London Midland cancels more trains due to driver shortage

Summary: Train commuters face continued disruption after an ongoing shortage of drivers caused cancellations and alterations on 30 London Midland services.

Trains running from Coventry to Nuneaton and Birmingham to London Euston via Northampton are affected. Routes from Redditch to Lichfield via Birmingham and Wolverhampton to Walsall via Birmingham also face disruption. More than 780 services have been affected in total since 14 October. The company, which runs about 1,200 services a day, said approximately 2.5% of each day's trains since that time had been hit by the driver shortages. London Midland claims the driver shortfall will be addressed by mid-December. It added that commuters delayed by 30 minutes or more as a result of the alterations can claim compensation.

लंदन की 30 मिडलैंड सेवाओं पर चालकों की निरंतर कमी के कारण रद्द और परिवर्तन के बाद ट्रेन यात्रियों को निरंतर व्यवधान का सामना करना पड़ता है।


Obituary: Paddy Ashdown

Summary: Paddy Ashdown was the action man of British politics.

A former Royal Marine officer, he was the first elected leader of the Liberal Democrats, a party then badly in need of some military-style discipline. He led his party to its best election result for half a century but his combative style of leadership did not always sit easily with some activists. His mixture of military and diplomatic experience meant he was well-suited for the role he later undertook in the former Yugoslavia. Jeremy John Durham Ashdown was born in Delhi, India, on 27 February 1941, into an Irish family with a long record of service in the administration of the sub-continent. He boasted Irish nationalist leader Daniel O'Connell among his ancestors. His father was an officer in the Indian Army who later faced a court martial for refusing to abandon his troops during the retreat to Dunkirk. The charges were eventually thrown out. One of his earliest memories was seeing dead bodies in the streets, the result of conflict between Hindus and Muslims. The young Ashdown spent his childhood years on a farm his father had purchased in County Down, Northern Ireland, before attending Bedford School, in England, where his Irish brogue led to the nickname Paddy. He did not always find school easy, with one report describing him as vain and a poor team-player. There was a sexual relationship with a female maths teacher which he described in his memoir, A Fortunate Life, as "a rite of passage". He quit before taking his A-levels and joined the Royal Marines in 1959. Ashdown saw active service in Borneo and the Persian Gulf before joining the elite Special Boat Service, the seagoing equivalent of the SAS. Horrified In 1967, he went to Hong Kong where he learned Mandarin and qualified as an interpreter, before returning to Northern Ireland where he commanded a commando company in Belfast at a time when the Troubles were raging. Ashdown quit the Royal Marines in 1972 and joined the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) where he worked with diplomatic cover in Geneva liaising with a number of United Nations departments. Although he was a Labour supporter he had shown little interest in politics so there was surprise when he decided to quit his comfortable life in Switzerland and become an active member of the Liberal party. "Most of my friends thought I was utterly bonkers," he later recalled, claiming he made the decision after being horrified at the state of the UK following the period of industrial unrest and fuel shortages in the mid-70s. In 1976, he was selected as the Liberal candidate in his wife's home constituency of Yeovil which had been held by right-wing Tory MP John Peyton for more than two decades. With what became a trademark energetic campaigning style, he set out to squeeze the Labour vote and, in the 1979 general election, took his party to second place, although still more than 10,000 votes behind Peyton. Having given up a lucrative post with the foreign office, Ashdown took a job with a subsidiary of the Westland Helicopter company, based in Yeovil. Prominent campaigner He then moved on to work with Tescan, a processor of sheepskins, but found himself out of work when the firm closed in 1981. As the personnel manager, he had to make his team redundant, something he described as "the worst day of my life". He was on the dole for six months before obtaining a job as a youth worker with Dorset County Council. His continuing campaigning in Yeovil paid off in the 1983 election when John Peyton decided to stand down; he won the seat with just over 50% of the popular vote. It was the era of the SDP-Liberal Alliance and Ashdown quickly found himself appointed as the Liberal spokesman on trade and industry. He was a prominent campaigner against the stationing of American cruise missiles on British soil, describing them as "the weapon we have to stop". Ashdown also spoke out against Margaret Thatcher's decision to allow the US to use bases in Britain to bomb Libya and was one of the harshest critics of the government's decision to ban workers at GCHQ from being members of a trade union. He had become a popular figure in Yeovil, where he increased his majority over the Conservatives in 1987. He had gained a reputation as someone not afraid to speak his mind, but who did not suffer fools gladly. Affair In 1988, the SDP and Liberal Party formally merged as the Social and Liberal Democrats, later shortened to the Liberal Democrats. When former Liberal leader David Steel declined to stand for the leadership of the new party, Ashdown comfortably saw off Alan Beith, the only other candidate. He inherited a party licking its wounds after the arguments that had accompanied its formation and leading figures from both the Liberal and SDP camps walking away in protest at the merger. Ashdown threw himself into getting his party into shape for the 1992 election and it was to his credit that, despite all the problems, the new party suffered a net loss of just two seats. His career, and his marriage, also survived press revelations of an affair with his secretary, five years previously, leading to one Sun headline dubbing him Paddy Pantsdown. A year later, Ashdown began negotiations with Labour leader John Smith over closer co-operation between the two parties. After Smith's death, he continued the talks with Tony Blair. It was the end of his party's historic stance of "equidistance" between Conservatives and Labour. He developed a close rapport with Blair. One colleague said the two of them would "sit at the cabinet table and fix their gaze on each other - they worked exceptionally closely together". Disappointed The relationship was remarkably candid with Ashdown once telling Blair that "some folk think you are a smarmy git". Despite early signs that Labour were on course to win the 1997 election, Ashdown still hoped that he could offer the support of the Liberal Democrats in return for Labour agreeing to voting reform. Although Blair was sympathetic, the Labour landslide of 1997 removed any need for Lib Dem support and the majority of Blair's new cabinet, sitting on a secure majority, were not in favour of moving to some form of PR. Ashdown was also disappointed that Blair refused to share the Lib Dem leader's enthusiasm for joining the euro. In the election, the Liberal Democrats increased their number of MPs from 18 to 46, as the Conservative vote crumbled. But it remained the third party in UK politics. Ashdown stood down as Lib Dem leader in 1999 and was replaced by Charles Kennedy. Two years later, he quit the Commons and entered the Lords as Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub Hamdon. Retirement was far from his mind and, in 2002, his military and diplomatic experience saw him appointed as High Representative for Bosnia-Herzegovina. Energy He had been a continuing advocate of intervention in the strife that followed the disintegration of the former Yugoslavia and he made a number of positive contributions to creating a stable framework of government. "Bosnia is under my skin," he said. "It's the place you cannot leave behind." He appeared as a prosecution witness in the trial of the former Serbian leader, Slobodan Milosevic, although his claim that he had watched Serbian shells falling on villages in Kosovo was disputed by the defence. He was considered for the post of UN representative to Afghanistan in 2008 after he had called for a high-level co-ordinator to lead the foreign mission to the country, but ruled himself out of contention. He remained active in the Liberal Democrats. He often appeared as a pundit on radio and television and chaired the party's election campaign in 2015. Appearing on the BBC election results programme, he took issue with the Exit Poll which suggested the Lib Dems would end the night with 10 seats. Ashdown promised to "eat his hat" if the Exit Poll proved right. In the event, the party won just eight. Ashdown campaigned vigorously against Brexit and waved away sympathy after the diagnosis of bladder cancer. "I've fought a lot of battles in my life," he said. He was a politician of great drive and energy, although some complained that he was not the most subtle or diplomatic of figures. "It's not my job to be popular," he said. "I'm goal-driven, my job is to get results." He relished the cut and thrust of political life and its potential for throwing up the unexpected. "If you make a mistake you usually pay the price very quickly," he said. "It is what makes it more exciting and more terrifying than active service."

पैडी एशडाउन ब्रिटिश राजनीति के एक्शन मैन थे।


Thailand lese-majeste: UN urges amendment to law

Summary: The United Nations has called on Thailand to amend its harsh law against insulting the monarchy. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said it was deeply troubled by the high rate of prosecutions, and the disproportionate sentences for the offence.

By Jonathan HeadBBC News, Bangkok The UN said that since the military coup in 2014 the number of people investigated for violating the lese-majeste laws has risen to more than double the number investigated in the previous 12 years, and that only 4% of those charged were acquitted. Trials are routinely held in closed session, often in military courts where defendants' rights are limited. Earlier this month a man was given a 35-year sentence for Facebook posts judged to have defamed the monarchy, the harshest penalty to date. Two years ago, a similarly harsh sentence was given to a woman in the northern city of Chiang Mai. On 7 August 2015, two military courts in Thailand handed down what were then the harshest sentences ever imposed under lese-majeste. In the first, a court in Bangkok sentenced a 48-year-old tour guide operator, Pongsak Sriboonpheng, to 60 years in prison, 10 years for each of the Facebook posts critical of the monarchy that he was charged with writing. Because he pleaded guilty the sentence was halved to 30 years. Pongsak acknowledged that he had become politicised during the prolonged political conflict which preceded the 2014 coup, and had often posted his views on Facebook. But the second case, in Chiang Mai, was baffling. A 29-year-old single mother, with no history of political involvement, was sentenced by a military court to 56 years in jail, also for posting anti-monarchy content on Facebook. Her sentence, too, was halved after she agreed to plead guilty. She had begged for leniency, given the ages of her two young daughters, and her mother's poor health. The tribunal was unmoved. Her name is Sasiwimon, and her story illustrates the sweeping scope of the lese majeste laws, deployed by a military government which has made defending the monarchy's exalted status in Thailand its highest priority. Facebook revenge gone wrong The regime at the Chiang Mai Women's Prison is relaxed enough to allow frequent family visits. But Sasiwimon's mother, Suchin, can rarely break away from her job as a cleaner in a hotel, and the two girls are in school most days. At best they can go every week or two. It takes up to two hours to get inside the prison, through the paperwork and security searches. Sasiwimon was brought out to meet us, in her loose blue prison dress, holding her arms out to the girls. For the hour we were allowed to stay, she did not let go of them. She had been married to a mechanic, she explained, but he had left her for another woman. A friend she had made during a previous job in a restaurant had suggested to Sasiwimon a way to get back at the woman, by using a fake Facebook account. She says the friend came back to her home, and used her computer to set up the account. Sasiwimon only found out what kind of comments the she was leaving on the fake Facebook page when she was sent screenshots of them a few days later. That friend has since disappeared, she says. Ultra-royalist activist At around the same time Krit Yeammaethakorn, who leads a group of ultra-royalists in Chiang Mai that monitors social media for anti-monarchy content, spotted the offending Facebook page. "I was angry," he recalls. "This was not about politics. It was a natural reaction. We discussed what we had seen among ourselves, and decided that we had to act." Mr Krit has strong feelings about the monarchy. He sobbed openly when he remembered hearing of the death of King Bhumibol last year. "I know we are the only country in the world that still treats kings like gods, like demigods. Yet our late king was not just a god - he was a living deity. "That's how Thais feel toward him. I believe that in 5,000 years of world history, there has been no other king who was as great as he was." On 27 September 2014, Mr Krit's group informed the Chiang Mai police, whose investigations eventually traced the Facebook page to Sasiwimon's computer. Sasiwimon remembers the police coming to the house early in the morning a few days later. They confiscated her computer and two mobile phones. She accompanied them to the station, with her youngest daughter, who was running a high temperature. The police showed her some of the comments from the Facebook page, and asked her to sign a document acknowledging that she had seen them. She says she did not understand that she was in fact signing a confession. She and her mother say they knew nothing about the lese majeste laws. Sasiwimon says she had an alibi for the times the posts were published on Facebook; that she had been at work, in the hotel where her mother is also employed, and that she had no internet access there. Martial law, no appeal Four months later, Sasiwimon was asked to come back to the police station. She has been in custody ever since. "I thought she was going to show up and then leave," Suchin told me. "I had no idea it was going to be this severe. I thought it might be a one-year sentence, maybe suspended. We never sold drugs. We never killed anyone, or stole anything. "We learned about this law when it was too late. I didn't even have time to come to terms with the fact that my child would be gone." Typically for a lese majeste case, she was refused bail. When her trial date finally arrived after five months, on 7 August 2015, her lawyer advised her that she had little chance of acquittal, and should change her plea to guilty to reduce the sentence. The charges were read out in a closed session, because the alleged offences were deemed too sensitive for the public to hear. And because she pleaded guilty the evidence against her was never tested. "When the verdict was read, my ears were ringing," recalls Suchin. "They said this offence insulted the high institution, so it carried a high penalty. I didn't know how high. I thought ultimately it might be four to five years, but I never thought for a second it would go that high. More than 20 years… I didn't even think about 10 years." In a military court, under martial law, there was no right of appeal. In their small rented house in Chiang Mai, the tatty calendar on the wall has been left with the front page at August 2015, the 7th ringed, and also the 28th. I asked Suchin why. She said that while her eldest granddaughter had understood the sentence, the youngest, who was then seven years old, had thought it meant her mother would be coming out on 28th August. There are also faded pictures of the royal family on the walls. "No-one in this family has ever insulted or defamed the monarchy. Never," she said. Hopes for a pardon When he informed the police about the Facebook posts, Mr Krit had not known who was responsible for them. Would he do the same again, knowing that a young mother of two girls would get such a long sentence? "I don't regret it and no-one else does. This is an issue affecting the highest institution, for which Thais have the utmost respect," he told me. "It's like when a judge hands down a sentence but he still manages to remain unattached emotionally. "Although the culprit was young, she didn't understand the law, and has two young children, the right thing is… even if we had not filed a complaint, the law had to deal with her. The offender had to be punished." Mr Krit has not inquired about Sasiwimon's situation now, but hopes she will get a pardon. And perhaps there is some official acknowledgement that the sentence against her was too harsh, as she has already had her sentence reduced, in two royal pardons, to 12 years. This still means her daughters will have grown up by the time she leaves prison. But she remains hopeful of further pardons, although embarrassed, she says, that she has to ask for mercy from the very institution she is accused of insulting.

संयुक्त राष्ट्र ने थाईलैंड से राजशाही का अपमान करने के खिलाफ अपने कठोर कानून में संशोधन करने का आह्वान किया है। संयुक्त राष्ट्र मानवाधिकार उच्चायुक्त के कार्यालय ने कहा कि वह अभियोजन की उच्च दर और अपराध के लिए असमान सजा से बहुत परेशान है।


Police officers hurt at 'free Tommy Robinson' protest

Summary: Five police officers were injured as a demonstration in London in support of jailed ex-English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson turned violent.

Riot officers were deployed as hundreds of protesters blocked the roads around Trafalgar Square. Five arrests were later made after Robinson supporters took over a sightseeing bus, and missiles and smoke bombs were thrown. Robinson, 35, was jailed for contempt of court last month. Appearing at Leeds Crown Court under his real name of Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, he was sentenced to 13 months on 29 May after broadcasting on social media about an ongoing trial at the court. A judge told Robinson, from Bedfordshire, his actions could cause the trial to be re-run, costing "hundreds and hundreds of thousands of pounds".

जेल में बंद पूर्व इंग्लिश डिफेंस लीग के नेता टॉमी रॉबिन्सन के समर्थन में लंदन में एक प्रदर्शन के दौरान पांच पुलिस अधिकारी घायल हो गए।


Victims' Code criticised by watchdog

Summary: Victims of crime are being put under extreme duress, leading to injustices, due to a lack of awareness of the Victims' Code by those working in the justice system, a watchdog has warned.

Parliamentary Ombudsman Dame Julie Mellor said investigation of complaints had exposed a lack of understanding. It came as ministers unveiled plans to revamp the code, which tells people what to expect when reporting a crime. Victims' minister Helen Grant said "getting this right" was a priority. 'Basic rights' Dame Julie, whose office looks into complaints of individuals being treated unfairly or receiving poor service from government departments and other public organisations, said: "Victims, including those who have been subjected to serious crime, such as sexual assault, have spoken to us about how they have been left feeling powerless and shattered. "Failures by agencies to recognise even the most basic rights of those victims under the code, such as being told that the charges against the defendant have changed or that an appeal was taking place, have added to their distress and undermined their confidence in the criminal justice system. "From customer inquiry teams to legal advisers, from court ushers to area directors, knowledge of the code and of the standard of service victims have the right to expect is alarmingly thin on the ground." She called on the Ministry of Justice and all justice agencies "to take a stronger lead in ensuring that, as the code is finalised, staff are aware of their responsibilities." She added that "a code that is not being followed is of little value". All victims are currently offered support once they have experienced a crime, but in 80% of cases they do not take it up. The Ministry of Justice has proposed automatically offering help to those who "most need it", such as victims of the most serious crimes. 'Confusing and intimidating' Victim Support chief executive Javed Khan welcomed the draft Victims' Code but said the charity was "worried that victims will fall through the cracks". "We hope that police and crime commissioners - with their responsibilities for victims - will want to go further than this to ensure that all victims have the support they need, when they need it," he said. Ms Grant insisted victims of crime need "more help navigating a confusing and often intimidating criminal justice system". "Too often they tell us they feel they are treated as an after-thought or that the system made their already horrific experience worse," she said. She pointed out the "total revamp" of the code was one of her "main priorities" and she was very aware of the importance of "getting this right". "Victims will now be able to understand and prepare themselves for their entire journey through the criminal justice system, from reporting the crime to after the trial," she added. "It easily explains what they should expect from the system and who to demand help from if it is not being provided."

एक प्रहरी ने चेतावनी दी है कि न्याय प्रणाली में काम करने वालों द्वारा पीड़ित संहिता के बारे में जागरूकता की कमी के कारण अपराध के पीड़ितों को अत्यधिक दबाव में डाला जा रहा है, जिससे अन्याय हो रहा है।


GCHQ boss: 'We get crazy theories thrown at us every day'

Summary: The operations centre sits on one of the upper floors of GCHQ and runs 24/7. At any one time, a team of analysts might be monitoring the kidnap of a British citizen abroad or an ongoing counter-terrorist operation run jointly with MI5.

By Gordon CoreraSecurity correspondent, BBC News In one corner, a large globe visualises all the cyber attacks targeting the UK from around the world. The room is a reminder of the range of activity that GCHQ is involved in - as well as its global reach in monitoring communications and data flows. Russian cyber attacks are high up the agenda, in the wake of claims Moscow interfered in the US election and is trying the same in Europe. "We have been watching Russian cyber activity since the mid 1990s," GCHQ's outgoing director, Robert Hannigan, tells the BBC. 'Reckless and interfering' "The scale has changed. They've invested a lot of money and people in offensive cyber behaviour and critically they've decided to do reckless and interfering things in European countries." Mr Hannigan says that whilst it is impossible to be absolutely sure, the defences against such attacks seem to have held in the UK. One of his legacies will be the creation of the National Cyber Security Centre, an arm of GCHQ which is based in London and is much more public facing in providing protective advice to the country about the threats in cyberspace. Terrorism sits alongside cyber threats on the agenda. So-called Islamic State - or ISIL - has proved adept at exploiting the power of the internet. "It's one of their most important assets. As they are defeated on the ground, the 'online caliphate' will become more important. "They will continue to try to use the media to crowd-source terrorism to get people around the world to go and commit acts of violence on their behalf... "There are things we can do to contest ISIL in this media space... but it's not just for governments to do operations online. It's for the companies and for the rest of media and society to have the will to drive this material off the internet..." When he took over as head of GCHQ in 2014, Mr Hannigan launched what was seen as a broadside against technology companies - arguing they were in denial about the way they were used by terrorist groups to communicate and spread their message. No place to hide In the wake of the Westminster attack, the Home Secretary Amber Rudd said that companies should not offer a safe space for terrorists to hide - a reference to the development of end-to-end encryption services which make it impossible to provide the content of communications, even on production of a warrant. GCHQ, as well as trying to break codes, also works to secure communications and so treads a fine line. "Encryption matters hugely to the safety of citizens and to the economy.... The home secretary is talking about a particular problem - that this strong encryption is being abused by terrorists and criminals... "Our best way forward is to sit down with the tech companies..." The other area of tension with firms has been over extremist content hosted on websites. Here, government has recently been placing pressure on the companies to be more proactive in taking down content rather than waiting for it to be reported to them. "I think they have moved a long way [but] there's further to go," Mr Hannigan says. "When I started the job in 2014 they really were reluctant to accept responsibility for anything they carried on their networks - whether that was terrorism, child sexual exploitation or any other kind of crime." The threat from IS has been particularly acute in Europe in the last few years. That has driven increased security co-operation - so will Brexit be a problem? "I don't think so, because the intelligence-sharing has never been through EU structures and national security has never been part of the European Union's remit. "It's simply a statement of fact that we have very, very strong intelligence and security and defence capabilities and we bring a lot to Europe and to our European partners..." The relationship with the US is by far the deepest, which he says will not change under the Trump administration. "It's the most powerful weapon we have against terrorism in particular and has massively paid dividends in the last 10 years." US spying claims In recent weeks, there was controversy after reports claimed the Obama administration asked GCHQ to spy on President-elect Donald Trump. GCHQ took the unusual step of publicly denying this. "We get crazy conspiracy theories thrown at us every day," Mr Hannigan says. "We ignore most of them. On this occasion it was so crazy that we felt we should say so and we have said it's a ridiculous suggestion." Deep underground, beneath the grass sit a series of cavernous computer halls. The noise is at points overwhelming. Much effort goes into cooling the machines. Some of the endless racks contain off-the-shelf server technology but large specialist supercomputers sit alongside which are used by the cryptanalysts for code-breaking. The exact specifications of these machines and just how much computing power sits in Cheltenham is classified largely to keep other states - primarily the Russians and Chinese - guessing. "It's impossible to do counterterrorism or cyber security without that kind of power," Mr Hannigan explains, arguing that the challenge remains finding the small needle in the haystack of the massive volume of data on the internet. Another aspect of Mr Hannigan's legacy will be the push for greater transparency and openness. "It's very important in a democracy to have the consent of the public as well as the legislation in place and to explain that everything we do is under the law," Mr Hannigan says. 'Dark side' He took over an agency bruised by the Edward Snowden revelations and allegations of "mass surveillance". "Obviously a debate on privacy and greater transparency are good things - but it was perfectly possible to do that and indeed it was happening anyway without the damage that the Snowden revelations did. The same is true of the WikiLeaks disclosures." Mr Hannigan says he and the organisation remain optimistic, rather than pessimistic, about the spread of technology. "Technology and the internet are overwhelmingly brilliant things for human progress," Mr Hannigan says. "Unfortunately there will always be people who want to abuse the latest technology. And it's our job to deal with that dark side." Mr Hannigan's successor, Jeremy Fleming, formerly Deputy Director of MI5, takes over on Friday.

संचालन केंद्र जी. सी. एच. क्यू. की ऊपरी मंजिलों में से एक पर बैठता है और 24/7 चलाता है। किसी भी समय, विश्लेषकों की एक टीम विदेश में एक ब्रिटिश नागरिक के अपहरण या एम. आई. 5 के साथ संयुक्त रूप से चल रहे आतंकवाद-रोधी अभियान की निगरानी कर सकती है।


Wet Oxford May Day celebrations see fall in numbers

Summary: Rain has affected numbers at Oxford's May Day morning celebrations with numbers down to about 4,000 from 18,000 last year.

Traditionally people gather on and by Magdalen Bridge in the city to listen to a hymn which is sung from Magdalen College tower. In the past people have been hurt jumping from the bridge into the river. But this year no-one jumped into the river, which has been swollen by recent heavy rain. South Central Ambulance Service said its crews dealt with five minor incidents, none of which need hospital treatment. There were no arrests. Last year the event also fell on a weekend so more people were able to attend.

बारिश ने ऑक्सफोर्ड के मई दिवस सुबह समारोह में संख्या को प्रभावित किया है, जो पिछले साल 18,000 से घटकर लगभग 4,000 हो गई है।


Fascination with the 'Dutch godfather'

Summary: The man known as the godfather of Dutch crime has been released from prison in the Netherlands. Willem Holleeder served six years of a nine-year sentence for extortion. He has been a hugely powerful, notorious and influential figure on the Dutch underworld for decades.

By Anna HolliganBBC News, Amsterdam Holleeder's most infamous crime has recently been turned into a movie soon to be released across Europe and there is a new Hollywood version in the making. So what makes him such an irresistible figure in crime fiction? Thriller novelist Ton Theunis believes the answer lies in his character rather than his crimes. "He has this incredible aura about him. Like he is completely in control. Even inside it was like he was untouchable," Theunis says. "He has a very strong presence and you can really feel that. He is exciting and dangerous and for some reason we will always be attracted to those things." Life of crime In 1958 Willem Holleeder was born in Amsterdam. His father worked at the Heineken factory. Friends say he had a difficult childhood. One source who wishes to remain anonymous remembers growing up in the same area as Holleeder. In his early teenage years, Holleeder's gang was already establishing itself as a powerful force in the playground. "They used to roar up on the latest mopeds, mostly stolen from German tourists, when we were all playing football," he says. "Holleeder and his friends would invade the pitch and try to play and if any of us tried to object we'd get whacked with a motorbike helmet." An early indication, perhaps, of the path Holleeder was destined to pursue. Theunis met Holleeder when the former was working as a prison guard and the latter was locked up for extortion. "He has been linked to just about every murder in Amsterdam in the last 30 years. But the police can never pin anything on him because of a lack of evidence," Theunis says. Despite efforts on both sides to kill or capture Willem Holleeder, the "Dutch godfather" remains alive and now he is free. Perfect kidnapping? The Heineken Kidnapping is a fictional adaptation of a true story. On 9 November 1983 Holleeder and his gang executed what they believed would be the perfect kidnapping. Armed with Uzis and shotguns they headed for Heineken HQ. Grabbing beer magnate Freddy Heineken and his chauffeur Ab Doderer off the street at gunpoint, they bustled them into the back of a van. The hostages were driven to an abandoned lockup near the harbour where a secret room at the back had been specially converted to function as a makeshift cell. When the hostages were securely shackled the kidnappers demanded a ransom of 16m euros ($21m; £13.3m). Eventually Heineken's family handed over the cash. But instead of releasing the hostages, Holleeder's gang fled leaving Freddy and Ab locked up. Luckily the police had a lead through a Chinese takeaway the gang had been using. After three weeks in captivity they were finally rescued. Blocking the blockbuster They were accused of a plethora of crimes including murders, blackmails and shoot-outs but it was this single event that gave Holleeder's gang a reputation more notorious than any other in Dutch history. The Heineken kidnapping had all the makings of a blockbuster. But the uncooperative star of the show, Willem Holleeder, launched a lawsuit from behind bars to try to stop the film from being released. "Mr Holleeder didn't like how the character was depicted in the film," says Jens van den Brink, the lawyer representing the film company IDTV. "For example, in the film there is a mock execution like Russian roulette where they put the gun to the head of Heineken and pull the trigger. "Mr Holleeder said: 'That never happened and you are making people think we are worse than we really are.' I argued that first, there is artistic licence and second, if you have already kidnapped two men at gunpoint and chained them to a dirty mattress in an abandoned warehouse - well, it is hard to harm the reputation of someone accused of doing so many terrible things." The release Almost three decades have passed since the Heineken kidnapping. These days the real William Holleeder isn't the young, virile, untouchable gangster feared by so many back in the 80s. Most of his former colleagues have been murdered, locked up or taken off to less dangerous destinations. Holleeder has repeatedly refused earlier parole - maybe feeling life is safer on the inside than it is on the outside. According to those that know Willem he is not looking forward to freedom. Does crime writer Ton Theunis think this fear is justified? "Imagine you are accused of being involved in so many murders. Maybe you have not been found guilty but still you know people want you dead," Theunis says. "I remember working at the prison and one of the prisoners was being allowed to go home for Christmas," he recalls. "I was watching him leave, he got on his bike in a shiny new track suit smiling and waving at us. Then as soon as he got to the car park - bang! - and he was gone. "Criminals are killed all the time. Of course Holleeder is right to be afraid." Willem Holleeder reportedly left prison in a car with blacked out windows before being transferred to another secret vehicle. It is a whole new underworld out there. He no longer commands control over the criminal network in the way he once did and his health is not what it used to be. There is speculation Holleeder will try to escape the Netherlands on the next available flight. He has so far turned down all of our interview requests and his lawyer says he wants to avoid any further attention.

डच अपराध के गॉडफादर के रूप में जाना जाने वाला व्यक्ति नीदरलैंड की जेल से रिहा हो गया है। विलेम हॉलीडर ने जबरन वसूली के लिए नौ साल की सजा में से छह साल की सजा काट ली है। वह दशकों से डच अंडरवर्ल्ड पर एक बेहद शक्तिशाली, कुख्यात और प्रभावशाली व्यक्ति रहा है।


'Heavier than baby elephants' pumpkin wins growing prize

Summary: A whopping pumpkin that is "heavier than two baby elephants" has won the North of England heat of the International Giant Pumpkin Commonwealth (GPC) competition.

The winning pumpkin, weighing 309.5kg (682 lbs), was entered by Peter Geyelin, from Nottingham at the contest held at York Maze, North Yorkshire. It was later carved into a dragon by chainsaw sculptor Lorraine Botterill. The UK record for the biggest pumpkin was set last year at 854kg (1,884 lbs). The world record stands at an enormous 1,054kg (2323 lbs).

"दो शिशु हाथियों से भारी" एक विशाल कद्दू ने अंतर्राष्ट्रीय विशाल कद्दू राष्ट्रमंडल (जी. पी. सी.) प्रतियोगिता की उत्तर इंग्लैंड गर्मी जीती है।


Afghan Shias in the firing line: 'IS wants to wipe us out'

Summary: Tears and wails of grief fill the air around a hilltop cemetery in the outskirts of Kabul. "Why did you leave us?" one distraught mother cries out. Another lovingly caresses the photograph of her dead child.

By Secunder KermaniBBC News, Kabul Families of about 50 students killed in a suicide bombing by the Islamic State group on a tuition centre in the Afghan capital in August have gathered here for a memorial service. Many of the dead were just teenagers. All were from the Hazara community. Followers of the Shia sect of Islam who are believed to be descendants of the Mongols, Hazaras are hated by IS who view them as heretics. Armed soldiers stand guard around the graves in case of further attack. Amongst those killed was 16-year-old Fatima. Her mother Amina tells me she used to weave carpets to pay for her schooling. One, unfinished, lies by the entrance to their small home. Fatima had been working on it the day she died. "She was my eldest child. She was very good and very brave," Amina tells the BBC. "She used to ask me to pray she would one day become a doctor." Fatima's father Nasrullah recalls the moment he found his daughter's body. "I went to lots of different hospitals after the attack trying to find her. Finally someone said: 'There are six bodies here, check if your daughter is one… I uncovered their faces and saw my child." The family moved to Kabul from another province around two years ago to search for work. But the Shia dominated neighbourhood they settled in, Dasht-e-Barchi, in the west of Kabul, has become a focus of IS attacks. Fatima's father wants to go back to their village, but her mother is torn about what to do. "I'm not letting my other children go to school now because there's no security here. It's a bad situation, but if we leave Kabul, I will be leaving Fatima behind." At the bombed tuition centre, shrapnel is stuck in the blackboard whilst handwritten notes lie among the rubble. This horrific attack was one of more than a dozen claimed by IS in Kabul this year. IS militants first appeared in Afghanistan in 2015, and although they are outnumbered by the Taliban with whom they have at times clashed, they have established a stronghold in the east of the country. IS have been repeatedly targeted by US airstrikes, with a number of their leaders killed, but over the past two years they carried out more attacks in the Afghan capital than any other militant group. Hazaras are reported to make up 9-15% of the population in Afghanistan, though figures are at times disputed. They have often faced violence and discrimination both because of their ethnicity and their Shia faith, including when the Taliban were in power in Afghanistan. The hardline Islamists ruled from 1996 until they were toppled by US-led forces in 2001. But Hazara leaders say even the Taliban have never targeted the community in the kind of deliberate sectarian suicide bombings that IS are now carrying out. As a result, many Hazaras are deciding to leave the country. Mohammad Sadiq runs a secondhand shop in the Dasht-e-Barchi neighbourhood. He says he set it up last year to buy the possessions of the rising number of community members leaving Afghanistan to seek sanctuary in Iran, Turkey and Europe. "People are fleeing the country because of unemployment and the lack of security," Mr Sadiq told the BBC. "Daesh [IS] are carrying out all these attacks. They want to wipe our people out." As a sign of how desperate people in the area now are he shows me elaborately embroidered quilts stitched by mothers to hand down to their children, but sold off to pay for the cost of travel. Pointing to a set of saucepans, he says they were wedding gifts given to a newly-married couple that recently left the country. Many in the community blame the government for not doing enough to prevent the attacks. But Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish told the BBC the authorities regularly thwart plots. "We recently stopped four attacks in the west of Kabul. That shows how effective our security forces are." Outside the mosques in Dasht-e-Barchi armed volunteers stand guard, some with weapons provided by the government. Many here say they feel afraid every time they are in a public space. But the students of the tuition centre are back in the classroom, in a new building. The attack weighs heavy on everyone's mind but there's also a sense of defiance. "I was so scared after the attack, it's hard to get over it," says 19-year-old Leylu Rasuli. "But if I don't study I won't achieve anything. My family don't like it but I have to keep coming here." Fellow student Gisu Gity adds: "We won't surrender… By getting good qualifications and studying we will defeat the terrorists." A few weeks after the attack on the students, twin suicide bombings at a nearby wrestling club killed at least 20 people. Since then there have been no further blasts in Dasht-e-Barchi, but residents remain fearful. On 11 November, six people were killed in an IS attack on a Shia-led protest near the presidential palace in central Kabul. At the tuition centre sandbags line the windows and armed guards watch over the students as they head home. This is a community braced for further violence.

काबुल के बाहरी इलाके में एक पहाड़ी की चोटी पर स्थित कब्रिस्तान के चारों ओर आँसू और विलाप भर जाते हैं। "तुम हमें क्यों छोड़ गए?" एक परेशान माँ रोती है। दूसरी अपने मृत बच्चे की तस्वीर को प्यार से सहलाती है।


Aberdeen public to see Haudagain roundabout plans

Summary: Members of the public are to get the chance to assess the proposed design to tackle a traffic blackspot at Aberdeen's Haudagain roundabout .

The junction at the bottom of Anderson Drive is a notorious bottleneck. Exhibitions will be held at the Lord Provost Henry E Rae Community Centre in Manor Avenue on Wednesday 1 July from 12:00 to 19:00 and Thursday 2 July from 10:00 to 18:00. Transport Scotland said it was a chance to view designs and have a say. It is hoped work will be ready to begin in 2018, when the Aberdeen bypass is completed.

जनता के सदस्यों को एबरडीन के हौडागैन गोल चक्कर में एक यातायात ब्लैकस्पॉट से निपटने के लिए प्रस्तावित डिजाइन का आकलन करने का मौका मिलना है।


The millionaires who rescue people at sea

Summary: A philanthropist couple have launched what they say is the world's first privately funded vessel to help migrants in trouble at sea. But can one ship really help the thousands of people who try to cross the Mediterranean each year?

By Mario CacciottoloBBC News, Malta Last summer, Regina Catrambone and her husband Chris were on board a yacht cruising around the Mediterranean - but the idyllic holiday scene was interrupted when they spotted something in the sea. "My husband and I were on the deck and we saw a winter jacket floating in the water, like a ghost," says Regina. They asked the captain how it ended up there. "His face became very dark and he said probably the person who was wearing it is not with us any more. That started to trigger our attention." They realised it had probably belonged to one of the thousands of migrants who try to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe - 1,889 have died in these waters since the start of the year, 1,600 of them since the beginning of June, according to the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR. The defining moment for the couple came soon after, when they saw Pope Francis on television, calling on entrepreneurs to help those in need. "We looked at each other, me and my husband, and we said: 'Let's do something.' From this moment came the idea of buying a boat and doing something in the Mediterranean, where people are dying every day." By October, when the Catrambones heard how more than 360 migrants had drowned near the Italian island of Lampedusa, they were determined to turn their plans into action. Since then the couple, who are in their 30s, have drawn deeply from their own pockets to fund a highly-sophisticated ship, the Phoenix, based in Malta, where they live. It has dinghies and two state-of-the art drones which they are using to find and help migrants trying to enter Europe by boat, mostly from Africa. They have named their operation Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS). But while some ships begin life on the sea with a bottle of champagne smashed against their hull, the Phoenix began its time as an aid station for migrant ships by having holy water sprinkled inside it. During a Catholic mass, held in the ship's lounge the day before the Phoenix embarked on its first patrol on Monday, a priest told the assembled crew that they are on a mission from God. He gave each of them a small bottle of holy water from Lourdes and gave the ship a golden crucifix to carry out on the Mediterranean. The service was "very important for my husband and me, and for the crew to have spiritual support before they leave, because they will be weeks at sea so they will need God's help," says Regina, who is Italian. Her husband Chris, who is from New Orleans in the US, proudly shows off the custom-made flight deck, home to two Schiebel S-100 camcopters, or drones, which MOAS has leased. He explains how their HD-quality, night vision and thermal imaging cameras are powerful enough to read a piece of paper in a passenger's hand from the air. "We are making history in many ways by being the first civilian ship to use such grand technology. We hope that this is going to change the environment for rescue at sea. We're innovators here. We're trying to do something that no-one else has been able to do. We've put our money where our mouth is," he says. When the ship comes across a migrant boat in international waters, the crew will contact the nearest authorities. "We will communicate the position of the boat in distress to the authority and we will wait for what they tell us to do," says Regina. While they wait for instructions, they will use the dinghies to approach the boats, pass over food, water and lifejackets and offer medical assistance - the Phoenix has a paramedic on board and also has a well-equipped medical bay. "However, in case the boat is taking water, or the number of the people [on board] is higher than should be, we will communicate that to the authorities and we will do what needs to be done. If we need to take people on board we can, until Malta or Italy come to take them, and disembark them on land." Regina and Chris will take it in turns to go to sea on the Phoenix. It may seem naive to think such an operation can be carried out by civilians but the director of the project was, until recently, the commander of the Armed Forces of Malta and members of the crew have experience in the armed forces, maritime rescue and medicine. The entire project, the couple say, has cost them "millions" with the total running costs of the ship's initial 60-day mission being 2m euros, (£1.59m, $2.64m) which they say is the extent of their budget. The Catrambones have a group of companies registered in Malta, providing insurance and services to people operating in conflict zones. They are hoping to crowd source extra funding for MOAS, aside from their own cash, and extend it into an all-year-round operation. The Phoenix According to the UNHCR, about 19,000 migrants have arrived in Malta from Libya since 2002. Last year it was estimated that about 30% are still on the island, which has a local population of some 417,000. Once they are ashore tensions frequently arise, with less than charitable comments about migrants often appearing on Maltese media websites. No-one from the Maltese government responded to interview requests about MOAS - migration has been a thorny issue for the local authorities, with Prime Minister Joseph Muscat saying his country is struggling to cope with the influx. But he was forced last year to cancel two flights repatriating migrants back to Libya by the European Court of Human Rights. Maltese columnist Pamela Hansen says the MOAS operation will provoke mixed reactions in Malta, with some being pleased that lives are to be saved, but others being concerned more migrants will arrive as a result. "Obviously the authorities are going to be very cautious. They are worried because we do have a problem, just as Italy has a problem. The whole of Europe is anxious about this. "But because we perhaps are the first stage sometimes of where the migrants land, there's a bit more apprehension. "I don't know what the government's feeling about MOAS, but what I can tell you is there's a lot of public opinion that is anti-illegal immigration, so maybe the authorities are being rather cautious before they comment." While Regina is diplomatic about MOAS's "ongoing" dialogue with the local authorities, she does reveal the Phoenix is flying under the flag of Belize because the process of getting a Maltese registration was "taking too long". But she bristles at suggestions that the couple's cash should be deployed another way, perhaps to help migrants once they disembark. "There are NGOs doing that on land, but not at sea," she says. She mentions Mare Nostrum, the Italian navy and coastguard's search-and-rescue operation, launched after the October Lampedusa drownings. Doubt had been cast upon its long-term future, and now the EU and Italy have just announced the formation of Frontex Plus, an extension of its current border management scheme, to take over from Mare Nostrum in November. One migrant who did make it to Malta is 24-year-old Ibrahim Ahmed Adam, who arrived from Somalia via Libya in May 2012. "My boat broke down on the sea, and if I had not been rescued it would have been the last journey of my life. "So I can understand deeply the meaning the MOAS operation has for people at sea. It's a very good step." Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.

एक परोपकारी दंपति ने समुद्र में संकट में फंसे प्रवासियों की मदद के लिए दुनिया का पहला निजी वित्त पोषित जहाज लॉन्च किया है। लेकिन क्या एक जहाज वास्तव में उन हजारों लोगों की मदद कर सकता है जो हर साल भूमध्य सागर पार करने की कोशिश करते हैं?


Olympic medallist Dani King opens Odd Down cycling track

Summary: A traffic-free road circuit for cyclists in Bath has been officially opened by an Olympic gold-medallist.

Cyclist Dani King MBE, team pursuit medal winner at London 2012, joined a crowd of spectators to open the 1.5km cycling circuit at Odd Down. The closed-road circuit cost £600,000 to build and is available to cyclists of all ages and abilities as well as for private hire for cycling clubs. Sir Chris Hoy also visited the British Cycling-funded track last month.

बाथ में साइकिल चालकों के लिए एक यातायात मुक्त सड़क परिपथ को आधिकारिक तौर पर एक ओलंपिक स्वर्ण पदक विजेता द्वारा खोला गया है।


Prince Charles: The heir at 65

Summary: For most people, a 65th birthday signals the end of one's working life and hopefully the chance to begin a long and happy retirement. But then, Prince Charles is not most people and the "job" he was born to take on is a unique one.

By Sarah CampbellRoyal correspondent, BBC News Unlike the Queen, who had to demonstrate wisdom beyond her years when she acceded the throne aged just 25, Prince Charles has had to live most of his life preparing for the day he will be King. At times that may well have been frustrating, but it has also allowed him to speak out on matters which are important to him in a way the constraints of kingship would not have allowed. The Queen is now 87 years old and the process of handing over duties to her son is well under way. This week is an important sign of that transition. For the first time since 1973, the Queen will miss the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. The official reason for her absence is to protect her from the long-haul flight to Sri Lanka, but it is also a chance for the Prince of Wales - who will represent her - to take his place on a global stage. Over the coming months and years other duties which the Queen currently performs which involve travel or physical exertion will be taken on by the Prince. However, it still may be many years before he becomes King. Long letters His apprenticeship has been a long one, but he has used the time both publicly and privately to promote issues he believes to be important. Long before environmental concerns such as climate change became part of the mainstream political agenda he was pressuring the establishment to take them seriously. He has made his views known on issues as diverse as GM crops, alternative medicines and modern architecture. Government ministers have had to become used to receiving long letters from him detailing his views. And he has become used to being accused of inappropriate meddling. His need to find a role has undoubtedly changed other's lives too, for the better, through the hundreds of charities he supports. Chief among them is the Prince's Trust, which he founded in 1976 and which has helped three quarters of a million young disadvantaged people to gain work experience and forge careers. According to the constitutional expert, Vernon Bogdanor, his achievements to date have helped shape and change the modern monarchy. "It is no longer a mystical or magical monarchy, it has become a practical or utilitarian monarchy and people judge it in terms of its contribution to society and public welfare. "The Prince of Wales is very much attuned to that mood. In a sense he symbolises the practical, welfare monarchy - and that's the particular contribution he's been able to make." When he does become King, the time he will be able to devote to his passions will be severely curtailed. In a recent profile in the magazine Time, Catherine Mayer wrote that he was "impatient to get as much done as possible before, in the words of one member of his household, "the prison shades close". 'King in waiting' While Buckingham Palace disputed any suggestion that the Prince sees kingship as a prison, it is true that his duties will have to come first. As well as discovering a role beyond that of the "King in waiting", the Prince has also had to come to terms with the impact his position inevitably has on his private life. Combining the two cannot have been easy but after the break-up of his marriage to Diana, Princess of Wales, and her untimely death, he does seem to have found stability and happiness with Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. Both his sons are growing into their respective roles and as he said to the waiting press, he was "overjoyed" at the arrival of his first grandchild, Prince George. His delight was clear from the accompanying photographs. Now a pensioner - although he is donating his state pension to an unnamed charity supporting older people - Prince Charles can celebrate a happy family and marriage in the knowledge that as Prince of Wales he has contributed much to British society. That is a good basis for the job he will inevitably have and has spent much of his life preparing for.

अधिकांश लोगों के लिए, 65वां जन्मदिन किसी के कामकाजी जीवन के अंत का संकेत देता है और उम्मीद है कि एक लंबी और खुशहाल सेवानिवृत्ति शुरू करने का मौका है। लेकिन फिर, प्रिंस चार्ल्स ज्यादातर लोग नहीं हैं और वह जिस "नौकरी" को लेने के लिए पैदा हुए थे, वह एक अनूठी है।


'My brother was killed by a single punch'

Summary: On a Christmas night out exactly a year ago Brian Stirling was punched in the side of the head as he stood outside a pub in West Lothian. He was knocked to the ground, smashing his head off the pavement and died soon after.

By Steven BrocklehurstBBC Scotland News His younger brother Alan says Brian was a "peacemaker" who had never acted violently in his life. He was the victim of someone lashing out after too much drink and was in the wrong place at the wrong time, Alan says. The 54-year-old bakery worker had been out for a few drinks in Bathgate on the Friday before Christmas. In the early hours of Saturday morning he left the pub with his friend and was standing outside, a few doors down from the entrance. His brother Alan says: "There had been a disturbance at the front door of the pub with some guy who had been thrown out. "While this was going on, a woman approached Brian and his friend and asked if he could hold her bag so she could find her cigarettes. "Brian, who was the sort of guy to help anybody, held her bag open. "Unfortunately, on seeing this, the guy who got thrown out of the pub, ran over and punched Brian in the side of the head for no reason." Brian fell over and smashed his head against the pavement. He was taken to St John's hospital in Livingston with serious head trauma but they could not save him. Alan received a call at 06:00 on Saturday morning but Brian was dead by the time they arrived. "Nobody should go out for a few drinks and not get home the next day," he says. Police Scotland is running a campaign called One punch can ruin two lives. It is seeking to highlight the severe damage a single punch can do. They said a single violent act could kill or seriously injure the victim and it could result in a prison sentence for the attacker. 'Not justice' Alan Stirling says: "When you are in a bad moment, when you are ready to lash out at somebody, you have think very carefully about all the good things in your life and in the other person's life, all the stuff you care about, all the stuff you have worked hard for, in that one moment of violent stupidity, you are going to throw it all away. "Not just for you but for the person you are going to lash out at. "Do you really want to throw your life away on one punch?", Alan says. The man who killed Alan's brother was sentenced to two years and eight months for culpable homicide. Alan says the attacker only served 10 months before being deported to Poland. "That's not justice for my brother's life," he says. Craig Porter's life was also devastated by a single punch. A brain injury suffered as a result of a punch eight years ago has left him unable to walk and with great difficulty speaking. Craig, who is now 35, worked in IT for the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service at Gartnavel Hospital before he was punched in Glasgow city centre in 2009. He says: "I took for granted my life before this injury and I was warned 'your life is a bit too eccentric'. "But I thought 'I'm just a lad, I'll be fine, it'll never happen to me'. "But then I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I got into a fight and I knocked my head on the kerb." Craig says he was heading to get a taxi home after a night out when he and his friends "got into an altercation". He says there was a stand-off. "Then basically he punched me and that was it. Lights out," Craig says. "I banged my head, instantly knocked out and cracked my head on the pavement." Craig was in a coma for five weeks and doctors told his family that if he survived he would probably never breathe on his own. They also said he would not talk or walk. "It's been a hard slog," Craig says. "I've not got there, far from it, but I'm getting there." 'Incredibly sad' Eight years on, balance issues mean that Craig still can't walk or drive. He can't write, his speech is affected and his eyesight is poor. "Every few months I'll get down and think I'm not getting anywhere but then something will improve, my balance, my swimming or something," he says. "I couldn't stand up before but now I can stand up and get dressed. "I get incredibly sad at times but then I realise at least I'm alive and I've got a great support network." No-one has been convicted of the attack on Craig. He says: "I am proof of what one punch can do. "Fortunately I am living proof which I can thankfully say. There are plenty of people who have not been as fortunate as me. "I have got the chance to get as well as I can and I'm going to take it. Simple as."

ठीक एक साल पहले क्रिसमस की एक रात ब्रायन स्टर्लिंग को वेस्ट लोथियन में एक पब के बाहर खड़े होने पर सिर के किनारे मुक्का मारा गया था। उन्हें जमीन पर गिरा दिया गया था, जिससे उनका सिर फुटपाथ से टूट गया था और जल्द ही उनकी मृत्यु हो गई थी।


In the studio with Elbow and I Am Kloot

Summary: After Elbow won the Mercury Music Prize in 2008 they were supposed to get straight to work on a follow-up to capitalise on their success. Instead, they put that to one side to produce fellow Manchester band I Am Kloot. The resulting album has been nominated for this year's Mercury - and Elbow singer Guy Garvey and I Am Kloot frontman John Bramwell explain how it came together.

By Ian YoungsEntertainment reporter, BBC News Reaching the top floor of the 170-year-old former mission building that Elbow call home, the stereotype of the small, sterile recording studio is immediately shattered. To walk across the cavernous room, you must carefully pick your way between dozens of speakers, microphones, stands, drums and guitars that are strewn about, as well as cables snaking around the room, and buckets and towels catching leaks from the roof. "In this room we have five or six drum kits, nine or 10 guitar amps, three pianos, two electric pianos, a Hammond organ, any number of percussion instruments," Garvey explains. "There's a really odd little thing called a Sounder. It was £50 from the window of Cafe Pop [in Manchester]. It's an electronic keyboard that makes a weird repeating noise. Things you can blow. An accordion. And lots and lots of microphones." The loft, which is Elbow's headquarters at Blueprint Studios, Salford, has the air of a teenager's bedroom that got out of hand. "And this is a bar," Bramwell chips in. "Oh and there's a bar in the room, yeah," Garvey continues. "It was very handy after Christmas - there was a huge party here and they left a lot of stock in the bar." Next door is a smaller room where Garvey's bandmate and co-producer Craig Potter is hunched over a computer. On the wall is a whiteboard where Elbow will, eventually, write the names of all the tracks on their new album. For now, about half of the spaces remain empty. ("We're a bit behind schedule now as it goes," Garvey admits.) Garvey and Bramwell, who met 18 years ago when Garvey got on stage to play harmonica with Bramwell, make a fine double act. They did not become firm friends until a decade ago, when Bramwell was booking bands for Manchester's Night & Day venue and three members of Elbow worked at the nearby Roadhouse. "When we'd finished work we'd come over to Night & Day and pretty much end up round the same bar every night," Garvey says. The friendship led Garvey to produce I Am Kloot's debut album, the excellent, overlooked Natural History, which was released in 2001, just as Elbow were taking off. But aside from short bursts of touring, the two bands never managed to synchronise their schedules in order to work together again - until I Am Kloot's new album, Sky At Night. "With the strength of songs on this record, it was impossible for us not to be involved," Garvey says. "We made the time." Kloot have gathered a cult following since Natural History, but Bramwell speaks of being "very very broke for years" and recording their last album in three days "because we had so little money". Sky At Night, though, is their first top 40 album and has brought more acclaim and sales than any previous release. The pair describe an intuitive studio relationship and a democratic process where all of the band's ideas would be written on a whiteboard (Garvey admits he is a "stationery fetishist") and tried out. Garvey played good cop - "bouncing off the walls, keeping everybody buzzed up", as he describes it - to Potter's perfectionist taskmaster. "I've definitely learned over the years from different producers," Garvey explains. "It's important that you enjoy as much of your life as possible, that's a personal rule of mine. The best production experiences I've had have been the most fun. "The worst experiences have been when whoever's at the helm is pretending they're a magic man and they're going to sort your life out. Smoke and mirrors, not showing you how you're doing something. It's nonsense. "What you need to know is that who's in charge of the recording loves your songs and keep reminding you why your songs are good. Hopefully that's what I did with Kloot." Bramwell concurs and describes Garvey as "inspirational". "It's a question of keeping momentum and keeping freshness," he says. "And Craig is incredibly meticulous and able to keep concentrating on something. "Sometimes you could spend a whole day and not see Craig's face because he's sat looking at the machinery and might not even turn around for a good three or four hours." Garvey picks up the theme: "He's sparing with his words, Craig. For instance he used fruit instead of words on a few occasions. "I'd be three floors downstairs having a smoke with the lads, and if this went on for too long and he was bored of waiting, he'd find an orange. I don't know where these oranges were coming from, but I'd get an orange on the top of the head, which meant 'back to work'." There were drawbacks to recording in such a large space amid organised chaos. "If Pete was recording a bass track and a certain note made something rattle, finding that rattle could take half an hour because there are so many things that could rattle," Garvey recalls. "So Craig and I would run in with strips of tape while Pete played this note continuously for half an hour. "Some of my favourite moments are John, Pete and Craig all sat at pianos, all playing the same riff at the same time, with the microphone at the other side of the room, at Craig's behest. "But it's a sound that you couldn't have got if you'd tried to do it digitally." In this case, organised chaos has proved to be the most productive kind. The Mercury Prize winner is announced on Tuesday. Watch live coverage of the ceremony on BBC Two at 2200 BST.

2008 में एल्बो द्वारा मरकरी संगीत पुरस्कार जीतने के बाद उन्हें अपनी सफलता का लाभ उठाने के लिए एक अनुवर्ती कार्रवाई पर काम करना था। इसके बजाय, उन्होंने साथी मैनचेस्टर बैंड आई एम क्लूट का निर्माण करने के लिए इसे एक तरफ रखा। परिणामी एल्बम को इस साल के मरकरी के लिए नामांकित किया गया है-और एल्बो गायक गाय गार्वे और आई एम क्लूट के फ्रंटमैन जॉन ब्रैमवेल बताते हैं कि यह कैसे एक साथ आया।


Guernsey Electricity to repair link between Guernsey and Jersey

Summary: Guernsey Electricity is to carry out preventative repair work on the undersea cable link between Guernsey and Jersey at a cost of around £5m.

The cable-laying vessel Ndurance will arrive in island waters in late January. Guernsey Electricity said testing showed damage to the cable with repairs expected to take up to four weeks. The area of repair is half a kilometre from Les Terres Point, close to Havelet Bay. In November an inspection of the cable was carried out by the vessel Wave Sentinel. Chief executive Alan Bates said: "Costs are expected to be around £5million and the costs will be shared between both Guernsey Electricity and our Channel Islands Electricity Grid (CIEG) partners Jersey Electricity." Mr Bates said islanders' tariffs would not be increased to pay for the repairs.

ग्वेर्नसे इलेक्ट्रिसिटी लगभग 5 मिलियन पाउंड की लागत से ग्वेर्नसे और जर्सी के बीच समुद्र के नीचे केबल लिंक पर निवारक मरम्मत का काम करेगी।


Camelford muck spreader crash leaves slurry spill

Summary: Two tractors - one towing a muck spreader - have crashed leaving a huge slurry spill covering a Cornish road.

One of the tractors rolled on to its side in the crash on the B3266, near Camelford at around 16:15 GMT. Both drivers were able to get out of their tractors and were not injured, but the road was closed for a major clean-up. Devon and Cornwall Police advised people to avoid the area and "possibly keep their windows closed".

दो ट्रैक्टर-एक कचरे को फैलाने वाला-दुर्घटनाग्रस्त हो गए हैं, जिससे कॉर्निश सड़क पर एक बड़ा घोल फैल गया है।


South Africa: Poacher killed by elephant then eaten by lions

Summary: A suspected rhino poacher has been trampled on by an elephant then eaten by a pride of lions in Kruger National Park, South Africa.

Accomplice poachers told the victim's family that he had been killed by an elephant on Tuesday. Relatives notified the park ranger. A search party struggled to find the body but eventually found a human skull and a pair of trousers on Thursday. The managing executive of the park extended his condolences to the family. "Entering Kruger National Park illegally and on foot is not wise," he said. "It holds many dangers and this incident is evidence of that." Kruger National Park has an ongoing problem with poaching and there remains a strong demand for rhino horn in Asian countries. On Saturday, Hong Kong airport authorities seized the biggest haul of rhino horn in five years, valued at $2.1m (£1.6m).

दक्षिण अफ्रीका के क्रूगर राष्ट्रीय उद्यान में एक संदिग्ध गैंडे के शिकारी को एक हाथी ने रौंद दिया और फिर शेरों ने उसे खा लिया।


Newport 'slavery' victim Darrell Simester speaks of ordeal

Summary: It was a case that lifted the lid on modern day "slavery" in Wales. David Daniel Doran was jailed last month for forcing a vulnerable man to work unpaid at a farm near Newport. Now as BBC Wales' Week In Week Out programme delves further into the case, we take a look at some of the issues raised.

Darrell's story: A vulnerable man who was forced to work unpaid on a farm for 13 years has spoken for the first time about his ordeal. Darrell Simester, 44, had been made to work for up to 16 hours a day at Cariad Farm in Peterstone near Newport, only ever having two days off. He lived in appalling conditions, first in a rat-infested shed then a cold, squalid caravan, with only a horse trough to wash in and no soap or toothbrush. David Daniel Doran, 42, who is from a traveller family, was jailed for four-and-a-half years after pleading guilty to forcing Mr Simester to perform forced or compulsory labour. Speaking of the moment the farmer was sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court, Mr Simester told BBC Wales' Week In Week Out programme: "I wished he'd have got 13 years for what I'd gone through. "Living in a shed, then a caravan, in them cold, dampy nights, freezing cold and frightened as well. "In my heart every day I was thinking I wonder what happened to the rest of my family. "Just kept going over in my head and in my stomach every day I was on that horrible, horrible farm." Mr Simester's family, from Kidderminster in Worcestershire, believed he was missing after going on a trip to the seaside in Porthcawl in south Wales in 2000. In fact, a member of the Doran family had picked him up at the side of a dual carriageway while travelling home and taken him to the family farm. After his family finally tracked him down early last year following a social media campaign, they hardly recognised him, describing him as being a "broken man" who looked far older than his years. Mr Simester's father Tony, who had feared his son was dead, told Week In Week Out: "I went that's not my son; that's not my son. "But as he got closer and looked up, cause he walked towards me with his head bowed, I could see it was my son." His mother Jean added: "I just said 'You're coming home. You can't stay here'. "And it was like winning the lottery: getting my arms around him and giving him a hug." As he jailed Doran, Judge Neil Bidder QC told him the way he had treated his victim was "repellent and wrong" and "not much better than a slave". Mr Simester, who was left malnourished, with a chest infection, a hernia and calloused feet after his time at Cariad Farm, is continuing to rebuild his life and now has his own place to live. When asked what he wanted in the future, he replied: "A wife and a couple of kids." Vulnerable targets: Police investigating the Simester case say a pattern is emerging across the UK involving criminals from the travelling community exploiting vulnerable adults for their own benefit. Det Supt Paul Griffiths of Gwent Police said they were deliberately targeting vulnerable, often homeless men, at specific places and forcing them into labour. "Whether they are shelters, park benches, or other locations where they would congregate but similarly those suspected of these offences would be able to target different people for their own means," added Det Supt Griffiths. Michael Stewart, a social anthropologist who has worked and lived with traveller families, said most travellers treated their workers well, but in Mr Simester's case it was clearly exploitative and abusive. "What's certainly true is that travellers are not highly thought of," said Mr Stewart, who says he does not speak for travellers but has studied them and tried to see things from their point of view. "Travellers are often despised, not many people would go and live in a travellers compound on a travellers site. "So to some extent you could say the labour market is restricted... So travellers tend to pick up people who are less able to find a position in the mainstream labour market. "Sometimes those relationships, it's quite clear from the court cases there have been, have become exploitative and abusive. "In other occasions, in other places and in other families, those relationships can be protective and supportive." He added: "It's certainly true that in some cases for traveller families having dependent servants who are non-travellers is a form of demonstrating wealth and status and achievement and you have the space to house these people, you have the social pulling power in a sense, that you're an attractive enough proposition." David Phillips, chief executive of the South East Wales Race Equality Council, which speaks for traveller communities, said there were plenty of examples of homeless people choosing to live with and work for traveller families. "We recognise that this is not what happened on this occasion and our communities are as horrified as everybody else at Mr Simester's treatment," said Mr Phillips. Finding Darrell: Clare Hutchinson is a researcher at Week In Week Out and has followed Mr Simester's story since he was found. I first spoke to Darrell Simester's mum, Jean, in February 2013. I worked at a local newspaper and she sent us a long and heartrending email explaining that she was looking for her son, who had been missing for 13 years. She believed he was in south Wales. When I picked up the phone and spoke to her, I had little idea how far the story would go. Jean was heartbroken and desperate for someone to help her family in their hunt for Darrell - a search that had already gone on for more than a decade and had involved dozens of meetings with police that always ended with officers telling her he was a "missing contact" - not a missing person. In her words to me during that first phone call: "He's not a missing contact, he's my son." Jean and her husband Tony described their son, who would now be 43, as "timid" and "easily-led". They also told me of their suspicions that he was being held against his will somewhere in Cardiff. He had gone on holiday with another family in August 2000, and after an argument had run away. A few days later they heard from him: he was working on the roads. For eight years he would call a couple of times a year, often from withheld numbers, often with voices in the background telling him what to say. Then, in 2008, Darrell called his family at Christmas. He promised to speak to them again in the New Year - but that phone call never came. We ran a story in the newspaper in which Jean and Tony made a desperate plea for anyone who recognised Darrell to come forward. It was a last-ditch attempt after 13 years of searching but - incredibly - it paid off. A few days later, Jean's mobile phone rang and the person at the other end told her they had seen Darrell working on a farm on the Gwent levels between Newport and Cardiff. I was in work on a rainy morning in late February 2013 when I got a tearful phone call from Jean saying they may have found Darrell - and that they were on their way down to Cardiff. I rushed out and met Jean, Tony and Darrell's younger brother Duncan outside Cariad Farm just as the police arrived. The family had not known what to expect - or even whether the man would be their son. Duncan approached him first, but when Darrell told him he could not leave the farm the family were suspicious enough to call the police. Officers arrived a short while later - and wearing torn, filthy clothes, a flat cap and carrying his worldly goods in a black bin bag, Darrell emerged from the farm. His face was dirty and furrowed with deep lines. In Tony's words, his son looked like an old man. The reunion between the Simester family was emotional, and difficult to witness. As Darrell walked out of the farm's driveway, head bowed, Jean ran forward and hugged him. I later asked her what she said at that moment. She replied through tears, "I just said, you're coming home". His dad and brother walked around the farm, taking photos of the dirty caravan in which he had been made to live. A short while later, Darrell and his family got in their car and returned home to Kidderminster. Over the following weeks and months I stayed in contact with the Simester family, speaking to Jean and Tony about Darrell's progress. The first shock came when they got home and discovered the terrible condition he was in: a hernia on his groin the size of a football; a fungal infection that had turned the soles of his feet green; curvature of the spine and severe weight-loss. Darrell would wake up every day at 6am, his dad said. He would fall asleep on the armchair in the evening, but jerk awake at the sound of a person walking into the room, or closing a door. While his parents believe he had learning difficulties from a young age, he was now suffering deep psychological problems and has since been seeing a psychiatrist. And while they have struggled, the family have continued to help him return to a normal life. Together they have been on holidays, on day trips to see his favourite football teams, held a homecoming party and - more recently - helped Darrell move into his new place. We went to visit him for our programme, and Darrell showed us around with pride. There is a clock on the mantelpiece that used to belong to his grandmother; DVDs and books donated by well-wishers; and a Manchester United duvet on the spare bed. His family have helped him develop routines for cleaning and cooking. When we visited a new kitchen had just been fitted - and Jean was planning to help her son make a cheesecake. The court case was difficult for them all but, while they feel the four-and-a-half year sentence handed to David Daniel Doran was not enough, they are satisfied with the outcome. As Tony said to me when we last spoke: "I've banned all talk of the last 13 years - we just want to look forward and talk about the years to come." The way in which South Wales, West Mercia and Gwent police investigated Mr Simester's disappearance is now the subject of a supervised investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission. All three forces have said they cannot comment while that investigation is continuing. Week In, Week Out - 13 Years A Slave: Darrell's Story is on BBC1 Wales at 22:35 BST on Tuesday, 4 November.

यह एक ऐसा मामला था जिसने वेल्स में आधुनिक समय की "गुलामी" पर पर्दा उठा दिया था। डेविड डेनियल डोरन को पिछले महीने न्यूपोर्ट के पास एक खेत में एक कमजोर व्यक्ति को बिना वेतन के काम करने के लिए मजबूर करने के लिए जेल में डाल दिया गया था। अब जब बीबीसी वेल्स का वीक इन वीक आउट कार्यक्रम मामले में आगे बढ़ता है, तो हम उठाए गए कुछ मुद्दों पर एक नज़र डालते हैं।


£20m Jaguar Land Rover technical centre to open near Coventry

Summary: Car manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover has announced it is to open a £20m technical centre near Coventry.

The firm said 100 new "highly skilled" engineering jobs would be created at the 225,000 sq ft (209,000 sq m) facility in Prologis Park, Ryton. It will focus on building limited edition and customised vehicles at the site. Earlier this week, Indian parent firm Tata Motors said strong Jaguar Land Rover sales had boosted its profits. The firm said the first vehicles to be worked on at the site would be released in mid-2015.

कार निर्माता जगुआर लैंड रोवर ने घोषणा की है कि वह कोवेंट्री के पास 20 मिलियन पाउंड का तकनीकी केंद्र खोलेगा।


Detecting gravitational waves caused by black holes

Summary: If I'm honest, I was a bit jealous when gravitational waves were discovered. One hundred years after Einstein said they existed, researchers from the University of Birmingham throw the switch on their big new detector and find gravitational waves on day one.

David Gregory-KumarScience, Environment & Rural Affairs Correspondent I mean, who does science like that? That's just showing off. I wrote about the discovery back in 2016. Click here for more details, but, long story short, physicists from the University of Birmingham are a key part of a 1,000-strong global team behind the LIGO gravitational waves experiment. In Birmingham, they both helped build the actual detector and also analyse the data it produces. Since the aim of LIGO was to prove the existence of gravitational waves and it did that on day one, what on earth have they been doing since then? And was that early result a fluke? Well now we know. Violent cosmic events First a quick word about gravitational waves themselves. These are ripples in the very fabric of the universe. Wobbles in actual space-time itself. They are only created by the most violent of cosmic events. In the case of the first signal detected by LIGO, they were generated by two black holes that were locked into a death spiral. Orbiting each other in ever decreasing circles before smashing into each other. The LIGO team have now finished analysing all the data they took and revealed they have seen 10 similar events. A variety of pairs of black holes locked together and eventually joining in a violent release of energy. They've also seen a new type of event - a pair of neutron stars also doing the death spiral dance. Cosmic black hole factory? Every 15 minutes somewhere in the universe one of these extraordinary events takes place. That means there's a lot of binary black holes out there and something must be making them. The question for the LIGO team now is what is this cosmic black hole factory? Already in a Birmingham laboratory they're trying out new ideas for LIGO upgrades and then entire new telescopes. Because what the team have created isn't just a big machine to confirm ideas arising from Einstein's theory of general relativity, it is also an entirely new way to look at the universe. A radical new type of telescope for a radical new type of astronomy. If you want to learn more about LIGO and black holes, the team have created a number of free apps for mobile phones and tablets (including a pocket black hole!) which you can find on this website.

अगर मैं ईमानदारी से कहूं, तो जब गुरुत्वाकर्षण तरंगों की खोज की गई तो मुझे थोड़ी जलन हुई। आइंस्टीन के यह कहने के एक सौ साल बाद कि वे मौजूद हैं, बर्मिंघम विश्वविद्यालय के शोधकर्ताओं ने अपने बड़े नए डिटेक्टर पर स्विच फेंक दिया और पहले दिन गुरुत्वाकर्षण तरंगों की खोज की।


Has quantitative easing worked in the US?

Summary: One of the biggest economic experiments of our age is coming to an end.

By Andrew WalkerBBC World Service Economics correspondent The United States Federal Reserve has called time on "quantitative easing" (QE), a policy that has pumped trillions of dollars into the US financial system. The jury is still out - and will be for a long time - on whether it has worked. There are real anxieties about what the consequences will ultimately be. For now though the Fed's main policy making committee has concluded that "there has been a substantial improvement in the outlook for the labor market" and "there is sufficient underlying strength in the broader economy". So, QE is being wound up this month. It started back in November 2008. The financial system in the US and beyond was still reeling from the failure of the investment bank Lehman Brothers. There were widespread fears about the wider economic consequences. Were we looking at the prospect of another Great Depression? In the US the Federal Reserve had almost run out of its traditional ammunition, cutting interest rates. So it embarked on something that was new, at least for the Fed, namely QE. So what is it? Instead of reducing the price of money - that is, cutting interest rates - the Fed increases the quantity of money. It does that by going into the financial markets to buy assets and it creates new money to pay for them. The Fed has focused on buying two types of assets: government debt or Treasury bonds, and assets backed by home loans. The next question is: how is it supposed to work? The first step is the impact on the price of the type of assets the Fed buys. More demand (from the Fed) raises the price. To put it another way, there is less supply of these assets available for everyone else, which also tends to raise their price. Then many of the sellers of these assets use the money to buy something else, pushing the prices of those other assets up too. That in turn has implications for interest rates. Bonds are a kind of IOU, a promise to pay certain sums of money in the future. Governments and some companies use them to borrow money. They sell them in the financial markets. The higher the price they get the lower the interest rate they are in effect paying. If it all goes to plan that effect can filter through the economy and reduce interest rates for many borrowers. John Williams, a senior Fed official spelled it out in a speech in 2012 and it's worth quoting at some length: "If the Fed buys significant quantities of longer-term Treasury securities or mortgage-backed securities, then the supply of those securities available to the public falls. "As supply falls, the prices of those securities rise and their yields decline. The effects extend to other longer-term securities. "Mortgage rates and corporate bond yields fall as investors who sold securities to the Fed invest that money elsewhere. "Hence, [QE] drives down a broad range of longer-term borrowing rates. And lower rates get households and businesses to spend more than they otherwise would, boosting economic activity." The aim is to push down interest rates paid by business and households even lower than is possible by using the central bank's own conventional interest rate policies. It's worth bearing in mind what that conventional policy is in the US. The Federal Reserve has a target for the overnight interest rate on lending between commercial banks - it's called the federal funds rate. Reducing that does usually affect interest rates for everybody else. But when the target is practically zero as it now is, it can't go lower. So that's where QE comes in. It provides a tool for getting rates lower for companies and consumers. While the most important effect is on borrowing costs, QE is also thought to have been responsible for much of the strength of stock markets. Shares are among the assets that investors have bought with all the new money they have received from the Fed. The graph highlights the impact of the Fed's QE programme. It shows the changing level of what is called the monetary base. It's made up of cash and "reserves", money held by commercial banks at the Federal Reserve. Before the financial crisis it grew steadily, but then increased dramatically from late 2008 as the Fed created new money as it sought to stimulate the US economy. What impact? So that's what QE is. But has it worked? Its supporters say it has kept interest rates low for households and firms, stimulated job creation and saved the US economy from a much more severe downturn, even another Great Depression. Critics say it could lead to a new financial crisis, raging inflation and has punished responsible savers. So let's take those arguments, starting with the case for QE. Establishing the impact is not a straightforward question. It's not a matter of is the US economy in better or worse shape than it was, but is it better or worse than it would have been without QE? And of course you can't observe what the US economy would have looked like in those hypothetical circumstances. So economists have tried to work out what difference QE has made. With that caveat in mind, the former Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, said in 2012: "There is substantial evidence that the Federal Reserve's asset purchases have lowered longer-term yields and eased broader financial conditions." He also said that the first two rounds of QE raised economic activity by almost 3% and increased private sector jobs by two million - compared to what would have happened without QE. Fed official John Williams said later the same year: "We're at long last seeing signs of life in the housing market. Likewise, cheap auto financing rates have spurred car sales. And historically low corporate bond rates encourage businesses to start new projects and hire more workers." Having said that, QE has not given the US a particularly strong recovery. It has been weaker than many previous post-recession rebounds. Nonetheless Roger Bootle of Capital Economics thinks it was worthwhile. He wrote: "I suspect that in the US it (QE), and the other support programmes, prevented a complete disaster." So that's the case for the defence. But there are plenty of opponents with quite a catalogue of criticisms. A recurrent theme is the idea that QE creates a danger of surging inflation. The policy involves creating new money - an awful lot of a particular type of money - and there is a long history of economic theory that argues that rapid increases in the money supply eventually leads to higher inflation. At this point it's important to note what type of money the Fed has been creating. It's called reserves - money held by commercial banks in accounts at the central bank. In some circumstances increasing reserves can lead banks to lend more to the public, which creates new money in their accounts. But this time the increase in reserves did not translate into anything like as large an increase in money in the hands of the public and inflation has so far remained relatively subdued. Inflation pressure Prof Martin Feldstein of Harvard University says the risk is that banks might in the future use their reserves to expand lending to firms and households, which would increase the money supply and add to inflationary pressure. But he also says the Fed has options to prevent higher inflation. Some, including some Fed insiders, are worried that it will be difficult to get it right. One recently retired Fed economist warned of a serious inflation risk. Prof Allan Meltzer of Carnegie Mellon University supports the first stages of QE but says "the benefits ended long ago". He worries that by buying government debt or bonds, the Fed is in effect financing what he calls outsize deficits: "Sooner or later the results are inflation, always and everywhere." Prof John Cochrane of Chicago University has another criticism. He describes QE as a policy that creates a lot of noise but no real effect. It has no stimulative effect, but nor is it inflationary. But it's not harmless, he says. It distracts attention from what he considers the real obstacles to growth - tax and regulatory barriers. Then there is the idea that QE punishes savers, by driving down interest rates, while it rewards borrowers, some of them irresponsible ones. A study by the consultants McKinsey, published in 2013, found that the combined effect of low Fed interest rates and QE had cost US households $360bn (£220bn). By and large younger households - who are more likely to be borrowers - had gained; older ones - with more savings - had lost. Other estimates have put the figure even higher. The Fed's policies have even been described as a "war on seniors". There are also concerns about the impact of QE on financial markets. Has it created a danger of another bout of financial instability? The International Monetary Fund referred to that possibility in a recent report. Fuelling risk The IMF accepted that policies such as QE were important for economic recovery but it also warned of a danger of "excessive financial risk taking". Low interest rates make it cheap to borrow money to invest in financial assets. They also encourage investors to look for alternative assets that have higher returns, which are usually also riskier. They may be bonds issued by less creditworthy businesses, or shares in companies with uncertain prospects. That brings us to another criticism. One alternative chosen by many US investors seeking something more lucrative was to put money into emerging markets. In the process they drove up the value of many of the currencies. Many people in those countries worried that they would be made less competitive as a result. In 2010 the Brazilian Finance Minister, Guido Mantega, called it a "currency war". More recently that concern was turned on its head after the Fed signalled last year that QE was likely to be gradually "tapered" or discontinued. There were some episodes in which emerging market currencies fell markedly as investors pulled money back to the US anticipating the end of QE and the prospect of higher interest rates. The concern about competitiveness was overtaken by worries that falling currencies in emerging economies might aggravate inflation. QE is one, perhaps the most important, of a range of tools often described as "unconventional monetary policies". That is quite an understatement. Throwing huge sums of money at the financial markets is something that would normally bring a central banker out in a cold sweat. But the financial crisis was such a challenge that it led them to use tools they would normally keep locked away. One former Fed official once put it like this: "You don't want to be found dead after a shoot-out with unused ammunition." So QE may be ending, but we can be sure the debate about its impact will not. Has it saved the US, and perhaps the rest of us, from economic disaster? Or has it sowed the seeds for the next financial crisis? Quantitative Easing: Step by step

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