Who, what, why: Is there really a Satanic New Year?

Summary: Suggestions that a piece of cloth stained with the blood of Pope John Paul II might have been stolen to coincide with "Satanic New Year" made the headlines this week. But is there really such a thing, asks Kathryn Westcott.

Magazine MonitorA collection of cultural artefacts The cloth has been recovered and it is now thought the theft has nothing to do with Satanism. But the idea that devil-worshipers might mark New Year's Eve on the night of 1 February remains. Italian religious studies teacher Giovanni Panunzio had been quoted earlier in the week as saying that the date of the theft coincided with a date in the Satanic calendar when "blood and crosses are symbolic objects to desecrate." So where does the notion that Satanists celebrate particular "holidays" come from? A so-called Satanic calendar containing dozens of dates does exist. Its origins, however, are unclear. Versions of it can be found largely on websites belonging to Christian groups or TV stations. In a interview with the Christian Watchman Fellowship a few years ago, Dr Bill Ellis, an expert on folklore and the occult in contemporary culture, suggested the calendar first appeared in 1987 in a magazine article. "As critics later pointed out, the dates were borrowed uncritically from a wide range of sources, including the 15th Century witch-hunters' manual, the Malleus Malificarum," Ellis was quoted as saying. The so-called calendar lists 2 February as the date on which Satanic sexual and blood rituals are carried out. The same date in the Christian calendar is Candlemas, which commemorates the purification of Mary after giving birth. Pagans, however, will be celebrating Imbolc - the awakening of the land and the growing power of the Sun. "The connection between Satanists and 1 February is purely imaginary," says Jesper Aagaard Petersen, associate professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, who has a PhD in religious studies. He said many cultures have had light festivals in the late winter, some still do, and older traditions coexist with more recent ones in many parts of the world, including Britain, central Europe and Scandinavia. "In addition, neo-pagans and heathens have revived and elaborated on old Norse and celtic festivals, something surely noticed by evangelicals and conservative Catholics. In this sense, Satanists and witches have traditionally been conflated and still are," says Petersen. "Regarding Satanists, they are few and far between and have no doctrinal calendar to unite them." According to Dr David Bromley, professor, religious studies and sociology at Virginia Commonwealth University, there are a number of actual Satanic groups, such as the Church of Satan, Temple of Set and Order of Nine Angels as well as "many lesser known groups". "Some of these groups have their own calendars, as many religious traditions do. The allegations of a massive underground network of Satanists has now been discredited, but there are still small groups attempting to keep this narrative alive. One part of this is constructing beliefs, practices, dates, shadowy figures, victims to hold the story together." So, fear not the stranger clad in black on Saturday night. He or she is more likely to be a harmless teenage goth, than a disciple of Lucifer intent on invoking the Forces of Darkness. Follow @BBCNewsMagazine on Twitter and on Facebook

यह सुझाव कि पोप जॉन पॉल द्वितीय के खून से सना कपड़े का एक टुकड़ा "सैटेनिक न्यू ईयर" के साथ चुराया गया होगा, इस सप्ताह सुर्खियों में आया। लेकिन क्या वास्तव में ऐसी कोई बात है, कैथरीन वेस्टकोट पूछती है।


Q&A: Cadder case ruling

Summary: Emergency legislation is being brought in after a landmark UK Supreme Court ruling that Scots police can no longer question suspects without allowing access to a lawyer. Here are answers to some of the main questions on what the decision means for Scottish law. Q: What has been decided?

By Andrew BlackPolitical reporter, BBC Scotland The UK Supreme Court has made a ruling that Scottish police can no longer question suspects without their lawyer. The decision was made after judges in London upheld an appeal by teenager Peter Cadder, whose assault conviction was based on evidence gained before he spoke to his lawyer. His lawyers argued this was a breach of his human rights. In 2009, he was convicted at Glasgow Sheriff Court of two assaults and a breach of the peace following an incident in the city in May 2007. Even though the High Court is the highest court of criminal appeal in Scotland, it was overruled by the Supreme Court on a constitutional issue, because the need to consider European human rights legislation was written into the Scotland Act - the piece of Westminster legislation which established devolution. Q: What does this mean for Scots law? Until now, suspects could be questioned for six hours without a lawyer present, but judges ruled this violated human rights to a fair trial. They ruled it contravened a decision by the European Court of Human Rights in 2008 that suspects having access to a lawyer was fundamental to them receiving a fair trial. The judgement goes against a unanimous decision last October by seven judges at the Scottish Appeal Court. Almost immediately after Tuesday's decision, ministers announced plans to change Scots law with emergency legislation. Q: How many cases does it affect? Could there be a flood of appeals? Ministers say there are 3,471 cases which may relate to the Cadder ruling, although it is up to the Crown to decide whether they are relevant - as Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill put it, they are not "sure-fire winners". The ruling is not retrospective, but it does apply to live appeals and cases which are pending and on-going. Q: What form will the emergency legislation take? Essentially, ministers need to make Scots law comply with European legislation, and emergency legislation brought forward by Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill will comprise a number of strands. Firstly, ministers will seek to enshrine in statute, the right of access to a lawyer for anyone who is detained. The period of detention without charge will also rise from six hours to 12 hours - with the potential to increase that to 24 hours on "cause shown" by a senior officer. This is a practical measure to ensure that if, for example, a lawyer has to travel from Inverness to Skye to deal with a detained person, they have time to get there. Lawyers representing multiple accused also need time to interview them individually. There will also be a special duty placed on the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, which investigates possible miscarriages of justice, so it considers the status of any cases on the basis of whether they have been "finally determined". Ministers also have to make changes to the legal aid system. And they will seek to set an appeal limit of 21 days on relation to bills of advocation or suspension - but Mr MacAskill says this applies only to a limited number of summary cases and has given assurances that it will not result in a flood of appeals on many cases. Q: When will the emergency legislation be passed? Ministers will bring forward the emergency legislation to the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday. They have been in discussion with opposition parties to ensure it can be passed and arrangements made to clear parliamentary business so it can happen. The normal three stages of scrutiny for Holyrood legislation will be taken in one day, and it is hoped the legislation will become law on Friday, by gaining Royal Assent more quickly than normal. Q: Does this situation result in any increased costs? Yes. Kenny MacAskill - who spent 20 years as a legal aid lawyer in his past life - put extra costs at between £1m-£4m. He warned the legal aid budget was "finite", but added: "We cannot expect lawyers to go out to police stations and not get paid." Q: Will it affect any other areas of Scots law? Potentially, yes. In Scotland, no inference can be drawn from an accused exercising their right to silence. But that is not the case south of the Border and Kenny MacAskill is concerned this may now change. He says there are also implications for the rule of "corroboration", under which two sources of evidence are required to support each fact in a prosecution, which is seen as a mainstay of Scots law. The senior Scottish Judge Lord Carloway has been asked to look into these and other issues and will report to the government within months. However, it is not thought any changes in these areas would be made until after next May's Scottish election. Q: What have Scottish prosecutors said about the decision? The decision has overturned what has been the position in Scotland for decades. Despite not knowing the nature of today's ruling, the Crown has seen this coming since last year and has, for example, not relied on comments made during interviews not attended by lawyers unless absolutely necessary. Q: What about the Cadder case itself? This is one for the High Court in Scotland, as the the case has been referred back from the Supreme Court.

ब्रिटेन के सर्वोच्च न्यायालय के एक ऐतिहासिक फैसले के बाद आपातकालीन कानून लाया जा रहा है कि स्कॉटलैंड की पुलिस अब एक वकील तक पहुंच की अनुमति दिए बिना संदिग्धों से पूछताछ नहीं कर सकती है। यहाँ कुछ मुख्य प्रश्नों के उत्तर दिए गए हैं कि स्कॉटिश कानून के लिए निर्णय का क्या अर्थ है। प्रश्नः क्या निर्णय लिया गया है?


General election 2019: Gloves off as UK parties launch campaigns

Summary: And they're off. At 00:01 on Wednesday, the UK Parliament was dissolved. Hours later, the Conservative leader and Prime Minister Boris Johnson made the short visit to Buckingham Palace to inform Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the election was now on.

By Rob WatsonUK political correspondent, BBC World Affairs Unit As the conversations between the monarch and prime minister are private, we don't know whether Her Majesty might have been somewhat fed up, given that it was just weeks ago that she opened a new parliamentary session with all its usual pageantry. On that occasion the Queen had supposedly set out the plans of Mr Johnson's, in retrospect, decidedly short-lived government. If you are wondering why an election is even being held after the Queen went to all that trouble of opening parliament, and another election would otherwise have been due in the summer of 2022, here's why. The official reason given by Mr Johnson is a fear that the last parliament simply would never have passed the Brexit deal he had agreed with the European Union. It's also clear, though, that Mr Johnson thought it unlikely the Conservative party would ever be lucky enough again to be up against an opponent as unpopular as the current leader of the main opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn. Recent polls suggest the Labour leader has the lowest satisfaction rating for an opposition leader since the 1970s. Why did the opposition parties agree to an election? In truth, the Labour party had little choice, once smaller parties like the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party (SNP) decided to try their luck - possibly believing that their stance as out-and-out anti-Brexit parties was likely to play well with a large chunk of voters. Now the battle is commenced, it's not hard to see the shape of the battlefield. Just consider the campaign slogans from the main parties, which are hardly subtle - are campaign slogans ever? But it hasn't exactly been the smoothest of starts for any of the main parties as General Election 2019 (#GE2019) gets under way. What's gone wrong so far? Even before Mr Johnson's first rally in front of the party faithful on Wednesday, he had lost a government minister - the first minister to be forced to resign during a campaign in over 40 years. Meanwhile, another minister - the famously posh-sounding and wealthy Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg - had to apologise after suggesting that many of the mainly poor victims of the Grenfell Tower fire had lacked common sense when following the fire service's advice to stay in their apartments. And, as if all that wasn't bad enough, Conservative Party headquarters created fake news by editing an interview with a Labour politician in a misleading way before posting it on social media. Perhaps less reported on, but most seriously of all, the week brought further retirements and resignations of "moderate" Conservative MPs unhappy at what they saw as the party's undoubted shift to the right and emergence as an out-and-out pro-Brexit party. Labour's campaign start was similarly disastrous, with the deputy leader stepping down and two former party figures accusing Mr Corbyn of being unfit to lead the country, citing what they said was his total failure to tackle the party's anti-Semitism problem and his far left anti-Western world view. Economists have also been fairly scathing about the promise of a vast increase in public spending at the heart of the Labour offer of a genuinely "real change" socialist alternative following nine years of Tory austerity. What have we learned so far? The early stage of campaigning has effectively highlighted how both the main parties have moved off to the ideological right and left and away from being the largely centrist broad coalitions they had been for so many years. How much any of this registers with the voters is hard to say. The parties no doubt hope that voters just pick up on, or "cut through" as it's known, their core message, whether that's Brexit or something else. But if the campaigns so far have failed to really take off, there's one thing perhaps all the politicians can agree on, namely that this is surely one of the most important elections in this country since 1945. At stake is not just Britain's future relationship with the EU, but its very standing in the world, the nature of its economic model and the very unity of the United Kingdom, given possible developments in Scotland and Northern Ireland. The stakes don't come higher than this.

और वे चले गए। बुधवार को 00:01 पर, ब्रिटेन की संसद भंग कर दी गई। घंटों बाद, रूढ़िवादी नेता और प्रधान मंत्री बोरिस जॉनसन ने महारानी एलिजाबेथ को सूचित करने के लिए बकिंघम पैलेस की छोटी यात्रा की कि अब चुनाव चल रहा है।


Huawei faces US charges: The short, medium and long story

Summary: One of the world's biggest telecoms firms and its top executive are facing almost two dozen criminal charges filed by US authorities. The US is also seeking the extradition of Huawei executive Meng Wangzou from Canada, where she was arrested 1 December at the behest of American officials.

The impact of the case could be complex and wide ranging: it comes at a sensitive time in the China-US relationship and amid Huawei's rapid growth. It has also raised diplomatic tensions between China and the US and Canada. We've summarised the key points of this story. You can choose to read the short, medium or long version below, either by themselves or one after the other. Why is the US targeting Huawei, one of the world's largest smartphone makers, and executive Meng Wanzhou? Authorities claim they misled the US government about the company's business in Iran, which is under US economic sanctions. The US is also pursuing Huawei and Ms Meng in criminal charges including bank fraud and theft of technology. Both reject the claims. US officials want Ms Meng extradited from Canada to face the charges. Her arrest caused a diplomatic dispute between China and the US and Canada. The case against Huawei also comes as Western nations grow increasingly concerned about a possible spying risk related to the widespread adoption of the company's technology. The arrest of the high-profile Huawei executive at the request of US authorities infuriated China. Canada says it's only following the rule of law in Ms Meng's extradition case, but that has not appeased Chinese officials. They have accused Ottawa of being part of a US-led "witch-hunt" against Huawei. The dispute has caused a significant rift between the two countries. Many observers believe that two Canadians have been detained in China in retaliation for Ms Meng's arrest. Canada has also accused China of "acting arbitrarily" by imposing the death sentence on a third Canadian national in its custody. Canada was acting under its extradition treaty obligations to the US, which wants Ms Meng and Huawei to face fraud charges relating to the alleged breaking of its sanctions on Iran. The US Department of Justice also filed a host of additional criminal charges in January against the firm, including allegations it stole trade secrets. The charges are the most serious Huawei has ever faced and they come as international pressure on the tech giant - which made over $92bn (£69bn) in total revenue in 2017 - grows. More and more Western nations are reviewing doing business with the firm over spying concerns. Huawei has always maintained it acts independently. Still, Germany considered blocking it from its next generation 5G mobile network, which uses new technology to boost network speeds and improve connectivity. The technology is being rolled out in many countries before 2020. Canada is reviewing Huawei's role in the mobile network and the US and Australia have already closed the door on the firm's involvement. Further complicating matters is the ongoing trade dispute between the US and China, the world's two major economic powers. In December, Donald Trump created controversy when said he could intervene in Ms Meng's case if it helps to avoid a further decline in US relations with China. While the US says the charges against Huawei are not about the trade tensions, it is unlikely the Chinese will see it the same way. The two nations are engaged in a trade war that has seen both impose duties of billions of dollars on one another's goods, though they are currently in talks in an attempt to resolve the dispute. Lawyers for Ms Meng have said she should "not be a pawn or a hostage" in the trade dispute. To understand the significance of Meng Wanzhou's arrest, it helps to know that Huawei is one of the largest telecommunications equipment and services providers in the world - as well as a symbol of China's ambition and innovation. As this article explains, Huawei has become the poster child for China's dynamic tech sector, and recently overtook Apple in the number of handsets it was shipping worldwide. So when a top executive - who also happens to be the daughter of the firm's founder - was arrested in Vancouver it sparked an immediate response. Canada says it has been acting in accordance with its extradition treaty obligations and the rule of law. What has been the reaction? When news broke that Ms Meng had been detained, China's embassy in Canada was quick to protest the arrest and demand her release. Chinese officials have called her arrest a "serious mistake" and accused Canada of double standards and "Western egotism and white supremacy". There were threats of "grave consequences" if Ms Meng was not released. Not long after her arrest, two Canadians - former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor - were detained in China on allegations of endangering Chinese national security. A third Canadian, Robert Schellenberg, is facing the death penalty in China. Schellenberg was initially given a 15-year jail term in November for drug smuggling, but a court increased his sentence in January following a brief retrial, saying the original sentence was too lenient. The Canadian government has called both the detentions and sentencing "arbitrary". It has asked for Mr Spavor and Mr Kovrig's immediate release and for clemency for Schellenberg. Canada has worked to rally international support from Western leaders for the two detained men and Schellenberg. There has also been economic pressure placed on Canada. China has halted Canadian canola imports and suspended the permits of two major pork producers amid the dispute. What are the US charges? The indictment alleges Huawei misled the US and a global bank about its relationship with two subsidiaries, Huawei Device USA and Skycom Tech, to conduct business with Iran. Donald Trump last year reinstated all the US sanctions on Iran that had been removed under a 2015 nuclear deal. A second indictment alleges Huawei stole technology from phone company T-Mobile used to test smartphone durability, as well as obstructed justice and committed wire fraud, which Huawei says was settled in a civil case filed in 2014. The allegations by the US Department of Justice go to the heart of the current trade war between China and the US. Chinese officials have called it a US attempt to "smear and suppress certain Chinese companies". And Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei told the BBC in February that he believed the arrest of his daughter was politically motivated. Why is Huawei a concern to the West? Critics question how free Huawei can be from Beijing's influence. Mr Zhengfei was a former engineer in the country's army and joined the Communist Party in 1978, a track which has worried governments already distrustful of China's political leaders. Huawei says it has an excellent record with clients and no links to the Chinese government. It insists it is an independent company, one that has grown in recent years to become a tech industry leader. The privately held firm does much of its business overseas and is a market leader in many countries across Europe, Asia and Africa. US intelligence agencies have been warning that Huawei poses a potential security risk for years, and the US government has taken a series of steps to block the firm from the domestic market. Other Western countries have begun reviewing their relationship with Huawei, specifically with regards to its technology being used in new "fifth generation 5G" mobile internet networks. In the UK, a 2019 report from the Royal United Services Institute, a defence and security think tank, said it would be "naive" and "irresponsible" to allow Huawei to access the country's telecommunications system. What happens next? Ms Meng is currently out on bail and under house arrest in Vancouver, where she owns property. In March, Canada's Department of Justice authorised Ms Meng's extradition process to begin, though that decision was an early step in the process. If a judge is satisfied with the evidence presented during the extradition hearing, he or she will authorise the individual be committed for extradition. The justice minister then decides whether to surrender the person to the US. Ms Meng does have avenues to appeal throughout the process. She could also voluntarily waive extradition. She is next due in court on 6 March, when her hearing date will be scheduled. Concerns have also been raised about whether comments US president Donald Trump has made could have an impact on the extradition case. He has twice suggested he would intervene in the US Justice Department's case against Ms Meng if it would serve national security interests or help achieve a trade deal with China. US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said since said the charges are "wholly separate" from the trade negotiations.

दुनिया की सबसे बड़ी दूरसंचार कंपनियों में से एक और इसके शीर्ष कार्यकारी अमेरिकी अधिकारियों द्वारा दायर लगभग दो दर्जन आपराधिक आरोपों का सामना कर रहे हैं। अमेरिका कनाडा से हुआवेई कार्यकारी मेंग वांगज़ौ के प्रत्यर्पण की भी मांग कर रहा है, जहाँ उसे अमेरिकी अधिकारियों के कहने पर 1 दिसंबर को गिरफ्तार किया गया था।


Poppy Delevingne: Models face 'stigma' with acting

Summary: A new TV series based on Picasso's life begins on Monday, starring Antonio Banderas as the artist and Poppy Delevingne as Marie-Therese Walter. But, the actress says, the woman she plays was more than just a muse.

By Steven McIntoshEntertainment reporter "There's no-one in the world that doesn't know that name, Picasso," Delevingne tells BBC News. "He is, without a doubt, one of the most influential artists of the 20th Century. There's something about him, something electric, he was passionate, relentless... he's just such a universal figure." Audience appetite for all things Picasso seems to know no bounds - with a recent exhibition of his work opening at the Tate Modern and now this new TV adaptation of the artist's life. Delevingne's role in the National Geographic series sees her playing perhaps Picasso's most famous muse - Marie-Therese Walter. "Sometimes people are like, 'Oh Marie-Therese, she was such a doormat', and you're like, 'No no no, she wasn't, just because she was easy-going and kind and gentle and probably a little more subservient than all the other women in his life, it didn't make her a doormat'," the 31-year-old says. "He was more inspired by her than most of the other women in his life, and for that to happen there must have been something quite sort of magical and incredible about her. And I hope that in the show that we gave her some kick." Delevingne's co-star, Samantha Colley - who plays Dora Maar, another of the Picasso's lovers - agrees. "I think there is a danger in sometimes looking at Picasso perhaps as a bit of a monster," says Colley. "Dora Maar was a very engaged woman, she knew what she was doing. She herself was in surrealist circles and engaging in bohemian activities, and a particular lifestyle, and she herself devoured a lot of men and muses and broke a lot of hearts." She adds: "My character is often known as the weeping woman, because he painted her as such. And I think unfairly, Dora Maar is looked on as this sort of victim who was chewed up and spat out by him, and I sometimes think that's a bit of a simplistic way to view it." 'Modelling stigma' Delevingne is well-known for her successful modelling career, but is a relative newcomer to acting. "I've been modelling for a very long time, since I was 17, and the acting thing was always something I wanted to pursue, but it always got put on the back burner because the modelling took up a lot of time," she says. "But when I was 28 I was like, enough is enough, this is not what makes me happy, and so I started pursuing the acting thing, and I didn't get a job for quite a while. And then really it was around 29, 30 stuff started happening." Delevingne's acting credits now include appearances in King Arthur: Legend of the Sword and Kingsman: The Golden Circle. Her acting career may have recently picked up some momentum, but Delevingne says many directors have negative perceptions of models turned actors. "I think there's a huge stigma. I think a lot of people think they go hand-in-hand, they go 'Oh you're a model, you can just slip into the acting thing', and you're like, 'it doesn't really work like that'. "Directors, casting directors, producers, you've got to really prove yourself to them. "For me, acting has always been my passion, it just somehow got waylaid, but now it's been reignited, it's been like starting a whole new job at 30, which is very weird - it feels like the first day at school whenever I'm doing anything." Her drive to impress as an actress meant she regularly asked for advice on how she could improve during shoots. She says: "Being on the set was so terrifying, you're acting with people like Antonio Banderas - who I've grown up with, obsessed with, he's an icon - and Samantha Colley... all these incredible actors and they could not all have been more charming, more wonderful, more welcoming. "All the cast and crew made it so much easier, I learned so much. "I was like a sponge, I was just sponging off everyone, I was always asking questions like 'How do I do that better?', which they were all more than happy to answer - they never made me feel like I was small and didn't belong." 'MeToo prism' There's little doubt that Picasso's affairs and relationships with young women would have been viewed rather differently were he an artist living and working today. "The main thing I keep getting asked is viewing him through the MeToo prism," Colley acknowledges. Delevingne adds: "My character, Marie-Therese, met him when she was 17, he was 45. That now?" (She makes a face which says 'eeek'.) "But then, it was very different, it was regarded in a very different way. "And this is a story about a genius, no-one's calling him a saint. By telling this story, it's not glorifying him in any way, his relationships, his behaviours, we're just focusing on the man and what he was about, what he achieved. But yes I know some people feel that at this time, in this current climate..." "But all these women in his life - Francoise Gilot, she was a fantastic painter, Dora Maar was an incredible photographer - they were all strong, unique women in their own right. Throughout the series you see all these women and how they come into play, and how they inspire and impact him. They all do have their own voices." Colley says the series is "an all-encompassing look on his whole life", but adds: "I also think it's important to differentiate the art from the artist. "What we're trying to focus on is the element of genius and what it means to be or be with a genius. "The thing about genius is it doesn't necessarily lend itself to being a good partner in any type of relationship, be it platonic or romantic. "I think one could say sometimes he wasn't that good a boss, sometimes a bit of a selfish friend perhaps, but that goes into the other spectrum where he could be completely loving and amazing. "It's hard to look back at something through a particular prism, and I think it can be a bit sort of dangerous to do so." Picasso is the second figure to have been the subject of the Genius series - the last being Albert Einstein. Asked who the third series should be about, Colley says: "I'd love it to be a woman. Fingers crossed maybe they're hoping to try and do that." It turns out her instinct was spot on - days after this interview, National Geographic announced that Frankenstein creator Mary Shelley was to be the subject of the third instalment. Genius: Picasso starts on Monday 23 April at 20:00 BST on National Geographic. Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.

पिकासो के जीवन पर आधारित एक नई टीवी श्रृंखला सोमवार से शुरू हो रही है, जिसमें कलाकार के रूप में एंटोनियो बैंडेरस और मैरी-थेरेस वाल्टर के रूप में पॉपी डेलेविंगने हैं। लेकिन, अभिनेत्री का कहना है कि वह जिस महिला की भूमिका निभा रही हैं, वह सिर्फ एक संग्रहालय से कहीं अधिक थी।


Varadkar faces heat over constitution comments

Summary: Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's view, expressed to the BBC Spotlight programme, that he "wouldn't like us to get to the point whereby we are changing the constitutional position here in Northern Ireland on a 50% plus one basis" has caused a backlash from northern nationalists.

Mark DevenportPolitical editor, Northern Ireland@markdevenporton Twitter Sinn Fein's senior negotiator Conor Murphy has insisted that the 1998 Good Friday Agreement is "absolutely clear" that "if a simple majority vote in favour of reunification, both governments are then obliged to legislate for it". Mr Murphy has argued that there's "an onus on the Irish government to plan for unity, to become a persuader for unity, to build the maximum agreement and to secure and win a referendum on unity. "As a co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement", the Sinn Fein politician continued, "the taoiseach should be seeking to defend the agreement in all its parts, not seeking to undermine it." The former SDLP leader and deputy first minister Mark Durkan, who was a key negotiator on the agreement nearly two decades ago, has been equally exercised. In a series of tweets, Mr Durkan said Mr Varadkar needs to know that when the SDLP and the other parties negotiated the 1998 deal the "principle of consent was to apply equally" to two legitimate aspirations, namely support for remaining in the UK or moving to a united Ireland. Mr Durkan made it clear that - in his view - "any other understanding would not have been agreed then. Nor should one be dubiously or dangerously inferred now". His tweets pointed out that any future border poll would also be a choice between being in or out of the European Union and that there shouldn't be one rule for the Brexit referendum and another for a border poll. By contrast former DUP MLA Nelson McCausland told BBC Radio Ulster's Talk Back that he sees the taoiseach's comments as "a recognition that the main political parties in the Irish Republic have no real interest in Irish unity". Mr McCausland said a future border poll would be not just a divorce from the UK but also a re-marriage with the Republic of Ireland, so argued the exercise would not exactly be the same as the simple majorities required in the Brexit referendum or a future Scottish independence vote The taoiseach may counter that he was simply trying to focus the Stormont politicians' minds on making the deal they now have work. He told Spotlight: "One of the the best things about the Good Friday Agreement is that it did get very strong cross border support - that's why there was a 70% vote for it." He added: "I don't think that there would be a 70% vote for a united Ireland in the morning, for example, or anything remotely to that. And I really think we should focus on making the agreement that we have work." The debate about a threshold for a border poll may appear rather academic right now, but it's clear northern nationalists won't buy the notion that such a border poll should be subjected to any kind of weighted majority. However there is also another stipulation of the Good Friday Agreement to bear in mind - it recognises that it is for the people of the island of Ireland alone "to exercise their right of self-determination on the basis of consent, freely and concurrently given, north and south, to bring about a united Ireland". The deal amended Article 3 of the Irish constitution to read that "it is the firm will of the Irish nation, in harmony and friendship, to unite all the people who share the territory of the island of Ireland, in all the diversity of their identities and traditions". But Article 3 acknowledges "that a united Ireland shall be brought about only by peaceful means with the consent of a majority of the people, democratically expressed, in both jurisdictions in the island." This means any future 51% knife edge vote for a united Ireland by people north of the border would also require the consent of a majority of people in the south. Can that be taken for granted? It would certainly be easier to guarantee if any border poll takes place in an atmosphere in which Northern Ireland appears stable and prosperous - in short a "good prospect" for a future marriage.

ताओसीच लियो वराडकर के विचार, बीबीसी स्पॉटलाइट कार्यक्रम में व्यक्त किए गए, कि वे "नहीं चाहेंगे कि हम उस बिंदु पर पहुँचें जहाँ हम उत्तरी आयरलैंड में 50 प्रतिशत से अधिक एक के आधार पर संवैधानिक स्थिति को बदल रहे हैं" उत्तरी राष्ट्रवादियों से प्रतिक्रिया का कारण बना है।


Waste food: What do you do with 86 tonnes of celeriac?

Summary: Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of food is thrown away in the UK every year. With coronavirus lockdowns closing restaurants, cafes and pubs, there is even more food potentially going to waste. But charities and apps are stepping in.

By Howard MustoeBusiness reporter When wholesaler Philip de Ternant had thousands of pounds worth of food going to waste, charities and buyers queued up to take it off him. Six thousand pounds worth of milk was among the items at Creed Foodservice that would have to be dumped if a customer couldn't be found for it after schools suddenly closed. Fortunately, an appeal from footballer Marcus Rashford helped publicise the potential waste, and a home was found for the milk. "We were just pleased to move it through and not have to dispose of it," Mr de Ternant says. UK households produce around 70% of the UK's 9.5 million tonnes of food waste every year, according to the charity Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap), which is this week launching its campaign Food Waste Action Week to help tackle climate change. Households are followed by manufacturers, hospitality and foodservice companies. If it isn't eaten, food waste ends up as pet food, compost, fuel for energy production, or in landfill. The problem has also been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns, with wholesalers being affected by the closure of hospitality businesses. "Sixty-five per cent of business has disappeared. Pubs, restaurants, hotels. All we have left is care homes and schools feeding the vulnerable," says Mr de Ternant. But progress is being made as firms with excess produce publicise what they have and a network of volunteers search out those in need. When Simon Scott, general manager at DGM Growers in Kent, had three lorry loads of the root vegetable celeriac spare, he knew he could send them to charity Fareshare, which aims to connect potentially wasted food with 11,000 charities and community groups around the UK. His company mainly supplies vegetables like celeriac, chicory and fennel to supermarkets, and a move to home cooking has helped his business. But the lockdown meant he was left with large celeriac usually reserved for restaurants and caterers as they were closed down. He has donated 86 tonnes since October. "It's provided a significant amount of meals for those in need at this really difficult time. And I think that's really the focus for us, to turn this problem into a positive solution," he says. Food firms from farms to shops are keen to reduce waste, since waste means lost money, says Lindsay Boswell, chief executive of Fareshare. But waste can arise when mistakes are made in ordering or packaging, through glut, or when a big buyer backs out of a purchase. Before the pandemic, Fareshare was supplying about 900,000 meals per week to food banks, homeless shelters, school breakfast clubs and community cafes. Lockdown waste meant they could supply a peak of 3.6 million meals in one week, although the average is back to about 2.2 million. But despite these huge numbers, demand for food has always outstripped supply, says Mr Boswell, particularly as more people are out of work. Fareshare gets about a third of its food from shops and supermarkets - food that is coming to the end of its shelf life. The rest comes from farms, wholesalers and manufacturers. "If you're a grower and you've had a fantastic growing season for tomatoes or beans or courgettes or something, you can see how your orders with the supermarkets are shaping up [and if a glut is on the horizon]," says Joanna Dyson, head of food at Fareshare. Bounties have included 1,000 tonnes of baking potatoes - enough to fill 50 lorries - which were destined for the hospitality sector; and one million litres of long-life milk, where semi-skimmed milk had been mistakenly packaged in skimmed milk cartons. Such gigantic donations are often made in stages. Fareshare has a fund called Surplus with Purpose, which can pay when a farmer or manufacturer has food to donate, but not the resources to deliver it, or where there's a storage obstacle to overcome. About 30% of its food is funded by this scheme. "So when we had lots of raspberries and blueberries last summer, we were able to send them for freezing. And we've sent apples for juicing," she says. There are also apps designed to help make sure surplus food does not go to waste, such as Olio, which last year worked with supermarket Tesco. Another app, Too Good To Go, allows shops, cafes and restaurants to sell off surplus meals and groceries at a discount. At Creed Foodservice, wholesaler Mr de Ternant had 2.5kg packages of pigs in blankets on his hands, leftover from Christmas and worth about £15. Shoppers were able to snap them up for £5 via the Too Good To Go app. Or they could bag £30 of brie, tonic water, pasta sauce and cheese for £10. Paschalis Loucaides, managing director at Too Good To Go, says: "Since the pandemic began we have looked for ways to ensure that all food, no matter where it is in the supply chain, is eaten and enjoyed instead of wasted. "When we heard that Creed Foodservice had thousands of pounds of food sitting idle, we knew that we could help."

ब्रिटेन में हर साल लाखों टन भोजन फेंक दिया जाता है। कोरोनावायरस लॉकडाउन के कारण रेस्तरां, कैफे और पब बंद होने से और भी अधिक भोजन बर्बाद होने की संभावना है। लेकिन दान और ऐप कदम बढ़ा रहे हैं।


Picture perfect: How helpful is social media for our mental health?

Summary: Whether it's capturing a picturesque view, a cute pet or a perfect-looking plate of food, many photographs on Instagram give the impression that life is beautiful. But according to new research images posted on the social network may actually reveal if someone is struggling with depression.

By Emma AtkinsonBBC News Posting photos that are blue, grey or dark in colour and using the "Inkwell" filter, which converts colour photos to black and white are all clues according to the Harvard study. The researchers believe the photo-sharing app could be a new form of early detection for mental illness, but is the culture for over-sharing and bragging on social media also to blame for making us feel down in the first place? A previous study by two German universities showed that "passive following" on Facebook triggers feelings of envy and resentment in many users, with holiday snaps being the worst offenders. But according to author and journalist Jessica Winter, "Facebook is actually not the greatest underminer at the social-media cocktail party... That title goes to Instagram," she says, where the trend for beautiful, filtered selfies and picture-perfect lifestyles reaches a whole other level. Comedian Juliette Burton, who has struggled with body dysmorphia, depression and anxiety, agrees that social media can be unhelpful. "They say a picture is worth a thousand words but it's never the full story," she says. "You don't know what else is going on behind this collage of pictures. Being on social media is this whole new expression of our personality, messaging about who we are, but we're still learning what it all means. "In my experience social media is a hindrance when it all feels very fake and competitive. It's very rare to see people posting about dark stuff. When they do it's a massive cry for help. "When you're in the middle of a difficult time and you can't get out of bed, these aren't the moments that I'm reaching for my camera phone." When the going gets tough it's natural to frantically search for answers online, wishing you were as positive as those #instagood moments. But Bryony Gordon, journalist and author of the book Mad Girl, says there is some solace among the selfies. She set up the group Mental Health Mates through social media after battling with OCD, depression and bulimia. "I felt completely alone, just like everyone else who suffers from mental illness - because mental illness lies to you by making you feel like a freak. "Only through writing about it have I realised that actually, it's completely normal to feel weird." After putting a message on Twitter about meeting up with others who struggle with mental health issues, Bryony said 20 people turned up for a walk. Now many gatherings later there are a whole network of people meeting up, with groups even starting up in the US. So can social media have health benefits? Bryony says: "Through the power of social media I've met so many new people and it's a great support. It shouldn't be your only point of help but it's that jumping off point to help you realise you are not alone. " Juliette thinks so too. "It's interesting to hear about the Instagram study because we need to work out how we can use this technology to its full potential," she says. "At the same time people are wanting to talk about mental health much more now. Even if you don't suffer yourself just knowing how to bring it up with someone and learning about the right and wrong things to say is a really positive step."

चाहे वह एक सुरम्य दृश्य, एक प्यारा पालतू जानवर या भोजन की एक आदर्श दिखने वाली थाली हो, इंस्टाग्राम पर कई तस्वीरें यह धारणा देती हैं कि जीवन सुंदर है। लेकिन सोशल नेटवर्क पर पोस्ट की गई नई शोध छवियों के अनुसार वास्तव में पता चल सकता है कि क्या कोई अवसाद से जूझ रहा है।


Starbucks armed robbery thwarted by police in drive-thru

Summary: A pair of armed robbers got more than they bargained for when their heist at a takeaway coffee shop was interrupted by police parked in the drive-thru.

Northamptonshire Police Armed Response Vehicle tweeted that the raid happened at a Starbucks in St James Retail Park, Northampton at about 05:00 BST. Two men threatened staff with weapons and took cash, but "didn't account" for police buying coffee at the same time. A 29-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of robbery and is in custody. No information was given about the second man said to be involved. Starbucks said in a statement: "We will continue to help the police with their investigation and our priority remains supporting our store team."

सशस्त्र लुटेरों की एक जोड़ी को उनके लिए सौदेबाजी से अधिक मिला जब एक टेकअवे कॉफी शॉप में उनकी डकैती को ड्राइव-थ्रू में खड़ी पुलिस द्वारा बाधित किया गया था।


Could a new independence party reshape Scottish politics?

Summary: A series of SNP and pro-independence campaigners have suggested setting up a new party ahead of the Holyrood elections in 2021. Why are they doing this, and are they more likely to split the nationalist vote or secure a mandate for a new referendum?

By Philip SimBBC Scotland political reporter What is this all about? The SNP continues to enjoy a dominant position in Scottish politics, with polls suggesting the party will continue its electoral winning streak in 2021. So it might seem odd to many outside the political bubble that supporters of the party - including one of its own MPs - are advocating voting for someone else at that election. The answer lies in the Holyrood electoral system, which makes it hard for one party to win an outright majority of seats. The "additional member system" features 73 constituency seats, elected on a traditional first past the post (FPTP) basis, and 56 "list" seats scattered across eight regions. The way the system actually works is complex, but the goal is simple - proportional representation. In short, the more constituency seats you win, the harder it is to win list seats. To take 2016's election as a case study, half a million people voted for Labour in constituency contests, but thanks to the all-or-nothing nature of FPTP this yielded only three MSPs. So 22% of the vote won 4% of the seats. However, the party's 435,000 votes on the list ballot saw them pick up a further 21 seats - meaning that overall, they got roughly a fifth of the votes in the country, and roughly a fifth of the seats at Holyrood. At the other end of the spectrum, in the constituency contest the SNP won 46.5% of the vote, and 80% of the seats (59 of them). This meant that on the list, almost a million votes only produced four regional MSPs. The additional member system balanced things out as it is designed to do - with just under half of the vote, the SNP got just under half the seats on offer overall. To come to the point, some supporters of independence conclude that it would be much easier to win a Holyrood majority if there was a list-only party which could sweep up the regional seats which the SNP may struggle to reach. What is the proposal? The argument is that if the million people who voted SNP on the list in 2016 had backed another party, in theory they could have returned dozens of pro-independence MSPs instead of four. If this party were to stand only on the list, they would not have any constituency seats to hold them back as far as the formulas are concerned. The SNP could take the constituency vote, the new party would clean up on the list and the two would add up to an overwhelming mandate for indyref2 - or so the theory goes. But what is this "new party"? A number of different vehicles have been suggested, from the "Independence for Scotland Party" to one led by Wings Over Scotland blogger Stuart Campbell - who has in turn suggested former SNP leader Alex Salmond could set up his own group. The latest is the "Alliance for Independence" proposed by former SNP MSP Dave Thompson, which he envisions as an umbrella group uniting smaller pro-independence campaigns. Proponents believe this would be more productive than the "both votes SNP" approach of previous years, which Mr Thompson - a 55-year veteran of the party - says "will achieve nothing". This approach has been endorsed by figures including sitting SNP MP Kenny Macaskill, who said: "With success on the constituency basis resulting in limited progress on the list, 'both votes SNP' just doesn't work." What is the SNP's position? Perhaps unsurprisingly for a political party, the SNP is loathe to urge people to vote for anyone else. Deputy First Minister John Swinney said he "can't understand the logic" of a list-only party, citing the precedent of the SNP majority in 2011 successfully triggering a referendum. The last thing the party's leaders want to be is complacent. They cannot simply assume they will walk away with the lion's share of constituency contests - indeed, taking elections for granted is a very good way to lose them. So if the party were to lose a constituency seat, say in Glasgow, they would want to give themselves the best chance possible of picking it up again on the regional ballot by stacking up as many list votes as possible. They will be decidedly wary about splitting the vote. One advantage the SNP have long had over their unionist opponents is that in a country divided pretty evenly down the middle on the constitutional question, they have a near monopoly over one half of the vote - while the Tories, Labour and the Lib Dems have to scrap over the other half. Another issue for them is messaging. "Vote SNP" is an easy slogan to paint on the side of a bus. "Vote SNP on one bit of paper and a pro-independence alternative of your choosing on the other" is slightly less pithy. Is this a new idea? The Scottish Greens would point out that they are quite a prominent pro-independence party that chiefly does well on the regional list. But other smaller outfits have also come forward at previous elections - and failed to make any impact at all. In 2016, RISE contested the regional lists, with a former SNP MSP on their ticket, but ultimately polled fewer votes than the Scottish Christian Party. Solidarity - Tommy Sheridan's breakaway from the Scottish Socialist Party - did a little better, but still only managed 0.6% of the vote and zero seats. There is an argument that a figurehead like Alex Salmond (who, to be clear, has said nothing at all on the subject) and a platform focused solely on independence could see a new party make a bigger impact - but if the SNP actively oppose the idea, that impact could be in splitting the vote. The pro-independence side are not alone in debating whether they should try to game the list system, incidentally - George Galloway is attempting to set up an "Alliance for Unity" that sounds a lot like a unionist version of Mr Thompson's umbrella project. Would it work? This is the million-dollar question, and the hardest one to answer. The majority of 2011 will be much cited in this debate, but it is actually something of an outlier. In that election, the SNP broke the system - they took 53% of the seats at Holyrood despite "only" winning 45.4% of the constituency vote and 44% of the regional one. It happened essentially by fluke - the stars aligned for the party in just the right way, with the placing of the 53 constituencies won around the country somehow still allowing the party to pick up 16 list MSPs. There isn't really a way to strategise for that to happen again in the same way - it is by no means a blueprint for victory in 2021. The only way to be sure of a majority at Holyrood is to literally win a majority of the votes cast in Scotland. That is a tall order for one party alone. The SNP's landslide in the 2015 Westminster election saw them hit 50% of the vote, but in December they were back at 45% - a familiar figure to any Yes voter. The paradox is that, if it had the open support of the SNP, a list-only party could provide a theoretical route to producing a larger cohort of pro-independence MSPs. But at the same time, it is difficult for the SNP to support it without risking their own position. It would be a move fraught with complexity and danger, and Nicola Sturgeon is not exactly known as a gambler. And when it came to the campaign, would any new party really exist harmoniously alongside the SNP, which has become an electoral juggernaut partly by dint of its unity of purpose? Imagine Mr Salmond did end up fronting a new party - would a Salmond vs Sturgeon debate really be beneficial to the cause both politicians champion, or would it exacerbate tensions about the current first minister's cautious approach to indyref2? There are also wider questions over whether a pro-independence majority spread across several parties has the same impact as it does when a single party wins a thumping mandate. After all there is currently a pro-independence majority at Holyrood, with the Greens backing the SNP - which has conspicuously failed to produce a referendum, despite MSPs voting in favour of one several times. The debate underlines one thing - despite coronavirus continuing to dominate the agenda, Scotland is less than a year away from an election. More and more, party politics is coming out of lockdown.

एसएनपी और स्वतंत्रता समर्थक प्रचारकों की एक श्रृंखला ने 2021 में होलीरूड चुनावों से पहले एक नई पार्टी स्थापित करने का सुझाव दिया है। वे ऐसा क्यों कर रहे हैं, और क्या वे राष्ट्रवादी वोट को विभाजित करने या एक नए जनमत संग्रह के लिए जनादेश हासिल करने की अधिक संभावना रखते हैं?


Turkey Syria offensive: Trump's week of confusion over US policy

Summary: During a television interview this week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the US did not give a "green light" for Turkey to launch strikes against Kurdish forces in northern Syria. The mixed messages from President Donald Trump over the course of this week, however, tell a different story.

Anthony ZurcherNorth America reporter@awzurcheron Twitter The latest crisis in war-torn Syria began on Sunday night, with a statement from the White House press secretary - after the president had a phone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan - that effectively treated a Turkish military incursion as a done deal. "Turkey will soon be moving forward with its long-planned operation into Northern Syria," the statement read. "The United States Armed Forces will not support or be involved in the operation, and the United States forces, having defeated the Isis territorial 'Caliphate,' will no longer be in the immediate area." The statement, which contained no mention of the US-backed Kurds or hints of objection to the Turkish operation, quickly set off howls of anger among the US foreign policy establishment and members of Congress on the left and right. "This decision to abandon our Kurdish allies and turn Syria over to Russia, Iran, & Turkey will put every radical Islamist on steroids," South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham tweeted the following morning. "Shot in the arm to the bad guys. Devastating for the good guys." The ferocity of the criticism grew as it became clear that US forces had indeed withdrawn from northern Syria and the Turkish military was launching its assault. What followed was a series of sometimes contradictory statements and tweets from the president - a hodgepodge of calls for disengagement, warnings of dire consequences, and suggestions of peaceful resolution. "We will fight where it is to our benefit, and only fight to win," Mr Trump tweeted on Monday, after saying that he held off a Turkey-Kurdish conflict for three years, but that it was time for the US to get out of "endless wars". By later in the day, however, the president was cautioning Turkey that if it did anything that he considered "off limits" he would "destroy and obliterate the economy of Turkey". On Tuesday, he was praising Turkey for being a US trading partner and assuring the Syrian Kurds (who were already by this time under Turkish assault) that the US had not abandoned them. The next day, he said he hoped the Turkish operation would be conducted "in as humane a way as possible" - and, if not, Turkey would pay a "very big economic price". By Thursday, he was once again distancing himself from the Kurds, telling reporters that while he "liked" them, they were only fighting for "their land" and did not, for instance, help the US invade Germany in the Second World War. (It should be noted that Kurds did fight against Iraqi forces sympathetic to the Nazis.) Mr Trump concluded Thursday by tweeting that the US "did our job perfectly" in Syria and now had three choices in dealing with the crisis: send thousands of troops to secure the area; impose economic sanctions on Turkey; or "mediate a deal" between the Turks and the Kurds. He told reporters he preferred the third option. Meanwhile, Trump administration officials were left scrambling to realise the frequently conflicting objectives of vocalising their objections to a Turkish operation they had long sought to avoid, while defending the president's decision - which, according to Politico and others, was made without consulting foreign allies, Congress or even some members of his own administration. On Monday, Defence Secretary Mark Esper sent - and then deleted - a tweet saying the Turkish move into northern Syria would have "destabilising consequences... to Turkey, the region, & beyond". The White House on Wednesday released a "statement" by the president saying the Turkish invasion was a "bad idea" that the US did not "endorse". On Friday, Mr Esper called it a "tough situation" and said Turkey's action was damaging US-Turkey relations. "This was a very big mistake and this has very big implications for all of our security," a senior State Department official told CNN on Friday. "I don't know of anybody who isn't upset with it." All told, the US moved between 50 to 100 troops out of northern Syria this week, as Turkish forces prepared their assault. Despite withering criticism, Mr Trump has framed it as fulfilling a campaign promise to extricate the US from a Middle East quagmire it should never have been involved in to begin with. Indeed, on Thursday night at a rally in Minnesota, he falsely said: "We don't have any soldiers there because we've left. We won. We left. Take a victory, United States." Yet, hours later, the Defence Department announced that 3,000 US soldiers - including two fighter squadrons - were being dispatched to Saudi Arabia "to ensure and enhance the defence" of that nation. Since May, a Pentagon spokesperson noted, US troops in the Middle East and Afghanistan "Central Command" region increased by approximately 14,000. The endless wars, it seems, may not be coming to an end quite yet. Follow Anthony on Twitter Timeline of US statements

इस सप्ताह एक टेलीविजन साक्षात्कार के दौरान, विदेश मंत्री माइक पोम्पिओ ने कहा कि अमेरिका ने तुर्की को उत्तरी सीरिया में कुर्द बलों के खिलाफ हमले शुरू करने के लिए "हरी झंडी" नहीं दी। इस सप्ताह के दौरान राष्ट्रपति डोनाल्ड ट्रम्प के मिश्रित संदेश, हालांकि, एक अलग कहानी बताते हैं।


£1m Stranraer slipway plans gain approval

Summary: Councillors have voted narrowly in favour of plans to build a £1m slipway at the West Pier in Stranraer.

It will replace an existing slipway about four miles out of the town at Wig Bay. Planning committee councillors agreed by a single vote to the West Pier plan. Officials see it as a key part of regeneration proposals for the town but there have been concerns about the cost and the business case for choosing that particular location.

पार्षदों ने स्ट्रैनरेयर में वेस्ट पियर में 1 मिलियन पाउंड का स्लिपवे बनाने की योजना के पक्ष में मतदान किया है।


Viewpoint: How India's response to Pakistan weakens Sharif

Summary: As Delhi explores its options to respond to the attack in Uri, which killed 19 soldiers in one of the worst terror attacks in Kashmir in recent years, the Modi government seems to be making a strong case for strategic restraint.

By Harsh V PantKing's College, London Amidst growing demands, especially from his ruling BJP party's rank-and-file, for strong action against Pakistan - who India blames for the attack - the Indian prime minister managed to turn attention from incessant warmongering towards long-term challenges facing the region. Pakistan has strongly denied involvement in the Uri attack. In his speech to his party cadres, Mr Modi challenged ordinary Pakistani's to a race on development as opposed to one on military engagement. "I want to tell the people of Pakistan, India is ready to fight you. If you have the strength, come forward to fight against poverty. Let's see who wins. Let's see who is able to defeat poverty and illiteracy first, Pakistan or India," he said. What's behind Kashmir's deadliest militant raid in years? Why India needs cool heads after Kashmir attack Indian army’s anger over Kashmir killings Days after India lampooned Pakistan as the "Ivy League" of training centres for terrorists, Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj used her speech to the UN General Assembly on Monday night to deliver a stinging rebuttal to Pakistani President Nawaz Sharif. "Let me state unequivocally that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and will always remain so. My firm advice to Pakistan is stop dreaming about Kashmir," Ms Swaraj said. Nawaz Sharif, in his earlier address, had paid tribute to Burhan Wani, the separatist militant whose killing triggered the current wave of violence in Kashmir. Rights counter-narrative Mr Sharif had talked of the excessive use of force by Indian security forces after protests linked to the death of Wani, only to be reminded by Ms Swaraj that "Pakistan would do well to introspect and see what egregious abuses they are perpetrating in their own country". She was referring to the Pakistani province Balochistan, where Pakistani security forces have suppressed local dissent. It is possibly the first time India has raised the Baloch issue at the UN forum, underscoring the Modi government's game-plan of going on the offensive to shape counter-narratives about human rights. It is a terrain India had long ceded to Pakistan but Delhi is now signalling that it won't be playing by the old rules. Taking India's campaign to internationally isolate Pakistan even further, Sushma Swaraj said that "in our midst, there are nations that still speak the language of terrorism, that nurture it, peddle it, and export it. To shelter terrorists has become their calling card. We must identify these nations and hold them to account." She linked Pakistan's activities in Kashmir with the latest bombing in New York, whose perpetrator is reported to have "studied" at a Pakistani Islamic school, or madrassa. But very much like Mr Modi, she also was statesmanlike in her articulation, suggesting that India has "tried to talk to Pakistan as friends to resolve issues" and has "extended hands of friendship in the last two years" only to be rewarded with terrorism in return. Referring to repeated attempts by India to reach out to Pakistan, Ms Swaraj said India had attempted a paradigm of friendship without any precedent. With these speeches, the Modi government is reaching out to multiple audiences. In India to those who are baying for blood and Indian policy-makers cautioning that direct military confrontation may not resolve underlying problems. In Pakistan, to ordinary Pakistanis, to do some soul-searching as to why India has managed to move so far ahead while their country seems stuck in a time-warp. To the outside world, Delhi's message is categorical that India has a leadership which is capable of looking at the larger strategic picture and managing Pakistan's capacity for nuisance on its own terms. Like its predecessors, the Modi government may have recognised that there are few good military options against Pakistan. But it is different in terms of its success in altering the terms of engagement with Pakistan. As Nawaz Sharif's failed UN outreach exemplifies, Pakistan's global isolation on Kashmir is almost complete. Moreover, with his UN diatribe Mr Sharif has come across as a weak leader who can be effectively handled by a junior Indian diplomat at the UN. Focus on the future Mr Modi is nothing if not a risk-taker. He took risks in reaching out to Nawaz Sharif early on in his term and now he seems to be taking a risk in bringing some costs to bear on Pakistan for its misadventures in Kashmir. Mr Modi's own speech last week and Ms Swaraj's response to Nawaz Sharif at the UN reflects a sound understanding of not only the challenges facing India's Pakistan policy but also the opportunities that have emerged in recent years as a result of India's rising global stature. Pakistan will clearly continue to be a nuisance in the near future but Mr Modi's India is gearing up for a larger stage and bigger stakes. Harsh V Pant is a Distinguished Fellow and Head of Strategic Studies at Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi, and Professor of International Relations at King's College London.

जैसा कि दिल्ली उरी में हमले का जवाब देने के लिए अपने विकल्पों की खोज कर रही है, जिसमें हाल के वर्षों में कश्मीर में सबसे खराब आतंकवादी हमलों में से एक में 19 सैनिक मारे गए थे, मोदी सरकार रणनीतिक संयम के लिए एक मजबूत मामला बना रही है।


Can Saudi Arabia's bold reforms cure growing financial woes?

Summary: It has been a dramatic week for the Saudi economy: the country has slashed public spending, and rowed back from its 18-month policy of pumping out oil at near maximum levels by reducing daily production by 350,000 barrels.

By Michael StephensRoyal United Services Institute (Rusi), Doha Oil prices jumped 5% at the news, a market overreaction to be sure, but nevertheless a welcome development for producer states. They need to see a turnaround in their government revenues which have been depressed for the last 18 months. But the kingdom's shift in policy indicates that not all is well financially. Indeed the Saudi attempt to maintain market share through maximising output and artificially keeping oil prices low appears to have backfired. Unable to absorb low prices for an extended period, the kingdom has lost some $180bn (£140bn) of currency reserves, as it has had to dig deep into its pockets to cover enormous government spending deficits. In fairness, Saudi Arabia's leadership, under the guidance of Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has been remarkably open about the extent of the problems. In an interview with Bloomberg magazine in April, the grim reality was laid bare by Prince Mohammed's senior financial adviser: the state was wasting up to $100bn a year in inefficient spending, backhanders and opaque business deals, he said, and would have gone broke "by early 2017" unless something radical was done to change course. Grand plan And so for the nation to remain solvent there was always going to have to be some financial pain - pain which would filter into the real economy and down to the vast body of Saudi nationals employed in government sectors. Government spending would need to be scaled down, and subsidies on everyday goods and services such as power, water and fuel would need to be lifted. Last but not least expenditure on salaries would need to be reduced, which means either people lost their jobs, or they lost their perks. Given that Saudi society builds and cements social relationships around the provision of government jobs, firing people is extremely difficult without causing offence. This meant that public salaries had to be cut, and in June the Saudi government set a target to reduce salary expenditure by 24bn riyals ($6.4bn; £4.9bn) a year by 2020. It is no surprise then that on Monday evening a series of royal decrees cut salaries by as much as 20%, shrunk holiday pay and leave allowances and cut bonuses. These cuts all fall broadly within the vision set out by Prince Mohammed earlier in the year. Vision 2030 is the grand plan for restructuring the Saudi economy, diversifying away from hydrocarbon exports by encouraging Saudis to join the private sector, and privatising sections of Aramco, the oil producing behemoth that still drives Saudi income and domestic revenue. But for all its lofty goals, it is unlikely that the vision can ever be fully implemented, and it is sensible to assume that Vision 2030 was never designed to be the panacea for Saudi Arabia's myriad financial woes. Even some leading Saudis have been open about the vision's expected level of success, insisting that it is more about changing the national Zeitgeist than radically overhauling the economy in such a short space of time. Social impact If this can be achieved, and the ruling house is able to persuade its citizens to accept that the good times are over, then all should be well for the time being. The al-Saud family enjoy widespread popular support in the Kingdom, and the young prince and his team have expended great energy warning that austerity is coming. But it is one thing to warn about austerity, and quite another to then implement it. As increasing austerity measures are introduced, Saudi Arabia's middle class looks set to join the "squeezed middle". It is an overused Western term, but make no mistake it will be Saudi's middle earners who will struggle in the months and years ahead. Reductions in subsidies and salary cuts will affect this middle bracket the most - in other words the people who possess just enough money to run a household and send children to school. So the addition of higher bills and less income at the end of the month will put a huge amount of pressure on this important sector of the Saudi economy. Observing from the outside, cutting bloated public expenditure seems the right thing to do and is long overdue, but it will have social impacts that no-one can foresee at present. Saudi Arabia is moving into a difficult period in which its society will have to get used to leaner times, and still keep their faith that the royal family is steering the country in the right direction. Michael Stephens is Research Fellow for Middle East studies and Head of Rusi Qatar. Follow him on Twitter

यह सऊदी अर्थव्यवस्था के लिए एक नाटकीय सप्ताह रहा हैः देश ने सार्वजनिक खर्च में कटौती की है, और दैनिक उत्पादन में 350,000 बैरल की कमी करके अधिकतम स्तर पर तेल बाहर निकालने की अपनी 18 महीने की नीति से पीछे हट गया है।


Woman, 75, dies in A1 road crash

Summary: A woman has died in a road traffic incident on the A1 between Banbridge and Dromore.

Police said the 75-year old was driving a red Citroën C1 and the incident happened at 12.45 GMT on Sunday. The PSNI wants people who were travelling on the major route at the time and witnessed the incident or have dash cam footage to get in touch. The A1 carriageway was closed for a number of hours in the southbound direction but has since reopened.

बानब्रिज और ड्रोमोर के बीच ए1 पर सड़क यातायात की घटना में एक महिला की मौत हो गई है।


Worries about a full-blown crash could be a bit premature

Summary: Emerging markets' currencies tumbling to near record lows. Millions of dollars worth of foreign funds pulled out of stock markets in the region. And some investors around the world fearing a major financial meltdown.

By Karishma VaswaniAsia Business Correspondent It certainly feels like we've been here before. Many in Asia's financial circles are calling this a re-run of the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis. I remember that crisis well. I was a university student interning for the BBC in the summer of 1997 in Jakarta, and I witnessed the full brunt of the Asian financial crisis on some of the most vulnerable in society. The Indonesian rupiah lost more than 80% of its value - going from 2,500 rupiah against the US dollar to 16,000 at its lowest point. The stock market wasn't spared - it fell by more than 50% by December 1997 and businessmen lost tens of thousands of dollars in a single trading session. There was panic everywhere. People thought banks had run out of money (and some had), so they formed long lines outside branches, trying to withdraw all their savings. Factories shut down, and workers lost their jobs. The price of basic foods like cooking oil and baby milk soared. An economist friend of mine in Indonesia once told me that you know you're dealing with a crisis when the "ibu-ibus" (Indonesian for housewives) are affected. Housewives in South East Asia's biggest economy saw the price of imported formula milk for their babies triple, leading to protests outside supermarkets across the country. One Newsweek article described how cooking oil was rationed and sold at police stations. "If they didn't, people would kill each other," the article said. The meltdown in Asia was set off when Thailand floated the baht in 1997, setting off a domino effect in the region where one by one, currencies fell against the US dollar. Today, many are worried that China's recent devaluation could set off a similar trend. Bad news by the day Some analysts are even warning the impact will be far bigger than 1997 because China's economy is far more important and integrated into the world economy than Thailand ever was. China's devaluation has already led to the tumbling of currencies around the region. And it seems like every day we get bad news about the world's second largest economy. On Friday, data showed that China's factory activity shrank at its fastest pace in more than six years. All of this adding to increased concerns that China's economy is slowing down - which it is - and how much of an impact the slowdown will have on the rest of the world. Even the US Fed has raised concerns about the Chinese economy's outlook in its latest minutes. The thinking goes that if China keeps slowing down, then it won't buy as much "stuff" from Asia as it has in the past, and that will mean Asian economies that have grown thanks to the commodity boom and Chinese demand will slow down too. We're already seeing evidence of this across the region. Since China and Asia together make up more than half of global growth, a slowdown here is bound to have an effect on the health of the overall world economy. So if at this point you are starting to feel a little unsettled about the future, I wouldn't blame you. Indian engine But, when in doubt, reach for the hard facts and take a deep breath - and here's what Julian Evans-Pritchard, China Economist at Capital Economics, says: "Sentiment [on China] is currently overly downbeat," he wrote on Friday. "The downside risks to short-run growth are now overstated. "Credit growth has begun to accelerate on the back of recent policy easing, which should feed through into stronger activity, albeit with a lag. The fiscal stance is also set to loosen in coming months as local governments accelerate spending to hit annual budget targets. " So if that's true - and credit growth in China is starting to pick up, those effects are typically often seen in the real economy within three to six months. Emerging markets are also in a far stronger position than they were back in 1997-98. They have stronger current account balances, higher foreign exchange reserves and mostly floating as opposed to fixed exchange rates - which means they don't have to be defended from speculative attacks. The other factor to consider is India's economy - it now claims higher growth than China's (although many analysts have questioned how those figures have been calculated) and its stock exchange - the Sensex - has seen record inflows in the last six months, attracting investors who have fled from the volatility in Chinese shares. So it could provide an alternative engine for global growth, if the government's figures are to be believed. I'll be in Mumbai, India's financial capital next week, to see first-hand how much of that growth is actually being felt on the ground. So that's all good news - and should have investors and policy-makers breathing a sigh of relief. Daily stock market fluctuations in a highly connected and globalised world are to be expected, but they shouldn't necessarily be seen as the beginning of the end of the world. What we should be paying more attention to, perhaps, is whether there are long lines outside of our banks and supermarkets. Now that's what you call a crisis.

उभरते बाजारों की मुद्राएं रिकॉर्ड निचले स्तर तक गिर रही हैं। लाखों डॉलर मूल्य के विदेशी कोष इस क्षेत्र के शेयर बाजारों से बाहर निकल गए हैं। और दुनिया भर के कुछ निवेशकों को एक बड़ी वित्तीय मंदी का डर है।


New police approach to support prison abuse victims

Summary: When the government of the day introduced the "short, sharp, shock" regime to youth detention centres, the then Home Secretary Willie Whitelaw said this: "These will be no holiday camps and I sincerely hope those that attend them will not ever want to go back there."

Chris JacksonPresenter, Inside Out, North East & Cumbria He could not have known how true that would be, but for very different reasons. On Inside Out (BBC One HD, Monday 27 January 2014 at 19:30 GMT) we hear from men who as teenagers were either raped or sexually abused by two of their warders at Medomsley in County Durham. Others claim they were physically abused from the moment they entered to the day they left. They told us they couldn't report what was being done as they felt no-one at the institution would believe them. Worse still, we heard from one former inmate who says on the day of his release he went to the police who told him to go away or he'd be rearrested and end up back in Medomsley. No wonder it's taken three decades for allegations of systematic abuse to come to light. Neville Husband who ran the kitchens was jailed for 10 years in 2003 for raping young men - police believe dozens of boys were victims over a 20 year period. A store man, Leslie Johnson was given the same sentence for similar offences. Both have since died. Now more than 140 men have come forward with claims they suffered at the hands of staff in Medomsley. Half relate to sexual abuse and half to regular physical abuse meted out at Medomsley. This time the police have a very different approach to those who have found the courage to break their decades of silence. It's hard to underestimate how the trauma they endured has been compounded by bottling it up for so long. Durham Constabulary has 70 detectives working on the case and the details of what the victims have been telling them is, in the words of Detective Superintendent Paul Goundry, "horrific". He is determined that by coming forward the police will have dealt with them in such a sensitive way that "the place they find themselves in afterwards is better". With more people coming forward all the time, a decision will be made later in the year about whether any criminal charges will be brought. Inside Out approached one of the governors who was in charge of the centre when Neville Husband was carrying out his sex attacks within the prison walls. In a statement Tim Newall said: "During my time at Medomsley the regime became more focussed on the educational and resettlement needs of the young in custody, whilst retaining the core elements of work and physical education. We worked towards strengthening future opportunities for them when they left the centre. "It came as a shock to me to learn many years later of the crimes of Neville Husband. I greatly regret that young men under punishment by the courts were subjected to serious abuse by my staff. "We had measures in place to try to provide a safe place for trainees. We had a complaints and application system explained to trainees in their first week by me. "I used to see them in their last week as well to check on their experience during their sentence and their future prospects. Senior staff and I visited all parts of the centre usually twice a day and in the evening and would regularly talk with trainees about their experience. "I took daily applications from trainees. We had a very active Board of Visitors who also visited every part of the establishment at least weekly to make themselves accessible to trainees. "All these measures were to provide opportunities to monitor the atmosphere and to enable trainees to ask questions and comment on their treatment. "All such visits by me, senior staff and Board of Visitors would include going into the kitchen to check with staff on progress. The meal was always sampled in front of trainees by a senior member of staff. "If I had had any suspicions about sexual abuse, or abuse of any kind, I would have taken action straight away. I dealt with much lesser staff disciplinary matters through the disciplinary code of the Prison Service and my staff knew I would not tolerate misbehaviour. "Neville Husband was an outstanding catering officer - he was recognised nationally as the editor of the Catering News, he had innovated systems of publishing the menu a week in advance for trainees and developed a system of choice for them (the first catering officer to do so), and we never had complaints about the food (unusual in a custodial setting). "Because of this I commented as I did in his annual reports about his performance as a cook and the team's delivery of good quality meals. "I did not have a particularly close relationship with Neville Husband outside the centre. He was an award winning director of amateur dramatics and I took part in three plays in my three years at Medomsley. "The plays took place in the premises of the church that I attended in Shotley Bridge. Throughout my service I have tried to be involved in community activities with my family. "If staff knew about the abuse taking place in the centre I am very concerned that they let the abuse continue. "All it would have taken was a word to one of the four other senior staff at the centre, members of the same union as the officers, for the matter to have been investigated by the police following a suspension of the officer concerned. "I am very sad about the pain brought about by my staff during my time at Medomsley. If I had had any hint of what was happening I would have stopped it, suspending the staff involved and setting up a police investigation." Inside Out can be seen on BBC One HD on Monday, 27 January 2014 at 19:30 GMT and for seven days on the BBC iPlayer.

जब उस समय की सरकार ने युवा निरोध केंद्रों में "छोटी, तीखी, चौंकाने वाली" व्यवस्था की शुरुआत की, तो तत्कालीन गृह सचिव विली व्हाइटला ने कहाः "ये कोई अवकाश शिविर नहीं होंगे और मुझे पूरी उम्मीद है कि जो लोग इसमें भाग लेंगे वे कभी भी वहां वापस नहीं जाना चाहेंगे।"


Traffic wardens could give dog mess fines

Summary: Traffic wardens could be given the power to hand out fines to owners who do not clear up dog mess.

Mally Boatman, an East Riding of Yorkshire councillor, said the measure would help tackle the problem. He said he regularly receives complaints about dog fouling and felt something had to be done. Councillors are set to view the proposal at a committee stage.

ट्रैफिक वार्डन को उन मालिकों को जुर्माना देने का अधिकार दिया जा सकता है जो कुत्ते की गंदगी को साफ नहीं करते हैं।


London 2012: 'Brilliant! I'm going to the Paralympics!'

Summary: Applicants for tickets to the London 2012 Paralympic Games have now all been told which events they will be going to, as the ballot process completed on Friday.

By Helen BushbyBBC News Earlier this week it was announced that remaining tickets for the Paralympics would go on sale on a first come, first served basis on 2 December. Here, some of those who applied in the first round reveal which events they have secured seats for, and their plans so far for travelling to the Games. Sarah Ellacott Sarah, 28, is a homemaker from Croydon with four children aged seven, five, four and 18 months. She home-schools her son Matthew, nearly six, who is autistic, while she waits for a suitable place at a local school to become available. She is also doing an Open University course in Politics and Sociology. "We were really, massively excited when we got our tickets - we got everything we applied for - athletics and swimming. I thought we'd be lucky to get one set, so when but we got both, it was 'Yay, we're going to the Paralympics!'. Our oldest daughter, who's seven, loves sport so she can't wait to go. Our youngest is only one so he doesn't really understand it yet, but our three-year-old will enjoy it when he sees it all. He can get excited at the thought of going to Legoland because he knows what it is, but he doesn't really understand the Paralympics yet. Matthew, who's five, isn't fully aware of what he'll be going to. But when we get there next year he'll start asking questions. All the people there will have disabilities like him but they're more physical than his. But we can tell him that just as he faces challenges, they do too, and they've managed to get to the top of their field. He'll see that he could do it too. We haven't spoken about the Paralympics since we got the confirmation we're going. Because Matthew's autistic, he lives life on a day-to-day basis. Today his obsession is trams and he says he wants to be a tram driver - it changes all the time. But he'll be very happy that we're going to the Olympics on public transport. Because we live in Croydon it will be easy to use trains to get to Stratford. I'm not going to make a decision on exactly what transport we're using until nearer the day. I'm hoping they lay on extra trains for everyone. And it's great news that he's just got into the school we applied for. He starts next week so I can stop home-schooling him. The school has already got Olympic and Paralympic posters up so I think it the staff are taking a big interest in it all, which we're delighted about. We don't know yet exactly what sport we'll be seeing but it's going to be early in the morning, so the kids will enjoy it before they get too tired. It's going to be a bit of a shock having to get up really early to get there, as you have to arrive an hour before it starts to get through security. Any extra things we do when we get there will be dependent on the kids and how they are on the day. We'll definitely have a proper look around the Olympic site though. And me and my husband are going to the Olympic handball, football and hockey so we'll have a good look round then too. It's going to be great." Kath Vickery Kath, 28, lives in Somerset and was registered blind in 2006, having been registered as visually impaired from childhood. Kath is currently unemployed and looking for a job, having previously done administrative work. She takes part in swimming competitions at a recreational level and has already got Olympic synchronised swimming tickets for London 2012. "I applied for eight swimming sessions and the closing ceremony and I got everything I applied for except one swimming session. I was really pleased - it's like a dream that I'll get to see the athletes achieve at the highest level. It was the swimming I was looking forward to most at first, but now I think the closing ceremony will sum the whole event up. I'm not having much luck in finding places to stay in London yet, prices seem to have been hiked up for the Games. I don't want to be changing on the tube so I need to work out the tube route, so even if I stay five or six stops away I can still get to the stadium. I need to work backwards and work out the route before I can book anywhere. I haven't had any help with it all, I'm trying to do it myself. I'm a bit confused by the ticket share scheme as I couldn't find all the information I wanted online [which allows disabled ticket holders to apply for an extra ticket if they require a carer to come with them]. But with the accommodation being so expensive it would make it difficult anyway. I'll be in London for about six days so I'll be hoping to do a bit of sightseeing while I'm down. But I still don't know if I'm going to have a guide dog by next year's Games - I still haven't got one so I'll just have to keep waiting." Ruth Faulkner Ruth, 21, is a student at Queen Mary, University of London, studying journalism and contemporary history. She has set up an Olympic-inspired student-led volunteering project at the university called QMSU Aspire. It aims to increase understanding and recognition of the Paralympics and parasport in her local community of Tower Hamlets, an Olympic borough. "I've been having problems accessing the Paralympic tickets website, but the money for them went out of my bank account, so that hopefully means I'll be seeing wheelchair basketball, goalball, boccia and sitting volleyball. I think it's great that I'm going, I was determined to get there, one way or another. I'm hoping to volunteer as a Games Maker as I really want to be involved. I've volunteered at a lot of sports events before, where you soak up the atmosphere but unfortunately don't get to see the competitors. This time I'll definitely see the sport as well. It'll be nice to see the stadium up close, I've already done one of the pre-tours and enjoyed it, it was really interesting. I liked learning about the environmental side of it all. It's going to be very easy for me to get to the Games because Stratford's only about 10 minutes away from where I live. So I had to go as it's so close, although I may try to stay off public transport. Paul Dunn Paul, 49, works for British Airways' HR Information Systems and lives in Wokingham. He and his family applied for Paralympic tickets after an unsuccessful attempt to buy Olympic tickets. He has also applied to be a Games Maker volunteer at the Olympic Games next year. "We got both sets of tickets I applied for - athletics. When I found out we'd got them there was a second of relief, and then it was "Yes! We've got some dates for the diary!". We'd been through the process before when we went for the Olympic tickets, and there was all the disappointment of not getting them. But this time we've got something and we're on our way. We went for these tickets partly because my wife and I enjoy watching any sort of athletics, but it's also about going to the main arena and that whole experience of being in the centre of everything. It's not just about the size and the design of the stadium, it's what it stands for and what's going to be happening there that adds to the whole thing. We haven't made any plans yet on getting to the Paralympics. We don't live that far away, and both tickets are for morning sessions, so it's going to be an early train for us up to London. That will leave us the afternoons free - either to mooch about the Olympic site and soak up the atmosphere, or we can go into town before coming home. If we do go into London, we'll probably walk along the South Bank by the Thames. There will be so many other people there and it will have a totally different feel to it, a different buzz which will only come from hosting the Olympics. I haven't heard yet if I'm going to be a Games Maker volunteer. But I've been thinking about it all. It's potentially 10-hour shifts each day so I'd have to get up early, do the shift and then get home. I live a good two hours away so that's a lot of travelling each day. I also put in to be a volunteer for Dorney Lake [the venue for the rowing and kayak events] so it would be easier if I got that as it's nearer to my home. What would be really handy is if they have some parks in London where you can camp, because I'm a happy camper as long as it doesn't rain. I haven't heard if you can do this, but it really would make sense for the Games Makers. If you can stick them all in a park somewhere, everyone will be happy to fend for themselves." Sarah Price Sarah, 26, works for School Sport Partnerships in County Durham, helping provide sport for 40 schools in the area, including disabled children. She has a passion for sport and also works with disabled people to encourage them to participate in sport. "I got tickets for everything but the opening ceremony. So I'm going to two sessions of athletics and a swimming session plus I've got an Olympic Park Day Pass. I was a bit disappointed not to get the ceremony because I think that'll be fantastic but I don't know if it's completely sold out yet. If there are any more tickets available when they come out in December at a higher price I'll try for them. I'm really excited. I've got the hotel booked - we're doing four nights over three days of events - I've have stayed longer if I didn't have to be back for work. I'm staying within walking distance of the stadium, we didn't fancy the tube. I'm coming down with my partner. We've got time free during the days and try to get into some other events, maybe cycling. While we're in London I'd like to do the duck tour on the river and go on the London Eye - there's plenty of time to book and it will be my main holiday for 2012. I'd have been really disappointed if I didn't get the events I wanted - I picked the athletes I wanted to see. I know the classifications of the athletes so I had to pick what I thought they'd compete in. I've got tickets for one of the categories Oscar Pistorius may compete in - if he's running the 400m. There'll be quite a lot of finals on the Sunday night that we're there. We'll travel down by train or plane depending on the cost."

लंदन 2012 पैरालंपिक खेलों के टिकट के लिए आवेदकों को अब सभी को बताया गया है कि वे किन आयोजनों में जा रहे हैं, क्योंकि शुक्रवार को मतदान प्रक्रिया पूरी हो गई है।


Jamal Khashoggi murder: What is Turkey's game with Saudi Arabia?

Summary: Type "Erdogan slams…" into Google and the list is endless - the UN, the EU, Israel, French intellectuals, the Netherlands, Germany. The last two were labelled "Nazis" and "fascists" by Turkey's president a year ago.

By Mark LowenBBC Turkey correspondent, Istanbul Now compare it with Mr Erdogan's words towards Saudi Arabia, which has admitted the murder of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in its consulate in Istanbul. "I have no reason to doubt King Salman's honesty," he said. His spokesman called it "a friendly and brotherly country". And yet, there has been a steady drip feed of incriminating and often macabre leaks through the pro-government Turkish media just to tighten the screws on Riyadh, amid suspicion that the powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had knowledge of, or ordered, the murder. So what is President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's game? I'm told his markedly restrained tone aims to show that this is not about Turkey versus Saudi Arabia; that relationship is too important, although already strained, to blow apart at this stage. He wants to urge King Salman to act, without directly targeting him. "If Erdogan were to tell the king to sack Mohammed bin Salman, that would be the best way to get him not to sack the Crown Prince," opined a source close to the president. Mr Erdogan didn't even mention Mohammed bin Salman by name in his address to parliament: a deliberate omission so as not to put the crown prince on his level. The aim in Ankara is to drive a wedge between the king and his son. But the key to achieving it lies not in Riyadh, but in Washington. If Donald Trump - the crown prince's staunch ally - can be persuaded to cast aside MBS, as he's known, that could be the tipping point for King Salman. Key rivals in regional power play That said, the 82-year-old king, for now at least, shows no sign of dislodging his son. One of his responses to the murder has been to announce a restructuring of the Saudi intelligence services, under the aegis of, yes, the crown prince. Feeding into all this is a regional power play. Turkey respects Saudi Arabia as the guardian of Islam's holiest sites - something that is felt keenly by Mr Erdogan's Islamist government. But they compete for influence as leaders of the Muslim world, and the crown prince has become a key rival to Mr Erdogan. He masterminded and pushed through the blockade of Qatar, Turkey's closest ally in the Middle East. He has pursued the clampdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, which is tied to Mr Erdogan's governing AK Party. And his rapprochement with Israel, Mr Erdogan's bête noire, and hard line towards Iran, with whom Turkey has reconciled, has put Riyadh and Ankara at opposite ends of regional politics. Erdogan's risky strategy Mr Erdogan sees a rare moment when the Saudis are on the back foot and is seizing an opportunity to diminish a man labelled by a pro-government columnist here "an enemy of Turkey". The fact that the United Arab Emirates and Egypt have also rushed to Riyadh's defence has only hardened Mr Erdogan's resolve. Ankara has fallen out badly with both. The Emiratis are widely suspected by the Turkish government of supporting the failed coup here in 2016 - Mr Erdogan recently called them "miserable people" - and the president will never forgive Abdul Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt for ousting the Muslim Brotherhood there. And the fact that the planes of the Saudi alleged hit squad refuelled in Cairo and Dubai en route to Riyadh will fuel suspicions of complicity. Mr Erdogan's strategy is, however, risky. Alienating the still-powerful MBS could leave Saudi Arabia ruled by a man with a deep grudge against Turkey for years to come. The staged photo opportunity of the crown prince shaking the hand of Jamal Khashoggi's son, who's banned from leaving Saudi Arabia, revealed the power he still wields ruthlessly. The message: we've reconciled, so get over it. And for now, the White House is sticking by the crown prince. "We're getting facts in from multiple places," said Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser. "Once those facts come in, the secretary of state will work with our national security team to help us determine what we want to believe." The implication is clear: form a narrative and sell it to the support base. Rarely has a story combined so much: a gruesome murder, a botched cover-up, regional relations turned upside down, geopolitics between Washington and the Middle East, and the fact that a powerful oil producer and military power risks being stained indelibly. If the Saudis thought a quick operation in Istanbul could be swept under the carpet, they made a colossal miscalculation. To read more on this story:

गूगल में टाइप करें "एर्दोगन स्लैम्स"... और सूची अंतहीन है-संयुक्त राष्ट्र, यूरोपीय संघ, इज़राइल, फ्रांसीसी बुद्धिजीवी, नीदरलैंड, जर्मनी। पिछले दो को एक साल पहले तुर्की के राष्ट्रपति द्वारा "नाज़ी" और "फासीवादी" करार दिया गया था।