Hubble Space Telescope achieves deepest cosmic view yet

Summary: Hubble astronomers have observed deeper into space than ever before.

By Jonathan AmosScience correspondent, BBC News In doing so, they have identified six new galaxies of stars that formed just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang itself. The study also updates a distance estimate for a seventh galaxy, placing it further back in time than any object previously identified. Called UDFj-39546284, this is seen when the cosmos was less than 3% of its current age. The new Hubble telescope investigation was led by Richard Ellis from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and colleagues at Edinburgh University, Jim Dunlop and Ross McLure. Its significance is that it gives us the clearest insight into how some of the earliest years of cosmic history unfolded. The data supports the notion that the first galaxies assembled their constituent stars in a smooth fashion - not in some sudden burst. "Of course, the most distant object is interesting, but it's the census - the seven objects - that gives us the first indication of the population of objects in the heart of this… era," said Prof Ellis. "If you compare the number of galaxies that we see to the abundance of objects once the Universe had expanded a little bit, we describe a very smooth decline in the number of objects as we go back into cosmic history," he told reporters. The new results stem from a project called UDF12 and centre on a tiny patch of sky in the Constellation Fornax (The Furnace). This is the location where Hubble has repeatedly stared since 2003, trying to build up a picture of objects whose separation from us is so great that their light arrives in dribs and drabs. Ellis's and colleagues' work adds more than 100 hours of observations to this extraordinary Ultra Deep Field imagery - one of Hubble's greatest accomplishments. The light being seen from the remotest objects in the UDF would have started out as short wavelength (ultraviolet) emission that was then subsequently stretched to longer (infrared) wavelengths by the expansion of the Universe. And because it has taken so long for this light to reach us, the observations are effectively looking back in time. This is difficult work, however. By the time the "redshifted" light lands on Hubble's powerful Wide Field Camera 3 instrument, it has been stretched to the very edge of what is detectable by this equipment. Nonetheless, the team believes the data is robust enough to certify the six new galaxies and the one re-classification. The objects lie in a range that covers redshifts 8.2-11.9 - the technical way of describing a period in time that runs from about 600 million years to 380 million years after the Big Bang (current cosmology suggests the Big Bang occurred some 13.77 billion years ago). The most distant object, UDFj-39546284, was first announced by Garth Illingworth and Rychard Bouwens in a Nature paper in 2011. They gave it a redshift of 10 (480 million years after the Big Bang). But the improved and extended dataset from Prof Ellis's group strongly suggests this galaxy really lies at an even greater distance. Either that or it has properties in its light emission that hitherto have never been noted in a closer object. Scientists are very keen to probe these colossal separations in time and distance because they will learn how the early Universe grew its structures, and that in turn will help them explain why the cosmos looks the way it does now. In particular, they want to see more evidence for the very first populations of stars. These hot giants would have grown out of the cold neutral gas that pervaded the young cosmos. These behemoths would have burnt brilliant but brief lives, producing the very first heavy elements. They would also have "fried" the neutral gas around them - ripping electrons off atoms - to produce the diffuse intergalactic plasma we still detect between nearby stars today. "When we look at the properties of the six new galaxies at redshifts eight and nine - they already seem reasonably mature," Prof Dunlop from Edinburgh's Institute of Astronomy told BBC News. "They've already got a reasonable amount of heavy elements from previous generations of stars. "So, in a way, the take home message is that we're still not seeing the first generation of stars - the so-called Population III stars. Even when we push to less than what is now 5% of the age of the Universe; we're still seeing second-generation, relatively evolved objects." John Grunsfeld, Nasa's associate administrator for science and the astronaut known as the "Hubble repair man" because of the number of servicing missions he flew to the telescope, commented on the latest research: "These are baby pictures of the Universe," he told reporters. "These images are giving us the tantalizing view of what happened in the very earliest stages of the Universe. This is the time when the Universe was filled with hydrogen and starts to make stars and galaxies that make the chemical elements that we are primarily made out of - the oxygen we breathe, the iron in our blood, the calcium in our bones." Going even deeper in time is going to be extremely difficult with Hubble. This will likely have to wait for its successor, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), due for launch in 2018. JWST will have a bigger mirror and more capability in the infrared regions where the light from the very first objects is expected to be found. What Hubble can do, however, is broaden its search, conducting deep field observations in other places on the sky. This will provide more reliable statistics on early populations, giving astronomers reassurance that the Fornax UDF does not represent some sort of cosmic quirk. Scholarly papers describing the Ellis group's work are being published in Astrophysical Journal Letters. Looking back in time with the Hubble Space Telescope Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos

हबल खगोलविदों ने अंतरिक्ष में पहले से कहीं अधिक गहराई में अवलोकन किया है।


Southampton's Titanic themed exhibition opens

Summary: An exhibition marking the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster has opened at Southampton City Art Gallery.

More than 300 pieces of artwork were submitted by residents from Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Wiltshire and Dorset to a competition held on the theme. The winning entry was by Graham Scott, with his graphic work titled It's Not About Boats. Judges said it "displays a beautifully executed level of detail". Retracing the Unsinkable will run from 17 March to 29 April.

टाइटैनिक आपदा की 100वीं वर्षगांठ को चिह्नित करने वाली एक प्रदर्शनी साउथेम्प्टन सिटी आर्ट गैलरी में खोली गई है।


PG Wodehouse: Why India still holds a flame for the English author

Summary: PG Wodehouse, creator of Jeeves and Bertie Wooster, was the most English novelist imaginable. His comic world was old-fashioned well before he died 45 years ago - crammed with disapproving aunts in hats, eccentric aristocrats and wealthy young men about town getting into scrapes. But he has countless fans around the world - not least in India, a country Wodehouse never set foot in.

By Vincent DowdArts correspondent, BBC News Navtej Sarna had a highly distinguished career in the Indian Foreign Service. There were stints as ambassador to both London and Washington DC. But before that he spent a short time with the Indian industrial conglomerate Tata. He recalls the final paper of the entrance exams, which he sat in 1980. Applicants were required to select one essay to write from various options supplied. "I looked unhappily at this list of rather involved economic and business topics," he says, "all of which I knew I might struggle with. And then I was saved by the last one: 'A Wodehouse a Day Keeps the Doctor Away'. So that's what I wrote about and it got me the job." It might seem odd that 40 years ago a massive South Asian business concern would assume job applicants might still be familiar with such utterly English works. In fact Pelham Grenville Wodehouse (1881 - 1975) became an Indian favourite even as quite a young writer - though he never went there and he barely mentions India in 71 of his novels or in his many short stories. Yet he was read there avidly and his most popular books still sell in English-language bookshops. 'I just fell in love' Sarna says being taught in schools in India where the teaching is all in English his first reading in the 1960s wasn't so different from that of British children a few years before - Enid Blyton, Jennings and Billy Bunter. "But I began to outgrow them and then I discovered Wodehouse. It wasn't difficult because my father had at least 40 of his books - I just fell in love with his characters and humour and especially with the way he used words. I think that may be his appeal for English-speaking Indians - his delight in the English language. "We had old Penguin paperbacks and some of the original hardback copies published in London by Herbert Jenkins like Uncle Fred in the Springtime. We read them so much as a family that we had to go into the market in Dehradun and ask to get them rebound - they were falling apart. "Although the English left after independence (in 1947) there was still a close intellectual linkage with India's English-speaking administrative and professional class. The fondness for Wodehouse was part of that. "I think one must admit that the world has changed and people under 40 now are perhaps less likely to read him in India. They exist in a world of iPhones and Netflix and social media - perhaps Wodehouse is too much from a different time." Keeping the flame alight online Another long-standing fan of Wodehouse is Sushmita Sen Gupta. She lives in Delhi but has been a member of the UK Wodehouse Society almost since it began. She agrees with Sarna that younger Indians now have less time for the gentle comedies of Plum Wodehouse, as he was known. (Indian fans refer to themselves as plummies.) "But the positive news is that in other ways the internet helps we plummies too. India is a vast country with a vast population so it used to be that fans could only discuss their Wodehouse addiction with their family or a few friends," she says. "Now we have online groups and even in lockdown we've been keeping our Wodehouse discussions going online. "I grew up in a house stuffed with books in English and in Bengali. My mother wanted me to read English classics such as Charles Dickens. But I had two uncles who were just mad about PG Wodehouse. When I was 10 or 11, I was given one of his books - I think it was the school story The White Feather. I've never stopped reading him and I read the biographies too. "I remember that Wodehouse inspired my uncle to tell us the best way to say goodbye was always to say 'ta ta, chin chin, toodeloo'. So it's what we always said. We loved it and now I've been collecting his books for half a century, since I was 14." Small screen adaptations In Britain there is a hard core of Wodehouse readers, intermittently replenished whenever TV throws out a new clutch of adaptations. In the mid-1960s the BBC adapted the Jeeves and Wooster stories with Dennis Price and Ian Carmichael in the lead roles of the series The World of Wooster. Between 1990 and 1993 ITV had a real hit with the series Jeeves and Wooster, with Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie widely praised for their performances. The most recent series was the BBC's Blandings in 2013. Perhaps surprisingly, it's decades since Wodehouse characters starred on the big screen. Sarna thinks an overlap remains between British humour and the humour enjoyed by Indians who grew up speaking English at home and in school. "I know people sometimes say the world Wodehouse described hasn't existed for many years. As I grew up, I think I realised that his world had perhaps never existed at all," he says. "But for instance, families such as mine would play the board game Monopoly and we would see street names such as Piccadilly and Pall Mall - it all seemed part of the same world as Wodehouse with its clubs and the bobbies in their helmets and the red London buses. "There are generations of Indians who grew up with an affection for those things. Later on in life you realise that much water has flown. But it doesn't change the fact that a book like The Code of the Woosters is an absolute classic with sheer joy in his use of language. Aunts, clubs and tea "And as I grew older I appreciated what you might call the non-ideology of his books. There is almost no politics, except in a few brief satirical mentions. It's a never-never world without problems. The nearest you get to a tragedy is someone losing a hat or their hot-water bottle being punctured. "So much of the detail has echoes in India: we have our aunts, we have clubs - and of course we love drinking tea. A valet like Jeeves would also be excellent but I don't think that's very likely." Sen Gupta draws a parallel with a more recent comedy popular on Indian TV. "There was an Indian version of the BBC series Yes, Minister called Ji Mantriji. The administrative class which runs the Indian bureaucracy adored it because exactly the same jokes worked here too. "It's the same with Wodehouse - there's a real sense of the absurd and little bits of satire you might not expect. Maybe before 1947 Indians enjoyed the fact he was making fun of the English ruling class - but we see ourselves in his comedy too." Sen Gupta is looking to social media to keep interest in Plum Wodehouse going in the future. "We had a thriving Yahoo group but these days mainly we use WhatsApp. A few years from now probably the contact will be in some new way not even invented yet. "It would be sad to think his readers in India will all grow older and die off. And probably the audience will grow smaller - but I am sure there'll always be Indians to adore his humour and language and that innocent sense of fun."

जीव्स और बर्टी वूस्टर के निर्माता पीजी वुडहाउस सबसे अधिक अंग्रेजी उपन्यासकार थे जिनकी कल्पना की जा सकती थी। 45 साल पहले उनकी मृत्यु से पहले उनकी हास्य की दुनिया पुराने जमाने की थी-टोपी में नापसंद चाची, सनकी अभिजात वर्ग और शहर के बारे में अमीर युवाओं से भरी हुई थी। लेकिन दुनिया भर में उनके अनगिनत प्रशंसक हैं-कम से कम भारत में तो नहीं, एक ऐसा देश जिसमें वुडहाउस ने कभी पैर नहीं रखा।


Young drug users offered support over prosecution

Summary: Young people found with "small quantities of illegal drugs" will be given the opportunity to engage with support services to avoid prosecution.

Thames Valley Police is rolling out a "drug diversion" scheme for under 18s to "reduce the harm caused" by illegal substances and drug-related crime. It is hoped the approach will prevent reoffending and demand on officers and judicial services. Figures show drug-related deaths hit their highest level for 25 years. The force-wide roll out comes after the scheme was tested in West Berkshire in 2018 and then Windsor and Maidenhead in January this year.

"कम मात्रा में अवैध मादक पदार्थों" के साथ पाए जाने वाले युवाओं को अभियोजन से बचने के लिए सहायता सेवाओं के साथ जुड़ने का अवसर दिया जाएगा।


'Green shoots' for traders reporting Christmas sales up

Summary: Last year in a series of reports from high streets in Wales, Crunch Christmas, we reported on how shops were faring in the battle with recession. We have returned to the same businesses to see what difference a year makes.

In December 2011, in Cardiff, and 16 miles away in the market town of Cowbridge in the Vale of Glamorgan, retailers reported mixed trading conditions, with many concerned about the future. Cowbridge has a reputation for designer shops and boutiques but last year businesses reported a rise in window-shopping as opposed to spending. In tough times changes have to be made and increasingly more retailers are turning to social networking sites, Facebook and Twitter, to boost their businesses. Melissa Cowen, owner of high-end clothing boutique L'Armoire, says Facebook and Twitter have been invaluable for her business. Ms Cowen said: "I think it really increases the awareness of your business and that can translate into sales. 'Investment pieces' "I also have a lifestyle blog that is sent directly to my customers and that really works. You can see it translates to people coming through the door." Ms Cowen had previously said customers were more careful about what they spent their money on. "People are buying investment pieces, classic items," she said. "I've built my customer base up - I started in the midst of the credit crunch in 2009 - and having that really good relationship with customers is important and when they come in you know what they want. "I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing in 2013." More established shops are also changing with the times - with some even opening on Sundays, which for years retailers managed to avoid. Karen Hutchings, director of Goose Island, began opening on Sundays over a year ago. She has also turned to Facebook and Twitter to reach shoppers. Goose Island has been trading for about 17 years. "We've been doing a lot of that, we've been sending news letters to customers," said Ms Hutchings. "We've also been buying better, we've been travelling to Italy and buying the clothes directly, cutting out the middle man, and passing the savings on to the customer. "It means the customer would save about £15 on a dress." 'Green shoots' Many businesses in Cardiff have also reported a more positive Christmas. Anna Knight, owner of Nest Vintage Living in Rhiwbina, opened three years ago. "Green shoots are coming through, but shoppers are still cautious," she said. "We're up on last year's figures for the whole of December people I meet at trade shows have been saying business is great." Ms Knight also turned to Facebook and Twitter. "Advertising costs a lot and this is free advertising," she said. "It's about communicating with our shoppers and reminding them that we're here. "People are managing their money better and we've worked very hard. I think we're doing well because we're working very hard." Gift and coffee shop Garlands in Llandaff has suffered mixed fortunes this Christmas. Business is much improved on last year and owner Sarah Thomas has seen a more "buoyant" shopper. But the shop has had thousands of pounds worth of stock stolen following two break-ins last month. "It's been horrendous," Ms Thomas said. "They took the roof off , emptied all the handbags from the front of the shop and all the jewellery." More than 60 handbags, worth over £100 each, were taken. "We had to close for four days and we've never had to close before, not even in the snow," she said. Buoyant shopper But the team pulled together and got the shop, which opened 20 years ago, back up and running. "Apart from that we're having a good Christmas," she said. "We're seeing a more buoyant shopper than last year. There's usually a slow build up to Christmas from October but we just had a rush at the very end last year. "This year we've got more flower orders than last year. Our shoppers are still cautious in their spending but there's the occasional shopper who's happy to spend." Clare Heydon, manager of Vom Foss in Royal Arcade, Cardiff, which sells oils, vinegars, spirits and liqueurs has experienced a lift in mood. "Overall it's really positive and we're ticking along nicely," she said. Vom Foss opened 19 months ago and Ms Heydon expects sales to pick up further in the remaining days before Christmas. "I think over the next few days we'll see a real rush," she said. "I know from talking to other business people that trade is up this year."

पिछले साल वेल्स की ऊँची सड़कों, क्रंच क्रिसमस की रिपोर्टों की एक श्रृंखला में, हमने बताया कि मंदी के साथ लड़ाई में दुकानें कैसे आगे बढ़ रही थीं। हम उसी व्यवसाय में लौट आए हैं यह देखने के लिए कि एक साल में क्या अंतर पड़ता है।


A83 road in Argyll re-opens after Butterbridge landslip

Summary: The A83 road in Argyll has re-opened almost 24 hours after a landslip closed the carriageway at Butterbridge.

Contractor Bear Scotland said traffic lights would remain in place, and that there would be another short closure on Monday morning for rock removal work. The landslip near the Rest and Be Thankful, at about midday on Sunday, caused an almost 60-mile detour. An emergency diversion using the Old Military Road was not possible because of where the slip happened.

बटरब्रिज में भूस्खलन से कैरिजवे बंद होने के लगभग 24 घंटे बाद आर्गिल में ए83 सड़क फिर से खुल गई है।


Coronavirus: The volunteers feeding the NHS

Summary: As NHS doctors and nurses in intensive care units across the UK battle to save as many lives as they can, outside their hospitals, networks of volunteers are ensuring these key workers get fed and know they are appreciated.

By Dhruti ShahBBC News "You can't save an entire nation on an empty stomach," says Alick Varma, a tech entrepreneur and one of the co-founders of Meals for the NHS. It is one of the grassroots organisations popping up in an attempt to ensure that no NHS worker goes without food during the coronavirus crisis. In just a few days, he and his other co-founders have raised more than £200,000 and set up a network to deliver to 17 hospitals in London, providing free hot meals to NHS staff. The food hasn't gone just to doctors and nurses but to others playing a vital role in keeping the hospitals running - from security guards to cleaning staff. Mr Varma adds: "On Sunday I was talking to a doctor friend and when I heard how staff were doing 18-hour shifts - and it's not that they don't have canteens, it's just the canteens weren't really open or there wasn't anything on offer other than something they could grab from a vending machine - it really hit home the need to get meals to doctors and nurses." The team has already provided hungry NHS workers with several thousand free meals. Its members are in the process of applying to become a charity but at the moment have set up as a company to help them organise logistics. Andrew Muir Wood, one of the other co-founders, says they have made sure to team up with businesses close to the hospitals, as they wanted to help the communities and local economies to continue to thrive during the lockdown. They are not the only ones, though. In Wembley mother-of-three Daksha Varsani has galvanised an entire community to help make Indian meals and sandwiches to send to hospitals in London and beyond. She's set up the Covid-19 Response Kitchen. Mrs Varsani, who is from Newham, said she was moved to take action after watching a video posted by Yorkshire nurse Dawn Bilbrough, who was left in tears after being unable to find or buy any essential supplies after a gruelling shift. "I saw the video and then decided something had to be done," she said. "Lots of family and friends offered to help after I put a post up on my social media and it's snowballed from there." After tracking down two chefs with the correct food certifications, a batch of 50 meals was sent to staff at London's Northwick Park Hospital, where her niece is working in its Covid unit. Then she teamed up with Desi Dhaba, a restaurant in Wembley, and Katie-Louise Barber, a mother-of-three from Barnet who was also fundraising. They spread the word so that more and more people and businesses got involved and more deliveries were sent to hospitals across the capital. So far, they have delivered at least 5,000 free meals and are looking to expand further. Mrs Varsani said: "People want to help. There is a demand and we want to meet it. We've seen nurses crying and telling us this is something they need." But she stressed that it was imperative that those making the food they were delivering to the hospitals had the right certification, such as local-authority registration and food-hygiene certificates, plus the correct insurance. "Only the chefs cook... All volunteers wear masks, hair nets, aprons while handling food." She said they followed a "strict" regime washing hands, sanitising and wearing gloves. Meanwhile in Peterborough, Aleksandra Zarnowiec and her husband, Pawelco, are now planning to deliver free bubble teas to hospital staff weekly. The couple, who own the Double Bubble Tea House, say it is an opportunity to give back. Ms Zarnowiec said: "We were pretty much forced to close because of the government lockdown so all we can do is deliveries. "We were trying to think about what we could do to help and thought, well the only thing we know how to do is to make good bubble tea, so let's give that to the hospital workers." In Inverclyde, baker Ros Paterson's ovens are rarely off. She thought her business was at risk after the Scottish government told cafes and gyms to close. But when a friend asked to buy a box of brownies to send to staff at Inverclyde Royal Hospital, it set up a chain of human kindness. "I put a post up on social media and said if people want to buy a box of brownies at a 40% discount, I'll deliver them for free to the hospital. In the first day about 40 boxes were ordered. I thought a few orders would come in but not so many. People were sharing [the post] left, right and centre. "It's helping me to retain my sanity, even if I'm not making much money from it. It's giving people a way to give back." The sole trader added: "We have to take care of the people who take care of us." Of course, they are not the only ones. Fundraising pages are being set up nationwide for local and regional initiatives. In Cardiff, traders calling themselves Holy Yolks have set up a Help the Heroes campaign and far exceeded their £200 target for a weekly shop for NHS staff. Al Maidah is providing 1,000 meals a week for NHS staff at North Manchester General Hospital; Nandos staff have dropped off food parcels at hospitals around the country, while volunteers from Khalsa Aid have taken hot meals to exhausted NHS staffers, too. Fast-food chain Leon has launched a not-for-profit campaign called FeedNHS. Hospitals around the country have gratefully accepted the food parcels and staff have taken to social media to say thanks personally. However, some hospitals have been so inundated they've had to ask people to stop the deliveries for now. All the organisations that have emerged say they need help to sustain the demand, especially during these uncertain times. Andrew Muir Wood, of Meals for the NHS, said: "We've estimated that we need to raise £1m of funding just to feed the hospitals we already have on board for the next 90 days." If you want to Make A Difference get in touch with your BBC Local Radio station at bbc.co.uk/makeadifference

जैसा कि पूरे ब्रिटेन में गहन देखभाल इकाइयों में एन. एच. एस. डॉक्टर और नर्स अपने अस्पतालों के बाहर अधिक से अधिक लोगों की जान बचाने के लिए संघर्ष कर रहे हैं, स्वयंसेवकों के नेटवर्क यह सुनिश्चित कर रहे हैं कि इन प्रमुख श्रमिकों को भोजन मिले और उन्हें पता चले कि उनकी सराहना की जा रही है।


Five visions of the future of music

Summary: Welcome to the (not so) distant future.

By Paul GlynnBBC Music The year is 2018. Music is changing fast, but can the humans keep up? Here's a handful of possible outcomes. Go boldly everybody. 1) Your favourite singer is not real One of Japan's biggest pop stars Hatsune Miku (above) is not a real person. But that small detail didn't prevent the humanoid singer from releasing another new music video last week. It won't prevent her from lining up some duets in the future - given that she's already collaborated with Pharrell. If the name of the fictional J-pop act is unfamiliar, then try this one on for size: Roy Orbison. The Big O died in 1988 but now his 3D hologram world tour will come to life, alongside the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, on 8 April in Cardiff. His son, Roy Orbison Jr, who hopes his dad's avatar will one day have a Las Vegas residency, says: "We're really excited we got the opportunity to do this: the first big tour of a deceased artist with a hologram. "I don't think it's possible yet for the hologram to walk out into the audience so there's definitely a lot of potential for live application." He adds: "But most importantly this is just the icing on the cake. "The cake is those amazing songs that my dad wrote and his incredible voice." Rapper, activist and actual woman M.I.A believes virtual alter egos can benefit living musicians too. "Artists are at the cusp of embracing AI. But what is political activism in AI phase?" she pondered at Meltdown. "I think 'Should I make my next video in virtual reality instead of me?'. I find that sexy - new technology. "I could take the hippy route of singing to people face-to-face... or I could stream my virtual shows to people's bedrooms around the world so you can be at my show wherever you are." She went on: "The amount of data AI can pick up on is so fast growing that the future me will be way better anyway! "But will the future me be less politicised?" Speak to James Skelly of Merseyside psych rockers The Coral and he'll tell you he would have made the digital changeover years ago. He says: "We wanted a holographic version of The Coral, when we were first doing well in about 2002, to tour Japan as us. "If there was a group that could do another gig, as well as us, and we could split the profits, I'd be up for it! "But you need songs - it's always about songs." For all we know, the future may have already started for Guy Garvey of Manchester band Elbow. "How do you know that we are not already holographic?" he quips. Well, quite. 2) The live parameters have shifted From the hippies at Woodstock in 1969 to Ed Sheeran and his loop pedal at Glastonbury this summer, the festival experience has been forever changing. By next summer, virtual and augmented reality - as well as "3D mapping" - could mean they are more interactive than ever before. Ben Robinson, creative director of Bluedot Festival at the Jodrell Bank Observatory (you know, the one in Hitchhiker's Guide), is giddy at the thought of "shifting the parameters". "We had Orbital playing [in 2017] who, 20 years ago, were the very cutting edge, looking at lasers and light production making it more than just some guy standing on a stage," he says. "Now today the incorporation of visuals and the production that goes on is quite insane. "3D mapping manipulates the look and feel of a 3D object. It's been done on castles to make them look like they've fallen down. "Now people can experience being on the stage with the artists. Or the gig could move off the stage. "We are a generation spoiled with possibilities." Animated heroes Gorillaz hosted their own one-day festival, Demon Dayz, at Margate theme park Dreamland last summer. Co-creator Jamie Hewlett told the Daily Star that he and Damon Albarn may be getting "too old" but Ben sees no reason why the show can't go on without them. "In the past a band's legacy was they left a record and VHS recording of a concert. Now they can leave the tools for someone else and be just as effective 50 years in the future." 3) The recording studio is in your laptop Noel Gallagher confessed to Radio X's John Kennedy last month that he had never actually met the bass player on his new album Who Built The Moon? Jason Falkner was doing his thing down the line from LA, while Noel was having his mind blown in Belfast and London. Noel said: "It was the entire opposite to the thing I've ever done. My thing with Oasis was being in a room with a bunch of people and eye contact. "Here I am at two in the afternoon talking to a guy on an iPad and for him it's four in the morning and I can hear the song coming through his speakers and he's saying 'What do you think of this? Maybe if I do that?' "And I'm like 'this is so far out it's unbelievable'." Butch Vig, former Nirvana producer and drummer with Garbage and 5 Billions in Diamonds, confirms such technology is also now available to new bands, who are short on cash but long on distance and imagination. "There's a new editing programme where you can be working on the same song in real time in different cities," he says. "You have to be creative with the tools you've got and, because of the digital technology, everybody can have a really powerful recording studio in your laptop." Beth Orton (who incidentally describes Hatsune Miku as "the music industry's perfect woman") embraced such kit on her latest album Kidsticks and in some cases preferred computer-generated sounds over actual instruments. She says: "The ability to play the keyboard and the sound to be any sound possible was very freeing. That would influence the melodies that you created." But just a little of that human touch still goes a long way in the creative process. "Even making an electronic record it was about the connection with the producer and the other musicians. "I personally like a bit of imperfection." 4) There's a direct line between you and your favourite act Jack White's Third Man Records reward their subscribers with deliveries of exclusive limited edition pressings. DJ Gramatik went a step further last week by becoming the first artist to "tokenise" himself, meaning fans who buy the token using the cryptocurrency Ether can potentially share in his future revenue. Jeff Smith from music databse Discogs believes such block chain technology will "set a direct line from creator to consumer to be able to send things directly, without any form of piracy". He says: "We could see subscription platforms, like Third Man Records, being able to send out Jack White exclusives without them being traded or shared in any way." That's not to say that fans won't still crave physical records and material from their new crypto-favourites. "We're definitely seeing a universal unplugging and physical music becoming a major part of people's lives again." London hip hop star Loyle Carner is not currently available in token form and he's happy to keep fans waiting for the follow-up to his Mercury-nominated 2017 album Yesterday's Gone. "A song comes out and people say 'I like that - OK now I'm bored of that. Where's the next one?'," he explains. "Singles are like chapters from a book and if you want to hear my music you've got to wait for it." 5) But new music technology is not for everyone For all the head-bending future technology, for many, music always was and always will be about the people... man. Neil Hannon from the Divine Comedy says: "I'm going to come across as a complete Luddite now but I believe music only gets worse the further you take people and humanity out of it. "I foresee if they insist on going down this non-existent route then you're only going to get another punk of some description that rewrites the rulebook." Punks like Irish rockers The Strypes maybe? Bass player Peter O'Hanlon says: "Our fresh approach will be that we just come and play the gig! Everybody else is flying across the stage and we just stand in front of you and play." Guitarist Josh McClorey agrees: "The other stuff is cool, but it's a gimmick." Compatriot Lisa Hannigan won't be found jamming over the internet or appearing live as a hologram anytime soon. "I don't think that's going to be my bag of chips!" says Lisa. "I just like rocking out a jam with my friends. I can barely work the camera on my phone. "Cancel the Lisa Hannigan Hologram tour. We've lost the cable!" Just because you can, doesn't always mean you should and as we hurl ourselves into the new age, fellow folkee Marcus Mumford prefers to hold on to the sacred spirit of the past. He says: "I don't know what the future of music is going to look like but if I'm not playing I don't want no part of it. "If it sounds good and people are having a good time, then it's enough for me." Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.

(ऐसा नहीं) दूर के भविष्य में आपका स्वागत है।


Scottish Mussel: Pearl poaching inspires new Talulah Riley rom-com

Summary: A new romantic comedy involves one of Scotland's most notorious forms of wildlife crime - freshwater pearl mussel poaching. Scottish Mussel's writer, director and star Talulah Riley hopes the movie draws greater attention to the plight of one of the world's most endangered molluscs.

By Steven McKenzieBBC Scotland Highlands and Islands reporter For her directorial debut, actress Riley plumbed new depths - the chilly, fast-flowing rivers of the Scottish Highlands. Her film's story centres on the illegal harvesting of freshwater pearl mussels. Scotland is one of the few places in the world where Magaritifera margaritifera continues to be under serious threat from poachers. Hundreds of dead mussels, their shells broken open by people hoping to find a rare pearl, have been found in recent years on riverbanks in the Highlands and Western Isles. Riley got the idea for the script from her crime writer father Doug Milburn. "My dad is Scottish and he is always sending me stories about Scotland," she said. "Years ago he sent me a story from a newspaper on freshwater pearl mussel poaching. "In writing the script I did a lot of research on the internet, but also got help from Peter Cosgrove, who is an expert on freshwater pearl mussels. He also gave us some poached shells for use in the film." What are freshwater pearl mussels? These molluscs are similar in shape to common marine mussels, but can grow to the size of your hand and live up to 130 years in fast-flowing rivers. Early in their lifecycle they live harmlessly on the gills of young salmon and trout. Loss of habitat and pollution are among the reasons for the dramatic decline in their numbers. Scotland's Highlands and Islands are among Britain's last strongholds for the critically endangered species. But Scotland is also unusual in being one of the few places where the mussels continue to be seriously threatened by illegal poaching, according to Scottish Natural Heritage. Piles of broken mussel shells have been found in recent years on riverbanks after being poached by criminals trying to find their rare pearls. In history, getting to the prized pearls was said to have been among the reasons for Julius Caesar's first Roman invasion of Britain in 55BC. Modern day efforts to protect and conserve the mussels include 2009 police project Operation Caesar and Pearls in Peril. Riley hopes some of those in the film's audience will be surprised to learn there are pearl mussels in Scotland. "Most people might associate pearls with oysters and more exotic places, and not the cold rivers of Scotland," she said. "They are hugely important to ecosystems. A lot of attention is given to the ice caps and polar bears but mussels, like bees, need help and a greater awareness to their plight." Riley, who appeared in Inception and Thor: The Dark World, co-stars with Joe Thomas, Martin Compston, Paul Brannigan, Rufus Hound and Harry Enfield. Filming was done in locations in Scotland in October last year. Thomas, a star of The Inbetweeners TV series and films, is no stranger to Scotland, being a regular visitor to the Edinburgh Fringe. He has also visited Inverness and Skye, where Inbetweeners producer Chris Young is based. "Thankfully we were filming too late in the year for midgies, but it was pretty much winter by the time we finished," said Thomas. "During filming the wind blew down the changing area. It was like the scene from Jurassic Park where the walls and the ceiling fall down on a building. We were left exposed to the elements." Thomas added: "Being in a film about molluscs wasn't on my list to be ticked off. But the script is intelligent with genuinely funny jokes. "The mussels make it original. They were an added attraction to me." Riley and Thomas will also be interviewed on The Janice Forsyth Show on BBC Radio Scotland on Tuesday between 14:00 and 16:00. Scottish Mussel will be released in cinemas later this year.

एक नई रोमांटिक कॉमेडी में स्कॉटलैंड के वन्यजीव अपराध के सबसे कुख्यात रूपों में से एक शामिल है-मीठे पानी के मोती मुसेल का अवैध शिकार। स्कॉटिश मुसेल के लेखक, निर्देशक और स्टार तलुलाह रिले को उम्मीद है कि यह फिल्म दुनिया के सबसे लुप्तप्राय मोलस्क में से एक की दुर्दशा की ओर अधिक ध्यान आकर्षित करेगी।


Belly fat: What's the best way to get rid of it?

Summary: Muffin top, spare tyre, blubber, belly fat, beer belly - a multitude of names but they all mean the same thing. Abdominal fat. And in the summer many turn to quick fixes to get rid of it, writes Saleyha Ahsan.

The problem with belly - or abdominal - fat isn't just the way it looks on the beach. It could be a sign that your health is at risk. Belly fat is around our midriff - the subcutaneous fat that we are referring to when we ask if you can pinch more than an inch and also the visceral fat around our organs, like the liver, pancreas and intestines. Last year I had an MRI scan which showed me the fat I had around my own organs and it was a sobering moment. Fat around our vital organs can lead to adverse health effects. Find out more Saleyha Ahsan (pictured) is one of the presenters of Trust Me I'm a Doctor: Summer Special, on BBC Two, Tuesday 12 July at 20:00 BST - catch up on BBC iPlayer Take the test: How can I lose an inch of belly fat in four weeks? Visceral fat is believed to be more metabolically active than subcutaneous fat and has a higher turnover. If you gain weight you put it on there first - and if you lose weight, you lose it from there first. Although it is considered the more dangerous to our health, the good news is that it is easier to shift than the subcutaneous fat. But the question is how. On health and fitness websites you can see the promise of "spot reduction" of belly fat. These are the quick-fix tricks that promise to help melt fat away. But how reliable are they? The Trust Me I'm A Doctor team have done some experiments to finally get to the bottom of it. So how do you get rid of it? We recruited 35 volunteers - splitting them into four groups - along with two experts in the field of exercise and diet. All the volunteers carried abdominal fat which gave them waist sizes that put them in the danger zone for type-2 diabetes and heart disease. Fredrik Karpe, a professor of metabolic medicine from the University of Oxford, and Prof Dylan Thompson, from the University of Bath, each had to come up with two methods to try with the four groups, aligned with their own areas of expertise. Before the experiment, each person had their health parameters taken. One of the most crucial measurements was a DEXA scan - short for dual X-ray absorptiometry - to get a really detailed picture of the amount of fat everyone had and where it was distributed. Other health parameters were measured - resting heart rate, blood glucose, blood lipids, weight, blood pressure and of course waistline measurements. Prof Thompson took on two groups for two types of exercises, while Prof Karpe took two groups for two dietary interventions. The first of Prof Thompson's groups wore monitors to check activity throughout the day and the volunteers were told to eat as they normally would. He gave them simple lifestyle changes to make them more active and increase their daily step count. Prof Thompson's second group was given a classic internet belly-fat fix - sit-ups. Each volunteer did six exercises three times each - every other day over the six-week period. Sit-ups or stomach crunches Lie on your back, knees bent and feet flat on the floor, hip-width apart. Place your hands on your thighs, across your chest or behind your ears. Slowly curl up towards your knees until your shoulders are about three inches off the floor. Hold the position for a few seconds and lower down slowly. Source: NHS Choices The third group, monitored by Prof Karpe, was given the task of following another popular online belly fat reduction suggestion - consuming up to three glasses of milk (one litre) a day. There has been research suggesting that dairy consumption might promote fat excretion. Fat comes out in the faeces rather than being absorbed. The fourth group was the diet group. They were not told to change the type of food they ate. Their task was simply to reduce portion size, measuring foods with their hands and fingers. They were also told to cut out snacks between meals. The aim was to make this as easy to follow as possible - if people are given separate meal plans from the rest of the family it can be difficult to follow and more expensive. A dietician supported this group through the process, giving the volunteers coping strategies if they were suffering from hunger pangs. She had individual sessions with everyone at the start and continued to support them during the six weeks with phone calls. At the end of the six-week period, all the participants were tested again on waistline, blood cholesterol, blood glucose and blood pressure. The results were rather revealing. The first exercise group didn't lose any fat, but their health markers vastly improved, with drops in blood pressure and one participant even reducing their blood glucose levels from being in the diabetic range to normal. The sit-up group didn't lose any weight and didn't get any healthier through their parameters. But they did lose an impressive 2cm (0.8in) from their waistlines. Prof Thompson explained that this was due to an improved core strength and the muscles in the abdomen just holding their fat better. A bit like a muscle version of body-shaping underwear. But a good core is beneficial for protection against lower back pain and improves posture. Turning to Prof Karpe's groups - the milk drinkers didn't show any change in weight or health. However although they were being asked to consume an extra 400 calories a day they didn't gain any weight or fat. Prof Karpe thought this might be to do with them being too full from milk to eat as they normally do. The clear winner was the diet-control group. This group lost a collective 35kg (77lb) between them which was an average of 3.7kg (8.2lb) each over just six weeks. Their average waistline reduced by 5cm (2in). The DEXA scan readings were the most interesting with 5% less body fat and an impressive 14% reduction of the dangerous visceral fat inside the abdomen. This group lost overall body fat as well as abdominal fat. They also saw improvements in the health parameters. But they did lose some muscle tone from their legs, which is not a good thing. Thus, the conclusion is that if you want to bust the belly fat in a healthy and effective way, it's the age-old advice of a combination of diet and exercise. Leave the fads where you found them. Follow @BBCNewsMagazine on Twitter and on Facebook Trust Me I'm a Doctor: Summer Special is on BBC Two, Tuesday 12 July at 20:00 BST - catch up on BBC iPlayer

मफिन टॉप, स्पेयर टायर, ब्लबर, बेली फैट, बीयर बेली-कई नाम हैं लेकिन उन सभी का मतलब एक ही है। पेट की चर्बी। और गर्मियों में कई लोग इससे छुटकारा पाने के लिए त्वरित सुधारों की ओर रुख करते हैं, सलीहा अहसान लिखती हैं।


In pictures: China bans 'bizarre' architecture

Summary: The Chinese government has issued a new directive banning "bizarre architecture", and criticising some of the "oversized, xenocentric, weird" buildings in the country.

China has seen a number of architectural gems springing up in recent years, including one building shaped like a teapot and another that has been likened to a pair of trousers. Under the new directive, buildings are to be "economical, functional, aesthetically pleasing" and "environmentally friendly". Here is a selection of the more adventurous buildings that have been developed. Related content: Chairman Zhang's flatpack skyscrapers: A Chinese entrepreneur who took just 19 days to build a 57-storey tower says he has triggered a construction revolution. And his dreams soar far, far higher.

चीनी सरकार ने "विचित्र वास्तुकला" पर प्रतिबंध लगाने के लिए एक नया निर्देश जारी किया है, और देश में कुछ "बड़े, विदेशी केंद्रित, अजीब" इमारतों की आलोचना की है।


Can education change Japan's 'depressed' generation?

Summary: Every lesson at Japanese schools starts with a simultaneous bow. "Let's try that again because your posture wasn't good," says a teacher to a room full of six and seven-year-olds.

By Mariko OiBBC News, Japan She then reminds the children to have their pencil boxes, notepads and textbooks on top of each other and placed at the left corner of their desks. The students obey without a single word of objection. A few hours later, they queue quietly before being served their lunch. Towards the end of their education this conformist attitude is still evident. Each year, more than half a million university students start looking for work together. The first step is to perfect a handwritten resume, or CV, because many in Japan believe that students' characteristics and personalities can be judged by the way they write. All dressed in a black "recruit suit", they then visit hundreds of companies. Bold hues of black, navy or dark grey are the recommended colours for their job-hunting suits. Stripes are not encouraged. According to the teachers and career counsellors, it is considered risky to be fashionable. 'Withdrawn' generation The job-hunting season is a huge part of Japanese life and has even influenced the nicknames given to different generations. In Japan, there is no Generation X, Y or Z. Born in 1981, I belong to the "employment ice age" generation when university graduates struggled to find work because of the state of the economy. It is believed to have resulted in the highest number of "withdrawn" or "hikikomori" who refuse to leave their rooms after feeling rejected by the society. The generation before us was much luckier and is known as the "bubble" generation, because the Japanese economy was at its peak as they entered workforce. There are stark differences between those who witnessed Japan's booming economy and today's youth. There are a number of nicknames for them: the "relaxed" generation is most commonly used because they were educated under a revised system aimed at freeing children from cramming, or intensive learning. The "enlightened" generation is another, and it implies that they had only known Japan in its economic decline and had learned not to expect anything, including wealth or even sex. Their low self-esteem and unhappiness are obvious in the government's annual survey of the country's youth, aged between 13 and 29. Fewer than half of those surveyed (45.8%) said they were happy with themselves, compared to 86% in the US, 83.1% in the UK, or 71.5% in South Korea. Depressed youths Nearly 80% of Japanese youth felt depressed in the week of the survey, which is more than double the figure for Germany. One-third of them don't think they'll be happy when they are 40. It is also a generation that is known not to take a risk. For example, the number of youths studying overseas has fallen by nearly 30% between 2004 and 2012 (from 82,945 to 60,138). That's according to data collected by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. "I studied English at school but I have no desire to study it further to be able to work abroad," says Yoko Sato, whom I met at a recruitment forum in Tokyo. "If I get a job with a Japanese company, that'll be much more stable." It is an attitude that comes from the parents, says William Saito, who advises the government. "Parents are mortally afraid of their children falling off what's known in Japan as the escalator, because of what they have gone through. "So if you don't go lock-step with your peers in finding a job and getting a promotion, they feel that they'll be left behind and that the disparity will increase," he adds. Even after they get a job, more than half of new recruits at Japanese companies say they don't want to be deployed abroad, according to the Japan Management Association. Education overhaul The government wants to change this mindset. It hopes to double the number of Japanese students who study abroad by 2020. It has also changed the education curriculum so that all primary school children will learn English from the age of 10 when they're in grade 5. Under the previous system, students in public schools did not learn the English language until they were at a junior high school at the age of 13. But it takes more than just language skills, and the government is trying to overhaul the education and employment systems as part of its economic policy known as Abenomics, after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. "In Japan, people try to get into a good college in order to get into a good company, but it becomes a very narrow window of how you evaluate a person," says Mr Saito. He also describes the current recruiting process, which differentiates between new recruits and mid-career employees, as "discriminatory" because it has failed to make the best use of the country's talent. For decades, Japan has produced millions of class-A students who would work long hours and devote their lives to their employers. They were the army of salarymen behind Japan's recovery from World War Two. But to make the future generations more competitive abroad, the old systems need to be reformed.

जापानी स्कूलों में हर पाठ एक साथ धनुष से शुरू होता है। छह और सात साल के बच्चों से भरे कमरे में एक शिक्षक कहते हैं, "चलो फिर से कोशिश करते हैं क्योंकि आपकी मुद्रा अच्छी नहीं थी।"


History will judge Fidel Castro impact - Obama

Summary: "History will judge the enormous impact" of Cuba's former leader Fidel Castro on the world, US President Barack Obama has said.

The death of Castro, one of the world's longest-serving leaders, was announced by his brother Raul on Friday night. Castro came to power in 1959, and ushered in a Communist revolution. He defied the US for decades, surviving many assassination plots. Supporters said he returned Cuba to the people. Critics called him a dictator.

अमेरिकी राष्ट्रपति बराक ओबामा ने कहा है कि क्यूबा के पूर्व नेता फिदेल कास्त्रो के दुनिया पर भारी प्रभाव का "इतिहास न्याय करेगा"।


Ebola tests on Swindon Great Western Hospital patient

Summary: A patient who recently returned to the UK from West Africa is being tested for Ebola at a Wiltshire hospital.

The patient was transported to Swindon's Great Western Hospital earlier and is being kept in isolation. Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said the patient was being screened as "a precautionary measure". It said the hospital had "robust systems" in place to manage patients with suspected infectious diseases and people "should not be concerned".

एक मरीज जो हाल ही में पश्चिम अफ्रीका से यूके लौटा था, उसका विल्टशायर अस्पताल में इबोला के लिए परीक्षण किया जा रहा है।


Brexit: The UK has officially left the EU - what happens next?

Summary: It's official - the UK has left the European Union.

A cause for celebration for some, a sobering moment for others. The UK formally ended its EU membership at the stroke of midnight on Friday in Brussels, 23:00 GMT in London. A projection of a countdown clock in Downing Street marked the occasion. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has hailed the "dawn of a new era", promising "real national renewal" after 47 years of EU membership. With the divorce now sealed, one chapter of Brexit has come to an end. The next, however, has only just begun. This is where we are now. What will change? At first, not much. An 11-month transition period has begun and the UK will largely stick to EU rules. The really big changes will come when that transition ends. But the EU really is now a club of 27 members and not 28. In other words the UK stays for now in the EU's customs union and single market. That means the same trade rules and free movement of goods and services. Freedom of movement for people stays the same and the EU's top court still has jurisdiction. But there will be no more British voices in the European Parliament and no British ministers at EU meetings where big decisions are made. Instead, the UK will try to agree a different economic partnership with the EU and forge new ones beyond. President Donald Trump has already dangled a "massive" trade deal. What does it mean for me? If you're British you are no longer an EU citizen. But for now you can still travel around the EU as freely as before. The same goes if you're an EU citizen in the UK. But after the transition period, which the UK vows will end on 31 December 2020, immigration rules will change for UK and EU citizens. The 3.5 million EU nationals in the UK have until June 2021 to apply to an EU Settlement Scheme, but if there's no deal on future ties the deadline is the end of this year. The 1.3 million UK citizens in the EU may need to apply for residence status. After transition, the UK is planning a points-based immigration system, which will affect anyone, whether from the EU or not. UK citizens will be able to visit the EU for up to 90 days at a time, but they will need a visa waiver, which will cost €7 (£6.30). What happens now? The UK and EU will use the next 11 months to negotiate a new relationship. Few on the EU side believe that is long enough, including EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, but Boris Johnson has vowed to do so. They want a free trade agreement that sets out the terms of trade, employment standards and environmental rules and other issues between the UK and the EU. New arrangements on security, travel and immigration will need to be agreed too. Trade deals usually take years, so if the two sides get to the end of 2020 without an agreement, brace yourselves for a possible "no-deal Brexit". If that happens, the UK could face higher food prices and disruption to medicines and other goods. It would trade with the EU on terms set out by the World Trade Organization, and that means tariffs. How did we get here? The UK joined what was then the European Economic Community in 1973 and had a referendum backing the decision two years later. As the bloc expanded and became the European Union, it became a political as well as economic bloc. Objections grew among some politicians to the idea of "ever closer union among the peoples of Europe", which was agreed by the EU in 1992. But it was not until the Conservative Party decided to hold a new public vote that leaving the EU became a possibility. That became known as Brexit. An "advisory" referendum was held on 23 June 2016. Leave won by a close margin of 51.9% to 48.1%. Three years of rancorous EU-UK negotiations on the divorce terms followed, and the UK government struggled to get the Withdrawal Agreement through Parliament. It all changed when Boris Johnson took over as leader of the Conservatives and won an election in December 2019, giving him the numbers to push the deal through Parliament. What is the Withdrawal Agreement? The main points are: Under the UK's legislation on the Withdrawal Agreement, extending the 11-month transition is prohibited. Will the UK's exit make much difference? The UK was among the big players in the EU, and one of the big contributors after Germany and France. It paid an average net contribution of £7.8bn (€9.3bn; $10.2bn) a year into EU. So when it stops paying in at the end of 2020, there will be a sizeable gap in EU finances. The UK's strong contribution to EU defence and foreign policy has been much welcomed by the other states and will certainly be missed. No other EU countries are currently planning their own version of Brexit. In fact several states are trying to join. For the EU and UK, the next 11 months are pivotal, but relations will never be quite the same. "Whatever agreement we reach on our future relationship, Brexit will always be a matter of damage limitation," the EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said this week. Please upgrade your browser Your guide to Brexit jargon Use the list below or select a button

यह आधिकारिक है-ब्रिटेन ने यूरोपीय संघ छोड़ दिया है।


The abandoned buildings of the Eastern bloc

Summary: Christian Richter spent his teens exploring abandoned buildings in what was then Communist East Germany. As an adult he's still doing it, but now he takes a camera to capture the advancing decay of their interiors.

My childhood was surrounded by the industrial, crumbling buildings of the former German Democratic Republic - lots of ramshackle structures, and power stations. I was 14 years old when the Berlin Wall came down. It was a huge change for us. People didn't know how it would all turn out. It was very exciting - the start of something new. At first we visited the West a lot just to see what it was like, and although quite a few people moved away, I stayed. Because so many people had left, everything began to fall into disrepair. That's when I started visiting abandoned buildings, sometimes with friends and sometimes on my own. Then much later, when a friend gave me a digital camera, I was able to capture the beauty of these old places. Find out more They are very peaceful places because no-one ever goes there. The way they deteriorate, when nature starts to take over, reminds me that everything is transient. There's a feeling that it is the end of time and you don't find that kind of atmosphere anywhere else. Over the past seven or eight years I must have visited about 1,000 buildings in Germany, France, Belgium, Italy and Poland. I have to go to a lot of places to get one good image or find something that excites me - many of them are just empty and not particularly beautiful. It's often hard to get inside - I've had to find tunnels or climb through windows. I've travelled long distances to see a building and then found it's been torn down, or I simply couldn't get in. Sometimes I can tell there might be something special inside, but it's more like a game of chance - maybe I'll find something, maybe I won't. At some point I may hit the jackpot but there's a lot of work behind it - it's very hard to find this kind of beauty. I once got a tip-off about an old doctor's surgery and I think I was the first person to go inside for 10 or 15 years. It was full of cobwebs and felt slightly mystical. It was like going back in time. The way the light was coming in gave it an amazing atmosphere. Former industrial plants are also falling into ruin, and psychiatric hospitals have been closed down. No-one looks after them and there's no money for their upkeep - it would be too expensive to preserve them. When the roof is falling apart and water comes through the ceilings, moss and lichen grow. If the windows are closed it can get very warm in summer and plants start to take over. Often there's a very mouldy smell, but I like it when nature starts taking the building back, and when things are blooming and growing inside. We used to have lots of inns in the east of Germany - every village had one, with a bar, a ballroom, a function room or a theatre. But as people have left the villages and moved to the towns, they're just not used any more. When I see an old building in this state I can imagine its former glory, but it's always sad that it's falling apart and not being used. I keep the locations secret to stop vandals damaging them - some people don't value them and when they get inside it's not just the plants taking over, it's people who are tearing down the banisters or spraying graffiti tags on the walls. If someone wanted to restore a building, they could write to me and if I thought they were actually the kind of person who might genuinely do something to help, then of course I would try put them in touch with the right people. That would be theoretically possible, but it hasn't happened yet. I never break in - I always try to find a way to get inside that doesn't involve damaging anything. That might mean going through a hole in the cellar, over a fence, through cracks, through a window - there's a lot of climbing involved. It's hard work and I have to be quite fit. Some buildings are so tightly secured that you have to be a real climber in order to get in without breaking anything. It is illegal to go into these places and I have been stopped by police - I've been escorted out of buildings two or three times and issued with a notice, but they've never pressed any charges. They seem to let it go because I'm just taking photos. Some of these places are very atmospheric, very moody. I once photographed a former crematorium where bodies had been burned. It made a deep impression on me. Another time, I found a beautiful room with a skylight in an abandoned five-star hotel. I think it was a dining room - I could see the old columns and the dirt on the crumbling floor, and this enormous skylight was covered in curtains, and the light was spilling into the whole room. Then there was an old public bath, possibly built in the 19th Century, with the original changing rooms, magnificent columns and stucco on the ceiling, and of course a big pool in the middle, without water - but on the walls there were the beautiful colours they used back then, yellows and reds, big contrasts. It was really stunning. The real beauty for me is discovering these places. The photos aren't exactly secondary but they come alongside the discovery itself. I take the photo to give other people a sense of what it's like. I think people like them for the same reasons I do - this beauty and sadness mixed up. I think people can identify with the fact that even if you have a wonderful, big house right now, at some point everything will decay. Even palaces and villas are transient. Interview with Christian Richter and translation by Jo Impey. More from the Magazine Exploring the grandiose buildings and industrial infrastructure left over from the USSR is a popular pastime for some young people - but not the faint-hearted. Known as urban exploration, the hobby involves climbing high-rise buildings, towers and bridges, or going deep underground. Russia's vast territory is dotted with industrial sites, some of which are unused and empty. The urban explorers of the ex-USSR Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.

क्रिश्चियन रिक्टर ने अपनी किशोरावस्था को उस समय के कम्युनिस्ट पूर्वी जर्मनी में परित्यक्त इमारतों की खोज में बिताया। एक वयस्क के रूप में वह अभी भी ऐसा कर रहा है, लेकिन अब वह उनके अंदरूनी हिस्सों के बढ़ते क्षय को पकड़ने के लिए एक कैमरा लेता है।


New IMF chief, old rules of the game

Summary: It's not a done deal that a European will replace Dominique Strauss-Kahn as head of the IMF, but if Christine Lagarde formally threw her hat into the ring, my understanding is that her candidacy would be hard to beat.

Stephanie FlandersFormer economics editor As I said on Today this morning, it's awkward for the Europeans and the US because this time was supposed to be different. The rise of the G20 and the reorganisation of votes in the World Bank and IMF to give more power to the Bric countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) was supposed to come with a more "open" and "merit-based" approach to hiring the heads of these global institutions. And "open" in this context was supposed to mean "not European". That is the message of a letter sent to G20 colleagues by the Brazilian finance minister yesterday, in effect, warning against a stitch up by the US and Europe. The emerging world can also point to several strong candidates for the job - such as Agustin Carstens, the Mexican Central Bank governor who has spent a good chunk of his career in Washington, and Kemal Dervis, the former Turkish finance minister and UNDP chief. But the reform of the voting system has not done anything to prevent the US and Europe forming a blocking majority. If Europe can get the Americans on their side, then another European will replace Mr Strauss-Kahn. Though they are sensitive - rather more sensitive - to the demands of the emerging world, the Americans also have to be sensitive of the fact that Congress will not continue to support the World Bank if America loses the top job there. The US is unlikely to get European support for another American to replace the current World Bank president, Bob Zoellick, if America refuses to back a European for the IMF now. All of which is to say, we have all the ingredients of another stitch-up. But this time, the Europeans do at least have practical necessity on their side as well as an undeserved but traditional sense of entitlement. When people talked about an "open and transparent" process two years ago, the IMF didn't have three active programmes in Europe. As I said on Monday, the international community were preparing to find a replacement for Mr Strauss-Kahn anyway, when and if he had decided to run for president in France. In that sense, his shocking arrest is more important for France than for the IMF or the crisis in the eurozone. But, even if his exit was broadly anticipated, it still leaves a massive hole. The past two years have confirmed that eurozone leaders don't have good mechanisms for coming up with solutions to crises - and those that they do have tend to move very slowly. Frenchmen have traditionally made good IMF chiefs. (All the duff ones, in recent years, have been from other parts of Europe.) But even by past standards, Mr Strauss-Kahn was exceptional, and exceptionally well-suited to the time. There are lots of people inside the Fund who can speak the language of current and capital account crises and fiscal adjustment. There aren't so many - inside or outside the institution - who can do that while also speaking the language of European politics and engaging, as an equal, with European leaders. Mr Strauss-Kahn could do all that at a crucial time. President Sarkozy will perhaps be relieved to have Mr Strauss-Kahn out of the way. But the French are just as spooked by the financial crisis as anyone else, and he has his work cut out winning the trust and respect of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Would it help him, or the eurozone, to have Christine Lagarde at the IMF? Quite possibly. She has the gravitas and experience at the top table which other candidates - including Philip Hildebrand, the Swiss central bank governor the Germans are thinking about supporting - do not have. To return to where I began - the emerging market economies will put up a strong fight, but under the circumstances a Lagarde candidacy would be hard to stop. And the fact that she's a woman doesn't hurt one bit. Update 14:50: Axel Weber's name is doing the rounds as Chancellor Merkel's preferred candidate for the IMF job. Having spent the past two days talking to European officials in Brussels, my sense is that she is not thrilled by the idea of Lagarde taking the job, and has been persuaded that Axel Weber is the only person with a CV that stands comparison with the French finance minister's. As I said earlier, the Swiss central banker, Philipp Hildebrand, has some support in Germany, and he is well known in Washington circles. But he is young and relatively untested, and might not be helped by his time in New York at the hedge fund, Moore Capital. Axel Weber is more of a heavyweight, who has been a familiar figure on the international financial circuit for many years as head of the Bundesbank. He also, from Germany's perspective, has the advantage of being a traditionalist when it comes to little matters like inflation and budget deficits. If you think the IMF needs a firm hand on the purse strings after a period of throwing a lot of money at the financial crises, Weber is the man for you. But, even with these advantages, Chancellor Merkel knows that Axel Weber would be a very hard sell, and not just to the emerging market economies who want a non-European. Weber is somewhat lacking in diplomatic skills and inspires a lot of mixed feelings in Washington - especially when compared with Lagarde. If Merkel knows she can't win, experience suggests she will not want to publicly put her weight behind Weber. But the Americans are sensitive to Germany's feeling that France has had the job too often - and there is bad blood on this issue dating back to the late 1990s, when the Americans blocked Germany's first choice for the job. All of which is to say... this is still very much up in the air.

यह एक सौदा नहीं है कि एक यूरोपीय आईएमएफ के प्रमुख के रूप में डोमिनिक स्ट्रॉस-कान की जगह लेगा, लेकिन अगर क्रिस्टीन लेगार्ड ने औपचारिक रूप से रिंग में अपनी टोपी फेंक दी, तो मेरी समझ यह है कि उनकी उम्मीदवारी को हराना मुश्किल होगा।


Carmarthen man in court over historical child sex abuse

Summary: A 61-year-old Carmarthenshire man has appeared in court accused of historical sex offences against children.

Robert Davies Hughes, of Johnstown, Carmarthen, is accused of nine indecent assaults and three attempted indecent assaults. It is alleged the offences took place in Carmarthen and Hereford in the 1970s and 1980s. Mr Hughes' solicitor Andrew Issac told Llanelli Magistrates' Court his client would be "firmly denying" all charges. Thursday's hearing was adjourned and Mr Hughes was bailed ahead of his next appearance at Swansea Crown Court on 17 July.

एक 61 वर्षीय कार्मार्थेनशायर व्यक्ति बच्चों के खिलाफ ऐतिहासिक यौन अपराधों के आरोप में अदालत में पेश हुआ है।


What do we know about unexploded WW2 bombs?

Summary: Hundreds of thousands of bombs were dropped on Britain during World War Two, some of which never exploded, so perhaps it should not be a surprise that they are still being found more than 75 years after the end of the war. But how much do we know about them?

By Charley AdamsBBC South West The discovery of an unexploded World War Two bomb in Exeter resulted in a military response, thousands of residents being evacuated from their homes and extensive damage to nearby properties. After being discovered on an allotment due for development, the 2,200lb (1,000kg) German bomb was blown up on Saturday in a controlled explosion, leaving a crater the size of three double-decker buses. Residents have all been allowed back into their homes but many of the properties are "uninhabitable" according to Exeter City Council. About 300 students are still waiting to be allowed back into their accommodation. The BBC has spoken to a series of experts about the wider questions surrounding unexploded ordnance. How did the bomb get there? Exeter was the first victim of the Baedecker Raids on English cultural centres during World War Two, made in response to the British bombing of Lübeck. The raids were named after the Baedeker guidebook used by the German military to select historic targets in England. The Blitz of Exeter in April and May 1942 "was the single most destructive event in the city's history since at least the attack by the Vikings in 1003" said Dr Todd Gray. The historian from the University of Exeter said the recently discovered bomb most likely fell during one of these attacks, when the city was targeted for morale rather than for strategic purposes. Nearly 300 people died, more than 1,700 buildings were destroyed, 7,000 high explosives and incendiary bombs were dropped and 40 high explosive bombs did not detonate. The sound of the bomb being exploded on Saturday was "ferocious", but Dr Gray said he felt "quite thankful" to have heard the noise as a reminder of what it would have been like at the time. "That bomb going off reminds us what that generation in 1940s went through," said Dr Gray. "It's sobering, but now and then something like this is good for us to think about." The bomb was discovered near Exeter St David's railway station in an area not covered by a "bomb census". "There's bound to be I would have thought one or two more somewhere," he added. Could there be more nearby? Emily Charles, a World War Two curator at the Imperial War Museum said the exact number of bombs across the country was not known and it was "really hard" to work out where unexploded bombs could be. The allies kept a detailed record of bomb damage inflicted on British cities during the war called the bomb census, said Ms Charles. They created maps to show the most damaged areas, which can give historians a "better picture" of where unexploded ordnance could be, she added. The most common type of bomb used in the Blitz was about 500lb (226.8kg), meaning the 2,200lb (1,000kg) bomb detonated in Exeter was "particularly large" said Ms Charles. However, she stressed it was "not uncommonly large" and bombs of this size had been found in recent years. Could they explode? A guide on managing the risk of unexploded devices was released by the Construction Industry Research and Information Association (CIRIA) in 2019. The CIRIA guide said ordnance could be reactivated by either direct impact, vibration or heating. The lack of fatalities in instances when construction teams discover unexploded devices "is particularly because of the Germans commonly using electrical fuses in WW2 that stopped functioning when the battery expired", said the guide. "What makes unexploded bombs dangerous is their unpredictability," said Ms Charles. She told the BBC there were "not huge scientific studies" on how explosives degraded or whether they got more deadly over time. "So I think the best course of action is to treat them as if they are deadly." That the bomb was detonated in a controlled explosion and houses suffered damage, proves they can still be dangerous, she said. There are multiple reasons that bombs do not detonate upon landing, explained Ms Charles, such as faulty fuses, defects or the way they land. She said people should call the police if they spot any suspected explosive devices. How much is there across the country? The Ministry of Defence says since 2010 it has been involved with making safe 450 German WW2 bombs - about 60 a year, the BBC Reality Check team revealed in 2018. However, these figures do not factor in the involvement of private companies that can also dispose of unexploded devices. This can make it difficult to establish exact figures for how many are dealt with each year across the country. A specialist from one such private company, Zetica UXO, told the BBC that since World War Two "45,000 unexploded bombs have been found and more are being found all the time". Official records, which can often be understated, predicted around "200,000 plus bombs were detonated" during the war said Mike Sainsbury. He said it was estimated that "another 10% or so" did not explode. The CIRIA guide reveals an estimated 15,000 items of unexploded ordnance were removed from construction sites between 2006 and 2008 by three clearance firms. Clearance efforts after World War Two were extensive, but some unexploded devices were "either deemed not to present a risk… or too inaccessible for practical removal", said the guide. How to detonate an unexploded bomb? Bomb disposal experts say they had no choice but to detonate the bomb because the fuse was so corroded they could not tell what type it was, or if it had been booby trapped. A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said explosive ordnance teams from the Royal Navy and Army worked with local authorities to safely dispose of the bomb. Military teams worked for 24 hours to build protective structures and trenches to minimise the impacts of the blast and used more than "400 tonnes of sand" to mitigate the explosion. Follow BBC News South West on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to spotlight@bbc.co.uk. Related Internet Links Ministry of Defence

द्वितीय विश्व युद्ध के दौरान ब्रिटेन पर लाखों बम गिराए गए, जिनमें से कुछ में कभी विस्फोट नहीं हुआ, इसलिए शायद यह आश्चर्य की बात नहीं होनी चाहिए कि युद्ध समाप्त होने के 75 साल बाद भी वे अभी भी पाए जा रहे हैं। लेकिन हम उनके बारे में कितना जानते हैं?


Coronavirus: 'Temporary morgues' planned in Republic of Ireland

Summary: Irish government officials are working on a plan to set up temporary mortuary facilities to deal with an expected "surge" in deaths from the coronavirus.

The details were outlined during a press briefing by Liz Canavan who works in the Department of the Taoiseach (Irish prime minister). Ms Canavan described the issue as very sensitive, according to Irish broadcaster RTÉ. "We are still in the preparation phase to deal with the surge when it comes." Ms Canavan is the department's assistant secretary for social policy. Since the outbreak began, the Republic of Ireland has recorded 19 deaths of patients who had been diagnosed with Covid-19. A further 255 new cases were confirmed on Thursday, bring the country's total to 1,819. Government and public health officials expect that the numbers infected will rise significantly in coming weeks.

आयरिश सरकारी अधिकारी कोरोनावायरस से होने वाली मौतों में संभावित "वृद्धि" से निपटने के लिए अस्थायी मुर्दाघर सुविधाओं को स्थापित करने की योजना पर काम कर रहे हैं।


Notre-Dame fire: Paris blaze inspires help for US black churches

Summary: The outpouring of generosity in response to the fire at Notre-Dame cathedral has led to a renewed focus on fundraising for black churches in the United States that were destroyed by an arsonist earlier this year.

The influx of sympathy and money for the churches led to the appeal reaching its target of $1.8m in three days. On Monday, as French firefighters tackled the blaze at the 850-year-old building, Louisiana resident Megan Romer tweeted her sadness over the cathedral's destruction. However, she also took the opportunity to divert her followers' attention to three other churches devastated by fire that did not have billionaires queuing up to save them. "If you are going to donate money to rebuild a church this week, I implore you to make it the black churches in St. Landry Parish," Ms Romer wrote. She was referring were three historically black churches in Louisiana that were subject to arson attacks in late March and earlier this month. St Mary Baptist Church, the Greater Union Baptist Church and the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church were razed to the ground. When Ms Romer wrote her appeal, the fundraising page of the three churches was far short of its $1.8m goal - with fewer than $100,000 raised. While acknowledging the huge importance of the French cathedral, she wrote: "Remember that famous history isn't the only history. Imagine the courage it took to build and fill a black house of worship in post-bellum rural Louisiana. And now." She also reminded people that the parish had been the site of the deadly Opelousas massacre in 1868. Since Monday, her tweet has been shared more than 37,000 times as word spread all over social media. Influential figures like Hillary Clinton and CNN anchor Jake Tapper pushed the fundraising page to their followers. "The rebuild of Notre-Dame will be well-funded," wrote journalist Yashar Ali, who donated $1,000 to the fund. On Wednesday, total donations for the three churches passed $1m with more than 18,000 people donating. Later that evening, Ali tweeted the $1.8m goal had been reached, including $20,000 donated by model Chrissy Teigen. "It shows that the church is not only fireproof, but it's also faith-proof," Pastor Mason Jack told local news channel News15. "To get calls from New York, and across the country and to show love for our sister churches means a whole lot to us," he said. All three of the Louisiana fires were started with gasoline and occurred around Opelousas, about 60 miles (100km) west of the state capital of Baton Rouge. Holden Matthews, 21, a son of a local police deputy was arrested over the fires and has now been charged with hate crimes. He pleaded not guilty during a court appearance on Monday. During the search for a suspect, Governor John Bel Edwards said the attacks were a reminder "of a very dark past of intimidation and fear".

नोट्रे-डेम कैथेड्रल में आग लगने के जवाब में उदारता के कारण संयुक्त राज्य अमेरिका में अश्वेत चर्चों के लिए धन उगाहने पर नए सिरे से ध्यान केंद्रित किया गया है, जिन्हें इस साल की शुरुआत में एक आगजनी करने वाले द्वारा नष्ट कर दिया गया था।


Coronavirus journey: The 'last cruise ship on Earth' finally comes home

Summary: The three last cruise ships still sailing with passengers will dock today - and one has had quite the odyssey.

By Owen AmosBBC News The MSC Magnifica left Europe in January, and was in the other corner of the world when ports began to close. With nowhere to go, the Swiss-owned ship started the long journey home. Its passengers, used to a new port every few days, last felt land six weeks ago. On Monday those passengers will finally get off in Marseille, having last disembarked in Wellington. Their voyage has included political storms, presidential pleas, one death, and - despite it all - plenty of fun. When the Magnifica left Genoa, Italy, on 5 January, the world looked very different. The "unknown pneumonia", as it was called, did not have a name. No one had died, the World Health Organization said, and just 59 people were infected, all in Wuhan. It is safe to say most of the Magnifica's 1,760 passengers - mainly Italian, French, and German - had not heard of the virus. And so, as they watched the sunset from the boat's Bar del Sole, or ate in the Quattro Venti restaurant, spirits were high. At the helm was Captain Roberto Leotta, from the small town of Riposto in Sicily. Captain Leotta has worked on cruises for 32 years, after three years on tankers and one in the Italian navy. Like many people from Riposto, his father and grandfathers were sailors. "It is something that is in my DNA," he tells the BBC. After leaving Europe, the ship stopped in Cape Verde, off the west coast of Africa, before heading across the Atlantic. By the time they docked in Brazil on 19 January, the virus had left China, and Captain Leotta had noticed. "We were always in contact with all the local authorities," he says. "[But it was] after South America the situation became more concerning." The ship left Chile on 21 February, reaching Pitcairn in the South Pacific three days later. By now, cruise ships were in the news. Ports were closing their doors. Passengers from quarantined ships were dying. And the Pacific island of Aitutaki - just east of the International Date Line, population 2,000 - was worried. Cruise ships and the coronavirus The Magnifica was due in Aitutaki, famed for its turquoise lagoon and white sand, on 2 March. But as the coronavirus crept closer, local concerns grew. The island relies on cruise money but they asked the national government - the Cook Islands - to ban all cruises. The ship, which was virus-free, was allowed to dock on the main island, Rarotonga, but not Aitutaki. For the first time, Covid-19 had changed the plans of the MSC Magnifica's passengers. One of those passengers was Andy Gerber, then aged 69, from Bern in Switzerland. The Magnifica was his 20th cruise. In Auckland - the next stop after the Cook Islands - he enjoyed a beer in the sunshine; in Napier he admired the art deco; in Wellington he rode the cable car. But the big one was Sydney, a week after Wellington, where he would turn 70. "A long time ago I reserved a steakhouse to celebrate with a bunch of friends," he tells the BBC. Until Australia, the Magnifica's itinerary was a blessing. In January, as the coronavirus emerged in Asia, the ship was far away in South America - where the virus wasn't recorded until late February. When it visited New Zealand, just five cases had been confirmed - all of them travellers, or their partners or relatives. But as the Magnifica approached Tasmania on 14 March, the coronavirus had caught up with the cruise ship. The island had six cases, and things were getting worse. The ship had permission to dock in Hobart, but Captain Leotta knew passengers may return with more than souvenirs. "We decided it was much better for our passengers to remain safely on board," he says. The world - which seemed so big when they left Genoa in January - was suddenly much smaller. "It was clear," says Captain Leotta, "that there was basically nowhere to go." And so, in Sydney, the captain confirmed the news: the world cruise was over. They were heading home. The trip of a lifetime had become half the trip of a lifetime. Instead of the steakhouse, Andy Gerber celebrated his long-awaited 70th on board the ship, as the sights of Sydney were tantalisingly in view. How did he feel? "At first - terrible!" he says. "But after the shock, we were grateful the captain decided not to let us ashore, as this meant we were 99.999% clean [of the virus]." When the cruise was cancelled, passengers were allowed off - under strict conditions - in Sydney and Melbourne, if they wished to make their own way home. A few hundred did so, but most settled down for the ride: five weeks, 12,000 miles [19,000km], and a whole new meaning to long-haul. The ship was supposed to head north to New Caledonia in the South Pacific. Instead it went south, and sailed straight into a political storm. When a cruise ship wants to dock, it must provide the port with medical records, to show there are no contagious diseases on board. As the Magnifica approached Fremantle in Western Australia, the records showed around 250 people had visited the medical room in the past two weeks. Many were for painkillers, or dressings - routine visits. Crucially, there was no sign of Covid-19 on board. The Magnifica wanted only to refuel and resupply in Fremantle - not disembark. So, as he sailed up the coast, Captain Leotta was surprised to see the news conference from Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan. "Currently more than 250 passengers [on the Magnifica] have reported upper respiratory illnesses," Mr McGowan announced. "This morning I have contacted the prime minister…I will not allow what happened in Sydney to happen here. "We will not allow passengers or crew to wander the streets. This is a non-negotiable position." Somehow, Mr McGowan had the wrong information. Wires were crossed. The Magnifica was leading the news, when its passengers were healthy - and didn't want to get off anyway. The company insisted there were no respiratory diseases or flu symptoms on board. But Western Australia then accused MSC of "inconsistent advice" - something MSC denied. Either way, when it arrived in Fremantle, the ship was greeted by the police and border force - to make sure no one got off - and a handful of protesters. "Let's say that was not nice," says Captain Leotta. "It was disappointing, first of all because it was fake news. It was wrong. And you can imagine, this news went all around the world immediately." Despite the disagreement, the Magnifica was allowed to resupply in Fremantle, before heading onwards. But it would soon be in the headlines again. As the TV crews filmed the Magnifica in Fremantle, and the politicians gave their news conferences, Anura Herath was below decks, out of sight, working hard as usual. Being a chef on a cruise ship is hard enough. It's even harder when the passengers aren't disembarking for meals. But Anura, from Kandy in Sri Lanka, is used to hard work. The 31-year-old has been a chef for seven years, since graduating from a hotel school in Sri Lanka. After working in his home country, he moved to hotels in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, before joining MSC in August 2017. "In Dubai, the salary is enough, but I could not save much," he says. "So I decided to join the cruise line, because I can save, and I can travel the world." After Australia, the Magnifica's plan was to sail to Dubai for a "technical stop". But that, too, became impossible so they decided on Colombo, capital of Sri Lanka. By now, Anura didn't want to sail back to Europe. Would he be quarantined, and if so, for how long? How would he get home? And so, he went to his bosses with a plan: let me off in Colombo. Although it seemed to make sense, Sri Lanka would not allow anyone to disembark. He would have to see his homeland appear, and then disappear, from below deck. So, on 4 April - two days before Colombo - Anura, while wearing his chef's whites, recorded a 94-second video message for the Sri Lankan president and prime minister. Let me off, he said in Sinhalese. I am the only Sri Lankan on board. It will be too hard to get back from Italy. After publishing the message, Anura went to work. He shared it with a journalist friend in Sri Lanka, but didn't expect much. After finishing work in the small hours, he went back to his cabin. "I tried to sleep, but my family called me and told me to look on Facebook," he says. "So I looked - and so many people were sharing this message." On Ape Rata - the Sri Lankan site that picked it up - the video was watched half a million times. Now everyone wanted to speak to the chef from Kandy. "Politicians, navy, army, so many people called," he says. "It was like a dream. Everything was very fast." The Sri Lankan president decided to relax the rules and so, as the Magnifica arrived in Colombo to refuel, the navy brought Anura ashore. "I prayed for it, but I didn't believe it would come," he says "Everybody helped me - all the Sri Lankans." For Captain Leotta - who had the final say - it was another first in a journey full of them. "We were proud of him," he says. "He really did the impossible to get off the ship." As it turned out, Anura wasn't the only one to get off in Colombo. A 75-year-old German woman, who needed urgent (non-Covid) care, was also taken ashore and, sadly, later died. As for Anura, he is still in quarantine at the naval centre in Boossa, but hopes to see his mother in Kandy soon. As it pulls into Marseille on Monday, the Magnifica will be one of three cruises still sailing with passengers, the Cruise Lines International Association says. The other two are also due to disembark today: the Pacific Princess in Los Angeles, and the Costa Deliziosa in Barcelona (it will also drop off passengers in Genoa afterwards). For Andy Gerber, who turned 70 in Sydney harbour, life on board "the last cruise ship on Earth" has been enjoyable, despite the lack of shore visits. "There is still plenty to do if you want," he says. "Gym, games, shows, dance classes… "We have two pools and perfect weather, plenty to eat and drink, and we have made a lot of friends - especially during all these sea days." A Facebook forum is also upbeat. Covid-19 never reached the Magnifica and neither, it seems, did cabin fever. What do I need to know about the coronavirus? While there are some complaints - mainly about other passengers - there are plenty of pictures of singing and dancing. A picture of one performance on 10 April is captioned: "Maybe this is the only theatre in the world still open." And - despite it all - the man at the helm also has happy memories of his truncated tour. "We found ourselves [globally] in a situation where Covid-19 has been isolating people, and distancing people," says Captain Leotta. "Here was the opposite. We became like a family - our guests and our crew together. The spirit has been beautiful." But what of the cruise industry? Can it recover from the bad press, the cancelled bookings, and all the other problems Covid-19 brought? "We will return to cruising, and we will return better prepared than before with more experience. We are learning a lot, we will be there stronger than ever before."

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