Hard climb: Injured pro-climber on his rocky recovery

Summary: Dave MacLeod has struck new climbing routes on some of the UK's most challenging cliff faces. But, in October, a run-of-the-mill climb ended in a bad injury. Recovery has been a rocky road.

By Steven McKenzieBBC Scotland Highlands and Islands reporter Two years ago, MacLeod and fellow climber Tim Emmett completed a gruelling new route live on television. The pair achieved their feat with barely minutes left before the broadcast had to drop off air. Later dubbed Usual Suspects, after the 1995 film starring Kevin Spacey, the climb is one of the toughest on Sron Ulladale, a towering rock face on the Harris in the Western Isles. The following year, MacLeod, now 34, made the first free climb of Longhope Direct, a route on St John's Head, on Orkney. St John's Head is the UK's largest sea cliff and rises to more than 343m (1,128ft). In free climbing, ropes and equipment are only there as protection against a fall and cannot be used as an aid. In the months that followed, MacLeod completed a new free climb in Norway and shot a film about bouldering in Switzerland. Last summer, he struck a new climb at an overhang, or roof, in ancient sandstone cliffs on the isle of Raasay. Then, in the autumn of that year, the Lochaber-based climber was brought crashing back down to earth in an accident in familiar territory close to his home. "My backyard for climbing is Glen Nevis," says MacLeod. "I spend most of the summer there climbing new routes in Steall Gorge and was just on a normal climbing day - I was actually doing a really easy, warm up route - when I fell." MacLeod had completed the warm up climb with friends and was being lowered on a rope, which was anchored at the top of the climb and controlled by another climber standing on the ground below. Because his colleague had positioned himself further back than intended, the rope ran out 3m (10ft) from the bottom of the climb. MacLeod said: "It is a common accident that climbers always have to be vigilant of. "I was lowered off the end of the rope and I dropped the last 10ft, clipping a ledge with my right ankle, tumbled down a hill and ended up wrapped around a tree." Through a combination of hopping, crawling and being carried, MacLeod was able to get out of the gorge and to a car and eventually to hospital. After an examination, it was thought that he had damaged the arch of his foot, but three weeks later a private MRI scan revealed a flap of torn cartilage inside the joint. MacLeod said: "This was a more serious injury because cartilage doesn't heal. I knew then that I would require surgery on my ankle." 'Was invincible' It was the second time the climber, coach and writer had been badly injured. He broke his left ankle when he was 19 and was on crutches for three months. "Thinking back to what happened 15 years ago, I don't remember being worried about it," he says. "I was told that it might give me some trouble later on, that I might have arthritis in that ankle in 10 years time, but that didn't seem to register with me. Like many teenage boys, I thought I was invincible." MacLeod says that he now has a greater appreciation of the impact of injuries, the treatment of them and also rehabilitation. But with that knowledge has come a keener sense of awareness of how injuries might affect his ability to climb. He said: "This time around, I was absolutely terrified of losing the function that I had." As well as the potential effects on his climbing, MacLeod worried about not being able to run again. "I have never really been into running," he said. "It was always something I had done as part of my training. But, after the fall, my attitude changed and, when I was able to run again for the first time, I really enjoyed it." 'Climb properly' Almost five months since the accident, MacLeod is climbing again and recently attempted a new route on Ben Nevis. But he said: "For a sportsperson, there is no end to the recovery. You are always recovering from injury. I still have a bit of trouble with that left ankle." Ironically, at the time of his latest accident, MacLeod was in the process of writing a book about injuries. "It is not about traumatic injuries, like an injury in a fall, but the injuries climbers get from training. There is not a lot of information available to climbers about injuries to fingers, elbows and the upper body," he said. "I am also writing about the psychology of injuries and of dealing with injuries." By the summer, MacLeod hopes to be climbing in the Alps and also exploring the Scottish islands and seeking out new routes. He said: "Until a week ago, my only current goal was to learn to walk around and climb properly. "But, just in that last week, I have realised that I am going to be okay and have been able to make plans."

डेव मैकलियोड ने ब्रिटेन के कुछ सबसे चुनौतीपूर्ण चट्टानों पर नए चढ़ाई मार्गों को मारा है। लेकिन, अक्टूबर में, एक रन-ऑफ-द-मिल चढ़ाई बुरी चोट में समाप्त हो गई। रिकवरी एक चट्टानी सड़क रही है।


Yemeni women: 'All we can do is wait and pray'

Summary: As the political turmoil brews in Yemen, ordinary women are worrying about running their homes and caring for their families. Here, three women tell their stories. All names have been changed to protect their identity.

Umm Ali, a mother-of-five, from Aden "Since the unrest first started, my daughters have stopped going to school. All the schools near here are now closed because of the teachers' strike. "Food prices have increased sharply - particularly the price of rice, sugar and wheat. My husband is a day labourer. Since the unrest, he has not found any work. He goes out of the house every morning at five looking for work and then comes back at 10 at night empty-handed. This situation makes him very depressed. "We eat just two meals a day now - lunch and dinner - and some days we only have enough food for lunch. I borrow money sometimes to buy potatoes so I can cook chips and sell them to try to make a bit of money. "I have seen that some people are stockpiling food. For us though, there is no way we can save enough money or earn enough money to do this. I can hardly pay off my debts as it is. "We are afraid of going out of the house for a long time. When I have the money to go out shopping I try to rush, so there is no time to look for the best deal or best goods. "The price of fuel has also increased. I have only one gas container. It should be enough for the next two weeks, but if the crisis lasts for longer, I will use the firewood I have collected and stored before. I have done this before when I have had no money for fuel. "I am afraid for the future of my kids. I am praying every day for the end of this crisis. We are living day-by-day because we have no choice. We lack money for food, and for services. In fact, we have nothing. All we can do is wait and pray." Fatima, a tax officer working in southern Yemen "Every day, I have to travel two hours by bus from my village to our office in southern Yemen. My salary is 1,600 Yemeni rial each month ($70), but I'm the main breadwinner in the family, and have to support my five siblings and parents. "[Since the unrest began], my sister has stopped going to university, and all government universities are closed. Transportation has also become difficult and it's hard to get around due to the security situation. "It's been hard to find cheap transport so I can't go to work every day. Nowadays, I may only go twice a week and that has a bad impact on my income. Moreover, traders have stopped paying their taxes, and that has affected my work as well. I often spend hours at my desk doing nothing. "The price of food has increased sharply, and my life has become unbearable. I've been looking for an additional job to help provide an extra source of income, but my attempts to find work haven't led anywhere. "I'm unable to stockpile food as my salary can't cover the extra costs. Instead, I have to reduce the quantity of food we eat. We only eat one type of food all day. If we cook rice, then this should be eaten for lunch and dinner. "If we bake bread then this is served for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We don't cook anything else. Our water is pumped to us every 10 days and stored in big plastic containers for cooking and washing. "It's natural to be afraid for the future. The security situation is deteriorating along with our standard of living. Today we have food. Tomorrow we may not." Hana is the head of a child welfare organisation in southern Yemen which runs a rehabilitation shelter for Yemeni street children "The movement in the city remains close to paralysed due to military checkpoints, and many bus drivers are very afraid they'll be attacked by protesters, the military, or rebel armed groups. People tend to stay home and only go out to buy food supplies. Some employees have stopped going to their offices and schools are closed. "Many of our staff, including nannies, have stopped attending the centre due to the security situation. The last demonstration was very close to the centre, and the 60 children who we look after heard shots being fired. Many of the staff are concerned there is nowhere to hide. I don't think the children feel safe at the moment. "At the centre, we've been storing food since the political crisis began. However, it will only be enough for two months. We can't afford to buy more food due to the paralysis in public services and price increases. "I'm worried that the centre may be attacked by people who want to steal food. Nowadays, many poor people can't afford to buy food and fuel. "If the situation gets worse and the centre is no longer safe, we are planning to distribute the children amongst the nannies or leave them with their families or relatives. The future is unclear, and we don't have any emergency plans to overcome this situation."

जैसे-जैसे यमन में राजनीतिक उथल-पुथल बढ़ती जा रही है, आम औरतें अपना घर चलाने और अपने परिवार की देखभाल करने की चिंता कर रही हैं। यहाँ, तीन औरतें अपनी कहानियाँ सुनाती हैं। अपनी पहचान बचाने के लिए सभी नाम बदल दिए गए हैं।


Four murder arrests over suspected 'hit-and-run'

Summary: Two teenage girls, an 18-year-old woman and an 18-year-old man have been arrested on suspicion of murder after a suspected hit-and-run in Lancashire.

Police were called to Freckleton Street, Kirkham at about 16:15 BST. The victim named locally as Andrew Dean, 46 and from Wesham, is thought to have been hit by a car that drove off. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Officers stopped a Nissan Micra between junctions 6 and 5 of the M61 a short time later and arrested its occupants. A police spokesman said two girls, aged 16 and 17, the man and the woman, all from Manchester, were arrested and remain in custody. Related Internet Links Lancashire Police

लंकाशायर में एक संदिग्ध हिट-एंड-रन के बाद हत्या के संदेह में दो किशोर लड़कियों, एक 18 वर्षीय महिला और एक 18 वर्षीय पुरुष को गिरफ्तार किया गया है।


North Sea workers exposed to hazardous gas says HSE

Summary: Workers on a North Sea platform were exposed to a hazardous gas, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has said.

The HSE said Total failed to prevent the exposure on Alwyn North in the East Shetland basin in June. It involved hydrogen sulphide gas, the level of which could cause eye damage. Total said the incident happened during work to prepare a well for drilling, and that there were "no injuries or harm to the health of those working on the area". The company said in a statement: "Total is working closely with the HSE to understand the causes of this incident and we will continue to co-operate with them in every way to prevent a recurrence."

स्वास्थ्य और सुरक्षा कार्यकारी (एच. एस. ई.) ने कहा है कि उत्तरी सागर के प्लेटफॉर्म पर काम करने वाले श्रमिकों को एक खतरनाक गैस के संपर्क में लाया गया था।


Motor neurone disease: Northampton mum 'needs to see daughter start school'

Summary: When she was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND), Emma Moss was given a 50/50 chance of surviving for two years. Now she writes a blog and runs a support group - and is determined to live to see her daughter's first day at school.

By Charlie JonesBBC News Emma still remembers the day she realised she had MND. Having experienced twitching in her legs in 2017, she went to her doctor, who thought it was due to a vitamin D deficiency. But when she started having trouble with her grip, further investigations revealed the true cause in May 2018. "The doctor asked 'have you had any trouble swallowing?' and my world shifted. Suddenly everything fitted into place," she says. "I just screamed and screamed. MND wasn't even mentioned but I just knew." Emma, from Northampton, is now in a wheelchair and relies on life support ventilation 24 hours a day. The disease is "horrific beyond belief", she says. "I'm slowly watching my body fail and it's unthinkable that I could still swim, dress myself, feed myself, cook and look after my child such a short time ago." However, she says it is a life still "absolutely worth living". Emma has set herself the goal of living to see her daughter Veryan start school next September. "It's so important to me to stay positive. I will do everything I can to fight this and be there for that milestone," she says. What is motor neurone disease? Source: MNDA Emma was forced to leave her job as deputy head of a school after her diagnosis. Her husband Terry gave up his personal training business to become her full-time carer, leaving them with no income. She says she feels "incredibly guilty" she had no life insurance in place. "It was a huge mistake. I'm urging other people to get life insurance, especially if they have dependants or a partner they want to protect. This could happen to anyone," she says. A fundraising page has raised more than £30,000, helping them pay for medical equipment and house adaptations. MND kills more than half of people within two years of diagnosis. But Emma says Terry constantly reminds her that about 10% survive for 10 years or more and he "refuses to accept any other option". Emma turned 40 on Boxing Day - a major milestone that she had her eye on when first diagnosed. "It was in the back of my mind that perhaps I wouldn't make it to 40, so that is pretty amazing," she says. Emma's doctor has agreed to give her a tracheotomy in the future, which is likely to extend her life, but is rarely offered in the UK. "Although living with a tracheotomy can be a challenging life, I believe everyone should have the choice to take that step," she says. Shortly after she was diagnosed, she began a Facebook blog, 'Mummy with MND', which now has 22,000 followers. "I was in a pit of despair when I was diagnosed. I went on these forums and they were full of remembrance posts," she says. "I was looking for another person with MND who was young and I came across someone called Chris Rimmer. "Chris took me under his wing and changed my life. He showed me the other road - doing everything you can to live rather than just accepting you are going to die." Together they started the Facebook support group 'MND Warriors United', which has 1,200 members, most of whom have the disease. It is a place for "striving to live" and "helping each other stay positive" and Emma says the friends she has made have kept her going. You might also be interested in: There is a lot of cause for hope in the MND community, she says. Scientists believe a breakthrough could be imminent and it could ultimately be cured in the future. But Emma says progress is being hindered by a lack of funding. "This is not just a mother's hope, this could really happen in the next few years. We have the most brilliant minds working on this in the UK. We just need more funding." Emma's daughter Veryan turns four in January and Emma describes her as the light of her life and the "funniest, chattiest, nature-loving little girl". "We had IVF and it took us seven years to have her. Veryan is amazing, she is all we have ever wanted and is our whole world," she says. "She knows my legs and diaphragm aren't working and she just completely accepts me for who I am." Coronavirus has had a profound effect on the family. It has made their world smaller, at a time when they want to make more memories. Emma dreams of taking Veryan back to Disneyland Paris and is desperate to get the Covid-19 vaccine in the hope of making that possible. Her next main goal is to be there to watch Veryan walk through the gates on her first day at school. "It is a huge milestone. Some days I feel really close to it and think 'Yes, of course I will see this.' Then reality sets in and I know things can happen quickly. "I just try not to dwell on those negative thoughts. I do a lot of visualisation, in which we are all together as a family on that day and far beyond." Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk Related Internet Links Mummy with MND - Facebook MND Association - Fighting motor neurone disease United to End MND

जब उन्हें मोटर न्यूरॉन रोग (एम. एन. डी.) का पता चला, तो एम्मा मॉस को दो साल तक जीवित रहने का मौका दिया गया। अब वह एक ब्लॉग लिखती हैं और एक सहायता समूह चलाती हैं-और स्कूल में अपनी बेटी का पहला दिन देखने के लिए जीने के लिए दृढ़ हैं।


Mafia boss Peppe Pesce gives himself up

Summary: This week the boss of one of southern Italy's most powerful mafia dynasties sensationally handed himself in to police after three years on the run - and now faces 16 years in jail. The BBC was inside the police station when it happened.

By Elena CosentinoBBC News, Rosarno At 4:15pm local time on Wednesday, 'Ndrangheta boss Giuseppe "Peppe" Pesce walked into the Carabinieri station in his native Rosarno like a man who had come to pay a parking ticket. Freshly shaven and smiling incongruously, the mafioso - one of Calabria's most-wanted - was only a quarter of an hour late for the deadline he had set for his own surrender to the authorities. The special Carabinieri team who had been hunting him obsessively for nearly three years looked resentful. Being denied the chance to capture him themselves seemed to have temporarily blinded them to the enormous symbolism of this criminal's public gesture. Mafia bosses never normally turn themselves in. In extreme circumstances, if faced with certain death at the hands of their rivals or when too old or ill to survive in hiding, they may strike secret "face-saving" deals where authorities pretend to have captured them against their will. Instead, there he was, healthy 33-year-old Peppe Pesce. The undisputed scion of one of the supreme clans of the 'Ndrangheta, Italy's little-known but most powerful mafia organisation, amenably holding out his hands - palms up - for the black ink to be rolled over them ahead of old-fashioned fingerprinting. The authorities had been so incredulous Pesce would turn up - as his lawyers had secretly told them he would - that no other journalists had been forewarned, in case news leaked and made him change his mind. I was lucky to be the only one there, on a follow up trip to a BBC This World documentary on the 'Ndrangheta I had recently made with historian John Dickie. As the Pesces featured prominently in it I knew this was to be an extraordinary day in Calabria. Empire This was no family of mafia quitters. The Pesce are a criminal dynasty. Peppe Pesce inherited the baton of "regent" of the clan after his older brother Francesco "Ciccio" Pesce was captured in an underground bunker in 2011. Ciccio had taken the boss's mantle over from their father Antonio, as Antonio had from grandfather Don Peppino. Over half a century they had built a family empire worth at least £200m through drug trafficking across Europe, as well as extortion, violence and corruption in their own ravaged Calabrian backyard. This is the way of the 'Ndrangheta which, unlike the Sicilian Mafia, favours bloodline over merit. From the mafioso perspective, I assumed he would be bringing the ultimate disgrace to himself and his own family. But I was wrong. As news of Peppe's appearance spread in Rosarno, the Carabinieri station turned into a pilgrimage site. In pairs, small groups, leaning on walking sticks or carried in push-chairs, dozens and dozens of relatives and well-wishers from six months old to 90, came to pay their respects to the fallen boss. The Carabinieri were faced with a difficult decision. Whether or not to show magnanimity to a man who had not seen his family in three years and most likely will not for many more. Grandmother Giuseppa, fully clad in black from head to toe, was among the first to be allowed in the room where her grandchild was sitting. Covering the last tooth left in her mouth with a hand, she wept. "Where are you going?" she asked. "Come on, grandma. To prison, of course," he said. "I will never see you again," she said. "Don't worry," he said and laughed dismissively. "I'll hurry up. I have done nothing wrong. I am in the goat business." The second, younger-looking grandmother chimed in. "Your innocence will be proved, just as Christ was resurrected," she said. One after the other, aunts, cousins, in-laws streamed in, hugged him and kissed him. Some cried, most were jovial, a few were quick and deferential. As Peppe became increasingly relaxed in his chair, the exercise began to look like a presidential audience of sort. But plainclothes Carabinieri were paying close attention to each and every visitor as they filled out the gaps in their mental map of the clan. Their magnanimity suddenly made a lot more sense. Peppe's mother and younger sister came in last. As they bawled, they were holding his three-year-old daughter. She had hardly ever seen her fugitive father and turned away from his outstretched arms. "Is it true you don't eat much, my baby?" he asked. "Yes," she said. "Listen to daddy - if you don't eat, you'll never grow up," he said. "I want to stay small," the three-year-old replied. Peppe Pesce went quiet. In a corner of the room, I had a knot in my stomach. Nearly all of the visitors were women. Most men in the Pesce family are now behind bars. House arrest Only two weeks ago, in one of the most significant anti-'Ndrangheta trials to date, 42 members of the Pesce clan received a total of 500 years in jail. Peppe Pesce was sentenced to 16 years for Mafia association in absentia, which he will now begin to serve, in a high-security jail. The net had been closing around Peppe Pesce for months as, one by one, his accomplices had been arrested. Only two weeks ago his wife, who is seven months pregnant, was put under house arrest for passing her husband's orders around. "This is a major success for the authority of the state. But don't be fooled," said Alessandra Cerreti, who led the investigation and prosecution against the clan. "These are never individual decisions. Usually they are clan strategies. By sacrificing one they hope to relieve the pressure we are putting on the whole organisation. But it won't work." As Peppe Pesce was led to a car be taken to jail, the crowds had lined up along the road. He smiled and waved to his family's cheers and claps. As the first ever 'Ndrangheta boss to surrender to the state was driven away, an old aunt cupped her hand around her mouth and yelled: "Make sure you eat well."

इस सप्ताह दक्षिणी इटली के सबसे शक्तिशाली माफिया राजवंशों में से एक के मालिक ने सनसनीखेज रूप से तीन साल भागने के बाद खुद को पुलिस के हवाले कर दिया-और अब उसे 16 साल की जेल का सामना करना पड़ रहा है। जब यह हुआ तो बीबीसी पुलिस स्टेशन के अंदर था।


Bristol International Balloon Fiesta begins

Summary: Some 130 balloons are taking part in this year's Bristol International Balloon Fiesta.

A mass ascent began at 06:00 BST where weather conditions were ideal for the balloonists who took part. The four-day event at Ashton Court attracts 500,000 every year and is in its 39th year. Other popular events in the fiesta include the evening night glow displays where the tethered balloons glow in time with the music.

इस वर्ष के ब्रिस्टल अंतर्राष्ट्रीय गुब्बारा उत्सव में लगभग 130 गुब्बारे भाग ले रहे हैं।


The aftershocks of India state elections

Summary: The failure of the Congress party in Uttar Pradesh which sends the largest number of MPs to parliament could not have come at a worse time for the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, Rahul Gandhi, and the party.

By Bharat BhushanAnalyst The sole clear victory of the Congress in Manipur and its pyrrhic victory in Uttarakhand would mean nothing in the days to come as these two states are not game changers at the national level. Nor are Goa and Punjab where the Congress has lost. The failure of Brand Rahul in Uttar Pradesh is a body blow to the Congress party because this is where the fourth-generation power aspirant from the Nehru-Gandhi family staked his future. Unless the party revives its fortunes in UP in the next two years, the prospects of a Congress-led government in 2014 are bleak. Despite the media hype, the voters did not buy into Rahul Gandhi's public display of anger about the state of affairs in Uttar Pradesh. His political stature, therefore, has not grown as a mass leader. He was seen as a babe in political woods and that image will continue to haunt him. Complications The morale in the party will sink to a new low as the electoral defeat is blamed on everyone else but the scion of the first family of the party - although he has taken responsibility for the defeat. There are other complications for the future of the Congress party. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is already pushing 80 and will be 82 by the time the next general election takes place in 2014. The matriarch of the Congress, Sonia Gandhi keeps indifferent health - indeed despite her frequent visits abroad for health check-ups, no-one knows what she suffers from. If it is a disease of a serious nature, then she might be out of the election campaign in 2014. The party then will have no option but to fall back on a Rahul Gandhi, seen as being defeated in Uttar Pradesh not once but twice - in 2007 and again in 2012 - to lead it in the general election. Had Rahul Gandhi delivered a reasonably good performance in Uttar Pradesh, he might have had some time on hand to address the revival of the party in bigger states like Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharashtra. Now the ghost of the defeat will sit heavily on him as he tries to rejuvenate the party elsewhere in India. However, he is unlikely to be taken seriously even by the local Congress leaders. The rise of one more regional party in Uttar Pradesh will also add to the problems of governance at the centre. As it is, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government does not have an easy relationship with the bigger states like West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Gujarat. To this list, one might now have to add the state of Uttar Pradesh. If one then looks at the map of India, large swathes of the country seem ranged against the centre. Never before has there been such a centre-state confrontation on a wide range of issues. The central government and the states have been at loggerheads over the former's attempt to impose a public ombudsman on the states through the Lokayukta (Public Ombudsman) Bill. Delhi's unilateral decision to set up a National Counter Terrorism Centre was perceived to be curtailing the rights of the states to deal with law and order. And, there has been opposition to the Land Acquisition Bill and the attempt to dictate how the states should implement the provisions of the proposed Food Security Bill. Belligerence This crisis is likely to worsen as more states are governed either by regional parties or parties inimical to the Congress like the Bharatiya Janata Party. They will needle the central government on all issues which impinge on the federal relationship. The regional parties are also likely to act in concert to take on the government on economic reforms and push it in a populist direction to continue with subsidies and sops. And where the credit for the sops is likely to go only to the centre - as in the Food Security Bill - they will show intransigence and bargain hard to extract maximum benefits for the states. This belligerence is likely to resurface in the presidential elections this June, forcing the Congress to either choose a compromise candidate acceptable to the bigger states like Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal or face an electoral defeat once again. There is also a possibility that if regional parties feel a weakening of the centre, they might join hands to force a mid-term election to parliament. This would suit the Samajwadi Party which has swept Uttar Pradesh, Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress in West Bengal and Jayalalitha's AIADMK party in Tamil Nadu. All of them can hope to improve their tally in parliament if elections are held sooner than later. Even Nitish Kumar (Janata Dal - United) in Bihar and Naveen Patnaik (Bjiu Janata Dal) in Orissa may not be averse to an early parliamentary election as it might make one of them a prime ministerial candidate of a non-Congress and non-BJP front. The aftershocks of the Uttar Pradesh election results, therefore, will continue to mould political events in the run up to the next parliamentary election. Bharat Bhushan is a Delhi-based journalist

संसद में सबसे अधिक संख्या में सांसद भेजने वाले उत्तर प्रदेश में कांग्रेस पार्टी की विफलता नेहरू-गांधी वंश के वंशज राहुल गांधी और पार्टी के लिए इससे बुरा समय नहीं हो सकता था।


The Indians sharing their villages with crocodiles

Summary: In some villages in India's western state of Gujarat, locals live cheek by jowl with mugger crocodiles, which are considered extremely dangerous. Janaki Lenin visited the area to investigate an unusual coexistence.

"The crocodiles will come out only around 10:00," the woman advised me as she hung up her laundry on a recent winter morning. I was not on a wildlife safari. I was in the courtyard of her house in Malataj village, scanning the surface of the pond beyond her front door. It looked like any other pond. But lurking among the fuchsia blossoms and green pads of water lilies were mugger crocodiles, one of India's three crocodilian species. And villagers - such as the housewife speaking to me - know the reptiles' habits from generations of coexisting with them. In most places, the sight of even a single crocodile would be enough to send locals scurrying in fear. But not in Charotar - a 4,000-sq-km (1,544-sq-mile) area bracketed by the Sabarmati and Mahi rivers in Gujarat. There are at least 200 resident mugger crocodiles in some 30 villages in Charotar, according to surveys by the Voluntary Nature Conservancy, a local non-profit group. The region also packs around 600 people per sq km. Every pond in the area sports a sign warning of mugger crocodiles. But these pools are central to the daily life of villagers. So residents ignore the signs and wade in to swim, bathe, do their laundry, wash their cattle and grow water chestnuts. The crocodiles, meanwhile, drift in the same ponds, gobbling fish and raising their young. They clamber onto the banks, bask in the sun, sleep and crawl through grass along the same paths where cattle graze and people, including children, walk. Every day, humans and muggers go about their business without disturbing or even worrying about each other. What do we know about mugger crocodiles? Charotar, which means "pot of gold" in the local language, is named for the bounty that its farmers reap. Fields of tobacco stretch for miles in every direction with no sign of any refuge for wildlife. So, where did the crocodiles come from? Some say they have always inhabited Charotar. Others claim that the rulers of the Gaekwad dynasty - which ruled the area from the early 18th Century until India's independence in 1947 - released the crocodiles in to these ponds so they could hunt them, but there is no historical evidence that supports this theory. One thing is certain though: the muggers are not recent migrants. But the behaviour of Charator's muggers is very unusual. Muggers are the third most dangerous crocodile species, killing 18 people around the world in 2018, according to CrocBITE, a global database of crocodile attacks. About 40km (25 miles) from Charotar, for instance, muggers in the Vishwamitri river are reported to have injured eight people and killed two others in 2011 and 2012, writes reptile expert Raju Vyas. The recent decision to move 300 to 500 crocodiles out of the Sardar Sarovar Dam on the Narmada river to make way for a seaplane terminal for instance, has worried experts. They say that relocated crocodiles don't stay put where they are released. They will try to return to their homes, endangering the lives of unsuspecting people they encounter along the way and aggravating the already hostile relationship between people and crocodiles in these areas. But in Charotar, the Voluntary Nature Conservancy has documented only 26 attacks in 30 years. In eight of these incidents, humans escaped with minor injuries and in 2009, a nine-year-old girl died from an attack. The other 17 incidents involved livestock. In Malataj, the forest department has built an enclosure close to the bank so people can use the water while staying safe from crocodiles. But the reptiles are harmless, scoff villagers who did not want the structure and refuse to maintain it. Several gaps in the fencing could easily allow a stealthy predator to grab an arm or leg. But the muggers ignore the many opportunities every day. Instead, they seem to live up to their human neighbours' expectations and leave them alone. Locals regularly make excuses for the reptiles. In the village of Petli for instance, a family living on the edge of a pond lost a goat to muggers. Accepting the loss in his stride, an elderly man said: "It must have belonged to the crocodile. So it took it." Read more wildlife stories from India Tunnels dug by the reptiles riddled the bank beside his hut. The crocodiles escape the summer heat in these deep burrows. These excavations sometimes extend beneath roads putting them at risk of collapse. These burrows also pose a threat to houses along the banks - the floor of a house in Malataj recently gave way. Luckily, no-one was injured. Despite these inconveniences, the Charotaris are proud of their muggers. Although the village of Deva has the highest number of the reptiles in the area, Malataj insists on branding itself the "village of crocodiles". Residents have conducted a funeral for a dead mugger and built a shrine to goddess Khodiyar - a local deity who is depicted standing beside a bejewelled crocodile- behind the now defunct enclosure. Colourful images of her grace the doorways of many houses in Malataj. To assume the goddess is the reason for the charming amiability between people and reptiles in these parts would be simplistic. In surveys, many residents profess to liking the animals. Durgeshbhai Patel, the village chief, even said they plan to excavate another pond so the muggers have more space. As the sun burnt through the morning chill, the crocodiles hauled themselves out of the water to bask. I counted a dozen, but there were many more I could spot in the distance. Passers-by crowded around a vendor of hot fenugreek bhajiyas, a batter-fried snack, on a bridge outside Malataj. Below, in a dry overgrown canal, a mugger crocodile lay half-way out of its tunnel, absorbing the sun's rays. Nobody reacted. It was just another day in their lives.

भारत के पश्चिमी राज्य गुजरात के कुछ गाँवों में, स्थानीय लोग मगरमच्छों के साथ गले-गले रहते हैं, जिन्हें बेहद खतरनाक माना जाता है। जानकी लेनिन ने एक असामान्य सह-अस्तित्व की जांच करने के लिए इस क्षेत्र का दौरा किया।


Bishop Auckland looks to past for its future

Summary: Kynren, a "live action night show which showcases 2,000 years of English history on a spectacular scale", claims to be the UK's biggest open-air performance event since the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics.

Played out on a purpose-built site the size of the golf course which was previously there, it sees around 1,000 volunteer performers and crew members gallop through two millennia in around 90 minutes, stopping off for set pieces involving William Shakespeare, William the Conqueror and Sir Winston Churchill. But the scale of the show is nothing compared to the ambition behind it - to reinvigorate the town of Bishop Auckland, which gazes down the flood plain upon which Kynren stands. Nestled in the heart of County Durham, the town peaked during the Victorian era, but the decline of coal mining has left it and the villages that surround it lacking both employment and funds. Kynren, the name of which is derived from the Saxon for family, is based on Puy du Fou, an attraction near Nantes in France's western Loire region which in the past 40 years has entertained almost 30 million visitors with historical shows, bringing additional prosperity to the surrounding region. It is philanthropist Jonathan Ruffer's attempt to change the local community's fortunes. Ruffer has used the wealth he accumulated during a career in investment management to take a significant stake in Bishop Auckland, planning galleries and museums, taking over the town's castle and purchasing the land on the banks of the River Wear where Kynren is based. He says his interest in the castle "was the mouth, but Kynren is the trousers". "This is the thing that's going to do it. "What I want to see is people energised into a single community. I saw that in Puy du Fou and I thought what they were doing there would work well here." Puy du Fou's president Nicolas de Villiers has served as Kynren's artistic director, bringing his team of French creatives with him to produce the event. He says the show will definitely improve prospects in County Durham, just as his attraction has in the Loire region. "When someone spends one euro in Puy de Fou, they will spend between two and three euros outside. "So it's economically very profitable for a lot of people - for hotels, restaurants and all the tourism jobs which are linked to our activity." The event, which will run annually, is being run by Ruffer's charitable trust, Eleven Arches - named after the viaduct that towers over the Kynren site. A spokeswoman for the charity says Ruffer's plans are "brave, radical and transformational", and will give those living in the area "what they badly need - opportunity". The charity predicts the show will bring £4.75m a year into the local economy, a figure which Ruffer says is "not at all pie in the sky". "I'm used to analysing figures and they are very robust. "Simply in terms of the show, it will employ over 200 people - and the multiplier in terms of bed and breakfast, hotels, meals in France is five times that, so we're looking at some really big numbers." English pride The show's own profitability is tied to that cast of 1,000 volunteers. Vanessa Pearson, a locally-based credit controller, is one of those who has given her time free of charge to be part of the show. She says she is glad to be taking part "in something that's going to bring excitement, joy and life back to Bishop Auckland". "There's loads of negativity that's going on and people are like 'is this going to work?' But it will. "Yes, we're not being paid to do it, but we see the vision and it's going to be an amazing project." Analysis by BBC arts and entertainment reporter Chris Long Spectacular and idiosyncratic, Kynren is an often thrilling romp through English history, delivered at a breathless pace. It is an England told through a prism of the North East and comes with more than a passing nod to Jonathan Ruffer's evangelical Christian beliefs. The story sees a bishop guide a young boy through an individualistic choice of English and North-Eastern highlights - the Battle of Stamford Bridge gets equal billing with the one at Hastings, St Cuthbert follows on the heels of Joseph of Arimathea and the pits replace the usually-seen mills of the Industrial Revolution. Brought to life by hundreds of talented volunteers and a supporting cast of horses, sheep, goats and geese, it is a vibrant spectacle that will leave an Englishman's head dizzy from the historical whirlwind. Fellow performer Carl Howe, who plays the Viking chief King Harald Hardrada, agrees it can only be good for the area. He also says it has given the people of Bishop Auckland the chance to try out their performing skills. "I drive buses for a living so this is the polar opposite of it. "I sit down all day and on a weekend, I get to dress up like a Viking and run around with a big axe. "I've done bands, I was a wrestler for a while, and this is just the next thing." He says he had no idea what to expect when he volunteered to take part, but is impressed with the result. "I'm supposed to be a big scary Viking, but at the end, after the finale, I just can't get the smile off my face. "From start to finish, it flies by." The "epic tale of England" has been put together by de Villiers' French team, a move that might seem odd, given the nature of the content. The Puy du Fou president does not see it as a problem. "We are French and we are proud of being French - we know that we are not English. "But we have put all our hearts and all our energy into making a great English show, so that people will be proud of being English when they leave the show. "That's the main purpose." Ruffer is firm on what he wants the result to be for the locals. "We have over 1,000 volunteers - why are they doing it? They're not doing it for me or for Bishop Auckland - they're doing it because they're having a great time in meeting with one another. "It's bringing people together, that's the very heart of the regenerative spirit. "It's a truism but people are the investment of a region. "This is a game-changer for the area and it's marvellous to see that we're on the eve of something wonderful." Kynren's first season opens in Bishop Auckland on 2 July and runs until 17 September. Those interviewed were speaking to BBC Breakfast and BBC Look North. Related Internet Links Eleven Arches presents Kynren

किनरेन, एक "लाइव एक्शन नाइट शो जो 2,000 साल के अंग्रेजी इतिहास को शानदार पैमाने पर प्रदर्शित करता है", 2012 के लंदन ओलंपिक के उद्घाटन समारोह के बाद से यूके का सबसे बड़ा ओपन-एयर प्रदर्शन कार्यक्रम होने का दावा करता है।


Lembit Opik hit 'all-time low' after election defeat

Summary: Lembit Opik has said he suffered "a kind of depression" after losing the parliamentary seat of Montgomeryshire five years ago.

The former Liberal Democrat MP said he did not recover from the defeat until two to three years afterwards. Speaking to BBC Radio 4, Mr Opik said he lost his confidence and eventually hit an "all-time low". He urged people experiencing similar feelings following a job loss to seek professional help.

लेम्बिट ओपिक ने कहा है कि पांच साल पहले मॉन्टगोमेरिशर की संसदीय सीट हारने के बाद उन्हें "एक तरह का अवसाद" हुआ था।


Menai Bridge features on new Royal Mail stamp

Summary: The Menai Bridge is one of 10 iconic UK river crossings to feature on the latest set of first class stamps.

The 176.5m-long suspension bridge, which links Anglesey to mainland Wales, was completed in 1826 to Thomas Telford's design. Royal Mail said the stamps demonstrate "leaps in engineering" by progressive architects. Others featured include Pulteney Bridge in Bath and Middlesbrough's Tees Transporter Bridge. Royal Mail will also issue a special postmark to mark the stamps release.

मेनाई पुल यू. के. के 10 प्रतिष्ठित नदी क्रॉसिंग में से एक है जो प्रथम श्रेणी के टिकटों के नवीनतम सेट पर है।


India floods: Frustrated efforts to rescue survivors

Summary: Rescue workers are intensifying efforts to reach thousands of people stranded in the mountains of Uttarakhand in northern India after last week's devastating floods. But bad weather is hampering the rescue and relief effort. As the BBC's Sanjoy Majumder finds, time is running out.

Outside the air base in Dehradun, the capital of Uttarakhand state, hundreds of people are milling around, their faces creased with worry. Clutching photographs in their hands, they scan lists of names placed outside the gate, looking for their relatives, missing for more than a week after the floods hit this state. "I haven't heard from my 14-year-old sister [or] my uncle and aunt for seven days," one man tells me. Like thousands of others, they were on a Hindu pilgrimage to the temple town of Kedarnath which has been the worst hit. "Every time someone comes out of those gates, I hope it's them. "I just want some news, any news - please," he says breaking down, tears streaming down his face. It is a sentiment echoed by many others gathered here, unable to come to terms with a tragedy that no-one had anticipated. Hundreds of sorties But most of the roads leading to the mountains have either been damaged or washed away. So the only way to get to the survivors is by helicopter. The Indian air force has made hundreds of sorties to evacuate people. But their task is hampered by the terrain and the weather. "Some of the valleys are so deep that there is no way we can land there," says Air Commodore Rajesh Issar, who heads Operation Rahat (Relief). "So we have to winch special forces personnel down to get to the survivors, some of whom are perched on ledges and slopes and are at the end of their strength." Squadron Leader Sandeep Pradhan is an air force helicopter pilot who says he has lost count of the number of sorties he has made in the past week. "The hardest thing is leaving people behind. I can only carry 35-40 people on each flight and there are so many who want to get on." I join him on his latest sortie, along with a unit of Special Forces brought in to try and reach those survivors in remote areas, who remain out of reach. After a delay because of bad weather, we take off in a Russian-built Mi-17 helicopter. Air Vice Marshal S Nair, a senior air force officer, traces our route on a map as we follow the Ganges river. "We always follow the river - it's the best navigational aid, especially in this terrain." Below us, the landscape unfolds - vast stretches of land where houses have been washed away and the river flows through at a rapid pace. Fifteen minutes into the flight, the helicopter banks sharply. "We're turning back," the pilot announces. The weather has worsened and soon after we land, the rain comes down. There is nothing to do but wait. At the base, the pilots and technicians take a break sipping cups of tea. "It's frustrating," one of the members of the Special Forces tells me. "We need to get out there urgently but we can't." Around us, boxes of supplies lie waiting to be loaded - dry rations, medicines, including intravenous fluids and insulin - all meant for the flood victims. It is going to be a while before they can be taken across. Related Internet Links Shri Badrinath - Shri Kedarnath Temple Committee

बचावकर्मी पिछले सप्ताह की विनाशकारी बाढ़ के बाद उत्तर भारत में उत्तराखंड के पहाड़ों में फंसे हजारों लोगों तक पहुंचने के प्रयास तेज कर रहे हैं। लेकिन खराब मौसम बचाव और राहत प्रयासों में बाधा डाल रहा है। जैसा कि बीबीसी के संजय मजूमदार ने पाया, समय समाप्त हो रहा है।


In pictures: A time capsule of Leeds' lost buildings

Summary: Breweries, racing pigeon shops, fisheries and chippies once littered the landscape of Leeds. Photographer Peter Mitchell went about photographing these "goners" before the bulldozers removed every trace of them.

By Samantha JaggerBBC News Peter was working as a lorry driver when he decided to document the city's deteriorating shop fronts and businesses before they disappeared altogether. A 29-year-old art college graduate, he had an eye for a shot and armed with his medium-format camera and a stepladder, he looked to the sky above and the ground below to frame the picture. During his shifts, he hunted for haunts on the verge of collapse and would revisit them on his days off to capture them on film. But it was 1972 - he didn't earn much and couldn't afford to get all of the rolls developed. "Film wasn't, and still isn't, a cheap process and I was doing it all off my own back," said Peter, who moved from Manchester to London, then Chapeltown. "Leeds was such a strange world when I moved, the buildings always looked so vulnerable. People would ask me why I didn't shoot beautiful buildings, but it just felt right at the time." The few rolls he did develop he intended to screen-print on to silk scarves, but Leeds Art Gallery took an interest in the images and gave him his first photography exhibition in 1975. It led to a job at the gallery and his hobby becoming a career, but he continued taking pictures throughout the 1980s and 1990s of the buildings whose days were numbered. "I used to hear, 'if Mitchell photographs them, they're goners'," said Peter. "But they weren't taken for nostalgic reasons, I enjoyed it from an architectural perspective. "They're cheerful things really - the houses maybe all look like piles of bricks but [taking the pictures means] the memories continue." Last year, Peter began looking through the negatives stored in trunks in his home - some of which had been untouched for almost 50 years. He is putting together a new exhibition and currently has 500 shots to choose from of buildings he hasn't seen since he looked through the lens. One picture shows the Racing Pigeon Shop in Blake Grove, taken in the 1990s, which the BBC showed it to its former owner, John Murray. "What happened there was that I was upstairs and my colleagues said to me, 'there's this chap who wants to take pictures'. "They said, 'come down and get in the photograph." John, who still runs a racing pigeon business, remembers "great times" on the street and often passes by his former shop, which closed in 2010. "Shops weren't allowed to trade on Sundays, but we'd open our doors for a few hours to let the pigeon boys come in," said the 60-year-old. "I remember we had to unload 20 tonnes of pigeon corn into the shop by hand - it was unbelievable. "I have fantastic memories there, but also some sad - especially when we had to close due to the financial crisis. We really had a niche market so it was so sad to see it go, but like I said, great times." Many of the previously unseen images are also being developed into a book as an ode to the city's lost landscape and Peter posts some of the photos on his Instagram account, Strangely Familiar. He still takes shots around Leeds with the same medium format camera and was awarded an honorary degree for his work by Leeds Arts University in June. "It was a total surprise as I keep to myself in my Yorkshire cave - I'm a hermit of the north really," says the 76-year-old, who still lives in the same house in Chapeltown. "I still don't believe how this has all come about, but I think my mum would have been quite pleased with me." The Lost Leeds exhibition will run next year. You might also be interested in Ghost signs hiding in plain view Hulme: A place of 'inspiration and energy' 'We camped in our cars to buy a house'

शराब बनाने के कारखाने, दौड़ में भाग लेने वाले कबूतरों की दुकानें, मछली पालन और चिप्पियों ने कभी लीड्स के परिदृश्य को बिखेरा हुआ था। बुलडोजर द्वारा उनके हर निशान को हटाने से पहले फोटोग्राफर पीटर मिशेल ने इन "गोनर" की तस्वीरें खिंचवाईं।


Man charged after bomb squad called to house in Devizes

Summary: A man has been charged after residents were evacuated and the Army bomb squad was called to a "suspicious" item found at a house.

Kubilay Bostanli, 22, of Anzio Road, Devizes, has been charged with possession of an explosive substance for an unlawful purpose, Wiltshire Police said. Twelve homes in the road were evacuated on Wednesday following the discovery. Mr Bostanli appeared at Swindon Magistrates' Court on Friday. He has also been charged with possessing a knife or sharp-pointed article in a public place, possessing a Class B drug and harassment without violence. He was remanded in custody and is due back at the same court on 1 November.

निवासियों को बाहर निकालने और सेना के बम दस्ते को एक घर में मिली "संदिग्ध" वस्तु के लिए बुलाए जाने के बाद एक व्यक्ति पर आरोप लगाया गया है।


What are P1 assessments really like?

Summary: Standardised assessments for P1 pupils are at the centre of a political row in Scotland, with opposition parties pressing a vote on whether they should be axed. But what are they actually like?

By Philip SimBBC Scotland News More basic questions have pupils simply identify a word, compared with other symbols Many of the questions are multiple-choice Some slightly more difficult questions see pupils analyse short sentences Some numeracy questions involve basic addition and subtraction as well as on-screen counting Some tests involve telling the time on digital and analogue clocks A report on how each pupil performed is immediately generated The sample pupil in this report has scored above the average of her class and school, and is at the top level nationally

पी1 छात्रों के लिए मानकीकृत मूल्यांकन स्कॉटलैंड में एक राजनीतिक विवाद के केंद्र में हैं, जिसमें विपक्षी दल इस बात पर मतदान कर रहे हैं कि क्या उन्हें हटा दिया जाना चाहिए। लेकिन वे वास्तव में कैसे हैं?


Brexit: MPs vote on Theresa May's deal

Summary: MPs have begun to vote on Theresa May's Brexit deal for leaving the European Union.

The so-called "meaningful vote" comes at the end of five days of debate over the plan. Mrs May called for politicians to back her deal or risk "letting the British people down". But with many of her own MPs expected to join opposition parties to vote against the deal, it is widely expected to be defeated. Labour, the SNP and Conservative MP Sir Edward Leigh all pulled the amendments that they had proposed to the deal before they came to a vote. Tory MP John Baron insisted MPs vote on his - which would have given the UK the right to terminate the Northern Ireland backstop without the agreement of the EU - but it was defeated by 600 votes to 24. Closing the debate on her deal, Mrs May said the responsibility of MPs was "profound" and that her deal "delivers on the core tenets of Brexit... in a way that protects jobs, ensures our security and honours the integrity of our United Kingdom". But Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said backing the "botched and damaging" deal would be a "reckless leap in the dark" for the UK. The prime minister addressed her cabinet on Tuesday morning before heading to the Commons for the start of the debate on her deal - which includes both the withdrawal agreement on the terms on which the UK leaves the EU and a political declaration for the future relationship. She had spent the lead up to the vote trying to reassure MPs from all sides of the House over the controversial Northern Irish "backstop" - the fallback plan to avoid any return to physical border checks between the country and Ireland - having received new written assurances from the EU that it would be temporary and, if triggered, would last for "the shortest possible period". Speaking at the close of the debate, Mrs May added: "If we leave with the deal I am proposing, I believe we can lay the foundations for which to build a better Britain. "And as prime minister I would not stand at this dispatch box and recommended a course of action that I do not believe is in the best interests of our country and our future." With fancy dress, lurid floats and colourful banners, there has been something approaching a carnival atmosphere opposite Parliament, as pro and anti-Brexit demonstrators make their voices heard ahead of the MPs' vote. A rally by supporters of the People's Vote campaign for another referendum is currently taking place in nearby Parliament Square. Opening the final day of the debate earlier, Attorney General Geoffrey Cox gave an impassioned speech to the Commons with the prime minister by his side, saying that voting for the deal was "the first of two keys that will unlock our future with the European Union", allowing the government to focus on the future relationship. He said that MPs could not underestimate the complexity of Brexit and that the deal offered an "orderly, predictable and legally certain" way of leaving the bloc, without "thousands" of legal issues arising for citizens and businesses. "If you found yourself suddenly with the rug pulled from under you, not knowing what your legal obligations would be, you would say to this House, 'What are you playing at? What are you doing?' "You are not children in the playground, you are legislators, and it is your job. We are playing with people's lives," he said. But many remain opposed to the deal, with about 100 Conservative MPs and the DUP's 10 MPs expected to join Labour and the other opposition parties in voting it down. Mr Corbyn told the Commons: "The prime minister has treated Brexit as a matter for the Conservative Party rather than for the good of the country. But she has failed to even win over her own party. "This deal is a bad deal for our economy, a bad deal for our democracy, and a bad deal for this country." Former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab said that Brexiteers like him could back a deal if aspects such as the backstop were dealt with. But he told the Today programme the EU had played "a smart game of hard ball" and said it was time for the UK to do the same. Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster said the backstop "was something that we could not accept" and said her party's MPs would be voting against the deal. "It (the backstop) does violence to the union - it separates us from the rest of the United Kingdom in a very very obvious way," she said, calling for Mrs May to "get rid" of the backstop. And speaking during the Commons debate, the leader of the SNP at Westminster, Ian Blackford, reiterated his belief that there was "no such thing as a good Brexit" and his party would continue to fight against leaving. "There is no way that the Scottish National Party and the people of Scotland are going to be sitting in that bus as the prime minister drives us off the cliff," he said. EU preparations BBC Brussels correspondent, Adam Fleming, said the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker will be returning to the city later to deal with "Brexit-related business", fuelling speculation Mrs May will make an emergency visit on Wednesday if her deal is voted down. When asked by the BBC for a message to MPs ahead of the vote, he said: "I would like them to behave in a responsible way." The EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, also appealed for MPs to "keep calm" when voting later. He will be holding talks with the European Parliament's Brexit steering group later tonight in Strasbourg before a debate on Wednesday morning about the result of the meaningful vote. The deal suffered a heavy defeat in the House of Lords on Monday night, as peers backed a Labour motion by 321 votes to 152. While the Lords vote carries no real weight, as peers accepted MPs should have the final say, the motion - which also rejected a "no deal" scenario - expressed "regret" that Mrs May's deal would "damage the future economic prosperity, internal security and global influence" of the UK. However, five Conservative Brexiteer MPs who have been critics of the withdrawal agreement have now said they will support the government, along with three Labour backbenchers and independent Frank Field. Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay said it showed there had been "progress" but admitted to the BBC's Politics Live that gaining support was "challenging". Speaking to his own backbenchers on Monday night, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn again condemned the deal and repeated his call for a general election if it was voted down by Parliament. He also promised Labour would call a no-confidence vote in the government "soon". Please upgrade your browser Your guide to Brexit jargon What happens next? If the deal is rejected by MPs, Mrs May has three sitting days to return to Parliament with a "Plan B". Some have suggested she would head to Brussels on Wednesday to try to get further concessions from the EU, before returning to the Commons to give a statement about her new proposal by Monday. This could then be put to a vote by MPs. If this also fails, there is a proposal put forward by senior Conservative backbenchers Nick Boles, Sir Oliver Letwin and Nicky Morgan for a "European Union Withdrawal Number 2 Bill". This would give ministers another three weeks to come up with another plan and get it through Parliament. If this doesn't work either, they propose giving the responsibility of coming up with a compromise deal to the Liaison Committee - which is made up of the chairmen and chairwomen of all the Commons select committees, drawn from opposition parties as well as the Conservatives. This proposal in turn would have to be voted through by MPs. New referendum proposal In another development, a cross-party group of anti-Brexit politicians has published proposed legislation to bring about another referendum to ask the public whether they want to remain in the EU or leave under the prime minister's deal. The MPs behind the draft legislation point out that Article 50 - the two-year process by which an EU member can leave the bloc - would have to be extended in order for another referendum to take place, meaning the UK would remain a member beyond 29 March. But, unless new legislation is introduced, the default position will be that the UK leaves the EU on that date with no deal. Quick guide: What is a no-deal Brexit? A "no-deal" Brexit is where the UK would cut ties with the European Union overnight without a transition period. Theresa May's government, and many others, believe this would be hugely damaging and want a more gradual withdrawal. But if Parliament can't agree on that, and nothing else takes its place, the UK could still leave without a deal. This would mean the UK would not have to obey EU rules. Instead, it would need to follow World Trade Organization terms on trade. Many businesses would see new taxes on imports, exports and services, which are likely to increase their operating costs. That means the prices of some goods in UK shops could go up. The UK would also lose the trade agreements it had with other countries as a member of the EU, all of which would need to be renegotiated alongside the new agreement with the EU itself. Manufacturers in the UK expect to face delays in components coming across the border. The UK would be free to set its own immigration controls. However some UK professionals working in the EU and UK expats could face uncertainty. Some countries, such as Spain, Germany and the Netherlands, have given temporary guarantees about residency status and rights, but there is not yet an agreed policy for UK citizens across the EU in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The situation for holidays and business trips is a little clearer, as the European Commission has said that even in a no-deal scenario, UK travellers won't need a visa for short visits of up to 90 days. The border between Northern Ireland and the Irish republic would become an external frontier for the EU with customs and immigration controls, though how and where any checks would be made is not clear. Some Leave supporters think that leaving without a deal would be positive if the right preparations were made. They say criticism is scaremongering and any short term pain would be for long term gain. But critics - including both Brexit supporters and opponents - say that leaving without a deal would be a disaster for the UK: driving up food prices, leading to shortages of goods and gridlock on some roads in the South East resulting from extra border checks.

सांसदों ने यूरोपीय संघ छोड़ने के लिए थेरेसा मे के ब्रेक्सिट सौदे पर मतदान करना शुरू कर दिया है।


'Palm oil' washes up on Salcombe Estuary beaches, Devon

Summary: Dog walkers are being warned to keep their pets away from a white substance that has washed up in Devon.

The substance, believed to be palm oil, has been discovered on three beaches in the Salcombe Estuary, South Hams District Council said. Clean-up teams were to clear up the waxy substance from North and South Sands beaches by hand on Friday morning, the council said. The substance is thought to have washed up in storms on Wednesday night. In October, a dog that ate palm oil that had washed up on a beach in Cornwall died and several others became sick. The Environment Agency confirmed the substance around Salcombe was similar to that oil. Health officials said there was no risk to humans.

डॉग वॉकरों को चेतावनी दी जा रही है कि वे अपने पालतू जानवरों को एक सफेद पदार्थ से दूर रखें जो डेवोन में बह गया है।


'How I was tortured in a Syrian jail'

Summary: "Farah" was born in Britain but grew up in Syria. Last year, she was arrested by the Syrian government security forces, who accused her of being an opposition activist. She blames Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for the torture that followed, and sees him as a bigger menace than Islamic State. Warning: Some readers will find Farah's story disturbing

By Secunder Kermani BBC Newsnight "My best friend was detained one year before me, so she told me all about it, but it was much worse than what she said. "The first thing I saw… there were all men hanged up, some of them were really bleeding from their backs and from their legs. They were just shouting, it was really scary." She was kept in a squalid, dark and cold room with about 12 other women. During interrogations, she was beaten. "They hit you and they ask you the question, if you don't answer they hit you more. You get to that stage when you're numbed - they can see that you're not in pain - so they'll take you, put water on you - and then they'll do it another time." Find out more You can listen to Secunder Kermani's radio report on the Today programme on Saturday 5 December from 07:00, or catch up afterwards on iPlayer. On one occasion she was tortured with electrodes. "I fainted - so I didn't feel the pain like when they used to hit me," she says. But she remembers clearly "the fear" before the event. One of the other girls in the same cell as her said she was raped. Farah didn't see this, but was threatened with rape herself. "Not just rape, but gang rape," she says. Farah believes that she was spared even worse treatment because she was a dual UK-Syrian national - the guards nicknamed her "British" even when they were insulting her. But they tortured her psychologically as well as physically. Sometimes they threatened to bring Farah's young son to the detention centre. "I used to go crazy when they used to say that. That was the hardest thing… Inside they know who are your closest people - they know everything." One incident, when a guard tortured an elderly man in her presence, sticks out in her mind. "He was just in front of me and they put him under electrocution. I had to see. I'm sure the man died. He just fell on the floor, and they carried him and threw him out of the room," Farah says. "One time they hanged a man from his legs and hands. I tried not to see, but sometimes they hold your face to see. They were pulling the ropes… They split him. Until now I remember his voice shouting, and then suddenly I couldn't hear anything." Amnesty International wrote in a report last month that "torture" and "extrajudicial execution" are "rampant" in detention centres. The Syria Network for Human Rights also estimates that 65,000 people, mostly civilians, were forcibly "disappeared" by the government between March 2011 and August 2015, and remain missing. The Syrian government rejects allegations of abuses. Prison staff weren't always brutal, Farah says. "When the detective is there no-one can help you. But after (the interrogation) they will give you medication or feed you." One night a guard started a conversation with Farah. "I told him, 'how can a normal person do what you're doing to us?' He opened a drawer and got some pills out and told me because of these - these help me… He started telling me, 'You're in prison? I'm in prison. I've been here for four years hitting people.'" Farah was released after 36 days although she's still not sure why. She left Syria and came to the UK. She holds Syrian President Bashar al-Assad responsible for what happened to her. The UK recently began airstrikes against so-called Islamic State in Syria, but Farah says the priority should be the Assad regime not IS. Her views echo those of many Syrians caught between Assad and IS. "When we say we want to get rid of Assad it doesn't mean we want ISIS - or we are happy with ISIS. In a way they are both the same, just with different ways of killing," Farah says. "Assad is the one who brought ISIS to Syria with all his death and destruction. We have to get rid of Assad and then we can get rid of ISIS." More from the Magazine When Islamic State seized Palmyra in Syria in May, one of the first things it did was blow up the Tadmur prison - the country's most notorious jail, where for decades, political dissidents were detained and tortured. "Jailers were given an open licence to do anything, even to kill. Your life was simply worth nothing," says Palestinian writer Salameh Kaileh, who spent two years there, from 1998 to 2000. Inside Tadmur: The worst prison in the world? Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.

"फराह" का जन्म ब्रिटेन में हुआ था लेकिन वह सीरिया में पली-बढ़ी थी। पिछले साल, उसे सीरियाई सरकार के सुरक्षा बलों ने गिरफ्तार कर लिया था, जिन्होंने उस पर एक विपक्षी कार्यकर्ता होने का आरोप लगाया था। वह सीरिया के राष्ट्रपति बशर अल-असद को यातना के लिए दोषी ठहराती है, और उसे इस्लामिक स्टेट से भी बड़े खतरे के रूप में देखती है। चेतावनीः कुछ पाठकों को फराह की कहानी परेशान करने वाली लगेगी।


Nagorno-Karabakh conflict: Human cost of two nations fighting for 'Motherland'

Summary: Nobody knows how many people have lost their lives so far in the latest war for Nagorno-Karabakh. Russia's president said recently that 5,000 people had died - soldiers and civilians. These are the stories of some the men who died fighting on both sides.

By Rayhan DemytrieBBC South Caucasus correspondent "It's hard for me but I am proud that my son's blood was spilled on our soil," says Mushkenaz Haziyeva over the phone from her home in the Azerbaijani town of Kurdamir. Ziyadhan Aliyev, 24, studied computer programming and loved reading history books. He was in no hurry to get married. He was waiting a few more weeks for his military service to end but died on 1 October, days after the conflict began. Ziyadhan was killed in the battle to recapture the village of Talish. His family came originally from a village called Soltanli, further south in the Jabrayil region. They and hundreds of thousands of other ethnic Azerbaijanis were forced to abandon their homes when the territory fell to the Armenians in the 1990s. Ziyadhan's father fought in that first Karabakh war. A ceasefire was declared at the end of it but no peace treaty was signed. The Nagorno-Karabakh region is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, but it is controlled by ethnic Armenians. "If you mix water with soil, you get dirt. If you mix soil with blood, you get the Motherland," his mother says. The Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict flared up on 27 September. Azerbaijan does not give details of its losses, but there have been many reported funerals and pictures of fresh graves at military cemeteries. Officially, more than 1,100 Armenian servicemen are known to have been killed. The majority of Armenian soldiers killed in action have been young recruits, born after 2000. More than 130 civilians have been killed on both sides. Soltanli is among more than 100 villages recently recaptured by the Azerbaijan army and Mushkenaz Haziyeva believes military action is the only way to get the territory back. "We will go back there, we will build homes and schools, grow our gardens. On the one hand my heart is bleeding because I have lost my son, but on the other I am full of joy because finally we won't have to be the refugees anymore." This conflict is going on while the coronavirus pandemic rages in both countries. But we know that Armenia is going through many more funerals for fallen soldiers than for victims of Covid-19. For a small nation of three million people, the human cost of this conflict has been immense. Sargis Hakopyan, 19, was a promising young artist who learned to draw from an early age. His cousin, Sed, remembers how he painted his first fish when he was three. In July 2019, Sargis was drafted into the Armenian army. Soon afterwards he lost his mother, to whom he was deeply attached. His family was informed about his death on 17 October. They have yet to receive his body. Sargis was a creative soul, his cousin remembers. He was good at singing and poetry, had lots of female friends and was loved by everyone wherever he went, he says. "Sargis dreamt of entering the Yerevan Academy of Fine Arts," says his childhood friend Anush Khachatryan. "No-one can fill his place in my heart. Never." Both nations are gripped with the pain of loss, but Azerbaijan's military advance has boosted public morale at home and there appears to be overwhelming support for continuing the war. Aziza Gasanova, 27, is mourning her husband Fariz Gasanov. "I last saw him on 10 October. He came home to have a quick shower but didn't even eat. He just took three pieces of chocolate, said he was in a rush and kissed our children," she recalls. Fariz, 34, was reserved but kind, his wife says. He joined the army when he was 19 and was dedicated to the Karabakh issue. Often he would say that they had inherited the problem from their fathers, but it was up to his generation to ensure Azerbaijan returned its lost territories, she says. His phone calls stopped on 11 October. A few days later Aziza learned that he was killed in a battle for the town of Fizuli, which the Azerbaijani army had recaptured. He was buried five days later. "My daughter says that dad has become an angel and is looking at us from heaven. She repeats my words. The children don't understand it yet that he is no longer with us, " says Aziza. The family always kept an Azerbaijani flag in the house and Aziza now hopes her four-year-old son Ruslan will one day join the army and become a general. "I will be teaching my children to hate Armenians because they killed our sons. So many women became widows, mothers lost their children. But this is our land. Everybody knows it's Azerbaijani territory." For more on the Karabakh conflict: Ethnic Armenians see Karabakh, which they call Artsakh, as their "Motherland" too - the last outpost of their ancient Christian kingdom. And many are ready to sacrifice their lives for it. Davit Hovhannisyan, 25, wanted to pursue a military career from a young age. In his childhood he would dress up in military uniform and pose for photographs. He was killed on 10 October in the south-eastern part of Nagorno-Karabakh. His cousin, Nellie Petrosyan, remembers a man who was good at singing patriotic songs and liked to crack jokes with his family. "I last saw him in September; we went to visit a 10th-Century monastery in our village of Shatin. Davit collected hawthorn branches for his sister. He really loved nature. It was a happy day and I could never have imagined it would be our last. "I want the Armenians and the world to remember Davit as a real hero, and a real patriot." The war over Nagorno-Karabakh is now in its fifth week, and there is no sign of easing in the fighting from either side. Three ceasefires have come and gone and Azerbaijan continues its military advance. It has recaptured a substantial amount of territory previously under Armenian control and Armenia's prime minister has vowed to "fight for every last stone, centimetre and every millimetre" of land in Karabakh.

कोई नहीं जानता कि नागोर्नो-काराबाख के लिए हाल के युद्ध में अब तक कितने लोगों ने अपनी जान गंवाई है। रूस के राष्ट्रपति ने हाल ही में कहा कि 5,000 लोग मारे गए थे-सैनिक और नागरिक। ये कुछ लोगों की कहानियां हैं जो दोनों तरफ से लड़ते हुए मारे गए थे।


Indian media: 'Delicate diplomacy'

Summary: Media in India hail the decision by the new PM-elect Narendra Modi to invite the leaders of the country's neighbours to his swearing-in ceremony later on Monday as the beginning of a "big and bold" foreign policy.

They focus most of their attention on one guest, Pakistan's premier Nawaz Sharif, and express hope that the traditionally tense relations between Delhi and Islamabad can improve. The two countries have fought three wars in the past 60 years. "By reaching out to Pakistan, Modi has made a remarkable initiative. Nawaz Sharif, by accepting the invite has responded admirably. Astute and sagacious leadership and statecraft now calls for building and deepening this opening," urges Wajahat Qazi in an article on the Firstpost website. He argues that the two leaders should use the opportunity to discuss the disputed region of Kashmir. "This calls for delicate diplomacy between the two nations and a well crafted strategy to win over and convince the hardliners on both sides of the divide for a salubrious relationship between the two estranged neighbours," advises Qazi. The Times of India is also hoping for improved relations with Islamabad. "While there are enormous difficulties in the India-Pakistan relationship - of which the attack on the Indian consulate in Herat is only the latest instance - personal rapport between leaders can help tide them over," the paper says. It sees the move as an indication that "Modi is passionate about resetting Indian foreign policy" in general and points to the fact that he has invited to his swearing-in ceremony leaders from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). "Let the unconventional invite to neighbours herald a big and bold foreign policy," writes the paper. "It is with the other neighbours that Modi has the opportunity to transact much economic and political business in his five-year tenure as prime minister of India," C Raja Mohan points out in The Indian Express. He doubts the prospect of better relations with Islamabad, warning that "major breakthroughs are unlikely amid the current political flux within Pakistan and Sharif's deteriorating relations with the all-powerful army". "There have been doubts in India's diplomatic establishment of Sharif's ability to deliver on his promise of peace in the face of resistance from the country's military," writes The New Indian Express. 'Minimum government' The BJP is likely to have less number of ministers compared to the outgoing United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, reports say. On the eve of the swearing-in ceremony, Mr Modi's secretariat released a note saying his cabinet will be guided by the principle of "minimum government and maximum governance", announces Hindustan Times. "Lean is in. The Modi government will be almost half the size of the United Progressive Alliance-2 with ministries bunched and 45-50 'bright, focused and clean' leaders making up the council of ministers, averaging 55 years of age," says another report in Hindustan Times. Newspapers, however, highlight the challenges ahead for Mr Modi's team. "The economic legacy handed down to him by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government is a troubled one and Mr Modi may find himself diverting all his energies to first steady the ship before he attempts to change its course," columnist Raghuvir Srinivasan writes in The Hindu. He points out that the new government must "slay the inflation monster" and resume stalled infrastructure projects. The Tribune agrees that Mr Modi's government will have to improve the economy. "Mr Modi will have with him a hand-picked team, and together they face daunting challenges. Primary among them will be to improve the economy, which has picked up from the time his victory was announced," the paper says. And finally, a 13-year-old Indian girl has become the youngest to climb the world's highest peak, the Mount Everest, the Indian Express reports. Malavath Poorna was accompanied by 16-year-old Anand Sharma in the climb, the paper says. "Poorna and Anand were selected out of a group of 110 students from 300 welfare schools to be sent to the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute by the state government under a social welfare department scheme called 'Op-Everest'," the daily adds. BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. For more reports from BBC Monitoring, click here. You can follow BBC Monitoring on Twitter and Facebook.

भारत में मीडिया ने नए प्रधानमंत्री-निर्वाचित नरेंद्र मोदी द्वारा सोमवार को बाद में अपने शपथ ग्रहण समारोह में देश के पड़ोसियों के नेताओं को आमंत्रित करने के फैसले को एक "बड़ी और साहसिक" विदेश नीति की शुरुआत के रूप में सराहा।


Brexit: What would 'no deal' mean for aviation?

Summary: If the UK leaves the EU without any withdrawal agreement, EU rules and regulations will, very abruptly, stop applying to the UK after 29 March next year. So what would that mean in terms of planes being able to take off and land?

By Chris MorrisReality Check correspondent, BBC News Well, the UK would no longer be part of the EU's single aviation market, which is the basis for flights in and out of the country at the moment, not just to the EU itself, but to other countries with which the EU has a deal - such as the United States and Canada. In all, the EU governs direct UK aviation access to 44 other countries. Of course, you can always negotiate new agreements, but access would start at a pretty low level and negotiations take time. That's why a sudden no-deal scenario is so alarming to the industry, a point that was recognised back in October 2017 by Chancellor Philip Hammond. "It is theoretically conceivable in a no-deal scenario that there will be no air traffic moving between the UK and EU on 29 March 2019," he said. "But I don't think anybody seriously believes that is where we will get to." As always, the devil would be in the detail. The UK would no longer be governed by the regulations of the European Aviation Safety Agency, which deal with all sorts of things like maintenance and common standards. The UK Civil Aviation Authority could, in theory, take on all the same rules, and hire lots of new staff to implement and oversee them, but it would also have to convince other international regulators to recognise it - another time-consuming process. And if you're following EU aviation rules in full, you basically have to accept a role for EU courts like the European Court of Justice as well. Of course, plenty of "third countries" have their own separate deals with the EU and given time, the UK could do the same. But we keep coming back to that ticking clock. 'Ultimate worry' All of which makes it difficult for airlines that are already selling tickets for flights after Brexit. "Right now we will continue to sell in the hope and belief that when a conclusion comes to the Brexit scenario, common sense will prevail and people will realise the need for intra-Europe travel," said Roy Kinnear, the chief commercial officer of FlyBe. "The biggest fear has to be if at the eleventh hour and fifty-ninth minute there is a complete cessation and breakdown, and a shutdown of air travel between the UK and Europe. That is the ultimate worry." And airlines, just like many other industries, are having to make contingency plans to prepare for the worst. From September, when many people will start booking Easter and summer holidays in 2019, RyanAir will add a "Brexit clause" to all tickets sold for travel after 29 March . It will warn customers that their tickets may not be valid if aviation regulation is disrupted in the event of "no deal". If flights don't take place, the cost would be refunded. In a statement, RyanAir said it hoped a 21-month transition agreement after Brexit would be implemented as part of a withdrawal agreement, to give airlines more time to prepare for a transition to a new relationship. But it said: "We believe that the risk of a hard (no-deal) Brexit is being underestimated." IAG, the parent company of British Airways, was unable to confirm whether BA was planning to introduce similar measures to those being implemented by RyanAir. Instead, an IAG statement said: "we are confident that a comprehensive air transport agreement between the EU and UK will be reached." One of the reasons for the continuing uncertainty is the nature of the aviation industry. In other areas of the UK's trade relationship, if it leaves with no deal, it will fall back on the basic rules of the World Trade Organization. But in aviation, there is no fall-back position. Either you have a deal or you don't. So if negotiations with the EU fail, and neither side wants that to happen, there would have to be a scramble for an interim solution to keep planes in the air. The most obvious one would be some kind of stopgap agreement to roll over current rules for a short time. But that would mean the UK's current commitments to the EU - such as legal and budget commitments - would have to continue as well. It would be extended membership in all but name. Project Complexity? It is worth emphasising that it would be in no-one's interest to ground aircraft. Everyone would be looking for a fix. Again, this is a point that was emphasised by Philip Hammond. "It's very clear," he said, "that mutual self-interest means that even if talks break down, even if there is no deal, there will be a very strong compulsion on both sides to reach agreement on an air traffic services arrangement." But the suggestion that everything would automatically be fine for aviation in the event of no deal is highly misleading. A deal would need to be done, to deal with the consequences of "no deal". And this isn't about Project Fear - this is Project Complexity. What do you want BBC Reality Check to investigate? Get in touch Read more from Reality Check Follow us on Twitter

यदि यू. के. बिना किसी वापसी समझौते के ई. यू. छोड़ देता है, तो ई. यू. के नियम और विनियम, बहुत अचानक, अगले साल 29 मार्च के बाद यू. के. पर लागू होना बंद कर देंगे। तो विमानों के उड़ान भरने और उतरने में सक्षम होने के मामले में इसका क्या मतलब होगा?


Skegness hotel death no longer being treated as murder

Summary: The death of a woman at a seaside hotel is no longer being treated as suspicious, police have said.

The body of the 39-year-old woman was discovered at the Links Hotel in Drummond Road, Skegness, on Tuesday evening. A 43-year-old man arrested on suspicion of murder has been released without further action. Following the results of a post-mortem examination the matter will now be passed to the coroner, police said. Follow BBC East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire on Facebook on Twitter, and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk.

पुलिस ने कहा है कि समुद्र के किनारे एक होटल में एक महिला की मौत को अब संदिग्ध नहीं माना जा रहा है।


Osborne doubles his China bet

Summary: What is most striking about George Osborne's Chinese tour is he is doubling his political and economic bet on the world's number two economy at a time when that economy is looking its most fragile for 30 years.

Robert PestonEconomics editor His calculation is that China's economy will slow in a relatively contained way to a more sustainable rate - perhaps 4% or 5% a year compared with the official target of 7% - without a devastating crash that would damage a large number of client economies and engender social unrest in China itself (in employing the great Goldman bull of China Jim O'Neill as his commercial minister, Osborne could hardly wager otherwise). Today's manifestation of the China bet is confirmation of a long-trailed loan guarantee - initially worth £2bn but likely to rise substantially - to bind in Chinese and French nuclear giants to their promised massive £24.5bn investment in the Hinkley Point C new nuclear plant. This is certainly long-term strategic planning for more power security by Osborne and the government (well they would say). With oil fluctuating at between $40 and $50 a barrel, Hinkley's prospective electricity looks scarily expensive. And there is a paradox about how pricey the nuclear megawatts look right now - because one of the big causes of the oil price collapse is the Chinese slowdown that has savaged demand for energy. 'Pure expression' But Osborne views Hinkley as a bloated sprat to catch a ginormous mackerel: a Chinese-designed nuclear power plant in Essex is hoped to be in the offing (according to the energy secretary Amber Rudd in today's FT); a wagonload of construction investment in the chancellor's cherished "Northern Powerhouse" is chuntering down the track, according to leaders of north-of-England city council leaders out here with him. China represents perhaps the purest expression of Osborne's realpolitik approach to promoting prosperity in Britain. He is blowing a raspberry at human rights campaigners by going to Urumqi, where the indigenous Uighur population complain of economic and cultural discrimination by Han Chinese, to win business for British companies in President Xi's "One Belt, One Road" global transport-infrastructure "grand projet" (a Silk Road for a globalised age). And Osborne is also politely ignoring Washington, which is increasingly uneasy about what it sees as the Treasury's disloyal Beijing tilt (the White House was unamused, Beijing smug, when the UK became the first western member of the Chinese-sponsored Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank). The chancellor's calculation is that the Chinese will remember who stuck by them when the going got tougher. And he is also presuming that as the returns from investing in China itself diminish, Chinese institutions - many of them still loaded - will increasingly think owning a bit of Britain isn't such a crazy idea after all.

जॉर्ज ओसबोर्न के चीनी दौरे के बारे में सबसे आश्चर्यजनक बात यह है कि वह दुनिया की दूसरे नंबर की अर्थव्यवस्था पर अपने राजनीतिक और आर्थिक दांव को ऐसे समय में दोगुना कर रहे हैं जब वह अर्थव्यवस्था 30 वर्षों से सबसे कमजोर दिख रही है।


Bradley Gledhill stabbing: Boy, 16, charged with murder

Summary: A 16-year-old boy has been charged with the murder of a man who was stabbed to death in a fight in West Yorkshire.

The teenager is accused of killing Bradley Gledhill, 20, from Heckmondwike, who died after the fight in Park Croft, Batley, on 21 June. The boy, from Dewsbury, has also been charged with attempted murder and joint enterprise. He was due to appear before Leeds magistrates on Saturday. More stories from around Yorkshire An 18-year-old man also arrested has been released on police bail. Four other males have previously been charged with murder. Anyone with information is urged to contact police. Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk or send video here.

एक 16 वर्षीय लड़के पर वेस्ट यॉर्कशायर में एक लड़ाई में चाकू मारकर हत्या करने का आरोप लगाया गया है।


'Entire pavement stolen' from Storrington village overnight

Summary: A council is reviewing CCTV footage after reports that a large section of pavement was stolen from a village in West Sussex.

Dozens of paving slabs were found to be missing in Storrington on Tuesday. A picture of the scene received more than 1,000 comments after being posted on Reddit with the caption: "An entire pavement in my village was stolen last night". Horsham District Council said it had reported the theft to Sussex Police. Storrington resident Alan Stainer said whoever had taken the slabs had "made a right old mess". Horsham District Council said it believed that "the paving slabs may have been stolen overnight," adding that it was taking steps to make "the area safe for car park users". Related Internet Links Horsham District Council

वेस्ट ससेक्स के एक गाँव से फुटपाथ का एक बड़ा हिस्सा चोरी होने की रिपोर्ट के बाद एक परिषद सीसीटीवी फुटेज की समीक्षा कर रही है।


Inside Qatar's squalid labour camps

Summary: The Qatari authorities say they are working to improve living and working conditions for the tens of thousands of migrant workers. But many labourers, mainly from South Asia, find their dream of coming to this rich nation to improve the lives of their families is more of a nightmare.

By Leana HoseaBBC Middle East Business Reporter, Doha The Qatari authorities say they have increased inspection of accommodation, but I visited four so-called labour camps in Doha and they were all squalid. Some were better than others, but they were all overcrowded with around six to eight men to a room. Twenty and sometimes up to 40 men have to share a kitchen, which is often just a few cooking hobs hooked up to gas canisters and nothing more. The toilet and washing facilities are so basic and dirty that some men use buckets of water to wash. One Bangladeshi man said that raw sewage had been leaking into the camp from a broken pipe. The Qatari authorities say: "There are very many developments for new workers' accommodation in Qatar at various stages of planning and construction, including at Al-Baraha (25,000 beds); and the Barwa Recreation City facility at Al Khor, which will accommodate a further 6,000 workers, and recreational facilities. "Further private sector developments will create a further 70,000 beds for workers; while enforcement and inspections should help raise the standards of existing accommodation." '21st Century slave state' The 2022 World Cup has kicked off a multibillion-dollar construction boom in Qatar, and roads and hotels are being built to accommodate the fans and businesses that will flock to the emirate. But though Doha, the capital, looks uber-modern, with glittering skyscrapers and innovative architecture, its labour system is less forward-looking. Human rights groups and trade unions say migrant workers are subject to a labour system that enables trafficking and forced labour. Last year, 185 Nepalese workers died, many from heart failure, and 450 Indian workers have died since 2012. Figures of deaths from other nationalities have not been published. Indian and Qatari authorities say the death rates are normal. However, Human Rights Watch called the figures "horrendous" and the general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, Sharan Burrow, says it is "an exceptionally high mortality rate". She says if this trend continues some 4,000 workers will die before the first World Cup football kick-off. Qatar, she says, has refused to give workers a collective voice or the right to form trade unions, describing the emirate as "a 21st Century slave state". 'People hate us' Most workers were reluctant to be interviewed, saying they feared getting into trouble with the authorities. Qatar is a monarchy with restrictions on freedom of speech. But some workers agreed. In a ramshackle, cockroach-infested camp, 22-year-old Anil Lamichhane told me he regrets coming to Qatar and wants to go home to Nepal. "My company doesn't care about us. When we complain to our seniors they say, 'We will see, we will see'. But when will they see us? We don't get safety shoes in time, we don't get helmets, we don't get good gloves, we don't get good accommodation, we don't get good food. We don't get good salaries - only $9 per day - and we work six days per week. "No-one respects our feelings, we are just labour, all people hate us." At another camp, Santos Tharu from Nepal told me how he is trapped in Qatar without his passport or any money. He says he injured his back at work carrying heavy loads, but his employer refused to pay his medical bills. "I became so unwell I couldn't get out of bed for a week, so they sacked me. They said they would send me home to Nepal, as my contract says. I waited and waited, but it's been two months now. "I don't have anything, no wages and no food allowance. I have to rely on my friends," he said. His employer did not respond to my request for an interview. According to Amnesty International, the majority of migrant workers have their passports held by employers. Workers' charter The organisers of the 2022 World Cup issued a "workers' charter" last month in an attempt to improve workers' rights. But it only applies to those working directly on the World Cup buildings. According to the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee for Legacy and Delivery, this currently only applies to 38 workers. There are more than a million migrant labourers toiling on the infrastructure for the World Cup, building hotels and roads to accommodate the fans and businesses that will flock to Qatar because of the football. The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs states: "Where any liability is found to rest with employers, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and Qatari law authorities will pursue these cases through the relevant legal channels. "Many companies have been sanctioned for labour law violations. This includes 2,000 in the past year, and 500 in January 2014 alone. Ultimately, companies that are sanctioned are stopped from hiring workers or renewing visas."

कतर के अधिकारियों का कहना है कि वे हजारों प्रवासी श्रमिकों के लिए रहने और काम करने की स्थिति में सुधार के लिए काम कर रहे हैं। लेकिन कई मजदूर, मुख्य रूप से दक्षिण एशिया से, अपने परिवारों के जीवन को बेहतर बनाने के लिए इस अमीर देश में आने के अपने सपने को एक दुःस्वप्न के रूप में देखते हैं।