in October 2018." The UK government says the proposals will be subject to public consultation and MPs in the House of Commons will have the final say. Labour and the SNP aren't happy, so they won't want to vote it through. And that old political phrase of "turkeys voting for Christmas" might apply here because there could be a few Conservative members who would prefer not to see their constituencies disappear. That might jeopardise the whole thing, and it might never happen. So some thankful members might settle comfortably back into their constituencies with no change on the horizon - just like in those far away days of Old Sarum.

स्कॉटलैंड के लिए सीमा आयोग गुरुवार को स्कॉटिश सांसदों की संख्या को 59 से घटाकर 53 करने की अपनी योजनाओं की रूपरेखा तैयार करेगा। यहाँ, बीबीसी स्कॉटलैंड के एंड्रयू केर परिवर्तनों के कारणों को देखते हैं-और स्कॉटिश सांसदों के लिए उनका क्या मतलब हो सकता है।


Three men arrested over attempted murder in Burntisland

Summary: Three people have been arrested in connection with the attempted murder of a 21-year-old man in Fife.

The incident happened in Links Place, Burntisland, at about 17:30 on Saturday. Police said the victim was found two hours later, 31 miles away in Scott Street, Perth, and was taken to Ninewells Hospital for treatment. Three men, aged 20, 22 and 52, were arrested. Inquiries are ongoing.

फीफ में 21 वर्षीय युवक की हत्या के प्रयास के मामले में तीन लोगों को गिरफ्तार किया गया है।


Attempted murder charge after woman stabbed in Reading

Summary: A man has been charged with attempted murder after a woman was stabbed.

The woman, who is in her 40s, was stabbed in Scours Lane, Reading, on Sunday. She has since been discharged from hospital, Thames Valley Police said. A 57-year-old man from Reading was charged with one count of attempted murder on Thursday. The man was due to appear at Reading Magistrates' Court on Friday, the force said.

एक महिला पर चाकू से हमला करने के बाद एक व्यक्ति पर हत्या के प्रयास का आरोप लगाया गया है।


The movies where police join in as extras

Summary: A group of film-makers and stuntmen is hoping to turn the breakaway territory of Somaliland into the next Hollywood. Undeterred by a shortage of cash, they turn to the local police for help when they need props and extras.

By Mary HarperBBC News, Somaliland It's the middle of nowhere and cars are pursuing each other in tighter and tighter circles, sending thick clouds of dust into the hot air. It is a truly spectacular chase. Mohamed Saleh is at the wheel of the wildest car. With a cool demeanour and an Afro hairstyle, he is the main stuntman. Like everyone else on the film set, he is completely untrained. "One time the car nearly flipped over," he tells me. "It was vertical, balancing on two tyres. But far more frightening was the fact that the cars did not belong to us! The company we hired them from had no idea we were using them in an action movie. They thought we were just going for a leisurely drive." In the Amazing Technology Group's tiny one-roomed office in the capital Hargeisa, a giant Hollywood-style movie poster takes up a whole wall. The group's chairman (and director, producer and cameraman), Ibrahim Mohamed, sits behind the desk. He reaches under the table and presents me with a large, messy bundle of green cloth. This is the green screen, used as a neutral backdrop when filming, which can be filled in with a different background later on. He points to a battered camera perched in the corner. "It is the only one we have," he says, "but it is an improvement from before, when they had to rent or borrow one." "We have to make do with whatever we have," says vice chairman and main actor, Hersi Abdirizak. "We don't have the money for costumes, so we borrow clothes from our friends. For pistols, we buy plastic guns in toy shops and paint them black. Our friends in the police lend us the knives, axes and machetes." On set for their latest film, the gun they use is a real AK47. It too comes from a friend in the police. "I hope it's not loaded," says Adam Konvict, a local rap artist who, together with an off-duty policeman, is helping out as an extra. The company relies a lot on the generosity of others. In its new action movie - a Somali take on cops and robbers - some of the actors are on loan from the Somaliland circus troupe, performing incredible acrobatics as they race through the city streets. What the ATG lacks in resources is more than made up for in imagination and get-up-and-go attitude. This group of seven young men aimed high, right from the start. While still in their teens at university, they made their first movie. It wasn't a short, student-style video but a full-length action film. With romance, violence, an evil gangster and thrilling car chases, The Lost Diamond proved a huge hit when it was shown on local television. "We learned everything we know by watching Hollywood and Bollywood films," says Hersi. "I love playing the villain. I get to do all the fun stuff. My role model is the Joker in The Dark Knight." So convincing is Hersi as a gangster that he says people are frightened of him when they see him in the street. "We want to dig out the treasure that is here. Through our movies, we want to show the whole world our Somali treasure," he says. "Our goal is to launch a booming Somali film industry. We could call it Sollywood". Some of the ATG's films contain serious messages. Its latest release is about relations between the diaspora, who pour into Somaliland in the summer, and those who stayed behind during the territory's long and difficult years of conflict. The film, which has gone viral in Hargeisa, is a hot topic of conversation in the city's coffee shops and restaurants. It was over a wickedly sweet milkshake and vanilla cake, thick with colourful icing, that I first heard about the ATG. Somali friends collapsed with laughter while telling me about the film, where slim locals mock a bulky diaspora man, instantly identifiable by his rolling swagger and flashy clothes. But they also discuss the serious points raised about growing tensions between the two groups. The dynamic and daring spirit of these young men is typical of Somalilanders. One man is blasting a road through the mountains to the sea. A woman has converted her house into a luxury restaurant, where diners sit under the stars on the rooftop. A businessman talks of bringing in a funfair. There is an annual book festival. There is not much for people to do here, especially the young. This is an area where al-Qaeda-linked militants are active in Somalia to the south and a short boat ride away in Yemen. But that stunt man with the cool hairdo is quite the heart-throb of Hargeisa. I discovered this after the ATG posted photos of our meeting on Facebook. Lots of young Somali girls came to me in great excitement when they realised I might be able to introduce them to their idols. Most of them asked for "the one with the Afro". And when he agreed to pose for selfies, they positively swooned. Photographs by Alison Baskerville More from the Magazine A Ugandan film company that makes low-budget action movies in the slums has found a cult following online - one US fan liked their films so much, he abandoned New York to become an action movie star in Kampala, writes Vibeke Venema. Uganda's Tarantino and his $200 action movies How to listen to From Our Own Correspondent: BBC Radio 4: Thursdays at 11:00 and Saturdays at 11:30 Listen online or download the podcast. BBC World Service: At weekends - see World Service programme schedule or listen online. Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.

फिल्म निर्माताओं और स्टंटमैनों का एक समूह सोमालीलैंड के अलग हुए क्षेत्र को अगले हॉलीवुड में बदलने की उम्मीद कर रहा है। नकदी की कमी से विचलित हुए बिना, वे मदद के लिए स्थानीय पुलिस की ओर रुख करते हैं जब उन्हें प्रोप और अतिरिक्त की आवश्यकता होती है।


Belfast's Tribeca - bright future or historic mistake?

Summary: Belfast's North Street has seen better days.

By John CampbellBBC News NI Economics & Business Editor At its junction with Bridge Street, many of the buildings are abandoned, boarded up and covered in graffiti. For more than 20 years, the street has featured in plans to regenerate this area of the city centre. Little has happened. The rot has set in. Now the city council has approved a new plan, known as Tribeca, which would reshape more than 10 acres. North Street would be pedestrianised and its most distinctive buildings retained. The wider scheme would create 45,000 sq metres of offices and around 360 apartments. The planning permission has been welcomed by business leaders who see the potential for post-pandemic investment. But the scheme has also faced resolute and organised opposition from people who fear it amounts to a missed opportunity and a historic mistake. Les Hume, from Destination CQ BID, a local business group, said he recognises that people "want to challenge things, to make sure they're done properly" but added that "now is the time for delivery". "2020 has been awful, we need to see some good news come out of this." The scheme is being promoted by the London-based developer Castlebrooke Investments. Mr Hume said Castlebrooke has shown a willingness to change elements of the scheme. "We've seen the developer pivot in some ways to make suitable changes. "I would still want to be a challenger to a developer to make sure they're doing it right and fair by the city. But I am for development.' For the opponents of the scheme the whole enterprise is misconceived. They fear that it will overwhelm Belfast's somewhat bohemian Cathedral Quarter, reduce public space and fail to create a sustainable community. "For the last 30 or more years, this scheme has had different iterations," says Agustina Martire from the Save CQ campaign. "Every single one of its iterations has been out of date and focusing on things which were working in the past but will probably not work in the future.' The last version of the scheme, when it was known as Royal Exchange, was focused on retail. With retail in trouble long before the pandemic, Castlebrooke reorientated the scheme towards offices. The objectors question whether that can now work given that the pandemic has led so many people to embrace working from home. However, analysis conducted by the city council concluded that "is highly likely that Belfast will continue to need additional provision of office space to meet demand". Not all councillors are convinced by this. Green councillor Áine Groogan voted against the scheme. "What does this community need? It needs investment and regeneration but this scheme is not going to create a vibrant, liveable city." A question mark also remains on when the planning permission will be translated into building work. North Street could remain in its current sorry state for some time.

बेलफास्ट की नॉर्थ स्ट्रीट ने बेहतर दिन देखे हैं।


Four women who changed the face of physics

Summary: Donna Strickland has become only the third woman in history to win the Nobel prize for Physics. She joins Marie Curie, who won in 1903, and Maria Goeppert-Mayer, who was awarded the prize in 1963. Here are four other women who have changed the face of physics.

By Helen BriggsBBC News Hertha Ayrton, British physicist and mathematician Birthplace: Born in Portsea, Hampshire, in 1854; died in 1923. Known for: British physicist who was the first woman nominated to become a fellow of the Royal Society (although women could not be elected). Education: She attended Girton College, Cambridge University, where she studied mathematics. Scientific achievements: She attended classes in physics at Finsbury Technical College given by Professor William Ayrton, whom she later married. She helped him with experiments in physics and electricity, becoming an expert in her own right on the subject of the electric arc - an electrical breakdown of gas. She published several papers from her own research and was elected the first female member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers in 1899. In 1902, she became the first woman nominated a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, although as a woman she was not elected. How physics gender gap starts in class Physics gender gap 'to stay for generations' First woman Physics Nobel winner in 55 years Vera Rubin, US astronomer Birthplace: Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1928. She died in 2016. Education: Vassar College and Cornell University. Known for: A pioneering US astronomer and a champion of female scientists. Scientific achievements: Her work confirmed the existence of a type of invisible matter known as dark matter. In 1974, she helped provide evidence that the stars at the edges of galaxies move faster than expected. To reconcile her observations with the law of gravity, scientists proposed there was matter we cannot see and called it dark matter. Her studies earned her numerous honours, including being the second female astronomer to be elected to the US National Academy of Sciences. Fabiola Gianotti, Italian particle physicist Birthplace: Born in 1960 in Rome. Education: Studied experimental particle physics at Milan University. Known for: The 16th person to lead the European physics organisation, Cern. The world's largest particle physics laboratory carries out research to improve our understanding of the Universe. Scientific achievements: She joined Cern in 1994, where she worked on the Atlas experiment, which pinpointed the Higgs, the sub-atomic particle that helps give mass to the building blocks of nature. She now leads the organisation, which is home to 10,000 scientists from more than 100 nationalities. Jocelyn Bell Burnell, British astrophysicist Birthplace: Born in 1943 in Lurgan, Northern Ireland. Education: York, Glasgow and Cambridge universities. Known for: Discovery of pulsars - a type of neutron star that emits a beam of radiation. Scientific achievements: As a research student at Cambridge University's Cavendish laboratory, she was looking at data from a new radio telescope she helped to build when she spotted a faint and unusual signal: repeating pulses of radio waves. Her observation, made together with her supervisor, Antony Hewish, in 1967, is considered to be one of the greatest astronomical discoveries of the 20th Century. Hewish received the 1974 Nobel Prize in Physics for his "decisive role in the discovery of pulsars", but she was not included in the citation. Follow Helen on Twitter.

डोना स्ट्रिकलैंड भौतिकी के लिए नोबेल पुरस्कार जीतने वाली इतिहास की केवल तीसरी महिला बन गई हैं। वह मैरी क्यूरी, जिन्होंने 1903 में पुरस्कार जीता, और मारिया गोएपर्ट-मेयर, जिन्हें 1963 में पुरस्कार से सम्मानित किया गया था, के साथ शामिल हो गई हैं। यहाँ चार अन्य महिलाएं हैं जिन्होंने भौतिकी का चेहरा बदल दिया है।


Driverless car terror attack accused to face retrial

Summary: Two men accused of attempting to manufacture a remote-controlled explosive device are to face a retrial after jurors failed to reach a verdict.

A Sheffield Crown Court jury deliberated for almost 17 hours on the case of Andy Star and Farhad Salah. Both men denied preparing to commit acts of terrorism. After the foreman told Judge Paul Watson QC jurors had been unable to reach a verdict, the court heard prosecutors would seek a fresh trial. During the four-week trial, jurors were told Mr Star, 32, and Mr Salah, 23, worked on the device above Mr Star's chip shop in Chesterfield. More Yorkshire stories Prosecutors said the pair, both Iraqi-Kurds, had hoped to cause harm to "infidels" with the weapon, which they intended to place within a driverless car so they did not have to martyr themselves.

एक रिमोट-नियंत्रित विस्फोटक उपकरण के निर्माण का प्रयास करने के आरोपी दो लोगों को जूरी के फैसले तक पहुंचने में विफल रहने के बाद फिर से मुकदमे का सामना करना पड़ता है।


Toys R Us building damaged by fire in Peterborough

Summary: Firefighters have spent several hours dealing with a large blaze at an empty Toys R Us building in Peterborough.

Up to 12 crews from Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue Service attended the building on Bourges Boulevard, at about 23:59 BST, on Monday. It was out by 05:15 on Tuesday. The fire service said the accidental fire, "significantly damaged the building", causing the front to collapse. They are due to re-inspect the scene. Bourges Boulevard was closed for several hours, but has since re-opened. The store closed in 2018, after the business went into administration.

अग्निशामकों ने पीटरबरो में एक खाली टॉयज़ आर यूएस इमारत में एक बड़ी आग से निपटने में कई घंटे बिताए हैं।


Shrewsbury crash leaves car vertical in tree

Summary: A driver has been arrested on suspicion of drink driving after crashing into a telegraph pole and getting his car stuck in a tree.

West Mercia Police said the crash was on the B4386 at Cruckton, Shrewsbury, in the early hours of Sunday. The car ended up vertical with its bonnet pointing down, surrounded by branches from a tree. Ch Supt Kevin Purcell said the occupants of the car were "lucky to be alive". Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, and sign up for local news updates direct to your phone.

टेलीग्राफ के खंभे से टकराने और अपनी कार को पेड़ में फंसाने के बाद शराब पीकर गाड़ी चलाने के संदेह में एक चालक को गिरफ्तार किया गया है।


Alternative Miss World contest - the night where bizarre is beautiful

Summary: It's outing number 14 this weekend for Andrew Logan's unclassifiable extravaganza the Alternative Miss World contest. The first event in 1972 was at his flat in London. This weekend it returns to the stage at Shakespeare's Globe theatre.

By Vincent DowdArts reporter, BBC News The contest is a bizarre combination of an extremely rude, very camp Christmas panto and a pansexual beauty pageant with wildly improbable contestants. And there's definitely no rehearsal. Only a few days before this year's Alternative Miss World, Logan seems relaxed about what may happen on stage. "The judges are always crucial and this time we've got really good ones, including Jarvis Cocker and Grayson Perry... or at least I think they said they'll do it. "To be honest what happens on the night often comes as a surprise even to me. I've very little idea who most of the contestants will appear as." The first Alternative Miss World contest was held in Downham Road, north London, and it's been running every few years since then. These days Logan lives in the quiet surroundings of Berriew in Mid Wales with architect Michael Davis, his partner of 46 years. "We couldn't possibly do a show annually," Logan says, "But every few years I have the energy to do another. We start the planning a year out and the first thing I do is construct the winner's crown." This year's theme is Psychedelic Peace. Like most of the earlier shows it will be filmed - Davis is excited about bringing in a 360-degree camera for the first time. Though nothing is guaranteed, the audience at the Globe - tickets sold out long ago - can expect to see contestants in daywear, swimwear and evening wear as used to be familiar in TV beauty shows. Ironically Logan's creation has continued while traditional beauty pageants have largely disappeared. Asked to explain what his concept was in 1972, Logan says he was throwing a party. "I had no idea I would still be doing it 46 years later. At the time Miss World was a huge thing on television and we were partly a pastiche of that. The second one was in 1973 and after that it was more irregular." Logan's not entirely happy with the description drag show. "And certainly not if that just means men dressing up as women. Over the years we've been more ambitious than that. Of course contestants do dress magnificently but we put no limitations on how they do it." Winners have included Miss Holland Park Walk (1973) and Miss Gale Force Wind (1991). But in the best British tradition, the show is less about winning and more about taking part. Celebrities who've attended or been judges include David Hockney, Derek Jarman, Koo Stark, Rula Lenska and Julian Clary. Logan says he wants his legacy to be joy. "That's what originally brought us to Berriew. I had a dream of opening a museum here of costumes made for the contest - I knew it would be a place visitors would leave with a smile on their face. "So we acquired some old squash courts for the museum and it's open every summer. Then a couple of years ago Michael and I moved out from London and we live by the River Rhiw." Logan trained as an architect. He now calls himself a sculptor but accepts he's best known for his creation of the Alternative Miss World event. "But in its way it's a dynamic sculpture and it's always been a huge celebration of life." Logan thinks that since 1972 the event has remained much as it was but that society has changed around it. "When we first did it, it was only a few years since gay sex had been made legal. Our competition has always been judged on poise, personality and originality - I call it a surreal art event [and] all-round family entertainment." Logan doesn't like the suggestion the event is less edgy that it was but adds: "The fact we're now at Shakespeare's Globe means there's definitely no fire involved." Though he's earned a footnote in gay cultural history he says the contest has never been a wholly gay event. "Yes there have been utterly wonderful and unforgettable gay people in it. But we've never been proscriptive at all: it's open to everyone regardless of gender or their sexual nature. That's always been central to what we do." To Logan what matters is the inclusivity of those on stage and of the 1,500 people who'll be watching. "What we look forward to each time," he says "is an atmosphere of creative confusion and chaos." Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.

यह एंड्रयू लोगान की अल्टरनेटिव मिस वर्ल्ड प्रतियोगिता के लिए इस सप्ताह के अंत में 14 वें स्थान पर है। 1972 में पहला कार्यक्रम लंदन में उनके फ्लैट में था। इस सप्ताह के अंत में यह शेक्सपियर के ग्लोब थिएटर में मंच पर लौटता है।


India's next government will have a growth problem

Summary: As India lumbers towards the final phase of an exhausting general election and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP seeks a second term in power, there's some worrying news. The world's fastest growing major economy appears to be headed for a slowdown.

Soutik BiswasIndia correspondent The signs are everywhere. Economic growth slowed to 6.6% in the three months to December, the slowest in six quarters. Sales of cars and SUVs have slumped to a seven-year-low. Tractors and two-wheelers sales are down. Net profits for 334 companies (excluding banks and financials) are down 18% year-on-year, according to the Financial Express newspaper. That's not all. In March, passenger growth in the world's fastest growing aviation market expanded at the slowest pace in nearly six years. Demand for bank credit has spluttered. Hindustan Unilever, India's leading maker of fast moving consumer goods, has reported March quarter revenue growth of just 7%, its weakest in 18 months. One newspaper wondered whether India was "losing the consumption plot". Taken together, all this points to a fall in both urban and rural incomes, leading to demand contraction. A crop glut has seen farm incomes drop. And credit stagnation, partly triggered by the collapse of a major non-banking financial institution, or a shadow bank, has led to a fall in lending and worsened matters. Kaushik Basu, former chief economist of the World Bank and professor of economics at Cornell University, believes the slowdown is "much more serious" than he initially believed. "The evidence is now mounting to the point where it can no longer be ignored," he told me. One reason, he believes, is the controversial currency ban in 2016 - also called demonetisation - which adversely hit farmers. More than 80% of the currency circulating in India's sprawling cash-driven economy was taken out of circulation in what, in the words of one of Prime Minister Modi's own advisers, was a "massive, draconian, monetary shock". "This was evident to all by early 2017. What many observers did not realise then - I did not - is that the shock made the farmers take on debts which ended up causing sustained hardship to them that is continuing and slowing down the agriculture sector." India votes 2019 The other major disappointment, according to Prof Basu, has been exports. "Export growth has been close to zero for the last five years. For a low-wage economy like India, a little policy professionalism - a combination of monetary policy and micro incentives - is all that is needed to grow this sector. It is regrettable that the rhetoric was not backed up with policy design." Others like economist Rathin Roy, a member of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, believe that India's consumption story could actually be levelling out. Dr Roy believes India's rapid growth has been essentially powered by its top 100 million citizens. The leading indicators of economic prosperity, he says, are things that these Indians consume - cars, two wheelers, air conditioners and so on. Having had their fill of home-made goods, they have now moved to imported luxuries - foreign holidays and Italian kitchens, for example. A majority of Indians want nutritious food, affordable clothing and housing, health and education, which really should be the leading indicators of economic growth. "Subsidies and income support cannot pay for such consumption on a massive scale. At least half the population should earn incomes that enable them to buy these at affordable prices so that a maximum of 500 million people can be subsidised to improve their welfare," Dr Roy says. Unless India is able to do this in the next decade or so, Dr Roy believes, it is headed for what economists call a "middle income trap", when a country stops being able to achieve rapid growth easily and compete with advanced economies. Economist Ardo Hannson defines it as a situation when countries "seem to get stuck in a trap where your costs are escalating and you lose competitiveness". One problem is that once you are stuck in a middle income trap, it is difficult to get out. A World Bank study found that out of the 101 middle-income countries in 1960, some 13 had become high-income by 2008 based on per capita income relative to the US. Only three of the 13 countries have a population of more than 25 million. India is a lower-middle income economy and to get caught in a trap at this stage will be tragic. Dr Roy says the classic middle income trap means that the rich are taxed to provide minimum services to the poor, who will kept from extreme poverty and vulnerability by using such taxes to subsidise their existence, including an universal basic income in perpetuity. "We will be Brazil. On the other hand If India produces what all Indians want to consume efficiently, and at affordable prices, then inclusive growth will stave off the middle income trap. We will be Japan," says Dr Roy. The next government has its work cut out. Read more from Soutik Biswas Follow Soutik on Twitter at @soutikBBC

जैसे-जैसे भारत एक थकाऊ आम चुनाव के अंतिम चरण की ओर बढ़ रहा है और प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी की भाजपा सत्ता में दूसरा कार्यकाल चाहती है, कुछ चिंताजनक खबरें हैं। दुनिया की सबसे तेजी से बढ़ती प्रमुख अर्थव्यवस्था मंदी की ओर बढ़ रही है।


Woman charged over girl's road death in Smethwick

Summary: A woman has been charged over a crash last year which killed a six-year-old girl who was on her way to prayers with her father.

Jannatul Bakya was crossing Oldbury Road, Smethwick, when she was struck by a car in July. She had been heading to a local mosque and was pronounced dead at the scene. Andjele Vranjes, 27, of Beakes Road, Bearwood, appeared at Walsall Magistrates Court earlier accused of causing death by dangerous driving. She was granted unconditional bail, with her next appearance set for Wolverhampton Crown Court on 25 April. Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, and sign up for local news updates direct to your phone. Related Internet Links West Midlands Police HM Courts & Tribunals Service

एक महिला पर पिछले साल एक दुर्घटना का आरोप लगाया गया है जिसमें एक छह वर्षीय लड़की की मौत हो गई थी जो अपने पिता के साथ प्रार्थना करने जा रही थी।


The reality of a 100th birthday in lockdown

Summary: A 100th birthday is cause for major celebrations.

By Sara NeillBBC News NI However, when you turn 100 during a pandemic, those celebrations look quite different. There's not the big party that was planned for Bobby Strain from Dungannon, County Tyrone. Instead, care home staff delivered his cake wearing masks and visors while his family sang Happy Birthday a few steps away - outside the care home building. Mr Strain's daughter, Evelyn Carson, said they did their best to mark her dad's centenary despite the precautions over coronavirus. "I feel quite sad because he wants us to come in, he doesn't think we should all be outside but we're still happy for him that he's healthy and has reached 100," she told BBC News NI. "He's been looking forward to this for so long and it seems such a shame that he can't enjoy it but when all this is done, hopefully we'll have our celebration. It doesn't matter how long it takes." Queen's card and a letter from a legend Inside the care home, Mr Strain blew out the candles on the cake carried in by his carers. The table in front of him was full of cards. "I didn't ask for presents but mostly people sent cards and that was all I wanted, to know that they're there," said Mr Strain. Alongside all the best wishes, Mr Strain received his card from the Queen, and a personal message from football legend Pat Jennings. And the lively centenarian had some thoughts about reaching such a grand age during a pandemic. Mr Strain said being 100 felt no different to being 99, and when asked what he's looking forward to when the coronavirus lockdown is over, he said: "One-hundred-and-one!" And what was his number-one tip for those aspiring to reach his mile-stone age? "Avoid vegetables!"

100वां जन्मदिन बड़े समारोहों का कारण होता है।


EU Faroe Islands fish imports ban enforced in a week

Summary: An EU ban on imports of mackerel and herring from the Faroe Islands is set to come into force in a week, it has been announced.

The measures could also prevent some Faroese boats from docking in EU ports. However the action - being supported by Scottish trawlermen - has been condemned by the Faroese government, which is preparing a legal challenge. It comes amid claims the country is guilty of over-fishing mackerel and herring. Scottish fishing industry leaders have described the ban as a "wake-up call".

फैरो द्वीप समूह से मैकेरल और हेरिंग के आयात पर यूरोपीय संघ का प्रतिबंध एक सप्ताह में लागू होने वाला है, यह घोषणा की गई है।


The global wine drought that never was

Summary: Recently the world's media reported the alarming news that demand for wine has outstripped supply. Latest figures indicated a shortfall of 300 million cases in 2012, it was claimed... the world was facing the serious prospect of a wine shortage.

By Charlotte McDonaldBBC News Scary graphs were published showing production dropping while consumption increased. The only possibly conclusion - there is not enough wine in the world. But is it true? All these news reports were based on a single piece of research carried out by the Australian research division of the investment bank, Morgan Stanley. This made Reuters finance blogger, Felix Salmon, suspicious - especially when he realised the report was promoting an Australian wine company as a top stock pick to buy. "What you do in investment banking - you come up with a thesis and argue it as strongly as you can," he says. "The whole idea is that you make a headline, and if you can say a big attention-grabbing headline like 'There's a global wine shortage' then that's going to get you lots of press." The report was based on industry data from the Organisation Internationale de la Vigne et du Vin (OIV), based in France. It represents wine producers in 45 countries and publishes wine production figures three times a year. But Felix Salmon noticed that the Morgan Stanley graph only used the OIV's data up to 2012, despite the fact data is now available for 2013 production - data which showed that wine supplies are bouncing back. The data had been published by the OIV two days before the Morgan Stanley research hit the headlines. "After a few years of scarce production we had quite a decent crop," says the OIV's director-general Federico Castellucci. OIV figures show that in 2013, for the first time in many years, production is going to be much higher than consumption: 281 million hectolitres (Mhl) of wine made, compared with estimated consumption of only 245Mhl. This would leave an excess of 36Mhl (12.8% of production). So, Castellucci says there certainly is no wine shortage. The data does show that there was a drop in production for the six years prior to 2013. Castellucci attributes that to a series of poor harvests, plus some industry re-structuring. The overall area given over to vineyards has shrunk by 300,000 hectares since 2006. The Morgan Stanley research said that demand outstripped consumption by 300 million cases in 2012 - but this was taking non-wine products, such as vinegar, into consideration. Focusing on wine alone, the OIV says that actually more wine was produced than consumed in 2012, by a narrow margin. Last year's production levels were very low, Castellucci says, but the world was not on the verge of a wine drought, because countries hold wine in reserve. Vinegar and other non-wine products do not need to be made from the current year's wine. Another test of whether there is a shortage is that you would expect prices to rise. "This is what indeed happened in 2012," says Castellucci. The cost of bulk wine went up, particularly for European producers. On the high street, however, the rise in prices was so small that most consumers are unlikely to have noticed. "If you did a little bit of a check on this you would find that no-one believed there was a global wine shortage," says Salmon. "If you go down to Spain or France, you would find a lot of vineyards for sale for less than the cost of planting the vines, which is a pretty good evidence that there is no shortage of wine at all. "The price of wine-producing land is incredibly low." If wine producers really did anticipate a lasting shortage of wine, vineyards would not be so cheap, he says. Morgan Stanley was unavailable for comment. Follow @BBCNewsMagazine on Twitter and on Facebook

हाल ही में दुनिया के मीडिया ने खतरनाक खबर दी कि शराब की मांग आपूर्ति से अधिक हो गई है। नवीनतम आंकड़ों ने 2012 में 30 करोड़ मामलों की कमी का संकेत दिया, यह दावा किया गया था... दुनिया शराब की कमी की गंभीर संभावना का सामना कर रही थी।


Boris Johnson's burka jibe: Why do some Muslim women wear the veil?

Summary: Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson has been criticised for saying Muslim women wearing burkas "look like letter boxes" and for comparing them to "bank robbers" - prompting calls for him to apologise and be expelled from the Conservative Party .

But Mr Johnson's comments, which some believe will aggravate Islamophobic tensions in the UK, have also highlighted some confusion about what a burka is - as the veil revealing just the eyes is, in fact, known as a niqab. So what actually are the differences between the various types of Islamic dress for women and what governs their choices? The Koran, Islam's holy book, tells Muslims - men and women - to dress modestly. Male modesty has been interpreted to be covering the area from the navel to the knee. For women it is generally seen as covering everything except their face, hands and feet when in the presence of men they are not related or married to. However, there has been much debate within Islam as to whether this goes far enough. This has led to a distinction between the hijab (literally "covering up" in Arabic) and the niqab (meaning "full veil"). The hijab is typically a scarf that covers the hair and neck, whereas the niqab is a veil for the face that leaves the area around the eyes clear. It is worn with an accompanying headscarf or an abaya, a full-length robe, and sometimes with a separate transparent eye veil. The burka is the most concealing - covering the entire face and body, leaving just a mesh screen to see through. Is it a woman's choice to cover up? UK mother-of-seven Tahira Noor, who has been wearing a burka for 20 years, says it's "100% my choice" and Mr Johnson's comments show a "lack of knowledge". The "majority of the women who wear the burka" she says, are born and brought up in Britain. They are "educated in this country, they've been to colleges, universities, and have understood why they want to do what they're doing," she told BBC Radio 5 Live. "They're under no oppression, they're not doing it because their husbands want them to or their fathers want them to." Ms Noor has four daughters none of whom wear a burka. "I haven't forced my daughters into it because I don't have to," she said. "It's not a must. It's not an obligation. However... [it] gets you closer to God. It's a spiritual thing more than anything else." She is "not under an obligation" to cover her face but does so because it is "emulating" the Prophet Muhammad. So, how does she respond if asked to remove her covering for security reasons? "I'm happy to take my veil off," she said, citing the example of being asked to at a bank. "When I travel, and I do travel, sometimes I don't even wear [it] because I think it's a lot easier not to [for] security reasons. "To make comments that they (women who wear burkas) look like bank robbers, I don't think it's fair." Sahar Al-Faifi, from Cardiff, wears the niqab but told BBC News she sometimes gets verbal abuse from others for her choice of veil. "A week ago someone abused me and said 'you're an ugly terrorist' when I tried to park my car near where I live," she said. "Two years ago, when I was passing by one department to another at Heath Hospital, someone passed by and said 'don't cut off my head you're ISIS'. It's quite painful [to hear]." In 2014, BBC News' Shaimaa Khalil wrote about why she stopped wearing her headscarf, only to put it back on again when she became the Pakistan correspondent. Dr Qanta Ahmed, a British-American Muslim doctor who lives in New York, does not wear a face veil and supports a ban on them. She said the number of women wearing them in the West is increasing in part because girls begin to wear them before they reach puberty and many were not given a choice. What is the religious justification? Muslim scholars have long debated whether it is obligatory to wear the burka or niqab, or whether it is just recommended. There have also been more liberal interpretations which say any headscarf is unnecessary, as long as women maintain the sartorial modesty stipulated in the Koran. That holy text addresses "the faithful women" who are told to shield their private parts and not to display their adornment "except what is apparent of it". Scholarly disputes revolve around what this last phrase means. Does it refer to the outer surface of a woman's garments, necessitating that she cover every part of her body - ie don the full niqab? Or does it give an exemption referring to the face and the hands, as well as conventional female ornaments such as kohl, rings, bracelets and make-up? The latter interpretation has been adopted by some of the most prominent scholars from Islamic history who favour the hijab - headscarf - option. There are additional Koranic instructions - seen as ambiguous and therefore much debated - for women to draw the "khimar" (scarf) to cover the "jayb" (bosom/upper chest), and for "the wives and daughters of the Prophet and the women of the believers to draw their "jalabib" (cloaks) close round them". How many women wear the full-face veil in the UK? When contacted by BBC Reality Check, both the Women's Muslim Council and Faith Matters (an organisation which promotes integration) said accurate numbers weren't available for the UK. But there does seem to be consensus that the figure is likely to be low. Dr Omar Khan, director at the Runnymede Trust, a think tank that deals with race equality, said that it is likely to be "less than 1% [of the Muslim female population] - how much less is difficult to know". Sunder Katwala, director of think tank British Future, acknowledged a lack of a "robust methodology", but said there was a "ballpark estimate in region of 3,000-5,000" with it "very unlikely to be as high as 1-2%" of the female Muslim population. These are both estimates by experts working in relevant fields, but until specific research is carried out, it will be difficult to know how prevalent the full-face veil is. What we do know is that in the 2011 census, Muslims represented 4.8% of the population of England and Wales. Using the most recent population estimates, this would mean there are roughly 1.43 million Muslim women living in the two nations. If the number of Muslim women wearing the niqab were to be as high as 1% - this would equate to just over 14,000 women - but, again, the 1% figure is just an estimate. In other European countries, the figure also appears to be low. In 2009, a French Interior Ministry report estimated that just 0.1% of French Muslim women wore full-face veils which, at the time, equated to 1,900 women. In Austria, a ban of full face veils in public spaces was said to affect just 0.03% of the Muslim population, according to Nilufar Ahmed, a senior lecturer in public health at Swansea University. In Belgium between 150 and 200 women wore the niqab before a ban came into force, says Michael Privot, director of the European Network Against Racism. Between 150 and 200 women in Demark - which banned face veils in public this month - wore a niqab or burqa on a daily basis. That's 0.1% of Muslim women in the country, according to the Guardian. What are the laws or customs regarding face veils in other countries? While Boris Johnson's comments about Islamic face veils have provoked consternation among some, his defenders have said they were made as part of an argument against banning such garments. Other countries though, have taken this step. France was the first European country to ban full-face veils - ie burkas and niqabs - in public places in April 2011, seven years after it introduced a law prohibiting conspicuous religious symbols in state schools. It was followed a few months later by Belgium, which banned the wearing of partial or total face veils in public on the grounds of security. Full or partial bans on full-face veils have since been in place in Austria, Bulgaria, the southern German state of Bavaria and, since 1 August, Denmark. There have been protests against Denmark's new law, which does not mention burkas and niqabs by name, but says "anyone who wears a garment that hides the face in public will be punished with a fine". Repeat offenders could be fined 10,000 ($1,500; £1,200) kroner. By contrast, in Iran the law requires women to wear modest "Islamic" clothing. In practice, this means women must wear a chador, a full-body cloak, or a headscarf and a manteau (overcoat) that covers their arms. There are posters in cities and towns comparing unveiled women to unwrapped candy and lollipops attracting unwanted attention from flies. Recently, some Iranian women have protested against this law by taking off their headscarf in public. One woman was jailed for two years in March for doing this.

पूर्व विदेश सचिव बोरिस जॉनसन की यह कहने के लिए आलोचना की गई है कि बुर्का पहनने वाली मुस्लिम महिलाएं "लेटर बॉक्स की तरह दिखती हैं" और उनकी तुलना "बैंक लुटेरों" से करने के लिए-जिससे उन्हें माफी मांगने और कंजर्वेटिव पार्टी से निष्कासित करने की मांग की गई।


Afghanistan War: How can the West fight terrorism after leaving?

Summary: US, British and Nato combat forces are leaving Afghanistan this summer. The Taliban are growing stronger by the day while al-Qaeda and Islamic State groups are conducting ever more brazen attacks. So how can they be contained now that the West will no longer have military resources in the country?

By Frank GardnerBBC security correspondent Western intelligence officials believe they still aspire to plot international terrorist attacks from their Afghan hideouts, just as Osama Bin Laden did with 9/11. It is a problem that is starting to vex UK policy chiefs as the deadline of 11 September for US President Joe Biden's withdrawal draws closer. As the British chief of defence staff, General Sir Nick Carter, said recently: "This was not the outcome we had hoped for." There is now a serious risk that the gains made in counter-terrorism over the last 20 years, at enormous cost, could be undone as Afghanistan's future takes an uncertain turn. "The problem," says John Raine, a regional security expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), "is the situation's potential for morphing at a speed and into something with which the Afghan government, even remotely reinforced by the US, can't keep up." Yet this, for President Biden, was always the plan. When he visited the country as vice-president in the Obama administration in 2009 and 2011 he concluded that nation-building there was a waste of time and instead the US should focus on a standoff approach to counter-terrorism using air strikes and Special Forces raids. The Pentagon disagreed and the former US Defence Secretary Robert Gates described Mr Biden in his memoir as being "wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades". So what will Western counter-terrorism in Afghanistan look like in practice after September? Drone strikes These could well increase. The use of drones, or to give them their full name, Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPAs) or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), was heavily endorsed by the Obama administration in which Joe Biden served as vice-president. In the remote, tribal areas of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, and in the wilder regions of Yemen, where in both cases senior al-Qaeda leaders were hiding out, successive drone strikes had "a chilling effect" on the group's operations, according to intelligence officers. They forced commanders to stay constantly on the move, never staying more than a night or two in one place, restricting their ability to communicate and never quite knowing whether the departure of a visitor would be followed by a Hellfire missile, fired by an unseen enemy. But drone strikes are controversial. They can be risky - not for the operator, of course, who tends to be sitting in an air-conditioned shipping container thousands of miles away on an airbase in Nevada or Lincolnshire - but for civilians in the area. Despite the remarkable detail visible on the operators' consoles there is always the risk of "collateral damage", of a last-minute arrival of civilians on the scene, as has happened in Iraq and Syria. More than once the Americans had the IS executioner Mohammed Emwazi, aka "Jihadi John", in their sights only to have to abort the strike when civilians were spotted in close proximity. In Yemen, drone strikes are deeply unpopular with human rights activists who claim harmless tribal gatherings have frequently been mistaken for armed insurgents. Yet across the Red Sea in Djibouti, the foreign minister there told me he welcomed their use against neighbouring Somalia's al-Shabab militants and he was prepared to say so on-camera. Intelligence networks Over the last 20 years the CIA, MI6 and other intelligence agencies have built up a close working relationship with Afghanistan's own NDS agency, helping it to identify and head off threats, while also trying to restrain some individuals' more brutal methods. "We will still be able to give meaningful help to the NDS," said a western security official this week, "it's just that our operating model will have to adapt." It is a fair assumption that the Taliban will eventually form a part of a future Afghan government. So would the West ever be prepared to share intelligence with them after all these years of fighting them? "That," said the official, "would be very hard to imagine." The key question is whether the Taliban actually meant it when they told peace negotiators in Doha that they had severed their ties to al-Qaeda. Those ties in some cases are historic, marital and tribal, predating the 9/11 attacks by several years. The Taliban are savvy enough to know that if they are going to become a part of a future Afghan government that enjoys international recognition, then they cannot be seen to be in the same camp as proscribed terror groups. Yet Gavin McNicoll, the director of the UK thinktank Eden Intelligence, believes it would be naïve to trust them. "The US administration," he says, "seems to be living in an impossible dream world, that the Taliban have cut their ties to al-Qaeda and IS and will not allow them to return. They are not, will not and can never be taken for their word." Special Forces raids The night raids conducted by small teams of SBS or US Special Forces, acting on intelligence gathered first-hand on the ground, took a huge toll on insurgent commanders and their networks. Often arriving by helicopter some way off in the dead of night and then patrolling in on foot, these "capture or kill" teams worked in close partnership with Afghan Special Forces, preventing numerous attacks. But after September these raids - if they continue at all - will mostly have to be launched or at least planned from outside the country. The risk of time delay and advance warning being leaked to others will inevitably be greater. And the task of finding new locations to launch them from is not something that can be fixed overnight. Finding new bases The secret, classified base in eastern Afghanistan that US Special Forces have been using as a springboard for operations against "high-value targets" is being closed down. This will be good news for al-Qaeda and IS who will now have less to fear from the unexpected arrival of several very large and heavily armed Americans in the middle of the night. So where in the region could now provide a suitable alternative? Pakistan is the most obvious candidate geographically but there is a profound suspicion in the West that Pakistan's secretive Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has elements with links to violent Islamist groups. When the CIA launched Operation Neptune Spear to kill or capture Osama Bin Laden in May 2011, the US chose not to inform Pakistan as the teams of Navy SEALs flew by stealth helicopter into Pakistani airspace. They feared someone would give Bin Laden the tipoff to escape. Instead, Oman is a likely substitute. With its stable, pro-Western government, the Sultanate already hosts major bases used by Britain at Thumrayt and more recently at Duqm on the Indian Ocean coast. Duqm is still over 1000 miles away from the Afghan border and any troop-carrying aircraft would still need to overfly Pakistan. Bahrain is another possibility, where the UK already has a small naval base - HMS Juffair - and the US Navy's 5th Fleet has a very big one. Then there is always Central Asia, which borders Afghanistan to the north. In the immediate years following 9/11, the US military used an old Soviet base in south-eastern Uzbekistan called Karshi-Khanabad or "K2". But it pulled out in 2005 after relations between the two countries worsened and returning, even with an invitation, would be controversial since the base was reported to be heavily contaminated with chemicals and radioactive material. The bald fact is that "containing" both al-Qaeda and IS in the wilder parts of Afghanistan is about to get a whole lot harder. There is no easy substitute for having the resources on the ground and being able to summon them up at very short notice. Much will now depend on the willingness and effectiveness of ongoing Afghan governments to confront these proscribed transnational terror groups. John Raine, who previously worked at a senior level in the British government, paints a pessimistic picture of where things are going: "Given not only the quantum of extremism in Afghanistan, but also the strategic advantage which external players will see in having terrorist capabilities there, there could be a return to near greenhouse conditions for the next generation of counter-terrorism threats."

अमेरिका, ब्रिटिश और नाटो के लड़ाकू बल इस गर्मी में अफगानिस्तान छोड़ रहे हैं। तालिबान दिन-ब-दिन मजबूत होते जा रहे हैं जबकि अल-कायदा और इस्लामिक स्टेट समूह और भी अधिक निर्लज्ज हमले कर रहे हैं। तो अब उन्हें कैसे रोका जा सकता है कि पश्चिम के पास अब देश में सैन्य संसाधन नहीं होंगे?


Plas Madoc: Miriam Beard bailed to psychiatric unit

Summary: A former co-ordinator of the Plas Madoc Communities First Project in Wrexham, who defrauded the charity out of £51,000, has been remanded on bail to a psychiatric unit.

Miriam Beard was taken from Mold Crown Court to hospital on Friday after a judge heard she had taken some tablets. She was bailed to Wrexham Maelor hospital's psychiatric unit, where her condition will be reviewed. She is due to be sentenced in December after admitting nine fraud charges. At Mold Crown Court, Judge Rhys Rowlands bailed Beard until Tuesday, when the court is expected to be given more details, following a psychiatrist's report. Beard, 55, from Henllan, Denbighshire, was accompanied by a psychiatric nurse in court. Her barrister, Russell Davies, said his client had been treated at the unit. Beard admitted nine charges part-way through her trial last week and her son Darrell Kelly, 35, of Greater Manchester, has admitted six charges. The prosecution claims Beard was using the assets of the charity for her own ends.

रेक्सम में प्लास मैडोक कम्युनिटीज फर्स्ट प्रोजेक्ट के एक पूर्व समन्वयक, जिन्होंने £51,000 से चैरिटी को धोखा दिया था, को एक मनोरोग इकाई में जमानत पर भेज दिया गया है।


Soldiers conflicted on Bowe Bergdahl prisoner exchange

Summary: On Saturday President Barack Obama announced the US had reached a deal with Taliban forces to exchange captured soldier Sgt Bowe Bergdahl for five Taliban officials being held in the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.

By Anthony ZurcherEditor, Echo Chambers The prisoner exchange was condemned by some Republican politicians as setting a bad precedent for "negotiating with terrorists". Others were angered that members of Congress were not given 30 days' notice of a Guantanamo detainee transfer, as set out by US law. Defenders of the deal noted that prisoner exchanges with unsavoury elements are a common part of war, particularly as a conflict is drawing to a close. The news has also sparked a debate within the military community, as some veterans of the Afghanistan war have come forward to wonder whether efforts to rescue Mr Bergdahl were worthwhile. There are questions regarding exactly how Sgt Bergdahl was captured by Taliban forces in 2009, with some reports indicating that he left his post without authorisation. In the Daily Beast, soldier-turned-journalist Nathan Bradley Bethea details his experience as part of the extensive search-and-rescue effort the US military conducted after Sgt Bergdahl's disappearance - and its cost. (Bethea spoke with BBC Radio 5 about his article.) "Bergdahl was a deserter," he writes, "and soldiers from his own unit died trying to track him down." He says that the US conducted daily search missions for Sgt Berdgahl "across the entire Afghanistan theatre of operations": It was hard, dirty and dangerous work. The searches enraged the local civilian population and derailed the counterinsurgency operations taking place at the time. At every juncture I remember the soldiers involved asking why we were burning so much gasoline trying to find a guy who had abandoned his unit in the first place. The war was already absurd and quixotic, but the hunt for Bergdahl was even more infuriating because it was all the result of some kid doing something unnecessary by his own volition. He goes on to name US soldiers who died during these operations, as well as those who were killed elsewhere because, in the opinion of a fellow soldier, intelligence resources their units could normally rely on were being redeployed to assist in the search. "For the veterans of the units that lost these men, Bergdahl's capture and the subsequent hunt for him will forever tie to their memories, and to a time in their lives that will define them as people," he writes. "He has finally returned. Those men will never have the opportunity." Other news outlets have quoted US soldiers who echo Bethea's concerns. Former Pte Jose Baggett told CNN that Bergdahl abandoned his guard post. "Nobody knows if he defected or he's a traitor or he was kidnapped," he said. "What I do know is he was there to protect us and instead he decided to defer from America and go and do his own thing." "I had a responsibility while I was there to the guys I was with, and that's why this hits the hardest," Javier Ortiz, a former combat medic who served in Iraq, told the Washington Post. "Regardless of what you learned while being there, we still have a responsibility to the men to our left and right. It's terrible, what he did." Other soldiers emphasised that the US pledge to rescue captured troops, no matter the cost, is a comfort to those in combat. "As an active participant in door-to-door, close-quarters combat in Iraq, one of the things that brought me hope was the fact that I was valued enough by my country that I knew my nation would do everything within its power to bring me home if I was ever captured," former Army medic and Iraq War veteran Brock McNabb told Time magazine. "Each soldier in the US is a valued treasure, and we knew that if we were ever captured, our guys wouldn't stop looking." In the end, Bethea writes, he has forgiven Bergdahl because "it was the only way to move on". "I wouldn't wish his fate on anyone," he says. "I hope that, in time, my comrades can make peace with him, too. That peace will look different for every person. We may have all come home, but learning to leave the war behind is not a quick or easy thing."

शनिवार को राष्ट्रपति बराक ओबामा ने घोषणा की कि अमेरिका ने ग्वांतानामो बे हिरासत सुविधा में रखे गए पांच तालिबान अधिकारियों के लिए पकड़े गए सैनिक सार्जेंट बोवे बर्गडहल का आदान-प्रदान करने के लिए तालिबान बलों के साथ एक समझौता किया है।