Are more African leaders ready to give up power?

Summary: It has been a mixed electoral year in Africa, with peaceful handovers of power, alongside allegations of rigging and incumbents refusing to accept defeat. The BBC's Dickens Olewe looks at the state of democracy in Africa.

The unexpected outcome of the election in The Gambia is by far the biggest political story of the year. Long-serving strongman President Yahya Jammeh was defeated in an open and free election and willingly conceded to the opposition candidate Adama Barrow. Even though Mr Jammeh subsequently rescinded his concession and has challenged the results in court, this has failed to dampen the symbolism of his defeat and the confidence it has given to many in Africa that a ballot revolution is possible. But did this moment, widely celebrated across the continent, represent a political trend? Two trajectories "We have two trajectories, one in which autocratic leadership is becoming more entrenched and it is undermining independence of electoral commission and in another where there is democratic consolidation and leaders are more willing to step down like in countries like Nigeria," Nic Cheeseman, associate Professor in African Politics at Oxford University, told the BBC. He says that African countries need to build institutions and insulate them from the influence of political leaders. Electoral commissions also need to be well funded and protected by the law and allowed to be in charge of their own activities, like registering of voters, he says. Key African elections in 2016: February: April: August: December: In Ghana, The Gambia and Nigeria last year, the electoral commissions received a lot of plaudits for overseeing free, fair and verifiable elections. Despite the political challenges, electoral commissions have to work to earn their credibility. Demystifying elections Dennis Kadima, an election observer at the Electoral Institute for Southern Africa (EISA) recalls that leading up to South Africa's local elections in August the electoral commission was facing a crisis of confidence but ended up conducting a free and fair election, a situation that has reversed its public perception. Political competition in most African countries is seen as a winner-takes-all competition. Michela Wrong's book It's Our Turn to Eat about corruption in Kenya captures perfectly the overall guiding reason for winning power. Ken Opalo, from Georgetown University in the US, says there needs to be a process of demystifying elections. "African countries need to get out of the business of treating each election as a one-off event." He adds that allowing for continuous registration of voters and staggering some elections would help manage the perceived stakes. Only seven countries in Africa are listed as "free" by the 2016 report of the think-tank Freedom House. Securing the vote It is often in the vote-counting process that opposition parties say they have been cheated. In Kenya, the ruling party recently defeated the opposition by passing a law allowing the use of a manual electoral system in next year's poll. The opposition says the push to use a manual system is a calculated plan to allow vote-rigging by manipulating the voter registration process, and providing for a less foolproof system for voter identification during voting and an easily manipulated system during transmission of votes. This is denied by the government, which says it is a necessary back-up in case the electronic system fails. "Part of the reason why it was so much harder to rig in Ghana is because results were announced at the local level," says Mr Opalo. This allowed for independent verification by news organizations. Disaggregated tallying should be non-negotiable." Mr Cheeseman, however, says posting party agents at thousands of polling stations across the country is an expensive undertaking which most political parties cannot afford. Keep the internet on He says that governments can easily undermine this aspect of vote watching by shutting off the internet. Several governments including Uganda, Chad, Niger and Gabon switched off the internet during elections this year, claiming that they wanted to stop the spread of falsehoods. Mr Cheeseman says that limiting internet access also means stopping the necessary transfer of voting information through internet-dependent applications, which makes life more difficult for election monitors. He proposes that it might be an important step for election observers to insist on an open and free internet as a key aspect of ensuring a free and fair election. Mr Kadima says that EISA has a benchmark of what constitutes a free and fair election: "We look at voter registration and work with political parties, civil societies and judiciaries" to ensure that standards are met. 'Pride in good elections' Kamissa Camara, West and Central Africa officer at the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), says that beyond the use of foolproof electoral systems, positive influences could also be playing a part in helping countries in West Africa hold credible elections. "We have seen several peaceful elections in Benin, Senegal, Burkina Faso and in Mali and you see people taking pride in holding good elections and that desire to hold a good election is spreading." "Democracy is making headway in West Africa thanks to shared positive expertise," she adds. Mr Kadima says that in assessing the state of democracy in Africa, it is important not to forget that there are 54 disparate countries on the continent and it would be unfair to compare them. "All these countries have different histories. Some are evolving while others are in a cycle but one thing is for certain, as we are seeing in DR Congo, the resilience and aspiration of the people for change will never die." As for what to expect next year, Mr Opalo says the Kenya election is the one to watch. He projects that there will be some violence but adds that it would be a reflection of what is at stake, rather than a descent into complete chaos and state failure. He also says it would be interesting to follow developments in Rwanda, where President Paul Kagame is expected to run for a third term. Read more:

यह अफ्रीका में एक मिश्रित चुनावी वर्ष रहा है, जिसमें सत्ता के शांतिपूर्ण हस्तांतरण के साथ-साथ धांधली और सत्ताधारियों द्वारा हार स्वीकार करने से इनकार करने के आरोप हैं। बीबीसी के डिकेंस ओलेव अफ्रीका में लोकतंत्र की स्थिति को देखते हैं।


The science behind why we take selfies

Summary: The selfie has arguably become the greatest photographic trend of our time. Why are we so interested in taking and sharing selfies and how does observing an image of yourself differ from observing a picture of someone else, asks University College London neuroscientist James Kilner.

Magazine MonitorA collection of cultural artefacts In everyday social situations we spend a lot of our time looking at and interpreting other people's faces and facial expressions. Indeed, reading and responding correctly to other people's facial expressions is essential for successful social interactions. Through our lifetimes we become experts at recognising and interpreting other people's faces and facial expressions. In contrast, we have very little experience of looking at our own faces. Our perception of our own facial expression comes from our sense of feeling our faces move. This lack of visual knowledge about our own faces means we have a very inaccurate representation of what our own faces look like at any given time. For example, it has been demonstrated that when people are shown an image of themselves and asked to match it they are unable to accurately produce the same facial expression without being able to see themselves. This lack of knowledge about what we look like has a profound effect on what we think we look like. When people are asked to pick a photograph which they think looks most like them - from a series of photographs in which an actual photograph has been digitally altered to produce more attractive and less attractive versions - people are very bad at selecting the original photograph. Given that we have a poor representation of what we look like, this is perhaps unsurprising. What is surprising is that people systematically choose images that have been digitally altered to make the person appear more attractive. In other words, we have an image of ourselves that tends to be younger and more attractive than we actually are. This might in part explain our obsession with selfies. For the first time we are able to take and retake pictures of ourselves until we can produce an image that come closer to matching our perception of what we think we look like. James Kilner spoke at a National Portrait Gallery panel discussion, The Curated Ego: What Makes a Good Selfie? Follow @BBCNewsMagazine on Twitter and on Facebook

यूनिवर्सिटी कॉलेज लंदन के न्यूरोसाइंटिस्ट जेम्स किल्नर पूछते हैं कि सेल्फी लेना यकीनन हमारे समय का सबसे बड़ा फोटोग्राफिक चलन बन गया है। हम सेल्फी लेने और साझा करने में इतनी दिलचस्पी क्यों रखते हैं और खुद की एक छवि को देखना किसी और की तस्वीर को देखने से कैसे अलग है।


India's Gujarat riots: 10 years on

Summary: BBC Hindi correspondent Rehan Fazal arrived in Gujarat on 28 February 2002, to cover religious riots that had broken out after a train carrying Hindu pilgrims the day before was set on fire, killing dozens. More than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, died in the outbreak of violence, one of the worst since Independence. Ten years later, he recounts the horrors of reporting the riots as a Muslim journalist.

My memory of those days has not dimmed. I arrived in Ahmedabad, Gujarat's main city, at around 08:00 on 28 February. Disturbances had not yet broken out, but I could see people milling around, protesting at busy intersections. As my driver and I travelled around the city, I could see a 200-strong crowd, carrying burning torches. They were shouting slogans and stopping vehicles. The moment our car stopped, it was surrounded by about 50 people. I tried to talk to them but my driver signalled that I should keep quiet. He tried to reason with them in Gujarati - that we were from the BBC, on our way to Godhra, the station where the 59 Hindus were charred to death, to report on the deaths. After plenty of persuasion, we were allowed to proceed. The situation was no different at Dakor where we were stopped by the police. They flatly refused to let us go further. My driver reversed the car and took a detour to Godhra. Soon, we hit Balasinor, where we were stopped by another angry crowd. The moment the vehicle stopped, some of them charged towards me. "Show us your identity card!" As the order was barked, from the corner of my eye I could see a man being dragged out of another car and stabbed repeatedly. He was lying in a pool of blood on the road, trying to cover his stomach with his hands. Again, the cry came: "Where is your identity card?" I hesitatingly took out my card - printed in English - and held it up to his face, covering my Muslim name with my thumb. Would I be subjected to the same treatment which I had just witnessed? Would I become another statistic in the scores of communal incidents that India had witnessed? Stay or go? One of the men in the crowd glared at me and gave my identity card a second look. Suddenly, an argument broke out among my tormenters. One of them got into my car and ordered me to record an interview. He gave me a long lecture on why Muslims were such a despicable lot. Finally, the man got out of the car and removed the burning tyres blocking our path. To my absolute and total relief, we were allowed to move forward. It was a close shave for me. Drenched in sweat, I thanked my stars that I was still alive. I was in two minds. Should I move further on an unpredictable journey in this volatile environment, or return to what I believed was the safety of Ahmedabad? My journalistic instincts prompted me to move on. We eventually reached the spot where the train was attacked. Only some police personnel were around. Stones were strewn all over the place. A policeman asked me to leave immediately. I met senior police official Raju Bhargava, who gave me the police account of how the trouble had started at 07:43 when the Sabarmati Express rolled in four hours late to Godhra station. He told me that the culprits had been arrested and the situation was under control. My driver and I decided to return to Ahmedabad. I had planned to spend the night in Godhra but my driver prevailed upon me to return to Ahmedabad as things were bound to get worse. About 10km into our journey, I saw a mob setting fire to some houses. I asked my driver to accelerate, but to my dismay, we discovered we had a flat tyre. It was replaced, but we then had another flat; we were standing in the middle of nowhere with no spare tyre. My driver decided to knock at the door of a nearby house. He persuaded the people who opened the door to lend him their scooter so that he could get the flat tyre repaired. As I sat alone in the car, waiting for the driver to return, I saw a mob heading towards our car. I quickly put my identity card, credit card and all my business cards under the carpet of the car. By sheer chance my wife's credit card was in my wallet. I clasped it in my hand. A man wearing a yellow headband asked me if I was a Muslim. I waved my hand in the negative. He asked for my identity card. I flashed my wife's credit card, which bore her name, Ritu. He misread it as Ritik and shouted to the mob, "His name is Ritik! Let him go!" We soon resumed our journey towards Ahmedabad, not knowing then that the city had been hit by spiralling violence. Not only did I survive Ahmedabad, but I managed to return to my family in Delhi without a scratch. Ten long years have passed since I reported on the murderous riots in Gujarat. Even as I continue to count my blessings, my mind wanders to the pain and suffering of those who were not as lucky as me.

बी. बी. सी. हिंदी संवाददाता रेहान फजल 28 फरवरी 2002 को धार्मिक दंगों को कवर करने के लिए गुजरात पहुंचे, जो एक दिन पहले हिंदू तीर्थयात्रियों को ले जा रही एक ट्रेन में आग लगने के बाद भड़के थे, जिसमें दर्जनों लोग मारे गए थे। हिंसा के प्रकोप में 1,000 से अधिक लोग, जिनमें ज्यादातर मुसलमान थे, मारे गए, जो स्वतंत्रता के बाद की सबसे खराब घटनाओं में से एक थी। दस साल बाद, वह एक मुस्लिम पत्रकार के रूप में दंगों की रिपोर्टिंग की भयावहता को याद करते हैं।


CCTV installed after spate of fires at Aberdeen's derelict Broadford Work

Summary: CCTV is to be installed at Aberdeen's derelict Broadford Works after a spate of fires, the city council has said.

Crews tackled four separate blazes in the disused factory on Thursday alone. Aberdeen City Council said it would install cameras following the fires at the former Richards textile mill, off Hutcheon Street. A spokesman said: "The building is surrounded by homes, businesses and busy roads so the consequences could have been devastating."

नगर परिषद ने कहा है कि आग लगने के बाद एबरडीन के परित्यक्त ब्रॉडफोर्ड वर्क्स में सीसीटीवी लगाया जाना है।


Alexander McQueen exhibition breaks V&A record

Summary: An exhibition dedicated to fashion designer Alexander McQueen has broken the Victoria & Albert (V&A) Museum's attendance record, attracting more than 480,000 people in five months.

That is 100,000 more than expected, the V&A's deputy director Tim Reeve said. The show, titled Savage Beauty, was so popular that it stayed open all night over its final two weekends. "We have a lot of experience running big exhibitions, but we did not predict it would be that big," Mr Reeve said. The ticket tally beat previous hit exhibitions including the Art Deco exhibition, which sold 359,499 tickets in 2003, and 2013's David Bowie show, which attracted 311,956 visitors. The exhibition, which closed on Sunday, showed elaborate costumes McQueen designed, including a dress of razor clams and a skirt made from plywood. It spanned his career from his degree show to his death at the age of 40 in 2010.

फैशन डिजाइनर अलेक्जेंडर मैकक्वीन को समर्पित एक प्रदर्शनी ने विक्टोरिया एंड अल्बर्ट (वी एंड ए) संग्रहालय की उपस्थिति का रिकॉर्ड तोड़ दिया है, जिसने पांच महीनों में 480,000 से अधिक लोगों को आकर्षित किया है।


Hurricane Dorian: Desperate search for missing in Bahamas

Summary: When the water surged to the level of their house's roof, Adrian Farrington grabbed his five-year-old son and put him there, thinking he would be safe. For almost an hour, he had been fighting the flood with a broken leg, carrying Adrian Farrington Jr, who would not stop crying.

"I keep telling him, 'Don't cry. Close your month,'" he told the Nassau Guardian, "'Don't cry. Keep breathing. Don't cry. Close your mouth.'" But before he could sit on the roof to hold his son, known as AJ, a gust of wind blew the boy back into the water. AJ screamed for help, "Daddy", but it was too late. The strong surge caused by Hurricane Dorian had already swallowed him. Yet Mr Farrington, 38, tried to rescue his son. He swam, hoping to find a piece of clothing or a shoe. But underwater there was nothing he could see. People who were in what was left of their neighbourhood in Murphy Town on Abacos Islands, the hardest-hit area, had already carried his wife to safety, and kept calling him. But Mr Farrington did not want to go. Not without his son. He tried again. And again, he found nothing. Exhausted from fighting the powerful currents, Mr Farrington, a carpenter, sought safety on higher ground. "If [my son is] rescued, I praise the Lord," he said. "You had sharks swimming in the water - anything could happen." Slowly, stories of survival and of families desperately searching for their loved ones are emerging from the Bahamas, where authorities are warning that the number of deaths caused by the hurricane will be "staggering". Dorian devastated the northern Bahamas as a category five hurricane, with winds reaching 185mph (297 km/h), matching the highest ever recorded at landfall. It stayed over affected areas for two days. Up until now, 30 people have been confirmed dead but this is likely to rise further as hundreds, possibly thousands, of people are still missing in the Abacos and Grand Bahama. Mr Farrington told the newspaper he had seen "the surge push homes off the foundation". And what the water did not destroy, the winds did. The Abacos are said to be virtually uninhabitable, with bodies piled up, no water, power or food, and militias formed to prevent looting. Aerial images over the Abacos showed mile upon mile of destruction, with roofs torn off, scattered debris, overturned cars, shipping containers and boats, and high water levels. Officials were sending morticians and 200 body bags. With telephone lines down in many areas, residents have posted lists of missing people on social media. On Facebook, a post by Our News Bahamas, a local news outlet, had more than 2,500 comments, mainly listing lost family members. After finding safety away from the water, Mr Farrington said he managed to reach a church where a dozen people were taking shelter. "The wall of the church was moving like when you put clothes on the line on a breezy day," he said. It then collapsed. He swam from the rubble, he told the newspaper, and watched a family trapped inside a house, unable to get out, as the water was blocking the door. In less than an hour, he said, he saw some 15 people die. Many bodies are still believed to be under the ruins of collapsed buildings across the island. Mr Farrington spent the night alone and was later rescued by residents who were probably looking for relatives. On Monday, he was flown to the capital, Nassau, and sent to the Princess Margaret Hospital where he was being treated for injuries on his right hand and two fractured bones in his right leg. AJ's older brother, Richard Johnson, is trying to find him. He carried a flyer with pictures of his missing brother to the National Emergency Management Agency. "There's a possibility he might be in a shelter," he told CBS News. As for Adrian Farrington, the only thing he wants is to hear AJ is alive. He told CBS: "I would want him to understand is that I love him and I tried everything possible... to save him."

जब पानी उनके घर की छत के स्तर तक बढ़ गया, तो एड्रियन फैरिंगटन ने अपने पांच साल के बेटे को पकड़ लिया और उसे वहाँ रख दिया, यह सोचकर कि वह सुरक्षित रहेगा। लगभग एक घंटे से, वह एक टूटे हुए पैर के साथ बाढ़ से लड़ रहा था, एड्रियन फैरिंगटन जूनियर को ले जा रहा था, जो रो नहीं रहा था।


Ebola crisis: Five ways to break the epidemic

Summary: With the worst-ever outbreak of Ebola revealing woefully inadequate health systems in West Africa, especially in those countries recovering from civil war, the international response and leadership of the World Health Organization (WHO) has also come in for criticism.

By Thomas FessyBBC West Africa correspondent Announcing US plans, President Barack Obama said the outbreak was "a threat to global security" which required a "global response". So, what would bring the epidemic under control? Here are five things officials say would help: 1) More treatment centres All agree this is key as the real number of cases is believed to be much higher than the 4,366 recorded. Victims in Liberia - the country worst-affected by Ebola - are spreading the virus, some dying on the streets, because there is not enough room at isolation clinics set up to treat infected patients. President Obama's plan to send 3,000 troops to build 17 healthcare facilities and train health workers has been met with some relief, especially in Liberia where most of this deployment will go. But it may take weeks before the first US beds are operational, and the WHO has confirmed that there are no free beds anywhere in Liberia at present. The aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has urged other countries to "deploy their civil defence and military assets, and medical teams, to contain the epidemic". Last week, the UK announced it would set up a 65-bed treatment centre for infected medical staff in Sierra Leone, and France has put a team of about 20 experts on rotation to Guinea. But Philippe Maughan, who works for Echo, the humanitarian aid branch of the European Commission, thinks MSF's expectations may be too high. "If it thinks there is a sort of foreign legion ready to deploy for this outbreak, there isn't," Dr Maughan says. "Ebola is a very specific virus for which even specialists in infectious diseases are not necessarily skilled." 2) Home care Until promised treatment centres are set up, this will be the best attempt to stem infections - especially in Liberia. Under broad medical supervision, affected communities would learn how to provide basic care using rehydration and painkillers. "It won't be possible without the participation of the community," warns Tarik Jasarevic, a WHO spokesman. This will include breaking down the fear of people wearing protective suits. But it is a risky move. "The need in personnel to have this work is big; supervision and discipline are key," says Dr Maughan. "Some will fail and some will work. It's not ideal, this is a last resort." MSF warns it will only work in the early stages of treatment. "As soon as their family member shows more severe symptoms, like bleeding, they will seek to bring them in a treatment centre anyway," says Brice de la Vigne, MSF's director of operations. 3) Air bridge and medevac system Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, the worst-hit states, have been isolated because of flight bans and borders being shut - despite WHO recommendations to the contrary. It has dealt a blow to their economies and food security will soon become an issue. Aid agencies are lobbying states to grant them humanitarian corridors. President Obama has promised to develop an air bridge to get supplies into affected countries faster. Senegal, where many UN agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have their regional offices, is expected to become a logistical hub. The authorities there have officially agreed to it but, sources say, remain reluctantly slow in turning the theory into practice. "I understand the concerns from the Senegalese government; Ebola was brought to Nigeria by an airline passenger after all, but we need to get equipment in these countries and we need to get staff in and out," Dr Maughan says. The evacuation of infected medical staff is also an issue, potentially limiting volunteers. 4) Preparation elsewhere Don't wait until there is a confirmed case to get ready and make sure what looks good on paper can work on the ground, is the warning to countries in the region. When it arrived in Nigeria, people were spooked, one diplomat told the BBC. "If the CDC (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention) hadn't sent 50 experts to Nigeria, they would not have it under control," Dr Maughan says. Medical kits are now being dispatched throughout the region and some countries have started public awareness campaigns. Medical agencies believe that if there are more cases in Senegal, where 67 people are still under surveillance after coming into contact with an infected Guinean student, the outbreak could be quickly stopped. But concerns remain over the capacity to act quickly in countries most at risk - Mali, Guinea-Bissau and Ivory Coast. "We are working with the authorities in Mali to get all the 86 health centres and hospitals we sponsor there ready," says Alexis Smigielski, head of the Dakar-based medical charity Alima. 5) Vaccines At least two experimental vaccines are looking promising and could be made available in West Africa in November if trials are conclusive. Injections would be given to medical staff as a priority. "It holds quite a lot of hope," says Dr Maughan. However, it could take several months to reach a production that would respond to the scale of demand. The WHO has also indicated that people who have survived can now provide blood to treat patients who are sick. But the UN health agency has warned that current lab experiments should not distract from the actual needs on the ground.

इबोला के सबसे खराब प्रकोप के साथ पश्चिम अफ्रीका में, विशेष रूप से उन देशों में जो गृहयुद्ध से उबर रहे हैं, अपर्याप्त स्वास्थ्य प्रणालियों का पता चलता है, विश्व स्वास्थ्य संगठन (डब्ल्यू. एच. ओ.) की अंतर्राष्ट्रीय प्रतिक्रिया और नेतृत्व की भी आलोचना हुई है।


BP announces two North Sea field sales to Mitsui and Co

Summary: Oil giant BP has announced the sale of its stakes in two North Sea fields for $280m (£179m).

BP has agreed to sell its minority interests in the Alba and Britannia fields to Japanese trading company Mitsui and Co. Trevor Garlick, regional president for BP North Sea, said the move was "part of our strategy to develop a more focused business in the UK and Norway". The deal is due to be completed by September.

तेल की दिग्गज कंपनी बी. पी. ने दो उत्तरी सागर क्षेत्रों में अपनी हिस्सेदारी $280 मिलियन (£179 मिलियन) में बेचने की घोषणा की है।


Letter from Africa: Ghana's footballing connection to Guantanamo Bay

Summary: In our series of letters from African journalists, Ghanaian writer Elizabeth Ohene looks at the uproar that greeted Ghana's decision to allow two Yemenis freed from the US jail in Guantanamo Bay to live in the West African state.

There is a general belief here that if you typed Ghana or Ghanaian into a search engine, the words that would be suggested automatically as a follow-up should be politics and football. It is these two subjects that spark animated discussions and get the juices flowing. Even though in football, we have not won anything on the continental or world stage for a very long time, we still believe that the Black Stars, our national team, are special. One of the inner sources of the strength that help Ghanaians survive is the fact that our national team regularly beats the national team of the United States at football. Trying to get a visa from Ghana to the United States is one of the most humiliating experiences for Ghanaians. But we are able to endure it all by simply repeating over and over again under our breaths: "World Cup 2006, we defeated you, World Cup 2010, we defeated you." Now, we discovered quite unexpectedly that defeating the US at football has even deeper implications, when news broke that our government had accepted two Yemeni ex-detainees, Khalid al-Dhuby and Mahmoud Omar Bin Atef, from Guantanamo Bay, where the US detains terror suspects, to live in Ghana. Elizabeth Ohene: "They are excited to come to Ghana because of Asamoah Gyan, the captain of the Black Star - they know him and they like him very much" The government has struggled to explain this decision. We have been told the two men pose no danger whatsoever to Ghana; they were innocent 20-year-olds when they were arrested and to drive home their innocence, our president compares them to his own 20-year-old son. We have been told that even though the two men are such thoroughly harmless and nice people, their every move will be monitored. Normally taciturn officials from the US embassy are suddenly all over the radio and television trying to assure us we should all be proud of our government for bringing to Ghana men the US Senate deems too dangerous to enter their country. When none of these interventions appeared to be calming the protests, the two thoroughly harmless and nice men were brought out to state their own case on national radio. Guantanamo Bay prison: The pair said they do not belong to any terrorist group, and have been wrongly arrested for 14 years without any charge. They have suffered but are not looking for revenge. They want to live in Ghana quietly and peacefully, and put their lives together. All that did not sound very convincing to any of us here; what everybody really wanted to know was why they had been brought to Ghana - did they just pick us on the map because Ghana happens to be the physical centre of the world? 'Celebrating the Black Stars' And suddenly it all comes tumbling out. They are excited to come to Ghana because of Asamoah Gyan, the captain of the Black Stars, they know him and they like him very much. A lot of the detainees like Ghanaians very much, and during the 2010 World Cup, most of the people there in Guantanamo Bay - no, not most of them, all of them - were with Ghana and when the Black Stars beat America, they were very happy. So now we know... beating America at football has consequences. I am afraid I don't know what happened to our secret supporters in Guantanamo in 2014. They obviously did not cheer loud enough that year, which must be why we lost to the US. And for that reason alone, I think our two long-term visitors should be sent back to reorganize our supporters club in Guantanamo. More from Elizabeth Ohene:

अफ्रीकी पत्रकारों के पत्रों की हमारी श्रृंखला में, घाना की लेखिका एलिजाबेथ ओहने उस हंगामे को देखती हैं जिसने ग्वांतानामो बे में अमेरिकी जेल से रिहा किए गए दो यमनी लोगों को पश्चिम अफ्रीकी राज्य में रहने की अनुमति देने के घाना के फैसले का स्वागत किया।


Reaction: Sun publishes Prince Harry naked photos

Summary: The Sun has become the first British newspaper to publish the photos of a naked Prince Harry taken in Las Vegas. This was despite warnings from the Royal Family's lawyers that it would be an invasion of his privacy. Here is some of the reaction to the decision and the issues the photos have raised.

The Sun "There is a clear public interest in publishing the Harry pictures, in order for the debate around them to be fully informed. The photos have potential implications for the prince's image representing Britain around the world. There are questions over his security during the Las Vegas holiday. Questions as to whether his position in the Army might be affected. "Further, we believe Harry has compromised his own privacy. These are not pictures of him and a girlfriend at Balmoral. The prince was in Vegas, the party capital of a country with strong freedom-of-speech laws, frolicking in the pool before inviting strangers to his hotel room for a game of strip billiards. These are hardly the acts of a man jealously guarding his privacy." St James's Palace "We have made our views on Prince Harry's privacy known. Newspapers regulate themselves, so the publication of the photographs is ultimately a decision for editors to make. "We have no further comment to make either on the publication of the photographs or on the story itself concerning Prince Harry's private holiday in Las Vegas." Kelvin MacKenzie, former Sun editor "Fortunately America is known as the land of the free, which is the opposite position of the UK where you're starting to get prime ministers like Cameron wheeling out judges like Leveson, and Parliament, who want to gang up exclusively on newspapers in the UK. Whereas, of course, readers in every other part of the world and on every website in the world, including major news organisations like CNN, have been publishing these pictures for the last 36 hours. It really is absolutely shocking." Paul Connew, former News of the World deputy editor "A running theme during the Leveson Inquiry, and one of the great dilemmas I think for Lord Justice Leveson as he sits down and writes his report, is the future and the economic viability of newspapers, both broadsheets and popular, in the UK in the age of the web. "Can you have a scenario where what's available on the web and also being carried by legitimate major organisations like CNN and NBC around the world, and yet it can't be printed in the UK itself? I think that's simply irrational and also illogical, and effectively doesn't fit with the world as it is in the age of the internet and social media." Mark Stephens, media lawyer "The law [on Thursday] in this country was that they couldn't publish the pictures, absent some pressing public interest. There is no public interest yesterday and there's no public interest today and there'll be no different public interest tomorrow. So it was illegal yesterday to publish these pictures, it's illegal today to publish them and its illegal tomorrow to publish them. And I think this is just a publicity stunt from the Sun." Brian Cathcart, director of campaign group Hacked Off "This is the country's biggest-selling newspaper breaking the industry's own code [of practice] despite clear warnings. It is flagrant proof that our national newspapers are incapable of regulating their own affairs. The Sun's argument that this is about freedom of the press is nonsense. This is about the Sun's right to trample over the industry's own feeble rules when it likes, and also to invade people's privacy whenever it chooses." John Whittingdale, Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee chairman "I'm not sure where the public interest lies in publishing them [the pictures]. The fact that they happened is well known. How the public interest is served by doing this is not clear. I don't at the moment know their reasons for publishing them but I would be concerned if this is more about trying to boost the circulation of their newspapers." Gerry Sutcliffe, Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee member "I think it's a grave mistake. First of all, we need to know, did the Sun pay for any of the pictures, which would be an interest as far as I'm concerned. But I'm just concerned. Yes, people know the pictures are around. This was supposed to be a private situation and clearly it's not. And what is the public interest?" Don Foster, co-chairman, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Policy Committee on Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport "I don't think that there is any public interest justification in showing photographs of an individual that happens to be a member of the Royal Family in a private setting. I can see no justification for that whatsoever. "I think that the person who's done the most wrong, of course, is the person who broke Prince Harry's trust and sold the photographs." Lord Prescott, former Deputy Prime Minister "It is not about privacy. It is about money, money, money. And they know that by exclusively printing the pictures, assuming they are the only paper which does, they will get everybody buying the paper to see this. So they show an utter contempt even for the body [the Press Complaints Commission] they still have some influence in." Chris Blackhurst, editor of the Independent "We've taken the decision from the very off that we're not going to publish these pictures. They were taken in a private place, private party, we thought there was an issue of privacy, and that's where we are. He was only doing, let's face it, what a lot of Sun readers do every weekend on stag parties and they don't expect to be on the front page of that morning's paper." Daily Mirror spokesman "The Daily Mirror took the decision not to publish the pictures of Prince Harry because we would be in clear breach of the Press Complaints Commission's Editors' Code of Practice, regarding intrusion of privacy, which we signed up to and we stand by that decision." Gordon Young, editor of the Drum, which says it was the first UK media organisation to publish the pictures "There's really two levels to this story. Obviously you've got the primary story which is really about the existence of these pictures which is much more of a mainstream newspaper type angle. But our interest in this is really the secondary story of really looking at the media response, and also the Royal Family's response to that media coverage. So from our point of view it would have been very difficult not to use these pictures." Steve Hewlett, media commentator "If this was a court case and it was a question about whether information could be published or not, then a judge would say 'well, once it's out there you can't put the genie back in the bottle, in which case I'm not going to restrain publication any further'. So there does come a point of kind of common sense, when it's so widely available that it simply, it's almost meaningless and potentially quite an improper infringement on liberty to try and restrict it. We are at this point with these pictures. "A year ago I think these would have been published without question and very widely commented on." Boris Johnson, Mayor of London "I think it'd be disgraceful if a chap wasn't allowed to have a bit of fun in Las Vegas. The real scandal would be if you went all the way to Las Vegas and you didn't misbehave in some trivial way." Hugh Robertson, Sports Minister "On a personal level, I feel very, very sorry for him. He's a smashing young man, he's given great service to this country and I'm sure he must be feeling pretty wretched. "I just hope everybody can say to him that we understand why it happens and it's not going to affect the way that people look at him because he is a smashing young man." Graham Smith, chief executive of campaign group Republic "Would the media have published these photographs immediately if they were of a politician? If so, then it's a clear case of double standards. We need to ask why we treat the Windsor family differently to other public servants. "The last people the media should be kowtowing to are the royal family, especially given their exemption from the Freedom of Information Act and the secrecy surrounding their finances." Max Clifford, public relations consultant "Yes, there is huge public interest. Yes, it is a ridiculous situation that everybody around the world can see these pictures and people in Britain can't. But should we be looking at these pictures? Do we have the right? Can we justify it? "In my view it clearly invades his privacy and the ends don't justify the means." Elisabeth Murdoch, chairwoman of TV production company Shine, owned by News Corp "I think it would be very sad if we lived in a world where we can't publish that picture. "We've all seen the pictures online. If newspapers can't participate in that, I think it asks questions about where print and online are going." Dominic Ponsford, editor of trade magazine Press Gazette "I don't completely buy the Sun's argument that the 20% of Britons without internet access have as much right to see pictures of Prince Harry's bum as those who are online. "But I think they had a duty to make that argument and to publish the pictures in the UK. "I can't help feeling that if everyone had dutifully abided by the wishes of Clarence House, UK press freedom would have been diminished." Thomas Mills, secretary general of the British Monarchist Society "David Dinsmore's decision to run these photos truly shows the Sun's desperation to capitalise on Prince Harry's private moments in a private atmosphere to advertise and sell the Sun newspaper. "The photos were already online and available to the masses, and those who wanted to see them already have for free, so the decision to run these private photos only works in the interest of the Sun itself, and for the freedom of the press which is the premise the Sun used as a defence to publish the photos. "This is not about Prince Harry, but the Sun's blatant violation of the codes of reporting they agreed to and to see how far they can push boundaries for their own agenda." Dai Davies, former head of Royal protection, Metropolitan Police "Threat comes from a variety of different sources and those officers [who were with Prince Harry in Las Vegas] should know that. And particularly in this particular environment, the threat could have come from terrorism, from pro-IRA and indeed from certain aspects of the press. "This could easily have been a set-up for him and I am really concerned that those in authority in the Metropolitan Police still seem to say that their job is just to physically protect him. "I take the view the reputation of the Royal Family is about their whole reputation, and this has tarnished it. And no matter how we all like Harry - and indeed the esteem that the family has been held in the last year has gone up tremendously, and has to be applauded - but this kind of behaviour, either by him and those charged with protection, doesn't do any favours to anyone in my opinion."

द सन लास वेगास में लिए गए राजकुमार हैरी की नग्न तस्वीरों को प्रकाशित करने वाला पहला ब्रिटिश समाचार पत्र बन गया है। यह शाही परिवार के वकीलों की चेतावनियों के बावजूद था कि यह उनकी निजता पर आक्रमण होगा। यहाँ निर्णय और तस्वीरों द्वारा उठाए गए मुद्दों पर कुछ प्रतिक्रियाएँ दी गई हैं।


Asbo: The end of an era

Summary: Ministers are scrapping the anti-social behaviour order, but its acronym - immortalised via countless nicknames and T-shirt slogans - will take longer to shift from British common parlance. So why did Asbos capture the imagination?

By Jon KellyBBC News Magazine In 2005 a new word entered both the Oxford and Collins English dictionaries. Four letters and two syllables long, it was concise and instantly memorable - Asbo. It stood for anti-social behaviour order, a legal mechanism first introduced across England, Scotland and Wales in 1998. But very quickly it came to mean something altogether more. Perhaps it was the acronym's brevity and rhythm. Or it might have been to do with burgeoning unease about social breakdown. Either way, Asbo quickly became shorthand for anything to do with disruptive, antagonistic behaviour contrary to societal norms. Headline writers seized upon the term with gusto. A mini-industry flourished selling T-shirts, hoodies and even babies' playsuits emblazoned with Asbo-related slogans. Bands were formed with names like Asbo and The Asbo Kid, the freshly minted word offering a suggestion of rebelliousness and up-to-the-minute savvy. The trend extended to the animal kingdom. An American pit bull cross shot dead by police marksmen after it mauled a baby in south London was the subject of widespread press attention after it emerged the dog's owner had named it Asbo. Two years later an aggressive swan which attacked a series of rowers on the River Cam in Cambridgeshire was, inevitably, christened Mr Asbo by the media. But then concerns began to be expressed that those "Asbo" T-shirts were not only being sported by individuals with a keenly developed sense of irony. In 2006, a report by the Youth Justice Board suggested the order had become a "badge of honour" to some. Critics argued over whether it was a symbol of the Blair government's creeping authoritarianism or a godsend for communities blighted by a minority of nuisance neighbours. Either way, Asbos had made the leap from legal jargon into popular culture. Now the government has announced plans to scrap them and six related orders, replacing them with the less-euphonious CBOs (Criminal Behaviour Orders) and CPIs (Crime Prevention Injuctions). But it may take longer to shift the word itself from conversational English. "As acronyms go, it's an easy one to pronounce," says Charlotte Brewer, professor of English language and literature at Hertford College, Oxford. "If you're reading an article it jumps out of the page at you. "It's not that it was describing a new phenomenon - people have always behaved badly to their neighbours. But sometimes a word just takes off." Certainly, there were plenty of Asbos that captured the imagination. A Wearside woman banned from having noisy sex with her husband, an 87-year-old ordered to stop playing her Glenn Miller records too loudly and a man banned from sniffing petrol on forecourts in Teesside all secured reams of column inches for the orders. But some argue that the acronym caught on because it reflected a common sense of malaise. The year 2005 saw another word added to the Collins English Dictionary - chav, defined as "a young working class person who dresses in casual sports clothing". According to Peter Squires, professor of criminology and public policy at the University of Brighton, both terms were popularised at a time when the poorest in Britain were increasingly set apart from the rest of society and demonised. "It was a media phenomenon - Vicky Pollard, Jeremy Kyle, this intense scrutiny of the underclass," he says. "And then you had Asbo T-shirts. It became an alternative cultural icon." Nonetheless, Squires believes that, although overall crime rates were falling in this period, genuine frustrations about anti-social behaviour and the failure of the authorities to tackle it were widespread. "What was preoccupying people was a range of low-level nuisances that the police didn't prioritise," Squires adds. "It's the idea of the short, sharp shock - a metaphorical clip around the ears. The Asbo had that element of quick and dirty justice. That was part of its populist appeal." This certainly won the system many supporters in areas affected by anti-social behaviour. For nearly two years Lesley Pullman, 63, had to endure near-constant noise and harassment before she helped secure Asbos against a gang who congregated around a house in her street in New Moston, Manchester. Residents who complained were subjected to intimidation and Pullman's car was repeatedly vandalised. But as a result of the orders - secured directly as a result of campaigns by local people - two troublemakers were jailed, and the torment ceased. "It was like a magic wand round here," she says. "It was the first time in my life that legislation was brought out specifically for communities. It was empowering." For sceptics, however, Asbos were an illiberal mechanism to target behaviour that would not ordinarily warrant criminal prosecution. Civil libertarians protested that the orders undermined Labour's promise to be "tough on the causes of crime" and tacitly encouraged vigilantism. "They made us a more judgemental, censorious country," Squires says. "But I'm not sure they were very effective at all." As evidence he cites Youth Justice Board research suggesting that after being imposed, half of all Asbos were broken. For Pullman, however, this was not evidence of failure but proof that firm action needed to be taken against the perpetrators - a mechanism that she says would not have existed without Asbos. "We expected (the orders) to be breached," she says. "These were repeat offenders, after all. "But the badge of honour stuff was rubbish. It's just bravado - the perpetrators hate them. You see it in their faces when they go into court. That's why they get their solicitors to fight them so hard." The public's own attitude towards them was curiously counter-intuitive. A Mori poll in 2005 suggested that 82% supported Asbos, despite the fact that only 39% believed they were effective. Now, of course, their days are numbered. Ministers say Asbos are overly bureaucratic to impose and that crime should be treated as crime. In their place, the government says its new orders will be available at an earlier stage of bad behaviour and be easier and faster to use. They are also piloting a "community trigger", whereby police would be forced to respond if five households complain, or the same individual complains three times. Even before the Conservative-Liberal coalition came to power, the government had fallen out of love with the Asbo. The year 2006 saw the number issued drop by 34%. In 2008, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith called for greater use of "early intervention" measures, echoing remarks by Children's Secretary Ed Balls that he wanted to live in a society that "puts Asbos behind us". Despite this, the term itself shows little sign of departing the national discourse. "This interesting thing is, when it disappears judicially, whether the word will stay," says Brewer. If it does, popular culture's attachment to this handy acronym might tell us yet more about modern Britain. Key changes explained Existing powers on the left, proposed powers on the right Key: CRASBO = Criminal Anti-Social Behaviour Order; DBO = Drink Banning Order; CR DBO = Drink Banning Order on Conviction; ASBI = Anti-Social Behaviour Injunction; ISO = Individual Support Order; IO = Intervention Order.

मंत्री समाज-विरोधी व्यवहार व्यवस्था को समाप्त कर रहे हैं, लेकिन इसके संक्षिप्त नाम-अनगिनत उपनामों और टी-शर्ट के नारों के माध्यम से अमर-को ब्रिटिश आम बोलचाल से हटने में अधिक समय लगेगा। तो फिर एस्बोस ने कल्पना पर कब्जा क्यों किया?


Rock, paper scissors and the fierce world of Japanese pop

Summary: What if it all depended on a rock, paper, scissors contest? Everything you had ever worked for your entire life, decided by a split-second choice. Rock. Paper. Scissors. For 24-year-old Miku Tanabe, that is exactly what happened.

By Mariko OiBBC News When gripping footage emerged last month of what appeared to be the most intense and melodramatic response to victory in any rock, paper, scissors contest in the history of mankind, the internet was beside itself with bewilderment. The crowd roared, she doubled over, wept with joy, the frenzy rose - and finally, she just looked at her hand, her bare hand, the true hero of this historic win. What most people did not know was this was a contest that decided which member of wildly popular Japanese girl group AKB48 would get to front the band. "For the last decade, I didn't get to do much TV work or didn't stand in the front row of our performance at the AKB theatre," Tanabe told the BBC. Suddenly her hysteria made much more sense. What lies behind the almost comic melodrama is actually a story of personal ambition, disappointment and an insight into Japan's unique music industry. Since 2005, the AKB48 group has sold more than 40 million singles and it has become little short of a phenomenon in the time it has been active. There are some 130 girls, not 48, in AKB48, and not all of them get to be part of their songs or TV appearances. They gained popularity as "idols you can go and meet" because members hold a daily performance at the AKB theatre in Akihabara. They are usually selected by producer Yasushi Akimoto based on their popularity. And in what's known as the "AKB48 general election", the members of not only AKB48 but also its sister groups have been ranked by their fans annually since 2009. The competition between them can be intense and despite making it to one of the most sought-after pop music outfits in the country, it is easy to feel like you have failed. While Tanabe is a 10-year veteran of the band, it's safe to say she hasn't really enjoyed the spotlight. Her best performance was when she came 71st out of 296 girls in 2014 in the popularity contest. At that time it seemed to be the best outcome she could hope for so for the last two years, she didn't even stand in the AKB general election. She appeared to have given up becoming identified as a successful member of the group. But seven years ago the selection took an unusual twist when the management began holding an annual competition of rock, paper, scissors, or scissor, paper, stone, as it is otherwise known. "This competition gives an opportunity to any members, so when I first heard that I could grab an opportunity to be selected by winning at rock, paper, scissors, I was excited and was very motivated," she told the BBC. For six years, she didn't come close to winning this game of chance. In 2010, she came 12th in the rock, paper, scissors competition. Then it got to October 2016. "When I got to the final match, when I realised I might actually win, I was actually more scared than being thrilled," she recalled. The rest is internet history. As the winner, Tanabe got to be the lead singer of a seven-member unit for their newly released song "Sakasa zaka". "I felt that all my hard work for the last decade has paid off," she told the BBC. Four months before she won the rock, paper, scissors competition, she wrote in her blog that "I am probably approaching the end-of-life as an idol but I want to do what I can." So the victory came as a surprise and reassured her that she was right not to have given up and felt justified in persevering despite the setbacks. "I was selected because I continued being part of AKB48," she said. "It was purely based on luck and the result was something I've long been wanting for." The competition is not without controversy. Some viewers complained in 2012 - when Japan's territorial dispute with China was at its recent peak - to ask why a TV station dropped a news programme to broadcast a mere rock, paper, scissors competition. When an already popular member won the competition in 2013, others asked if it was staged. And despite the brief attention that Tanabe enjoyed, her song hasn't been performing too well. This is a brutally competitive industry which is difficult to get into and even harder to maintain any hard-earned popularity and certainly comes with the dark side. AKB48 as a group has so far survived its ups and downs, partly thanks to the reality TV elements of these competitions. And Tanabe is well aware the spotlight won't be on her forever. On the day of her CD sale, she had a poignant tweet: "I doubt I'd ever take centre stage again in my life," and urged her fans to buy it for memory's sake.

क्या होगा अगर यह सब एक चट्टान, कागज, कैंची प्रतियोगिता पर निर्भर करता है? जो कुछ भी आपने अपने पूरे जीवन के लिए काम किया है, वह एक विभाजित-सेकंड विकल्प द्वारा तय किया गया है. रॉक. पेपर. कैंची। 24 वर्षीय मिकू तनाबे के लिए, ठीक यही हुआ।


Kronospan hosts meeting after Chirk sawdust release

Summary: A wood panel manufacturer has met with local councillors and environment officials to discuss the release of sawdust from its factory in Chirk.

Kronospan apologised for the incident which caused fibres to fall on homes and businesses, prompting complaints. Monday's routine meeting was held behind closed doors. Wrexham council described the meeting as "positive". A spokesman said investigations by its officials and the company were continuing.

एक लकड़ी के पैनल निर्माता ने चिरक में अपने कारखाने से भूसे को छोड़ने पर चर्चा करने के लिए स्थानीय पार्षदों और पर्यावरण अधिकारियों से मुलाकात की है।


Iraqi Kurds call for better weapons against Islamic State

Summary: "It would have taken us much, much longer to take this back, if it hadn't been for the air strikes," said the Peshmerga commander as he picked his way through a sea of rubble and debris.

By Jim MuirBBC Middle East correspondent, Syria-Iraq border He was at the unfinished hospital building in Rabia where militants of the Islamic State (IS) held out for three days against Kurdish forces as they battled to regain the strategic border town last week. Rabia controls the main highway linking the two biggest cities of the northern Arab world, Mosul in northern Iraq and Aleppo in Syria, at the point where it crosses the border between the two countries. The hospital building where IS fighters made their stand was devastated by the fighting. It had never been commissioned as a hospital, and will need to be completely rebuilt before it is. While the basic structure is still standing, huge blast-holes show where missiles or bombs from coalition air strikes penetrated the building, blowing out much of the interior. This was where the British RAF staged its first air strikes in Iraq in the current conflict, after conducting many reconnaissance flights. Still sprawled in the chaotic debris are the gruesome remains of several IS militants who died there, their corpses left to rot in the rubble after a desultory attempt to cremate them by pouring fuel over them and setting them alight. The battle for the hospital building illustrated the effectiveness of air strikes which, the Kurds say, sped up their operation and probably enabled them to avoid taking heavier casualties themselves. But the limitations of Western coalition support for the Kurds were highlighted by events just 10km (six miles) away to the east, on the highway that leads to IS-held Tal Afar and Mosul. Iraqi arms On the day that Rabia fell, the Kurds say an earthworks barricade they erected on the road to prevent IS bringing up reinforcements came under attack from no fewer than seven suicide vehicle bombs. Several of the attacks were foiled when Peshmerga fighters shot and killed bombers in civilian cars before they could set off their charges. But a tanker truck with an armoured cab defied everything the Kurds had to throw at it. It crashed into the barricade, hitting one of the unexploded car bombs and setting off a blast which devastated several Peshmerga vehicles. Among the 10 members of the Peshmerga's elite special forces who died in the explosion was one of its commanders, General Shaikh Omar Babkai, who we had filmed just two weeks earlier on a visit to the front by the Kurdistan president, Masoud Barzani. After the death of Gen Babkai, a veteran Peshmerga who was wounded five times over the years in battles with Saddam Hussein's forces, we drove to his home village, Mamola, in the mountainous far north of the country near the Turkish border, where we spoke to his brother Samad. Like Gen Babkai and many other men in the area, Samad is also a Peshmerga officer. Gen Babkai's only son, Mir Khan, who is 17, is preparing to join the Peshmergas when he finishes his studies. "We are proud of his martyrdom in this way, and we are ready to offer more sacrifices to protect and liberate Kurdistan," Samad said. "But there is a deficiency in the arms we have. If they'd had more advanced weapons there, my brother would not have been killed, and the enemy would have been smashed much more quickly. "Only the Peshmerga are seriously fighting IS," he added. "If we had the kind of arms the Iraqi army was given, we'd have destroyed the terrorists long ago." Defying death In Mazne, a nearby village in this Kurdish heartland, the point was echoed by one of the survivors of the suicide attacks at Rabia. Nabih Hassan was with three other Peshmergas, all from the same family in Mazne, who were in one of the vehicles destroyed in the bomb blast. Badly wounded, he was the only one of the four who lived. "If we'd had more sophisticated weapons, such as anti-armour missiles, we could have blown up the tanker while it was still far away, before it could get to us," he said. One of the Mazne Peshmergas who died in the same vehicle was Ziro Hassan, who was manning an anti-aircraft "doshka" weapon used as a machine gun. "He is not the first martyr we have given, nor will he be the last," said his brother Majid Hassan, also a Peshmerga general. Such words, repeated by all the bereaved, are not empty rhetoric. "Since 1961, our family has given 39 martyrs," he said. "We are ready to sacrifice to the last drop of our blood to preserve Kurdistan." While the Kurdish readiness to fight and die for their country is well established - "Peshmerga" means, roughly, "those who defy death" - the IS cult of embracing "martyrdom" by committing suicide on the battlefield is something else. Suicide belts We saw evidence of it at the same front-line position east of Rabia where the multiple vehicle bomb attacks were mounted. Three days later, the IS militants launched a frontal attack on the Peshmerga defence line by around 100 fighters, many of them strapped up with suicide belts. But the Kurds were ready. The maize and sunflower plantations on the plain in front of them were turned into a killing field. The Peshmerga said many of the attackers exploded as they were hit by gunfire. We found at least 20 IS corpses scattered in the dirt. One was still wearing a suicide device, its detonator clearly visible. All that was left of another, whose explosives had gone off, was his head and upper chest. "They are ready to die, they love death, and it's hard to stop an enemy if they want to die," said Masrour Barzani, head of security and intelligence in Iraqi Kurdistan. "This is the enemy we are facing - they love to kill, they love to die, and unfortunately, they have access to the weapons they need to fight with. "The problem is that right now the kind of support and armament that we are getting is not to the level where it can help the Peshmergas fight this enemy, especially when they have these armoured vehicles. "We have not asked for any ground forces. Our Peshmergas are here, they are giving their lives, and all we need from the rest of the world is to help us with effective weapons to protect these people who are actually fighting on its behalf, fighting these terrorists who have come from all over the world." Future planning Kurdish leaders say that, in addition to armour-piercing weapons which would stop suicide bombers and other armoured IS attacks, they believe that a qualitative upgrade to tanks and helicopters would give them a much better chance of defeating the militants. They admit that such weapons would require extensive training, which would take time. "But if we don't start now, we won't have them next year, when this war will still be going on and we will need them," said one senior official. "It's going to be a very tough fight, and we're going to lose people," added Mr Barzani. "We are not getting what we need. Air strikes are very effective, we're grateful for them and we hope that they could continue and be expanded, but definitely there is much more to be done, especially on the ground." So far, most of the arms supplied to the Kurds since the current crisis began have been restricted to light weaponry and ammunition, though Britain has delivered 40 heavy machine guns and the Germans are training the Peshmerga on Milan anti-tank rockets.

पेशमर्गा कमांडर ने मलबे और मलबे के समुद्र से अपना रास्ता चुनते हुए कहा, "इसे वापस लेने में हमें बहुत, बहुत अधिक समय लग जाता, अगर यह हवाई हमले के लिए नहीं होता।"


Ronnie Corbett: 60 years of making Britain laugh

Summary: Ronnie Corbett has been made a CBE for services to entertainment and charity in the New Year Honours. One of Britain's best loved comics, he has been performing for more than 60 years and puts success down to his family.

Famous for his rambling monologues and jokes about his short stature, at 81 Ronnie Corbett already has an OBE - picked up in 1978. He is best known for starring in the BBC's TV sketch show the Two Ronnies alongside his late comedy partner Ronnie Barker. It began in 1971 and ran for 12 series over 17 years. But the Edinburgh-born comedian began his career in the early 1950s. He decided to go into showbusiness after playing the wicked aunt in a youth club pantomime in his home city, and after doing his national service in the Royal Air Force his first jobs were bit parts in film and theatre. It was while performing as part of Danny La Rue's cabaret show at Winston's in London - a spell he describes as "very important" to his career - that he was first spotted by David Frost, who asked him to appear in 1960s satire The Frost Report. 'Extremely happy' He first rose to fame alongside John Cleese and Ronnie Barker on the show. Corbett has not been shy of joining forces with the next generation of comic talent. Much to the public's delight, he appeared as a mischievous version of himself in an episode of Extras five years ago, in which he snorts cocaine during the Baftas. This summer he presented a two-part series, Ronnie Corbett's Comedy Britain, in which he delved into the comedy archive to find out who inspired stars such as The Office's co-creator Stephen Merchant, sitcom star Miranda Hart and Peep Show duo David Mitchell and Robert Webb, among others. He has supported several charities during his career including the RNLI and Comic Relief, for which he teamed up with comedian Peter Kay in the charity video of Is This The Way To Amarillo? In August he said that the secret to his success has been his happy family life. Corbett, who married actress and dancer Anne Hart in 1965, said then: "My extremely happy marriage is the spine of the whole thing. "I have a contented life with two lovely daughters, so that makes it all rather special."

रॉनी कॉर्बेट को नए साल के सम्मान में मनोरंजन और दान की सेवाओं के लिए सीबीई बनाया गया है। ब्रिटेन की सबसे पसंदीदा कॉमिक्स में से एक, वह 60 से अधिक वर्षों से प्रदर्शन कर रहे हैं और सफलता को अपने परिवार तक सीमित रखते हैं।


Housing associations bring £1bn to economy in Wales

Summary: Welsh housing associations directly contributed more than £1bn to the economy in 2014/15, an independent report has said.

The Welsh Economy Research report showed 79% of direct spend was retained in Wales, and associations built nearly 2,000 affordable homes. This was an increase of 4% on the previous year. The annual report, commissioned by Community Housing Cymru, looked at the impact of social housing in Wales. Welsh Housing Associations £1.1bn contributed to the economy in 2014/15 £872m of that was retained in Wales 1,923 new homes built in 2014/15 £301m on repairs/maintenance in 2014/15 £532m on regeneration in 2014/15

एक स्वतंत्र रिपोर्ट में कहा गया है कि वेल्श आवास संघों ने 2014/15 में अर्थव्यवस्था में सीधे £1 बिलियन से अधिक का योगदान दिया।


2012 Olympics: What will Coventry's legacy be?

Summary: People chat in the sun in Coventry's new pedestrian square while others watch acrobats rehearse for a Cultural Olympiad event. The city, which is hosting Olympic football, has a twinkle in its eye. But will there be an Olympic legacy for Coventry after the buzz has gone?

By Clare LissamanBBC News John Mutton, Coventry City Council Leader, likes to sit in Broadgate, the central square pedestrianised as about £8m of work was carried out ahead of the Olympics. "I just sit on a bench sometimes reading a newspaper, trying to be hidden away and I love hearing what people say," he said. The Olympics were the "hook" that attracted £3.5m of European funding to the council's spending and speeded projects up. "We used the Olympics as a council as a reason why we needed to improve the look of the city and particularly the city centre and it's not just for visitors because that's part of the legacy for Coventry people," he said. Simon Chadwick, professor of Sports Business Strategy and Marketing at Coventry University, said some city schemes did not result from the Olympics, but their value was as "enabler and facilitator" bringing projects forward. The city's revamp has also included bringing into better use medieval properties, removing "grotty subways" and providing more green spaces. Labour leader Mr Mutton said two or three international companies were showing interest in rebuilding the city centre, which would be a "major boost" for the economy. "They have seen that we are a city that is not prepared to use the recession as an excuse to sit back and do nothing and we want to drive this city forward," he said. Mr Mutton said although it was "hard to quantify" the economic benefits of the Olympics, they had had a significant impact on creating and safeguarding jobs. Firms in the city and Warwickshire won contracts exceeding £80m, including a factory which made the Olympic relay torches. And he had heard predictions that £50m would be spent in Coventry by visiting football fans. 'Legacy of pride' However, Prof Chadwick said many visitors were bypassing the city and going straight to the Ricoh Arena - renamed the City of Coventry Stadium for the Olympics. He anticipated their spend would therefore be "in the hundreds of thousands" rather than millions. "I'm not sure the economic impact will be significant," he said. Meanwhile, Mr Mutton said although legacies were very difficult to predict, he hoped the city's appearance on the world stage would have a profound impact. There has been more than 50,000 downloads of the city's Olympic app around the world which he said had prompted much interest in Coventry, including from tour operators. Mr Mutton said he wanted tourists to stay in the city for several days instead of the traditional hour at the cathedral before going "off to Stratford or the Cotswolds". He also hopes the city's Games involvement will install pride. "That's what I want, because I believe if that happens, a lot of the other problems that exist in the city will be overcome as well," he said. This is a view shared by Tom Clift, who has been finding ways of bringing regional benefits from the Olympics, both as manager of a group combining voluntary, private and public bodies, and now for the council. He highlighted how up to 8,000 pupils had tried activities as part of the Festival of Sport programme, while about 1,000 residents were involved in Godiva Awakes - the city's Cultural Olympiad festival. More than 300 people had also volunteered to welcome visitors as "Coventry ambassadors". "I think the legacy will be pride from local people, the building work achieved and the local economic impact," Mr Clift said. 'Jury out' He added the Africa Inspires project, which twinned five Coventry and Ugandan schools and forged links between rotary clubs, helped provide access to clean water in Kampala and created sports opportunities. As it was a pilot project, Mr Clift said funding partners would decide if it would continue. Prof Chadwick said this was key as Olympic legacies "came from people" and were determined by having the "advocates" and finances to continue projects. "It feels good being here at the moment, but the question is how much of all this can be sustained once the Games is over?" he asked. "In all discussions about legacy, subtle political rhetoric is at play and some claims can be disingenuous." He said there was compelling evidence that, for Barcelona, hosting the 1992 Olympics "changed the city", but Coventry dose not have the infrastructure projects in place for such a change. And he added that the "jury was still out" on whether hosting the Games had resulted in sustained economic activity in Athens, Montreal and Los Angeles.

कोवेंट्री के नए पैदल चलने वाले चौक में लोग धूप में गपशप करते हैं जबकि अन्य लोग कलाबाजों को एक सांस्कृतिक ओलंपियाड कार्यक्रम के लिए अभ्यास करते देखते हैं। ओलंपिक फुटबॉल की मेजबानी करने वाले शहर की आंखों में एक चमक है। लेकिन क्या चर्चा समाप्त होने के बाद कोवेंट्री के लिए एक ओलंपिक विरासत होगी?


Jersey Airport's Starbucks loses out to 'local' cafe

Summary: The Starbucks franchise at Jersey Airport is to be replaced.

The redeveloped cafe in departures will offer a more "local flavour", according to Autogrill UK which runs the airport's catering operation. Starbucks will close on 5 November and the new Island Coffee Shop will open on 11 November. Two local businesses, Cooper & Co and Truly Scrumptious, will offer speciality teas and coffees, home-made cakes and pastries in the cafe. Jersey airport director Julian Green said: "While the Starbucks product has proved popular, we have been working with Autogrill to help ensure the product range better matches the needs and expectations of our customers." A temporary refreshment kiosk will be set up during the refurbishment work. No-one from Starbucks was available to comment.

जर्सी हवाई अड्डे पर स्टारबक्स फ्रेंचाइजी को बदला जाना है।


Bobbington widow devastated after ashes stolen in burglary

Summary: A widow has been left devastated after burglars stole a box containing her husband's ashes during a burglary.

The wooden casket was found lying by a roadside after being thrown from a white Seat Leon in Bobbington, South Staffordshire. It was stolen from the 71-year-old's home in Six Ashes Road on Thursday. Det Sgt Cathryn Holland said: "This is a serious offence that has left an elderly woman feeling understandably distressed and heartbroken." It is not known whether any of the ashes have been salvaged from where they were dumped. The thieves smashed the glass of a back door to break in and ransacked the house, shortly before 13:00 BST. They also fled with cash and costume jewellery. Police are urging anyone with information to come forward.

एक विधवा तब तबाह हो गई जब चोरों ने चोरी के दौरान उसके पति की राख वाला एक डिब्बा चुरा लिया।


Coronavirus: The month everything changed

Summary: In the space of a month, the United Kingdom has transformed beyond recognition. And most of us haven't had time to stop and take stock.

By Jon KellyBBC Stories One Friday afternoon, when the UK was another country, a chalkboard leaned against the outside wall of a country pub. A message had been written in neat, thin capital letters. "Unfortunately a customer who visited us has tested positive for the coronavirus," it read. "So as a precautionary measure we are closing for a full deep clean." It was signed by the landlord and landlady, who apologised for the inconvenience. The pub was located along a quiet, narrow road just outside Haslemere in Surrey. The patient who had gone there lived somewhere in the county. Unlike previous British cases detected up to that point - he was the 20th - he hadn't been abroad recently. As far as anyone knew, he was the first to catch the virus inside the UK. On the same day, 28 February 2020, came another news update. A grimmer milestone. A British man who'd been infected on the Diamond Princess cruise ship became the first UK citizen to die, in Japan, from Covid-19. That afternoon, children were still in classrooms and adults were still at work. People shook hands and hugged and kissed. In the evening, they went to pubs and restaurants. Some went on dates and others visited elderly relatives. They assembled in groups and mingled with residents of other households. As the weekend went on, football fans crammed into stadiums. Worshippers gathered in churches, mosques, temples and synagogues. You could go outside for as long as you liked, if you didn't mind the rain. On supermarket shelves, toilet paper and paracetamol were plentiful. Recent storms had left large swathes of the country flooded, but for most British people, life went on as it always had and seemingly always would. Insofar as any of this describes a British way of life, though, it was one that ceased to exist entirely within just a few weeks. The changes didn't happen smoothly, in steady, barely noticeable steps. Instead, the UK's sense of what was normal shifted in sudden movements, as though a ratchet was being yanked. On 28 February 2020 people in the UK were already taking notice of the outbreak. It would have been difficult to ignore entirely the headlines about what was happening in China, South Korea, Iran and Italy. The first confirmed cases among travellers returning to the UK had come as early as January, but it still seemed possible to regard this as something happening, for the most part, a long way away. Not every newspaper front page that Friday morning led with Covid-19 - the Daily Mail splashed on the saga of Harry and Meghan, the Daily Express with Brexit talks - but most did. In the final week of the month 442,675 phone calls were made to the non-emergency NHS line 111. People weren't yet panicking, but a generalised sense of low-level anxiety was everywhere. By 1 March, the virus had reached the four corners of the United Kingdom - cases had been detected in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Two days later, with the total number at 51, Prime Minister Boris Johnson stood behind a lectern and launched the government's Coronavirus Action Plan. The outbreak was declared a "level four incident". Up to a fifth of the workforce might be off sick at its peak, the prime minister warned. Schools might have to close and large-scale gatherings be reduced. However seriously anyone took the warning, it was still difficult to visualise. The following day, a woman in her 70s with an underlying condition - those last four words soon became grimly familiar to anyone who followed news bulletins - became the first person to die inside the UK after testing positive for the virus. The first reports of hand sanitiser selling out in supermarkets were published. Each day the number of confirmed cases crept up - 115 by 5 March, 206 by 7 March, 273 by 8 March. On 11 March, the day that the World Health Organization declared a pandemic, Liverpool FC hosted Atletico Madrid - who were already playing their home games behind closed doors. There were anxieties about whether it was a great idea to allow the 3,000 Spanish supporters to fly into a major British city where they would eat, drink, mingle and sleep. Anyone with plans to fly out of the UK was beginning to reconsider. Another twist of the ratchet was imminent. The following day, the government's Sage committee of scientific experts was shown revised modelling of the likely death toll. The figures, according to the Sunday Times, were "shattering". If nothing was done, there would be 510,000 deaths. Under the existing "mitigation" strategy - to shield the most vulnerable while letting everyone go about their business mostly as normal - there would be a quarter of a million. In a press conference, the prime minister told anyone with a continuous cough or a fever to self-isolate. His instruction came with a warning that "many more families are going to lose loved ones before their time". The bluntness was shocking. Some asked why, in that case, more wasn't being done. On Friday 13, the London Marathon, the Premier League and English Football League and May's local elections were all postponed. Scotland had its first coronavirus-related death. Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 March was the last relatively normal weekend. You couldn't watch league football but you could go to the pub. Hand sanitiser now wasn't to be found on any supermarket shelves, but you could tell your friends about your plans to practise "social distancing" if you met them on the street. Around the country, people looked at Italy, France and Spain, which had already gone into lockdown, and wondered if the UK was next. Volunteers began forming mutual aid groups to deliver food and medicine to vulnerable people who were self-isolating. In person and on WhatsApp, families and groups of friends argued about what it all meant. The more anxious wondered why the British government was moving more cautiously than its counterparts on the continent. The more blasé complained about why they were going to all this bother. Wasn't it just a bit of flu? The latter sentiment was exactly the kind of thing the government's advisers were most worried about. On Monday 16, the prime minister advised against "non-essential" travel, urged people to avoid pubs and clubs and work from home. Across the country, kitchen tables were cleared to make way for laptops. Thanks to Skype and the virtual meetings app, Zoom, white-collar workers started getting a glimpse of their colleagues' interior decor. Those who couldn't do their jobs like this wondered how on Earth they were supposed to earn money and stay safe. On 17 March, the government began holding daily press conferences - events that would soon become regular viewing for nervous families. Just six days after presenting his budget, the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, announced £300bn in loan guarantees - a huge expansion of state intervention in the economy by a Conservative government. There were still calls for more to be done to stop Britons infecting each other. The following day, most school pupils - those whose parents weren't designated key workers - were told they wouldn't go back to their classes until further notice. Exams, proms, farewells to classmates and teachers would now never happen. But although the UK had been told not to go to restaurants, cafes and pubs, many restaurants, cafes and pubs stayed open. They were quieter than usual but some customers still came. On the evening of Friday 20, the prime minister - who in a long career as a newspaper columnist had steadfastly demonstrated libertarian instincts - ordered restaurants, cafes and pubs to close, a measure that even in the darkest moments of World War Two would have been unthinkable. For much of the weekend that followed, there was bright sunshine, and people poured outside to take advantage of the last leisure option open to them. But when they crowded into parks and on to the summit of Snowdon they were seen - and widely condemned. This was not how "social distancing" - now regarded as everyone's social duty - was meant to operate. The lockdown was coming. On Monday 23 at 20:30, the television screens showed the prime minister sitting behind a desk. He was about to announce some of the most draconian restrictions on individual liberty the UK had ever seen. You could only leave home to exercise once a day, travel to and from work when absolutely necessary and only go shopping for essential items. You had to stand two metres apart from people you didn't live with. You weren't to gather in public in groups bigger than two. The British people were being told to avoid human contact when they needed it most. All through the following week, people would look forward to their one state-sanctioned form of outdoor exercise a day. Or they would stand in front of their laptops, following the instructions set by the fitness coach, Joe Wicks. By the time the weekend arrived, there were more than 537,000 confirmed cases in 175 countries. More than a quarter of all the people on the planet were living under some kind of restrictions in their social contact and movements. British life had been transformed so dramatically, and so fast, that you hadn't had time to dwell on it. On 28 February, London's Excel Centre had been hosting The Baby Show, "the UK's largest parenting event". A month later, the venue was a giant field hospital. This wasn't normal. Everything was described as "unprecedented" now, because it was. Speaking to the BBC's The World At One, historian Lord Peter Hennessy predicted that, in future, post-war Britain will be demarcated "BC and AC - before corona and after corona". Before 28 February, the UK was still widely portrayed as a place divided by Brexit, with younger, metropolitan Britons on one side, and their older counterparts in towns and the countryside on the other. That soon came to seem an anachronism. Elderly people were most at risk and those of working age, in the NHS and other key professions, were there to try and save them. Everyone was in this together. The framing of political debate since 2016 seemed inadequate to the new reality. Coronavirus would not be defeated by a populist attack on the elites. More than ever, the UK needed experts to lead the way. But the experts needed the masses, too - if the vast majority of the population didn't act, then Covid-19 couldn't be stopped. Initially, the lockdown was supposed to last three weeks. But a month on from 28 February, the UK is settling in for the long haul, with the prime minister, the health secretary and the first in line to the throne all having tested positive for the virus. You remember your last trip to the gym, the last drink you had in a cafe or a pub, the last time you hugged your mum or your grandad. You think about the life you once took for granted. You wonder if it will ever return. Follow @mrjonkelly on Twitter Picture editor Emma Lynch

एक महीने के अंतराल में, यूनाइटेड किंगडम पहचान से परे बदल गया है। और हम में से अधिकांश के पास रुकने और समीक्षा करने का समय नहीं है।


Man charged after death of 39-year-old Ryan Barrie in Dundee

Summary: A man has been charged in connection with the death of 39-year-old Ryan Barrie in Dundee.

Police received a report that a man had died in Benvie Gardens in the city's west end at about 02:50 on Sunday. Officers said a 33-year-old man is expected to appear at Dundee Sheriff Court on Tuesday. A property in the residential cul-de-sac remained sealed off on Monday with a blue police tent erected in the street.

डंडी में 39 वर्षीय रयान बैरी की मौत के मामले में एक व्यक्ति पर आरोप लगाया गया है।


Japanese conservationists to visit Skye to see otters

Summary: Conservationists are to visit Skye to learn more about otter habitats ahead of a proposed reintroduction of the mammals to Japan.

Otters were declared extinct on the Japanese islands by its Ministry of the Environment in August 2012. The Skye-based International Otter Survival Fund (IOSF) has been helping with the reintroduction preparations. Dr Takahiro Murakami, who will lead the Japanese visit to Scotland, has never seen otters in the wild. The Japanese otter was believed to be either a subspecies of the Eurasian otter or possibly even a separate species. Conservationists have suggested reintroducing otters to Hokkaido, an island in north Japan. IOSF supports conservation projects across the world. It also rescues and raises orphaned otter cubs.

जापान में स्तनधारियों के प्रस्तावित पुनः परिचय से पहले संरक्षणवादी ऊदबिलाव के आवासों के बारे में अधिक जानने के लिए स्काई का दौरा करने वाले हैं।


Image of the monarchy's present and future

Summary: A carnival parade, a picnic and a prince.

Peter HuntDiplomatic and royal correspondent@BBCPeterHunton Twitter William was on The Mall to praise the woman who was the focus of this celebration. The future king's words were directed at his monarch and his grandmother. The Queen travelled, with her husband, in an open-top car, while William, Kate and Harry were in the vehicle behind. It presented an image of the present and the future of the monarchy. It was a notable image with a notable absentee. Prince Charles had chosen to miss the Patron's Lunch and instead attended a street party near his Highgrove home in Gloucestershire. For a Queen, now 90, there will be ongoing adjustments made to her programme. Lifts will be used rather than flights of stairs; the length of visits will be not too long, and standing around will be kept to a minimum. But, officials insist, Elizabeth remains this country's active and fully-engaged head of state. Guests brave rain at Queen's picnic lunch In pictures: The Queen's birthday

एक कार्निवल परेड, एक पिकनिक और एक राजकुमार।


Tunisia election: Guide to what's at stake

Summary: Tunisians vote on 26 October in a parliamentary election, which they hope will see the end of a nearly-four year transition period which followed the ousting of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.

The "cradle of the Arab Spring" will this time see officials of the former government taking part in the election, prompting interim President Moncef Marzouki to call it a contest between "supporters of the revolution and supporters of the counter-revolution". How does the electoral system work? The system is based on proportional representation, with each of the country's regions having a fixed number of seats based on population. Lists of candidates are drawn up by parties, coalitions and independents and endorsed by the overseeing body, the Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE). Some five million Tunisians have registered to vote. Candidates must be aged 23 or over and have held Tunisian nationality for at least 10 years. Are women's rights being respected? According to ISIE, 49% of newly-registered voters are women. And the 26 January 2014 constitution introduced - for the first time in the Arab world - parity between men and women in elections. The law stipulates that women should comprise 50% of all electoral lists and there must be an equal number of lists headed by women and men. Tunisian women take a 'step backwards' Who is likely to win? Tunisia's election process means that no party is likely to win a majority of seats in the renamed National Assembly. However, political observers agree - in the absence of opinion polls, which are banned during the campaign - that the favourites are the Islamist Ennahda Movement and their secular opponents, the liberal Nidaa Tounes (Tunisia's Call). A number of other parties are in contention, including the centre-ground secular Congress for the Republic (CPR) and secular Democratic Forum for Labour and Liberty (FDTL or Ettakatol) and those led by former officials of Ben Ali's regime. Most candidates claim to have the economy at the heart of their campaign, realising that poverty and unemployment were the main factors that triggered the 14 January revolution in 2011. Which are the main parties, groups? Ennahda won 89 of 217 seats in 2011 and led a coalition government with CPR and FDTL. It lost power in January following street protests but hopes to make a comeback. It has said it is willing to form a coalition with any other party. Nidaa Tounes wants to rally nationalist and liberal supporters to weaken the position of Ennahda. It was founded by Beji Caid Essebsi, a former transitional prime minister, and enjoys the support of the Tunisian General Labour Union and some business groups. Nidaa says it will not contemplate any coalition with Ennahda until that groups "clarifies" its relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood across the Middle East and North Africa. Congress for the Republic (CPR) is led by interim President Marzouki and won 29 seats in 2011. Democratic Forum for Labour and Liberties was founded in 1994 by National Constituent Assembly Speaker Mustapha Ben Djaafar. It won 20 seats in 2011. Popular Front is a coalition of five left-wing and Baathist parties led by Hamma Hammami. It played an important role in mobilising street protests to bring down two Ennahda-led governments. The Front parties, however, do not seem to have significant electoral support. Will armed Islamists disrupt election? The al-Qaeda-affiliated Okba Ibn Nafaa battalion, active on Tunisia's border with Algeria, has threatened to disrupt the election. Interior Minister Lotfi Ben Jeddou has said his ministry has plans in hand to deal with the "terrorist" threat, which he described as "serious". Tunisia is to mobilize 50,000 security officers and nearly 20,000 soldiers to secure the election. How did the campaigning go? Tunisians have shown only "lukewarm interest", according to al-Jazeera TV on 20 October. Tunisian academic Abdellatif Hanachi told al-Jazeera that this is partly because of the difficult economic and social conditions in the country. He added that voter apathy was due to a "sense of frustration" among a broad section of people at the failure to fulfil revolutionary promises. However, he concluded that this could all change on polling day, as it did in 2011. BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. For more reports from BBC Monitoring, click here. You can follow BBC Monitoring on Twitter and Facebook.

ट्यूनीशियाई 26 अक्टूबर को एक संसदीय चुनाव में मतदान करते हैं, जिसमें उन्हें उम्मीद है कि 2011 में राष्ट्रपति ज़ीन अल-अबिदीन बेन अली को अपदस्थ करने के बाद लगभग चार साल की संक्रमण अवधि का अंत होगा।


Winds causing travel disruption across Wales

Summary: Twelve ferry services between Wales and Ireland have been cancelled on Sunday and Monday due to bad weather, Irish Ferries said.

The services affected are the HSC Jonathan Swift sailings from Holyhead and Pembroke. Strong winds have also led to speed restrictions and lane closures on the M48 Severn Bridge in Monmouthshire and Anglesey's A55 Britannia Bridge. Natural Resources had two flood alerts in place for north east Wales.

आयरिश फेरीज ने कहा कि खराब मौसम के कारण रविवार और सोमवार को वेल्स और आयरलैंड के बीच बारह नौका सेवाओं को रद्द कर दिया गया है।


Woman, 71, killed in Bulwell house fire

Summary: A 71-year-old woman has died in a house fire in Nottinghamshire, the fire service said.

Emergency services were called to Rock Street, in Bulwell, just before 19:00 BST on Saturday. Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service said an investigation into the cause of the fire was under way. The service tweeted crews would be in the area over the next few days to "offer reassurance and support" to the community. Follow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk.

अग्निशमन सेवा ने कहा कि नॉटिंघमशायर में एक घर में आग लगने से 71 वर्षीय महिला की मौत हो गई है।


Eritrean life in pictures

Summary: It is rare to get access to Eritrea, which is considered one of the world's most repressive and secretive states. A BBC team were recently allowed to visit to cover a story about healthcare and the photos from their trip give a glimpse of what life is like there:

Despite the thousands of young Eritreans who flee the country each month, the capital city, Asmara, was buzzing with life. Here young Asmarinos enjoy their evening after drinking coffee in the centre of the city. Eritrea has been criticised for its levels of freedom of expression. There is no privately owned domestic media. Rights groups say that government journalists arrested in 2009 and 2011 are still imprisoned in solitary confinement without any prospect of a trial. But the ruling party's Yemane Ghebreab said the government-owned media was able to give a "forum for different opinions". There are many large murals around the country, reminding people of the need for self-reliance. Eritrea had a long struggle for independence which it gained from Ethiopia in 1993. It also fought a border war with Ethiopia between 1998 and 2000. On the outskirts of Asmara lies this tank graveyard, with old Ethiopian tanks, trucks and other military vehicles captured during decades of conflict. On the road from Asmara to the port city of Massawa, one drives through the mountainous green belt, a lush part of the country which is a haven for wildlife. This old bank in Massawa was used as a shelter during the conflict with Ethiopia - and has been left untouched as another reminder. Asmara's leafy boulevards and modernist buildings are also a reminder of its Italian colonial past. The country was occupied by the Italians for nearly 50 years until 1941. Italy's fascist dictator Benito Mussolini wanted Asmara to be the "Piccolo Roma" (Little Rome) in Africa, as he planned a new Roman Empire in the 1930s. Cinema Roma was built in 1937, its facade covered in marble. The cinema is still in working order and boasts a stylish cafe inside. This is the oldest chemist in Asmara, built in 1897. Most of the interior has been left untouched since its construction. The till, purchased in the same year, is still used today. "I love coming to work every day, it is the most beautiful place to work," one of the chemists said. "This was built by the Italians and they know how to build beautiful buildings. Asmara has changed a lot but it's important we keep our history - without our history we are nothing." The Fiat Tagliero building in Asmara is a petrol station designed by Italian architect Giuseppe Pettazzi. Completed in 1938, it was meant to resemble an aeroplane. We were told by officials that planners at the time insisted each wing should be supported by pillars. However, Pettazzi reportedly held a gun to the builder's head and threatened to kill them if the supports were not removed. The most common wedding season in Eritrea is in January - which is supposed to be when farmers' workloads are at their quietest. Hundreds of Eritreans from Asmara and across the world came together to celebrate this couple's marriage in a large hall awash with food and drink. Eritrea's healthcare system has improved dramatically over recent years. Dr Berhane Haileh (not pictured) from the health ministry says the government covers the medical bills for poor people. "To be productive, you have to be healthy - so the government takes health as a priority in the country," she says. In hard-to-reach rural areas, healthcare supplies are sometimes transported by camel. Much of Eritrea's healthcare success has come from mobilising communities to raise awareness about various diseases and identify issues early on. Photos by the BBC's Javier Manzano and Sam Piranty

इरिट्रिया तक पहुंच दुर्लभ है, जिसे दुनिया के सबसे दमनकारी और गुप्त राज्यों में से एक माना जाता है। बीबीसी की एक टीम को हाल ही में स्वास्थ्य सेवा के बारे में एक कहानी को कवर करने के लिए जाने की अनुमति दी गई थी और उनकी यात्रा की तस्वीरें वहाँ के जीवन की एक झलक देती हैंः