The fishy ingredient in beer that bothers vegetarians

Summary: Many people may not realise the beer in their pint glass contains a product made from fish. Now the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) is calling on brewers to investigate alternatives for their drinks. But why is fish put in beer anyway?

By Liam BarnesBBC News Ask somebody to list the classic ingredients of beer and the chances are they will come back with: hops, malt, barley and water, with a bit of yeast thrown in for good measure. It is unlikely the swim bladder of fish would be on the list, but isinglass - a gelatine made using the organ - is in fact very likely to be in your average pint. Used since the 19th Century as a fining agent to make beer clear, bright and more attractive to drinkers, the odourless added extra is used widely by brewers, from mass-produced brands to small microbreweries. Its prevalence poses a problem for vegetarians and vegans, many of whom do not realise they need to tread carefully when ordering at the bar. Now Camra is calling on breweries to examine alternatives to isinglass in beer, is a brewing revolution on the cards? While flocculation - the process where the substance mixes with the yeast in the beer to make it less hazy - is useful for many breweries and landlords looking for beer to settle quickly, Twisted Barrel Brewery made the decision not to use isinglass to clear its beers soon after setting up in 2014. Brewery owner Tim Bosworth, a long-term vegetarian who went vegan two years ago, said he was shocked when he first learned about the ingredient. "It's kind of disgusting to think about, even to people who eat meat, and it's something that's not talked about," he said. "Nobody really wants to advertise that they filter their beer through dead fish." As well as the ethical and environmental issues around veganism, the Coventry-based brewer has another more practical objection: the effect of isinglass on the taste. "It takes away a lot of the flavour from the beer," Mr Bosworth said. "More people know now that beer doesn't have to be clear - it doesn't matter what it looks like, and isinglass is just used for aesthetics." When Manchester's Marble Brewery started out in 1997, the production of vegetarian-friendly ales was not a consideration, but the desire to be authentic meant the brewery steered clear of fining agents. Its stance means Marble is one of a handful of breweries to be approved by the Vegetarian Society, something that's earned it a loyal following. While not averse to using odd ingredients - from Japanese citrus fruit yuzu to bergamot - the idea of filling a pint full of fish bladders left a bad taste with the brewery's brains trust. "When I first came here I asked [brewery owner] Jan if we needed to be vegetarian, and she said yes we do because it's a very big thing for us," said James Kemp, who took over as head brewer this year. "We'd lose a lot of customers if we weren't part of it. "We always try and make our beers as clear as they can be through great brewing - it's a source of pride for us." If the likes of Marble got the ball rolling with unfined beer, then the momentum has picked up with the recent British brewing boom. As the number of active breweries has soared - from fewer than 700 in 2009 to more than 1,500 in 2016 - the number of those that leave out isinglass and other items has grown. Alternative vegetarian-friendly finings, such as products derived from the algae Irish moss or seaweed, are also on the market. But why did breweries start using finings in the first place? Beer author, journalist and Camra stalwart Roger Protz traces it to the 19th Century, when pale ales challenged porters and stouts in the popularity stakes and transparent glasses replaced stone, china and metal drinking vessels. The reason it has carried on, he says, is the pressure to turn over beers in the shortest time possible. "Particularly in this day and age of 'pubcos', people want to get the beers on as quickly as possible, and isinglass is a shortcut to help them," he said. It is not just ethical concerns driving the increase. Mr Protz - himself a vegetarian for more than 25 years - points to increasing customer knowledge of different beer styles, such as German wheat beers, that are naturally cloudy, meaning British drinkers no longer naturally fear the worst when served a less-than transparent pint. Mr Protz is encouraging more breweries to follow the lead of Guinness, which announced last year it would stop using isinglass in its products. Unsurprisingly, the practice is enthusiastically backed by the Vegetarian Society. John Soonaye, from the society, said the exemption alcoholic drinks enjoy on nutritional labelling regulations makes life harder for ale-drinking vegetarians. However, with greater consumer awareness about the provenance of food and drink and a number of breweries signing up to earn the society's approved trademark, he hopes the situation will improve. "The use of isinglass in drinks production is a major frustration for vegetarian beer lovers as there are very few obvious ways to identify whether or not it has been used," he said. "Personally, there's nothing I like more than savouring a cool pint of real ale on a lazy Saturday afternoon, so if Camra can help encourage breweries to make more beers suitable for more people, that's a brilliant thing." Where once brewers skipping on finings was very much swimming against the tide, could we be looking at a situation where a flocculated beer filled to the gills with isinglass is a thing of the past? "I think with the craft beer revolution more breweries aren't using isinglass," said Mr Bosworth. "People are moving away from the idea beer needs to be clear. "All of the people who have brought back beer to our bar thinking it was off have had it explained to them, and once they were told about it they realised the beer was fine. "Some people do tell me they drink with their eyes, and if they want a clear beer with finings then that's up to them, but nobody has left my bar unsatisfied." Mr Protz agrees greater consumer awareness could lead to the change. "I think that the pressure is on," he said. "Even if you're not a vegetarian you must wonder why on earth are people putting fish bladders in beer?"

कई लोगों को शायद यह एहसास न हो कि उनके पिंट गिलास में बीयर में मछली से बना एक उत्पाद होता है। अब कैम्पेन फॉर रियल एले (कैमरा) शराब बनाने वालों से अपने पेय के विकल्पों की जांच करने के लिए कह रहा है। लेकिन वैसे भी बीयर में मछली क्यों डाली जाती है?


Government hopes business will back Brexit "third way"

Summary: Business leaders have been told they will get a preview of the government's final position on customs and trading arrangements ahead of the publication of a government White Paper next Thursday - but NOT before the whole cabinet thrashes out the final contents of the paper on Friday at the Prime Minister's country retreat, Chequers.

Simon JackBusiness editor@BBCSimonJackon Twitter I'm told that many members of the full cabinet have yet to receive any documents to review ahead of Friday's crunch talks. Media reports - that businesses would get a heads up before ministers - were dismissed by senior government sources. However, the government IS hoping that business will do its bit by responding positively to what the government will claim is a new level of post-summit clarity. It hopes business will be just as noisy in welcoming it as they were in complaining about its absence in the last two weeks. Large manufacturers including Airbus, BMW and Nissan have all recently warned that future investment in the UK is threatened by lack of clarity on future trading arrangements with the EU, with specific worries about delays at borders caused by new customs procedures. It's been reported that a new idea will be unveiled at the summit on how to keep the borders friction free - a third way between the two options already considered. Options To refresh memories, the first option - the maximum facilitation (or "max fac") model - envisages using new (as yet unspecified) technology to reduce (not eliminate) friction at our ports, airports and, crucially, at the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The second, a "new customs partnership" would see the UK collecting EU tariffs on goods bound for European markets on the EU's behalf - and sending them on to Brussels - with the option of paying refunds on goods remaining in the UK. I'm told that of the two options, the latter was winning the argument in cabinet as it's much cheaper for business and does away with the need for any new physical borders with the EU - particularly important on the island of Ireland. It therefore seems likely that any third way will look more like the customs partnership than the max-fac model. The problem is that both have been dismissed by the EU as unworkable and that is why some business leaders I've spoken to are sceptical that Chequers and the subsequent White Paper will herald the kind of breakthrough businesses crave. "Alice in Wonderland" summit One veteran business leader described the Chequers summit as an "Alice in Wonderland" meeting. Another told me the credibility of senior UK managers at multinational companies was "completely shot" as messages of reassurance from the government - that were dutifully carried back to their international boards - proved to be "meaningless promises". However, the director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, Dr Adam Marshall, told the BBC that if the government delivers a settled position from which to base negotiations, business will say "hallelujah". A senior cabinet minister hoped that Friday's summit would prove to be a "big moment" in the history of the Brexit process. If the Chequers summit produces a clear position, which has broad support from her own government and provides business with a sense of clarity about what the UK is trying to achieve, then it will have been one. Theresa May and David Davis will feel they can then finally turn OUTWARD to the EU and legitimately ask them to use more imagination in finding a solution that delivers a version of Brexit which is in the economic interests of both sides.

व्यापारिक नेताओं को बताया गया है कि वे अगले गुरुवार को एक सरकारी श्वेत पत्र के प्रकाशन से पहले सीमा शुल्क और व्यापारिक व्यवस्थाओं पर सरकार की अंतिम स्थिति का पूर्वावलोकन प्राप्त करेंगे-लेकिन इससे पहले कि पूरा मंत्रिमंडल शुक्रवार को प्रधान मंत्री के देश रिट्रीट, चेकर्स में पेपर की अंतिम सामग्री को समाप्त कर दे।


Is Trump closer to obstruction of justice?

Summary: James Comey may not have added much new detail in testimony on Thursday about his one-to-one meetings with Donald Trump but he did add something: he set the scene, and law professors say that could be a missing piece in an obstruction of justice case against the president.

By Joel GunterBBC News, Washington Mr Comey, the former director of the FBI, gave three hours of evidence in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee, describing personally for the first time the series of exchanges with the president that led to his sacking last month. In one of those exchanges, the president said he "hoped" Mr Comey could "find his way" to dropping an investigation into then-national security adviser, Michael Flynn, a Trump ally who was under scrutiny over his ties to Russia. We knew that already - Mr Comey made details of the meeting public several weeks ago - and Committee Republicans sought on Thursday to paint it as an innocent exchange: "I hope" was not an instruction, they said. The former FBI director declined to offer his own opinion at the hearing on whether the president was attempting to obstruct justice, saying only that he found their exchange "very disturbing". Whether the president had broken the law would be a matter for special counsel investigator Robert Mueller to decide, he said. So what's changed? Alex Whiting, a Harvard Law professor and former federal prosecutor, said the oral testimony gave new and legally significant insight into how Mr Comey interpreted the president's words in the moment. "The critical aspect of an obstruction case is assessing the intent of the speaker and whether it was corrupt," Mr Whiting said. "People communicate with much more than words, and some of the best evidence for what a speaker meant can be how the speaker was understood at the time." Mr Comey testified on Thursday that he clearly understood Mr Trump to be pushing him to drop the inquiry. We also heard for the first time that the president cleared the room before making the remarks, removing even Mr Comey's boss, the attorney general. Added to that, Mr Comey, who has a long history of high-profile legal positions and who took meticulous notes directly after his meetings with the president, was a "dream witness", Mr Whiting said. "I think if you take together his written and oral testimony together, he has now made a prima facie case of obstruction of justice. "Whether it's a case that should be prosecuted, or whether it merits impeachment, those are separate questions, but the elements are now there for obstruction. There was a corrupt intent to impede justice. I think you could charge this case." Eric Posner, a law professor at the University of Chicago, also said that Mr Comey's oral testimony had changed the legal picture. "Comey may not have added specific pieces of information, but the way he presented himself and consistency of his account, and the coherency of the account, all of these things are important," he said. "In his oral testimony, he made it clearer that he believed Trump was trying to obstruct justice. He said that when Trump used the word hope, he understood that to be a command of some sort, and that strengthens the case for obstruction. "It was a borderline case before, now it is somewhat stronger." But the case remains essentially circumstantial, said Michael Gerhardt, a law professor at University of North Carolina who testified at the Clinton impeachment hearings. "Everybody is parsing the words of course, but I don't know that Comey's testimony strengthens or weakens an obstruction case," he said. The meetings described by Mr Comey were however "clearly inappropriate", he said. "This is simply not how Americans want a president to conduct himself." The testimony would serve to strengthen Mr Comey's credibility with congress, Mr Gerhardt said, possibly at the expense of the president. "Comey put his credibility on the line today and he did it in a very public way," he said. "Now it's a credibility contest between him and the president, and I think it's safe to say Comey is winning that contest." That could prove crucial if legal action were ever taken over this affair. Were the president to face impeachment or criminal proceedings, the former FBI director would "without doubt" be a central witness, Mr Whiting said, and his credibility against Mr Trump's would be key to the case. Both those scenarios remain unlikely however, at least for the meantime. It is effectively impossible to bring criminal charges against a sitting president - the case would have to be brought by the executive branch, of which Mr Trump is the boss. As for impeachment, there is political resonance to obstruction of justice charges - it factored in the impeachment of Bill Clinton and the resignation of Richard Nixon - but it is still highly unlikely. The Republican party controls both houses of congress, and a special counsel investigation into the Russia affair is only in its infancy. So Mr Comey's testimony will not trigger legal proceedings any time soon, but it does have the potential to damage the president's political standing and resonate with moderate voters, Mr Posner said. "Obstruction of justice is clearly on the minds of a lot of people and I think it damages the president politically," he said. "He continues to have supporters of course. But for many people in the middle, their opinion of the president will decline and their reservations will strengthen."

जेम्स कोमी ने गुरुवार को डोनाल्ड ट्रम्प के साथ अपनी आमने-सामने की बैठकों के बारे में गवाही में बहुत अधिक नया विवरण नहीं जोड़ा होगा, लेकिन उन्होंने कुछ जोड़ाः उन्होंने दृश्य निर्धारित किया, और कानून के प्रोफेसरों का कहना है कि यह राष्ट्रपति के खिलाफ न्याय के मामले में बाधा डालने में एक लापता टुकड़ा हो सकता है।


Taking mental healthcare to the homeless

Summary: The number of rough sleepers with mental health problems has tripled in recent years, and a ground-breaking project in east London now aims to identify and support rough sleepers with such issues. The BBC's social affairs correspondent, Michael Buchanan, spent three months following Thames Reach staff as they try to help those homeless people who struggle with a range of psychological issues.

We meet in the dead of night in her former home - a bin chute at the bottom of a block of flats. Donna Reader spent nearly a week amid the large metal containers - sleeping among rotting food and other smells. "I'm used to it, it doesn't bother me, the smell," says Donna. She'd ended up here after becoming homeless - a chaotic life including long-standing drug addiction and schizophrenia causing her to sleep rough. Her life was rescued by an outreach team who scour the streets of east London looking for homeless people with mental health problems. Donna now has a bed in a hostel and attends a clinic every fortnight to receive her psychiatric medication. "I live healthier now I'm not living on the streets. I wake up - I've got a toilet, I can have a cup of tea, go downstairs, talk to people. My mental health is better, more controlled. You can't make mental health go overnight." The woman administering Donna's injection is Fatima Taylor, a psychiatric nurse. She works for the homeless charity Thames Reach, part of an outreach team paid for by the local council, Tower Hamlets. Nightly, they can be found on the streets of east London trying to identify, engage with, and support the increasing numbers of rough sleepers who have mental health problems. Last year, official data showed there were at least 2,521 people sleeping on the streets of London who had identifiable psychiatric needs. In 2009-10 the figure was just over 700, according to the charity St Mungo's. We travelled with the team as they went to meet a long-term rough sleeper who'd called for help. The woman suffers from schizoaffective disorder and wanted her medication. As Fatima approaches, a man with the homeless woman tries to pull her away. A small argument ensues, there is a scuffle, but Fatima manages to give the woman the pill. Fatima is shaken. "It's extremely upsetting. It's a vulnerable situation for me as well because he could have turned on me. But then you have to try and do what you need to do to help people like this." The team engage in a wide spectrum of outreach work - from initial, gentle contact through to detaining people under the Mental Health Act. The rough sleepers are often suspicious and regularly refuse help. Persistence is the key, as we saw with the team's approach to a man who lives in a tent by a busy dual carriageway in the shadow of Canary Wharf. They visit him up to three times a week. The first time we went along, he wouldn't talk to them. Weeks later and he did engage - to forcefully tell them he didn't want their help. But the team saw his engagement as a small victory, a sign of progress. Each evening can be a frustrating battle - but the team rarely lets that deter them. They spent almost three months trying to talk to one man - CCTV pictures they'd seen suggested his behaviour had become erratic, talking to himself, shouting at strangers. On the night he finally stopped to talk to them, Fatima concluded that he should be sectioned. But by now it was after midnight, and no doctors could be found to assess him as required by law. So the man walked off. "That's the nature of outreach, because it's so unpredictable when you can find somebody so chaotic, to get them into services." On a separate evening, the team gather in Whitechapel and this time doctors are present. They're here to section a different man, someone with long-term psychiatric needs whose health has deteriorated once more. He's been displaying erratic behaviour in recent weeks, including begging aggressively. A rough sleeper and habitual drug user, he has been sectioned several times before. He reacts calmly and departs for hospital. But just two days later he's back on the streets. The psychiatric unit had discharged him - the outreach team say the NHS hadn't bothered to check if he had anywhere to sleep. "They fall through the cracks all the time," says Fatima. "You try and get them [help] through A&E, [they say] it's a matter of substance misuse, drug induced psychosis, that it's nothing to do with their mental health." Often however their psychiatric health is the problem - and without the determined effort of this innovative team, far more people would be forced to struggle alone.

हाल के वर्षों में मानसिक स्वास्थ्य समस्याओं के साथ खराब नींद लेने वालों की संख्या तीन गुना हो गई है, और पूर्वी लंदन में एक अभूतपूर्व परियोजना का उद्देश्य अब इस तरह के मुद्दों के साथ खराब नींद लेने वालों की पहचान करना और उनका समर्थन करना है। बीबीसी के सामाजिक मामलों के संवाददाता, माइकल बुकानन ने थेम्स रीच के कर्मचारियों का अनुसरण करते हुए तीन महीने बिताए क्योंकि वे उन बेघर लोगों की मदद करने की कोशिश करते हैं जो कई मनोवैज्ञानिक समस्याओं से जूझ रहे हैं।


Why British Chinese mothers won't go out after giving birth

Summary: "Postnatal confinement" - where new mothers do not leave the house, have visitors or shower for a month after giving birth - is said to be widespread among the UK's Chinese community. Experts warn that few in the medical profession know this occurs.

By Amber HaqueBBC Victoria Derbyshire programme "Being confined in your flat is important," says Ching Ching Turner, from her home in London that she has not left since giving birth 28 days earlier. She speaks to the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme via video call, as visitors are not allowed. Mrs Turner argues confinement is an important process as traditional belief is that the mother and baby's immunity is very low. She is of Chinese ethnicity, and says: "For us, if you don't practise it you're kind of disadvantaging yourself." Confinement is common across Asia and in China there are special hospitals where mothers stay confined for a month, sometimes only seeing their babies once a day. It is carried out because traditional Chinese medicine asserts that women who have just given birth are more susceptible to cold air, and becoming ill as a result. Mrs Turner, who believes she has "done confinement in a modern way" by still showering for example, says her wishes came as a surprise to her husband, who was born in the UK. "I don't think he realised that [confinement] came with a whole set of rules," she says. "It was a bit difficult for him as he wanted to show off his baby. "But now we've nearly completed the month, he sees the benefits." Dr Kit Wu, a neurologist at King's College Hospital, says postnatal confinement is a tradition so engrained in Chinese culture "that even I did it". "Some of the very strict rules are that you shouldn't drink cold drinks during the month, you shouldn't really shower, hair washing isn't allowed and obviously not going outside the boundaries of your house. "Some ladies who are very strict don't actually get out of bed for the first two weeks, and then do very minimal exercise after that," she adds. Dr Wu is particularly concerned about the effect confinement has on British Chinese mothers who experience postnatal depression. "New mums can often be left in isolation and it can be difficult to cope," she explains, adding that many will also hide the symptoms from health professionals because of the pressure within Chinese communities for giving birth to be seen as a time of happiness. She also worries that "when mothers have medical problems, they try to deal with them themselves and that can be detrimental to the health of themselves and the baby". In Mrs Turner's case her mother travelled from Singapore to be with her daughter. Public Health England said: "Health visitors and midwives are specially trained and skilled in various cultural traditions and how to respect them while safeguarding the needs of the family. "If a more tailored programme of support is needed then that will be agreed with the family." Traditional medicine Dr Wu says many in the Chinese community are also being "overlooked" by mainstream health services as a result of the cultural aversion to seeking help. When contacted, the Royal College of Midwives, the Institute of Health Visiting and various maternity mental health charities said they had very little, if any, expertise in healthcare for the British Chinese. Dr Lip Lee, a clinical oncologist at Christie's Hospital, says there is also a tendency for members of the UK's Chinese community to put on a "brave front" - including when it comes to cancer. "Even when the doctor asks if they're in pain, they may deny it. They feel that, 'if I have cancer, it's a given, I should endure the pain' or, 'let's just treat it with traditional Chinese medicine'." Experts also suggest that the decision not to ask for help is also harming elderly members of the UK's Chinese community, who are living alone in old age. "There are a whole generation of first generation migrants now living in the UK and they are very isolated," explains Eddie Chan from the Chinese Healthy Living Centre in London, who also says that dementia can be heavily stigmatised among the British Chinese. "They will find it very hard to find any mainstream services that cater to their needs," he says, explaining that this is in part because of the language barrier. 'No' to chemotherapy Hon Cheung Tang, aged 73, lives on his own in a tiny bedsit and is unable to speak English. He was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer, but has decided against any treatment. He is in pain and cannot walk. Volunteer carers from the Chinese Healthy Living Centre come to see him when they can, but Mr Tang says some days he does not have a meal or a cup of water. "One doctor tried to tell me to have chemotherapy as I will certainly die if I don't. I said, 'No, as with almost all cancers you're certain to die or you won't last long'," he says, contradicting medical evidence. In Mr Tang's case, the loneliness he feels is exacerbated by the absence of his children. "One day I was going to the bathroom, and then blacked out, felt dizzy and fell," he explains. "I laid down on the floor for a while then realised the bed was so far away, I had to crawl there. "I called the kids - my daughter answered but she didn't say much and they didn't turn up. "Those few days were very bad. I don't know how I got through those days." In a statement, the Department of Health said it wants "everyone to have the same opportunity for a long and healthy life, whoever they are, wherever they live and whatever their background". It added: "We take a comprehensive and strategic approach to reducing health inequalities so we can address the cause of ill-health and promote healthier lifestyles." But for Dr Wu, more needs to be done to understand the Chinese community. She is calling for more data to be collected regarding their health needs - currently they are "grouped into a box along with other ethnicities", she explains. She also wants more funding for Chinese community groups, as for many individuals they are their main and only source of support. "Just because we're silent and polite doesn't mean we should be ignored," she says. Watch the Victoria Derbyshire programme on weekdays between 09:00 and 11:00 on BBC Two and the BBC News Channel.

"प्रसवोत्तर कारावास"-जहाँ नई माताएँ घर से बाहर नहीं निकलती हैं, जन्म देने के बाद एक महीने तक नहाती नहीं हैं या नहाती नहीं हैं-ब्रिटेन के चीनी समुदाय के बीच व्यापक रूप से कहा जाता है। विशेषज्ञों ने चेतावनी दी है कि चिकित्सा पेशे में कुछ लोगों को पता है कि ऐसा होता है।


Has skin whitening in India gone too far?

Summary: For centuries Indian women have been raised to believe that fairness is beauty, and this has given rise to a vast and ever-growing skin-whitening industry - which is now encouraging women to bleach far beyond their hands and face.

By Rajini VaidyanathanBBC News, Mumbai It all began with a YouTube video a friend sent me. You need to see this, she said, trying to contain her shock and laughter. And so I pressed play. It was an advert. A couple sits on a sofa. The husband reads a paper ignoring his beautiful wife: her face, a picture of rejection. What could this be selling? I wondered, as I watched. Moments later, this scene of spurned love turned soapy when the leading lady was seen taking a shower. But - she wasn't using any ordinary shower gel. No, she was using a skin lightening wash, which, as the graphic which then popped up on screen informed the viewer, would lighten her genitals. After an application of said fairness cream, rose petals appear on the screen, and just like the ending of a good old Bollywood film, the couple are seen happily embracing. The moral of this story - true love will conquer if your nether regions are a few tones fairer. That a skin lightening product should exist for such a private area has attracted criticism, shock, and disgust from some quarters of the media. The desire for lighter skin is nothing new in India. For centuries women in South Asia have been raised with the belief that a fairer complexion equates to beauty. But this latest development in a new area has reopened the age-old fairness debate. Should such products be on sale? Is applying bleach to your skin healthy, and what are the psychological effects on girls who are told they're only pretty if they're paler? It even reached the highest level with one government minister writing to the advertising standards body calling for the product to be withdrawn. But, despite repeated concerns, the lightening industry is booming, and diversifying. One market research firm even reported that more skin lightening creams are sold in India than Coca Cola. The market, which initially focused on beauty conscious women, is now pitching to men too. "The first fairness cream that fights sweat" read the large white letters on a bus stop billboard I passed. It was accompanied by a photo of one of Bollywood's actors of the moment, John Abraham, his chiselled face promising fragrant fairness to all who buy the product. If those variants weren't considered enough, you can also find deodorants for fairer underarms and talcum powders for whiter skin. Advertisers specialising in this field, must spend hours devising new campaigns for their products. "Do you think twice before wearing certain clothes because they don't seem to suit your body's uneven skin tone?" asked one half-page advert in a respected newspaper. "Notice how the colour of your hands is different to the colour of your face?" asked another. It seems illogical that such prejudices should continue to exist in modern day India, but they do. One wannabe actress told me she failed to get parts in films because directors bluntly told her she was too black. You only have to look at posters and ads in India to see glamorous Bollywood stars who, thanks to a bit of graphics software, have dramatically lighter skin tones - with others going the whole hog and endorsing the products. These are the stars who are worshipped by so many in India, and if many of them are complicit too, then it's fair to assume that this industry will only continue to grow. How to listen to From Our Own Correspondent: BBC Radio 4: A 30-minute programme on Saturdays, 11:30 BST. Second 30-minute programme on Thursdays, 11:00 BST (some weeks only). Listen online or download the podcast BBC World Service: Hear daily 10-minute editions Monday to Friday, repeated through the day, also available to listen online . Read more or explore the archive at the programme website .

सदियों से भारतीय महिलाओं को यह विश्वास करने के लिए उठाया गया है कि निष्पक्षता सुंदरता है, और इसने एक विशाल और लगातार बढ़ते त्वचा-श्वेत उद्योग को जन्म दिया है-जो अब महिलाओं को अपने हाथों और चेहरे से परे ब्लीच करने के लिए प्रोत्साहित कर रहा है।


Missing yachtsman sparks police probe as boat found abandoned

Summary: Police say they are becoming increasingly concerned for the safety of a missing yachtsman after his vessel was found apparently abandoned in Somerset.

They said David Moore, 43, of Avonmouth, Bristol, was being treated as a missing person case. Witnesses saw the Egoist boat leaving Watchet Marina on Saturday afternoon, and it was found early on Monday. A Coastguard search was stood down on Monday. This was decided after "further information" became available, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said. Burnham RNLI recovered the yacht from Berrow beach on Monday evening and towed it to nearby Burnham-On-Sea. Lifeboats had been launched from Burnham-on-Sea earlier on Monday to investigate reports of the grounded yacht. But crews found no-one on board.

पुलिस का कहना है कि वे एक लापता नौकाचालक की सुरक्षा के लिए तेजी से चिंतित हो रहे हैं, जब उसका जहाज समरसेट में स्पष्ट रूप से परित्यक्त पाया गया था।


UK weather: How to sleep in hot weather and other tips to stay cool

Summary: The UK has recorded its hottest day of 2016, with temperatures soaring to 33.5C (92.3F) in some areas on Tuesday. Temperatures are expected to dip in the coming days, but that hasn't stopped people asking a number of questions about how to deal with prolonged periods of hot weather.

By John HarrisonBBC News Here are some of the questions you asked Google most frequently. How do you sleep during hot weather? Weather expert Philip Eden recommends keeping curtains closed during the daytime to stop the sun coming in. He says it is best to keep windows open on the shady side of your home and closed on the sunny side, which could mean closing some windows and opening others halfway through the day. Thin cotton sheets rather than nylon bedding are also recommended. Prof Kevin Morgan, director of the Clinical Sleep Research Unit at Loughborough University, says a lukewarm shower before bed is preferable to a cold shower. When it comes to children, the NHS says a cool bath before bedtime can help, as well as keeping bedrooms cool by keeping blinds or curtains closed during the day and using fans. Pyjamas and bedclothes should be kept to a minimum, and if a baby kicks off its bedcovers during the night then they could sleep in just a nappy. Babies sleep most comfortably when their room is between 16C (61F) and 20C (68F). Read the BBC Magazine article on sleeping during hot weather How do you keep babies cool? The NHS recommends keeping all babies under six months out of direct sunlight, and older infants should be kept out of the sun as much as possible, particularly in the summer and between 11:00 and 15:00. They should be kept in the shade or under a sunshade if they're in a buggy or pushchair. Sun cream with a high sun protection factor should be applied regularly - particularly if children are in water. All children should be given plenty of fluids and the NHS says babies who are being breastfed may want to feed more than usual, but will not need water as well as breast milk. If they are bottle feeding, babies can be given cooled boiled water as well as their usual milk feeds. What are symptoms of heatstroke? People can suffer both heat exhaustion and, more seriously, heatstroke in hot weather. Signs of heat exhaustion can include tiredness or weakness, feeling faint or dizzy, having muscle cramps or feeling sick. If left untreated, the more serious symptoms of heatstroke can develop, including confusion, disorientation and even a loss of consciousness. Those suffering the signs of heat exhaustion should go to a cool place with air conditioning or shade, use a cool, wet sponge or flannel and drink fluids - ideally water, fruit juice or a rehydration drink, such as a sports drink. The NHS offers guidance on dealing with heatstroke here. What are the best sun creams? There are lots of places that rate sunscreen brands, including consumer website Which?. However, the British Association of Dermatologists (BAD) says in general you should look for two ratings on bottles of sun creams. The sun emits two types of ultraviolet rays - UVA (most commonly responsible for premature ageing and wrinkles) and UVB (which causes most sunburn). The BAD says you need to be protected from both. The sun protection factor (SPF) offers guidance on a cream's protection against UVB rays, while a star system indicates the level of protection against UVA rays. The sun factor protection factor (SPF) is graded between two and 50+ - with factor 50 and above offering the strongest protection against UVB rays - while the star rating ranges from 0 to five. Experts say it is important to choose both a high SPF as well as a high star rating. How long does it take to burn? The risk of sunburn depends on how sensitive your skin is, and how strong the sun's UV rays are. The UV index will vary, depending on where you are in the world, the time of year, what the weather is like, the time of day, and how high up you are compared to sea level. During the UK's summer months, the sun's UV rays are strongest between 11:00 and 15:00. However, Cancer Research UK suggests using a simple "shadow rule" to estimate the strength of the sun. It suggests that if your shadow is shorter than your height, the sun's UV rays are strong - and you are therefore more likely to burn. Can you tan through a window? Glass will filter out most of the UVB rays which cause sunburn, but you can still tan or burn. A 2010 study by St Louis University School of Medicine - reported in the New York Times - found that people who spend a lot of time driving a car each week are more likely to develop skin cancers on the left side of the body, the window side in North American cars. The NHS says snow, sand, concrete and water can also reflect the sun's rays on to your skin - particularly at high altitudes, when the sun is more intense. How hot does it have to be to stop work? Unfortunately for those seeking a day off there are currently no laws in the UK about when it is too hot to work. Employers should provide a "reasonable" temperature in the workplace. But the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) says a limit cannot be introduced because some industries have to work in high temperatures. However, two MPs this week tabled an early day motion in the House of Commons calling for a legal limit of 30C, or 27C for those doing strenuous work. It can, however, be too cold to work. Guidance recommends a minimum working temperature of 16C (61F), or 13C, if employees are doing physical work. How hot is it really? Compare the temperature where you are with more than 50 cities around the world, including some of the hottest and coldest inhabited places. Enter your location or postcode in the search box to see your result. Find a location Your location

ब्रिटेन ने 2016 का अपना सबसे गर्म दिन दर्ज किया है, जिसमें मंगलवार को कुछ क्षेत्रों में तापमान 33.5C (92.3F) तक बढ़ गया है। आने वाले दिनों में तापमान में गिरावट आने की उम्मीद है, लेकिन इसने लोगों को लंबे समय तक गर्म मौसम से निपटने के बारे में कई सवाल पूछने से नहीं रोका है।


Lucky Mazibuko: Bitter sweet victory for Aids patients

Summary: For 16 years South Africa's Lucky Mazibuko, an Aids activist and columnist, did not take Aids drugs in protest against former President Thabo Mbeki's government's refusal to make drugs available for Aids patients. He speaks to the BBC's Pumza Fihlani about his journey with HIV. He finally started taking the drugs four years ago.

I've been living with HIV for 20 years now, it has not been easy - it has been a tough road. I've been on an oxygen mask three times because of my personal protests when the former President Mbeki did not want to provide treatment to children and also people living with HIV. I could not live as though nothing was happening, the motivation for my activism has always been that people have a right to life and I always felt guilty living healthy while watching my fellow countrymen dying. There was a time when 600 people were dying every day in South Africa because of the disease and I could not simply be selfish and not want to get involved and help. Thankfully time has changed. New era for Aids sufferers? It is a privilege for me to see the fruits of my and many other people's sacrifice in my lifetime. Millions of children are being saved on a daily basis, children are being born free of HIV because of the treatment available for children. People living with HIV are receiving ARVs easily now even though the numbers are not sufficient - but it is a most welcome change. I think with the new government there was a shift in mindset; the new thinking has served well for us people with HIV. It is still a challenge, though, getting men to go for tests - mostly women are the ones going for the tests. If I said we are living in an ideal world where there is no stigma against Aids, I would be lying and that would be disingenuous. I think the stigma still exists even among those who test positively for HIV. They stigmatise themselves because they automatically assume they will be discriminated against - the danger of that is that once someone feels that way they resign themselves to death, they become desperate and they infect other people. The biggest challenge we now have as South Africans is to personalise HIV, to see it not as something removed from us but as something personal - this will make the struggle make sense to each of us. While the stigma attached by society has subsided, we now need to deal with the personal stigma and personal ramifications of living with HIV. Joy and pain My personal journey has always been very painful - living with HIV is no picnic at all, it is far from that. For me the greatest pain has been seeing children die on a daily basis, like Nkosi Johnson - who was my youngest friend and Phephile Hlabisa from KwaZulu Natal who was raped by her uncle because he believed sleeping with a child would cure him of HIV - she died when she was eight. It has been from seeing healthy strong men and women succumb and fade away into the soil. For me living with HIV, to this day always has a shadow of sadness, of loss, death and of dying. But with that I've also witnessed great stories of human recovery and triumph, seeing the recovery of people who were on the verge of death claiming they've seen Jesus Christ's heels. So its been a journey of joy and pain, a journey of inspiration and disempowerment. Its been a painful journey generally, but personally I am happy that I am a living witness to where we are now. My greatest inspiration has always been knowing that whatever sacrifice I've made over the past few years has been to save another person's life. My greatest strength comes from laughter. The laughter and smile of a healthy child give me strength. Every time I need my immune system to be boosted I always go to children's wards in hospitals and just spend time with them - the hospital officials have been very kind over the years because I almost have a free passport into those wards. Every time I've come close to giving up, when I visit those kind of places, I'm reminded why I was at one time prepared to lay down my own life for those little ones.

16 वर्षों तक दक्षिण अफ्रीका के लकी माजिबुको, एक एड्स कार्यकर्ता और स्तंभकार, ने पूर्व राष्ट्रपति थाबो मबेकी की सरकार द्वारा एड्स के रोगियों के लिए दवाएं उपलब्ध कराने से इनकार करने के विरोध में एड्स की दवाएं नहीं लीं। उन्होंने एचआईवी के साथ अपनी यात्रा के बारे में बीबीसी के पमज़ा फिहलानी से बात की। उन्होंने आखिरकार चार साल पहले दवाएं लेना शुरू कर दिया।


Rail death at Bridgend disrupts Cardiff-Swansea trains

Summary: A person has died after being hit by a train in Bridgend county affecting rail services between Swansea and Cardiff.

Police were called to the scene near Pyle Railway Station just before 05:30 BST. They say the death is not being treated as suspicious. Arriva Trains Wales and First Great Western put on a bus service until lines reopened just before 07:40 BST. The train involved was the 04:58 BST Swansea to Paddington service.

ब्रिजेंड काउंटी में स्वानसी और कार्डिफ के बीच रेल सेवाओं को प्रभावित करने वाली ट्रेन की चपेट में आने से एक व्यक्ति की मौत हो गई है।


Tax is just one of HSBC’s problems

Summary: In all the coverage of HSBC's Swiss private banking arm and Stuart Gulliver's banking arrangements (channelled through Switzerland and Panama), it is easy to miss the fact that HSBC has more broadly had a torrid year.

Kamal AhmedBusiness editor@bbckamalon Twitter Its return on equity (the key marker of the return a bank is making on the money it invests) has fallen from 9.2% to 7.3%. Its earnings per share are down. Its operating expenses - the amount it costs to run the bank - are up 6.1%, largely down to huge regulatory changes which now mean the simple cost of being a global financial institution is much higher. On top of that, fines and "redress" (for foreign exchange manipulation, payments for the mis-selling of payment protection insurance to individual customers and interest rate products to businesses) total £2.4bn. The bank has also raised significant concerns over Europe and Britain's membership of the European Union. HSBC - which is head-quartered in the UK - said that reform is "far less risky than going it alone". The global banking model is under significant strain and it is little wonder HSBC's share price is down nearly 6% this morning. Putting it in perspective Of course, there is a need for perspective. HSBC's balance sheet is very strong, its capital position is robust and £1bn a month in profit is not exactly struggling. The bank's chief executive, Stuart Gulliver, admitted that the bank's rapid growth from under 140,000 employees in the mid-1990s to over 300,000 a decade later had not been matched by increases in governance controls. He said the bank had done a lot since the financial crisis to simplify its business, selling 77 divisions and cutting staff to 257,000. On the conference call this morning, Mr Gulliver suggested there may be further to go - which must be a worrying thought for the 47,000 people employed in the UK alone. Paras Anand, analyst at Fidelity World Wide Investment, told me that 2014 had been disappointing for HSBC but, long term, there were still plenty of advantages to being a global bank. "Today's disappointment is tomorrow's opportunity," he said, pointing out that there were few banks in the world as well positioned as the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation for growth in Asia. 'Everyday explanation' With so many regulatory and misconduct issues, the last thing Mr Gulliver wanted was questions about his own tax affairs. But he became part of the story when The Guardian revealed last night that he had both a Swiss bank account and a Panamanian corporate account as a repository for his bonus payments in the 1990s and early 2000s. This morning, Mr Gulliver said the arrangement was nothing to do with tax, which he said he had paid at the highest rate in the UK on all his global earnings since he moved to Britain in 2003. It was actually to do with confidentiality. In Hong Kong - where Mr Gulliver worked in the 1990s - the investment banking computer system allowed staff to see details of other people's remuneration. In order to keep those payments confidential (Mr Gulliver was the highest paid director in Hong Kong) he opened a Swiss account, as did, apparently, many of his colleagues. He was then advised by the Swiss banking arm of HSBC to open a Panamanian account to keep payments secret from colleagues in the Swiss business. Mr Gulliver, who has since rid himself of the Panamanian account, said that this was a "completely everyday explanation". Which of course reveals that Mr Gulliver's "everyday" is pretty different from most peoples.

एच. एस. बी. सी. की स्विस निजी बैंकिंग शाखा और स्टुअर्ट गुलिवर की बैंकिंग व्यवस्था (स्विट्जरलैंड और पनामा के माध्यम से प्रसारित) के सभी कवरेज में, इस तथ्य को याद करना आसान है कि एच. एस. बी. सी. का वर्ष अधिक व्यापक रूप से एक कठिन वर्ष रहा है।


Daily Mail mobilises big names for premium offer

Summary: The long heralded next chapter of the Daily Mail's push into digital media will take shape this week, as consolidation across Fleet Street gathers pace and publishers who built businesses on clicks reel from the latest tweaks to algorithms crafted in Silicon Valley.

Amol RajanMedia editor@amolrajanon Twitter Mail+, a premium service which has already soft-launched, will this week see columnist Andrew Pierce become host of a daily radio show from just next to the Mail newsroom. The Daily Show will air at 5pm each day, from Wednesday. Pierce has presented radio programmes for many years, not least on LBC. Pierce's show may benefit in the short term from sharing a title with the hit American TV programme now hosted by Trevor Noah. Veteran political editor Simon Walters and columnist Amanda Platell are also launching a weekly podcast, called Order! Order!; and TV journalist and author Michael Crick is to present a weekly video and briefing on Wednesdays. Mail+ follows in the footsteps of, and is inspired by, similar services from The Times and New York Times among others. The Daily Show may come to resemble the successful New York Times podcast The Daily. Certainly, Mail bosses would be thrilled with a fraction of the latter's success. Mail+ will differ from Mail Online - to which it is wholly separate - by eventually charging readers for some upmarket content. Like those offerings from rival publishers, the idea is to deepen engagement with the Mail brand, and the journalists who represent it. The basic Mail+ service will be free; some paid-for products will be released in the coming months. What those products are, and how much they will cost, isn't yet clear. Big name columnists including Sarah Vine and a Richard Littlejohn are likely to be a prominent part of the offer. The core of Mail+ will be a bulletin-based digital service, in the form of daily briefings at 7am, 12 noon and 5pm. It is being run by Tristan Davies, the former editor of The Independent on Sunday and deputy editor of the Mail on Sunday. His team, of around 40, are to be based in the Mail's newsrooms, and will report to Geordie Greig, the editor of the Mail. Multiple models Why is the Mail doing this? It represents the most significant new iteration of its journalism since the launch, under Paul Dacre, of Mail Online. To future-proof their businesses, newspapers are having to diversify, pursuing different business models at the same time, hoping each will help fund journalism in an age of - paradoxically - unprecedented competition among publishers, and immense concentration of power among tech giants. Even 20 years ago, newspapers basically earned money via the printed product, from advertising (display and circulation ads) and reader payments. Now they have to make money via their websites too, as well as other products such as events. And even within the digital business, there are different sources of revenue. Mail Online has proved wildly popular through a remorseless pursuit of all the various techniques that get people reading online: strong presentation, big pictures, grabby headlines, vigorous search engine optimisation, and celebrity content. Mail+ will contribute to the bottom line differently: both direct reader revenue (when they start charging for products), and promoting the Mail brand to those who engage with it. It should also be seen as something of an experiment in a model which may be more durable than relying on social media behemoths like Facebook to send you traffic. Just last week Mark Zuckerberg launched a new news service on his platform; but every publisher knows that building a business on the whim of Californian techies is dangerous. Ten years from now, who knows if that revenue will dry up. Safer, perhaps, to rely on readers who pay. New chapters The Mail's parent company has been mooted as a potential buyer for The Daily Telegraph. News that the Telegraph is for sale was first reported on Friday by Richard Fletcher of The Times. It should be remembered that the Mail group tried to buy the Telegraph the last time it was for sale. It was beaten to it by the Barclay brothers. According to the Financial Times, the Mail's owner was rebuffed when he approached the Barclays about a sale more recently. Today, the weakness of the British newspaper by historic standards may mitigate concerns over competition. And Mail executives may argue that if News UK can own both The Sun and The Times, they should be allowed to own the Mail and Telegraph. That will be a matter for regulators, if ever such a bid should come about. And it may depend to some degree on the result of the Mail group's current attempt to buy the i newspaper. The Mail's ferocious conservatism has made it one of the most powerful, and at times controversial, brands in British media. The amusing contretemps between current and former editors played out in the letters pages of the Financial Times recently shows how it is navigating a new path. Greig's pragmatic rather than ideological approach to Brexit has been the source of much more commentary than the Mail's commercial evolution. But these days, editors are judged not merely by their story selection and journalistic impact, but how they navigate the digital challenge. In replacing Dacre, the most influential print journalist of his generation, the task Greig would have been given by Jonathan Harmsworth, the Mail's owner (also known as Lord Rothermere) is to keep the paper relevant editorially while building a digital business in which the power ultimately lies in Kensington rather than California. That is the point of Mail+. Like others before it, this seems a necessary and low-risk bet, as long as costs are controlled.

डिजिटल मीडिया में डेली मेल के पुश का लंबे समय से घोषित अगला अध्याय इस सप्ताह आकार लेगा, क्योंकि फ्लीट स्ट्रीट में समेकन गति पकड़ता है और सिलिकॉन वैली में तैयार किए गए नवीनतम बदलावों से लेकर एल्गोरिदम तक क्लिक रील पर व्यवसाय बनाने वाले प्रकाशक।


Glendale Trust may take over Meanish Pier on Skye

Summary: A historic pier on Skye could be brought under community control.

Meanish Pier in Glendale was where marines were landed from a Royal Navy gunboat as part of a crackdown on rebellious crofters in the 1800s. It was also used in the export of potatoes and wool and for landing herring and steam ship passengers. Glendale Trust has been discussing with Highland Council about taking over the pier, which has fallen into disrepair, and putting it back into use. The trust has secured a £10,000 grant from the Big Lottery, which will pay for an engineer's report and business plan. The pier has a long and colourful history. During 1882 and 1883, crofters rose up against their laird who was clearing land of tenants to make way for large-scale sheep production. HMS Jackal was sent into Loch Pooltiel to land marines at Meanish Pier to aid in the arrest of the rebellion's ringleader. The pier was important to trade and helped to link the area with other parts of Skye and the mainland. Trust chairman Ian Blackford said the pier's potential future uses were to be explored. He said: "People perhaps forget that up until the 1950s road transport to Glendale was very limited. "The main access into the community was indeed by sea. We used to have regular visits by the steamers, such as SS Hebrides. "In more recent decades it is fair to say the pier has fallen into disrepair. "The council took away part of the facility a few years ago and it is fairly difficult, or impossible, to access the pier today." Mr Blackford added: "One of the things we will be discussing with the community of Glendale is whether or not things could be done to reinstate that again."

स्काई पर एक ऐतिहासिक घाट को सामुदायिक नियंत्रण में लाया जा सकता है।


Shropshire chef said she 'spiked' vegan meal

Summary: An "ill-judged" Facebook comment in which a chef said she had "spiked" a diner's vegan meal has provoked an angry response from those fearing meat or other non-vegan food had been added.

Shropshire Council said it was investigating complaints about Carlini in Albrighton, Shropshire. The restaurant denied anything untoward had been included in the food. Michael Gale, who co-owns the venue said "spiked" was "poorly chosen" language. Mr Gale, said his fiancée, Laura Goodman, had not "fully realised the consequence of what it meant". Ms Goodman, also a co-owner of the restaurant, made the comments in a Facebook group called "The Boring Group" in the early hours of Saturday morning. The post initially mentioned a "pious, judgemental vegan", before Ms Goodman later wrote "spiked a vegan a few hours ago". The comments have since been removed. People responded to the post telling her that it was "mean" and "disgusting and unacceptable". Since the post was shared on social media, people have left angry reviews on Google causing the Italian restaurant in Albrighton, which has another branch in Shifnal, Shropshire, to be rated as one-star. Mr Gale added: "In no way does this excuse the comment and we totally understand the anger it has subsequently caused. No meat was used in any of the dishes." A spokesperson for the Food Standards Agency said: "People should be confident about the food they buy and be able to choose according to their particular requirements, whether for diet and health or for personal taste and preference reasons. It added: "The description, advertising or presentation of food must not mislead consumers." You might also like:

एक "गलत निर्णय" वाली फेसबुक टिप्पणी जिसमें एक शेफ ने कहा कि उसने एक भोजनालय के शाकाहारी भोजन में "मसाला" डाला था, ने मांस या अन्य गैर-शाकाहारी भोजन से डरने वालों से गुस्से में प्रतिक्रिया को उकसाया है।


Thousands of cyclists take part in Velo Birmingham

Summary: Cyclists from across the country have taken part in a 100-mile (161km) bike road race in three areas of the West Midlands.

Starting on Broad Street in Birmingham city centre, the 15,000 riders travelled through Worcestershire and Staffordshire before returning to Birmingham. Roads were closed all along the route. Event organisers apologised on Twitter for a delay in the start time and thanked people for their patience. The first person crossed the finish line just before 12:00 BST. Former West Bromwich Albion defender Darren Moore took part in the event to raise money for Cure Leukaemia. He said: "It's tough as you expect, but I'm really, really enjoying it. "The other bikers are getting me through."

देश भर के साइकिल चालकों ने वेस्ट मिडलैंड्स के तीन क्षेत्रों में 100 मील (161 किमी) की बाइक रोड रेस में भाग लिया है।


Elected mayors: Cities Minister 'not surprised' at poll findings

Summary: The Minister of Cities has said he is "not surprised" by the results of a poll which suggests the majority of people in Yorkshire cities are ill-informed about a forthcoming referendum over elected mayors.

On 3 May people in 10 cities, including Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford and Wakefield, will be given the opportunity to decide whether they want an elected mayor. Doncaster residents will also vote on whether they want to keep the current mayoral system. The model gives people a chance to directly elect a leader, rather than councils picking who is in charge. The alternative system, which is used by most councils in the UK, is to have a council leader and a cabinet of councillors. The government believes elected mayors can provide cities with a strong, visible leadership but opponents argue it is too much power in one person's hands. An opinion poll conducted by Gfk NOP for the BBC suggested that almost two-thirds of respondents did not know there was going to be a referendum. The company surveyed 500 people each in Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford, Wakefield and Doncaster. Of the 2,500 respondents, 90% said they had been given little or no information about the vote in May. Only 8% felt they had been given the right amount of information. 'Big figures' The Minister for Cities Greg Clark said he was "not surprised" by the response. He said: "It was only a few weeks ago that the debate in Parliament took place to trigger the referenda. "Between now and May it is the responsibility of the returning officers locally to publicise the fact of the referenda... so during the weeks ahead people will be informed about it." Although the survey suggested a lack of knowledge about the referendum, it indicated the majority of people were in favour of a mayoral system for their councils. Some 53% of people said they would like an elected mayor with 37% disagreeing and 10% undecided. The poll suggested support for an elected mayor was strongest in Doncaster where the system has been in place since 2002, with 59% of people in favour. Peter Davies of the English Democrats has held the post in the town since June 2009. Mr Davies said he believed the system was "pure democracy". Polling in Wakefield suggested support for the new system was weaker than elsewhere in the region, with 47% responding that they wanted an elected mayor. Mr Clark said: "I think the leaders of our great cities ought to be so well-known and so vigorous in standing up for their cities that they should be big figures on the national and international stage." The decision to have a referendum on the issue was taken after a three-month public consultation on the issues in Autumn 2011. If a city votes in favour in the referendum, elections for mayors would then happen on 15 November. Mayors would be elected for four-year terms.

शहरों के मंत्री ने कहा है कि वह एक सर्वेक्षण के परिणामों से "आश्चर्यचकित नहीं हैं" जो बताता है कि यॉर्कशायर शहरों में अधिकांश लोगों को निर्वाचित महापौरों पर आगामी जनमत संग्रह के बारे में गलत जानकारी है।


Why everyone is asking: What colour is this dress?'

Summary: The "what colour is this dress?" meme is both a strange illustration of the way our brains work, and a classic case of how it is big media organisations - rather than just ordinary people - that often make things go viral.

BBC Trending What's popular and why Seriously, what colour is this dress? Some see white and gold, others blue and black and others something else. Tens of millions of people have now shared their opinion online, generating one of the biggest social media conversations in recent memory. The core scientific question is: why do people see the dress in different colours? Beau Lotto, a professor of neuroscience at University College London, says: "The brain has evolved not to see absolutes, but to see the difference between things." Because colours that appear in sunlight look different from those that appear under streetlights, for example, our brains have to focus on the relationship between colours, not the colours themselves. Lotto says we can "only speculate" about why some people see blue where others see white. It could be because some are focusing on the difference between the colours of the dress itself, some are looking at the difference between the dress and the background, and others are taking the colour of their computer monitor, and the room around it into account. That's some of the the science, but it doesn't quite answer why the picture went viral at such a terrific speed. That story began just before a wedding held last weekend in the Hebrides, a group of islands just off Scotland, when the mother of the bride sent a picture to her daughter asking what she thought of the dress. The bride and groom both looked at the picture and each saw the image differently. They posted the image to Facebook, asking their friends to help settle the argument. One of them, Caitlin McNeill - also part of the wedding band - reposted the image to her Tumblr blog at around 20:00 on Thursday. "Guys please help me - is this dress white and gold, or blue and black? Me and my friends can't agree," she wrote. The post saw a flurry of activity, but she couldn't have predicted the scale of the ensuing debate. Around three hours later someone at Buzzfeed picked up on the blog, reposting the picture and a snippet of the conversation, along with a poll asking readers what colours they saw. The article set the internet alight, and has now been viewed more than 24 million times. By monitoring the use of the phrase "white and gold" on Twitter, it's possible to get a rough idea of how the conversation developed. This graph shows the discussion picking up very slowly when the Tumblr blog was published at around 20:00. It wasn't until the Buzzfeed article was published just after 23:00 that use of the phrase exploded. At around 01:00, an associated hashtag - #thedress - emerged, and has maintained a consistent presence ever since. So is this a story of social media empowering the individual, giving ordinary people access to a global audience? Not quite. Really, it was old-fashioned media competition that drove the viral trend. The dramatic spike in conversation took place only in the wake of the Buzzfeed article. Its popularity on that site prompted a string of copycat articles on the news sites belonging to more established brands, as media outlets bid to exploit the huge spike in web traffic. The dress is a classical optical illusion, and that's why people love it. But it was big brand publishers getting in on the act and writing about it - kind of like the blog post that you've just read - that made it go viral. More about the viral web: Listen to our documentary 23 Amazing Reasons This radio Programme Will Change Your Life Next story: Call for a 'heterosexual pride' day mocked in Brazil You can follow BBC Trending on Twitter @BBCtrending, and find us on Facebook. All our stories are at bbc.com/trending.

"यह पोशाक किस रंग की है?" मीम हमारे दिमाग के काम करने के तरीके का एक अजीब चित्रण है, और यह एक उत्कृष्ट उदाहरण है कि यह सामान्य लोगों के बजाय बड़े मीडिया संगठन कैसे हैं-जो अक्सर चीजों को वायरल कर देते हैं।


In pictures: Brazilian inmates create fashion behind bars

Summary: Glamorous locations and top name designers are what the models from the São Paulo Fashion Week are used to but on Wednesday they instead showed off creations by unheard-of designers in the less than inviting setting of the Adriano Marrey maximum security jail.

A prison courtyard with bars instead of a roof became an impromptu catwalk as the models showed off colourful crochet tops adorned with dangly tassels. The proud designers and creators of the pieces crowded around the walls to admire each other's work. Some of them were still finishing off their latest creations. For the creators dressed in regulation khaki trousers and white T-shirts, the pieces were rare bursts of colour against the grey prison walls. The unusual show is part of a project to rehabilitate inmates by teaching them to crochet. The programme has been running for three years and is the brainchild of Brazilian fashion designer Gustavo Silvestre. Inmates who join the programme get their sentences reduced by one day for every 12 hours of the course they complete. Many of the inmates are serving sentences for crimes such as drug trafficking or robbery. One of them is Felipe Santos da Silva who told Agence France Press news agency that crocheting "calms me down, it helped me overcome smoking and using drugs". Another inmate, 41-year-old Fidelison Borges, said the event had helped lift his self-esteem. "I was proud of myself seeing my creation being modelled and even more proud to know that people liked that piece that I made," the convicted robber said. All pictures subject to copyright.

साओ पाउलो फैशन वीक के मॉडल आकर्षक स्थानों और शीर्ष नाम डिजाइनरों के आदी हैं, लेकिन बुधवार को उन्होंने एड्रियानो मैरे अधिकतम सुरक्षा जेल की सेटिंग को आमंत्रित करने से कम में अनजान डिजाइनरों द्वारा बनाई गई रचनाओं को दिखाया।


A rather predictable but accidental drug reference

Summary: Coca-Cola's latest advertising campaign has been mocked for a presumably inadvertent reference to drug use. Where does it sit in the pantheon of accidently funny ad slogans, asks Lucy Townsend.

It features the words "you're on", followed closely by the Diet Coke logo. You're on. Coke. Easily mistaken for - You're on coke. Coke being the shortened term for cocaine. The campaign, on billboards and bus stops in San Francisco and New York, has been widely tweeted and written about. David Roth tweeted - "This is real. Coca Cola's new slogan really seems to be 'You're On Coke.'" The Gothamist blog questioned a campaign that unsubtly nods toward cocaine addiction, and in industry magazine AdWeek David Gianatasio asks What has Diet Coke been snorting? If cocaine is shortened to coke, and Coca Cola is shortened to coke, shouldn't inadvertent drug references be the first thing advertising agencies check for? "It would be interesting to know what was discussed when they planned this campaign," says Ben Bold, of Marketing Magazine. "Was it a mistake? Who knows. They would certainly not want any link to drugs, but then there's the whole no publicity is bad publicity thing." Sometimes it's impossible to gauge the deliberateness of the innuendo. Context is everything. "Nothing sucks like an Electrolux" was used by the Scandinavian vacuum cleaner manufacturer for many years in the UK without mirth. But despite never being used in America - where "sucks" means "really bad" - it has been widely mocked. Other advertising gaffes are caused by words lost in translation. KFC's "Finger lickin' good" has always been mocked for a translation into Chinese that came out as "KFC eat your fingers off". And when Pepsi entered the Chinese market the translation of their slogan "Pepsi Brings you Back to Life" supposedly came out as "Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back from the Grave". But such episodes, and those like the latest Coke posters, generate free publicity. "Is it a disaster for them? Not really," says Bold. "It's on Twitter and Facebook, it's being talked about and written about." For the record, Coca-Cola denies ever making deliberate drug references. "The Diet Coke logo is the centrepiece of the ad campaign. Diet Coke in no way endorses or supports the use of any illegal substance," it said in a statement. Follow @BBCNewsMagazine on Twitter and on Facebook

कोका-कोला के नवीनतम विज्ञापन अभियान का संभवतः अनजाने में नशीली दवाओं के उपयोग के संदर्भ के लिए मजाक उड़ाया गया है। लुसी टाउनसेंड पूछती हैं कि यह गलती से मजाकिया विज्ञापन नारों के मंदिर में कहाँ बैठता है।


DJ Calvin Harris pulls out of MTV awards in Glasgow

Summary: Dumfries-born DJ Calvin Harris has withdrawn from the MTV European Music Awards because of illness.

Award organisers posted on Facebook: "We have some really sad news. Calvin Harris has taken ill and will not be able to perform at tomorrow's show. "He sends his sincere apologies. Get well soon, Calvin!" On Twitter, the 30-year-old DJ is reported to have said: "No EMAs for me this weekend. Got some heart problems. Heading home to see if it can be fixed x."

डमफ्रीज में जन्मे डीजे केल्विन हैरिस ने बीमारी के कारण एमटीवी यूरोपीय संगीत पुरस्कारों से नाम वापस ले लिया है।


European viewpoints: The EU summit deal

Summary: As the 27 countries of the EU respond to the deal hatched at the Brussels summit, political correspondents from France, Germany and Poland consider whether or not it was a success and what it will ultimately mean for the future of the European Union.

Jean Quatremer, Brussels correspondent, Liberation, France The eurozone has wanted to show it is determined to create a strong budgetary and economic integration with enormous powers of constraint given to the European Commission, something unimaginable two years ago. One can really talk about a leap towards federation, even if it would have been preferable to do it within European treaties. The Brussels accord also shows the strong attraction of the euro despite the current crisis: apart from the UK, all EU states have decided to sign this new treaty, including Denmark, which benefits from an opt-out. After 12 summits meant to bring a definitive solution to the euro crisis, I am extremely cautious, given how irrational the markets have been. But this new treaty is just one element in the solution: the recapitalisation of European banks, more modest than the markets have foreseen, will allow a credit crunch, and thus a recession, to be avoided. Likewise the decision of the European Central Bank to provide unlimited three-year funds at a rate of 1% is going to allow them to buy sovereign debt again: with interest rates above 1%, they are going to earn money, which will regulate the credit pump. The only loser is the UK, which has put itself in a corner. It is even a real diplomatic Pearl Harbour. None of the UK's natural allies has followed it in its attempt to repatriate powers and sabotage the treaty. There is no precedent for 26 against 1 in EU history, which underlines how bad a diplomat David Cameron is. Its position in the EU will be weakened in a grave and lasting way. In effect, the willingness of the 26 to pursue integration is going to proceed through further financial, fiscal and social integration. Only in the fiscal domain does London have the right of veto. By isolating itself, it thus risks having to support decisions it does not want, which can only hasten its exit from the EU, an exit which now seems ordained to me. I am not at all sure that would be in its interest. But I respect Great Britain's right to suicide. I have very mixed feelings about the deal because for me it's positive that we avoided treaty change which could be very risky and take two years or more to implement. That would have meant not being able to fight the EU's main problem, the debt crisis. But it's also very difficult to say what has been agreed as there appear to be more questions than answers. It's an open question what fiscal union will mean. Politically, the Polish opposition is against it and the government supports it although neither really knows the content of the deal. The summit didn't appear to solve any problems. Poland already has fiscal discipline built into its constitution and we'll have to wait for the new governments of Greece, Italy and Spain to implement their reforms. Prime Minister Donald Tusk wants to be at the heart of Europe and has come out in support of France and Germany. A few days ago Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski gave a strong speech in favour of integration. The conservative opposition argues he should have discussed it in Poland first and believes we should keep closer to the UK position. Even if Mr Tusk had been against joining the euro, French President Nicolas Sarkozy reminded him at the October EU summit that Poland had to join. The conclusion of the summit has shown that intergovernmental support is stronger than the position of the institutions. The Commission had been very much opposed to having new treaties but France and Germany are now the leading powers of the EU and want to change the EU. Then you have the UK position, with some support from the Czechs. The only clear message from the summit was that the UK wants to distance itself from integration. No-one is surprised by the position taken by UK Prime Minister David Cameron as it was well known that Britain would not support closer co-operation. In the next few months or year, I think the UK will have to decide whether it wants to remain a full member of the EU. Either there will be a referendum or, if the other 26 members of the EU support the changes, Britain will be left on its own. I was told by some British Conservative MEPs this week that they felt there would be a referendum and the British people would vote No. I think this deal is just another fix - and as it is going in the wrong direction it is not a good deal at all. As there is no agreement of all 27 EU members - especially not Britain - we are heading for two different treaties within Europe, which will split. And all because Germany demanded treaty changes. Why were these treaty changes necessary? We already have the so-called "debt brake" - it is the Maastricht Treaty. This has been agreed on by all 27 states - but has been broken again and again for the simple reason that the minute a country needs the money they will find it. It is an exercise in futility - if Maastricht didn't work, why would this? To risk breaking up Europe for something that won't work seems counter-productive. Though if anything this deal will make the crisis worse, I don't actually think the euro will go down the drain because a euro break-up would be worse than anything else. But I don't know for how long countries such as Greece and Italy can take these austerity measures. It seems to me that it is pointless, simply saying that we'll put a "debt brake" in the constitution and if countries go beyond that the European Court of Justice will say they are in breach and impose fines - as they wouldn't be able to afford to pay anyway. Europe may speak German now, as a German government minister recently commented, but the markets speak English - and they don't give a damn about language. They just want to make sure their investments are safe. And I don't see that being the case under this deal. Angela Merkel is covering her tracks. She is the main person responsible for this problem, though she is now pretending it wasn't her. I think the Chancellor played a very bad hand at the summit. The French gave in to her wishes because they see a "debt brake" as a formal thing - they hope to get what they want, which is eurobonds, down the line. I think the French played a pretty good hand. David Cameron was in an unfortunate position - he had to appease his own party and not appear to be too Europhile. But I think he hasn't got anything out of the summit, apart from being out of the deal. It's a pity he was so concentrated on British issues as there might have been a way for him to negotiate more deregulation across the board. But that wouldn't have looked as good to the Tory Eurosceptics.

जैसे ही यूरोपीय संघ के 27 देश ब्रसेल्स शिखर सम्मेलन में हुए समझौते पर प्रतिक्रिया देते हैं, फ्रांस, जर्मनी और पोलैंड के राजनीतिक संवाददाता इस बात पर विचार करते हैं कि यह सफल रहा या नहीं और इसका अंततः यूरोपीय संघ के भविष्य के लिए क्या अर्थ होगा।


Rowley Regis stab death: Man charged with murder of partner

Summary: A man has been charged with murdering his partner who arrived at a doctor's surgery with stab wounds and died a short while later.

Police were called to Rowley Healthcare on Hawes Lane, Rowley Regis, West Midlands at about 15:50 GMT on Monday. A woman, who has been identified by police as Tina Billingham, 54, was taken to hospital but died. Ronald Cooke, 54, of Granville Road, Cradley Heath, appeared at Dudley Magistrates' Court on Thursday. See more stories from across the Birmingham and Black Country area here He was remanded in custody to appear at Wolverhampton Crown Court on 13 February. A post-mortem examination revealed Ms Billingham died as a result of stab wounds to the chest and stomach area.

एक व्यक्ति पर अपने साथी की हत्या का आरोप लगाया गया है जो चाकू के घावों के साथ डॉक्टर की सर्जरी में आया था और थोड़ी देर बाद उसकी मृत्यु हो गई थी।


BBC inquiries: Who goes and who stays?

Summary: Two separate reports into why the BBC dropped a Newsnight report on sexual abuse by Jimmy Savile, and a subsequent story by the programme which led to a former senior Conservative party figure being wrongly implicated in sexual abuse, have criticised BBC management.

This graphic outlines the BBC's management structure for both Newsnight programmes, and what changes will be made in the outcome of both reviews. Pollard Review Former head of Sky News Nick Pollard was brought in to review the way a Newsnight report dealing with allegations of child abuse against Jimmy Savile was treated by the BBC in December 2011. His review was set up in October 2012 amid mounting questions about why the report was dropped from the programme. Newsnight's editor Peter Rippon stepped aside, and director of news Helen Boaden and her deputy, Steve Mitchell, removed themselves from involvement in coverage of Savile allegations, to allow the review to proceed. In his report, Nick Pollard criticised BBC management, but found no evidence of a cover-up. Steve Mitchell resigned and Peter Rippon will be replaced, and possibly move to a new role. MacQuarrie review The director of BBC Scotland Ken MacQuarrie was assigned to investigate the circumstances of a Newsnight report on 2 November this year which led to a former senior Conservative politician being wrongly implicated in child abuse. The fallout from the programme prompted the departure of director general George Entwistle after only 54 days in the role. He resigned citing "the unacceptable journalistic standards" of the report, while Helen Boaden and Stephen Mitchell stood aside from their roles completely. The MacQuarrie Review found that "basic journalistic checks on the story were not carried out" and the Newsnight team "did not make adequate attempts to seek validation for the story beyond what the reporter delivered". Newsnight's editorial team will be replaced, with deputy editor Liz Gibbons moving to a new role. The controller of the BBC's 5 live Adrian Van Klaveren, who was involved in the decision-making process on 2 November, will also move to a new senior position.

बी. बी. सी. ने जिमी सेविले द्वारा यौन शोषण पर एक न्यूज़नाइट रिपोर्ट क्यों छोड़ी, और कार्यक्रम की एक बाद की कहानी जिसके कारण कंजर्वेटिव पार्टी के एक पूर्व वरिष्ठ व्यक्ति को गलत तरीके से यौन शोषण में फंसाया गया, ने बी. बी. सी. प्रबंधन की आलोचना की है।


Voyager: Through the door to eternity

Summary: Dr Carolyn Porco is one of the world's leading planetary scientists and was part of the Voyager-1 imaging team. She helped Carl Sagan set up Voyager's famous "Pale Blue Dot" portrait of Earth when the probe had reached beyond Neptune in 1990. Here, she reflects on what it means to see the veteran craft finally make the leap to interstellar space.

It is a momentous occasion. We know now with certainty that the Voyager spacecraft, launched 36 years ago to spend the 1980s touring the outer solar system, has finally slipped beyond the protective magnetic bubble created by our Sun and into the nothingness of interstellar space. Such an event happens for the first time in human history only once. And as reported in a publication today in the journal Science, it happened last summer. Voyager was a mission of mythic proportions, with all the elements of Homeric legend, and I was unspeakably fortunate to have been a part of it. I was young then, right out of graduate school, and somehow found myself a member of the imaging team and hitching a ride on the greatest journey of scientific exploration humanity had ever undertaken. It was a defining experience of my young career. Those early memories of wide-eyed wonder at being among the first humans ever to see, in vivid detail, the planetary systems of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, and the sense of privilege and pride at being a participant in such a profoundly meaningful, history-making enterprise, have never left me. I've said ever since, I lead a charmed existence and my connection to Voyager was the opening act. Even today - especially today - as we celebrate our new official status as interstellar explorers, I feel as though that intrepid little vehicle is carrying a bit of me and you along with it, as it begins its never-ending travels across the galaxy and among the stars. And because of it, we, the inhabitants of Earth, have finally arrived at eternity's door. Today, Carolyn Porco is the leader of the imaging team on the Cassini mission at Saturn. You can follow her on Twitter at @carolynporco. She also writes on her Captain's Log blog, which you can find at CICLOPS, the official website of the Cassini imaging team.

डॉ. कैरोलिन पोर्को दुनिया के अग्रणी ग्रह वैज्ञानिकों में से एक हैं और वायेजर-1 इमेजिंग टीम का हिस्सा थीं। उन्होंने कार्ल सागन को वायेजर के पृथ्वी के प्रसिद्ध "पेल ब्लू डॉट" चित्र को स्थापित करने में मदद की जब जांच 1990 में नेपच्यून से परे पहुंच गई थी। यहाँ, वह इस बात पर विचार करती हैं कि अनुभवी शिल्प को अंत में अंतरतारकीय अंतरिक्ष में छलांग लगाते हुए देखने का क्या मतलब है।


Sri Lankan women take on 'body shaming' barrel ad

Summary: A gym in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo caused outrage after it put up a billboard featuring a picture of a barrel with the text "this is no shape for a woman". The BBC's Ayeshea Perera reports on the fight to get it taken down.

The hoarding for Osmo gym went up in a Colombo suburb last week and the row almost instantly made it on to social media. Both men and women shared pictures of the billboard along with expressions of outrage and disgust at the "blatant sexism" and "body shaming" depicted. Some began a hashtag campaign entitled #BoycottOsmo, while others tagged the organisation on Facebook asking them to take down the hoardings and apologise. However the gym did not respond, and a post featuring the images used in the billboard stayed pinned to the top of their Facebook page. "The ad was nothing very different from the typical objectification and sexist usage of women by the ad industry, which has been selling anything from cars to perfume by sexualising women and their bodies," Marisa de Silva, an activist, told the BBC. "But this ad also attempted to body shame by dictating to women the ideal shape they should resemble, almost as though it is the sole basis of their worth." So, along with a group of women who had been discussing the billboard on social media, she decided to do something about it. One of them, who did not want to be identified, tried calling Osmo's marketing manager to complain, and was told that the hoarding had used an image that had not been "approved" by the company. He did not offer to take it down. A few others decided to approach Harsha de Silva, the minister in charge of the Kotte constituency where the billboard was put up. He responded with the tweet: "I asked the Colombo MC Commissioner to remove this unapproved offensive hoarding. I would not tolerate this in Kotte." So the billboard was covered up on the basis that it did not have the necessary permissions, and the Colombo Municipal Council allowed the women to use the space to display a message against sexism for two days. Ms de Silva, who was one of the women who spoke to the minister, canvassed opinion on social media for the text of the new banner, before settling on "no more space for sexism" in Sri Lanka's three major languages - Sinhala, Tamil and English. A local graphics company stepped in with an offer of sponsorship and the banner went up a day later. But while many cheered the initiative to take down the billboard and replace it with a banner against sexism, a few men on social media warned that such a move set a "dangerous precedent" against free speech. The banner did not last long either. It was taken down after a day, and its whereabouts are currently unknown. Meanwhile Osmo also responded with an official statement on the campaign, saying that it had "withdrawn" the advertisement, which was not intended to "degrade, offend, insult or undermine any one person or women in general". It further explained that the ad had been inspired by a "disturbing" WHO report that said there were higher rates of diabetes, being overweight, obesity and physical inactivity among Sri Lankan women than men. However Ms de Silva says she hopes that some lessons have been learned from the incident. "This set off a chain reaction which I hope might make the ad industry at least think twice before subscribing to sexist advertising in the future," she said.

श्रीलंका की राजधानी कोलंबो में एक जिम ने उस समय आक्रोश पैदा कर दिया जब उसने एक बिलबोर्ड लगाया जिसमें एक बैरल की तस्वीर थी जिसमें लिखा था "यह एक महिला के लिए कोई आकार नहीं है।" बीबीसी की आयशिया परेरा ने इसे उतारने के लिए लड़ाई के बारे में बताया।


New MV Loch Seaforth makes first passenger sailing

Summary: A new ferry built for the Stornoway to Ullapool route has made its first passenger sailing.

The £42m MV Loch Seaforth had previously done berthing trials at the two harbours. The ferry has capacity for 700 passengers, 143 cars or 20 commercial vehicles. It was named after a mail boat that sailed between Lewis and the Scottish mainland from the 1940s until the 1970s. Related Internet Links Calmac Transport Scotland

स्टोरनोवे से उल्लापूल मार्ग के लिए बनाई गई एक नई नौका ने अपना पहला यात्री नौकायन किया है।


University of Aberdeen's new principal named as George Boyne

Summary: The new principal and vice chancellor of the University of Aberdeen has been named.

Prof George Boyne will start the role in August, succeeding Prof Sir Ian Diamond, who announced his retirement last year after taking up the position in 2010. Prof Boyne is originally from Aberdeen and is currently at Cardiff University. He said: "It is a great honour. The university has had an outstanding record of academic achievement."

एबरडीन विश्वविद्यालय के नए प्राचार्य और कुलपति को नामित किया गया है।


Viewpoint: Pakistan's Quetta attack blame game

Summary: The attack that killed 61 police cadets in Quetta has once again been followed by a government-led blame game. But the government has not faced up to its own failure to conduct a comprehensive counter-terrorism strategy against all extremist groups.

By Ahmed RashidLahore Within a couple of hours of the attack on the Quetta police college on the night of 25 October, and even before sifting through the bloody evidence or taking statements from the 120 injured, government ministers immediately accused Afghanistan of helping the militants, who according to the government, belonged to an extremist anti-Shia group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ). A few hours later, several groups claimed they carried out the attack but the most believable was the claim by so-called Islamic State (IS), as it also issued a photograph of the three heavily-armed assailants, who blew themselves up in the attack. The authorities however are in a state of denial about the presence of IS on Pakistani soil. After IS released the photograph, the government claimed that IS had ''outsourced'' the attack to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. It is not the first time the government has dismissed a claim by IS. In August, IS said it carried out the suicide bombing of a hospital in Quetta that killed 70 lawyers and patients - a claim that was ignored by the government. Convenient scapegoat The government claims to have eliminated LeJ in its two-year-long counter-terrorism operations. But the LeJ is still a convenient whipping boy when Islamabad is trying to deny that IS has political support in Pakistan. Accepting that IS is prevalent in Pakistan would make a mockery of the government's claims to have eliminated all terrorist groups that attack Pakistani citizens. Denying that IS is in Pakistan has become standard operational procedure for the government. However IS has a powerful presence just across the border in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province. This week IS militants killed 30 civilians in Ghor province in central Afghanistan. US drones and warplanes have killed dozens of IS fighters, as have the Taliban, who see IS as an interloper on their territory. Moreover, the US commander in Afghanistan, General John Nicholson, has repeatedly said that most IS fighters in Afghanistan are former Pakistani Taliban who have switched loyalties. Thus it is obvious that IS is trying to create chaos on both sides of the border. The government has also provided no evidence of its second major accusation that Afghanistan, with help from India, is involved in arming and training LeJ so that it can launch attacks in Pakistan. Afghanistan is hardly in a position to orchestrate such attacks. And there is no evidence of any direct Indian involvement, although Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made no bones about his desire to see unrest in Balochistan in a tit for tat retaliation for Pakistan allegedly fuelling unrest in India-controlled Kashmir. Afghanistan is beset with civil war - five provincial capitals are presently under siege - it does not control the border regions between Pakistan and Afghanistan where IS is active, and it is equally difficult to believe why LeJ - a virulently anti-Shia group - should be undertaking acts of terrorism at the behest of the Afghan government. In fact, LeJ has carried out several attacks on Afghan Shias who belong to the Hazara minority. For Pakistani authorities, passing the buck has become the standard response to any terrorist attack. Yet the government and army promised two years ago that its first task would be to cleanse Pakistani soil of terrorism, that it would set its own house in order. The military has eliminated many groups that have threatened the state but two sets of extremist groups remain untouched. Comprehensive strategy The first are the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network, whose leadership is settled largely in Quetta and Peshawar and now partly in Iran. The Afghan Taliban come and go at will between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Last year Islamabad made serious efforts to persuade them to open talks with the Kabul regime but that effort has collapsed. However, the real threat is that many militant groups receive protection and sanctuary from the Afghan Taliban in Afghanistan. These include multiple Pakistani groups, including the highly toxic Pakistani Taliban as well as al-Qaeda and groups from Central Asia, China, Chechnya and elsewhere. The Pakistani Taliban living under the protection umbrella of the Afghan Taliban in Afghanistan have carried out numerous cross-border attacks into Pakistan, killing hundreds of people as far as Karachi and Lahore. Yet the Pakistani authorities continue treating the Afghan Taliban as guests in Pakistan. There seems to be no pressure on the Afghan Taliban to renounce their links with the Pakistani Taliban and hand them over to Pakistan. The second grouping is the plethora of Punjabi groups that live in Punjab province along the border with India. Their significance has risen in recent months with their repeated attacks on Indian security forces in Indian-administered Kashmir that have created a heightened tension between India and Pakistan. It is unclear if these attacks were carried out by militants already in Indian-administered Kashmir or from the Pakistani side. The Indians believe the latter, while Pakistan insists there are no cross border attacks. Pakistan clearly needs to deal with these two sets of groupings in a more mature, realistic and believable fashion. All major terrorist groups that started from Al-Qaeda have found a home in Pakistan at one time or another and it is clearly necessary that they should all be tackled comprehensively rather than selectively. It is equally important that the government accepts the fact that IS has a presence in Pakistan. Ahmed Rashid

क्वेटा में 61 पुलिस कैडेटों की हत्या करने वाले हमले के बाद एक बार फिर सरकार के नेतृत्व में दोषारोपण का खेल शुरू हो गया है। लेकिन सरकार ने सभी चरमपंथी समूहों के खिलाफ एक व्यापक आतंकवाद-रोधी रणनीति का संचालन करने में अपनी विफलता का सामना नहीं किया है।