Could Alex Salmond bring down Nicola Sturgeon?

Summary: Alex Salmond has accused Nicola Sturgeon of breaking the ministerial code and misleading parliament.

By Nick EardleyBBC political correspondent He believes senior people around Scotland's first minister were part of a malicious attempt to have him removed from public life and ultimately jailed. Ms Sturgeon has dismissed the claims and said he has no evidence. The crisis could have significant implications for Scottish politics. "He's trying to bring the house down." That was the conclusion of one of Ms Sturgeon's close allies shortly after it emerged Mr Salmond was publicly accusing her of misleading the Scottish Parliament and breaking the ministerial code. For months, some around Scotland's first minister hoped Mr Salmond would hold back from directly criticising Ms Sturgeon in a way which could threaten her job. They believed directly attacking Ms Sturgeon would alienate supporters of Scottish independence - something Mr Salmond would want to avoid. That calculation changed with Mr Salmond's submission to an inquiry into whether Ms Sturgeon broke the ministerial code. How we got here The picture above was taken days before the Scottish independence referendum in 2014, when Mr Salmond and Ms Sturgeon were the dream team of the pro-indy movement. For a decade, as leader and deputy leader, the pair had dominated nationalist politics. When Mr Salmond stood down, there was no question of who would take over: Ms Sturgeon was the natural successor. That relationship collapsed completely as a result of sexual allegations later made against Mr Salmond. When the complaints emerged, Mr Salmond successfully took Ms Sturgeon's Scottish government to court over its process for investigating him. That process, it was found, was unlawful and "tainted by apparent bias". Mr Salmond's victory cost the taxpayer at least £500,000. The former first minister then stood trial accused of sexual assault - and was cleared of all charges. Now it is Ms Sturgeon and her government facing questions over the handling of complaints against Mr Salmond. The former first minister of Scotland has made extraordinary allegations against the Scottish government and SNP - two institutions he used to lead. He has claimed the process set up by the Scottish government, under which he was investigated, was unfair. Mr Salmond alleges there was a malicious and concerted effort among a range of individuals to damage his reputation - and even to have him sent to jail. He names people he believes helped to damage his reputation - including Ms Sturgeon's husband, the SNP chief executive Peter Murrell and her Scottish government chief of staff, Liz Lloyd. And he has made serious allegations against the first minister too, arguing she has not told the truth about meetings with him, that she misled parliament and that she broke the code which governs the behaviour of ministers. The meeting A lot of the controversy surrounds what Ms Sturgeon knew and when - and accounts she gave publicly. Ms Sturgeon originally said she first found out about a complaint against Mr Salmond, being investigated by her Scottish government, on 2 April 2018. That meeting took place in her home and was not recorded. But it has since been claimed Ms Sturgeon was told a few days earlier at the Scottish Parliament by Mr Salmond's former chief of staff. That's raised questions over what Ms Sturgeon knew, why she met Mr Salmond privately and why it wasn't recorded as official government business. It is not simply a question of a few days difference - it is a question of whether the second meeting should have been reported and treated as Scottish government businesses if Ms Sturgeon had indeed known what it was about in advance. My colleague Phil Sim has written about the ins and outs of meetings here. Mr Salmond has also made claims that Ms Sturgeon breached the ministerial code by not conceding earlier that the Scottish government's process for investigating him was flawed. He alleges it was clear the Scottish government would lose a judicial review months before it was conceded it court - something which cost the taxpayer money. 'Misled' There are two inquiries into the Scottish government's alleged mishandling of complaints against Mr Salmond. One is by James Hamilton, the first minister's independent adviser on the ministerial code, into whether she has breached it. The second is a cross-party Holyrood inquiry into how her government handled complaints about Mr Salmond. This has been beset by legal difficulties - with significant delays to Mr Salmond's evidence being published. After senior MSPs decided it should be made public, the Crown Office, Scotland's public prosecution service, raised concerns which led to further changes. Mr Salmond has accused Ms Sturgeon of holding positions which are "simply untrue", "manifestly untrue" and "untenable". "Parliament has been repeatedly misled," Mr Salmond contends. There are many in the SNP - including a small but loyal group of elected politicians - who believe there was a conspiracy against him which could lead to several key officials in the Scottish government and SNP standing down. Some include Ms Sturgeon in that group. 'False conspiracy theories' Ms Sturgeon says this is all nonsense and denies breaking the ministerial code. Her spokesman has accused Mr Salmond of trying to deflect from complaints made by women about his behaviour - and accused her former mentor of "spinning false conspiracy theories". Ms Sturgeon said this week: "He appears to be suggesting some kind of conspiracy or concerted campaign against him, without a shred of evidence. "If he can't substantiate it, it's time for him to stop making these claims." Sturgeon on trial? Nicola Sturgeon's political opponents have struggled to land any political blows in recent months. Polls suggest support for the SNP is as high as ever - and that backing for Scottish independence has been rising. Although there have been criticisms of the Scottish government's handling of the pandemic, polling suggests Scots are happy Ms Sturgeon is making the decisions - and not Boris Johnson. To many in Scottish politics, it appears the biggest threat to Ms Sturgeon's position now comes from her predecessor. Mr Salmond's claims that his one-time protégé failed to tell the Scottish Parliament the truth - and that she broke the ministerial code - are serious. In normal times such a breach of the code would lead to a resignation. The code is clear: "Ministers who knowingly mislead the parliament will be expected to offer their resignation." Ms Sturgeon's political opponents have insisted that if she is found to have breached the code, she will have to stand down. Privately, although they're confident it won't come to that, some around the first minister have admitted she would not be able to survive such a finding from her adviser on the code. Many senior figures in Scotland in the devolution era have resigned for less. There is also nervousness in the SNP about the impact of these allegations hitting the headlines just weeks ahead of the Scottish Parliament elections. Although most would argue that the public just isn't paying attention, some acknowledge a number of party activists side with Mr Salmond - as do a section of SNP voters. If the SNP are going to win a majority, they will need to mobilise their support ahead of 5 May. Some are worried this situation - combined with increasingly public splits on other issues - might turn some voters off, and lead to some activists staying at home. Is the first minister in trouble? For months, well connected opposition figures have talked about this inquiry being a moment of real danger for Ms Sturgeon's leadership. They believe it raises questions about whether her government can be trusted. But while many in Scottish politics discuss Ms Sturgeon's future - very few people are confidently predicting her demise. The main reason is the pandemic. Ms Sturgeon has high approval ratings for her response to the coronavirus pandemic. Scots seem to approve of the way she is trying to deal with the health emergency - and some believe voters would forgive a breach of the rules in the midst of a crisis. It's a view I've heard from Ms Sturgeon's critics as much as her allies; that these are not normal times and the normal rules of politics don't apply. Mr Salmond's supporters are reluctant to speak on the record. I'm told that some elected parliamentarians are afraid of the backlash they would get if they did. But one source said: "I think in normal times she would be a goner. But I don't think she is a goner because people are rightly focused on the pandemic and her handling of the pandemic has been great." The second is independence. Ms Sturgeon has led the SNP and the independence movement to a point where successive polls have suggested support for leaving the UK is now a majority view. If the SNP win big in May, they will use it to demand another referendum, which many think they could win. There have been criticisms from some in the SNP about a lack of strategy to force another referendum, but most accept the first minister is a key asset for the independence movement. Many think she is one of the main reasons for increasing support for leaving the UK. If the SNP lost its leader that could have an impact on support for independence. While a number of names have been discussed, there is no certain successor - definitely not with the same UK and international profile. Mr Salmond's evidence to the Holyrood inquiry will be a remarkable moment in the history of the SNP; the leader who took the party to the brink of independence accusing the leader who could deliver it of misleading parliament. Even if Ms Sturgeon survives, Mr Salmond's allies believe others may be "toast"; including senior civil servants and advisers. But senior allies of Ms Sturgeon still appear confident she will lead them into the next Scottish election and beyond. One concluded: "Is she going to get through this? Yes she is."

एलेक्स सैल्मंड ने निकोला स्टर्जन पर मंत्रिस्तरीय संहिता तोड़ने और संसद को गुमराह करने का आरोप लगाया है।


US-China trade deal: Five things that aren't in it

Summary: The US and China have finally - after almost two years of hostilities - signed a "phase one" deal. But it only covers the easier aspects of their difficult relationship, and only removes some of the tariffs.

Karishma VaswaniAsia business correspondent@BBCKarishmaon Twitter The biggest hurdles are still to come, and could stand in the way of a second phase agreement - one that would in theory remove all of the tariffs, bringing some much needed relief for the global economy, which is in the interests of all of us. What's not in the phase one deal tells us where the flashpoints are in the US-China relationship - and what could derail the second round of negotiations. So what didn't make it into the agreement? 1. Industrial subsidies and 'Made in China 2025' The deal doesn't address Beijing's ambitious 'Made in China 2025' programme, which is designed to help Chinese companies excel and become world-class leaders in emerging technologies. It also doesn't address the subsidies that China gives its state-owned enterprises, says Paul Triolo of the Eurasia Group. Washington sees "Made in China 2025" as a direct threat to its supremacy in tech, saying that Chinese companies have only caught up with American ones - at times outpacing them - because they get unfair and outsized assistance from the Chinese government in the form of subsidies. These were amongst the thorniest issues the Trump administration had with China, but they've been pushed to the phase two process Mr Triolo says, along with "market access in sectors such as cloud services, cyber security and data governance issues". Beijing maintains it doesn't unfairly subsidise these industries or companies, but the reality is China isn't going to give up dominance in these sectors so easily. 2. Huawei The trade deal won't reduce US pressure on Huawei, the Chinese telecoms giant that has been caught in the crossfire of the trade war, with the US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin saying the company isn't a "chess piece" in the negotiations. That will disappoint both Huawei and the Chinese government which have been furious over how Washington has linked the company's fate to the relationship between the US and China. The Chinese firm became a symbol of the US-China tech rivalry and Washington has been lobbying its allies - including the UK - to not use Huawei's 5G technology services in critical communications infrastructure, alleging it could be used by Beijing to spy on customers. Huawei has denied this and had hoped that if the US-China relationship improved, its fortunes would too. Analysts tell me that's unlikely. With the signing of this agreement, there's a clear separation between national security and trade, and Huawei and other Chinese companies should still expect the pressure on them to continue. So expect more American export bans not just on Huawei, but on several more Chinese companies and increased US scrutiny on Chinese investments abroad. 3. Access for foreign financial services firms While the agreement does talk about opening up market access for financial services firms, some analysts have said it doesn't go far enough to ensure they have equal market access. China had already publicly said that it was opening up its financial services sector, and has recently allowed foreign companies to have a bigger stake in Chinese firms. But Beijing isn't giving up much by doing that, because China's financial services sector is now dominated by domestic digital payment players. Even if US payment firms do have greater market access to the Chinese market, it's hard to see how they might be able to compete. Whether China sincerely applies its commitments to treat foreign and domestic firms equally will also be watched closely by the Trump administration, and this could be a potential area where the rapprochement could be derailed. 4. Enforcement and interpretation The deal has a dispute resolution mechanism in place, which basically requires China - once a complaint has been made - to begin consultations with the US, with the onus on Beijing to resolve it. But what the deal leaves out is "how the US is going to monitor enforcement," says Derek Scissors of the American Enterprise Institute. "American firms don't like to report intellectual property theft," he told me."So in the first instance what mechanism is the US using to gather information on this. All that is in the document is consultations." The deal also leaves out how the two sides will interpret these key aspects of the agreement. Already, there are signs of differences. Chinese state media has suggested the dispute resolution mechanism isn't dictated by the US - not entirely in keeping with Washington's messaging. This could indicate that even though there is an agreement in place, Beijing might ignore it, as Dan Harris of the China Law blog points out. "The problem isn't the law," he says. "It's that when something is important to China - some cutting edge technology that it wants - then those laws don't have any use at all." 5. Further reductions in tariffs The deal doesn't include a definitive timeline on when the tariffs that are still in place will go down. According to research from the Peterson Institute for International Economics, average tariffs on both sides are still up about 20% from pre-trade war levels - six times higher than when the dispute began. That means companies and consumers are still paying more. Admittedly, the Trump administration has left the threat of tariffs in place as a stick to beat China with - in case Beijing doesn't keep to its commitments. And there's always that risk, as China's hard line Communist Party mouth-piece the Global Times points out: "Can a preliminary trade agreement, reached during a period when China-US strategic relations are clearly declining, really work? Will it be replaced by new conflicts or further progress as negotiations continue?" The potential for trade tensions to resume on both sides is still a very big possibility.

अमेरिका और चीन ने आखिरकार-लगभग दो साल की शत्रुता के बाद-एक "चरण एक" समझौते पर हस्ताक्षर किए हैं। लेकिन यह केवल उनके कठिन संबंधों के आसान पहलुओं को शामिल करता है, और केवल कुछ शुल्कों को हटा देता है।


Slow photojournalism: The rise of long-term assignments

Summary: Long-term photography projects are not new, but increasing numbers of photographers are embracing in-depth storytelling and creating series over longer periods of time, juggling this work alongside commissioned assignments. Gemma Padley explores this growing trend.

Photographers, especially those working within documentary photography or photojournalism, have always undertaken projects on which they have worked for many months or even years. In 1955, W. Eugene Smith famously spent a year on a project that was supposed to last only three weeks, having been commissioned to shoot 100 images for a book by Stefan Lorant, Pittsburgh: Story of an American City. Smith finally stopped having made almost 17,000 photographs, believing he had captured both the essence of the city and America at that time. More recently there is The Sochi Project, Rob Hornstra and Arnold van Bruggen's investigation into Sochi in Russia, the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics, which they worked on for several years in the run-up to the event. The project has been cited as an example of slow journalism - a body of work that has its roots in detailed research and evolves over a long period of time. "If you are a photographer living away from your home country, combining personal work with assignments is one way to fund what you are doing," says Guy Martin, who has been living in Istanbul for the past three-and-a-half years, working on City of Dreams. It tells a story of politics and cultural life in Turkey by combining images shot on the sets of Turkish soap operas and at protests in the country. "In some instances, assignments overlap into areas of interest where your own personal project sits," he adds. "The challenge is to shoot what you need to for the client and then at the same time photograph with a personal vision for your own work. For me, shooting assignments has been essential in allowing me to continue my personal work in Turkey." Over the past few months, Martin has been expanding his project, helped by a grant from the Magnum Emergency Fund. This kind of funding is essential in enabling photographers to continue their personal long-term work, he says. "Grants, awards and scholarships are a lifeline for me. Without them, no work would be possible. They add to what you can do and how ambitious you want to be with your personal work. With money for expenses covered by awards, grants and scholarships, everything suddenly seems possible." Ciril Jazbec's on-going work in Greenland on climate change is another example of a long-term project that keeps on gaining momentum. The Slovenian began On Thin Ice during his master's degree in early 2013 and has since made several trips to the region where he has spent about six months in total. Some of the images were recently published in National Geographic. The project is an example of how a personal body of work can evolve into something that catches media attention, helping to put the photographer on publications' radars and perhaps even leading to future paid work. The potential rewards available as a result of investing time and energy into a long-term project (exposure, future commissions, and so on) are obvious. This year, with its finger ever on the pulse, the world's largest and most prestigious photojournalism contest World Press Photo (WPP), announced the winner and runners-up in a new category - Long-Term Projects - featuring series produced over several months or even years. Darcy Padilla won with Family Love, a body of work about Julie, who is HIV positive and caught up in drugs, which she made over 21 years. "The new award reflects what's happening in the industry and how photographers are turning to long-term personal projects and in-depth investigations," commented David Campbell, WPP 2015 general secretary, earlier this year. "It was designed to reflect where a lot of work is being done in documentary photography and visual storytelling today." The new category received more than 500 entries - not bad for its first year - and the WPP has introduced an additional category for 2016 titled Long-Term Projects - Group, to reward teams of two or more photographers who have been collaborating on a single long-term project. The overall WPP 2015 winning image also came from a long-term project, which the photographer has been working on since 2013. Danish photographer Mads Nissen won with his image of a gay couple shot in St Petersburg, Russia. The photograph, from Homophobia in Russia depicts a moment of tenderness between two lovers and in doing so draws attention to a wider story about the difficulties for lesbian and gay people in Russia where sexual minorities often face discrimination and harassment. In an age where we are constantly told that print publications are struggling financially and no longer able to support photographers, it's heartening to see the industry get behind image-makers who are channelling a huge amount of time, energy and personal resources into their own projects. And, given the wealth of tools and opportunities available to photographers, it makes sense that many are taking matters into their own hands, shooting work that means something to them, rather than waiting for a commission to come along. For Martin, it's possible to "cover your bases in the traditional editorial market", but take advantage of opportunities online including using social media sites to generate interest in a personal project. From here, he says, you can think about incorporating sound and moving image with still images to further the project's scope. "The main thing you need is a solid idea and a clear personal vision. Use all the tools and contacts that are available to you - old and new, it doesn't matter. From my experience, people are willing to collaborate from an early stage in a personal project, but you have to have that initial idea and imagery, or work-in-progress. From there, the world's your oyster." Gemma Padley is a freelance journalist specialising in photography who has written for a wide range of publications including British Journal of Photography, The Telegraph, Time and Amateur Photographer. You can follow her on Twitter.

दीर्घकालिक फोटोग्राफी परियोजनाएं नई नहीं हैं, लेकिन फोटोग्राफरों की बढ़ती संख्या गहन कहानी कहने को अपना रही है और लंबे समय तक श्रृंखला बना रही है, इस काम को कमीशन किए गए कार्यों के साथ जोड़-तोड़ कर रही है। जेम्मा पैडले इस बढ़ती प्रवृत्ति की पड़ताल करती है।


Middlesbrough: Where heroin is cheaper than cigarettes

Summary: In Middlesbrough, a bag of heroin can cost as little as £5. It is not the only town in England to see problems with the drug and homelessness. BBC Tees reporter Adam Clarkson spent an evening on the streets with people who wanted to tell their stories.

"You want hardcore? I'll show you hardcore." Longshank is 46 years old. That's not his real name but how he wants to be referred to. He's homeless and has promised to "show me the ropes". About five years ago, he found himself sleeping rough. He had struggled with alcohol addiction for years, but said it was the death of his wife that saw his life spiral out of control. "She was my partner in crime, the best thing that ever happened to me. I was with her 31 years. It broke my heart," he said. He's drinking a two-litre bottle of cider when we meet. He drinks at least one every day. "I get wrecked just to get numb. I can't face the music," he adds, "But life has to go on." He describes his life as "horrendous". Two days ago, somebody threw a bucket of urine at him. "It was in the middle of Linthorpe Road. I was just sat there. They swilled me. You wouldn't believe it. I've never been so humiliated." We walk to the same spot when a drunk man, who is known to Longshank, becomes aggressive towards me. Things become heated, but calm down as the man bursts into tears. He says he and his partner recently lost a baby, and are facing the prospect of becoming homeless. I am told that arguments and violence "come with the territory". Longshank then shows me "the bedroom department" - a sheltered car park behind a restaurant, where many rough sleepers congregate. This is where I meet a 22-year-old who introduces himself as Little Man. Little Man says he has been using heroin since the age of 12. "It's upsetting. I didn't have to go down this route. It breaks my heart, I could do more with my life. There's guaranteed to be a drug dealer within 100ft," Little Man says. I watch as Little Man, Longshank and a number of others pass around a bag of heroin. The powder is melted, mixed with vinegar and put into a syringe. One man injects himself in his groin. Tom Le Ruez, Middlesbrough Council's drug-related deaths co-ordinator, says mixing vinegar is "not a particularly good idea". "It isn't advised that people inject at all, but injecting in environments like dark alleys increases the risk that people will damage their veins." A bag of heroin costs as little as £5, I am told. Little Man says it's very easy to find. A member of staff comes out of the back door of the restaurant. She tells me Longshank is "no bother", but other people are known to start fires and defecate behind their bins. Three men arrive and ask if anybody wants to buy drugs. The atmosphere becomes tense when they realise I'm a journalist. Longshank says we need to leave, so we go back to Linthorpe Road. Longshank tells me he was given a flat by the local authority, but it was taken off him when he chose to sleep rough instead. "I had appointments the next morning at the other side of town. I couldn't walk all that way to walk back again; there's no method in the madness." I ask Longshank if he's using that as an excuse. He tells me it's possible he is. "I'd miss all of these guys. It's not all doom and gloom, you know? We have a giggle. The streets are addictive, it is an addiction. It's worse than a drug." In 2018, the North East saw the second biggest rise in rough sleepers, with a 29% increase. Despite this, the wider region has had the lowest number of rough sleepers in the country since the government began collecting data with an "annual single-night snapshot" in 2010. But Tracy Guy from Shelter said the true scale of homelessness in the North East is "largely hidden from view" as people are "trapped in temporary accommodation or sofa-surfing with friends and family". More to Middlesbrough According to Middlesbrough Council, there are 11 rough sleepers in the town. That number has risen every year since 2016. The town has seen drug-related mental health hospital admissions rise from 16 per 100,000 people in 2013-14 to 43 in 2016-17. Debbie Cochrane, Middlesbrough Council's homeless lead, says help is offered to them every week. "If they say no, that's fine," she says, "but it doesn't mean we're going to stop trying because one week they might say 'I don't want to live like this any more' and that's when they would be welcomed with open arms. "That's their life and we're not here to judge. It's not up to us to say 'that's wrong'. If that's how they want to live then that's fine, but the opportunity is there to break away - if that's what they want to do." Longshank and I part ways. I go home, and he continues the cycle of begging, buying drugs and using them. "Every day, it's the same" he says. "It's like space invaders. It's a game."

मिडल्सब्रो में, हेरोइन के एक थैले की कीमत 5 पाउंड तक हो सकती है। यह इंग्लैंड का एकमात्र शहर नहीं है जहाँ नशीली दवाओं और बेघर होने की समस्या देखी जाती है। बीबीसी टीज़ के रिपोर्टर एडम क्लार्कसन ने सड़कों पर उन लोगों के साथ एक शाम बिताई जो अपनी कहानियाँ बताना चाहते थे।


Portland protests: How a 'hyper-liberal' city's racist past is resurfacing

Summary: "Portland is a city where young people go to retire."

By Ashitha NageshBBC News Fred Armisen declared this - in song form - in the opening scene of the sketch comedy show Portlandia in January 2011. The show satirised the city on the US West Coast for its "hipster" culture - a city that gave unicyclists the right of way, where people brewed kombucha before it became mainstream, and whose slogan was literally "Keep Portland Weird". Four years later, with the city in the throes of rapid gentrification, beloved Portland magazine Willamette Week declared to its readers that this moment in 2011 was officially the day "Old Portland", the one that was fun, bohemian and "weird", died. If the "Old Portland" was seen as a liberal utopia, then the "New Portland", in 2020, is characterised by civil rights protests, violent clashes between far-right and anti-fascist groups, and images of federal agents indiscriminately bundling protesters into unmarked vehicles. While Old Portlanders may have discussed their vegan cheese side-businesses, New Portlanders bond over how many times they've been tear-gassed. But this change wasn't as much of a leap as it may seem on the surface. While the Portlandia stereotype endured for almost a decade, the reality for Portlanders themselves was very different. In the 2010s, wealthy outsiders relocated themselves and their businesses to the city in the hopes of capitalising on its "cool", while East Coast publications repeated the show's joke about Portland being "a retirement community for the young". The city's residents were frequently caricatured as the kind of people who use "cacao" as a safe word. At the same time, Portlanders struggled to afford rents that were increasing at one of the fastest rates in the country; beloved local shops were being pushed out in favour of chains and high-rise apartment blocks; and the small businesses parodied on Portlandia, such as the feminist bookshop In Other Words, hit out at the show and everything it represented. Locals explicitly blamed the show for hastening unwanted development in the city. By the time the series ended in 2018, few Portlanders looked back fondly on its influence. For people of colour in Portland in particular, there was something egregious about the city's "Portlandia" reputation. The show - and subsequent portrayals of the city in national media - seemed to whitewash life in what was already an extremely white city. "I've never looked to Portlandia or other cultural phenomena for self-affirmation," said activist Cameron Whitten, who set up the Black Resilience Fund during this summer's protests. "Much of what Portland is famous for was not made for me or people who look like me." Mr Whitten moved to Portland from Northern Virginia in 2009, at the age of 18. His first day in Oregon was marred by racism. "My first day in the state, my friend and I drove to Albany to stay at their dad's house," he said. "After the first night there, we were told to leave because his father was uncomfortable with a black man in his home. I remember that I laughed, because I was surprised by the absurdity of the situation… But I don't find it funny anymore. I've now lived in Oregon for more than a decade, and I'm reminded daily that because of my skin colour, I can be looked at as different, other, and less." A city 'built on white supremacy' Portland is often called the whitest big city in the US - about 72% of its population is non-Latino white, while only about 6.6% of the population is black (compared to 12.7% of the overall US population). This is something black history and urban development scholars say is by design, not happenstance. Prof Shirley Jackson, a Black Studies professor at Portland State University, said that it was important to remember that Oregon was founded on the basis of "excluding certain populations, namely African-Americans". Although the provisional government of the territory banned slavery in 1844, it also required all African-Americans to leave Oregon - any black person who stayed would be publicly flogged every six months until they left. Five years later, in 1849, another law was passed forbidding free African-Americans from entering the territory, and in 1857 Oregon adopted a state constitution banning black people from entering, living or owning property in the state. In 1859, when Oregon joined the union ahead of the civil war, it was the only state to explicitly forbid black people from living within its borders. Going into the 20th Century, the deadly, white supremacist Ku Klux Klan had increasing influence in the state. In one particularly telling photo, published by a local newspaper in 1921 and preserved by the Oregon History Project, two representatives of the KKK's Oregon chapter, wearing hoods and robes, posed with some of the state's most powerful officials - including the police chief and the district attorney. One moment in particular is seared into the black community's collective memory - the Vanport disaster. During World War Two, black people were recruited from across the US to work at a shipyard on the Columbia River, about five miles north of Portland. They were housed in a new development called Vanport, which was built in 110 days. At its height, Prof Jackson said, about 40,000 people lived there. But it was always intended to be a temporary housing project. "After the war ended, many white Portlanders had hoped that the black people who came to work at the shipyards would return to the states from which they had originally come. Although some did, at least one-third of the 18,500 residents who remained in Vanport were black," she explained. "On 30 May 1948, Memorial Day, the waters of the Columbia River flooded Vanport and after six years of existence, it disappeared. For the 6,000 Black people who found themselves without housing, it was especially traumatic." At least 15 people died - although some at the time believed the housing authority had quietly destroyed hundreds more bodies to cover up its slow response to the disaster. Surviving residents, who had been assured that the housing was safe, now had to try and find new homes in Portland. The Red Cross tried to help, but struggled because of deep-seated racism in the city. Housing was also limited "due to racial covenants that restricted whites from selling their homes to blacks", said Prof Jackson. "Many ended up in north and north-east Portland," she said. "It is ironic that gentrification has [now] added to the movement of blacks out of the very areas that they were confined to. Today, these areas are populated in large part by white people, as black people have moved to the surrounding cities of Gresham, Beaverton, and Hillsboro." Entrenched inequality to the present day Racism has persisted in Portland. A housing audit in 2011 found that landlords in the city discriminated against black and Latino tenants 64% of the time, by charging them extra fees, higher rents or demanding larger deposits, while black school pupils are four to five times more likely than their white classmates to be suspended or expelled. Another report on racism from Portland State University and the Coalition of Communities of Color, published in 2014, found that black people were still disadvantaged in employment, health and high school graduation rates, compared to both white Portlanders and black families in the rest of the US. Average incomes and rates of home ownership are also significantly lower for black Portlanders than for their white neighbours and black Americans generally. Activist Gregory McKelvey has been heavily involved in this summer's protests. The city, he says, has only been able to see itself as a "liberal utopia" by adopting a colour-blind approach to racism - which for him means ignoring it. "Portland is allowed to have a reputation as a progressive or edgy city because it does not have to reckon with its racist past, policing or segregation due to the demographics of the city," he said. "Portland is certainly a lovely city and is a beautiful place to live - but part of what it is built upon is colonialism, white supremacy and segregation. Many people say Portland is a place that pushes black people out of neighbourhoods and replaces them with 'Black Lives Matter' signs." A moment of reckoning But could this year's protests change how Portland reflects on its present - and its past? The protests - which have now gone on for nearly 100 consecutive days - were sparked by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May, and at least initially were explicitly held in support of Black Lives Matter. When protesters established an autonomous zone in the city in June, they named it after a black man who was killed by Portland police in 2018. They made global headlines in July, when federal agents were deployed to the city. Mr Whitten said he didn't know what impact the ongoing protests would have on racial inequality in the city. But he said he was feeling hopeful. "Frederick Douglass once said, 'power concedes nothing without a demand'. I hope that these protests fuel powerful demands that lead to the transformation we've been longing for." Prof Jackson is less optimistic. She said it was "ironic" that the protests had, in her opinion, "taken attention away from Black Lives Matter, and have become something completely different - we have come to a point where the Black Lives Matter movement is being hijacked for anti-government causes". Gregory McKelvey, meanwhile, doesn't believe these protests alone will trigger a reckoning. It was "frustrating", he said, that the movement was being framed by politicians as an issue of Democrats v Republicans, diverting the focus away from the local issues. "Portland Police is the target of most of the protests, not Donald Trump. Our (local) elected officials want to deflect the issue to Trump and many national audiences allow that to happen because they care more about what is happening at the federal level than in our small city. "For Portlanders, this has always been about Portland and nothing will change that."

"पोर्टलैंड एक ऐसा शहर है जहाँ युवा सेवानिवृत्त होने के लिए जाते हैं।"


London Mayoral Elections: Declared candidates list

Summary: The London Mayor and Assembly elections will be held on Thursday, 3 May 2012.

The declared candidates for the mayoral elections are: Siobhan Benita: Independent Carlos Cortiglia: British National Party Boris Johnson: Conservative Jenny Jones: Green Ken Livingstone: Labour Brian Paddick: Liberal Democrats Lawrence Webb: UK Independence Party/Fresh Choice for London In order to vote you must be registered before Wednesday, 18 April.

लंदन के महापौर और विधानसभा चुनाव गुरुवार, 3 मई 2012 को होंगे।


Covid-19: The secret life of museums during lockdown

Summary: Museums and art galleries are closed but inside their walls, a select few people are busy at work. Curators, conservators, cleaners, art handlers and security guards are among those caring for the nation's treasures during lockdown.

By Francesca GillettBBC News "I've absolutely loved it," says James Maclaine, senior fish curator at the Natural History Museum. "Obviously I have missed my colleagues but the peace and quiet has been really nice. "Walking into an area like our central hall and having that majestic space all to yourself is such a privilege," he says. And amid the pandemic, it can feel like a sanctuary. "When you consider the chaos going on elsewhere, it was definitely a place I could go where I would forget some of the horror." During each lockdown, James has cycled to the London museum two days a week for essential work. He checks the wet collections - specimens preserved in alcohol and formalin - as well as doing jobs for colleagues and caring for the museum's colony of live beetles. (The flesh-eating beetles are used to strip meat from new specimens, so just the skeletons are left.) He looks for water leaks or any fire risks - "which in a building filled with ethanol would be disastrous" - as well as insect pests among the dried specimens in the basement. "Another potential problem is the frozen collection," he says. "We have a lot of material in freezers which we haven't been able to process yet and if anything goes wrong there it would be extremely unpleasant for all concerned." Pests are something the National Museum of Scotland has also had to deal with. "We froze a mountain hare which had its tail nibbled by moths," says Chanté St Clair Inglis, who is head of collection services. The hare was quarantined and stored at -30C for three days. How is it now? It's good, says Chanté, and back on display. Stuffed lions and tigers also had to be brushed and vacuumed to get rid of dust, while elsewhere oil was leaking from an engine. In ordinary times, the museum in Edinburgh relies on its whole workforce to spot and report items that need work, and then specialists go and investigate. But with most people now working from home, that can't happen - so the staff who are on-site have to do thorough checks of the huge collection. "It's definitely an unusual experience," says Chanté. "I find walking around an empty museum quite weird, and inspiring in another way. Before Covid, even when the museum was closed it was still a time of activity. It was never as quiet as it is now." "I feel very, very lucky, really privileged," she adds. "It's a remarkable job. In a way, at times like this, you realise how important national collections are." At the Science Museum, the keeper of medicine Natasha McEnroe has been working on a new project - collecting items relating to the pandemic. As a historian, she says it is "a very odd feeling" to have the sense that we are living through history. "This is the collecting project we never wanted to happen," she says. "Obviously it is a sad story... but a lot of the objects we are collecting are actually demonstrating human ingenuity in the face of adversity." One item she has is the vial and syringe used in the UK's first vaccination, which were driven to the museum by NHS England's medical director Prof Stephen Powis. "I did well up, it was quite a moment," says Natasha. "These vaccine vials will be thrown away in their millions. But one was a historic item, it's unique." The museum has to "move quickly" otherwise items will be gone for good. But with medics so busy, it's been difficult knowing "when to jump" and ask for an item. A few miles away, inside the British Museum, staff are grappling with something more ancient. Egyptian mummies and coffins are being prepared for a future international tour, while staff have been conserving and mounting collections for shows due to open in the spring. Engineers are also on site to boost the level of ventilation leading to a delicate balancing act of Covid guidance and what the items need. "We miss our visitors - they directly contribute to the care of the collections by increasing the temperature and humidity in the building which helps preserve the collection," says the museum's head of collection care Sandra Smith. Staff also miss visitors' "curiosity, enthusiasm, sense of wonder and awe", she adds. Galleries are also busy preparing for when visitors can reopen. At the Tate Liverpool, art handling manager Jenny Hunter and her team are removing the current displays and setting up the delayed Liverpool Biennial. "It's unavoidable to work [less than] two metres apart when you're art handling," she says - especially if the art is big or heavy. Her teams work in bubbles of two or three, wear medical-grade face masks and their shifts are staggered. There's even been a timetable for the staffroom. But the gallery has been a calming space, says Jenny. "It feels a luxury having all this artwork to yourself." In one exhibition, the lights are off to preserve the art. "I go up to check everything's ok, it's quite eerie." At the Tate in St Ives, gardener Jodi Dickinson - who tends to the Barbara Hepworth Sculpture Garden - says his seasonal agenda of work "continues in the garden, despite the chaos in the world". He's missed knowing which plants people ask about or decide to photograph. "All these things help me to build a sense of what people value in the garden. Without the people... something very integral is missing." There have been some positives of lockdown. At the National Museum of Scotland, staff working from home have had time to start digitising historical records. And Chanté says she has been impressed with how museums have rallied together to cope. "We didn't have to invent the wheel if someone else had one," she says. For James, it's meant he's had the time to work on some personal projects: "There was one job that I started in 2004 that I've finally been able to finish." And of course, staff are looking forward to when they can reopen again. "A perk of the job is to be in the museum after hours and to walk through when it's echoing and silent," says Natasha. "But suddenly, when you're closed to the public full time, it stops being a perk and starts being quite sad. We want to see people." Chanté agrees. "That period where we reopened just before this lockdown was just hands-down wonderful. It was just so exciting. The first people were this family with this little boy dressed as superman who ran into the gallery. He was so full of joy." All pictures subject to copyright.

संग्रहालय और कला दीर्घाएं बंद हैं लेकिन उनकी दीवारों के अंदर कुछ चुनिंदा लोग काम में व्यस्त हैं। क्यूरेटर, संरक्षक, सफाईकर्मी, कला संचालक और सुरक्षा गार्ड उन लोगों में से हैं जो लॉकडाउन के दौरान देश के खजाने की देखभाल कर रहे हैं।


Huge waterspout hits Italy's south-western city

Summary: A huge waterspout has been captured on video moving from the sea and hitting Italy's south-western city of Salerno.

Eyewitnesses said the whirling column of air and water lifted containers in the city's port area. There were no reports of any injuries. The rare phenomenon was observed at about 15:00 local time (14:00 GMT), officials say. A waterspout is an intense columnar vortex that occurs over a body of water and quickly dissolves over dry land. Footage of Tuesday's waterspout has been widely shared on social media, with some users describing the vortex as "incredible".

समुद्र से आगे बढ़ते हुए और इटली के दक्षिण-पश्चिमी शहर सालेर्नो से टकराते हुए एक विशाल जलक्षेत्र को वीडियो में कैद किया गया है।


Cash van robbery: Two men charged in Belfast

Summary: Two men have been charged following the armed robbery of a cash-in-transit van in Belfast.

The men, aged 40 and 44, will appear before Belfast Magistrates Court on Wednesday morning after the robbery on Great Victoria Street on Tuesday. Three other people - a woman and two men - were also arrested. The woman, 52, has been charged with possession of a class A drug and is due to appear before Belfast Magistrates Court on 22 February. The other two men - aged 40 and 41 - remain in police custody.

बेलफास्ट में कैश-इन-ट्रांजिट वैन की सशस्त्र डकैती के बाद दो लोगों पर आरोप लगाया गया है।


East Anglia Children's Hospice: Baby grand piano donated

Summary: A baby grand piano donated to a charity shop in Suffolk is expected to raise thousands of pounds for the East Anglia's Children's Hospice (Each).

The 5ft (152cm) Moutrie grand piano, which is a size between a baby and full size grand, was given to the Each shop in Hadleigh by a local couple. Retail manager Sarah Throssell said the piano had generated "a lot of interest" and should sell at "a very good price". The charity has the Duchess of Cambridge as its patron. It supports families and cares for children and young people with life-threatening conditions across Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk. The piano, imported from Germany with many major components from Germany, England and Japan, is finished in polished ebony and has a matching piano stool.

सफ़ोक में एक चैरिटी दुकान को दान किए गए एक बच्चे के भव्य पियानो से ईस्ट एंग्लिया के चिल्ड्रन हॉस्पिस (प्रत्येक) के लिए हजारों पाउंड जुटाने की उम्मीद है।


How The Assistant exposes Hollywood's abuse silence

Summary: A young woman is a junior assistant at an entertainment mogul's American office. She starts early and works late, she fetches lunches, looks after his children, and cleans the office in a way that's not expected of her equally junior male colleagues. Most worryingly for Jane, it appears that her boss is also a sexual predator.

By Emma JonesEntertainment reporter The Assistant, by Australian film-maker Kitty Green, isn't the story of Harvey Weinstein. But the movie - starring Ozark actress Julia Garner as the new recruit Jane and Matthew Macfadyen as Wilcock, her manipulative HR manager - has roots in the exposure of power and abuse in the film industry as a result of the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements. The film ,which premiered at the Telluride Film Festival last August- is being released three months after former film producer Weinstein was found guilty of rape. "It's reductive to say that the film's just about Weinstein though," explains Green. "It's a disservice to do that, because now he's in prison, people could say, 'Oh the problem's fixed now, let's move forward.' "But it's a bigger problem than that and that's always what the film was trying to explore. It's about systems and structures that essentially keep women out of power. "I was looking specifically at what work environments support a predator - how many women are in positions of power, how staff are treated, how toxic the workplaces are." Green, who conducted anonymous interviews within the industry for her research, says that her own desire to make the film started when she took a previous movie to a festival. "I found I wasn't taken seriously by some people there, they'd ask me which of my male producers were in charge. I wondered whether I'd get credit no matter how hard I worked, and I started exploring power structures and women getting shut out of them." The director adds that she experienced things that were quite awful at film festivals, adding: "Some of my friends had worse experiences, that were really quite horrific. "In this film I found a way to explore it. If we let people get away with toxic working environments and sexual misconduct, what's to say they won't keep pushing?" The Assistant isn't the only film made by women that has origins in the spirit of the #MeToo movement. Philippa Lowthorpe's Misbehaviour, released last month, explores the protests and the sexist stereotypes at the 1970 Miss World contest in London. A Promising Young Woman, starring Carey Mulligan, turns the spotlight on sexual assault on college campuses. Eliza Hittman's prize-winning Never Rarely Sometimes Always follows the fictional journey of a teenager from rural Pennsylvania to New York for an abortion, as the service isn't available in her area. Her pregnancy appears to be the result of sexual abuse. "It still wasn't an easy movie to go and get financing for despite the recent support for female-led stories within the industry," says Never Rarely producer Sara Murphy. "But it feels like it's the right moment to target audiences. "I think this film is important, not only to speak to a lot of women who've had this experience, but it will reach a broader, a more conservative audience outside of the political debate about abortion." Co-producer Adele Romanski believes the film chimes with a "scary moment" in the US as some states have shut down reproductive services due to Covid-19. "Some state Governors have declared abortion a non-essential service," she says. "Never Rarely depicts a woman of certain socio-economic means who needs to travel for an abortion. "Now add on the idea that it's unsafe to travel right now, and think how this will affect women who previously had access to abortion services and now can't travel out of their state." Larushka Ivan-Zadeh, chief film critic at the Metro newspaper, believes these films are the fruits of the #MeToo movement. "These kinds of films got the go-ahead in a way they wouldn't have done three years ago," she says. "Something like The Assistant would never have been made before the #MeToo movement. "Now it has resonance and people will relate to it, but before, if you can imagine the production meetings about financing it, there would be cries of, 'Who's going to watch that?' Something has shifted." Nor does Ivan-Zadeh think viewers will have much trouble accessing the films at home. "In some ways it's more of an advantage for them to be seen at home when viewers have so much time on their hands," she points out. "It's kind of great what's happening in this space during Covid-19, when people are thinking about what's important to them and how they're going to make a change. "These films give you a chance to pause and think about what you're going to put up with when you go back to 'normal' life." The Assistant is streaming across digital platforms from 1 May. Never Rarely Sometimes Always is streaming across digital platforms from 13 May and on VOD from 27 May.

एक युवा महिला एक मनोरंजन मुगल के अमेरिकी कार्यालय में एक कनिष्ठ सहायक होती है। वह जल्दी शुरू करती है और देर से काम करती है, वह दोपहर का भोजन लाती है, उसके बच्चों की देखभाल करती है, और कार्यालय को इस तरह से साफ करती है कि उससे उसके समान रूप से कनिष्ठ पुरुष सहयोगियों की अपेक्षा नहीं की जाती है। जेन के लिए सबसे अधिक चिंता की बात यह है कि उसका मालिक भी एक यौन शिकारी है।


Next archbishop Justin Welby 'humble but firm'

Summary: The Rt Rev Justin Welby's appearance before the nation's media began with what you might expect from the next leader of the Church of England - a prayer - and was then followed by something you might not expect - a joke.

By John McManusBBC News "Well this is the best kept secret since the last cabinet reshuffle" he told the assembled journalists in one of the grand meeting rooms of his future London home, Lambeth Palace. His elevation to the Church of England's most senior post has been well known for some days, ever since it emerged that two bookmakers had suspended betting on the contenders because of a rush of money on Bishop Welby. That knowledge clearly hadn't gone to his head. There was a sense of real humility when he said his appointment as the 105th Archbishop of Canterbury was unexpected, and that his initial reaction on being told by a Downing Street official was "oh no". 'Steel in voice' Yet there was also something even more apparent - the hint of steel in his voice as he went on to outline in pretty firm detail where he stood on some of the major challenges facing the Church, and how he hoped to tackle them. As we know, he very much supports women bishops and strongly urged the upcoming Synod meeting to vote in their favour. But he also made clear that a way had to be found to keep those people who were unhappy with female "headship" within the Church. It was on the issue of gay marriage though that Bishop Welby was perhaps the most forthright - and clear. He supports the Church's opposition to the introduction of gay civil marriage, but in an organisation well known for clerics who often use ecclesiastical language which seems to fudge what they really mean, he also clearly produced an olive branch. Referring to civil partnerships, he acknowledged that the state had a right to define the status of people in co-habiting relationships. That hasn't always been the position of bishops in the national Church - some who sit in the Lords spoke against that original piece of legislation. He also made clear that any homophobia in the pews adversely influences Anglican Churches in Africa (where clerics have often been accused of using rhetoric that endangers gay people). And most interestingly, in saying he didn't want to engage in the "language of exclusion", he called for the creation of safe spaces where issues of sexuality could be discussed honestly. That sounds like Bishop Welby is opening the door to what could be future talks with advocates of gay marriage, both from within the Church and wider society. Church attendance One of his biggest challenges will be to reverse the decline in Church attendance, something he believes is possible. He used the subject to pay tribute to one of the contenders for the archbishop's role, Bishop Richard Chartres, who has overseen a growth in numbers in his diocese of London. And he was also unstinting in his praise of the Most Rev Rowan Williams, who stands down as archbishop at the end of this year, though he also took an opportunity to outline some fundamental differences, jokingly referring to a "better barber - and razors". He had a rapt audience for this first public appearance at Lambeth Palace, but future press conferences might not be quite so easy. However, Bishop Welby had the air of a man who, perhaps from a life spent as a senior oil company executive, is used to confidently managing people. That was very apparent when I asked him if he could outline the work he's done in conflict resolution in Nigeria, and tell us how that experience would help him in his new role? Bishop Welby outlined exactly what that work in Africa had entailed - and then without a hint of embarrassment, ignored the second half of my question and moved seamlessly on to the next journalist.

आर. टी. रेव. जस्टिन वेल्बी की देश के मीडिया के सामने उपस्थिति ने इंग्लैंड के चर्च के अगले नेता से आप जो उम्मीद कर सकते हैं, उसके साथ शुरुआत की-एक प्रार्थना-और उसके बाद कुछ ऐसा हुआ जिसकी आपको उम्मीद नहीं थी-एक मजाक।


Art deco pavilion reopens on Worthing Pier after renovation

Summary: An art deco pavilion on Worthing Pier, which has been left empty for three years, has been renovated.

Built in 1935, the Southern Pavilion was last used as a night club. The refurbishment began in January and is now complete. The managers hope it will be a multi-purpose venue, which will be used for weddings and conferences. Managing director Phil Duckett said: "I think we've got the best view on the south coast."

वर्थिंग पियर पर एक आर्ट डेको मंडप, जिसे तीन साल से खाली छोड़ दिया गया है, का नवीनीकरण किया गया है।


Motorists warned over importing vehicles to Isle of Man

Summary: Isle of Man residents have been warned that failure to register and license vehicles bought off-island and imported could result in a £1,000 fine.

Former hire cars bought from Manx businesses must also be registered and taxed on island. Motorists are being consulted on plans to introduce a more rigorous system of testing to help reduce accident rates. Vehicles which are more than three years old must be tested before registration and licensing. In December a consultation was been launched to gauge opinion about introducing MOTs and how often checks should be made. Director of Highways, Richard Pearson, said: "People who do not register their vehicles face a fine of up to £1,000." According to Mr Pearson, the tax on vehicles brought across from the UK is not valid in the island and the vehicle can not be used on the island's roads on foreign plates, including UK plates.

आइल ऑफ मैन के निवासियों को चेतावनी दी गई है कि द्वीप से खरीदे गए और आयातित वाहनों को पंजीकृत करने और लाइसेंस देने में विफलता के परिणामस्वरूप £1,000 का जुर्माना हो सकता है।


Labour conference: Five big things that happened

Summary: The Labour conference has drawn to a close.

By Gavin StampPolitical reporter, BBC News Jeremy Corbyn's big speech was brought forward a day, so he could return to London in time for Parliament to sit again. There were debates and votes on Wednesday morning, but by then most MPs had returned to Westminster. So what have been the highlights of Labour's five days by the seaside? Battle of Brexit Attempts by pro-European activists to commit the party to an explicitly pro-Remain stance was perhaps the most serious grassroots challenge to Jeremy Corbyn's authority since the 2017 general election. At one stage on Monday, after Unison threw its weight behind the pro-Remain motion, the leadership seemed to be at serious risk of defeat. But, in the end - albeit not without controversy - the conference swung behind the Labour leader following a series of passionate floor speeches urging loyalty. So Labour is left with a policy - backing another referendum choice between Remain and a credible Leave deal and remaining neutral on which side to back until closer to the time - that many in the party are dissatisfied with. But, make no mistake, this was a major victory for Mr Corbyn after a tricky few days. Deputy dig Tom Watson described attempts to scrap the position of deputy leader on the eve of the conference as a "sectarian attack" and a "drive-by" shooting. After intervention by Jeremy Corbyn, there will now be a review of the position of deputy leader - an elected position in its own right held in the past by the likes of Harriet Harman, John Prescott and Roy Hattersley. There is talk of dividing it into two - with one of the posts definitely being held by a woman. But the move against Mr Watson - orchestrated by Momentum chair Jon Lansman and backed by two senior members of the shadow cabinet - has further aggravated the already fractious relationship between the leadership and much of the parliamentary party. Policy prescriptions The backroom bickering going on in Brighton - which also saw the resignation of one of Mr Corbyn's key aides - should not hide the fact there were some huge policy announcements. A pledge to move to a 32-hour working week within 10 years and to introduce free personal care for over-65s in England will have huge economic and social implications. Health and education took centre stage, with commitments to scrap prescription charges in England, to double GP training places, to require employers to offer flexible working for menopausal women and to replace regulator Ofsted with a less "heavy-handed" body. But it was a proposal from the conference floor - calling for private schools to be integrated into the state sector and their assets redistributed - which caused the most controversy. Delegates enthusiastically backed the plan, which would also see fee-paying schools lose their charitable status, but some shadow cabinet members distanced themselves from its more radical aspects amid warnings of litigation and talk of class war. Sea of hands Chair of the NEC Wendy Nichols had the plum job - some would say the misfortune - of presiding over the big Brexit debate. It all went pretty smoothly, until it came to the votes. These things are normally done by a show of hands but, with passions running high, there was momentary confusion whether the key vote on Composite 13 - the pro-Remain argument - had been "carried" or "lost". At one stage, Ms Nichols appeared to be contradicted by Jenny Formby, the party's general secretary sitting next to her. There were calls for a formal count - a so-called card vote - which would have delayed things by several hours. In the end, both sides accepted the result - described as "democracy in action" - but what those outside of the hall made of the spectacle, who knows. Truncated speech Leaders' conference speeches are traditionally state of the nation affairs. They are the one time in the year when leaders can expand at length about who they are as well as what they want to do for the country. As a result, they can go on a bit. This one didn't. For various reasons, Jeremy Corbyn's speech - quickly rescheduled after the Supreme Court ruled Parliament had been unlawfully suspended - was shorter than we have become accustomed to in recent times. He dealt with several topics - including an attack on Boris Johnson, Brexit, a pledge to challenge drug firms - but didn't touch on many of the pledges made during conference.

श्रम सम्मेलन समाप्त हो गया है।


Spain dispute over Eta militant's early release from jail

Summary: Ines del Rio was a leading member of the militant Basque separatist group Eta. In the eyes of most Spaniards she is a "terrorist", whereas her supporters controversially refer to her as a former "political prisoner".

By Tom BurridgeBBC News, Madrid Wording, however important, aside, Del Rio's release from a prison in Galicia this week, after serving 26 years for involvement in several bombings in the 1980s which killed a total of 24 people, has caused anger and disbelief, especially among government ministers and many of the families of Eta's more than 800 victims. But others believe the ruling by the European Court of Human Rights is a victory for the rule of law. Eta is all but finished, but its violent legacy still looms large over Spanish politics. 'Never forgive' On a Spanish early morning chat show this week, the voice of a 78-year-old woman, joining the programme on the telephone, echoed around the brightly lit, glitzy TV studio. Consuelo Fenollar spoke eloquently for five minutes uninterrupted, and emotion ran through her frail voice. "I don't understand it… all this talk of human rights," she said in reference to the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights ruling that the convicted bomber Ines del Rio should be freed. "All I ask is that if it's 40 years, they stay in prison for 40 years." Her son, Gregorio Ordonez, a member of the centre-right Popular Party in the Basque country, was murdered by Eta in 1995. "I will never forgive them. I'm left looking at photos all over the house, as if he's here." The disgust of the relatives of people killed by Eta has reverberated throughout Spanish media. "How can a woman, convicted of the deaths of 24 people, serve 26 years?" some people have asked. Put simply, the answer, implicit in the ruling by the European Court of Human Rights, is that anyone who commits a crime, including terrorism offences, should be punished in accordance with the law, at the time when the crime was committed. "At the moment when they carried out these horrific attacks, they had the right to know the punishment that would apply," says Victor Moreno, president of the Spanish Union of Penal Lawyers. The European Court of Human Rights decided that a ruling by Spain's Supreme Court in 2006 could not be applied retrospectively. The 2006 ruling meant that the most serious criminals, serving sentences for multiple crimes, could not be eligible for early release. But the Strasbourg court said Ines Del Rio, convicted at the end of the 1980s, should have been set free in 2008 because under Spain's former penal code she had worked while in jail and reduced her maximum 30-year sentence to 21 years. 'Act of propaganda' The controversy surrounding the release of Eta prisoners has been a long time coming. Spain has no life sentence, and until 2003 the maximum jail term was 30 years. So, given that the majority of Eta's attacks were carried out between 1970 and 1985, some of the people convicted of those killings, who qualified for early release, began to be released from prison in the early 2000s. Public opinion in Spain at the time thought this was unjust. Lawyer Victor Moreno describes the 2006 ruling, designed to keep Eta prisoners behind bars until the end of their full sentence, as "an act of propaganda to calm social alarm caused by the release of Eta prisoners". He and other lawyers believe it is now "inevitable" that other convicted criminals, including dozens of members of Eta, could now be eligible for release, and that is causing further unease. Juan Moscoso, an opposition Socialist MP, believes the decision by the European Court of Human Rights, however difficult for the relatives of Eta's victims, is a "victory for the rule of law". "The Eta that we suffered… no longer exists. It has been defeated. It will not return," said Spain's Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Díaz following the Strasbourg ruling. Eta called a permanent ceasefire in 2011 and over the past two years 58 alleged members of the group have been arrested. It's true therefore that Eta is increasingly weak and irrelevant in Spain today. That said, the case of Ines del Rio, and the likely release from prison of more members of Eta in the coming weeks, shows how the shadow of its past looms large over Spanish politics. Juan Moscoso and other politicians on the left of Spanish politics believe it is time to end the policy, under which the majority of the 600 or so Eta prisoners in Spain are kept in jails outside the Basque country and in many cases in faraway parts of Spain or in France. They think that if Eta prisoners were moved closer to their relatives, it's likely that the militant Basque group would disband and hand in whatever arms it still has. But the position of Spain's ruling Popular Party is unflinching. "The prisons policy of the government is not going to change," said Spain's interior minister. The PP has always taken a very tough line over Eta. It is something its voters expect, and the PP-led Spanish government says it is not willing to negotiate with what it calls "terrorists" even though dozens more of them could soon be free to walk Spain's streets.

इनेस डेल रियो उग्रवादी बास्क अलगाववादी समूह एटा का एक प्रमुख सदस्य था। अधिकांश स्पेनियों की नज़र में वह एक "आतंकवादी" है, जबकि उसके समर्थक विवादास्पद रूप से उसे एक पूर्व "राजनीतिक कैदी" के रूप में संदर्भित करते हैं।


Loch Ken crayfish business plan hatched

Summary: "If you can't beat them, eat them."

By Giancarlo RinaldiSouth Scotland reporter, BBC Scotland news website As mottos go, it might sound a bit gruesome, but it sums up a business enterprise being contemplated in south-west Scotland. An economic opportunity has been spotted in an "invasion" of non-native North American signal crayfish in the region's waters. It could end up with them being served on dining tables up and down the country. The crayfish have been the source of environmental and economic heartache for some time. They were imported to the UK in the 1970s with escapes from fish farms or illegal releases thought to be the reason for their spread to other waterways. First found in Scotland in 1995, they have been blamed for eating young fish and destroying habitats and now affect a large number of rivers and lochs across the country. Last year a barrier was erected to try to stop their spread from the River Clyde to the River Annan. But one of the worst-hit places is Loch Ken in Dumfries and Galloway where a five-month trapping programme three years ago killed more than 700,000 of them but failed to eradicate the problem. The population is now estimated to run into millions and has been blamed for devastating a once-thriving angling economy. Environmental experts believe eradication is almost impossible and have adopted a containment strategy. John Thom, a community councillor in New Galloway, where local hotels and tourist businesses have suffered a downturn in trade, believes there is a way to turn the situation to the area's advantage. He said it was now time to accept that the crayfish were there to stay and establish a commercial crayfish fishery. "It is actually just a total economic and ecological disaster that is unfolding in front of us, so something has to be done about it," he said. "Unless we actually sort this problem there are going to be a lot more people made redundant in the area." Mr Thom said the "big attraction" of the project was that it could help recover some of the jobs being lost to the "infestation". The idea would be to trap crayfish and land them by boat at a disused fish farm next to the loch. Former owner Graeme Gordon said it would have the facilities needed to get the fish ready for sale. "I think there is very considerable potential because they are quite a high price food," he said. "At the moment they are imported from Holland or Thailand and various other places." He said it would be a "bit ridiculous" if they were not able to use the commercial opportunity to "employ local people and make use of a local asset". It is a product that Caroline Lawrie, who owns a restaurant a few miles from Loch Ken, would be only too happy to use. She currently imports crayfish from Denmark or Thailand and said that something produced on their doorstep and providing local jobs would be "wonderful". However, there are a few obstacles to be cleared before the plan could progress. Trapping is illegal without a licence and they are not easily obtained because of the danger of spreading the crayfish to other waters. However, there is hope in the area that the Scottish government and advisory bodies like Scottish Natural Heritage will accept that a more pragmatic approach is required. That belief could be tested if a licence application is submitted in the coming months. Mr Thom said he did not think the difficulties facing the project were insurmountable. "It can be done if people use common sense and put their minds to it. It can all be sorted out," he said.

"अगर तुम उन्हें हरा नहीं सकते, तो उन्हें खाओ।"


Police windscreen smashed by swede in Devon

Summary: A police car's windscreen was smashed by a swede that was thrown from the side of the road.

The Armed Response Vehicle (ARV) was responding to a call when the vegetable was tossed at it on Hellevoetsluis Way in Torquay, Devon. Devon and Cornwall Police said the cost of the damage was about £500. An officer from the ARV unit said those in the car at the time were "fine, but very annoyed", and couldn't attend the job they were called out to. Police are continuing their enquiries into the incident, and have asked anyone with information to get in touch.

एक पुलिस कार की विंडस्क्रीन को सड़क के किनारे से फेंके गए एक स्वीड द्वारा तोड़ दिया गया था।


The 1975: 'We want to be every single band'

Summary: "Cup of tea? Cup of tea? Sugar?"

By Matt EverittBBC 6 Music News Seconds after springing through the studio door, Matty Healy is asking the engineers, producers and assistants if they fancy a cuppa. He's polite and fidgety in scruffy skate gear and couldn't be less like the strident, screaming rock star who fronted The 1975 as they headlined the Reading and Leeds Festivals last month. "I'm just gonna look round the studio," he announces, suddenly distracted, and hops off, leaving the band's bemused drummer George Daniel to dunk teabags into the mugs. Next Thursday, the band are hoping to swap brews for bubbly at the Mercury Prize, where they are shortlisted for album of the year. Their nomination comes in support of the genre-hopping, convention-defying, headline-generating A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships. It's already a Brit Award winner - which could count against them as the judges weigh up whether other albums by artists like Dave, Slowthai, Idles and Anna Calvi deserve a share of the spotlight. Ahead of the ceremony, Healy and Daniel sat down to discuss the nomination, the creation of their biggest-ever album and its imminent follow-up. How does it feel to be up for the Mercury Prize? Matt Healy: We're so humbled. We were a scene band in our teen years; we grew up in the emo, hardcore, pop-punk scene, so to win a Brit or something like that? It always seemed ridiculous. But I really, really would love to win a Mercury. I know what it's like being there. I know what it's like being in that room. It's a powerful room. How was the making of the album? In terms of genre it's hugely ambitious. MH: We were 23 by the time our first record came out. It was a concept record and every record that's [followed] has been a distillation of that. The poppy moments become poppier, the sincere moments become more sincere. I think that there's an inherent freedom over those first releases that informed how we were going to have our career. We were never going to stay with one idea. By the time we'd even got to our first album we were already a couple of different things. We grew up not wanting to be in The Strokes. Actually, we wanted to be in The Strokes, but we also wanted to be in every single band. I, particularly, don't have the attention span for anything... I've wanted to be in a heavy metal band on Monday and I want to be in a yacht rock band on Tuesday. And it became this innate way of just expressing ourselves. It's the magpie analogy. Doesn't matter to a magpie if it's a piece of foil or a piece of glass or the crown jewels, as long as it's shiny. Do you know what I mean? As long as it's shiny, man, it doesn't matter. What did you learn about yourselves from making the record? MH: The drugs thing is a bit old now, for me [Healy entered rehab for a heroin addiction during the recording sessions]. I was in a place when I made that record and I'm, most of the time, not in that place any more. I'm kind of glad that it exists as a documentation, but it's different now. I think just [recording] it was a sense of therapy for me. George Daniel: I learned a lot. I keep going back to saying we made things a bit more intimate. But I think I just learned, as somebody who doesn't write any lyrics, how to create emotion from my side. Thematically are there one or two things that tie it together? MH: I think it had a title that was quite evocative of a particular idea. Not necessarily a Black Mirror fear of the internet, but an analysis. The record was essentially about how we communicate with each other. What are our relationships? How do they manifest in the modern world so mediated by the internet? Outside of us sat here face-to-face, all human interaction is done on the internet, whether it's an iMessage to find out how we got here or the app that we used to get here. Every single bit of human communication is mediated through the internet. Now, if you said that to somebody 15 years ago, "By the way, you know text and all that kind of stuff? Forget about it. Every single thing is going to be done on the internet", we'd have definitely asked questions or been interested in that idea. Whereas we've just let that idea become a reality and let it raise its head. How is work going on the new album, Notes on a Conditional Form? MH: It's like half-way done. Sometimes we'll write a song and it has a really traditional form, and we'll go, "Oh, that's cool". A 'song-song' we call it. And then a lot of stuff is less linear, all over the place. But we just love the way it exists like that too. With this record at the moment, I'm constantly thinking, we're getting pretty big, can we really make a record like this? Can we really make a record that the only thing we thought about is, am I vibing on this? GD: It's definitely just [about] getting better at our own craft. You're still just making whatever you want that makes you feel good. But there are a lot of moments where Matty just won't sit still in a chair and every morning you can hear [manager] Jamie on the other end of the phone trying to convince him that it is a good album and that it's not hopeless. It's the worst thing. MH: What did we call it - Friday feelings? Where I sit everyone down and I go, "Right, guys. We're not going to make this record. It's not going to happen. I just can't do it. I'm off." I have a full-on nervous breakdown for about six months. GD: To be honest, after about four or five Fridays, you're just mindful of what happened last Friday. I'm just like, "I'm not buying into this." MH: At that point I just start going, "You know what? I think that I'm actually even catching myself in a cycle! Let's just make it!" Follow us on Facebook, or on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.

"एक कप चाय? एक कप चाय? चीनी?"


French recession: Farms feeling the pinch

Summary: A year after French President Francois Hollande was elected, promising growth and jobs, the economy has slipped back into recession. As the BBC's Christian Fraser reports, economic problems are affecting rural workers as much as those in the city.

The Lot-et-Garonne region is home to the largest organic farming area in France, and at this time of year the fields are blooming. But as in other regions, the local economy is withering in the face of the punishing eurozone crisis. Patrick Jouy, an industrial strawberry farmer, has seen few of the benefits Mr Hollande promised a year ago. Many of his pickers are Poles; others are Spaniards and the Portuguese, exiles from Europe's struggling economies. Youth unemployment is 17% in the Lot, higher than the national average. But French people are reluctant to take seasonal work, and Mr Jouy says he cannot risk giving out more expensive permanent contracts, particularly when France is in recession. "It's been far more difficult under Mr Hollande," he says. "Our consumers have less money in their pockets, they are not buying strawberries, and we the employers are paying more and more in social charges. And now even overtime is taxed." The speciality of the region is plums. And the added value comes from prunes. At Coufidou, a farming co-operative in Saint-Livrade-sur-Lot, they produce exquisite sugared and chocolate-coated prunes. They sell to Fortnum and Mason and the French luxury market. But government figures show the sharpest decline in French spending power since 1984. And like most others, the farmers have been forced to adapt. "Of course with the crisis, like everyone else, we have had to cut prices and search for new markets," says sales manager Semira Baffou. "And yes we too have to think about our labour costs. It's difficult. Prunes are not like milk or potatoes, in lean times people can go without the luxuries." In neighbouring Villeneuve-sur-Lot, politics and the economy collide. The constituency belonged to Mr Hollande's former budget minister, Jerome Cahuzac, who resigned last month in disgrace after it was revealed he had stashed a fortune in a Swiss bank. There is a by-election next month, an acid test for the beleaguered Socialist government. The economic figures will compound the misery. "Yes we worry about the recession," said Juliette Cazabat a fashion designer who was shopping in the local organic market. "We have to support our local producers and encourage them to grow." New currency In recession people are turning against the euro, globalisation and the import of cheap foreign products. In Villeneuve they have created their own currency. It is called the Abeille. One Abeille equals one euro. But it can only be spent on local produce and services. It is 20 euros to be a member, but it is a non-profit initiative and any money raised is ploughed back into helping local businesses. "We have 150 families who are using it," said Nicolas Queyreau, vice president of the Abeille group. "And an increasing number of traders. You can pay for your haircut, you can eat in restaurants, and of course you can do your weekly shop. It creates a connection, a relationship between the consumer and their local producers." The Socialist candidate, Bernard Barrel, who will run in the forthcoming election, is all about supporting local employers. But on a visit to the town of Fumel and Metaltemple, a truck components factory, where shifts has been halved in recent months, he concedes it is not the best time to run for the governing party. "But we do believe in the programme Mr Hollande has set out. He has implemented 40 of the 60 new initiative he set out," he says. "This is only the first year. The effects are yet to be felt - but they will be." They have time in the Lot, it is a slower pace of life, but all the problems France is accumulating are flowing into the region. Suddenly recession threatens their cherished quality of life. Restoring it is the government's challenge, and not just for the people of the Lot-et-Garonne.

फ्रांस के राष्ट्रपति फ्रांस्वा ओलांद के चुने जाने के एक साल बाद, विकास और नौकरियों का वादा करते हुए, अर्थव्यवस्था फिर से मंदी में चली गई है। जैसा कि बीबीसी के क्रिश्चियन फ्रेजर ने बताया, आर्थिक समस्याएं ग्रामीण श्रमिकों को उतना ही प्रभावित कर रही हैं जितना कि शहर के लोगों को।


Syria aid convoy attack: What we know

Summary: An attack on a Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) warehouse and a United Nations aid convoy in a rebel-held part of northern Syria on 19 September killed at least 18 civilians, including one aid worker.

The United States, which backs the rebels, believes Russian or Syrian government warplanes bombed the convoy. But Russia, a key ally of President Bashar al-Assad, has rejected the accusation and said a US drone was flying overhead at the time of the attack. What happened? The SARC said the convoy consisted of 31 lorries loaded with non-food items, clothes and paediatric nutrients, supported by the World Food Programme, UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and UN Children's Fund (Unicef), and the International Organisation for Migration. On the afternoon of 19 September, after co-ordinating with all parties on the ground, the convoy reached a SARC warehouse in Urum al-Kubra, a rebel-held town about 12km (8 miles) west of the divided second city of Aleppo, from where the aid was to be distributed to some 78,000 civilians, the SARC added. At around 19:10 (16:10 GMT), as they were being unloaded, the attack on the lorries began, witnesses said. It was to last more than three hours. Ammar al-Salmo, a volunteer search-and-rescue worker from the Syria Civil Defence, was in the area at the time and told Human Rights Watch: "We heard helicopters in the air just before the attack. "The fires and strikes were so bad that we weren't able to even start a response to save people until three in the morning. That's when we started to pull out the deceased from under the rubble," he added. "It is known to everyone in Urum al-Kubra and the area that this is a Red Crescent warehouse and there are no military bases around it." Photos and videos of the aftermath of the attack showed destroyed buildings and charred lorries, and damaged boxes of food and other supplies bearing the logos of the Red Cross, Red Crescent and UN agencies. The following day, the SARC confirmed the deaths of around 20 civilians and the director of its Urum al-Kubra sub-branch, Omar Barakat. The UN subsequently gave a lower death toll of 18. Of the 31 aid lorries, 18 were totally destroyed. The warehouse and an adjoining clinic operated by the SARC were also damaged. Who is to blame? The UN has said it is not yet in a position to determine how the convoy was attacked, and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has decided to establish an internal board of inquiry to investigate. But the US, which backs the rebels, has said its information clearly indicates it was an air strike. On 22 September, the chairman of the US military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen Joseph Dunford, told a Senate committee that two Russian warplanes - reportedly Su-24 ground attack aircraft - had been in that area at the time of the attack, along with some "some other aircraft" belonging to the Syrian government. "There's no doubt in my mind that the Russians are responsible. I just don't know whose aircraft actually dropped the bomb," he said, calling the incident "an unacceptable atrocity". The allegations have been vigorously denied by Russia. It has suggested they are an attempt to "distract attention" from an air strike by the US-led coalition against so-called Islamic State in the eastern city of Deir al-Zour on 13 September, which killed dozens of Syrian troops. However, Moscow's story seems to have gone through several changes, says the BBC's Paul Adams. On 20 September, defence ministry spokesman Maj-Gen Igor Konashenkov said it had studied videos of the aftermath and "did not find any evidence that the convoy had been struck by ordnance". "There are no craters and the exterior of the vehicles do not have the kind of damage consistent with blasts caused by bombs dropped from the air," he explained. That seemed to contradict many of the images broadcast afterwards, our correspondent says. The Russian defence ministry later released surveillance footage filmed by a drone, which it said showed the stationary aid convoy being passed by a pick-up truck towing a heavy mortar. But the Interpreter magazine reported that the video was filmed in the Aleppo suburb of Khan al-Asal, some 6.5km (4 miles) east of Urum al-Kubra. It also pointed to screengrabs of other drone footage reportedly streamed online by Russia on the day of the attack that appears to show the convoy being unloaded. The timestamp says 18:41. On 21 September, Gen Konashenkov said a US Predator drone, armed with air-to-ground missiles, was flying above Urum al-Kubra at the time of the attack - an allegation the US military quickly denied. The general said the drone took off from Incirlik air base in Turkey, reached the area several minutes before the convoy caught fire and left about 30 minutes later. "Only its owners know why the drone was in the area at the right time and what kind of tasks it was conducting there," he added. On 5 October, Lars Bromley of the UN Operational Satellite Applications Programme (Unosat), told a news briefing: "With our analysis we determined it was an air strike, and I think multiple other sources have said that as well." However, Unosat manager Einar Bjorgo, who also attended the briefing, later clarified that they could not be 100% certain. "There is significant damage, and we believe it may be air strikes, but it's not conclusive," he told Reuters news agency. Was this a war crime? The UN's Emergency Relief Co-ordinator, Stephen O'Brien, has called for an immediate, impartial and independent investigation into the incident. UN officials stressed that officials had "completely deconflicted" the aid delivery with all parties beforehand by obtaining necessary permits from the government and notifying combatants on the ground of the lorries' movements. The convoy was also clearly marked as humanitarian. "International humanitarian law and human rights law plainly set out the basic responsibilities of warring parties to ensure the necessary protection of all humanitarian organizations, including personnel, facilities and other relief assets," Mr O'Brien said. "Let me be clear: if this callous attack is found to be a deliberate targeting of humanitarians, it would amount to a war crime." The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Peter Maurer, described the attack as a "flagrant violation of international humanitarian law". Correction 24 November 2016: A reference to photos and videos showing dead and injured people has been removed from this report.

19 सितंबर को उत्तरी सीरिया के विद्रोहियों के कब्जे वाले हिस्से में सीरियाई अरब रेड क्रिसेंट (एसएआरसी) के गोदाम और संयुक्त राष्ट्र सहायता काफिले पर हमले में एक सहायता कार्यकर्ता सहित कम से कम 18 नागरिक मारे गए।


Ben-my-Chree: Isle of Man ferry out of action until New Year

Summary: Sailings between the Isle of Man and Birkenhead have been cancelled until the end of the year due to a steering fault on the vessel Ben-my-Chree.

In a statement the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company said it would be out of action until at least 31 December. The company has brought its fastcraft Manannan, which was getting its winter overhaul, back in to service to do sailings between Douglas and Heysham. The company advised customers to check its website for more information.

जहाज बेन-माई-श्री में संचालन दोष के कारण आइल ऑफ मैन और बर्केनहेड के बीच नौकायन वर्ष के अंत तक रद्द कर दिया गया है।