Electric vehicles: Getting over the 'range anxiety'

Summary: The first minister has set a target for new petrol and diesel vehicles to be phased out in Scotland by 2032. Nicola Sturgeon made the announcement as part of her programme for government for 2017-18. More people are buying electric vehicles, but there are significant challenges ahead if we're to be weaned off the combustion engine completely.

By Christopher SleightBBC Scotland news Four years ago, there were just 3,500 electric vehicles in the UK. As of August 2017, there are almost 113,000. But many in the industry believe the market will soon see even bigger growth. It's not just Scotland - most European countries have targets for phasing out combustion engine vehicles. "It's expected that the big rush to buy electric vehicles (EV) will be this year or next year," says Paul Minto. He's a partner in the energy and utilities team for global law firm Addleshaw Goddard, and an industry expert. "Motor Trade Association figures show sales are now booming. They're on the upward curve." It doesn't seem that long ago that electric vehicles were mainly for a select band of car buyers who were either very wealthy or who only made very short journeys. The advance of technology - in particular battery technology - is changing this rapidly. As the prices comes down and range goes up more people are buying EVs. But Mr Minto says that there needs to be a corresponding focus on the infrastructure needed to keep all these batteries topped up, to keep EV owners from suffering the dreaded "range anxiety" - the fear your car will slow to a peaceful stop before it reaches its destination. The starting point is to install trickle charging points in people's homes. This is easy if you have your own drive, but - as Ms Sturgeon has acknowledged - many people in Scotland live in tenements. So how do you ensure that several hundred people living in a block of flats can all charge their cars up overnight? And how does the National Grid cope with the inevitable strain as everyone plugs their car in every evening? These two problems are the "missing pieces in the jigsaw", according to Mr Minto. They're also where the big "commercial opportunity" is. There's lots of money to be made for those who can find the answers. One of the ways mass-charging points can be created in densely-populated urban areas is with massive batteries kept in shipping container-style boxes. "You can locate big batteries anywhere you want and attach EV charging points to those," says Mr Minto. "Those batteries can be charged at any time of day or night so you do it when it's cheapest. Or you can use a renewable energy source like wind or hydropower to charge them." These big batteries have two advantages - they're an efficient way of providing a lot of charging points in a small area and they "smooth out" the demand for electricity at certain times. Mr Minto says these big batteries could easily be installed in the corner of an office car park and could have 50 charging points attached. The batteries already exist, but there's a "vast" technology race under way to make them cheaper, smaller and faster-charging, he says. And in urban areas we should be prepared to see parking meter-style charge points popping up on many roads - potentially providing a plug-in facility for every parking space on a busy street. Other possibilities for charging lots of cars in a small space include more futuristic designs - like towers which stack cars up while charging them. It's this type of solution that the Scottish government needs to embrace if mass electric car ownership is to become a reality. It's also one of the reasons Ms Sturgeon announced a £60m innovation fund alongside the 2032 target. But Scotland has another big challenge to overcome with electric cars. Although there are densely-populated cities, the vast majority of the country is rural, with big distances between villages or small towns. It's enough to make a range-anxious electric car owner go weak at the knees. Or is it? Es Tresidder lives just outside Fort William, where he runs his own business designing low-energy buildings. Until last year, he was living in Brussels where he and his family didn't need a car to get around - but he realised that would change once he moved to Scotland. Being immersed in the green economy and low-energy design, he was keen to try an electric car, but wasn't sure if it was the best option in a rural area. "I initially thought there was no way it would work. Looking at web forums for electric car owners, I was told by many people it wouldn't work as my only vehicle in somewhere like the Highlands. "But then I looked into it a bit more and decided it was worth a gamble." 'More convenient' He bought a second generation Nissan Leaf, one of the most popular models of electric car in the UK. Mr Tresidder acknowledges there's a perception EVs are only good for small journeys in big cities - but says his experience has been "surprisingly good" so far. "For most of my usage I won't use the public chargers at all - I just use the one at our house. "If you've got somewhere to charge at home or work, that's all you will need for most of your charging," he says. Home chargers like Mr Tresidder's are generally slower, but are fine for overnight charging. "It's actually more convenient than a petrol or diesel car because I never have to go to a petrol station. "There's also very low maintenance. All I've done on my car in the last 12 months is topped up the windscreen fluid and put some winter tyres on." Broken charger The range on Mr Tresidder's Nissan is about 120 miles (193km) - though it varies with the temperature and the speed he drives - which is more than enough for everyday use, he says. "When I do go on longer journeys, the average speed in the Highlands means I'm driving long enough that I'm ready for a half-hour break - especially with three children." The rapid charging technology found at most public charge points will bring the Leaf's batteries up to 80% in about 30 minutes. Mr Tresidder says he's not yet needed to queue to plug his car in and has only found one charger that didn't work. That was in Mallaig, where someone let him plug in to their wall socket with a standard three-pin extension lead for a couple of hours, which gave him enough charge to get home. But he admits there are occasions when owning an electric car feels a lot more inconvenient than driving a petrol or diesel model. "My parents live in Derbyshire and to go to see them I think I have to stop five times [to charge] - that's considerably less convenient. "But then I only do that journey a couple of times a year and it's cost me £10 rather than £60 or £70." There are also apps and websites to show the location of EV charging points - and sometimes even if they're occupied or not - which helps to keep the range anxiety at bay. There will clearly need to be a lot more charging points installed around Scotland to keep up with the rise in EV ownership. Or could part of the change over the next 15 years be a move away from traditional car ownership altogether? If fewer people own cars and instead share them, or use public transport, then the pressure on the charging infrastructure is reduced. Mr Minto believes there's likely to be a cultural shift soon. "Over the passage of time, the ownership model of cars will become less important. We are may be the last generation to want that," he says. "Already on the west coast of the USA you see driverless, autonomous vehicles. "They're just driverless pods - in effect you're no longer owning a car, you're just sharing time in one." This might seem impossibly far into the future. 'No sacrifice' But Mr Tresidder says he has no doubt that electric vehicles of some kind are in his future. He says he'll never buy another petrol or diesel car again. "Driving a petrol or diesel would feel like a step backwards in terms of how nice it is," he says. "This summer we did a house swap for our holiday which included a car swap. "The petrol car we got was noisy and smelly. You had hill starts and the business of balancing the clutch. "We stalled it constantly. We spent lots of money at petrol stations. It wasn't that nice at all. "People often think of climate change mitigation in terms of sacrifices, but electric cars aren't a sacrifice at all - they're an improvement over what we're used to."

प्रथम मंत्री ने स्कॉटलैंड में 2032 तक नए पेट्रोल और डीजल वाहनों को चरणबद्ध तरीके से बंद करने का लक्ष्य रखा है। निकोला स्टर्जन ने सरकार के लिए अपने कार्यक्रम के हिस्से के रूप में यह घोषणा की। अधिक लोग इलेक्ट्रिक वाहन खरीद रहे हैं, लेकिन अगर हमें दहन इंजन को पूरी तरह से बंद करना है तो आगे महत्वपूर्ण चुनौतियों का सामना करना पड़ सकता है।


Labour's rule changes: what do they mean in Wales?

Summary: As a political anorak, I yield to few in my fascination with the internal rulebook of political parties. I recently spent an enjoyable summer's afternoon ploughing through the constitution of the Welsh Liberal Democrats.

David CornockParliamentary correspondent, Wales It is easy to dismiss Tuesday's lengthy (8 hours, 24 minutes) meeting of Labour's national executive committee as a festival of navel-gazing, but there is a lot more at stake. The idea that Wales should have its own seat on the NEC has been around for some time. Alun Michael used it as part of his Welsh Labour leadership campaign in 1998. It will now happen, but only after a close vote and a long debate over how the Welsh representative should be chosen. He or she will now be a "frontbench" member of the Welsh Assembly, chosen by the party leader in Wales. (Carwyn Jones can currently attend NEC meetings but has no voting rights). 'Close vote' The vote was close - 16 to 15 - because supporters of Jeremy Corbyn thought it better that the Welsh rep be chosen by rank-and-file members who might be more in tune with his philosophy than someone chosen by the Welsh party leadership. NEC member Darren Williams told the BBC: "I voted against it in the way it was proposed. As far as Wales is concerned, it is completely unworkable. The idea a frontbench Assembly Member - or any Assembly Member - will be able to go to an NEC meeting in London on a Tuesday when the Assembly is sitting, and we only have 29 of 60 AMs is clearly not workable. I am in favour of the principle, but I think those positions should be elected by ordinary members." Welsh Labour will also now take responsibility for its own elections, so the electoral college is likely to survive. One member one vote, with supporters able to pay to take part, is widely seen as key to the election of Jeremy Corbyn and few in the Welsh Labour hierarchy want to repeat the experiment when Carwyn Jones moves on. The leader of Welsh Labour will also get the right to attend "Clause V" meetings, where the Labour general election manifesto is signed off. And the Welsh executive will "administer the procedure and selection of Westminster parliamentary candidates in Wales". It's not clear whether that includes by-elections, where candidates have often been shortlisted by the NEC. But it could be significant with proposed boundary changes likely to mean some sitting Labour MPs going head-to-head for their own job. 'Federal' Some MPs fear that Corbyn supporters will try to deselect them before the next election in what they would describe as a purge and others see as wider democracy in constituencies with growing memberships under the current leader. Again, it's unclear whether devolving powers to Cardiff would have any impact. The changes add up to a more federal structure within Labour and "parity" with Scottish Labour, although its leader, Kezia Dugdale, says it will now have the power to make policy in reserved (i.e. not devolved) areas too. In other news, the polls have closed in the Labour leadership election, with Owen Smith doing little to fuel optimism among his supporters that he might win: "I won't be serving in Jeremy's cabinet but I will do what I've always done which is be Labour, vote Labour loyally serve this party, make sure that from back benches I continue to make the arguments I've made during this campaign." The election result will be declared on Saturday ahead of the Labour conference in Liverpool, where the changes to Labour's internal machinery are expected to be approved by delegates.

एक राजनीतिक विश्लेषक के रूप में, मैं राजनीतिक दलों की आंतरिक नियम पुस्तिका के प्रति अपने आकर्षण में कुछ लोगों को स्वीकार करता हूं। मैंने हाल ही में वेल्श लिबरल डेमोक्रेट्स के संविधान के माध्यम से एक सुखद गर्मियों की दोपहर जुताई में बिताई।


Immigration laws 'not fit for purpose' Jersey minister says

Summary: Current laws about who can live and work in Jersey are "not fit for purpose", according to a senior politician.

Assistant Chief Minister Paul Routier, who is in charge tackling migration policy, said new laws needed to be debated. The senator said adopting similar laws to Guernsey could be more effective at controlling the population. Guernsey legislation includes the need to apply to live there before moving.

एक वरिष्ठ राजनेता के अनुसार, जर्सी में कौन रह सकता है और काम कर सकता है, इस बारे में वर्तमान कानून "उद्देश्य के लिए उपयुक्त नहीं हैं"।


Sutton Coldfield stabbing: Pair deny Ozell Pemberton's murder

Summary: A 17-year-old boy and 21-year-old man accused of murdering a teenager in a street stabbing have pleaded not guilty.

Ozell Pemberton, 16, was found fatally hurt in Sutton Coldfield town centre, near a branch of McDonald's, on 17 May. The 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and Oscar Ingram, from Erdington, Birmingham, pleaded not guilty at the city's Crown court. A trial date of 29 October has been set. Ingram, of Banners Grove, stood in the dock wearing a grey tracksuit, flanked by security officers, while the youth appeared by video-link. A post-mortem examination found Ozell died of a single stab wound to the chest. Related Internet Links HM Courts & Tribunals Service

सड़क पर चाकू मारकर एक किशोर की हत्या करने के आरोपी एक 17 वर्षीय लड़के और 21 वर्षीय व्यक्ति ने खुद को निर्दोष बताया है।


Are 'McJobs' really history?

Summary: It was the Washington Post that first coined the term in 1986.

Kamal AhmedEconomics editor@bbckamalon Twitter "The fast-food factories: McJobs are bad for kids" a headline announced over a report about thousands of teenagers employed in McDonald's US kitchens. The term took hold, to such an extent the Oxford English Dictionary still defines McJobs - 30 years later - as a catch-all for "unstimulating, low-paid jobs with few prospects, especially ones created by the expansion of the service sector". Job insecurity is a common feature. Fretting about "McJobs" has returned as the world of work changes rapidly. And whoever wins the next general election will need to deal with this most fundamental of changes, away from the world of the nine-to-five, permanent job with a single employer, and towards a world of flexibility where people and technology become more entwined. The very wealth of our economy depends on riding this wave - a global trend - successfully. One of the first challenges the new prime minister will face is how to react to the most significant inquiry into the new world of work at present being finalised by Matthew Taylor, the head of the Royal Society of Arts. He was commissioned to undertake the review by Theresa May last autumn, and has said he will deliver the report to Number 10 shortly after 8 June. Much of this new world of work is said to be negative. The number of zero-hours contracts - which offer no guaranteed work - has grown from 143,000 in 2008 to over 900,000 now. Alongside that development comes the expansion of "self-employment" which has accounted for 45% of all employment growth over the same period (although it is worth remembering that more than 80% of working adults are still in more traditional, permanent employment). Are zero hours contracts simply the return of "casualisation", where employees are at the beck and call of profit-hungry and often unscrupulous employers? Or a nod to new, modern needs for flexibility, so that work can be balanced with the rest of life? Is hiring from the new army of the "self-employed" simply a way of businesses avoiding tax and pension responsibilities and bypassing the rights - such as holiday and maternity leave - guaranteed to full time workers? Or a nod to individual autonomy, where people work to their own rhythm and receive just reward for their entrepreneurial flair? Of course, it depends which businesses you speak to. Especially if it's the business that was the original butt of the McJobs attack - McDonald's. "We have restaurant managers that look after 100 people, they are running businesses over £2m [in revenues] and they are responsible at a young age for their fortunes and their future," Paul Pomroy, the chief executive of McDonald's UK, told me. Many of those managers started in the kitchens - not actually flipping burgers, it turns out, as machines fry the beef patties on both sides and there is no need to turn them over. Indeed, when I put it to one manager, Liz Stephenson, that working in McDonald's is not all "flipping burgers", she replies archly: "I've never flipped a burger." Snobbery is one word that comes to the mind of people like Liz when they consider how some view a career like hers, which started behind the counter on casual hours when she was at school and now involves being the company point person for restaurant managers who are running businesses with revenues counted in the tens of millions of pounds a year. We have long had a rather romanticised vision of manufacturing jobs - even low-skilled ones - and have yet to fall in love with the service economy - such as retail - despite the fact it makes up the vast proportion of our economy. "McDonald's offer training and a real career," Ms Stephenson (who is off to Chicago to receive a global company award for her achievements) tells me. "I've heard all the jokes." Whatever the protestations of businesses which say they have worked hard improving their employment practices (McDonald's offers zero-hours workers rights to sick and holiday pay and has never demanded employees abide by "exclusivity clauses"), chief executives know controversies over companies such as Sports Direct and Uber can muddy all their reputations. "Businesses take decisions that do damage," Mr Pomroy said, making clear he is not referring to any specific examples. "Businesses in the modern world need to open up more, be transparent and be honest about how they treat their people and how they treat their customers. "The internet has such a vast array of information, you can't sit back and hide anymore and not be front foot." He added: "People up and down our workforce want to be treated with respect, they want a fair chance, they want progression, they want to have fun when they are working, they want to feel part of a team. "I want to be able to walk into our staff rooms and look people in the eye and know we are treating them fairly - whether it is the 16-year-old school leaver or the 35-year-old mum who is using our flexible contacts to interweave with childcare." Mr Pomroy dismisses claims that zero-hours contracts, for example, are simply a method for firms to keep people in insecure, low-paid work. As I wrote last month, when offered the chance to move on to fixed-hours contracts, 80% of McDonald's staff affected said they preferred zero-hours. Automation ahead? The other big, robotic, beast in the room when it comes to the new world of work is technology. The fear is that while we worry about zero-hours and self-employment, artificial intelligence and computers that can crunch "big data" in the blink of an eye are going to replace millions of us in the workplace. For services industries like his, Mr Pomroy is not so sure. "Since we have introduced technology - you can place your order on giant screens - it hasn't actually saved us labour in terms of reducing the number of people we need," he said. "We've actually used that as a springboard to put more people out in the dining area, so giving hospitality. "We've introduced table service. Using technology to enhance the customer experience is what is critical - not cutting the number of jobs we offer. "So since we have been introducing technology, we've recruited a further 5,000 people - taking our total workforce to 115,000." That jobs growth will continue, he insists, revealing plans to recruit 2,000 to 3,000 jobs a year. "We have over half our restaurants open 24 hours a day, five days a week, and there is still opportunity to extend the number of restaurants that operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. "We are also a growing business. We have had 11 years of consecutive sales growth. I've got no plans to slow that down." In 2007 McDonald's launched a campaign to have "McJobs" removed from the dictionary. They are still trying. "I would love it to go," Mr Pomroy said. "Not for me, I'm the CEO. It's more for the 115,000 people that work in our restaurants; they would love it to be removed." McDonald's spawned the "McJobs" tag in the 1980s and insists it has moved on. Mr Pomroy's problem is that other businesses could now be taking on the mantle as the new world of work throws up a very 21st century challenge.

यह वाशिंगटन पोस्ट था जिसने पहली बार 1986 में यह शब्द गढ़ा था।


Autonomy accused by HP of £3bn over-valuation

Summary: HP's allegations of "accounting improprieties, misrepresentations and disclosure failures" at Autonomy are shocking if true - not least because for years Autonomy was regarded as that rarest and most precious of British companies, a global hi-tech success.

Robert PestonEconomics editor The US computer giant says that this alleged wrongdoing led it to overpay by more than £3bn (or more than $5bn) when it bought Autonomy for £6.7bn last year. In a press conference, HP's chief executive Meg Whitman said the company uncovered the alleged malpractices "after a senior member of Autonomy's leadership team came forward following the departure of Autonomy founder Mike Lynch". Mr Lynch, who is a non-executive director of the BBC, left Autonomy in May. I have texted and emailed him for comment, but have so far not received any word from him. Mr Lynch made more than £500m from the sale of Autonomy. HP has "referred this matter to the US Securities and Exchange Commission's Enforcement Division and the UK's Serious Fraud Office for civil and criminal investigation". The US company says that its own investigation continues. But it gives examples of what it calls "accounting improprieties and misrepresentations". These include disguising lossmaking "low-end hardware sales" as sales of its innovative Intelligent Data Operating Layer (IDOL) product - to make it appear that this supposedly exciting new computer product was performing better than was the case. HP says that "this negative-margin, low-end hardware is estimated to have comprised 10-15% of Autonomy's revenue". Another accusation against Autonomy is that it created "revenue where no end-user customer existed at the time of sale" or accelerated the recognition of revenues inappropriately. The central charge from HP against Autonomy is that there was "a wilful effort on behalf of certain former Autonomy employees to inflate the underlying financial metrics of the company in order to mislead investors and potential buyers". HP announced that in total it is cutting by £5.5bn or $8.8bn its valuation of Autonomy. Its profits for the fourth quarter of the current year have been reduced by this $8.8bn impairment charge, such that it made a net loss in the period of $6.9bn. However Ms Whitman said that HP remains "100% committed to Autonomy" - which she described as "a great British company" with world-leading technologies. Update 16:10 GMT Here is a statement from Autonomy's former management team: "HP has made a series of allegations against some unspecified former members of Autonomy Corporation PLC's senior management team. The former management team of Autonomy was shocked to see this statement today, and flatly rejects these allegations, which are false. "HP's due diligence review was intensive, overseen on behalf of HP by KPMG, Barclays and Perella Weinberg. HP's senior management has also been closely involved with running Autonomy for the past year. "It took 10 years to build Autonomy's industry-leading technology and it is sad to see how it has been mismanaged since its acquisition by HP."

स्वायत्तता में एच. पी. के "लेखांकन अनियमितताओं, गलत निरूपण और प्रकटीकरण विफलताओं" के आरोप यदि सच हैं तो चौंकाने वाले हैं-कम से कम इसलिए नहीं कि वर्षों से स्वायत्तता को ब्रिटिश कंपनियों में सबसे दुर्लभ और सबसे कीमती माना जाता था, जो एक वैश्विक उच्च तकनीक सफलता थी।


Is Syria's war edging towards an outcome?

Summary: Syria's President Bashar al-Assad has dismissed recent battlefield reverses as just part of the ups and downs of a long-term war involving thousands of battles, and says victory remains inevitable.

By Jim MuirBBC News His Lebanese ally Hezbollah, led by Hassan Nasrallah, whose fighters are playing a key role alongside Syrian government forces fighting the rebels, agrees that losing one round does not mean losing the war. He too dismisses speculation about the future of the regime as tendentious psychological warfare. But the outlook for the embattled Syrian leader undoubtedly looks grimmer now than at any time over the past two years. Some of his adversaries and critics believe he is already gasping on the ropes and that there could be a sudden dramatic collapse at almost any moment. Even some of his core constituents - and many ordinary citizens in Damascus and elsewhere - were deeply unsettled by recent regime losses, especially in the north-western province of Idlib, where the regional capital fell at the end of March to a rebel alliance, followed shortly by the strategic town of Jisr al-Shughour. The regime had fought hard to retain those assets. Dismay at their loss became so widespread that Mr Assad clearly felt the need, for the first time since the war began four years ago, to say something publicly to acknowledge the setbacks and shore up morale. It had been badly shaken by a widely-viewed leaked video showing a popular commander at Jisr al-Shughour, Col Suheil Hassan, known as "The Tiger", begging his superiors on his mobile phone to send ammunition and help. There were fears that the losses in Idlib province could open the way for a rebel thrust into Latakia province, the coastal heartland of the Alawite minority community to which the president and his family belong. Growing pressure Setbacks in the south, including the rebel's capture of the main crossing-point on the Jordanian border at Nassib, compounded the feeling that the balance had tilted dangerously. Some military analysts believe the regime, crippled by manpower shortages too severe for Hezbollah and other Iranian-backed Shia forces to compensate, is already preparing to shorten its defence lines by pulling out of the south and other areas deemed non-core, which could even include the government-controlled half of Aleppo in the north. There are signs that pressure is building up within the regime. "It's coming apart at the seams," said one diplomat. "They are starting to turn on each other like hungry wolves." Indeed, Rustum Ghazali head of the Political Security Directorate (PSD), was reported to have died in hospital last month after being beaten up by the bodyguards (apparently including Hezbollah operatives) of a rival general, Military Intelligence chief Rafiq Shahada after a row over Iranian penetration in the country. Another top security figure, Gen Ali Mamluk, director of the National Security Bureau (NSB), also dropped out of public view for months, amidst reports that he had been sidelined or even put under house arrest for similar reasons. But he later appeared in official photos alongside President Assad receiving a visiting Iranian delegation, countering rumours about his downfall. Rebel reorganisation Towards the end of 2012, the fall of Damascus - and the regime - seemed imminent and inevitable. But it didn't happen. The situation turned around quite rapidly, and it wasn't long before a motley jumble of rebel groups were being pushed back on various fronts. Could another such turnaround happen again now? Anything is possible. But some of the givens in the equation have changed, ominously from the regime's point of view, in a way that convinces many observers that the situation has changed and a new phase is under way. Major rebel factions, and their outside backers, have for the past several months been pulling together rather than fractiously competing as before. This was translated fairly rapidly into the advances at Idlib and elsewhere. The mainly Islamist but non-"Islamic State" rebel groups welded themselves together into a "Victory Army" for the Idlib operations. They have set up a similar front in the Qalamoun area, and also for Aleppo. Running out of options Lying behind this is a triangular rapprochement between the main regional powers backing the rebel factions: Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar, who had long been working at cross purposes. The Saudis in particular seem to have taken on a new sense of purpose after the accession of King Salman in January, taking a tougher and more proactive role against what they see as Iranian encroachment in the Arab arena, notably in Yemen and Syria. If that cohesion and drive can be maintained and developed by the rebels' outside backers, it would be seriously bad news for Mr Assad. When the tide seemed to be coming in about him two-and-a-half years ago, he managed to turn things around by going to Moscow and Tehran and persuading his allies there to give him what he needed to stay in business. The Russians provided arms and diplomatic support. The Iranians opened the financial sluices to the tune of billions of dollars a year; financed, armed and trained local National Defence Forces militia; and provided huge military support, both directly through advisers and by organising the involvement of Hezbollah from Lebanon and other Shia fighters from Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. But those cards have been played, and seem to be fraying. Hezbollah made a huge difference, but it cannot be everywhere and fight all the regime's battles for it, as Idlib showed. Nor is Iranian bounty endless. Tehran is heavily squeezed by sanctions and low oil prices, hence its willingness to seek a deal with the Americans and others over its nuclear ambitions. "It's all about pressure on Iran," said a Western diplomat closely following Syrian affairs. "The message is: 'You're out of money, and you can't win the war.'" 'Grand Deal' The absence of further rabbits to pull out of the hat is why some diplomats are cautiously hopeful that the low-key peace consultations launched in Geneva by the UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, might just bear fruit. He is hoping to report progress back to the UN Security Council around the end of June - the same date set for the Iranian nuclear negotiations to produce a final detailed agreement. The Saudis and their Gulf partners fear that if such an accord is sealed, it will give Iran the leeway and finances to intensify its regional ambitions. But some others believe it is - or could be - implicitly linked to a prospective easing of tensions over Syria, Yemen and the regional Sunni-Shia rift, speculating that US President Barack Obama - who holds unusual talks with the Gulf Co-operation Council leaders in Washington this week - may want to engineer a "Grand Deal" as his legacy achievement. Under that rosy scenario, the Iranians would take on the task of removing Mr Assad and his top security circle and assuring a smooth transition to someone who could negotiate a settlement on behalf of what is left of the regime. If the balance on the ground in Syria really has shifted, both Tehran and Washington might see that as in their interest. Neither wants to see a regime collapse and a sudden rush of more or less extremist Sunni Islamist elements to fill the vacuum. By using their unique influence and penetration in Damascus to engineer the removal of Mr Assad and a transition to a figure acceptable as an interlocutor to the rebels and their regional backers, for whom the demise of the hated ruler is a must, the Iranians could at least hope to secure the "useful" parts of Syria rather than lose everything. The Americans have just launched a programme to train and and equip 15,000 carefully-vetted "moderate" rebel fighters over the next three years - but with the war against Islamic State much more in mind that confronting the regime. So far, a mere 90 recruits have been approved to embark on the project, which is widely regarded as belated, misplaced and doomed. It certainly risks being outpaced by events. Common interests The Americans have never wanted the rebels to overthrow Mr Assad and win the war. Their aim has been to use rebel pressure to induce the ruler to step aside and make way for a stable political settlement and transition. If Iran has drawn the conclusion that that would be the only way to save its investment and its corridor to its Hezbollah proxy in Lebanon, there could be a convergence of interests, as has happened against Islamic State in Iraq. Any ceasefire would leave Syria effectively divided into five zones of influence or control, some overlapping: areas held by government forces; "moderate" rebel forces; the Islamist al-Nusra Front and its allies; the extremist Islamic State; and the Kurds. If the removal of President Assad and his circle somehow paved the way for a truce between rebels and a regime under new management, all four of the non-IS forces could be motivated to go after the militants. The only major city in Syria controlled by IS is Raqqa, its headquarters. Analysts believe that if the other forces banded together under a joint operations room with US-led coalition air support, it would not take more than a few months to clear the militants out. That may seem like extreme fantasy now, but steadily-building pressures are likely to produce scenarios that are hard to predict. All the major powers involved in Syria, including the US, Russia and Iran, are heavily focused on defeating "terrorism" and the Sunni militants of IS. Saudis v Iranians But one increasingly crucial question is whether the Saudis and their allies would go along with that scenario, or whether they are determined to keep pushing to bring about a Sunni Islamist regime in Damascus as part of a broader strategy to confront Iranian penetration in the Arab world, as in Yemen. The US and its Saudi-led Sunni GCC allies seem to have fundamentally different strategic perceptions of Iranian influence in the region. American strategy seems confused, half-heartedly supporting the Saudi bombing of Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen while themselves bombing IS on the same side as Iranian-backed militia in Iraq. In Lebanon and Iraq, and tacitly in Syria, Western policy in general tends to see Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies as holding the line against the more virulent virus of IS-style Sunni extremism. But for the Saudis and their allies, Iranian "outreach" and IS extremism are two sides of the same coin, each playing off the other. "The GCC countries do not want the agreement on the first bomb [the nuclear issue] to be considered a certificate of good conduct enabling Iran to get the necessary tools to protect and enlarge the second bomb [Iranian regional ambitions]," as the Saudi-owned paper al-Hayat put it. If no political breakthrough occurs to change the course of events, the prospect seems likely to be one of continued attrition of regime and allied forces, falling increasingly back on Damascus, Homs, Hama and the Latakia coast, with internal pressures mounting explosively, unless Bashar al-Assad can somehow pull off another coup by persuading his Iranian and Russian supporters to step up their transfusions. But most analysts rule out an outright collapse of the Alawite-dominated regime. As one put it: "They have nowhere to collapse to."

सीरिया के राष्ट्रपति बशर अल-असद ने हाल के युद्ध के मैदान में उलटफेर को हजारों लड़ाइयों से जुड़े दीर्घकालिक युद्ध के उतार-चढ़ाव का हिस्सा बताते हुए खारिज कर दिया है और कहा है कि जीत अपरिहार्य है।


May in Brussels: Familiar route, low expectations

Summary: The routine is familiar, the expectations low.

Laura KuenssbergPolitical editor@bbclaurakon Twitter There is no expectation that the prime minister will arrive in Brussels with a magic key to unlock the Brexit process. But Theresa May heads to the Belgian capital later with a promise at least that within 10 days she will have been able to persuade her cabinet to agree more of the UK's vision for life outside the EU. And that she will be able to put a detailed and ambitious vision into words in a White Paper to be published not long after - the UK's blueprint of how trade, customs, agriculture, and so many other areas might work after Brexit. That, she hopes, in mid-July will usher in a genuine discussion about the long-term relationship between the country and the rest of the continent. This summit therefore is not about technical negotiations, but about promises and persuasion, for the prime minister to convey that she is in charge of her agenda. Difficult - when public cabinet skirmishes are increasingly the norm, and because Brexit is rather a sideshow at this leaders' get-together. The EU will warn that her plans must be realistic - sources suggest that Mrs May is yet to own up fully to the logic that by choosing to leave, the UK can never have a deal that offers as much as the status quo. So what? You might wonder, we have been here many times before. Mrs May en route to Brussels. The European Union demanding Britain give more details of its approach. The prime minister arriving without a huge deal that's new to offer. Sources suggesting that the negotiating teams have been talking at, rather than to, each other constructively, the process frustrated until their political masters are willing to change the game. But remember time is not just short, it is running out. This is the last summit before the meeting of EU leaders that is scheduled to sign off the final deal. With the summer break almost upon us, that means there are precious few full working weeks to get this done. Of course, as we've discussed many times, political deals are often done at the very last moment. But this is unparalleled in recent time in its complexity and complications. The government has certainly never wanted to leave this until the last minute, but the fundamental disagreements in the cabinet have made it so hard to get even this far.

दिनचर्या परिचित है, उम्मीदें कम हैं।


Norfolk County Council selling off Hethel Engineering Centre

Summary: A council is selling off a business centre and looking at selling land near a fire station and 15 other plots in a bid to save £4.25m.

Norfolk County Council aims to cut a total of £125m from its £388.7 annual net budget by 2021. As part of planned savings to its property budget is has decided to sell the Hethel Engineering Centre for £2.7m to the council-owned Hethel Innovation. It also agreed to consider selling land near East Harling Fire Station. The Conservative-run council is also looking at 15 parcels of land which are owned by the council as part of its highways programme and are no longer needed. Hethel Engineering Centre in Wymondham is managed by Hethel Innovation, which is a company set by the council to run the site and leases units to private businesses. The centre houses a number of firms involved in new technology and innovation.

एक परिषद एक व्यावसायिक केंद्र को बेच रही है और £ 4.25m बचाने के लिए एक फायर स्टेशन के पास की जमीन और 15 अन्य भूखंडों को बेचने पर विचार कर रही है।


Burry Port: Dredging work starts in silted harbour

Summary: Work to dredge the harbour at Burry Port in Carmarthenshire is beginning as part of a £2m improvement project.

A trial water injection dredging operation aims to move silt into the estuary to increase the harbour's depth and make it accessible to more boats. The 300-berth marina has a 50% occupancy and the council hopes the dredge will help increase its use. The work is part of a 10-year plan which will see repairs carried out to the listed status harbour walls.

कार्मार्थेनशायर में बरी पोर्ट में बंदरगाह को ड्रेज करने का काम 2 मिलियन पाउंड की सुधार परियोजना के हिस्से के रूप में शुरू हो रहा है।


English MP Dave Anderson is shadow Scottish Secretary

Summary: The Labour MP for Blaydon, Dave Anderson, is to be the party's new shadow Scottish Secretary, a senior source has told BBC Scotland.

The job has been vacant since Edinburgh MP Ian Murray resigned, calling on Jeremy Corbyn to stand down as leader. Mr Anderson was also made shadow Northern Ireland Secretary last week. The north-east of England parliamentarian currently sits on the Scottish Affairs Committee at Westminster. Mr Anderson said he would seek a meeting with Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale "as soon as possible".

एक वरिष्ठ सूत्र ने बीबीसी स्कॉटलैंड को बताया कि ब्लेडन के लेबर सांसद डेव एंडरसन को पार्टी का नया शैडो स्कॉटिश सचिव बनाया जाना है।


Virgin Trains axes plans for Shrewsbury-London service

Summary: Virgin Trains has scrapped plans for a direct rail service between Shrewsbury and London.

The company was due to introduce a service to Euston from May. But it said the proposed timings - two weekday off-peak daytime slots and two slots on Sundays - were unattractive and not economically viable. A spokesman for Virgin Trains said it would work with Network Rail and other groups to create a service to benefit Shropshire residents from December.

वर्जिन ट्रेन ने श्रूसबरी और लंदन के बीच सीधी रेल सेवा की योजना को रद्द कर दिया है।


Rescuers search Mynydd James mountain for missing dog

Summary: Rescue teams are searching for a dog which has been missing on a Blaenau Gwent mountain since Sunday.

Fire crews and cave rescuers are at the scene on Mynydd James mountain, behind East Pentwyn estate, near Blaina. A spokesman for South Wales Fire and Rescue Service said it had a call about the missing dog on Sunday and teams were there on Monday and Tuesday. It is thought, Tilly the West Highland Terrier, went down a hole. Specialist firefighters from Whitchurch, Barry, Abertillery and Ebbw Vale have all been involved, and are using a camera and a reach pole to assist in the search.

बचाव दल एक कुत्ते की तलाश कर रहे हैं जो रविवार से ब्लेनाउ ग्वेंट पहाड़ पर लापता है।


South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner candidates 2021

Summary: Elections for Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) will be held across England and Wales, including the South Wales force area, on 6 May 2021.

PCCs are elected representatives who work to ensure police forces are run effectively and efficiently. They replaced police authorities in 2012 and are intended to bring a public voice to policing. PCC elections are supposed to be held every four years but were postponed in 2020 due to the pandemic. Here is the list of candidates for South Wales, in alphabetical order by surname:

पुलिस और अपराध आयुक्तों (पीसीसी) के लिए चुनाव 6 मई 2021 को साउथ वेल्स बल क्षेत्र सहित पूरे इंग्लैंड और वेल्स में आयोजित किए जाएंगे।


The Statue of Liberty and America's crowdfunding pioneer

Summary: As the Statue of Liberty was shipped from France, efforts to raise funds for its pedestal stalled. But thanks to a newspaper campaign and the small donations of hundreds of residents, the base was eventually built. Rodrigo Davies, a researcher at the Center for Civic Media at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, explores America's first major crowdfunding project.

By the summer of 1885 the Statue of Liberty was in New York in pieces, awaiting assembly. Designed by French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi and paid for by the government of France, the statue was a diplomatic gift to the US. However, the US had been unable to raise $250,000 for a granite plinth for the statue - around $6.3m (£4.1m) at today's prices. A group called the American Committee of the Statue of Liberty was tasked with raising the money but fell short by more than a third. New York Governor Grover Cleveland rejected the use of city funds to pay for it, and Congress could not agree on a funding package. Amid the uncertainty, Baltimore, Boston, San Francisco and Philadelphia offered to pay for the pedestal in return for the statue's relocation. It seemed as though New York had run out of options when renowned publisher Joseph Pulitzer decided to launch a fundraising campaign in his newspaper The New York World. The campaign eventually raised money from more than 160,000 donors, including young children, businessmen, street cleaners and politicians, with more than three-quarters of the donations amounting to less than a dollar. It was a triumphant rescue effort: in just five months The World raised $101,091 - enough to cover the last $100,000 to complete the pedestal and have money leftover for a gift for the sculptor. If launched today, the campaign would be a classic crowdfunding project like those run online by Kickstarter and Indiegogo. It used a single collection point - the newspaper - to raise money from a very large pool of donors each pledging as little as pocket change. Successful Kickstarter fundraisers are usually very skilled at generating momentum - and donations - by attracting media coverage and building connections with their backers through regular, personal insights into their campaigns. When Rob Thomas, creator of the Veronica Mars television programme, sought to fund a film spin-off, he wrote four blog updates to fans in the campaign's first 24 hours. They responded, donating $2.5m. The World's journalists used similar storytelling techniques to great effect. Amid their appeals for support, the paper printed updates and letters from the public on its front page. The paper kept a running tally of contributions, and between March-August 1885 it chronicled every donation to the Statue of Liberty fund. On 22 March, Philip Bender, from Jersey City, wrote that his family was donating $2.65, including his children: "Philip and Eliza Bender, 50 cents each; (children) - Anna, 25 cents; Frannie, 25 cents; Leonard, 10 cents; Frank, 15 cents; Alice, 10 cents; Ralph, 10 cents; Carri, 10 cents; Miss Nicey 25 cents." On 30 May, Jonathan Sooville, the mayor of Buffalo, donated his $230 annual salary, while 43 wealthy New Yorkers each offered $250. Collective fundraising efforts have existed for millennia - membership models for 17th Century book printing, public subscriptions to fund UK parks in the 19th Century, and collective financing of Bollywood films in the 1970s. The Statue of Liberty campaign resembles a modern online crowdfunding effort in several impressive ways: the speed with which the money was raised, the number of small donations, and the fact that the whole process was managed by one agent - the newspaper. Like many modern crowdfunding campaigns, The World offered rewards, including gold coins for the largest donor. Modern Kickstarter campaigns typically offer rewards ranging from T-shirts to a personal visit from an artist or an executive producer credit on a film. In pictures: Crowdfunding Statue of Liberty It may have taken more than a century for the internet to turn crowdfunding into a $1.5bn-a-year industry with an array of creative ways to attract potential funders, but even in Pulitzer's time other prominent New York figures recognised the potential of The World's model. In June 1885 the infamous financier and property owner Erasmus Wiman, known as The Duke of Staten Island, invited The World's managing editor Joseph Cockerill to discuss a secret development on Staten Island "which, after the Bartholdi Statue is completed, would be a glorious a mission for The World". There's no evidence in the newspaper's archives that Cockerill accepted the meeting, which was probably lucky: Wiman was later jailed for fraud. For The World, the Statue of Liberty success prompted a series of high-profile campaigns. The newspaper raised funds for a memorial to Civil War general and later president Ulysses Grant and waged a long campaign for tax reform. But Pulitzer's great crowdfunding effort remained one of his proudest achievements - and one still on display today.

जैसे ही स्टैच्यू ऑफ लिबर्टी को फ्रांस से भेजा गया, उसके आधार के लिए धन जुटाने के प्रयास रुक गए। लेकिन एक समाचार पत्र अभियान और सैकड़ों निवासियों के छोटे दान के कारण, आधार अंततः बनाया गया। मैसाचुसेट्स इंस्टीट्यूट ऑफ टेक्नोलॉजी में सेंटर फॉर सिविक मीडिया के एक शोधकर्ता रोड्रिगो डेविस, अमेरिका की पहली बड़ी क्राउडफंडिंग परियोजना की खोज करते हैं।


Is Labour right to review Bank of England's mandate?

Summary: Few economists would accuse Labour under its new shadow chancellor John McDonnell of being nuts for deciding to review the mandate of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) - even though many at the Bank will be made uncomfortable by that review.

Robert PestonEconomics editor Apart from anything else, since the crash of 2008, the MPC has failed to hit its target of 2% inflation - with a symmetrical margin of error of 1% above and below - more times than it has succeeded. There have been credible reasons for that failure: increasing interest rates to curb inflation in the Great Recession might have turned that recession into a depression. But there is something odd - and perhaps ultimately credibility destroying - about a target more honoured in the breach than in the execution. And not all successful central banks have mandates quite so narrowly defined in terms of inflation. The US Federal Reserve, for example, is obliged to maximise employment as well as price stability. So perhaps there is something to be said for broadening the remit of the MPC - although it should be pointed out that the world's investors who lend to governments are more tolerant of failure by the Fed than by the Bank of England, because they are obliged to invest in dollars in a way that they don't have to hold pounds. The argument for changing the target seems more compelling perhaps in today's world where inflation is zero and deflation imported from a slowing global economy seems as big a threat to some - including the Bank of England's chief economist Andy Haldane - as a return to confidence-damaging price rises. Mr McDonnell yesterday suggested new targets could also include growth, jobs and earnings. As it happens his Labour predecessor, Gordon Brown - steered by his then economics guru Ed Balls - considered the case for a broader mandate when giving control of interest rates to the Bank of England in 1997. They rejected that approach for fear that muddled policy would be the consequence. There is virtue in simplicity, so long as the exclusive focus on prices does not wreak the collateral damage of undermining living standards. There are some who would like to see the Bank doing more now to stimulate growth and employment creation, and are concerned that its hands are tied by its official forecast that doing nothing will bring inflation back to 2% over the next two or three years. For those critics of Bank inaction, an increase in the inflation target to 3% or so would be a possible solution. Which perhaps highlights that there is a big question about Britain and the rich West to be answered here. Has the beast of inflation, which for most of the post-War years was the UK's prosperity-hurting nemesis, been slayed - or at least imprisoned for a generation? Or is the monster hiding, ready to pounce and complicate businesses' investment decisions and households' saving calculations? Or possibly, as some argue, a bit of inflation, especially wage inflation, that cut the deflationary burden of our record debts, would be a good thing. All of which suggests that Mr McDonnell's debate about the Bank of England may be a debate worth having, though the optimal outcome isn't easy to see.

कुछ अर्थशास्त्री अपने नए शैडो चांसलर जॉन मैकडॉनेल के तहत लेबर पर बैंक ऑफ इंग्लैंड की मौद्रिक नीति समिति (एमपीसी) के जनादेश की समीक्षा करने का निर्णय लेने के लिए पागल होने का आरोप लगाएंगे-भले ही बैंक में कई लोग उस समीक्षा से असहज हो जाएंगे।


Did the UK leave Afghanistan's Helmand too soon?

Summary: It's almost two years since British Forces pulled out of Helmand. I watched them leave. At the time we were told by both politicians and senior military officers that the Afghans were ready to take care of their own security. Hindsight proves they were wrong.

By Jonathan BealeDefence Correspondent When he announced the drawdown, David Cameron declared it "mission accomplished". But the new Afghan commander in Helmand, General Moen, clearly doesn't agree. He mentions the attack on the former British base, Camp Bastion, just weeks after the British and US Marines left and then pointedly asks me: "Do you think they completed their mission?" At the end of last year there were real fears that Helmand would fall to the Taliban. The Afghan security forces were severely tested and in the words of one senior US Army officer "they had their asses kicked". Another US military adviser described them as a "sucking chest wound", suffering casualties, desertions and corruption. Towards the end of last year, the Afghan Army in Helmand was down to a third of its strength. So bad was the situation that last December coalition forces went back in. Initially it was only a handful of British Army trainers, known as "The Helmand 10", but it appears only the Americans were willing to take on the much larger task of rebuilding the Afghan army. A total of 500 soldiers from the US Army's 10th Mountain Division went into Helmand early this year - a return that took courage. They occupy a tiny corner of Camp Bastion. Pretty much everything - tents, generators and toilets - has been scavenged from the old base which is now a ghost town. The one new addition is a declaration of intent painted on their front gate: "Reinforce the line - because Helmand can't fall." The US commander, Brig Gen Andrew Rohling, says they're making "slow and steady progress". I remember the British using similar phrases too. But there is no doubt that the US troops are helping to rebuild the Afghan Army. The key, says Gen Rohling, has been sorting out leadership and logistics. Providing the Afghans with their own aircraft has helped a bit, too. Gen Rohling won't criticise those who made the decision to leave Helmand in 2014. He says if it wasn't for them "we'd be starting from zero". Nor does he believe the sacrifices of troops were in vain. Most of the 456 British soldiers who lost their lives in Afghanistan were killed in Helmand. But he concedes that some of the assumptions made about the strength of the Afghan Army in 2014 might have been wrong. Many of Helmand's problems are depressingly familiar. The Taliban still hold sway in the same places they fought the British and US Marines: Sangin, Musa Qala and Marjah. The drugs trade is still booming and no longer is there any idealistic talk of tackling poppy production. Helmand's new governor, Hayatullah Hayat, is the new broom brought in to clean out corruption. He has an unenviable task, but he says there is "hope" with the return of the international community, although he also believes the British left too soon. The threat hasn't gone away. Not just in Helmand, but across the whole of Afghanistan. Last year the Afghan government lost territory to the Taliban. Its security forces suffered 20,000 casualties, including 5,000 killed, and this year there are fears those figures will be even higher. And yet the Nato spokesman for the Operation Resolute Support, Brig Gen Charles Cleveland, still says there is reason for "cautious optimism". The Afghan Army "did not break" and that this summer they are conducting offensive operations. But for Afghanistan the most positive news has been the promise by allies not to quit. President Obama has shelved plans to drawdown US forces to 5,500. Britain's military commitment will go up to 500 troops, though they'll all be in Kabul. Progress in Afghanistan appears to move at a glacial pace, but Helmand shows that, without international support, it can unravel as fast as lightning.

ब्रिटिश सेना को हेलमंद से बाहर निकलते हुए लगभग दो साल हो गए हैं। मैंने उन्हें जाते हुए देखा। उस समय हमें राजनेताओं और वरिष्ठ सैन्य अधिकारियों दोनों ने बताया था कि अफगान अपनी सुरक्षा का ध्यान रखने के लिए तैयार थे। हिन्डसाइट साबित करता है कि वे गलत थे।


Call for States inquiry into Jersey incinerator

Summary: Environmental campaigners are calling for a States inquiry into an incinerator being built in Jersey.

Building of the waste-to-energy plant at La Collette is due to finish in November. It is expected to start work in March 2011. The Save Our Shoreline group said it was concerned about fire risks and it wanted a committee of inquiry convened. The Transport and Technical Services Department said safety issues had been taken into consideration. Committees of inquiry can have up to five States member and members of the public.

पर्यावरण प्रचारक जर्सी में बनाए जा रहे एक भस्मक की राज्य जांच की मांग कर रहे हैं।


Ennio Morricone to head Rome Film Festival jury

Summary: Celebrated composer Ennio Morricone will serve as president of the jury at this year's International Rome Film Festival, organisers have announced.

The 82-year-old, who was born in Rome, has scored more than 500 film and TV productions, including The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and The Untouchables. Italian ballet dancer Roberto Bolle will join him on the panel to select the winners of the Marc'Aurelio awards. The festival, now in its sixth year, runs from 27 October to 4 November. Morricone has received numerous awards and accolades throughout his career, including a lifetime achievement Oscar, five Baftas and two Golden Globes. Cinema Paradiso, The Mission and Once Upon a Time in America are among the many films to which he has contributed.

आयोजकों ने घोषणा की है कि प्रसिद्ध संगीतकार एन्नियो मोरिकोन इस साल के अंतर्राष्ट्रीय रोम फिल्म महोत्सव में निर्णायक मंडल के अध्यक्ष के रूप में काम करेंगे।


Arts centre plan for Wrexham's People's Market

Summary: An arts centre could be opened in an indoor market to make it "more vibrant" as part of plans to regenerate Wrexham town centre.

Wrexham council has drawn up the plans for the People's Market. It said the arts centre would be twice the size of the former Oriel gallery, which was housed in the town centre library. Councillors will vote on the proposals, which include improvements to the market stalls and a cafe, in January. The council said its proposals follow a series of consultations with the public and meetings with traders. Councillor Neil Rogers, lead member for economic development and regeneration, said the plans were part of a "wider strategy to support the regeneration of the town centre".

रेक्सम टाउन सेंटर को पुनर्जीवित करने की योजना के हिस्से के रूप में इसे "अधिक जीवंत" बनाने के लिए एक इनडोर बाजार में एक कला केंद्र खोला जा सकता है।


32,000 chicken farm plans approved for Llanrug

Summary: Plans for a poultry unit housing 32,000 chickens for free-range egg production in Gwynedd have been approved.

Councillors were recommended to give the plans the go-ahead at a farm in Llanrug, near Caernarfon, on Monday. A planning committee report said the unit would be tiered to allow droppings to fall on to a conveyor belt, then automatically removed from the building and put into a trailer parked outside. The birds will also be given access to open pasture.

ग्वेनेड में फ्री-रेंज अंडा उत्पादन के लिए 32,000 मुर्गियों को रखने वाली एक पोल्ट्री इकाई की योजना को मंजूरी दी गई है।


US election 2016: What Canadians make of it

Summary: It was not long ago that Canadians had their own game-changing election, when Justin Trudeau swept the Liberals to an unexpected victory last October. But now they are fascinated by an election going on next door.

By Ashley GoldBBC News, Washington While many Americans have threatened to move to Canada if the candidate of their choice loses, Canadians are certainly paying attention to the US election. This will come into sharper focus when Mr Trudeau pays a visit to the White House for talks and a state dinner with President Barack Obama this week. So what do Canadians make of this wild, unpredictable 2016 US election season? Is the US experiencing Trudeaumania? Donald Trump dominates the coverage For many Canadians, there's a simple lack of understanding about what is happening in the US, said Rafael Jacob, a researcher who focuses on American politics at the University of Quebec at Montreal. In Canada, most media attention on Mr Trump focuses on his more outlandish comments, and there is very little discussion regarding the substance of his positions, said Mr Jacob. "There's really an amazing level of puzzlement with what's actually happening," he said. "People can't believe it." But most people aren't concerned about the prospect of a Trump presidency, even though some of his positions would have a direct impact on Canada, like his opposition to free trade and to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which Mr Trudeau's government has signed onto. People realise Mr Trump isn't terribly concerned with Canada - when asked if he would build a border wall with Canada the same way he's proposed doing with Mexico, he said no. Mr Trudeau has not taken a stand in the election either, though he has said he is watching it closely. "I'm not going to pick a fight with Donald Trump right now. I'm not going to support him either, obviously," said Mr Trudeau at a recent town hall with Huffington Post Canada. 22 things that Donald Trump believes Canadians in the middle Politics is not as polarising in Canada. Some observers said Conservative Stephen Harper's loss to Mr Trudeau was because his positions moved too far to the right after nearly 10 years in office. Bob Plamondon, a consultant and author who has written about Canadian history, said he puts competency above party politics. He said he was so distressed about the state of the US election he tried to donate money to Republican candidate Marco Rubio and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. "I was prepared to make a contribution on the basis of a safer and more prosperous world," he said. "But then I looked up the laws, and because I'm Canadian I'm not allowed to donate." In Canadian leadership contests, not many parallels can be drawn to what's going on in the Republican party now, he said. But Canadians are fascinated by the political drama unfolding over the border, both for their own self-interest and for the entertainment. "It's such a remarkable, reality-TV like experience, like watching a train wreck in slow motion," said Mr Plamondon. "It's theatre of the absurd. It's hard to imagine that a mature, developed democracy of the world's most important and strongest nation has deteriorated to such nonsense." Some Canadians do see some virtue in Donald Trump, but his level of popularity in Canada would likely be a lot lower than the faction he has "exploited" in the US, said Mr Plamondon. And on the Democratic side, the reality is a bit shocking, too. "If you told me six months ago a self-confessed Democratic socialist from a small state with a campaign further left than anything a liberal would fathom was running against Hillary Clinton... I'd be not as astonished as I am over Donald Trump's rise, but it's a close second." This goes on for how long? Americans have been talking about the 2016 presidential election for years now, while 2015 saw the longest-ever Canadian campaign - only 78 days. The length of the US election, and its cost, has raised eyebrows in Canada, with Mr Trudeau saying the US should address "the role of campaign financing". In Canada, there is a cap on individual campaign donations and no corporate or union donations are permitted. Canadians may see the long US election process as a "spectacle" and an interesting but drawn-out affair, said Peter Loewen, a professor of political science at the University of Toronto. But Mr Plamondon sees some advantages to the American way. "The reason I like it is that it engages a large swath of the population and not just a particular special interest," he said. "That's a weakness in our system since party candidates at the local level in Canada are often selected simply because they can turn a few hundred people out to a meeting." A Canuck Ted Cruz? Canada has popped up a lot in the campaign, but not about trade or borders. Mr Trump has repeatedly accused his Republican rival Ted Cruz of not being eligible to run for president because he was born in Canada, even threatening to sue him over it. Mr Plamondon called the Canadian issue a "joke". "Imagine if an American diplomat had a baby while overseas... Would this disqualify them from high office? I thought Donald Trump made a fool of himself as leader of the birther movement," he said. Long before the 2016 election cycle, Mr Trump questioned President Obama's American-born credentials as well, demanding to see his birth certificate. "I think it registered among the politically engaged as a nice irony that after eight years of questions about Obama's eligibility, now someone genuinely born outside America was going to be the Republican standard bearer," said Mr Loewen. The Canadian Donald Trump In 2010, Toronto had its own unlikely mayoral candidate who many laughed off - and then he won. But Americans shouldn't take the comparison between Rob Ford and Donald Trump too far, said Mr Loewen. "There are some similarities between Rob Ford and Donald Trump," he said. "But for all of Rob Ford's foibles, he never, ever tried to appeal to base racism and ethnocentrism." Mr Ford admitted to smoking crack cocaine while in office - and a video later emerged which showed him threatening to kill someone. "There was this sense that these things would be the end of Rob Ford, but they actually increased his support," said Mr Loewen. "The more outrageous an act, the more popular he would become." In the US, the political and media class has long expected a stumble to bring the outspoken Donald Trump down, but it has not happened. "The stakes are a bit lower in Toronto," said Mr Loewen. "The mayor is not responsible for putting together a multi-trillion dollar budget."

यह बहुत पहले की बात नहीं थी जब कनाडाई लोगों का अपना खेल बदलने वाला चुनाव था, जब जस्टिन ट्रूडो ने पिछले अक्टूबर में लिबरल को अप्रत्याशित जीत दिलाई थी। लेकिन अब वे बगल में होने वाले चुनाव से मोहित हैं।


Thousands join Isle of Man Tynwald Day celebrations

Summary: Thousands of people have attended the annual Tynwald Day ceremony on the Isle of Man.

The event, thought to have remained largely unchanged for more than 1,000 years, is the only day of the year when parliament is held outside. During the ceremony all the island's new laws are publicly announced in both English and Manx Gaelic, an act which brings them into effect. People also have the chance to lobby the law-makers by presenting petitions.

आइल ऑफ मैन पर वार्षिक टिनवाल्ड दिवस समारोह में हजारों लोगों ने भाग लिया है।


Devon and Cornwall visitors 'turned away by weather'

Summary: Most tourism businesses in Devon and Cornwall were hit by a fall in visitors in May because of bad weather and the economic slowdown, a survey suggests.

The South West Tourism Alliance (SWTA) questioned 127 businesses in Devon and 82 in Cornwall. A report showed that in May 60% of Cornwall businesses and 53% of Devon businesses had seen a fall in numbers compared with the same month in 2011. It followed cold and wet weather in April which led to a number of floods. Many businesses questioned in the report blamed the weather and the economic slowdown for the drop in numbers. Forecasters are predicting better weather for the start of schools' holidays this weekend. Mark Jenkins, owner of the Grosvenor Hotel in Torquay, said: "The phones have started to ring. "But even if we have a boom August it won't make up for what we lost."

एक सर्वेक्षण से पता चलता है कि खराब मौसम और आर्थिक मंदी के कारण मई में डेवोन और कॉर्नवाल में अधिकांश पर्यटन व्यवसाय आगंतुकों की संख्या में गिरावट से प्रभावित हुए थे।


Birmingham workplace parking levy: Does it pay to ditch the car?

Summary: Businesses with employee parking in Birmingham city centre may be charged £500 for each space. The council says it's the latest bid to bust pollution and would be in addition to fees on cars entering Birmingham's Clean Air Zone (CAZ). But what do those who might pay the price say?

By Caroline Gall & Riyah CollinsBBC News It's just three letters, how bad could it be? Well, if you're subject to the Workplace Parking Levy - or WPL - it could be bad to the tune of half a grand a time. In other words, a £500 fee for every private parking space a business offers its workforce. It only focuses on the city centre - and firms offering 10 or more spaces - so not everyone will be affected. But Birmingham City Council thinks enough are implicated to make it worth its while. There are an estimated 14,500 bays fitting the bill, with the authority looking for a 2024 rollout to generate an annual pot of about £7m. It says the extra cash would be used for sustainable transport projects, while busting congestion and pollution at the same time. But who will literally pay the price? Given the city centre location and a levy worked around a 10-space minimum, it is likely those set to be affected are larger, corporate companies - the pockets of which are deeper than small or medium enterprises. The RAC, though, immediately raised a couple of issues when news of the council's proposals landed on Monday. Firstly it said that, on top of CAZ fees, businesses would effectively be taxed for people going to work. And secondly, the fees may be handed down to employees in pay packets. So, what do people in the city centre have to say? Richard Love, managing director of recruitment agency Berwick Partners which employs more than 50 people at its Brindley Place base, said: "Reducing pollution is obviously on everyone's agenda and the city is taking great strides in improving public transport." But he also sees potential problems. "There have been several years of significant disruption to the roads, and introducing another disincentive to commuters at this moment could impact our ability to attract the very best talent to the region," he said. "It would be much better if this could be deferred for a year or two." Banking giant HSBC chose Birmingham for the new headquarters of its personal and business arm. The site opened in February, with 2,000 employees moving in. It seems untroubled by the council's plans, saying they fit into its existing practice. A spokesperson said HSBC deliberately limited the number of car parking spaces to encourage workers to cycle, walk or use public transport instead. The BBC has asked how many parking spaces HSBC offers. What do motorists think and can they imagine leaving their cars behind? Well, here's where things get a bit chicken and the egg. The council wants fewer cars and more sustainable transport, while some drivers say they just won't countenance the train or bus until they're first fit for purpose. Perhaps it's a standoff where the levy might force hands, although, for now, cost doesn't seem a concern for some motorists as much as the alternative to driving. Lynsey Hopkins's work sees her travel between Birmingham's New Street and University stations. But she says sometimes the train carriages are so overcrowded, people are left on the platforms - and that makes the car look a much better option. "Public transport infrastructure and capacity really need improving first," she said. "To get people to leave behind comfortable personal transport in favour of a daily public bun-fight is going to be almost impossible." Matthew Richards drives to work in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter every day and is in favour of the WPL, but has some empathy for Ms Hopkins's view. "I agree with the levy as I spend a lot of my journey closing the air recirculation on my air con so that I don't breathe in dirty diesel fumes," he said. "Businesses are making a lot of money and never pay for the environmental consequences of driving around in dirty vans." But that could be about to change with the city centre CAZ - affecting all roads inside the A4540 Middleway ring road - due for rollout in June. The car driven by Mr Richards, however, is green enough to mean he will be unaffected by the zone's charges, so for now, he is happy to continue as he is. "The extra convenience is worth it," he said, adding: "I would go back to the buses if they were more frequent and significantly cheaper." An adult bus pass in Birmingham costs £61 a month. To date, the only city in the UK with a WPL is Nottingham, which introduced it in 2012. The council leader there, David Mellen, said he was glad Birmingham was considering following in Nottingham's footsteps. "It's had the effect of reducing congestion," he said. "It's given us two more lines of a tram, improved our central railway station and helped us to invest in link buses - which are perhaps not commercially viable but actually are needed for people to get to work." Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, and sign up for local news updates direct to your phone.

बर्मिंघम शहर के केंद्र में कर्मचारी पार्किंग वाले व्यवसायों से प्रत्येक स्थान के लिए £500 का शुल्क लिया जा सकता है। परिषद का कहना है कि यह प्रदूषण का भंडाफोड़ करने के लिए नवीनतम बोली है और बर्मिंघम के स्वच्छ वायु क्षेत्र (सीएजेड) में प्रवेश करने वाली कारों पर शुल्क के अतिरिक्त होगी। लेकिन जो लोग कीमत का भुगतान कर सकते हैं वे क्या कहते हैं?


Guernsey airport works to clear fog delay backlog

Summary: Guernsey Airport staff hope to finish clearing the backlog of flights caused by fog disruption since Monday.

Flights resumed on Tuesday evening after two days of cancellations and delays. Airport Director Colin Le Ray said the weather had impacted on the airport itself, as well as on passengers trying to get in and away. He said more than 40 flights had had to be cancelled on Monday alone, with more cancelled or delayed on Tuesday. The airport remained open late on Tuesday to try to clear the backlog.

ग्वेर्नसे हवाई अड्डे के कर्मचारियों को उम्मीद है कि वे सोमवार से कोहरे के व्यवधान के कारण उड़ानों के बैकलॉग को समाप्त कर देंगे।


Jane Garvey: Top 10 tips for hosting Woman's Hour

Summary: Jane Garvey is a presenter on Radio 4's Woman's Hour. Before sharing presenting duties with Jenni Murray, she was part of the team who launched 5 Live when it started in 1994, presenting the Breakfast and Drive programmes.

By Alison Feeney-HartBBC News She started her broadcasting career in local radio in 1987, living in a bedsit and earning £2,600 a year (she still has the memo congratulating her on her appointment). Here are her top 10 tips for presenting Woman's Hour. 1. Act on your dreams I got into broadcasting because one day in 1987, I actually acted on my dreams. My dream had always been to work for BBC Radio. Slightly to my surprise, nobody came to find me to offer me this dream job and that's my number one tip: don't expect anyone to come and get you. So that day, at the age of 23, back living with my Mum and Dad, having been sacked from a job in advertising, I got off my backside and I wrote a lot of letters to radio stations all over the UK, asking for work experience. I got a job at Radio Wyvern in Worcester. After 18 months there I got a job in BBC local radio, then I moved to 5 Live and now I'm at Radio 4. Nothing comes to you without effort, I'm afraid! It was really daunting the first time I did Woman's Hour and I was incredibly nervous. Woman's Hour is like a stately galleon in full sail. It is a programme far bigger than anyone who will ever present it. The Radio 4 listeners know what they like and they like what they know and the programme attracts some pretty big names. It doesn't matter how experienced you are, you get really nervous and the best way to cope with nerves like that is to let them become your adrenalin. Try and keep big name guests talking for as long as you possibly can: we were told we'd get six minutes with David Cameron last year and in the end we got about 13 minutes because I just kept talking and he felt obliged to answer! Relax enough, if you can, to listen to the person you are speaking to and then the next question, in an ideal world, should suggest itself. My producers may not agree with that, but I think that's what you should do. Radio 5 Live is a sort of allotment and Radio 4 is a manicured back lawn in Surbiton. I think you need to aim for something in the middle. Woman's Hour isn't easy, it's a different kind of challenge. When I first arrived, it was very much Jenni's way of doing the programme and she does her programme her way and I do mine my way. I'm sure that there are some people who can't tell the difference. You should never exaggerate your own importance or significance - don't take it too seriously. When you come in as a new presenter, it can take a long time to win listeners over. When people say negative things, it can be quite hurtful. Nobody wants to be criticised. I think that to be disliked is actually better than for people to be indifferent to you, but that's probably a psychological thing, I've had a word with myself and developed that way of thinking. Radio is a place for the introverted egomaniac. I think that Terry Wogan came up with that expression and I think that's very true. Not everyone is going to like you - get over it. When I'm presenting Woman's Hour, I arrive at about 7.20am. We have a meeting about the programme and then I talk through the items with the individual producers. I always have a flat white just before Woman's Hour starts, but I don't throw my toys out of the pram if that doesn't happen. I like to sit in the office with the rest of the team because I always have and I don't feel you can prepare for a programme, which is - I hope - a companionable way of spending 45 minutes, by sitting on your own. I don't want to do that. I had a fairly public divorce from a television presenter. It really wasn't a barrel of laughs and I had a really trying six months when I would come home and the Daily Mail would be waiting for me. You really do have to compartmentalise your personal life to a degree. When I'm in that studio, my mind is pretty cleared of anything except what we have to get through in the next 45 minutes. Having said that, I have lost my marbles on air a couple of times and inevitably it has been purely because I've lost concentration. You have to learn to stop aiming for perfection, particularly on live programmes. The appeal of a live programme is the potentially ragged nature of it. Don't expect not to make mistakes: that is crazy. You are going to stumble; you are going to lose your verbal footing from time to time. Don't obsess about it, just carry on and the audience won't notice it either. They're far too busy and they couldn't care less. Nobody is going to employ you for your skill of not stumbling, that's not an attractive enough asset and that's not what the best kind of radio is about. Sometimes a silence or a pause speaks volumes and with experience as a presenter, you learn when not to interrupt. Let your interviewees find the words themselves. It will sound much better if they do. There is no such thing as a boring person, but there are some terrible interviewers. Okay, well, there are some boring people, let's be honest, we all know some, but on the whole there aren't many and everyone has a story to tell. Some guests might give one-word answers while others engage with you in a somewhat artificial way and use your Christian name a lot. I've had people come on the programme and call me Jenni throughout the interview and if it's actually not your name, it doesn't sound great. I do engage with people on Twitter and I think that's an important part of my role as a presenter on Woman's Hour. It's a great way of getting guests and understanding what our audience likes. I've got about 28,000 followers which is not a lot, as my kids always remind me. They just laugh and point out that Justin Bieber has 400 million or something. With a job on Woman's Hour came a role which I hadn't been expecting in terms of going along to events and giving talks to students about women and broadcasting and I absolutely do feel a responsibility to do that sort of thing, I think we should. There is no reason why anyone can't be a presenter and I mean that. Get your voice out there, do a podcast in your bedroom, get yourself heard and be pushy, even if it's not in your nature. If I can do it, anybody can. I had this residual faith in my own ability and I knew it was just a case of me getting a foot in the door. Once you've got there, you can prove your worth. You just need to get in. Enjoy it. I honestly do wake up on a Monday morning and I'm excited about going in to work and that's great. Try to be grateful for a job you enjoy, I am and it is a huge privilege.

जेन गार्वे रेडियो 4 के वुमन्स आवर पर प्रस्तुतकर्ता हैं। जेनी मर्रे के साथ प्रस्तुति कर्तव्यों को साझा करने से पहले, वह उस टीम का हिस्सा थीं जिसने 1994 में ब्रेकफास्ट और ड्राइव कार्यक्रमों को प्रस्तुत करते हुए 5 लाइव लॉन्च किया था।


Face lift: Inside Stornoway's revamped Lews Castle

Summary: Images have been released showing new and revamped areas of Lews Castle in Stornoway on Lewis. The 19th Century property, which has been closed for 25 years, is to be opened as a museum and archive in October.

Lews Castle was constructed in 1847 for James Matheson, who made his fortune from the opium trade. Opium exported from China and India was often mixed with tobacco by smokers. William Lever, whose family business went on to become food and household products brand Unilever, owned the castle from 1918 to 1923. He installed central heating, electric lighting and internal telephones. Mr Lever also had the ballroom extended to accommodate his parties. The ballroom, including its ceiling, and the Morning Room are among the historic parts of the former stately home that have been restored. Led by Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, the £13.5m project involves funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, Historic Scotland, the Scottish government, European Regional Development Fund, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Gaelic language organisation Bord na Gaidhlig. The new museum will use Gaelic as its first language, and depict island life. Harris Tweed, a fabric hand-woven on the Western Isles, has been used for upholstery in the museum and archive. A new glass-walled gallery, glass-roofed courtyard cafe and a special exhibition gallery have been constructed. Work to fit out the property is expected to start early next month. Permanent displays will include six of the world famous 12th Century Lewis Chessmen ivory chess pieces.

लुईस पर स्टोर्नवे में ल्यूस कैसल के नए और संशोधित क्षेत्रों को दिखाने वाली छवियां जारी की गई हैं। 19 वीं शताब्दी की संपत्ति, जो 25 वर्षों से बंद है, अक्टूबर में एक संग्रहालय और संग्रह के रूप में खोली जानी है।


Poster wars breaking out across Europe

Summary: With Easter behind us it's now just a month until the European elections. Politicians across the continent are hoping to buck a trend: the ever-decreasing turnout down the years - just 43% in 2009.

By Piers ScholfieldBBC News, Brussels In Britain, the UK Independence Party has certainly got the publicity it was hoping for from its new poster campaign - and expects it to encourage a higher turnout from its passionately Eurosceptic followers. UKIP has been accused by some of scaremongering and racism. But some posters in Germany - where the visual campaign appears to be most energetic - are even more controversial. The far-right NPD has been reissuing posters which have caused scandal for years, with a very clear and openly xenophobic message. The caption "Have a safe flight home" accompanies an image of people of Middle Eastern appearance on a flying carpet. Another says "resist!" with an image of a boxing glove. This, critics say, is openly advocating violence. Others in Germany are more subtle and entertaining. The Pirate Party has put up an image of the Manneken Pis - the famous Belgian statue of a boy peeing - with the caption "I can't do it when someone's watching" - alluding to their campaign against the surveillance state. They are strongly in favour of freedom of movement across Europe - and put their point across with a powerful image of the Berlin Wall's razor wire - "Borders are so 80s". As for the main centre-right Christian Democrats, they have simply added a line on Europe to their recent general election campaign posters, with the spotlight firmly still on their star Angela Merkel - despite the fact she's not running for Europe-wide office. As for the rest of Europe, Germany features again and again, though the message from both right and left tends to be negative. Forza Italia - party of the disgraced, but still popular, Silvio Berlusconi - is keen to blame Germany for the recession. Their poster translates as: "More Italy, Less Germany. Austerity imposed by Germany brought us to recession. We have to change!" And in Greece, the insurgent party of the left, Syriza, also features Angela Merkel (below left) - alongside Greek PM Antonis Samaras - with the text: "Our patience has run out - 25 May we vote and they go!" Many countries' campaigns have yet to begin in earnest. But whatever the message, European institutions and politicians alike are trying to encourage people to go out and vote. The winner of a contest put on by the EU and the German government came up with an image (below right) which appears to acknowledge that the EU has flaws - but saying voters should be picky about which party they choose.

ईस्टर के साथ अब यूरोपीय चुनावों में सिर्फ एक महीना बाकी है। पूरे महाद्वीप के राजनेता एक प्रवृत्ति को कम करने की उम्मीद कर रहे हैंः वर्षों में लगातार घटते मतदान-2009 में केवल 43 प्रतिशत।


Do drugs really have to be so expensive?

Summary: A liver cancer treatment is off-limits in the NHS due to its unjustifiably high price tag, but in India the same treatment is available for less than £100 a month. In this week's Scrubbing Up, Michelle Childs, of Medecins Sans Frontieres, questions why wealthy nations are not doing more to drive down medicine costs.

By Michelle ChildsMedicins Sans Frontieres Sorafenib tosylate is a drug for liver cancer patented by German pharmaceutical company Bayer and marketed as Nexavar. Bayer priced the drug at nearly £3,500 per month. Until March last year, India - a country where half the population live on less than £1 per day - had no choice but to pay this sum for patented Nexavar. But to ensure its citizens had affordable access, the country has since granted a compulsory licence clause that cuts the cost of the drug by allowing another company to manufacture the therapy, even though it is still under patent. This has slashed the price of the drug by an astounding 97% - generic versions of sorafenib in India cost around £84 per month. In the UK, where an affordable generic version isn't available, the price is around £3,000 per month, which drug regulators say is "simply too high" to justify making it available on the NHS. Indeed, the watchdog NICE (National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence) rejected Nexavar for NHS use based on its cost-benefit calculation. The reaction in the UK to this decision was swift and censorious. Health charities - including the heads of Macmillan Cancer Support and the British Liver Trust - cancer patients and their families all publicly slammed the decision, and some even went as far as to picket the NICE offices of CEO Andrew Dillon in protest. But the one place the anger wasn't directed was at the prices set by the pharmaceutical companies. With health budgets that need to be controlled and the Cancer Drugs Fund in the UK under pressure, the elephant in the room is the cost of the drug in the first place. Why did no-one question Bayer on the price tag of its drug? Instead of asking, "Why are we refusing to pay for these high drug prices?", people in the UK today should be asking, "Why are these drug prices so high?" India did. Bayer has said it will challenge India's decision to allow the production of a cheaper generic copy of its patented drug. It justifies the higher price of sorafenib saying it needs the revenue to pay for future innovation. But Bayer has refused to provide details on how much it invested in Nexavar's research and development, the cost of which was partly subsidised by the US government. The only figure Bayer was prepared to refer to was the $1 billion general R&D price tag that GSK Chief Andrew Witty recently called "one of the great myths of the industry". It is true that innovative new drugs can change the way we treat people and we need more of them. But innovation is of little use if people cannot access new treatments because they are so expensive. This has long been recognised as an issue in the developing world. Increasingly though, those who cannot afford these prices are in developed countries like the UK. The innovation system is failing. A new approach is needed. We need to move to a system where new drugs are priced as close to the cost of production as possible - and where innovation is paid for and rewarded separately. We need innovation and affordable access. This is the prescription to address the needs of developing countries suggested by experts at the World Health Organization. But the UK, EU and other developed countries are blocking meaningful progress. With the UK, the US and the EU facing ageing populations and health budget blowouts, now is the time for them to start siding with developing countries on affordable access. It is in the interests of everyone's good health.

लीवर कैंसर का इलाज एन. एच. एस. में अपने अनुचित रूप से उच्च मूल्य के कारण सीमित नहीं है, लेकिन भारत में वही इलाज प्रति माह £100 से भी कम में उपलब्ध है। इस सप्ताह के स्क्रबिंग अप में, मेडिसिन्स सैन्स फ्रंटियर्स की मिशेल चाइल्ड्स, सवाल करती है कि अमीर देश दवा की लागत को कम करने के लिए अधिक क्यों नहीं कर रहे हैं।


Chris Evans profile: The chequered career of a motor mouth

Summary: Chris Evans has landed the job of replacing Jeremy Clarkson on the BBC's Top Gear - the latest achievement in a career that's seen a spectacular fall from grace and an equally remarkable resurrection.

The 49-year-old is due to begin filming the new series of the motoring show in the next few weeks. It could easily catapult him from being a national celebrity to a global star. Jeremy Clarkson is a hard act to follow - especially when the pair are close friends - but even former Top Gear presenter Chris Goffey said Evans was "the obvious choice". "Who else in TV is really clued up about the cars and who's got a persona to match Jeremy's?" he told the BBC. Evans is a notorious petrolhead, with a passion for Ferraris and a large collection of vintage motors. Among the cars he's owned are the original Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and James Hunt's winning Formula 1 Hesketh 308. He has also paid record sums for his vehicles - in 2010 he splashed out £12m for a 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO, considered the "Holy Grail" for many collectors. His passion led him to set up CarFest three years ago - a family-friendly festival featuring cars, food and music to help raise money for the BBC's Children in Need campaign. It's not bad for a newspaper delivery boy and "Tarzan-o-gram" from Warrington. Rise to fame Evans built his reputation as a witty prankster on the BBC's now-defunct London radio station GLR, where he started as a producer and ended up as a star DJ. But it was in 1992, when he became host of Channel 4's early morning programme The Big Breakfast, that he became a household name. The anarchic, primary-coloured magazine show was a huge hit in the early days, even beating ITV's new breakfast station, GMTV, when it launched in 1993. Evans' hyperactive personality defined the show, and he was catapulted from London cult personality to national celebrity. He launched his own production outfit, Ginger Productions, and moved into prime-time with Channel 4 game show Don't Forget Your Toothbrush which was sold around the world, bringing in funds to help him build up his media empire. Evans left The Big Breakfast in 1994, and the following year was recruited by BBC Radio 1 to revamp the station's breakfast show. However, he took the job on the proviso the show would be in the hands of Ginger Productions - and not the BBC. The deal ruffled feathers at Broadcasting House but his confidence and naughtiness worked wonders for the station, which saw its ratings rocket along with its profile. In 1996, he returned again to Channel 4 screens with TFI Friday - a classic Evans cocktail of music, celebrity chat, bizarre stunts and in-jokes. But as TFI took off, his love affair with the BBC grew tempestuous. His effortless, off-the-cuff banter slowly transformed into ego-centric rants, and the tone of the show became ever more dark. On one occasion, he said he hated Anthea Turner's new TV show so much he wanted to "kick her in the mouth". After lots of highly publicised public drinking, he resigned live on air in 1997 - largely because Radio 1 refused to meet his demands to work a four-day week. Later that year he returned to breakfast radio on Sir Richard Branson's Virgin station, competing against Radio 1's new breakfast line-up of Zoe Ball and Kevin Greening. Evans liked the job so much he bought Virgin Radio from Sir Richard at the end of 1997 for £85m - snatching the station from under the nose of London-based Capital Radio, whose bid had been held up by a government inquiry. With City backers behind him, his new Ginger Media Group made him a broadcasting multi-millionaire mogul. However the Evans magic started to fade soon afterwards and Ginger's TV arm showed signs of losing its flair. TFI Friday started to go off the boil, and two BBC projects - the National Lottery Red Alert and student quiz Carry on Campus - flopped. In early 2000 Evans sold the Ginger Media Group to SMG, the owner of ITV stations Scottish and Grampian, for £225m. But while Evans took a large chunk of that cash, his on-air performances faltered. 'I was an idiot' A much-hyped "romance" with former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell failed to lift TFI's ratings, and he stepped down as host before the show ended in 2000. At Virgin, meanwhile, Evans failed to turn up for a week of breakfast shows. The DJ claimed he had been ill, but when photographs and footage emerged of him out drinking with his new teenage girlfriend Billie Piper, Virgin said it had no option but to dismiss him. "I was stupid, no doubt about that," he told the BBC in 2009 while promoting his autobiography. "I wasn't a very well behaved boy at those times. I was trying to figure out how come I had this brilliant career and messed it up? "It was because I was an idiot - there's no point sugar coating it." After marrying Piper in Las Vegas in May 2001, Evans kept an uncharacteristically low profile at his marital home in Hascombe, Surrey. The marriage did not last, though, and the couple eventually divorced in 2007. In 2003, Evans made a faltering return to primetime Saturday night TV as producer of the poorly received Boys and Girls. The Channel 4 game show, billed as the ultimate battle of the sexes, was mauled by the critics and failed to match the success of his earlier TV hits. But Evans began to slowly rebuild his public image as the host of the Brit Awards and by securing a Saturday afternoon programme on BBC Radio 2. When he took over Johnnie Walker's drivetime show on the station in 2006, it prompted a flurry of complaints. One listener wrote Evans was "just a gob, a loud one at that, he can't entertain and he can't just deliver to the listener". The turbulent tabloid years had seemingly erased people's memory of his abilities as a broadcaster - but once the show found its feet, Evans re-established himself as a warm, engaging presenter and was named music radio personality of the year at the Sony Radio Academy Awards. At the time, he thanked the BBC for giving him "a second chance". He kept a relatively low profile and mainly stayed out of the public eye, only making headlines in 2008 for his third marriage to professional golfer and model Natasha Shishmanian, and the birth of their son Noah in 2010. Later that year it was announced Evans would be replacing national treasure Sir Terry Wogan on his Radio 2 breakfast show. He has taken the programme from strength to strength. It is currently the UK's most popular morning show, with 9.5 million listeners tuning in every week, thanks to Evans' hard work and imagination. One of his key innovations has been the 500 Words competition, a children's writing competition that, this year, secured the patronage of the Duchess of Cornwall. Riding on the success of the Radio 2 show, he moved back to prime time television in 2010 by co-presenting The One Show on Friday evenings. Earlier this month he also revived TFI Friday on Channel 4 for one night only - giving the show the final send off it never had, and attracting 4.2 million viewers in the process. Evans' three-year deal with Top Gear will see him fronting one of the BBC's most successful commercial properties, watched by 350 million viewers worldwide and worth an estimated £50m a year. Describing it as his "favourite programme of all time", Evans promised to "do everything I possibly can to respect what has gone on before". When the new series begins, all eyes will be on the former motormouth to see if he can keep Clarkson's fans and drive the format forward to new audiences.

क्रिस इवांस को बीबीसी के टॉप गियर में जेरेमी क्लार्कसन की जगह लेने का काम मिला है-एक करियर की नवीनतम उपलब्धि जिसमें अनुग्रह से शानदार गिरावट और एक समान रूप से उल्लेखनीय पुनरुत्थान देखा गया है।


Yannis Behrakis: Pulitzer-winning photographer dies

Summary: Yannis Behrakis, a Pulitzer-prize winning photojournalist for Reuters news agency, has died of cancer at the age of 58.

Born in Athens in 1960, Behrakis covered conflicts and natural disasters around the world in a career spanning more than thirty years. His team's coverage of the refugee crisis won the prestigious Pulitzer prize in 2016. Here is a selection of some of his work. .

रॉयटर्स समाचार एजेंसी के लिए पुलित्जर पुरस्कार विजेता फोटो पत्रकार यानिस बेहराकिस का 58 वर्ष की आयु में कैंसर से निधन हो गया है।


Baby boom prompts Leicester midwife drive

Summary: A baby boom has prompted two hospitals in Leicester to increase bed space and launch a recruitment drive for more midwives.

The Leicester Royal Infirmary and the Leicester General Hospital were both full to capacity for a three-hour period earlier this year. During 2011 they delivered a total of almost 11,000 babies. Senior midwife Gemma Bosio said: "It is extremely rare, but everybody came in at the same time". "We ran out of beds and midwives to look after the women safely." The hospitals currently have 84 maternity beds, 24 delivery suites and 334 midwives.

बेबी बूम ने लीसेस्टर के दो अस्पतालों को बिस्तर की जगह बढ़ाने और अधिक दाइयों के लिए भर्ती अभियान शुरू करने के लिए प्रेरित किया है।