Boris Johnson: After one year in power, how is the PM doing?

Summary: Boris Johnson has been in power for a year.

Standing outside 10 Downing Street on 24 July 2019 he said: "The time has come to act, to take decisions, to give strong leadership and to change this country for the better." With the coronavirus pandemic, tens of thousands have died in the UK and many have lost jobs or businesses in the economic downturn. Since the first case was confirmed in the UK at the end of January, the government has been dealing with an unprecedented crisis that has consumed an immense amount of effort. But looking back to that first speech, which contained both short-term and long-term goals, how much progress has been made? 1. Brexit on 31 October 2019 "We are going to fulfil the repeated promises of parliament to the people and come out of the EU on 31 October. No ifs or buts and we will do a new deal, a better deal." The UK did not leave the European Union on 31 October as the prime minister failed to get his renegotiated version of the Brexit withdrawal agreement through the House of Commons. But he went on to win a large majority in December's general election and the UK left the EU at 23:00 on 31 January. The UK is now in a transition period during which it continues to follow EU rules and regulations. It will leave the economic structures of the EU - the single market and the customs union - at the end of this year. Negotiations on a future trade agreement with the EU continue, but have yet to make significant progress. 2. Another 20,000 police officers "My job is to make your streets safer - and we are going to begin with another 20,000 police on the streets" The government aims to reach its 20,000 target by March 2023. And police forces in England and Wales have recruited 3,005 additional officers in the year to March 2020, according to the Home Office. There will be new figures out on Thursday. In the same period, increases in police recorded crime have slowed down, but knife crime has hit a record high. The number of crimes being solved has hit a record low, with just 7% of crimes resulting in a charge or court summons. 3. Hospital upgrades "We start work this week with 20 new hospital upgrades" The government announced £1.8bn for NHS hospitals in England, with £1bn immediately made available for new equipment and the 20 upgrades. At the time, health think tank the Nuffield Trust said that the funding, would "only be a fraction of what it would cost to really upgrade 20 hospitals". One year on from Mr Johnson's speech, the Department of Health and Social Care says work is due to begin soon on the first of the 20 upgrades. The coronavirus outbreak has seen large sums of money poured into the NHS to deal with the crisis, and a rapid, temporary expansion of capacity. A number of temporary Nightingale hospitals were to be used in the event of admissions with coronavirus increasing dramatically. 4. Social care plan "I am announcing now - on the steps of Downing Street - that we will fix the crisis in social care once and for all with a clear plan we have prepared" This plan has not been revealed yet. In January, Mr Johnson said that "we will be bringing forward a plan this year but we'll get it done in this parliament [by 2024]". On 8 March, Health Secretary Matt Hancock sent a letter to all MPs about their "proposed solutions" and "concerns about reforming the way that people pay for their care as part of the cross-party talks". The coronavirus crisis spiked in the weeks after the offer of cross-party talks, highlighting the vulnerability of the care sector. The talks are yet to begin. Newscast: Boris Johnson Year One 5. School funding "We are going to level up per pupil funding in primary and secondary schools" For 2020-21, the government increased the minimum per pupil spend in England to: The government has also introduced rules meaning local authorities have to ensure each pupil receives this funding. Previously, it was up to local authorities to allocate the money to schools in their area. Roughly 21% of primary schools and 37% of secondary schools have benefited from the increase because their per pupil spending was previously below this, according to the House of Commons Library. This is described as "levelling up" because these schools' budgets will have been pushed closer to those with more funding. Many schools will have well above the minimum per pupil funding, for reasons such as being in a deprived area. By 2022-23, schools in England will be receiving an extra £7.1bn a year. This will reverse spending cuts since 2010, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. 6. New roads and railways "Fantastic new road and rail infrastructure..." Mr Johnson also pledged to unite the country and ''level up'' through new transport links, and this has been a big focus during his first year in charge. He has given the go-ahead for the controversial high-speed rail project HS2, which will run between London and the Midlands, and then on to Manchester and Leeds in a second phase. Supporters say it will create jobs and rebalance the UK economy as well as creating jobs. The Spring Budget in March allocated £640bn for infrastructure investment, £100m of which was recently allocated to 29 road network projects to "get Britain moving". In May, a £1.7bn Infrastructure Investment Fund was launched to ''make sure Britain is ready to bounce back from coronavirus''. This included money to upgrade the UK's roads and railways, but corresponded to sums announced in the Budget and other existing funding pots. 7. Full-fibre broadband "...and full fibre broadband" Boris Johnson promised full-fibre broadband - that means having a fibre-optic cable running into every home and business. By the party conference in September that had become "full-fibre, 5G and other gigabit-capable networks" by 2025, with a £5bn investment for reaching the most remote areas. An earlier review reckoned the whole country could get full-fibre by 2033 with government funding of £3bn to £5bn, so £5bn to do it eight years sooner had been deemed optimistic by some commentators. The latest update from the regulator Ofcom in May found that full-fibre "continues to improve at a rapid pace" and that 3.5 million homes in the UK, which is 12%, have it available to them. But there is still a long way to go for everyone to be connected in 2025. Also, if the government is relying on 5G to provide gigabit-capable networks in remote areas, its decision to remove Huawei equipment from the 5G infrastructure will delay its rollout. 8. Wages and productivity "We level up across Britain with higher wages, and a higher living wage, and higher productivity" In his spring statement, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a rise in the National Living Wage from £8.21 to £8.72 an hour. This week, the government also announced that almost 900,000 public sector workers, including doctors and teachers, would receive an above-inflation pay rise of up to 3.1%. Wages and productivity have both been falling in recent months, although that is partly connected with the coronavirus outbreak. Under the furlough scheme, the government pays 80% of the employment costs of employees who are not working. Coronavirus is also likely to be a problem for attempts to level up regional inequality. The Social Market Foundation warned that the economies of London and the South East were likely to bounce back more quickly than other regions. The Conservative manifesto promised to address the country's poor productivity by investing in education, infrastructure and R&D. Since then the government has pledged £120m for eight Institutes of Technology and £7m for 11 maths schools and promised that R&D spending would rise by £22bn by 2025. 9. Housing "We close the opportunity gap giving millions of young people the chance to own their own homes" This year, the government has committed itself to adding £9.5bn to a scheme to build affordable housing, which was introduced by Theresa May in 2018. As part of a recent speech on infrastructure, the prime minister also promised to cut regulations that stop developers converting commercial properties into housing. However, some have argued that the current planning regulations do not have a significant impact on the number of homes being built. There has also been a temporary cut in stamp duty, which will not be payable on homes up to £500,000, although that will have less impact on first-time buyers, who already did not have to pay stamp duty on the first £300,000. 10. No checks at the Irish border "I am convinced that we can do a deal without checks at the Irish border, because we refuse under any circumstances to have such checks" Mr Johnson delivered on his promise to get rid of the backstop plan for the Irish border, while ensuring the land border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland remained as open as it was while both countries were in the EU. But the prime minister's new plan means there will be checks and controls within the UK instead, on goods crossing from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. That lost him the support of his former allies in Northern Ireland, the Democratic Unionist Party. Mr Johnson has repeatedly denied that there will be any kind of border down the Irish Sea, but his government has submitted applications to the EU to create border control posts at ports in Northern Ireland to check animals and food arriving in the EU single market. Northern Ireland will stay in the single market for goods when the Brexit transition period ends. What claims do you want BBC Reality Check to investigate? Get in touch Read more from Reality Check Follow us on Twitter

बोरिस जॉनसन एक साल से सत्ता में हैं।


Leeds arrest over Netherlands child shooting

Summary: A man has been arrested in Leeds over the fatal shooting of a 12-year-old boy in the Netherlands.

Danny Gubbels was killed in a caravan in Breda on 14 July last year. West Yorkshire Police said they arrested the 29-year-old on behalf of the Dutch authorities and his extradition has been requested. The man was remanded in custody by Westminster Magistrates' Court in London on Wednesday, the Serious Organised Crime Agency confirmed. Another British man, aged 24, has been arrested in Amsterdam over the death, police said.

नीदरलैंड में एक 12 वर्षीय लड़के की घातक गोलीबारी के मामले में लीड्स में एक व्यक्ति को गिरफ्तार किया गया है।


Living in fear

Summary: Civilians living in Sri Lanka's rebel-held territory say they are under increasing pressure by both parties as fighting intensifies.

Residents in Kilinochchi told BBC Sandeshaya that the Tamil Tigers are increasing pressure on families with two children to hand over one child to the movement to fight against the government forces. "The Tigers come and take the children by force. Forcible recruitment of children has been worsened since about a year ago. It wasn't that bad until recently," the resident said. The LTTE are desperately seeking more recruits as the government forces are advancing to the Vanni, the residents who did not want to be identified told BBC Sandeshaya. Many civilians are however not leaving the rebel-held areas but moving inside Vanni as fighting intensifies as they are afraid of the government forces, another person living in Kilinochchi said. People could hear continuing shell attacks as close as from 15 miles as the government forces are advancing, another person who wished to be anonymous said. The residents fear that the situation could worsen when UN and other aid agencies pullout from Vanni. "We need someone we can trust." a resident said. "Nearly 300,000 people were made homeless", she said, and many people are living under trees, huts and temporary shelters. "When people leave an area, shell attacks continue to that area. People are even afraid to go to toilets," she added. A selection of your comments: "After a long time some unbiased reporting from BBC" Totally agree, otherwise it is just a reflection of "tamilnet". Current BBC may be trying to achieve popularity by cheap, spicy and biased information. BBC better check its news sources if they are interested in credibility and reputation. They better be reporters rather than opinion makers.Chintaka, Melbourne, Australia It is indeed sad times for SriLanka. I still carry with me those nostalgic memories of a beautiful SriLanka. I think it is time we united in the name of peace and love, guided by the precepts of Buddha and the great religions that SriLanka is home to.Sangita Ravendran, Canberra, Australia LTTE is alive and still exit because of Singalese and their leaders. Have they solved ethnic problem with tamil leadres very long time back this problem will not exit and no war.Raja Bala, pretoria, South Africa Santhush Fernando Says"99% sinhalese army going into 100% tamil areas"Does he know that 50% of Tamils live in the South and Central Province among Sinhalese.Anurudhdha Liyanage, Perth, Australia The LTTE are desperately seeking more recruits as the government forces are advancing to the Vanni. LTTE's days are numbered.Shamal Jayakody, Sydney, Australia No one will win the war. Government might be stronger this time and defeat the battle this time. But it will never end. What assurance would be possible when innocent civilians are targeted. Mahinda will lead the country into abysmal.Prageeth Alewidner, Colombo, Sri Lanka If all comunities living in other parts of the country with peace people in the nort also can live in peace if V Pirabahan and his group accept to negotiate. Unfortunately they left the negotiation table with highlighting minor issues.Chandra Bandara, Colombo, Sri Lanka In western countries, their busines is war and in our countries the war is a business. Both are just two side of the same coins. So,it will go on until both parties will be getting benefit.Malinga Panaluwa, Toronto, Canada Thank you BBC for publishing the truth about Sri Lanka. The LTTE has done more damage and destruction to Tamils than the Sinhalese government. The international image of all Tamil people has been tarnished by the actions of the LTTE.Ganesh, Toronto, Canada Poeple have to leave the area soon they will be better look after by the government as they did to east It is better than terists this is going to be over soon they can live peacefully without fear.Sulakshani Hewakapuge, Colombo Because of terrorism, all Sri Lankans are living in fear. The LTTE have been killing their own Tamil people and conscripting Tamil children for decades. It will stop only when they are no more.Faced with terrorism many countries are doing their utmost to defeat the terrorists.Ira de Silva, Canada BBC at last say some truth. I am supprised to see that BBC saying LTTE is using people as a human shield and they recruit childern forcibaly. This is good improvement compared to past in which naked BBC tried to protect LTTE.Manik, Colombo LTTE are freedom fighters. The government of Sri Lanka is not willing to give even a basic level of autonomy to tamils. If people are afraid of LTTE, then why are they moving deeper in to tiger territory? That tells that they fear the SLA worst.Melikandan, Toronto, Canada Helpless civilian Tamils are caught up between GOSL and LTTE. Independent journalists should visit wanni and report the true situation and bring it to the attention of the world. This should be done even if GoSL does not agree.Nathan, london, UK Why is the 99% sinhalese army going into 100% tamil areas.. Is srilanka trying to go on with its plan of ethinic cleansing of taking over tamils who have diffrent langauge and religion to the sinhalese ?Santhush Fernando, Rotterdam, Netherlands Both innocent tamils , sinhaleaseMuslims and every one is suffring because of ruthless terrorists. Sri Lankan Goverment must provide the best protection and sheltor for those fleeing form LTTE held areas.Rajan Sellathurai, Sydney, Australia With all these problems by LTTE people still want to be with LTTE rather than GOSL and its forces.People had too many bad experiances to trust GOSL,I know this as I have come a cross this predicament in 1995 fleeing Jaffna.Kanthasamy, UK It is evidently clear that neither side is genuinely interested in a negotiated solution.The bloodthirsty war mongers are in charge,most of the moderates have either been killed or silenced.This appears to be the case all over the world. I fear for humanity.Rajesh Kumar, London, UK UN Staff and lots of other INGOs who reside in these areas are fully aware of, approve of and silent about abduction of children by the LTTE for fighting. Therefor there is nothing for SL government to worry about until the area is liberated. In the mean time Interested parties should question UN, Redcross and other well known NGOs.Purohitha Bandara, Kandy Civilians in Tiger held areas should stand against LTTE jungle law soon.If they stand today their next generation can live peacefully in the future.Priyanga Samarasinghe, Australia Now it is good time for mediation . why india is silent -i do not know,if sri lanken government losses or cannot compleate the war in next 06 months this exercise is a compleate failure no tamil should not respect to sinhalese for this hiler type of situation.Ruwan Siriwardene, Melbourne, Australia Why cant the LTTE create a safe passage for the civilians to leave. There are unconfirmed reports of LTTE shooting those wishing to leave.GOSL mandate extends to the north, regardless what the LTTE does they need to ensure security of those living in uncleard areas!Akram Farook, London, UK The Media should also go and look how civilian are targeted by Air Force. Remember the Army in East forcefully with help of "Pilliyan" recruited Tamils. It is a State Terrorism even called by JVP and UNP.Randy, Edmonton, Canada Agreed , Innocent civilians are getting affected. But as a legitimate government, GOSL has to make sure the whole country's security and safety of the people are taken care of. I think had the INGOs worked in an impartial manner without handing over their assets for LTTE use, GOSL wouldn't have to ask them to leave.Tharaka Abeywickrama, Colombo, Sri Lanka In the past 2 years of this government offensive, the Kilinochchi regional hospital was bombed twice, ambulances have been targeted at least 2-3 times by claymores, and 4 pro-Tamil MPs have been assassinated. Now, civilians are told to "flee or else". That's not the "LTTE" "using human shields".Gogol, Toronto, Canada After a long time some unbiased reporting from BBC.Darshana Abeykoon The only country in world that made their own citizens IDPs. Why don't write the indiscriminate bombing and shelling by Govt forces. It is easy to keep blaming the LTTE all the time, but what political devolution has the Govt provided till date. Nothing but hollow words and robbing the state coffers and expousing communalism. According to Govt sources they are fighting a beautiful war no one gets hurt no civilian is injured therefore they now wants the UN expelled.Dave Wijesooriya, Colombo I wonder why the so called "sole representative of tamils"(LTTE) grab children from helpless tamil people. I think prabha loves his children too.Rodney Gunapala, Katunayake, Sri Lanka They indeed need someone they can trust.Neither government nor LTTE. Can people of Sinhala, Muslim, Tamil, Malay and Burger communities provide these innocent Tamil civilians with new lease of life out of war zone. That would be the day which Sri Lankan celebrate the dawn of respectful pease of one nation, two communities torn apart.Athukorala, Darford, UK Mervyn Mendis:See what the terrorists are doing to the innocent civilians. I agree with you, because in this case the terrorists are SL goverment and its army.Chel Soma, Sweden Will you dare send or share this article with cnn,nbc,abc,cbs and other news agencies. See what the terrorists are doing to the innocent civilians.Mervyn Mendis, Toronto, Canada Evidently, for these poor civilians, it's a situation akin to being caught up between the devil and the deep blue sea.Gitanjali Marcelline, Colombo, Sri Lanka What a stupid war!! As a government Sri Lanka did all it can to get the LTTE to negotiation. but unfortunately, efforts have gone in the drain. Preba needs no other than ELLAM . which is a dream. So everyone in the country is suffering for that.Chamila Garusinghe, London

श्रीलंका के विद्रोहियों के कब्जे वाले क्षेत्र में रहने वाले नागरिकों का कहना है कि वे दोनों पक्षों के बढ़ते दबाव में हैं क्योंकि लड़ाई तेज हो रही है।


Janet Kaywood dies after Bradford traffic light hit

Summary: A woman who was seriously injured when a traffic light fell on her as it was hit by a car has died from her injuries.

Janet Kaywood, 58, from Bradford, has died in hospital after been hit by the light in the city centre on 3 August, said West Yorkshire Police. The traffic light fell when it was hit by a silver Mercedes C180 that had mounted the pavement on Barry Street at the junction with Sunbridge Road. The force is appealing for witnesses. Officers are keen to speak to anyone who saw the car before the crash or who witnessed it earlier this month, the force said. More stories from Yorkshire

एक महिला जो एक कार की चपेट में आने से ट्रैफिक लाइट गिरने से गंभीर रूप से घायल हो गई थी, उसकी चोटों से मौत हो गई है।


Equatorial Guinea profile - Leaders

Summary: President: Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo

Mr Obiang Nguema is Africa's longest serving leader and has been in power for three decades. In 1979 he seized power from President Francisco Macias Nguema, who was the leader at independence and whose rule prompted a mass exodus and thousands of deaths. The former leader was tried and executed. The new president relaxed some of the restrictions of his predecessor - such as a ban on the Catholic Church - but kept the absolute control he inherited. Officials said Mr Obiang won more than 97% of the vote in presidential elections in December 2002. Opposition candidates had withdrawn from the poll, citing fraud and irregularities. Officials reported similar results following the November 2009 presidential elections. A French judge announced in May 2009 that he would launch a landmark investigation into whether President Obiang and two other African leaders plundered state coffers to buy luxury homes and cars in France. It became known as the case of "ill-gotten gains". A complaint filed by Transparency International France, accused the leaders, who denied any wrongdoing, of acquiring millions of dollars of real estate in Paris and on the French Riviera and buying luxury cars with embezzled public money. However, a French appeal court threw out the case saying the activists couldn't act against foreign heads of state. A subsequent ruling, in November 2010, authorised an investigation into the charges. Proposed changes to the constitution were put to a referendum in November 2011, and according to the government, accepted by voters. Critics allege that while the changes were presented as democratic reforms they were aimed at entrenching the president's position even further. Wealthy son The president's son, Teodoro 'Teodorin' Nguema Obiang, has been resisting attempts by the US administration to seize some $71 million worth of his assets, denying charges that they were obtained with allegedly corrupt funds taken from his country. US authorities in 2011 filed to seize a $30 million Malibu, California, oceanfront home, a $38.5 million Gulfstream jet, a Ferrari worth more than $500,000 and dozens of pieces of pop singer Michael Jackson memorabilia worth almost $2 million. They argued that Mr Obiang obtained the items with money corruptly taken from his impoverished country through a variety of alleged schemes, including requiring companies to pay so-called taxes and fees to him as well as to make donations to his pet projects and then took those funds for his own use. In November 2014 he was ordered by the US Justice Department to forfeit his US-based property and belongings. Mr Obiang jnr was also facing investigation in France over money laundering claims.

अध्यक्षः तेओदोरो ओबियांग न्गुएमा मबासोगो


'We are young and we don't drink'

Summary: Britain's booze problems are well documented, with alcohol misuse costing the NHS more than £4bn every year. However, one in five UK adults do not drink and young people are more likely than any other age group to keep off the strong stuff. Why is that? We speak to three young teetotallers.

By Louise WilsonBBC Scotland News 'Mum's addiction pushed me over the edge' Derryn Balmer, 17, decided to be alcohol-free after the impact it had on his childhood. He had to move in with his grandparents at the age of 11 due to his mum's alcoholism. "I knew about it and hid it from everyone for a long time before her addiction pushed me over the edge. I was depressed and breaking down in primary school about it. "I've dealt with and overcome a lot through all of this and I've always wanted to avoid alcohol my whole life." Derryn, who is currently studying Sound Production at Ayrshire College, is an aspiring hip-hop and pop artist/producer. How does a career so heavily linked with alcohol and substance misuse sit with his own lifestyle choice? "I think I could just enjoy the music whether I'm in the crowd or behind the decks. Under peer pressure I'd never accept anything, I'd say no thanks all night if that's what it took," he explains. He says: "I'm happy being the only sober person by the end of the night if I go out somewhere where there's drinking. "If I don't have to personally deal with someone who's had too much to drink by myself, then I'm not bothered usually." For others, the decision not to drink was simply a case of disliking the taste of alcohol and seeing friends drink to excess has further embedded their lifestyle. 'Seeing people drunk put me off alcohol' Cathy Louise is a 20-year-old vlogger who has never been interested in drink. She says the health issues were never a part of her decision: "I just hate the taste and the fact that you lose control." "I have never been drunk but have experienced other people drinking to excess which is never fun so that has also put me off ever drinking." Dealing with and looking after drunk people has become a feature of her social life, however. "I am usually expected to look after people who get drunk. I feel that's not my job, although I try to make sure people are safe. "I have been at parties where people who drank to excess kept turning on the gas without igniting the flame on a hob and I had to constantly turn it off. I felt really scared because I didn't know what else they might try. "Some people know their limits and stop drinking and look after themselves, but some people just can't seem to stop. "I don't mind being around people who are having a drink but dealing with people who have collapsed or have made themselves incredibly ill because of alcohol is a lot to handle when it's late and you're tired and you're young." 'I worried I'd let slip I was gay if I got drunk' Allan Faulds grew up in West Dunbartonshire, one of the areas most affected by alcohol abuse in Scotland. The 27-year-old says he made the decision not to drink when he was in his mid-teens, reaffirming that commitment in his twenties. He admits his first decision was borne out of a fear of outing himself when inebriated: "I wasn't comfortable with my sexuality and was really worried if I did drink I'd somehow let slip that I was gay. "Since then I'm more than happy in who I am, and I've chosen to continue not drinking because I simply don't see the point in starting - it's expensive, it's often unhealthy, and I don't need alcohol to enjoy myself." Back in 2005, 19% of people aged between 16 and 24 in the UK reported not drinking at all. In 2017, this had increased to 22.8% according to official statistics. Despite the increase in teetotal young people, drinkers in this age group are still more likely to binge more heavily than older people. There are more than 10,000 deaths per year in the UK linked to drink, while 1.4 million hospital admissions annually are related to the consumption of alcohol. So what do our teetotallers think of Briton's booze culture? Derryn believes it is an issue of moderation rather than encouraging more people to be alcohol-free: "I think people just need to be conscious about the impact their decisions have if they go overboard or develop bad habits." Allan says it is "a pretty serious problem" based on the idea that "it's not possible to have a good night out without alcohol". He says: "In my earlier 20s, a lot of people seemed to gauge how good a night out was by how little they remembered about it afterwards because they got so blazingly drunk. That's really unhealthy."

ब्रिटेन की शराब की समस्याओं को अच्छी तरह से प्रलेखित किया गया है, जिसमें शराब के दुरुपयोग से हर साल एन. एच. एस. को 4 बिलियन पाउंड से अधिक की लागत आती है। हालाँकि, ब्रिटेन के पाँच वयस्कों में से एक शराब नहीं पीता है और युवा लोगों के किसी भी अन्य आयु वर्ग की तुलना में मजबूत सामान से दूर रहने की अधिक संभावना है। ऐसा क्यों है? हम तीन युवा टीटोटलर से बात करते हैं।


'Progress made' to keep 24-hour A&E at Withybush hospital

Summary: "Significant" efforts are being made to secure the future of 24-hour A&E cover at a Pembrokeshire hospital.

Hywel Dda health board said it is making progress with its work on maintaining the service at Withybush General Hospital in Haverfordwest. This comes after a document leaked online suggested it would be cut. Medical director Sue Fish said: "We are pleased to say that good progress is being made in relation to nurse and consultant appointments."

पेम्ब्रोकेशायर अस्पताल में 24 घंटे के ए एंड ई कवर के भविष्य को सुरक्षित करने के लिए "महत्वपूर्ण" प्रयास किए जा रहे हैं।


Autism in children in Northern Ireland up 67%, says health department

Summary: There has been a 67% increase in the number of school age children in Northern Ireland diagnosed as having autism across all trust areas, according to the Department of Health.

The figures include children with Asperger syndrome. Boys are five times more likely to be affected, but the rate in girls has increased at a higher rate. According to the latest statistics, children living in more deprived areas appear more likely to have autism. Autism and Asperger syndrome are part of a range of conditions known as autistic spectrum disorders (ASD). They affect the way the brain processes information. The findings were contained in Prevalence of Autism (including Aspergers Syndrome) in school age children in Northern Ireland 2014.'

स्वास्थ्य विभाग के अनुसार, उत्तरी आयरलैंड में स्कूली उम्र के बच्चों की संख्या में 67 प्रतिशत की वृद्धि हुई है, जिन्हें सभी ट्रस्ट क्षेत्रों में ऑटिज्म होने का पता चला है।


Charli Howard: Is this really a 'plus-size' model?

Summary: Charli Howard isn't short of an opinion or six.

By Steven McIntoshEntertainment reporter "Models are models for a reason," the 26-year-old tells BBC News. "Not everyone photographs in the same way." It's a refreshingly blunt assessment of the workings of the fashion world, and perhaps an unusual one for a member of the inclusion-championing body positivity movement. "You don't want to see your mate Janet in Vogue, you want to see people you can aspire to. I think we want to look for people whose lives seem a bit more glamorous than our own." While Charli thinks models shouldn't look too ordinary (sorry Janet), she says the key thing is that aspirational beauty "shouldn't be associated with just one body type". "I look at models like Ashley Graham, who are like size 16, and I still want to be Ashley Graham, 'cause she's cool as hell," she says. "I don't think women are necessarily drawn to body shapes, I think it's about the personalities of women in magazines and what they stand for." Charli has just published her first book, Misfit - a memoir that deals openly with her problems with eating disorders and mental health. She says she struggled to fit in during her school years, which led to her suffering from anxiety and ultimately being attracted to modelling as a way to escape her surroundings. "I didn't know what I wanted to do as a career, and then I kept getting scouted and people said, 'You should try modelling'," she explains. "Now, for someone who lived in the middle of Wales at boarding school who felt completely alone, modelling was like this glamorous way out. "So the book is about someone who was a bit unstable in the brain, how I chased this idea that if I finally got to my dream weight or got accepted by the modelling elite that I would finally be happy." Charli lays bare the multiple casting calls she went to, where she was regularly told she was too big for a certain client or campaign - despite having drastically altered her diet. One rejection prompted her to write a Facebook post, which rapidly went viral, calling out the industry for its demands. "I refuse to feel ashamed and upset on a daily basis for not meeting your ridiculous, unattainable beauty standards," she wrote. Ironically, the attention from the post led to interest from a modelling agency in the US. Charli looked into their background and found they had a "curve division". Within a few days, she had flown out to meet them and signed up. She now lives in the US full-time, working as a model - albeit one who is classed as plus-size. "I have a D-cup. I have hips. I'm never going to fit the super-skinny category any more," she says. "If we're going by industry standards, I'm only going to fit the curved market. "There isn't really a section for me. There's no-one really representing the UK size 10-12, you either have to be really skinny or really big. "And I am one of a handful of people trying to show that you can model at this natural size. And it's slap bang in the middle of both categories. And you can still do fashion. That's my whole point." Charli may be a healthy weight now, but has struggled with anorexia and bulimia throughout her life - conditions she acknowledges are difficult for many to comprehend. In 2016, Joan Bakewell attracted criticism when she suggested anorexia was a disease of the western world. "No-one has anorexia in societies where there is not enough food," she told the Sunday Times. "They do not have anorexia in the camps in Syria. I think it's possible anorexia could be about narcissism." Bakewell later apologised but several columnists agreed with her - including Angela Epstein in The Telegraph and Rod Liddle in The Spectator, who said it was a "primarily middle-class illness". I raise this point cautiously with Charli, but she's quite understanding of this view. "One of the earliest cases of anorexia was one of Henry VIII's wives. Really upper class," she says - referring to Catherine of Aragon. "Poor people wouldn't have had that because they didn't have access to food, they wouldn't starve themselves. "So I do kind of question if having access to food is maybe a factor. I had access to food and therefore also had the ability to restrict it. "It's the class system, if you have money, you can afford to restrict, if you don't then you can't... I know that's quite a controversial thing." But, she adds, her main reason for minimising her diet was down to "a society that really put pressure on me to lose weight". Many people will, of course, find the suggestion that Charli is now considered plus-size utterly ridiculous. Including, she says, other plus-size models. "Plus-size in an industry term, that's not something I've given myself. And I've had very successful plus-size models say to me 'Well you're not plus-size, I find that really offensive.' "But what I'm looking for is the unification of women, and to see women on one board, where they don't have to be put into categories based on their sizes." She admits: "I'm very young to be a plus-size model, most of them are in their 30s. And the 'straight-size' models, their work kind of dies out around 25, 30 if they're lucky. So I do feel quite lucky in that respect." Charli says there's "tonnes" of work out there for models larger than the average size, "especially in America, not so much in the UK". She adds: "This is what I don't understand. I think the UK still has these qualms or these weird association with the term 'plus-size'." The rise of social media since Charli's school days, and Instagram in particular, has, if anything, reinforced beauty stereotypes, making the voice of diverse figures more powerful. "Fitspo accounts, thinspo accounts [short for fitspiration and thinspiration], you see models who are super-toned - I think that sends a completely different message as well, so it must be really tough," she says. "I don't think I could be a teenager now. I think I would literally have a breakdown if I was a teenager now. "But I think that's exactly why we need the Body Positive movement." Misfit by Charli Howard is out now. Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.

चार्ली हावर्ड के पास एक राय या छह की कमी नहीं है।


Queen's Birthday Honour for Swanage RNLI lifeboat volunteer

Summary: A volunteer who has helped co-ordinate lifeboat rescues in which the lives of almost 200 people were saved has been recognised in the Queen's Birthday Honours list.

Swanage RNLI operation manager Neil Hardy, 59, has been appointed MBE. The retired ferry captain has carried out the voluntary work at the Dorset station since 1989. He was nominated for services to maritime safety and said it was "an honour and a surprise". "I must accept it on behalf of the Swanage lifeboat station and the community which have supported the station through thick and thin," he added. While he has been in the role, the station has had 1,497 shouts, come to the aid of 1,366 people and saved the lives of 194 people. The lifeboat station is currently being redeveloped to accommodate a bigger lifeboat which is due to enter service in 2016.

एक स्वयंसेवक जिसने जीवन रक्षक नौका के बचाव में समन्वय करने में मदद की है जिसमें लगभग 200 लोगों की जान बचाई गई थी, उसे रानी के जन्मदिन सम्मान सूची में मान्यता दी गई है।


Amy Winehouse, music, arthritis and me

Summary: Jade Carter has spent a lot of her life in hospital.

By Hannah MooreNewsbeat reporter Rheumatoid arthritis causes the 20-year-old such intense pain she sometimes can't move. That's where music helps. "I kind of enter this different world when I'm singing. I feel like I can just let go of the reality of life," she tells Newsbeat. Now Amy Winehouse's charity is helping her find her voice and launch a singing career. "I was singing since I was six-years-old, when my mum would leave me in Great Ormond Street hospital," she says. "I just wrote songs all the time because that's pretty much all I could do. I couldn't go to school a lot of the time." It paid off. Last night Jade performed for some of the biggest names in UK music, including Emeli Sande, Naughty Boy and Trevor Nelson, at the Amy Winehouse Foundation Gala, an event in memory of the late singer. She's one of a small group of musicians chosen for Amy's Yard, a 12-week project which gives them time in the late singer's studio, working with a producer on their own track. "It was a really lovely experience," says Jade, "Too much information, but I would sit on the toilet and be like 'Amy probably sat on this toilet," she laughs. Jade, from London, was diagnosed with arthritis as a baby. "I was on and off lots of trial drugs as well as arthritis drugs. Without those I think I would be in a wheelchair now. "I can't bend my arm properly, sometimes I can't move my legs. I feel like I literally can't move my entire body." She says she's spent years feeling ashamed of having the condition. "People used to look at me and be like 'you're not disabled. You're just making it up'. I'd be scared to tell people I'm in pain." Taking part in Amy's Yard has taught her a lot about the music industry, she says. "We had a lot of wellbeing talks, about staying healthy and positive while you're trying to become someone. That's part of the reason I'm now so confident talking about my illness. "I want to use my disability to show people they shouldn't hide who they are. I want to do music, and tell people about my condition. Don't let anything stop you." Find us on Instagram at BBCNewsbeat and follow us on Snapchat, search for bbc_newsbeat

जेड कार्टर ने अपना बहुत सारा जीवन अस्पताल में बिताया है।


Coronavirus: What does a working 'test and trace' system look like?

Summary: Health Secretary Matt Hancock has expressed "renewed confidence" NHS Test and Trace will become the "world-class system" promised by the prime minister - although Mr Hancock acknowledged the system needed to get "better and better" as it developed. But what does an already world-beating test and trace programme look like?

By Adam DurbinBBC News Online There is no need to look as far as Singapore, South Korea or even Germany for one; an extremely successful example can be found much closer to home. Guernsey has not recorded a new coronavirus case since 30 April and there are no active Covid-19 patients in the island. This has led to significant easing of its lockdown rules and the Channel Island's 63,000 residents can go shopping, get a haircut and meet up with friends and family. Such is the success of the response, from 20 June the government will remove nearly all lockdown restrictions and life will effectively return to normal, with no social distancing requirements for businesses or restrictions on gatherings. Overall, 252 people in Guernsey are recorded as having contracted coronavirus between 9 March and 1 May, with 13 people confirmed to have died with the virus and three further suspected Covid deaths. The people of Guernsey are currently the only ones in the British Isles who can lawfully drink a pint in a pub without a meal - landlords aside. Currently, everyone who enters a "controlled environment", like a pub, restaurant or hairdressers, must leave their name and contact details with the business. These must be available at all times for the island's Public Health Services to access, should a new case be found, however this restriction will also soon be lifted. It's an imposition that does not seem to trouble people enjoying a drink in the sunshine at the Rockmount in Cobo. One of them, Colin Saxby, said the ability to order a pint was "very pleasant", especially when the weather was good. "I like a beer and crossword at lunchtime, so I'm quite happy." According to the island's director of public health, Dr Nicola Brink, the backbone of this relaxation of lockdown was the early and rigorous implementation of a "test, trace and isolate" system. Dr Brink said she began preparing at the end of January, by which point it had become "clear" to her Covid-19 had "pandemic potential". With just one hospital and a relatively elderly population - nearly 20% of islanders are over 65 - a serious outbreak could have been catastrophic. The trained virologist's calm presence at live-streamed government briefings has turned her into something of a local celebrity. She began recruiting contact tracers in January and by the time the first confirmed case was found, they were "ready and waiting". Dr Brink said: "Having those trained individuals on the 9th of March meant we were able to implement our programme immediately." So far, contact tracers have spoken to 1,757 people in the island - the equivalent of about 1.8 million in the UK. However, despite this early action, the response was not without challenges. During the height of the crisis in mid-March, when cases were emerging rapidly and there were concerns the health service could become overwhelmed, the speed of returning test results became a significant problem. Guernsey was entirely dependent on UK laboratories and was unable to "deliver our strategy efficiently", Dr Brink explained. She said: "We were waiting two or three days for a test result and that was not enabling us to respond." As a result, schools were closed on 22 March and a full lockdown was introduced three days after. Fortunately, the Public Health team realised delays were a possibility and had already ordered the equipment needed to set up on-island testing at the beginning of March. The project came together with "remarkable" speed, and the capacity to test an equivalent of 160,000 people daily in UK terms was up and running by the end of the month, Dr Brink said. This will have increased to 400,000 by July, once an expected shipment of testing equipment arrives and is installed. Because Guernsey is a Crown Dependency, it has total control over its borders. A mandatory two-week quarantine for new arrivals was imposed on 19 March, which will remain in place even after life returns to near normality to prevent reintroducing the virus. This ability to regulate who comes in and goes out of the Bailiwick, which also includes the islands of Alderney and Sark, has been fundamental to its response to the pandemic. Dr Brink herself acknowledges the advantageous position, and how test and trace is "ideal" for the island. A difficulty the team encountered as the pandemic progressed into April was over concerns they were not picking up on symptoms. Dr Brink said a review of their own cases and the evidence coming from around the world led them to expand their list of symptoms early on. By 8 April, they had included the loss of smell and taste to their list which would cause people to get tested, nearly a month before the UK did so. Guernsey's contact tracing system is based around interviewing coronavirus patients over the phone and establishing who could be at risk. An essential part of this process is establishing a "rapport" with them and building trust, Dr Brink said. She said: "It's really important that we provide people with detailed explanations of what we're doing. "They're entitled to that information and if people have it they are more likely to co-operate and understand." Nurse Andrea Tostevin was trained as a contact tracer in January. She said it was essential people doing the work had good communication skills. Case interviews, where contact tracers establish who patients have interacted with, begin within an hour of the test results coming in, Mrs Tostevin explained. She said: "Some people are quite unwell and worried about themselves and their family. "It's important you could give some reassurance and have the information." Mrs Tostevin explained that a small number of those being asked to isolate for two weeks were confused or pushed back at her, but the vast majority were happy to comply with the restrictions. "People who were several days from their contact and feeling really well would occasionally question 'why do I need to do this?'." However, she said they were invariably able to explain the public health rationale for self-isolation and get sceptical people on board, praising the "community spirit" shown by most people. Dr Brink echoed this view, praising the "incredible support" of the people of Guernsey for their response to the pandemic. She said: "It's been incredibly humbling. At times, at the end of a long day, it's the type of thing that's kept me going."

स्वास्थ्य सचिव मैट हैनकॉक ने "नए सिरे से विश्वास" व्यक्त किया है कि एन. एच. एस. टेस्ट और ट्रेस प्रधान मंत्री द्वारा वादा की गई "विश्व स्तरीय प्रणाली" बन जाएगी-हालाँकि श्री हैनकॉक ने स्वीकार किया कि प्रणाली के विकसित होने के साथ "बेहतर और बेहतर" होने की आवश्यकता है। लेकिन पहले से ही विश्व को हराने वाला टेस्ट और ट्रेस कार्यक्रम कैसा दिखता है?


'Lucky' Snowdonia hill walker escapes 50ft slip

Summary: A walker who fell 50ft (15m) down a rocky slab in Snowdonia had a lucky escape when he landed on a small ledge above a drop, say emergency services.

The 30-year-old from Worcester, who had been walking near Crib Goch with a woman on Saturday, suffered bruising to his back and pelvis. He was flown to hospital in Bangor by an RAF rescue helicopter, and released. "He's a very lucky man after such a fall," said Ian Henderson of Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team. Twenty members of the rescue team were involved in what was described as an "extensive, technical" rescue from a very inaccessible place on steep ground. The operation, which began with a mobile telephone call from the walkers, ended just before dusk.

आपातकालीन सेवाओं का कहना है कि स्नोडोनिया में एक चट्टानी स्लैब से 50 फीट (15 मीटर) नीचे गिरने वाला एक वॉकर भाग्यशाली बच गया जब वह एक बूंद के ऊपर एक छोटे से किनारे पर उतरा।


Nepal police must provide 'service with a smile'

Summary: Police in Nepal are being trained to be more humble and to smile more after complaints that they often behave in a harsh and impolite manner.

A police spokesman said more than 600 trainers had been deployed throughout the country to help officers become more friendly. The campaign has been called "service with a smile". In recent years, police officers have been accused of brutal and heavy-handed tactics when dealing with civil unrest. The force hopes this campaign will improve its public image, BBC Nepali's Surendra Phuyal in Kathmandu reports. More than 600 trainers have been deployed in the country's 75 districts to train police personnel, said Nepal police spokesman KC Ganesh. "It's so that they can appear to be in a friendlier, more humble and polite manner," he said. The Nepal police say they hope the national campaign will bring about positive changes in the working pattern of the 67,000-strong force.

नेपाल में पुलिस को अधिक विनम्र होने और शिकायतों के बाद अधिक मुस्कुराने के लिए प्रशिक्षित किया जा रहा है कि वे अक्सर कठोर और अभद्र तरीके से व्यवहार करते हैं।


France's protesters revive ghosts of 1968 revolt

Summary: In France, protest is theatre. And as the half-centenary of May 1968 approaches, it looks like the props are out, the stage-set is getting the final touches, and the actors are once again learning their lines.

By Hugh SchofieldBBC News, Paris The few last weeks have permitted certain souls to imagine that President Emmanuel Macron's France is entering a zone of high dramatic turbulence, comparable even with the events of 50 years ago, when student and worker protests changed the country for good. In the universities of Nanterre and Paris - starting-point for the ructions of '68 - once again there are sit-ins, slogans and fights with police. Railway workers provide the industrial muscle that Renault car-workers gave 50 years ago, with three months of strikes against Macron's liberalisation of the state railway. And in a corner of the rural west, eco-warriors act out their battles with forces of the state, who want to evict them from the site of a now-abandoned airport. No doubt all these movements, and others by hospital workers, Air France pilots, justice officials, etc would have gone ahead anyway. But the '68 anniversary has given them a historical oomph, rekindling the ideal of the great coming-together, the convergence des luttes (coalescence of struggles), that motivated protests back in the day. As one of the myriad banners put it in a Paris campus this week: "The train due for May 1968 has arrived… with a delay of 50 years." What was May 1968 all about? It began with a student occupation of Nanterre University in Paris. When the campus was shut down the protest moved to Sorbonne University, in the heart of Paris. Thousands of leftist students demanded reform of the "bourgeois" university system and an end to President Charles de Gaulle's "police state". France was gripped by a cultural upheaval - a youth rebellion against what was seen as an authoritarian establishment. There were days of running battles in central Paris between students - hurling cobble stones - and baton-wielding CRS riot police, who fired tear gas. Hundreds were injured and nearly 500 students arrested. Trade unions joined the protests, organising strikes across industry and transport, in a push for better working conditions. The strikes spread across France until around 10 million workers paralysed the nation. Some feared that a communist revolution was looming. De Gaulle managed to defuse the crisis by dissolving parliament, threatening a state of emergency and calling a snap June election. His supporters rallied in Paris and his conservative party triumphed in the election. Different interpretations Now, as today's heated debates in the media go to show, opinions vary hugely in France about whether May '68 was a good or bad thing. For some, it was a moment of liberation from the repressive hypocrisy of the war generation. If it erred into utopian leftist ideology, well that was just part of the French tradition and not to be taken too seriously. But for opponents it marked the dissolution of family, school and nation, and heralded the future arrival of those modern-day curses: political correctness and moral relativism. Still others see its real victory as the celebration of individualism, ensuring that US-style consumerism would enjoy its takeover of France unimpeded. For the philosopher and former education minister Luc Ferry, a strong critic of May '68, "it was necessary that traditional values be liquidated, so that global capitalism could spread its wings". But what both sides agree on are two things: first the fundamental importance of May 1968. No-one says it did not matter. And second, they agree that calling it "May '68" is merely a form of shorthand. The student protests were the explosion, but the social changes that led to them went back more than a decade. May '68 in other words was part of a historical cycle. Unobserved and unreported, society in the 1960s was straining to the point where finally it could no longer hold. Then it burst, unleashing a new generation who were to become France's cultural and economic leaders. The writers of slogans on lecture-room walls went on to earn fortunes in advertising. Similarities and contrasts Is there anything comparable with the student protests of 2018? On one level, perhaps. Today's protesters are pushing a left-wing agenda based on the idea of universal access to higher education. Not so different. And true, they are only a tiny minority of the overall student body. But then, famously, the protests of 50 years ago were started by just 100 people in Nanterre. Go any deeper though and the comparisons fall apart. In May 1968, the students were moving with the sweep of history. Times were changing, and they were part of the change. They were optimistic because they knew the coming epoch was theirs. By contrast, today's student protesters are pessimistic, because they sense their time has gone. The French university system that they defend has been an abject failure. Today, only a third of students complete their degree courses inside the normal three years. Hundreds of thousands drop out because they are on courses for which they are fundamentally unsuited. That is because of the dogma of non-selection, which the Macron government is committed to ending. Today the student protesters call not for change, but for preservation. They are at the tail end of a historical cycle, not at its point of maximum momentum. Unlike in May '68, they have no significant echo in society as a whole. All they can do is act out their parts. But the play is only half-remembered, the director is absent and the theatre is near-empty.

फ्रांस में, विरोध रंगमंच है। और जैसे-जैसे मई 1968 की आधी शताब्दी नजदीक आ रही है, ऐसा लगता है कि प्रोप समाप्त हो गए हैं, मंच-सेट को अंतिम स्पर्श मिल रहा है, और अभिनेता एक बार फिर अपनी पंक्तियाँ सीख रहे हैं।


Identity 2016: Camel racing, a market worth millions

Summary: In the waiting room for a flight to Doha at Dubai International Airport, two men are sitting dressed in Gulf style - from their turbans it seems that they are from neighbouring Oman, though these details would not be easy to notice for someone not familiar with the region's culture.

By Bassima KrachaXtra presenter, BBC Arabic Taking the initiative and starting a conversation with them, Faisal and Ahmed then tell me of the reasons for their visit to Dubai - including attending camel races. Camel races? I exclaim, eager to know the story. "I'm fond of camel breeding and racing, it is a family tradition," replies Faisal. "My paternal grandfather and his family adored rearing camels, whereas my maternal grandfather and his family enjoyed rearing horses. I have been obsessed with camels since my childhood," he says. Honey and eggs While Faisal works in the communications industry, outside of work he rears camels with the help of his family because, he says "it absorbs the negative energy accumulated during the week". These days, camels are no longer raised for their milk and meat as they used to be - instead they've become a way to make money and become a millionaire. Faisal explains that camels are fed on a rich diet including honey, fresh milk, eggs, dates and vitamins. You feed camels honey, isn't it expensive? I ask. "We spend £1,000 a month to prepare a camel for a race," he answers. Faisal also explains the age at which a camel starts racing varies between two years and seven - once the trainer feels that the camel is ready. Racing camels, it must be said, does not come cheap. The rulers of Gulf states generally determine the camels' prices. "They buy camels from their owners and raise them, but never sell them," says Feisal. "The rulers participate on an equal footing with their citizens in the competitions. "They do so, with the aid of Omanis who are well known for this [camel racing]," he explains. But how much does a camel cost? Faisal says that a camel's price starts from about $55,000 (£40,000) but thoroughbreds can go for a lot more. Back in 2010 an Emirati camel-racing fan spent £6.5m on three camels. The prices of winning camels go even higher - from between $5-10m, but for some can fetch up to $30m. Faisal looked nonchalant when he was speaking about the prices, while I vainly try not to look shocked. But attaining to this level is not easy, camels have to pass preliminary rounds in Gulf countries, with the winners awarded a place in the big races. The more Faisal talks about the importance of camel racing, the more I understand about the role of Gulf countries as a big camel market - they sell camels destined for animal husbandry and those destined for racing. Weekly fairs and local camel races are held with the aim of choosing the best ones to participate in the major competitions - such as the Gulf Racing Cup, Dubai's annual Camel Racing Festival, and the Shahanya Camel Races in Qatar. The track length varies between 1.5km and 8km according to age - there are races for two, four, six and eight-year-old camels. The camel that wins a final, wins the symbolic award of a sword - as well as a prize jackpot of $3m "Just like show jumping at Wembley," says Faisal. Given all the intense interest and money that is invested in racing camels, do people ever bet on the races, I ask Feisal? They never do, he answers, because it is forbidden in Islam. In recent year, the Gulf States have stopped using children as jockeys - and instead switched to robot ones after criticism from human rights organizations, who reported child were being killed on the camel racing-circuits. But adults can still race camels, says Faisal, who also believes that these races can become popular sporting events in different parts of the world - even Europe. But isn't Europe too cold, I ask? "It's even better for camels," Faisal replies. "Because a hot and dry environment drains the camels' energy". Camel races in Europe? Who knows it just might catch on. As people become increasingly connected and more mobile, the BBC is exploring how identities are changing. Catch up with programmes, downloads and clips from the season. Where are you going? - The surprising answers to a simple question Default World - The morals of the technical elite Learn more about the BBC's Identity season, find all the programmes or join the discussion on Twitter using the hashtag #BBCIdentity.

दुबई अंतर्राष्ट्रीय हवाई अड्डे पर दोहा के लिए उड़ान के प्रतीक्षा कक्ष में, दो लोग खाड़ी शैली के कपड़े पहने बैठे हैं-उनकी पगड़ी से ऐसा लगता है कि वे पड़ोसी ओमान से हैं, हालांकि इन विवरणों को किसी ऐसे व्यक्ति के लिए ध्यान में रखना आसान नहीं होगा जो क्षेत्र की संस्कृति से परिचित नहीं है।


After Gaddafi: Libyan revolution 'still has far to go'

Summary: The death of Col Muammar Gaddafi rids the world of a tyrant, but it is no milestone in the Arab Spring. To focus on the departed dictator is to miss the real story, and abstract notions of "closure" won't magically translate into stable government.

By Shashank JoshiAssociate fellow, Royal United Services Institute When Col Gaddafi seized power in Libya, it was the beginning of the Nixon administration in the United States. In Britain, Harold Wilson was prime minister. And the Middle East was only two years on from its greatest convulsion since decolonisation - the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Col Gaddafi eventually became the longest-serving non-royal ruler in the world until he was deposed just two months ago. And yet, despite Col Gaddafi's longevity and outsized personality, we should be wary of reading too much into his death. Even if he had remained at large, Libya was never likely to dissolve in protracted chaos. It has neither the terrain suited to guerrilla warfare, nor any ethnic or ideological basis for mobilising a national insurgency. True, some loyalist resistance may have resulted from the faint hope of a Col Gaddafi-led counteroffensive. His defiant statements, and those of his increasingly delusional spokesman, Moussa Ibrahim, had been filtering into Libya via a Syrian television station. Such hopes have been decisively shattered now. The flood of footage and images allow for no conspiracy theories, as have flourished after Osama Bin Laden's killing. But while some of his fighters may try to slink back to their homes, some loyalists have shown a remarkable ability to fight for a futile cause for months, and many will keep up resistance. Sporadic but isolated violence may well continue. 'Guns as insurance' Video footage shows Col Gaddafi was alive at the time of his capture. That would imply that he was executed by NTC forces. This will cause some consternation in Western capitals - but few will mourn, and it can hardly come as a surprise. The National Transitional Council (NTC) fighters who found Col Gaddafi may have been from Misrata, a city that suffered some of the worst excesses of the regime's forces during a ruthless siege. It should be remembered that any extrajudicial acts committed by the NTC forces pale into insignificance next to the atrocities committed by the regime before and during the uprising, and for which the International Criminal Court had indicted and issued arrest warrants for Col Gaddafi. What does this mean for Libya's interim authorities? Col Gaddafi's trial would have been an important statement of justice and accountability. The image of an absolute ruler in the dock would have been on par with that of the ageing Hosni Mubarak lying behind bars in Cairo. But on the other hand, Col Gaddafi's death will preclude any grandstanding from the courtroom, and will bring firm closure to a 40-year tyranny. Had Col Gaddafi remained at large, it would have cast a pall over the transition. This, however, should not be exaggerated. The main problem for the NTC is not now loyalist resistance, which remains geographically isolated and manageable. Rather, the task is disarming and integrating the various anti-Gaddafi militias into a transitional government, without provoking violence or legitimising the politics of the gun. Islamists like Abdel Hakim Belhaj feel sidelined, and some regional groups feel that the NTC is not sharing the spoils of victory generously enough. Col Gaddafi's death does not change their calculus. To focus on Col Gaddafi is to miss the real story, and abstract notions of "closure" won't magically translate into stable government. Troubled transitions Part of the reason that militias do not want to give up their weapons is that they do not trust the political process. Guns are their insurance policies. Only a legitimate, broad-based transition will persuade many to hand over weapons and disband. Over the past decade, postwar transitions have been troubled by loyalist resistance - think of the Taliban or the Iraqi insurgency. But transitions have also been hindered by governments themselves, often backed by outside powers. In Iraq, Prime Minister Nouri Maliki is increasingly subverting the fragile institutions of the Iraqi state and accumulating excessive power. In Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai is hated by much of the country and was implicated in massive electoral fraud. There is no reason to condemn the NTC as inevitable oligarchs, but they should be held accountable and carefully scrutinised. The promised resignation of the interim prime minister, Mahmoud Jibril, distrusted by many, would be a positive step. Any voluntary relinquishing of power by those in positions of authority is to be welcomed. The NTC has made some bold promises, but has sometimes delayed in following through. Col Gaddafi's death rids the world of a tyrant responsible for many thousands of deaths and terrorism around the world, but it should not be seen a milestone in the Arab Spring. That would be to personalise an uprising that was about much more than one man. This campaign reached its climactic moment when rebel convoys rode into Tripoli months ago. Col Gaddafi himself was, and should have remained, an irrelevance. Revolutions should be less about shattering old structures and more about reconstituting political authority on more humane, rational and legitimate grounds. In that sense, the Libyan revolution has far to go before its promise is redeemed.

कर्नल मुअम्मर गद्दाफी की मृत्यु दुनिया को एक तानाशाह से मुक्त करती है, लेकिन यह अरब स्प्रिंग में कोई मील का पत्थर नहीं है। दिवंगत तानाशाह पर ध्यान केंद्रित करना वास्तविक कहानी को याद करना है, और "बंद" की अमूर्त धारणाएं जादुई रूप से स्थिर सरकार में परिवर्तित नहीं होंगी।


A mother's fight against knife crime

Summary: Rising knife crime is one of the biggest challenges facing the police, especially in the UK's major cities, but chiefs say they cannot solve the problem alone - and one mother is fighting hard to make sure more young people are protected from its dangers.

By June Kelly & Naresh PuriHome affairs, BBC News Alison Cope knows first hand how damaging knife crime can be. In September 2013, her son Joshua Ribera was stabbed to death at a party to commemorate the life of a friend who had died in a stabbing the previous year. The 18-year-old was a well known Birmingham rapper. To his fans around the country and to people around the world who knew him he was Depzman, an up and coming grime artist who had just produced his first album and was building his career, appearing on BBC Radio 1Xtra. But to his mum he was much more. "I say Joshua, not Depzman, not a grime MC, because Joshua is my little boy, my only son," she says. Row spiralled into fight "That little boy was a newborn baby in my arms, a toddler, and a totally obnoxious teenager who grew into the most beautiful young man. "So I need you to understand that Depzman was nothing to me. Joshua was everything to me." He became involved in a row over a girl which spiralled into a fight and his rival, Armani Mitchell, left the club but then returned with a knife. He said he wanted to cut Josh on the arm, but as he pulled the knife, Joshua raised his arm to protect himself and Mitchell plunged the knife into his heart. As a passionate anti-knife campaigner, Alison has now dedicated her life to convincing teenagers there is another path in life. Speaking to pupils at City of Birmingham school, which looks after children permanently excluded from mainstream education for a whole range of reasons - including having knives - she tells them the harsh reality of what happened to her son. "He fought back, seven heart attacks, multiple blood transfusions, they were cutting his body open from top to bottom and all the way across desperately trying to save his life," she says to the class. "But on the morning of 21 September at 05:58, my son gave up on life and he died. That changed everything for my family. "But it also changed the life of another 18-year-old boy, Armani Mitchell. He worked and was at college part-time. "He is now in a category-A prison, serving a life sentence. Two 18-year-old boys went on a night out and neither of them came home." Rapping was Joshua Ribera's route to success. Now Alison encourages teenagers and younger children to take part in sessions at a recording studio in Birmingham, to help harness their creativity and develop a sense of self-worth in the hope it will keep them away from gangs and knives. At the studio, another of those also trying to help the next generation is 27-year-old Nathan Chin, whose rap name is Lil Fella. As well as being a rapper, he is trying to set up a charity called Unity Each 1, Teach 1, to support people struggling to get into education and employment. Nathan spent most of his teenage years in and out of young offender institutions. He has been in prison for knife crime, but has tried to turn his life around believing people like him are well placed to try to stop teenagers carrying knives. "People who have gone to prison, real people who have been in situations, are the best people to help reform people," he says. Alison's final message to the teenagers is simple: "With the help of your teachers and your family, you have every chance of being an amazing successful individual. You have got a choice. "Make the best of your life."

बढ़ते चाकू अपराध पुलिस के सामने सबसे बड़ी चुनौतियों में से एक है, विशेष रूप से यूके के प्रमुख शहरों में, लेकिन प्रमुखों का कहना है कि वे अकेले समस्या का समाधान नहीं कर सकते हैं-और एक माँ यह सुनिश्चित करने के लिए कड़ी मेहनत कर रही है कि अधिक युवा लोग इसके खतरों से सुरक्षित रहें।


Two charged over Rotherham street attack murder

Summary: Two men have been charged with the murder of a 39-year-old man in Rotherham.

John Methley died in hospital six days after he was found unconscious in Midland Road on 4 February. South Yorkshire Police said he died as a result of head injuries. Kyle Greenwood, 19, of Spa View Road, Sheffield, and Nafees Hussain, also 19, of Teesdale Road, Rotherham, appeared at Sheffield Magistrates' Court earlier charged with murder. Both men were remanded into custody to appear at the city's crown court on Friday.

रोथरहैम में दो लोगों पर एक 39 वर्षीय व्यक्ति की हत्या का आरोप लगाया गया है।


Opioid crisis: Five ways to tackle the US drug epidemic

Summary: The opioid epidemic has been called the worst ever drug crisis to hit the US. Former US Health Secretaries Kathleen Sebelius and Tommy G Thompson, and Aspen Health Strategy Group director Alan Weil, look at what could be done to help bring it to an end.

Every year, tens of thousands of Americans die from opioid overdoses, devastating families and communities along the way. The number of deaths involving opioids - a class of drug covering everything from heroin, to legal painkillers - has quadrupled since 1999, a White House commission said in a draft report, urging President Trump to declare a national emergency. The Health Strategy Group which we jointly chair at the non-partisan think tank the Aspen Institute, has also been looking at the options for tackling a problem which shows no signs of abating. These are its five key ideas. Stop overprescribing Opioids are easy to prescribe, prescriptions easy to fill, and most people find their health insurance readily covers the costs. Nearly 250m prescriptions for opioids were written in the US in 2015 - far more, per capita, than in other countries. As a result, it is estimated that opioids have become a $10bn (£7.6bn) industry in the US. A closer eye on marketing methods and prescription practices could reduce the gap between the amount of drugs prescribed and actual medical need. Doctors, dentists and pharmacists have an important role to play, with the head of one pharmacy chain saying that "an ankle sprain or dental procedure does not call for a prescription of 30 or 60 powerful pain pills". The White House commission also highlighted the issue of overprescribing, adding that health professionals are often poorly educated about best practice for treating pain and turn to opioids as a result. Clinical guidelines from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been updated to reduce the amount of opioids prescribed for the treatment of chronic pain. But alongside the problem of overprescribing is the issue that alternative methods of treating pain can be more expensive and less likely to be covered by insurance. For example, an individual might be asked to pay $10 (£7.55) towards a 30-day supply of opioids, but $25 (£18.90) or more for a single session of physical therapy. The US opioids epidemic Provide access to treatment Only one in four people with an opioid problem is actually treated for it, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Yet there is strong evidence that medication combined with therapy can reduce opioid addiction. Drugs such as methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone can all be used to treat people addicted to opioids. But they are best combined with behavioural therapies that teach people how to cope with their problems and motivate them to change. However, in stark contrast to opioids themselves, such treatment for people with opioid problems is often unavailable. Limited insurance cover is often the main barrier. Only about 60% of spending on treatment comes from insurers, with individuals, state and local funds making up the balance. The fear of what other people may think, the failure of doctors to check for substance use and the limited availability of high quality care can also stop people getting treatment. Stop unnecessary deaths Overdoses don't have to be fatal. A drug called Naloxone blocks the effects of opioids on the brain and - when administered promptly, by injection or nasal spray - can save lives. It is also available as an auto-injector - an easy to use device a like an EpiPen - which allows people without medical training to inject people who have overdosed. While Naloxone remains a prescription drug throughout the US, the Food and Drug Administration is exploring ways to make it more readily available. For example, it is encouraging manufacturers to submit plans for an over-the-counter version, which could be bought without a prescription. In 42 states, bystanders found with illegal drugs now have immunity from prosecution if they call for help, or administer Naloxone to someone who has overdosed. Forty states now allow pharmacists to prescribe Naloxone, or a doctor to issue standing orders rather than individual prescriptions, so that it is easier to obtain. A growing number of first responders, including police and fire departments, now stock Naloxone routinely. Putting the drug within easy reach in many public places will save lives, just as the widespread distribution of defibrillators helped with cardiac arrests. However, efforts to distribute Naloxone more widely could be challenged by recent price increases. For example, the price of the auto-injector formulation jumped from $690 (£500) in 2014 to $4,500 (£3,400) in 2016. Treat opioid addiction as a health issue Addiction is a chronic medical condition, but it is often viewed as a moral failing and crime - a factor which can limit access to treatment. State and federal prisons hold almost 300,000 people convicted for violating drug laws, with some states far more likely to imprison drug offenders than others. It can also be the case that drug users are not allowed to live in public housing which, in turn, makes their lives less stable and access to support like social services less likely. While the national government imposes some of its own restrictions, it does allow state and local housing authorities leeway in how they apply rules concerning drug users. Find out more However, nearly all housing authorities "institute more stringent bans than required by federal law", a study by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development found. Some officials within the criminal justice system have started to look at ways to deal with drug use as a health issue, rather than a purely criminal one - an approach which is worth exploring. For example, a commitment to undergo treatment can be enforced at the time of sentencing and access to such support made available in all prisons. Such approaches have reduced reoffending and give offenders more opportunities when they return to the community, the Federal Bureau of Prisons says. Invest in data and knowledge The opioid crisis emerged in large part from poor understanding of how to treat chronic pain. Robust research could help to improve the way pain is managed and encourage the appropriate use of opioids. Meanwhile, better use of data could help tackle inappropriate prescribing and the diversion of legal opioids into the black market. Weak monitoring has enabled doctors and patients to flood the market with prescription opioids. Employers, insurers, and pharmacies all have data that could help build a picture of who is prescribing and using the drugs. However, that information is all too often held in silos and legal barriers often prevent sharing of data. Some of this is beginning to change, with the use of prescription drug monitoring programmes authorised in every state. Additional research is needed to identify best practices and policies for these programmes. About this piece This analysis piece was commissioned by the BBC from experts working for an outside organisation. Kathleen Sebelius was US Secretary of Health and Human Health from 2009-14 under Democratic President Barack Obama, while Tommy G Thompson held the role between 2001 and 2005, under Republican President George W Bush. They are co-chairs of the Aspen Institute's Health Strategy Group, which describes itself as a non-partisan group of senior leaders in business, health care, technology, academia and the media. This piece was co-authored by Alan Weil, the co-chair and director of the Aspen Health Strategy Group. Details about the funding of the Aspen Institute can be found here.

ओपिओइड महामारी को अमेरिका में अब तक का सबसे खराब दवा संकट कहा गया है। पूर्व अमेरिकी स्वास्थ्य सचिव कैथलीन सेबेलियस और टॉमी जी थॉम्पसन, और एस्पेन स्वास्थ्य रणनीति समूह के निदेशक एलन वेइल, देखें कि इसे समाप्त करने में मदद करने के लिए क्या किया जा सकता है।


The families who feel 'priced out of London'

Summary: Britain's welfare system is undergoing a radical reform. Changes introduced this week include a benefits cap that limits the total amount any working-age household receives to £500 a week. How is this affecting families in London, which has some of the highest rents in the country?

By Nina RobinsonBBC World Service Like many other girls of her age, 16-year-old Sarah Counihan Sanchez spent the summer term studying hard for her GCSEs. But there is more than exam stress on her mind - she and her family are facing the threat of eviction from their home in Ealing. "Sometimes I have good days, when I feel I'm alright," explains Sarah as she gathers up her books for her next exam. "But I am actually seeing a counsellor at the moment due to me feeling very low and feeling that no-one cares. When I heard about the notice to evict us, I started to get very panicky because I thought, 'What am I going to do? It's in the middle of my exams'." Sarah, her mother, father and four siblings, aged four, seven, 12 and 14 are currently housed in temporary three-bedroom accommodation by the local council. Sarah doesn't have a bedroom, so she sleeps in the front room with her sister - and they aren't able to stay there long-term. In the last four-bedroom home they lived in, the private landlord charged £690 a week - well over the new £500-a-week cap. Isabel, Sarah's mother says: "We were paying £225 a week from our own pockets and housing benefit topped up the rest." Although Isabel is unable to work due to health problems - she is waiting for back and hip surgery - her husband has a full-time job. But his wages did not cover his family's housing costs, and even though he was entitled to financial support from the government, an administrative error with their housing benefit claim meant they fell into arrears, and the landlord threw them out. Research by the Building and Social Housing federation showed recently, that 93% of new claimants for housing benefit were in working households. I point out to Isabel that the government implemented these reforms to scale down an annual £210bn welfare bill. This includes a housing benefit bill which has increased 62% over the last decade. Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said housing benefit completely exploded under the last government - it doubled in 10 years and was set to rise by another £5bn a year. Isabel agrees that the bill for housing benefit is too high and that much of the money went straight to private landlords. "The money spent on housing benefit is criminal, but the answer should be to build more public sector owned housing... rather than that money going to a landlord." Isabel says the new benefits cap prices the family out of living in the capital, where private rents have increased by 65% since 2001, according to the National Housing Federation. "We feel it's like an ethnic cleansing of London, moving the poorer people out," she says. Overcrowded conditions One of the most controversial reforms is the reduction in financial support for those living in public sector accommodation with spare rooms - dubbed the "bedroom tax" by the opposition. The government wants to encourage movement within the social rented sector so that people in overcrowded conditions can move into currently under-occupied homes. Emmanuel and Tya Richards hope to do just that. The couple have both always worked and paid their rent in full from their earnings. They live with their three children - aged eight, 10 and 12 - and Tya's 34-year-old sister, on the top floor of a brown-brick tower block in Brixton. It is a two-bedroom flat and, because space is so limited, their 12-year-old son sleeps on the floor. They think it's fair that people who have spare bedrooms and who are dependent on state support to pay the rent should be made to downsize. Tya says: "Since I was 19 I've never expected anyone to help me. There are times when you do need help and the government do help to get you back on your feet but then you go back straight into employment. If there are people sitting in four-bed homes paid for by the taxpayer - I don't think that's right," she says. Spare bedrooms In nearby Battersea, 60-year old Fred Steer has a different problem. He's lived in his four-bedroom housing association house since 1998, but has been out of work for 12 years because of back problems. The government has been paying his rent in full for most of this time but under the new rules he has been told to start paying a contribution of £34 a week towards his housing costs as, with only one daughter living with him permanently, he is officially designated as having two spare bedrooms. I ask Mr Steer if he has sympathy for families who need extra space. "I do have sympathy because I myself used to live in a two-bedroom flat with my ex-wife and five children for 11 years, so yes I do have sympathy." But Mr Steer says the problem is a shortage in the supply of social housing stock. "Margaret Thatcher gave councils the right to sell off their properties to tenants. Not building new housing has basically created this situation," he says. Five million council houses were built between 1946 and 1981, but only 250,000 have been built since. Mr Steer is attempting to claim disability living allowance - so far unsuccessfully - but in the meantime is accumulating rent arrears which could ultimately lead to his eviction. "I haven't been able to pay. I'm not able to resolve my financial difficulties because I can't work. The government are forcing us out of our own homes," he says. Since the welfare reforms were brought in, in April 2013, rent arrears are up in different areas of the UK. One London borough - Southwark - has reported an increase of 25% and the city of Leeds has reported an increase of 50%. Nina Robinson's documentary Welfare Britain - the New Reality will be broadcast on Assignment on the BBC World Service on 18 July at 11:06 GMT. Listen via BBC iPlayer radio or download a podcast.

ब्रिटेन की कल्याणकारी प्रणाली में एक क्रांतिकारी सुधार हो रहा है। इस सप्ताह शुरू किए गए परिवर्तनों में एक लाभ सीमा शामिल है जो किसी भी काम करने की उम्र के परिवार को मिलने वाली कुल राशि को प्रति सप्ताह 500 पाउंड तक सीमित करती है। यह लंदन में परिवारों को कैसे प्रभावित कर रहा है, जिसका देश में सबसे अधिक किराया है?


Rugby fatal crash: Two men arrested

Summary: Two men have been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving after a woman was knocked down and killed in Rugby.

The pedestrian, in her 60s, was struck by a blue Nissan in Bilton Road at about 18:40 GMT on Sunday. One 54-year-old man from Rugby was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving and driving while under the influence of drugs. A 35-year-old thought to be in an Audi in the area at the time was also held. Warwickshire Police is appealing for witnesses or anyone with dashcam footage, in the area at the time, to come forward. Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, and sign up for local news updates direct to your phone.

रग्बी में एक महिला के नीचे गिराए जाने और मारे जाने के बाद खतरनाक ड्राइविंग से मौत के संदेह में दो लोगों को गिरफ्तार किया गया है।


Canadian national inquiry: Giving a voice to missing and murdered women

Summary: After over two years of work, Canada's inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women has concluded and the report reached the public domain. We spoke to two of the women who fought for years to bring global attention to the violence.

By Jessica MurphyBBC News, Toronto It has been almost 50 years since Helen Betty Osborne - a Cree woman who dreamed of becoming a teacher - was abducted and brutally murdered near The Pas, Manitoba, a town deeply divided along racial lines, its white and indigenous residents once described as "world's apart". In many ways, the death of the 19-year-old was indicative of cases to come - an indigenous teenager forced to leave her remote community, targeted by four men simply because of her race, and a family's long wait for justice. Fifteen years ago, Amnesty International called the assault and murder of the shy young woman "an unheeded warning". The violence faced by indigenous women and girls is now in the spotlight as a national inquiry into missing and murdered women drew to a close after more than two years of hearings and testimony. "It took 40 years to get to this present moment and only because indigenous women have been on the ground making noise about this," said Robyn Bourgeois, an academic and activist who researches female indigenous activism in Canada. "Without them we wouldn't be here," she said. The campaigners include family members victims who have campaigned tirelessly for their lost loved ones, and grassroots organisers and activists like Beverley Jacobs and Terri Brown, who also lost family members. For Jacobs, the murder of her 21-year-old cousin Tashina General in 2008 was a turning point in her work. For Brown, whose 41-year-old sister, Ada Elaine, died in 2001, the loss continues to haunt the family, who say she was murdered and that her case was mishandled. Jacobs, a Mohawk lawyer, was the lead researcher of the Amnesty report into discrimination and violence against indigenous women, and spent months travelling across the country meeting the families of women who had disappeared or been killed. "At the time it was the families doing all the work," she said. "They were the ones doing the poster boards, and the searches, having a really difficult time with police, just not getting any answers." Her endeavour began just as a related, horrific murder case was about to make headlines around the world. Police had arrested Robert Pickton, a serial killer who had been preying on women from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside district for years - many of his victims indigenous, many of them marginalised. Authorities had long denied there was a pattern to the disappearances, or that they might be linked. A subsequent provincial inquiry laid bare the systemic failure and bias that allowed Pickton to murder women for years without being caught. Pickton was eventually sentenced to life in prison for the murder of six women. He had initially being charged with killing 26 women from a total of 69 who had gone missing throughout the 1980s and 1990s. His high-profile trial brought with it a growing suspicion among campaigners like Jacobs that what had happened in British Columbia, where indigenous women were disproportionately reflected among women reported missing or killed, would be seen on a national level. "That [case] was a leverage point," Bourgeois said. It was also where Jacobs, the Mohawk lawyer, began her work. "The first task I thought I needed to do was to go to the Downtown Eastside because Pickton had just been arrested," she said. Women who had been working for years to bring attention to what was happening brought her to the killer's pig farm, the site of the murders. "It was horrible. It was before any trial, I'm not sure if any charges were laid yet. But [investigators] were digging up the ground," Jacobs said. 'Possibly disbelief, possible fear' Brown, a long-time indigenous activist and, like Jacobs, a former president of the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC), was instrumental in raising the alarm about the "horrific number of women" who were disappearing in Vancouver. Under Brown's leadership, NWAC collaborated groups like with Amnesty, Kairos - a faith-based group - and the Anglican and United churches to create a national awareness campaign. But Brown says it was a repeat of Vancouver - they were most often met with indifference. There were also significant gaps in record-keeping, making it difficult to gain a full picture of the violence. Some unofficial accounting of the missing was taking place. In Toronto, Amber O'Hara - an Anishinaabe woman and Aids campaigner - began compiling an online database. And according to Brown, women in the Downtown Eastside "were doing great work, they were keeping count of the women who were being lost". "Families would come in and say 'We haven't seen her for weeks.' And police would say 'Maybe she's on vacation somewhere'. Well excuse me, they never left that 100 block of the Eastside." Brown, then heading the Native Women's Association of Canada, decided there needed to be a formal compiling of the data. "I wanted to put numbers to this because no one believed us," she recalled. "But we didn't have the resources, I did my own research and presented it but they said: 'Well, how do you know that it's true?' At that point we said there were about 500 missing and murdered aboriginal women." The association secured federal funds to found the Sisters in Spirit campaign, which researched and raised awareness of the high rates of violence against indigenous women. By 2009, they had compiled 520 names. Still, Brown remembered bringing the statistics to meetings with government officials - even some indigenous leadership, she said - and it was "the strangest thing" to present the data, "to people who would just sit there and look at you, not respond, not say anything, not be encouraging, not be giving of their support in anyway". "Blank. Possibly disbelief, possible fear. I don't know." The statistics To this day, a lack of hard data means no one knows exactly how many indigenous women and girls have been murdered or have gone missing in the past decades. But some statistics have been compiled. Bourgeois and Jacobs tried a different tack. They went to the international stage. Brown began to raise the issue at UN meetings and elsewhere. "Everywhere I went I would mention it," she said. "Not that anyone cared. But I thought at some point someone is going to listen." Jacobs said they knew Canada wasn't doing anything. "And we knew that the international forums would bring the attention against Canada," she said. "[On the international level] there are no enforcement mechanisms. The only way is to bring embarrassment to the country." Then in August 2014, 43 years after Osborne's murder, another case - this time the death of a 15-year-old schoolgirl called Tina Fontaine - began to make headlines across Canada. Her murder sparked a collective and fierce outrage and consolidated calls for a national inquiry. By 2015, the UN was pushing for a public inquiry, as did a landmark Canadian report into reconciliation with indigenous peoples. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau officially launched one a year after winning the 2015 general election. By then, Brown and Jacobs had stepped away from national advocacy on the issue. Both say it took its toll emotionally, especially given that both had themselves lost loved ones. "I felt I couldn't do it anymore. I got too angry," said Jacobs. "From the time I started to [after my cousin's death] I just felt I was banging my head against the wall, I felt like nothing was getting achieved." They have also been critical of the inquiry itself. Jacobs said it never managed to truly gain the trust of many families who lost sisters or mothers or daughters, and many were not included in the public hearings. According to Brown, "They talked to a lot of families, opened a lot of wounds. But in the end did anybody get arrested? "There has to be justice. Those men have to go to jail. If they don't, all the money spent and all what we talk about is not worth it, because there's no justice." They also warned that, while the inquiry may have finished, rates of violence remained high. True healing would come from indigenous Canadians reclaiming their culture, language, and traditions, Jacobs said. She said Canada must take concrete steps towards reconciliation and taking responsibility for policies - from residential schooling, to the child welfare system and longstanding issues around land and treaties and more - that have been harmful to indigenous women. These days, Brown shows up for vigils organised for the missing women and goes recognised, she said. "Some young woman, inevitably at some point, will come up and start educating me on the issue and I just think, 'Yes, there's hope for us now.' "Because they know the issue, They can name the issue, they have the strength to speak about it." The final report The path to the release of the national inquiry's final report hasn't always been smooth. The C$92m ($68m; £53m) inquiry was launched in 2016 with a mandate to take an in-depth look into the underlying social, economic, cultural, institutional, and historical causes of violence against indigenous women and girls. It held 24 hearings and "statement gathering" events across Canada, taking testimony from almost 1,500 people, including family members of missing or murdered women and survivors of violence. It also heard from dozens of experts and reviewed police and institutional files. There have been resignations, delays, criticism related to transparency and communications, and concerns over its scope. Commissioners fought for a two-year extension but received just an extra six months from the federal government.

दो साल से अधिक के काम के बाद, कनाडा की लापता और हत्या की गई स्वदेशी महिलाओं की जांच समाप्त हो गई है और रिपोर्ट सार्वजनिक डोमेन में पहुंच गई है। हमने उन दो महिलाओं से बात की जिन्होंने हिंसा पर वैश्विक ध्यान आकर्षित करने के लिए वर्षों तक लड़ाई लड़ी।