Would it be realistic to renationalise the railways?

Summary: East Coast main line train services have passed from public to private hands. But is it realistic to talk about the rail network ever being renationalised?

By Tom de CastellaBBC News Magazine A rare experiment in public ownership has come to an end. Supporters say that Directly Operated Railways, a state-run body, rescued the East Coast main line after the collapse in 2009 of National Express's franchise. The firm had been unable to deliver promised revenues to the government. Directly Operated Railways handed a billion pounds in premiums to the Treasury during its period in charge. But after the government decided to return the franchise to private hands a bidding process in November gave it to a consortium of Virgin and Stagecoach - called Intercity Railways. The unions and Labour have argued the line - which runs between London and Edinburgh - should have been kept in public hands. Labour has suggested that it will review the franchising system and allow the public sector to bid to operate rail lines. The Conservatives say that would be unworkable. John Major's Conservative government split up British Rail into a series of franchises 20 years ago. Since then the number of passengers travelling on the railways has doubled. But the public subsidy has risen. A YouGov survey in May 2014 suggested that the public supported renationalisation by a margin of 60% - 20%. But how easy would it be to renationalise the railways? Not difficult at all, says James Abbott, editor of Modern Railways. Network Rail, which manages the track, is already in public hands. The train companies have time-limited franchises. Once these have expired the government could get them back at no cost to the taxpayer. Most of the franchises expire during the next parliament, which runs until May 2020. The exceptions are East Coast (2023), Thameslink, Southern, Great Northern, Chiltern (2021), and Essex Thameside - branded C2C - (2029). If a government wanted the process to be quicker - or to avoid a mixed system - it's hard to say how much buying out the private sector would cost. Mark Smith, who used to set fares at the Department of Transport and now runs the website The Man in Seat 61, says you could estimate what payouts would be needed by looking at each franchise's annual profits and then multiplying by how many years are left on it. The rail industry says about £250m is made in profits by the franchisees each year, about 3% of turnover. There's also the question of UK and European Union legislation. The Railways Act 1993 states that the public sector cannot bid for franchises. Either a totally new act would be needed to oversee nationalisation or there would need to be significant amendments to the existing act. The EU says it wants to open up national freight and passenger markets to cross-border competition. There are rules stating that the track and rolling stock must be managed separately - an attempt to allow free competition, although state-owned railways across the continent use holding companies in order to abide by this. A new European Commission strategy - the Fourth Railway package - to be voted on this summer by the European parliament could further pressure member states to open state-owned railways to private competition. None of these hurdles are insurmountable, says Ian Taylor, author of Rebuilding Rail, a 2012 report for the trade unions. "The biggest obstacle to renationalising the railways is the prevailing dogma - the assumption that marketisation and competition must be best." So what do the political parties say? Labour's official policy is to allow the state to bid for franchises. But in recent weeks new shadow transport secretary Michael Dugher has gone further. "The public sector will be running sections of our rail network as soon as we can do that," he told the New Statesman recently. He ruled out a return to British Rail but said a Labour government would put "the whole franchising system as it stands today in the bin". The Conservatives are against nationalising the network. A spokesman says that franchising has led to the most improved railways in the EU with record levels of investment, passenger numbers doubling and punctuality rates at record levels. The state ownership of East Coast main line shows that, he argues. "While most operators spend more per journey than they get from passengers, East Coast hasn't. East Coast charged passengers on average more per journey, while running older, cheaper trains than on the privately run West Coast line. The new East Coast franchise will turn that round, bringing new services, new investment, more seats, state-of-the-art new trains and faster journeys - and it will return more to the taxpayer too." The line about operators spending more per journey is another sign of how complicated railway funding is. Train companies do not just receive money from fares, some also receive direct public subsidy. Nationalisation of the railways The Liberal Democrats are opposed to full nationalisation, arguing it would cost too much. But the current anomaly, whereby public sector rail operators from abroad can win franchises here while UK public sector operators cannot, should be ended, says a spokeswoman. Dugher's recent comments shows that Labour is shifting towards nationalising the network, the Lib Dems argue. UKIP transport spokeswoman Jill Seymour says the party is not against state-owned companies bidding for a franchise: "Just look at how successful the East Coast main line has been, making a profit and returning the cash to the Treasury." However the party opposes full nationalisation. "There are currently plans to invest in rail lines up and down the UK from private companies, and the threat of nationalisation could put this investment at risk." The Green Party is committed to full nationalisation. "Over time the Green Party would return the railways to public ownership to secure a cheaper and better service," a party spokesperson says. "As franchises expire, they would be re-allocated to a public body nominated by the secretary of state." Plaid Cymru wants to see a devolved railway in Wales with "as much public control as possible". Rail franchising in Wales has already been devolved and now discussions are taking place over infrastructure, it says. "Our priority is that no profits should be taken out of the network in the form of dividends." The Scottish National Party is not explicit about where it stands on rail nationalisation. But it attacks the restriction on public bodies bidding for franchises. A party spokesman says it has asked three UK secretaries of state to have the law changed and each time been refused. Free market advocates argue that the Railways Act did not deliver enough privatisation. They say since Railtrack was brought back into public hands to become Network Rail the railways have been a strange hybrid of state and private sector. The rail industry's problems are the result of government interference, argues free market think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs. "The last thing the sector needs is even more political meddling, but that is exactly what nationalisation would entail," says Dr Richard Wellings, the institute's head of transport. He advocates selling off Network Rail and removing the separation between track ownership and train operation. Even opponents of privatisation, such as rail writer Christian Wolmar, agree that the Railway Act led to a messy sector that is not really truly privatised. "As one railway manager who used to work for British Rail and then spent 20 years with a private operator, never tires of telling me 'the Department has far more involvement in the day to day running of the railways than it ever did in the days of BR,'" Wolmar wrote. Supporters argue that this messy system is delivering. Since privatisation, passenger journeys have shot up from 761 million passengers in 1995/96 to 1.58 billion in 2013/14. Passenger statistics are doing well in comparison with Europe too. Since 2008 the UK has seen a 17% growth in passenger kilometres, the second highest behind Austria. Rail services around the world On the other hand, subsidy has grown. A 2013 report for the Transport Select Committee stated: "Although the level of government support has varied from year to year, in general it has increased from around £2.75bn (in 2011-12 prices) in the late 1980s to £4bn today." Some say this is a conservative estimate. Commuter fares are higher than in Europe and have risen faster than inflation in many years as successive governments attempt to push the cost burden from central government to rail users. Some unregulated fares - especially advance tickets - are cheaper, but many in peak time have risen more than the cost of inflation. Advocates for nationalisation like Taylor say the fragmented network wastes about £1.2bn a year. This is what it costs to have separate franchises "interfacing" with each other and Network Rail, and the profit "leakage" to shareholders of dividends, he says. Then there is the inconvenience factor. Since privatisation it has become almost impossible to do triangular journeys, Taylor says, without complicated batches of single tickets. The Rail Delivery Group rejects the £1.2bn figure. It includes money paid to rolling stock companies to lease trains and the cost of Network Rail using private contractors, something even British Rail did, a spokesman says. And the "interfacing" between different franchisees is not just a cost but a benefit, he argues. "This interfacing is all about a system which is designed to encourage better performance [punctuality] among Network Rail and train operators." The privatised railway's financial structure can seem like a jigsaw puzzle of subsidy, track charges, money returned to the taxpayer, and money paid to shareholders. But Mark Smith says the argument over ownership is a red herring. "What you need is good management." The UK's railways are a success story and it would be a mistake to spend millions of pounds undoing the franchise system, he argues. The unions say that the increase in passenger numbers correlates with GDP rather than better performance by train operators. It seems certain they will continue to fight for a change. More from the Magazine The wheels of rail privatisation were set in motion in January 1993, when John Major's government enacted the British Coal and British Rail (Transfer Proposals) Act 1993. At the time, the message was that fares would rise no faster under the new privatised railway than under British Rail. It was suggested that they might even fall. So two decades on, what has happened? Have train fares gone up or down since British Rail? Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.

ईस्ट कोस्ट मेन लाइन ट्रेन सेवाएँ सार्वजनिक से निजी हाथों में चली गई हैं। लेकिन क्या रेल नेटवर्क के कभी भी राष्ट्रीयकरण के बारे में बात करना यथार्थवादी है?


What is China's 'new normal'?

Summary: What a difference two years make, in China.

Robert PestonEconomics editor In the autumn of 2013, when I was making my documentary "How China Fooled the World" - which you can watch by clicking here - the prevailing view among Chinese business leaders and government officials is that China's growth "miracle" would go on and on and on. So the film, which argued that the world's number two economy is heading for a sharp slowdown in growth and a possible crash, caused considerable grumpiness among China's authorities when it was broadcast. And Beijing had shouty allies in the West's many bankers and investors, who have been long-term bulls of China. Goldman man (as it were) told me I simply didn't get it: China was and is unique; it would therefore be the one economy in history not subject to the normal rules of financial gravity. What is therefore striking about my current trip to Shanghai, Beijing and Wuxi (a second tier city more-or-less the same size as London) is that the film's core argument is now conventional wisdom among officials and business leaders. Pretty much everyone I met said that since the 2008 global financial crash, China had become dangerously dependent on debt-fuelled investment, in infrastructure, housing and heavy industry in particular. They recognise that if China were to continue investing at a globally unprecedented rate of 50% of national income - greater than even Japan at its 1980s peak - and accumulating debts at an annual rate of more than 15% of GDP, there is a serious risk of a calamitous Japanese crash á la 1990. So the new economic gospel among the Chinese elite is that growth needs to slow down, and is slowing down, because there has to be a reconstruction or rebalancing of the economy more towards consumer spending and technological innovation. What shocked me (and I am not normally shockable) is that most business leaders and investors I met said that what they saw as a "transition" was proving painful - and would lead to the collapse of some businesses, especially in heavy industrial sectors where there is significant over-capacity. And no one tried to persuade me that China isn't changing gears - from an annual growth rate of 10% before 2008, and 7% till recently - to a significantly lower rate of growth. You can see some of what China's company bosses said to me in a film I've made for News at Ten tonight. Where there is disagreement is the level of what Beijing officials blithely call "the new normal" for growth: I heard 5%, 4% and 3% as being the probable base for the next decade. To be clear, if it is any of those numbers, that represents a dramatic change both in the momentum China can provide to the global economy and to the annual increments Chinese people can expect for living standards. So this "transition" is as significant - in a long-term sense - as any global economic event of the past 30 years. We have already seen some of the effects in tumbling prices for commodities and energy, as China's appetite wanes, and in the stagnation of living standards in its many client and competitor economies. The prospects for commodity and energy producers, from Australia, to Russia and Brazil, aren't what they were. Other emerging market manufacturers, from Malaysia to Mexico, have much to fear from China's devaluation and redoubled attempts to use technology to improve productivity. Perhaps half the world, in an economic sense, is damaged by this Chinese recalibration. And although there is a boost to living standards in consumer economies like ours - from falls in the price of energy and other imported goods - that windfall cannot compensate in the longer term for a world growing slower. And the risk of a fully-fledged Chinese crash - tumbling prices of bloated property and shares, companies and municipalities unable to repay debts - is not de minimis. The really big point for me is that the psychology of those making important economic decisions in China appears to have shifted fundamentally. Until this trip, what I always found exhilarating about China was the exuberance and optimism of everyone I met. Now I encounter a sense of caution and mild anxiety. Which may represent a scaling back of lending and investing exuberance just in the nick of time. Or it could be one nudge from the kind of collective pessimism that triggers serious economic shocks.

चीन में दो साल कितना फर्क डालते हैं।


Nobel Prize winner Tu Youyou helped by ancient Chinese remedy

Summary: Tu Youyou has become the first Chinese woman to win a Nobel Prize, for her work in helping to create an anti-malaria medicine. The 84-year-old's route to the honour has been anything but traditional.

By Celia HattonBBC News, Beijing She won the Nobel Prize for medicine, but she doesn't have a medical degree or a PhD Tu Youyou attended a pharmacology school in Beijing. Shortly after, she became a researcher at the Academy of Chinese Traditional Medicine. In China, she is being called the "three noes" winner: no medical degree, no doctorate, and she's never worked overseas. She started her malaria research after she was recruited to a top-secret government unit known as "Mission 523" In 1967, Communist leader Mao Zedong decided there was an urgent national need to find a cure for malaria. At the time, malaria spread by mosquitoes was decimating Chinese soldiers fighting Americans in the jungles of northern Vietnam. A secret research unit was formed to find a cure for the illness. Two years later, Tu Youyou was instructed to become the new head of Mission 523. She was dispatched to the southern Chinese island of Hainan to study how malaria threatened human health. For six months, she stayed there, leaving her four-year-old daughter at a local nursery. Ms Tu's husband had been sent away to work at the countryside at the height of China's Cultural Revolution, a time of extreme political upheaval. Ancient Chinese texts inspired Tu Youyou's search for her Nobel-prize winning medicine Mission 523 pored over ancient books to find historical methods of fighting malaria. When she started her search for an anti-malarial drug, over 240,000 compounds around the world had already been tested, without any success. Finally, the team found a brief reference to one substance, sweet wormwood, which had been used to treat malaria in China around 400 AD. The team isolated one active compound in wormwood, artemsinin, which appeared to battle malaria-friendly parasites. The team then tested extracts of the compound but nothing was effective in eradicating the drug until Tu Youyou returned to the original ancient text. After another careful reading, she tweaked the drug recipe one final time, heating the extract without allowing it to reach boiling point. She first tested her medicine on herself to ensure it was safe After the drug showed promising results in mice and monkeys, Tu Youyou volunteered to be the first human recipient of the new drug. "As the head of the research group, I had the responsibility," she explained to the Chinese media. Shortly after, clinical trials began using Chinese labourers. Modest mouse or Scene-stealer? You decide Tu Youyou is typically described in China as a "modest" woman. Her work was published anonymously in 1977, and for decades she received little recognition for her research with Mission 523. In 2009, Ms Tu published an autobiography looking back on her scientific career. However, she was quickly attacked by some for claiming the spotlight while seemingly ignoring contributions from her colleagues. Some allege that two other researchers had already targeted the compounds in sweet wormwood before Tu Youyou joined Mission 523. However, she was the one who allegedly consulted the ancient text to study how best to extract the compound for use in medicine. In any case, Tu Youyou is consistently cited for her drive and passion. One former colleague, Lianda Li, says Ms Tu is "unsociable and quite straightforward", adding that "if she disagrees with something, she will say it". Another colleague, Fuming Liao, who has worked with Tu Youyou for more than 40 years, describes her as a "tough and stubborn woman". Stubborn enough to spend decades piecing together ancient texts and apply them to modern scientific practices. The result has saved millions of lives.

तु यूयू मलेरिया रोधी दवा बनाने में मदद करने के लिए नोबेल पुरस्कार जीतने वाली पहली चीनी महिला बन गई हैं। 84 वर्षीय का सम्मान पाने का रास्ता पारंपरिक रहा है।


Prostitutes trapped in a cycle of selling sex to survive

Summary: Some people might find it hard to understand why women turn to prostitution, but a new BBC documentary made during six months explores the stories of the single mothers, teenagers and addicts who have become sex workers in Cardiff, Swansea and Newport to make ends meet.

Here are a few of their stories. Suzanna Around 70% of prostitutes are single mothers, and Suzanna works in a massage parlour to support her family and pay the bills. "Being on benefits is not enough these days. You have got to buy all these things for your children's uniforms, there's this and there's that. It just goes through one hand and out the other. "You go and look for a job, you just don't get anywhere, especially if you haven't got no qualifications. I just want to put money back and save for my children. "When I have a punter, as soon as I bring them upstairs I'm polite, take them to the room, takes the money. "I says feel free to have a shower if you want, or if not I will be back now in about five, and that's it, and you do what you have got to do. "When I'm doing it I just think of my kids. Money, put back, that's it. Bills, job done." Clare While some students get a job in a supermarket or shop to help make ends meet, for Clare the awards were not instant enough. She tried working in a massage parlour and has been a sex worker ever since. "I did do a little stint in Burger King, which lasted all of about six weeks and I learnt I could earn more in a night than I could in months in Burger King. "The first customer I did I just learnt from very early on that you just have to blank everything out. That's the only way that you can do this job is just the minute you've done it is just forget it, forget what they look like, just forget what you have done. "If you're not able to do that I don't think you can do this job. "Is it a trap? It depends how strong you are and willing to get out of it, I suppose." Emily A mother-of-four, Emily once had a happy home and family life but, aged 28, a series of traumatic events led to a breakdown, and she was introduced to drugs. Her children were taken away from her and she turned to prostitution to pay the bills. She has been a prostitute working on the streets for the past 15 years. "I don't want to work on the street. I don't want to have to work on the street. I want to walk away from it all. "I'm out until about 3am. You have got to have determination. I'm not just interested in going out there and getting, some nights you're just stood out there for hours on end with nothing, and it breaks your heart. "Most of the punters are married, and I think they come to me because it's not a relationship, it's an understanding. There's no ties, there's no love, there's no commitment. "I've had a home and four children, and I've lost that and I've only worked from losing that. It was 1998. Everything happened that year, you name it, it happened. My dad died, my friends died, I lost my children, my husband walked out on me, I lost my home. "I miss my dad, I really do. I was coming down to tell him I was getting married, and the next thing I knew my mum is knocking on the door telling me he had died. It broke my heart it really did. I cried non-stop for days. That's how I got into the heroin, cos I couldn't stop crying and someone said 'here have a couple of lines of this'. And I had a couple of lines to stop me from crying and fell asleep, and the next thing I knew I was hooked on it. I wish I'd never have touched it. I really do. "I have been depressed now for a long long time, well over 20 years, and it's just getting worse and worse. "I suffer with anxiety and panic attacks and I find it very difficult to speak to people especially in authority." Sorina Brothel worker Sorina earns enough money in Wales to support her entire family in Romania, but sex work is taking its toll. She left her only child behind to be looked after by his grandmother. After every client she calls home to hear her mother's voice. "Here in this job you must be a very cold woman, without thinking, without heart, without nothing. "I send all of my money to Romania for my mother. Because it is very difficult country Romania, because if you don't have money you don't make school, you don't have nothing in there. "If I didn't make money here they would be on the street because in Romania if you have your own house and after three months don't pay electric or water bills then they take your house and they put you on the street. "I support my mother, my son and my smaller sister so she can have a good job better than me. "I was working for three months in a mega-brothel in Germany, I was feeling like dirty. To many women it feels like prison. I don't know how to explain it. It is just like open the door, close the door, open the door, close the door. And there you are not free."

कुछ लोगों को यह समझना मुश्किल हो सकता है कि महिलाएं वेश्यावृत्ति की ओर क्यों मुड़ती हैं, लेकिन छह महीने के दौरान बनाई गई एक नई बीबीसी वृत्तचित्र एकल माताओं, किशोरों और नशेड़ी की कहानियों की पड़ताल करती है जो कार्डिफ, स्वानसी और न्यूपोर्ट में यौन कार्यकर्ता बन गए हैं ताकि वे अपनी जरूरतें पूरी कर सकें।


The story of weather watching in Shetland

Summary: The brainchild of a polar explorer, Shetland's weather station helped measure the ozone layer and played a role in the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster. As the observatory approaches its centenary next year, former employees have been looking back at its history.

By Daniel BennettBBC Scotland In December 1911, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen was the first to lead a group to the South Pole as part of his efforts to find out more about the most northerly parts of the globe. After a Polar Sea expedition in 1920, Amundsen wanted to compare notes on the Aurora Borealis he observed. The Norwegian government then lobbied for the UK to establish a meteorological observatory in the Shetland Islands. In its operational life, the observatory has measured the Aurora Borealis - known as "the mirrie dancers" in Shetland - and studied geomagnetism and daily weather patterns, as well as feeding into the daily shipping forecasts. Amundsen wasn't the only Polar connection. In the 1950s, Shetland became a training site for the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). It was "like a sergeant's mess" according to former scientific assistant, Allen Fraser. "Shetland gave these young lads a taste of what being away from home was like in an isolated spot," said Allen. The research carried out by the BAS is now used by climate scientists documenting changes in the earth's weather history. "We documented everything manually and radioed it to the Falkland Islands, where it was sent on and processed in Argentina," recalled scientific assistant Kenneth Hughson. Forming relationships and teamwork was an important part of the time scientists spent in Shetland and it prepared them for heading to the Antarctic. "They got an idea of how it was living together, dining together, socialising together," Allen said. Measuring the ozone layer Training given in Shetland also played a part in later work to identify a major climate concern. A Dobson Spectrometer, known as a Dobson, was one of the tools used in Lerwick. It measures the thickness of the ozone layer. "It's still there and used today. There are only two in the northern hemisphere and two in Antarctica," said Allen. The graduates who were trained on the Dobson in the 1950s included Joe Farman, a physicist who was later credited with helping identify the hole in the ozone layer. In 1985, he published the findings of a study looking at the concentration of the ozone layer over Antarctica in the journal Nature. The scientist recalled his time spent in Shetland in an interview with the Financial Times in 2010. He spent six months training there in 1956, learning about instruments like the Dobson, before going to work in Antarctica. The Dobson was important for training and getting Antarctic recruits ready for their work. But its ongoing monitoring was equally vital. "It wasn't just for training," said Allen. "It measured the ozone over Shetland and helped build a (long-term) picture." The Chernobyl disaster The Shetland weather station's involvement in world-changing events continued when in April 1986, staff there were among the first to learn of the Chernobyl disaster. The day after the explosion at the power station, staff at the Lerwick Met Office were asked to test rainwater to determine levels of radioactive material. "It was a Sunday, I was on duty, and we got a call from Dounreay Nuclear Power Station," recalled Allen. Getting such a call was unusual, but their questions were even more so. "They were worried - their workers coming on duty were triggering radioactivity alarms," he said. It had been raining at Dounreay and staff had been stepping in puddles that contained radioactive water, which was setting off the alarms. The Shetland observatory's superintendent, Alan Gair, was asked to take measurements. 'Mildly radioactive' He said they had regularly collected rainwater and sent it for processing to document atmospheric readings. "They desperately wanted us to send off a rain bottle," Alan recalled. "It was raining - I went out into it not thinking it might be mildly radioactive. "I remember being nervous, not knowing what I was going out into." Rainwater samples were collected and sent to be analysed. News of what happened at Chernobyl was initially suppressed by the Soviet Union, meaning the Shetland observatory staff were among the few to learn about the disaster before it became public knowledge. For those who worked at the Shetland weather station it was more than just a job. They became part of a community, with their families also spending lots of time together. "I have very happy memories of the place. It was my home," says Denise Nicolson, whose father Harry Tait is a former site superintendent. In recent years, she has been collecting memories from former workers at the site. "It's been a great way to reconnect with folk from my childhood, and it's been an important link to my dad," she said.

एक ध्रुवीय खोजकर्ता के दिमाग की उपज, शेटलैंड के मौसम केंद्र ने ओजोन परत को मापने में मदद की और चेरनोबिल आपदा के बाद एक भूमिका निभाई। जैसे-जैसे वेधशाला अगले साल अपनी शताब्दी के करीब आ रही है, पूर्व कर्मचारी इसके इतिहास को पीछे मुड़कर देख रहे हैं।


CSI Scotland: How forensics caught Peter Tobin

Summary: The discovery of the body of young Polish woman Angelika Kluk hidden under the floorboards of a Glasgow church led to one of the most high-profile forensics investigations in recent years. Senior Forensic Scientist Carol Weston was the woman who gathered the evidence which would eventually catch serial killer Peter Tobin.

By Steven BrocklehurstBBC Scotland news website Angelika Kluk, a 23-year-old languages student, went missing in September 2006. She had last been seen in the grounds of St Patrick's Roman Catholic Church in the Anderston area of Glasgow. Days later her body was found hidden below a small wooden hatch in the floor of the church, her hands were tied and she was covered by a tarpaulin. The chief investigating officer on the case, Det Supt David Swindle, tells the BBC's Crime Scene Scotland the way she was found showed a "total disrespect for human life". Det Supt Swindle says he was "mindful of removing the body without disturbing evidence" and so he called in a specialist forensics team. The key person was Carol Weston. Ms Weston, 39, says she felt "very strongly" that Angelika's body should not be moved and samples should be taken "in situ". "So I wanted to actually go under the floorboards down beside the body so I could get the maximum amount of forensic evidence," she says. However, the entrance to the hatch containing the body was very small and it was "bisected" by a beam. The team discussed cutting the beam but instead it was decided that Ms Weston would squeeze in through the hole beside the body. "The first thing we had to do was remove the items which were obscuring the body, which was a tarpaulin and a black bin bag with items in it," says Ms Weston. "At first we were worried because they smelt so strongly of decomposing matter. "We were worried there were perhaps other body parts or something else down there biological. "But it turned out it was very heavily blood-stained clothing, a towel and what, in our opinion, was the murder weapon used to stab Angelika - a knife." Angelika had suffered a "very violent death", with multiple stab wounds to the head and body. Her clothing was in disarray, suggesting a sexual motive for the attack. Ms Weston says: "Eventually we did take all her clothing off in situ. "The reason for that was to preserve anything that was on the clothing. "Once Angelika had been stripped we could look at moving the body." She adds: "I thought the whole examination would take an hour. I was shocked when I came out from the floorboards and realised how long I had actually been there - three and a half hours." The earth beneath Angelika's body had to be laid out in grids, removed and sieved in case there was something significant buried in the soil. Key exhibits were logged. The pathologist took "intimate samples", which would prove any sexual activity. Ms Weston says it is only after all the work is complete that there is time to deal with human aspect of her job. She says: "You have finished your examination, stopped thinking so much just as a scientist and that's when it becomes a bit real. "You are always very aware that you are dealing with somebody's daughter, somebody's brother. It's not some evidence. It is always a person." The last man to see Angelika alive had been the church handyman, who was known as Patrick McLaughlin. He quickly became the police's prime suspect but evidence was needed. Officers had been unable to find where the murder had taken place. Angelika had last been seen at the garage attached to the church parish house but at first there was no evidence of a violent murder. Crime scene examiner Michael Young says: "It was not obvious to anyone there was anything in there. "I remember Carol finding a very tiny blood spot within the garage and she put a highlighter around it. "Then she found another one and another and I remember standing back and seeing the fine spray." At first the spray was not visible because of the dark red sandstone brick but then they traced evidence of "impact spatter blood spots", which are produced when someone is beaten or struck or kicked. "As soon as we found these blood spots we knew we had the right place," Ms Weston says. It took four days to painstakingly log every item in the garage. Having found evidence of the crime being committed they still needed to link their prime suspect to the murder. Seminal fluid inside Angelika's body indicated that she had sexual intercourse about the time she was murdered. Ms Weston was confident that swabs of the fluid would be able to give her a DNA profile which would match with the Scottish DNA database, which contains about 280,000 profiles. But, surprisingly, there was no hit on the database. Ms Weston says: "It is your worst nightmare. You do a lot of work. You get a profile and you've got no name." The murder was in Scotland, the prime suspect was Scottish, so a hit in England seemed remote. However, the English database came back with the name Peter Tobin, who had been convicted of a sex offence in Hampshire in 1993 and released in 2003. Fingerprint evidence from the bin bag and tarpaulin was also linked back to Tobin. There was also a wooden table leg with blood on it found in the garden of the church. The hunt was on for Tobin and he was discovered by chance when a nurse at a hospital in London recognised his picture in the media. When Tobin was arrested he was wearing a T-shirt which was stained on the lower front. The staining proved to be a mixture of his semen and cellular material matching Angelika Kluk. In May 2007, Tobin was found guilty of raping and murdering Angelika. Judge Lord Menzies said Tobin should serve a minimum of 21 years, describing him as "an evil man". The case later helped link Tobin to the murders of two other young women: Vicky Hamilton and Dinah McNicol. Crime Scenes Scotland: Forensics squad is one BBC One Scotland on Wednesday 9 October at 22:35.

ग्लासगो चर्च के फर्श के नीचे छिपी युवा पोलिश महिला एंजेलिका क्लुक के शव की खोज ने हाल के वर्षों में सबसे हाई-प्रोफाइल फोरेंसिक जांचों में से एक का नेतृत्व किया। वरिष्ठ फोरेंसिक वैज्ञानिक कैरोल वेस्टन वह महिला थीं जिन्होंने सबूत एकत्र किए जो अंततः सीरियल किलर पीटर टोबिन को पकड़ लेंगी।


Singapore quizzer finally wins $10k after Tony Hadley's message

Summary: A quiz contestant who missed out on a huge cash prize - because judges claimed he mispronounced "Tony Hadley" - has been awarded the money after a U-turn by the radio station.

By Owen AmosBBC News, Singapore When Singaporean man Muhammad Shalehan was denied the $10,000 prize (£5,760; US$7,060), the Spandau Ballet singer sent a video of support. But the radio station remained adamant Mr Shalehan was wrong - until now. On Friday, Gold 905 said they were "deeply sorry" and awarded the money. "Since Tony Hadley has said that Mr Shalehan said his name correctly, who are we to disagree?" the station said on Facebook. Mr Shalehan - a father of three, with a new baby due in August - told the BBC he was "so shocked" but "so happy". "I couldn't have done it without the help of Mr Tony Hadley," he said. What was the quiz controversy? On 16 March, Gold 905 - a station owned by a Singapore media giant - began the "Celebrity Name Drop" quiz. Players had to identify 14 celebrities, each saying one word of the phrase: "Gold 9-0-5, the station that sounds good, and makes you feel good." It was hard to identify even one celebrity - let alone 14. But, by listening to other people's answers, listeners could - over a number of weeks - piece the puzzle together. Mr Shalehan called hundreds of times, and made it through to air twice - but did not get the answer correct. On 21 April, he finally thought he had all 14 answers - only to be told he scored 13. But on 6 May, another caller said the exact same answers - and was awarded the $10,000. When Mr Shalehan questioned the decision, the station said he had mispronounced Tony Hadley on 21 April (see clip further down). How did Tony Hadley get involved? After his complaints fell on deaf ears, Mr Shalehan found Tony Hadley's manager online and sent him an email. To Mr Shalehan's amazement, the Spandau Ballet singer replied with a video, endorsing the pronunciation. "You might have had a slight accent, but as far as I'm concerned, you said my name correctly," Mr Hadley said. Mr Shalehan sent the video to the radio station, but they were unmoved. When the BBC contacted the radio station for Thursday's story, they offered Mr Shalehan $5,000, but still insisted his pronunciation was wrong. When announcing that "goodwill gesture", the station posted a clip of Mr Shalehan's pronunciation, alongside Tony Hadley's version, and the winning entry. Despite having loans to repay, and a growing family, Mr Shalehan - a railway worker - was unsure whether to accept the $5,000. "I'm not after the money," he said. "I'm after the fairness, the equality, the justice of the game." What did the radio station say on Friday? The story was originally covered in early May by Singapore site Hype and Stuff, but gathered momentum after Mr Hadley's intervention. By Friday morning, the station had reversed their decision. "Thank you for all your feedback and posts," they said. "We have reached out to Mr Shalehan again to convey that we are deeply sorry." How did Mr Shalehan react? The 32-year-old told the BBC he was sleeping on Friday morning when his wife noticed an email from the radio station. "I was so shocked," he said. "I feel honestly happy that justice has been served." It was Mr Shalehan's father-in-law, a taxi driver, who originally persuaded him to follow the quiz. "When my wife told him the news, he was literally shouting with happiness," he said. "We didn't even need speaker phone, we could hear him." Mr Shalehan has accepted the station's offer and apology - and is grateful to the English pop star on the other side of the world who made it happen. "My message to Mr Tony Hadley is a big, big, big thank you. His video was a great, great game-changer." Other stories from Singapore

एक प्रश्नोत्तरी प्रतियोगी जो एक बड़े नकद पुरस्कार से चूक गया-क्योंकि न्यायाधीशों ने दावा किया कि उसने "टोनी हैडली" का गलत उच्चारण किया था-को रेडियो स्टेशन द्वारा यू-टर्न लेने के बाद पैसे से सम्मानित किया गया है।


Who inspired Roald Dahl's Mrs Pratchett character?

Summary: Roald Dahl's run-in with her and a dead mouse as a boy inspired some of his most horrible characters but, as his centenary is celebrated across the country, who was the infamous Mrs Pratchett? And what became of her?

By Lucy BallingerBBC News The image of her grubby fingers reaching into a sweet jar have disgusted generations of children. The fabled Mrs Pratchett was immortalised by Roald Dahl as "a small skinny old hag with a moustache on her upper lip, little piggy eyes and a mouth as sour as green gooseberry". Dahl and his friends played a trick on the sweet-shop owner by putting a dead mouse in a gobstopper jar so "when she puts her dirty hand in to grab a handful, she'll grab a stinky dead mouse instead". The aftermath of the Great Mouse Plot "deeply affected" Dahl's writing, according to his widow Felicity, and is believed to have inspired some of his tales such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Twits and Matilda. But what was the world Dahl met the sweet-shop owner in? Dahl lived for the first nine years of his life in Llandaff, Cardiff. The suburb is a historic city in its own right thanks to its cathedral, built in around 1120. The main street is now home to boutique coffee shops and delis, but 100 years ago it had a dirt road, and horse-drawn buses. The shop at 11 High Street is now an unassuming two-storey building which houses The Great Wall of China takeaway. But in Dahl's time it was "the very centre of our lives", a place for the worship of sweets, packed with glass jars filled with colourful treats. Llandaff Society chairman Geoffrey Barton-Greenwood said: "Roald Dahl and his friends used to call at Mrs Pratchett's Sweet Shop fascinated by the delights in there. "They would spend their pocket money and were in awe of the revolting woman that was Mrs Pratchett. "But, of course, Mrs Pratchett wasn't her real name. Her real name, we believe, was Katy Morgan. "Mrs Morgan ran it with her daughters, who were elderly spinsters. They lived in reduced circumstances - running a little sweet shop was a means of bringing some money in." Widow Catherine Morgan and her daughters Kate and Sarah ran the shop for 37 years. Despite the delights on offer in the shop, Mrs Morgan was not the most welcoming shopkeeper. Dahl and his friends hated her so much they targeted her with the Great Mouse Plot. The schoolboy's friends distracted Mrs Morgan, 68 years old at the time, so he could sneak a dead mouse into a glass jar, filled with gobstoppers. The aim was to for her to pick up the dead mouse when she was next pulling out a gobstopper. The following morning the boys walked past the shop, to find it closed, with the gobstopper jar smashed into pieces all over the floor. Dahl was petrified he had killed Mrs Morgan with shock, only to be presented with her in the playground at school, picking out the culprits. The boys were then caned by the headmaster, while the shop-owner watched, with Dahl last in line. Speaking about it in an interview, Dahl said: "I knew that boys got beaten in the school, but I never knew that they watched each other getting beaten." He added: "On the second or third one we suddenly got the shock of our lives because, from the far corner of the room, came Mrs Pratchett's voice saying 'that's it, lay into him, headmaster' and all that sort of thing. "And we looked round and there was this foul, old hag sitting in an armchair watching. "And when I came up I remember her yelling 'that's the nastiest of the lot, you lay into him headmaster, don't let him off' and I limped out clutching my buttocks and whimpering." Dahl's widow Felicity said: "The consequences, of course, hit hard. "You could hear your fellow friends being caned, and you knew you were next. That is pretty tough. I think it affected him a lot, and of course it went through a lot of his children's literature." When his mother, Sofie, saw the marks from the cane she marched straight to confront the headmaster, and told him she would be taking Dahl out of the school at the end of the year. It was a decision which would mean his move to English boarding school and, ultimately, the family's relocation to Buckinghamshire from Cardiff. Sweets for sale in Mrs Pratchett's sweet shop Dahl said the impact of being caned when he was at school remained with him through his life. He said: "I can't conceive of doing it myself and I don't quite know how they did it, actually wounding someone in cold blood. "If I sit on a hard seat for two hours, I then begin to feel my heart actually beating along the stripes on my bottom where they were." But what had happened in her life to make Mrs Morgan such a loathsome and malicious character? She was born Catherine Lound, who married master shoemaker Robert Morgan in Llandaff Cathedral in 1875. The city's High Street was a dirt road then, with tumble-down thatched cottages on one side and hoardings on the other. The couple had three daughters, although one of them died in 1878, aged just seven months old. Soon after the death of their daughter, Mr Morgan died, although the circumstances of his death are unclear, leaving his widow a 26-year-old single mother-of-two. She tried her hand at dressmaking to try to make ends meet, before opening Catherine Morgan Confectioner and Tobacconist in around 1900. Sweet historian Tim Richardson, author of Sweets: A History of Temptation, said: "The local sweet shops offered cheap imitations of the high-class sweets which were in the high-class confectioners, such as candied orange peel and glacier fruits, which are still expensive now. "They were cheap shops to run, they were almost people's front rooms, they were very humble. "It would have had rows and rows of jars with hard, fruity sucker sweets, which were cheap to buy and lasted a very long time, and would have been popular with children like Roald Dahl." But Mrs Morgan was far removed from the childlike and avuncular character of Willy Wonka, whose face "was alight with fun and laughter". For her, the sweet shop was a way of surviving. Describing Mrs Pratchett in Boy: Tales of Childhood, Dahl wrote: "By far the most loathsome thing about Mrs Pratchett was the filth that clung around her. "Her apron was grey and greasy. Her blouse had bits of breakfast all over it, toast-crumbs and tea stains and splotches of dried egg-yolk. "It was her hands, however, that disturbed us most. They were disgusting. They were black with dirt and grime. They looked as though they had been putting lumps of coal on the fire all day long." He added: "She never smiled. She never welcomed us when we went in, and the only times she spoke were when she said things like, 'I'm watchin' you so keep yer thievin' fingers off them chocolates!' or 'I don't want you in 'ere just to look around! Either you forks out or you gets out!'" The three women lived on top of the shop, with a steady rotation of lodgers renting rooms. In sharp contrast, Roald Dahl was born on 13 September 1916 in a first-floor bedroom of Ty Gwyn, then Villa Marie - a house built by his Norwegian father Harald Dahl, who was a shipbroker supplying ships in Cardiff with everything they needed when they arrived at port. Cardiff docks was one of the largest coaling ports in the world at that time, with a large contingent of workers from Norway, and Mr Dahl was very successful. His large Llandaff house sat in half-an-acre, with later owners installing a tennis court in the back garden. Dahl said he grew up having a "marvellous family life" in Cardiff. He spoke Norwegian as his first language and was sent, aged seven, to attend the prestigious Llandaff Cathedral School, which still exists today. The sweet shop was a stone's throw from the imposing spires of the cathedral and was perfectly placed for the young Dahl and his friends to nip into on the walk home from school. The rows of glass jars filled with sweets in her shop laid the grounding for Dahl's love of confectionery and the traits of some of his characters. His widow Felicity said: "To him, with somebody being lucky enough to run a sweet shop - how could they be so horrible? So she had to be shown up, she had to be written about, it had to be recorded. "Wales was a large part of his memories and of his writing, without a doubt." And he never forgot his childhood in Llandaff, or Mrs Morgan. He said: "I think one unconsciously draws from childhood, you probably don't even remember it exactly, but when you are trying to think of something it comes back." He paid visits to Cardiff throughout his life as his parents and older sister Astri were buried in a leafy cemetery close to his childhood homes. In 1961, the then owners of the house he was born in got a surprise when he turned up on their doorstep, saying his mother had asked him to check the garden was being looked after. Margaret Edwards, now 101, lived in the house with her parents, and had no idea he was a writer. She said: "He was just Mr Dahl to me, and he said that his mother asked him if he could call, to see the rockery. "I took him around the garden, showed him the rockery and the whole garden, and he was very interested." Mrs Edwards later received a letter from Dahl's mother thanking her "for your kindness to my son" and saying Villa Marie had been her "dream home". On another occasion the then-headteacher of Elmtree House School - where Dahl went to nursery school - spotted the tall figure of the author standing across the road from the building smoking and looking intently at it. When she went to confront him and see who he was, she was surprised to learn it was the former pupil. He later sent her a signed photograph. While Dahl went on to become a world-renowned children's author, the sweet-shop owner of his childhood remained in his home-town becoming more and more reclusive. She finally died in the flat above the shop she had lived in for 64 years of senility, low blood pressure and bronchitis in 1939, aged 84. She is buried with her two daughters, who never married, in an unmarked grave just 200m (656ft) from her former sweet-shop. But despite her anonymous death, the impression she left on Dahl remained. As well as immortalising Mrs Morgan in the character of Mrs Pratchett, in Matilda, the schoolgirl's friend Lavender puts a newt into the water jug of the teacher Mrs Trunchbull. While the description of Mrs Pratchett's filthy clothes stained with food, smacks of the Twits. Dahl said: "Vicious people are much more interesting than nice good people. There is nothing more boring than a totally good person. They have got to have quirks and bad habits and things like that. "You can have a nice one as well chucked in there. But if you had a book filled with nothing but nice people it would be awfully boring."

उनके साथ रोनाल्ड डाहल की भागदौड़ और एक लड़के के रूप में एक मृत चूहे ने उनके कुछ सबसे भयानक पात्रों को प्रेरित किया, लेकिन जैसे-जैसे उनकी शताब्दी पूरे देश में मनाई जाती है, कुख्यात श्रीमती प्रेटचेट कौन थीं? और उनका क्या हुआ?


Man injured tombstoning from Brighton Pier

Summary: A man in his 20s has been injured while "tombstoning" into the sea from Brighton Pier.

The man, from London, jumped about 30ft (10m) into just 3ft (1m) of water at about 1830 BST on Saturday, when the sea was at low tide. The RNLI Brighton lifeboat crew and three council lifeguards helped him ashore using a basket stretcher. He was taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital, in Brighton, and treated for bruising and minor injuries. Tombstoning is where people jump from cliffs or high structures into water.

ब्राइटन पियर से समुद्र में "मकबरा बनाने" के दौरान 20 साल का एक व्यक्ति घायल हो गया है।


Afan Valley Swimming Pool reopens after campaign

Summary: A swimming pool in Neath Port Talbot which was closed last year is reopening following a campaign by volunteers.

Afan Valley swimming pool in Cymmer is officially opened on Saturday. The facility was saved after Afan Valley Community Leisure, working with Llandarcy Park Ltd, stepped in to raise funds. The pool was shut in December 2015.

नीथ पोर्ट टैलबोट में एक स्विमिंग पूल जो पिछले साल बंद कर दिया गया था, स्वयंसेवकों के एक अभियान के बाद फिर से खुल रहा है।


Careers and Covid: When the pandemic hit job ambitions

Summary: What do you want to do for a job in the future?

By Sean CoughlanBBC News family and education correspondent Thousands of teenagers were asked about their career ambitions in late 2019 in a survey for an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) conference on education. The title of that event - "Where do we go from here?" - now seems rather laden with a sense of unseen icebergs. Because lying ahead was the coronavirus pandemic - and those teenage expectations have faced constant upheaval. David Spruce told the survey in 2019 he was "fairly confident" he wanted to be an "accountant, or disease or drug researcher", with "banker" as his back-up choice. But the teenager's last two years at school in Wolverhampton have been disrupted by the pandemic and his A-level exams have been cancelled. 'Unsure' "It was really eerie to witness all the teachers huddled together discussing plans for exams and online teaching," David remembers, at the outset of the first lockdown. He did voluntary work for the NHS during the pandemic and is now applying to study life sciences at university, with an interest in genetics. He is weighing up the idea of teaching or research. But he says: "Currently I am unsure of what specific job I want." Emma Bailey, who was 17 when filling in the careers survey, was "completely certain" about wanting to get a job in motorsports. But there have already been some sharp gear changes. Instead of going to university to study mechanical engineering as she planned, she is taking a race technicians course at the National College for Motorsport, based in Silverstone. The restrictions caused by Covid have changed the training, and put much of the teaching online. "However, I am loving what I am doing now and I am happy with how it's turned out," says the Leicestershire teenager. Job stereotypes But what makes people decide what they want to do? How much is the dice already loaded? The survey was conducted by the Education and Employers careers charity - and this week the organisation published research showing how ideas about jobs are already firmly shaped at a young age. The report, Starting Early, says by the age of seven many of the preconceptions and stereotypes about future careers are already in place - driven by factors such as social background and gender. When researchers asked primary school children about career expectations, they found many more boys wanting to be engineers and girls wanting to be vets - a pattern that plays out into adulthood. Seven-year-old girls from disadvantaged families were sketching out futures as hairdressers or shop workers, while their more affluent classmates were expecting to become architects and vets. The Education and Employers research has shown how limited career expectations can be in practice - often directly shaped by the role models of the families around them, or the narrow range of jobs depicted on television and in the media. 'Post-Covid recovery' The latest employment figures show the transition from education into work has become very difficult in the pandemic, with young people taking the brunt of job losses. This puts even more pressure on young people to be flexible - and raises the importance of careers advice to show what's available. For instance, City and Guilds this week launched training courses in three sectors which are recruiting staff - social care, construction and digital skills. Karen Giles, head teacher at Barham primary school in Wembley, north-west London, says when it comes to the "post-Covid recovery" in education, this should include "challenging stereotypes" about careers. This requires an early intervention, suggests the Education and Employers research - with the careers charity working with the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) on the "Primary Futures" project, which brings visitors into schools to talk about their jobs. It's based on the principle that "If you can't see it, you can't be it" - telling young children first-hand about career options they might otherwise have never heard about. Paul Whiteman, the NAHT's general secretary, says such horizon-raising careers lessons can help to tackle the "problem of raising post-pandemic aspirations". Chief executive of Education and Employers, Nick Chambers, argues children are more motivated to learn if they can see a direct link to a job that really interests them. But there are some job choices that are harder to resolve, with or without the pandemic. Another of the teenagers in the survey is still caught between two very different ambitions - whether to train to be a professional wrestler or a dental nurse - both painful decisions in their own way.

आप भविष्य में नौकरी के लिए क्या करना चाहते हैं?


Letter from Africa: Why Nigeria needs multi-lingual soldiers

Summary: In our series of letters from African journalists, the editor-in-chief of Nigeria's Daily Trust newspaper, Mannir Dan Ali, says instead of shouting to be heard, Nigerian soldiers have been told to learn more languages.

The new regulation came in characteristic military fashion, giving soldiers a window of one year to learn to speak Nigeria's three main languages. It did not specify whether those unable to do so by November 2018 would lose their jobs. The languages in question - Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba - represent the three dominant communities in the country, but that still leaves out a large number of Nigerians from the country's several hundred other ethnic groups. Army spokesman Brigadier General Sani Usman Kukasheka has since clarified that soldiers need only learn the basics, but those with a certified level of proficiency will get bonuses. Mannir Dan Ali: "Most Nigerians keep their distance from soldiers, who are mostly heavy handed and unfriendly to those they refer to derogatorily as 'bloody civilians'" He explained that the idea was to help soldiers to carry out their duties more effectively and earn the trust of the communities in which they were deployed. If the initiative succeeds, Nigerians will be in for a shock when they hear greetings - such as "sannu" in Hausa, "ekason" in Yoruba or "kedu" in Igbo - from those in military fatigues. Most Nigerians keep their distance from soldiers, who are mostly heavy handed and unfriendly to those they refer to derogatorily as "bloody civilians". Unifying force Nonetheless, the Nigerian military is seen as one of the most nationalistic and unifying institutions in the country - with many of its personnel in cross-cultural marriages because of their postings. A soldier will have served in all parts of Nigeria - Africa's most populous country - during the course of his or her career. For those with a gift for languages, it is an opportunity to learn in the areas they are deployed or from colleagues from other regions. English is the formal language of the military and government - and even with the new requirement, will remain the official language. But in the years after independence in 1960, there were more northerners at junior levels of the army, meaning that Hausa, the lingua franca of the north, was often used to aid communication between the lower ranks and officers. Pidgin English is also commonly used among soldiers from different areas especially in the famous "mammy markets" in barracks, where the soldiers go to unwind away from the drudgery of parade grounds or operation zones. Language of Boko Haram? The new language policy appears to stem from the challenges the military is currently encountering as it continues to be called upon to assist the police in handling law-and-order situations. Soldiers are deployed in more than 30 of Nigeria's 36 states in one internal security operation or another. The military's crackdown on Islamist insurgents in the north-east has brought with it new challenges - mainly those of non-conventional warfare but linguistic too. However, Kanuri - the dominant language of Boko Haram militants - is not among the languages soldiers are now required to learn. This is despite the eight-year insurgency, in which some 20,000 people have been killed, being far from over. Likewise, Ijaw - widely spoken in the restive oil-producing Niger Delta area of southern Nigeria - is not compulsory. The Delta militant groups, who say they are fighting for a greater share of the resources for local communities, still occasionally attack pipelines and are behind numerous kidnappings for ransom. Critics of the new measure also say that it may be counter-productive to lay emphasis on learning more languages when the army should focus more on training, strategy and tactics to actually contain these problems. They suggest that a few talented translators may do a better job during interrogations and intelligence-gathering - instead of every soldier with a gun. Nigeria's lower house of parliament - the house of representatives - has already stepped into the matter. It has asked the army chief to stop the implementation of the new policy, saying it is discriminatory and harmful to the cohesion of the army. The MPs said that as Nigeria is home to about 400 languages, compelling speakers of other languages to learn the three major ones would be unfair - and gave some an undue advantage. This controversy may prompt the army to mind what innovations it implements in future as tries to grapple with the challenge of supporting the police to keep everyone safe in the country. But as it stands, the military chief is unlikely to be saying sorry for this policy - in any language. More Letters from Africa: Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa and on Instagram at bbcafrica.

अफ्रीकी पत्रकारों के पत्रों की हमारी श्रृंखला में, नाइजीरिया के डेली ट्रस्ट समाचार पत्र के प्रधान संपादक, मन्नीर दान अली कहते हैं कि चिल्लाने के बजाय, नाइजीरियाई सैनिकों को और अधिक भाषाएँ सीखने के लिए कहा गया है।


Europe's dangerous contempt for markets

Summary: BBC business editor Robert Peston on the problem with sovereign debt

The stress tests of 91 European Union banks - whose results we'll be given on Friday - are built on a paradox that some will see as delicious, and others as insane. That paradox relates to the treatment of sovereign debt, the borrowings of governments like that of Greece that have taken on financial commitments way beyond what looks prudent. Now these assessments of the financial strength of banks allow that the market price of sovereign debt may fall. In the case of Greece, banks have been instructed by regulators to factor in falls in the price of that debt of around 23 or 24 per cent (a bit more than regulators first indicated). So if banks hold government bonds, such as those issued by Greece, in their so-called trading books, then those banks have to prove that they are strong enough to withstand fairly substantial losses on those bonds. But the European Union's governments, central bankers and financial regulators are not prepared to admit the possibility that an EU government could actually default on its debts - even as part of the totally theoretical exercise of the stress tests. So if banks hold government bonds, such as Greek government bonds, in their "banking" books - and thus intend to hold those bonds till they mature or come up for repayment - then those banks would not have to recognise even one cent of potential loss on their bond holdings. And never mind that analysts fear Greece will ultimately be forced to write off some 50 per cent of its national debt. Now I've highlighted this contradiction in an earlier note (see "Eurozone stress tests that stress investors"). And I made the point that this refusal to admit the possibility that Greece (or Spain, or Portugal, or Italy, or even the UK) could default means that it's impossible to be confident that Europe's banks hold enough capital to withstand potential future losses. But what's worse, in a way, is what this dichotomy reveals about EU attitudes to markets. On the one hand, the leaders of Europe concede that the price of government debt on markets may rise and fall by very significant amounts. But if a steep fall in the market price can never be the precursor of default, then Europe's governments and financial authorities are implying that any movement in the price of European sovereign debt is always based on a fallacy. Now it's all very well to argue that markets are frequently wrong. There's plenty of evidence of market prices overshooting in boom years and undershooting in lean years. But it is something different altogether to say that when the price of Greek debt falls by a quarter, that can never betoken a possible default by the Greek government. Even the IMF, run after all by a Frenchman, seems somewhat bemused by the extreme anti-market bias of the most powerful EU country, Germany. In its latest assessment of euro area policies, it criticises the German government for failing to address the weaknesses of some of its banks. But more tellingly, it says that "Germany's unilateral ban on selected short selling does not appear well-founded in the absence of proven market abuse". The IMF says the great variations in the price of insuring the debt of different eurozone members that we saw in the spring was "well explained by fundamentals, ie deficit and debt ratios and EMU membership (with a discount for peripheral countries and Italy) in most countries, including Germany". In other words, the German allegation that these variations were the result of rapacious speculation - short selling of these insurance contracts in the form of credit default swaps - is a canard, according to the IMF. All of which is a roundabout way of saying that there is a potentially fatal flaw in the European Union's rationale for conducting the stress tests of banks. EU states have carried out these evaluations of their respective banks in order to reassure investors and markets. But if in the very act of trying to reassure these investors and markets, EU governments and regulators are in effect saying that these investors and markets are always misguided, then it's very doubtful those investors and markets will derive any reassurance from the stress tests. Far more likely is that they'll take one look at the results of those stress tests and conclude it's all a tawdry attempt to pull the wool over their eyes. So the consequence of the stress tests - not immediately perhaps, but progressively as summer turns to autumn - may be to rattle and unsettle the institutions that provide vital finance to Europe's banks. And as I've noted before, the stress tests may ultimately lead to catastrophic real-life stresses on banks vital to the prosperity of Europe. You can keep up with the latest from business editor Robert Peston by visiting his blog on the BBC News website.

संप्रभु ऋण की समस्या पर बीबीसी के व्यापार संपादक रॉबर्ट पेस्टन


The hacker way: Will Facebook change after flotation?

Summary: "How do we make this thing not go down?"

By Laura LockeTechnology reporter, San Francisco That was Dustin Moskovitz's overriding concern the first 12 months into creating "thefacebook" at Harvard with college chum Mark Zuckerberg. The dorm-room project they had embarked on as undergrads was growing like a weed and was proving just as unwieldy. Mr Moskovitz had only enrolled in an introductory computer science class the semester before starting an early version of Facebook. At 19, he emerged as the first technology lead of the scrappy project that morphed into a real start-up. "We made a lot of mistakes," acknowledged Mr Moskovitz during a recent sold-out talk in San Francisco. It's a refrain heard throughout Facebook's eight-year history. Building things. Then breaking them. Over and over again. It's what Mr Zuckerberg and his team call "the hacker way". To their way of thinking, "If you're not breaking things, you're probably not moving fast enough." It's an approach engrained in the company's uncommon culture and management style. Going public Now the start-up that never intended to be a company has gone public. Everyone is watching to see if the hoodie-wearing "boy CEO," as he's been called, can parlay his mojo into a lasting and profitable, publicly-traded global enterprise. Mr Zuckerberg's deepest concern seems to be how to keep "the hacker way" alive, David Kirkpatrick, author of "The Facebook Effect," a book that gave an inside account into how the social network connected the entire world, told the BBC. "That's what Mark is most afraid of - that Wall Street's oversight and scrutiny is going to slow the company down," he said. No exit? It seems that for Mr Zuckerberg, money alone was never a draw. The mission has always been "to make the world more open and connected". Since writing that first line of code, Mr Zuckerberg's focus has remained on the platform and product strategy. That was underscored when he rebuffed Yahoo's $1bn takeover offer. It wasn't a universally popular decision inside Facebook, but Mr Zuckerberg stayed true to his vision. "As a company, we're very focused on what we're building and not as focused on the exit," Mr Zuckerberg said in a 2007 interview with TIME magazine "We're not really looking to sell the company. We're not looking to IPO anytime soon. It's just not the core focus of the company." Flotation impact Silicon Valley insiders and those close to the company doubt the flotation will change Facebook much. How little might it have an impact on Facebook - that's the more interesting query, according to Mr Kirkpatrick. "Even after it's public, I don't think Facebook is going to act that concertedly differently as a company," he said. "Mark Zuckerberg will not get on the [quarterly] calls, but I think he will continue to run it in the way that he does, which is with absolute authority and quite extreme paranoia, in the sense that he will make rapid decisions in order to avoid Facebook being marginalized or hurt by sudden developments that are inevitable in technology." This will be possible because Mr Zuckerberg retains the ownership of 57% of the voting power, Mr Kirkpatrick noted. "Because Mark is going to have total and complete control, despite [Facebook] being public, it doesn't have to change that much in the way it's run. "What's more, he doesn't have to consult with shareholders." The underlying reason Mr Zuckerberg is in this rarefied position is because many of his friends, co-founders, and big investors have turned their voting rights over to him, Mr Kirkpatrick explained. People like Sean Parker, Facebook's first president, and Dustin Moskovitz, who own considerable amounts of voting power of the company, have decided it's best for the company - because then, "Wall Street couldn't screw them over too badly," said Mr Kirkpatrick. Mobile and e-commerce Today, more than half of Facebook's users connect via mobile devices. Yet despite its technical prowess and resources, the company has been critically savaged for its mobile apps. In the future, "mobile will absolutely be a number one priority," said Bill Gurley of Benchmark Capital, the leading institutional investor in Instagram, the popular photo-sharing app that Facebook recently bought for $1bn. It's a "brilliant acquisition," agreed Stewart Alsop, an investor in Silicon Valley, adding that Instagram could help Facebook to develop its mobile strategy. "The biggest threat Facebook faces is mobile…their mobile stuff is terrible," said Mr Alsop. Facebook has spawned a chain of other companies on its platform like Zynga, BranchOut, Spotify and Payvment. This year could be the breakout one for shopping on Facebook, Christian Taylor, founder and chief executive of Payvment, told the BBC. This e-commerce platform helps small and medium-sized businesses add shopping capabilities to their Facebook pages. Payvment, with a 25-person team, sees one and a half million people shopping at its stores every month - and boasts it handles 80% of the commerce transacted on Facebook. BranchOut, another app that resides solely on Facebook, for professional connections and job hunting, is also thriving within Mr Zuckerberg's ecosystem. Growing faster than LinkedIn with three new users per second, BranchOut saw its user base grow from 400,000 last December to 13 million four months later, said its founder Rick Marini. Team work Software development is collaborative. At Facebook's swanky new headquarters in Menlo Park, California, engineers feel at home. Spread over a total of 79 acres, the campus is devoted to their every whim: free food, small team-based projects, frequent hackathons, open bars stocked with alcohol. And their founder is intent on maintaining an environment where engineers can thrive and come up with ideas. That's "the hacker way".

"हम इस चीज़ को नीचे न जाने कैसे दे सकते हैं?"


'Before this happened I thought I was immune'

Summary: Paramedics are only ever a 999 call away from an experience that could change their lives forever. While some might have the good fortune never to have to respond to an emergency like the Grenfell Tower fire or the Manchester Arena bombing, others will have to live with the consequent mental scarring.

By Sophie MaddenBBC News According to the mental health charity Mind, ambulance workers are twice as likely to suffer mental health problems than the general public - but they are also much less likely to reach out for support. So who is there to help the people who help us at our times of greatest need? 'I thought it would never affect me' Father-of-four Dan Farnworth says a 999 call he attended in 2015 completely changed his life. He had been with North West Ambulance Service since 2004 as an emergency medical technician, but a callout to the scene of a murder of a child hit him hard. "Before this happened, I thought I was immune to mental health issues - it would never affect me," the 32-year-old said. At first he just felt low, but after about 24 hours he realised he was still struggling. "I couldn't shake the image of the child." Dan found it changed the way he behaved, both at work and with his family, and he suffered nightmares. He eventually reached out to friend and fellow paramedic Rich Morton - something he says saved his life because it spurred him to get help. Dan was signed off work for five months with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). You might also be interested in: The Tube station serving up food for thought 'I was stalked by a polar bear' Miscarriage: 'I just felt like it was my fault' The friends eventually went on to set up their own charity called Our Blue Light, of which Dan says he is "immensely proud". They work to open up discussions about mental health in the emergency services and to make sure people know what to do when a colleague is in mental health crisis. "It isn't something you're taught; we may learn CPR but not what to do when it is a mental health problem - and it is so important." He has also worked with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry as part of their Heads Together campaign. Dan has recently been awarded a Churchill Fellowship, which will fund a trip to the United States and Canada to research a report for Parliament about how their emergency services tackle the issue of mental health. He said: "I feel quite good at the moment, I have taken a lot of comfort from being able to help other people. "I've also built up my own resilience and have been able to accept that it isn't always going to be OK. I'm more self-aware, which is a great thing." 'We are not superhuman' "There is this picture I've seen of Superman and he's in the supermarket and he is crying his eyes out," said 52-year-old Esmail Rifai, a veteran of 27 years with North West Ambulance Service. "That is how I felt at the time. People see us as superheroes, that we can do anything, but in reality we can go home and, quite often, can have a massive breakdown." Two years ago, he had a mental breakdown and spent time off work from his role as a paramedic to receive one-to-one counselling. He said: "I remember all the horrible jobs to this day. Not just visually; the smell, the taste in my mouth. I think [this is] something everyone from the emergency services will find. "For me, my breakdown was a combination of lots of different things: the pressures of work, that knock-on effect on your personal life - you can't help but take things home." But shortly after Esmail came back to work, a colleague killed himself. He said he felt "personally at fault". "I could have spoken to him, could have helped him. I was upset that he didn't open up to anybody, or felt he could not open up to anybody. "I thought, 'I need to think, I need to do something, to avoid them getting to that stage in life where they feel they have nothing to live for'. It helped me to focus on something." Esmail now works for the ambulance service as a clinical safety practitioner and with the charity Mind as one of its Blue Light Champions, promoting its project. He said: "Being involved has also given me some solace. Knowing that I'm helping others in itself makes me feel good, gives me a sense of achievement. "There is no shame or stigma attached to experiencing mental health problems - it's just the same as breaking a bone, except no-one can see that you are suffering. "We are not superhuman and we are just as prone to illness as anyone else, if not more." 'Some calls always remain with you' As Jules Lockett points out, it's not just paramedics who can experience extreme pressure. Though she doesn't work on the front line like some of her colleagues, there is extreme pressure on her in her role at the London Ambulance Service, where she has been employed for 18 years. "I think there is always a call, or a handful of calls in your career which always remain with you," said the 48-year-old, who started out as a call-handler in the emergency control room. "You get a response when you can relate it to your nan, your aunty or your uncle. Some of the calls are really distressing: people hanging, or in cardiac arrest. Those calls still stay with me. "But they also really make you feel that's what you are there to do; it isn't just about giving instructions." The service's current head of training says she has seen greater pressures on its workers, with the average number of calls reaching 5,000 in a 24-hour period. "It is sometimes quite difficult to try and convey the sentiment you want to someone when you are on the phone. You want to put your arm around them and give them a hug and make them better." For Jules, her mental health problems weren't directly related to her work, but she said it was the support of her ambulance "family" that helped her through it. She underwent surgery on her back before joining the service, which brought on a period of depression, and, when she found she needed more surgery about five years ago, she talked it through with her workmates. "I think it is important to ask people for support, and sometimes your colleagues will be critical to help get you through the tough times." She said London Ambulance Service has promoted discussion about mental health and provides support in the workplace. It offers resilience training, counselling services, a peer support network and has recently set up two quiet zones near the control rooms in Waterloo and Bow, where staff can go when they need time to reflect. 'The nightmares would be horrendous' Peter Morgan says his problems came years after he stopped working in the ambulance service. He was a paramedic for 10 years, covering Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, before leaving the service in 2003. But when a friend was killed in a road traffic accident about five years later, his mental health went into decline. "It would be flashbacks, the nightmares would be horrendous, I would wake up pool of sweat - it was awful," said Peter, 51, who would go on to be diagnosed with PTSD. "The nightmares would start off being memories from the past, jobs I'd been to, then they started to change, almost like something from a horrendous fiction-horror where I would be surrounded by body parts. "Totally away from reality, but for me it was extremely real." Peter's wife Tina was instrumental in realising he needed to get help and approached the Ambulance Staff Charity, which is based in Coventry, not far from their home in Rugby. He started therapy and this helped him understand the triggers for his episodes, such as the sound of helicopters or sirens. "With the ambulance service, you've got anything from a cot death to a road traffic accident; you spend your day going from picking little old Mrs Jones off the floor because she fell over to five people dead in a car crash. "It is going from one extreme to another within the space of, like, five hours. For some, it gets to a point where you can't take it. "Nowadays, the emergency services understand what PTSD is. I don't think anyone did before, and that was a problem. "Now there is more awareness and a realisation that every job is loading on a little bit more." Addressing mental health problems within the emergency services is not simply a matter of offering support to those in need, according to Mind's Blue Light Programme manager Faye McGuinness. Part of its work also involves training people to be more aware of the issues colleagues might face. "People think it is all trauma-related, but what people have what told us is that organisational factors are impacting more negatively: things like long working hours, shift patterns and the stigma surrounding mental health. "We have most definitely have seen a change - we have been quite overwhelmed with the reaction within a group we thought would be difficult to reach. "There is definitely still work to do - you don't see things change overnight - but we are starting to see organisations change the way they view mental health wellbeing. "It is a long-term commitment."

पैरामेडिक्स हमेशा एक ऐसे अनुभव से केवल 999 कॉल दूर होते हैं जो उनके जीवन को हमेशा के लिए बदल सकता है। जबकि कुछ के पास सौभाग्य हो सकता है कि उन्हें कभी भी ग्रेनफेल टॉवर की आग या मैनचेस्टर एरिना बमबारी जैसी आपात स्थिति का जवाब नहीं देना पड़े, दूसरों को परिणामी मानसिक निशान के साथ जीना होगा।


Reshuffle at-a-glance: In, out and moved about

Summary: Was foreign secretary, now leader of the House of Commons

Prime Minister David Cameron is reshuffling his top team, with details of new appointments and exits being unveiled. William Hague (moved) Mr Hague has left his job as foreign secretary, but will remain in the cabinet as leader of the Commons before leaving Parliament at the next election. He led the Conservative Party between 1997 and 2001, and shadowed the Foreign Office brief for five years before taking the helm at the department in 2010. Philip Hammond (moved) Mr Hammond has left the Ministry of Defence to become foreign secretary. He has been defence secretary since 2011, having previously held the transport brief. Michael Gove (moved) Mr Gove has left his job as education secretary after four years. He will become Chief Whip in the House of Commons, responsible for party discipline. Downing Street said he would also have an "enhanced role in campaigning and doing broadcast media interviews". Nicky Morgan (promoted to Cabinet) Mrs Morgan has been made education secretary, taking over from Mr Gove. The former lawyer has been a Treasury minister since 2013, having joined the government a year earlier. She will continue in her role as minister for women. Liz Truss (promoted to Cabinet) The 38-year Ms Truss becomes secretary of state for the environment, food and rural affairs. An MP since 2010, Ms Truss joined the government in 2012 as an education minister. Jeremy Wright (promoted to cabinet) The 41-year-old was first elected to Parliament in 2005, becoming a Conservative whip in opposition from 2007-2010 and then in government for two years before becoming a minister in the Ministry of Justice. He has now been promoted to cabinet as attorney general. Michael Fallon (promoted to Cabinet) Mr Fallon, a Conservative MP since 1983, has been made defence secretary. He is regarded as a trouble-shooter who deals effectively with crises. Previously he held three jobs - as a business minister, minister of state for energy and minister for Portsmouth. Stephen Crabb (promoted to Cabinet) The MP for Preseli Pembrokeshire joins the cabinet as secretary of state for Wales. He has been a junior minister in the Welsh Office since 2012, having been first elected to Parliament in 2010. Baroness Stowell (promoted to Cabinet) The Conservative peer is to become leader of the House of Lords. A former civil servant, she worked as deputy chief of staff to William Hague when he was Conservative leader in the late 1990s. After a spell working in corporate affairs for the BBC, she was ennobled in 2011. Since then, she has served as a whip and a junior minister for local government. Greg Clark (moved) Mr Clark retains his job as minister for the constitution and cities in the Cabinet Office. But he has been given additional responsibilities as minister for science and universities. Matthew Hancock (moved) The MP, who is a close ally of Chancellor George Osborne, is taking on Michael Fallon's old portfolio of jobs as minister of state for energy, business and Portsmouth. Nick Boles (moved) Nick Boles has been appointed as minister of state at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Department for Education. David Cameron said part of his brief will be equal marriage implementation. Mike Penning (moved) Mr Penning (above) moves from the Department for Work and Pensions to a joint ministerial role in both the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice. John Hayes (moved) John Hayes becomes minister of state in the Department for Transport will retaining his existing responsibilities at the Cabinet Office. Mark Harper (brought back) The MP quit his role as immigration minister earlier this year after admitting to having employed an illegal immigrant as a cleaner. He is now back as minister of state in the Department for Work and Pensions. Claire Perry (promoted) The former investment banker, who became MP for Devizes in 2010, moves from the whips office to become a junior transport minister. Anna Soubry (promoted) Anna Soubry, a former barrister and journalist, has been promoted to minister of state in the Ministry of Defence, having held a more junior position for the past year. Amber Rudd (promoted) Amber Rudd, a former aide to George Osborne, also gets a promotion from the whips office to junior minister at the Department for Energy and Climate Change, with responsibility for energy efficiency, fuel poverty, carbon budgets and the green industry. Priti Patel (brought in) Priti Patel joins George Osborne's Treasury team as Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, replacing David Gauke, who himself is promoted to Financial Secretary. The former public relations consultant has yet to serve in government and has rebelled in the past over the issue of an EU referendum. Penny Mordaunt (brought in) Penny Mordaunt joins the government as a junior minister in the Department for Communities and Local Government. The MP has served as an unpaid ministerial aide to the defence secretary for the past few years and made a splash, literally, by taking part in a reality TV show in which contestants learned how to dive. Robert Buckland (brought in) Robert Buckland, the MP for Swindon South since 2010, becomes solicitor general - the second most senior law officer in the government. The barrister is one of the most pro-European voices in the party. Andrew Murrison (moved) The former Royal Naval medical officer and doctor leaves the Ministry of Defence and becomes a junior minister at the Northern Ireland Office. Nick Gibb (brought back) One of a rare breed, the so-called ministerial re-treads, who return to government after having been sacked. He was ousted as schools minister in the 2012 reshuffle. He now returns to the Department for Education. Desmond Swayne (moved) A former soldier and jogging partner of David Cameron, Mr Swayne moves from the whips office to a junior ministerial role at the department for international development. Julian Brazier (brought in) The 60-year old former soldier was briefly a ministerial aide in 1992-3 and gets his first taste of government at for more than 20 years. He has been an MP since 1987. Brooks Newmark (brought in) The US-born MP for Braintree joins the government for the first time. He takes over responsibility for civil society issues, such as volunteering, charities and social enterprise. George Freeman (brought in) One of the "class of 2010" MPs to be rewarded with their first job in government. His junior ministerial role straddles the Department of Health and the Department for Business. Before entering Parliament, he had a career in the biomedical venture capital industry. Sam Gyimah (brought in) Sam Gyimah's promotion is perhaps one of the least surprising announcements in the reshuffle. For the last year, he has been a ministerial aide to David Cameron - a traditional springboard for ministerial office. He now becomes a junior minister at the Department for Education. Alun Cairns (brought in) Mr Cairns has been Conservative MP for Vale of Glamorgan since 2010. He is a former banker and used to represent South Wales West in the Welsh Assembly. Tobias Ellwood (brought in) Mr Ellwood has worked as an aide for Liam Fox when he was defence secretary between 2010 and 2011, and was until recently the aide to Europe Minister David Lidington. Jo Johnson (moved) Boris Johnson's younger brother gets a promotion at the Cabinet Office, moving from unpaid parliamentary secretary to minister of state. The former journalist, who was also a whip before the reshuffle, remains as the head of the No 10 Policy Unit. Ken Clarke (out) Mr Clarke, who attended cabinet as minister without portfolio, has left the government. He had held a number of top cabinet positions under Margaret Thatcher and John Major, including home secretary and chancellor of the exchequer. During his 44 years in the Commons, Mr Clarke spent more than 20 years as a minister. Owen Paterson (out) Mr Paterson will no longer be environment secretary, a post he has held since 2012 when he replaced Caroline Spelman. Prior to that, he had served in the cabinet as Northern Ireland secretary. David Jones (out) Mr Jones has been sacked as Welsh secretary, having been in the cabinet post for two years. He had previously been a more junior minister in the Wales Office. Sir George Young (out) Sir George has resigned as chief whip. He was the leader of the Commons from 2010 to 2012. The 72-year-old North West Hampshire MP is one of the most experienced members of the coalition government, having held office under Margaret Thatcher and John Major. David Willetts (out) Mr Willetts, the MP for Havant who was dubbed "two brains" by colleagues, has resigned as universities minister. He served as Paymaster General under John Major. He will also step down as an MP next year. Hugh Robertson (out) The MP for Faversham and Mid Kent has quit as a Foreign Office minister. He previously played a key role in delivering the 2012 Olympics as sports minister between 2010 and 2013. Greg Barker (out) Mr Barker has left his job as an energy and climate change minister - a post he has held since 2010. He was one of the first MPs to support David Cameron in the 2005 Tory leadership contest. Nick Hurd (out) The MP for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner, son of former foreign secretary Lord Hurd, has quit his job as minister for civil society after four years. He leaves the government. Alan Duncan (out) Mr Duncan, one of the most high-profile gay ministers in government, has resigned as international development minister, a post he has held since 2010. Andrew Robathan (out) Mr Robathan, a former soldier, has resigned as Northern Ireland minister. He was previously a defence minister until the October 2013 reshuffle. Damian Green (out) Mr Green has resigned as policing minister. He had been immigration minister from 2010 to 2012. Cabinet ministers and others staying in their jobs

विदेश सचिव थे, अब हाउस ऑफ कॉमन्स के नेता हैं


Hakeem resigns to contest the east

Summary: SLMC has formed an alliance with the UNP

Three key leaders of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress including the party president Rauf Hakeem have resigned from their parliamentary seats. In a statement issued on Wednesday they said that they were resigning their parliamentary seats with immediate effect to offer a strong challenge in the Eastern Provincial Council elections. SLMC spokesman Nizam Kariyappar told media, Rauf Hakeem, the president of the party, Basheer Segu Dawood, the chairman and Hasan Ali, the general secretary have decided to contest the eastern provincial council election. Resignation handed in The speaker of parliament, W.J.M. Lokubandara confirmed to the BBC Sinhala Service that the MPs had already tenderd their resignation letters. The SLMC is to contest Eastern Provincial Council election in alliance with the main opposition United National Party (UNP) under the UNP election symbol "Elephant". Nizam Kariyappar says that, Rauf Hakeem will be the chief candidate for the Trincomalee district, Basheer Segu Dawood chief candidate for the Batticaloa district and Hasan Ali ,chief candidate for the Ampara district.Political trap SLMC leader Rauf Hakeem told Sandeshaya that they wanted to show protest to the government's attempt to undermine democratic rights of the people in the east with the help of armed groups. He said SLMC Batticaloa organiser, MLAM Hisbullah had crossed over to the government after failing his undertaking to persuade SLMC to contest with the government. "In reality, Hisbullah tried to create a division among Muslim leaders but failed", he said. After crossing over, Hisbulla told BBC Sandeshaya that President Mahinda Rajapaksa has given as assurance that he will be made the chief minister of the eastern province if he "wins with a majority of Muslim members". SLMC leader said that General Secretary of the party, Hassan Ali is tipped to be the Chief Minister's position claiming that it was not their only aim. "Government riding on the back of armed groups is trying to win the election in the east, thereby to claim that it is a victory for democracy. It wants to tell the international community that democracy is established in the east", SLMC leader said

एस. एल. एम. सी. ने यू. एन. पी. के साथ गठबंधन किया है।


Stuntman hospitalised after Royal Welsh Show accident

Summary: A stuntman has been airlifted to hospital after a move on his quad bike went wrong at the Royal Welsh Show in Powys.

Matt Coulter, known as the Kangaroo Kid, was performing in the main ring on Monday when he fell off. Kate Williams, from Royal Welsh Show, said he did not suffer serious injuries and was taken to hospital as a precaution. His performance scheduled for Monday evening was cancelled. Mr Coulter, from Australia, holds numerous Guinness World Records on his quad bike, including jumping over 14 jeeps. St John Cymru said its volunteers positioned in the main show ring attended the patient who had sustained a shoulder, rib and leg injuries. He was then airlifted to Morriston Hospital in Swansea.

पॉव्स में रॉयल वेल्श शो में अपनी क्वाड बाइक पर एक चाल गलत होने के बाद एक स्टंटमैन को हवाई मार्ग से अस्पताल ले जाया गया है।


South Elmsall cyclist death: Man, 20, arrested after crash

Summary: A man has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving after a cyclist was killed in West Yorkshire.

The crash happened at a roundabout on the A638 Doncaster Road at South Elmsall at about 06:45 GMT. West Yorkshire Police said the driver of a red Ford Fiesta failed to stop and was later arrested. The 20-year-old is also suspected of driving while over the legal limit for alcohol or drugs. No details about the cyclist have yet been released. Police are appealing for witnesses and dashcam footage.

वेस्ट यॉर्कशायर में एक साइकिल चालक की मौत के बाद खतरनाक ड्राइविंग से मौत के संदेह में एक व्यक्ति को गिरफ्तार किया गया है।


Hurricane Irma: Tortola 'is like a warzone'

Summary: A mother who left the British Virgin Islands (BVI) on a work trip before Hurricane Irma struck has now heard from her family after two days' silence, and has spoken of the "carnage" surrounding their home.

Laura Elliot, who lives on Tortola - the largest and most populous of the BVI - spoke to her fiance, Andrew, on Friday night over the phone, having heard nothing from him since a Whatsapp message on Wednesday. "He called me yesterday, it was the most wonderful call," she told BBC Breakfast from London. The couple have a 10-month-old son and a 23-month-old daughter. "I had no idea if they were trapped, if they were injured, if the house had collapsed on them, if they needed help," she said. During the call, Andrew described their neighbourhood as like "Armageddon outside". Laura added: "There's lots of scary stories, people are looting, people are walking around with machetes because they're trying to cut trees down." She said she had not spoken to her children yet, but that her 23-month-old daughter was "scared but with her dad". Laura, who had been travelling to Ibiza via the UK for her job as a DJ, said: "Absolutely everyone was prepared but I do not think anyone can imagine the magnitude and how badly they would be hit." UK steps up Hurricane Irma relief effort Irma pummels Turks and Caicos Laura, who is originally from South Africa and moved to the island two years ago, first spoke to the BBC on Friday afternoon - at the time believing her family were staying with their landlord and neighbours. But she did not know what had happened to them because communications on the island are so poor. There have been reports of widespread devastation across the BVI - which is a British overseas territory - with casualties and fatalities. But authorities in the BVI have said the damage is difficult to assess because of problems with communications. Laura and her family live high on the hillside above the town, which she fears is now inaccessible. "They are very steep hills. The vegetation is massive - it's tropical - and the trees have collapsed." 'War zone' The UK has almost tripled the relief fund for British overseas territories to £32m, amid criticism of its initial response. But Laura said the UK government should be doing more to help people to leave the island. "The island is like a warzone. There is nowhere to go. There is nothing left there. "They cannot live there anymore. It will be six to eight months before there is power back there. There is no other option than evacuation. "If they stay, people will die."

एक माँ, जो तूफान इरमा के आने से पहले एक कार्य यात्रा पर ब्रिटिश वर्जिन द्वीप समूह (बीवीआई) से निकली थी, ने अब दो दिनों की खामोशी के बाद अपने परिवार से सुना है, और अपने घर के आसपास के "नरसंहार" के बारे में बात की है।