Slovakia grapples with murdered journalist's last story

Summary: The headline reads: "Italian Mafia In Slovakia; Its Tentacles Reach As Far As Politics". It sits at the top of Jan Kuciak's final, unfinished article, published at midnight not just on his own news site - aktuality.sk - but, symbolically, by a number of others.

By Rob CameronBBC News, Bratislava The young investigative reporter and his fiancée Martina Kusnirova were found shot dead in their home on Sunday; the first killing of a journalist in Slovakia's history. The attack, which police say bears all the hallmarks of a contract killing, has left the country reeling. Kuciak's last article - published posthumously - alleges links between the Italian mafia and figures close to the Prime Minister, Robert Fico. His byline is accompanied by a small colour photograph of the author. A larger, black-and-white version of the same image - this one propped up against a wall, surrounded by candles and flowers - tops the page. Kuciak alleges that Italian businessmen with ties to the feared Calabrian organised crime syndicate the 'Ndrangheta have settled in eastern Slovakia, and have spent years embezzling EU funds for this relatively poor region on the border with Ukraine. These men, he alleges, have cultivated business links with senior officials, including people close to the prime minister. One, a former glamour model named Maria Troskova, was until Wednesday the prime minister's "chief state adviser". Another, Ms Troskova's former boss Viliam Jasan, was secretary of Slovakia's national security council. The two said in a joint statement that they would step down from their roles in government with immediate effect until the case had been investigated. They said attempts "by some politicians and the media to link our names to these repellent crimes" were unacceptable. They were stepping down so their names could not be used in a political battle against Mr Fico, they added. The Minister of Culture Marek Madaric, a member of Mr Fico's SMER party, has also resigned, saying he felt it was his only choice as a minister in the wake of the killings. At the time of writing, Mr Fico's office had not responded to the BBC's request for comment. But at Tuesday's surreal press conference, speaking by a table laden with a million euros in cash - the government's reward for information on the murders - Mr Fico was adamant. "Do not link innocent people without any evidence to a double homicide," Mr Fico told journalists. "It's crossing the line. It's no longer funny," he went on, castigating the opposition and the media for using the tragedy to further their own ends. For Monika Todova, an investigative journalist for the rival Dennik N newspaper and a friend of Jan Kuciak, the last three days have been a blur. She's brisk, unemotional and businesslike, but there are dark rings under her eyes. "These claims [of mafia involvement] might sound like science fiction," she told me at Dennik N's editorial offices. "But it was already like living in a dream to wake up on Monday morning and hear that Jan was dead, that someone had murdered him in his home. I couldn't believe it. We were so absolutely shocked by it." Todova explained that despite working for rival outlets, she and Kuciak would often exchange contacts and information, and were covering similar ground. Her editor-in-chief Matus Kostolny agrees with the prime minister that a line has been crossed. But he says it is now the duty of the government, the police and the judiciary to ensure the country steps back across it. "It's the last chance to persuade people that Slovakia is not a country where a journalist can be killed because of his work and nothing can happen," Kostolny told the BBC. "Where politicians can be part of corruption scandals, and nothing happens, they stay in government," he went on. "I think it's the last chance to persuade people we are not a mafia state." At an impromptu memorial to the murdered reporter and his fiancée by the wall of a local church, passers-by stopped, some kneeling at the small sea of red candles, despite the biting cold. One man stood there for 20 minutes, his lips moving in silent prayer. Prime Minister Fico and his government - buffeted by scandal over links to a property developer charged with tax and VAT fraud - have endured street protests before. But politicians are bracing for a new wave of demonstrations that could be much larger. Their greatest ally, perhaps, is the weather; the daytime high for Friday, when students plan to rally in the capital, is -4 C. But there is a sense of unreality in this small EU and Nato country. Hours after news broke of the killings, fire engulfed the roof of a building in Kosice, eastern Slovakia, that houses the regional tax authority. It took firemen 24 hours to completely extinguish the blaze. Officials assured the public the fire was an accident. The tax office, they said, was located on a lower floor; no documents were lost, no records of EU subsidies went up in flames. But these are strange days in Slovakia. Two young people are dead, and not everyone believes in coincidences.

हेडलाइन में लिखा हैः "स्लोवाकिया में इतालवी माफिया; इसके तंबू राजनीति तक पहुँचते हैं।" यह जान कुचियाक के अंतिम, अधूरे लेख के शीर्ष पर बैठता है, जो न केवल उनकी अपनी समाचार साइट-aktuality.sk पर आधी रात को प्रकाशित हुआ, बल्कि प्रतीकात्मक रूप से, कई अन्य लोगों द्वारा भी प्रकाशित किया गया।


Are global wages about to turn?

Summary: "The working-age share of the population peaked in 2012 and is now on the decline." This is probably the single most important sentence published this week from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund - but it comes from an unlikely source.

Duncan WeldonNewsnight economics correspondent@Duncanweldonon Twitter The IMF and the Bank are holding their semi-annual meetings in Peru. As usual this is being accompanied by a plethora of reports and forecasts from the two global institutions' staff teams covering the whole gamut of global economic policy. The headlines have been grabbed by the new forecasts in the World Economic Outlook (WEO) showing a weakening global recovery and particular problems in the emerging economies. But it's the The Global Monitoring Report, the publication which tracks progress towards the Millennium Development Goals - which rarely gets much attention - that has that crucial line (so crucial it's worth repeating): "The working-age share of the population peaked in 2012 and is now on the decline." What makes that sentence so important is that it applies to the global population. The Monitoring Report makes clear that the planet is on the verge of a huge demographic shift, a shift neatly summarised in two charts. A global turning point First, after decades of fast growth, world population expansion is slowing. The global population grew at a rate of almost 2% a year throughout the 1950s, the 1960s, the 1970s and the 1980s. That slowed to a rate of between 1% and 1.5% a year in the 1990s and 2000s and that rate of change is now forecast to fall relatively quickly in the coming decades. But that's not all. The share of the global population of working age (defined as 15 to 64) is forecast to fall. The working-age share rose strongly for the 40 years to 2012 and the fact it is now falling (a fall driven by both rising longevity and the past impact of a falling birth rate) could have a major impact on the shape of the global economy. In the long run, demographics matter hugely to the economy and that long run may arrive quicker than we think it will. The 1970s and 1980s saw the advanced economies enter what demographers have called a "sweet spot" as the post-war baby boomers entered the workforce and declining fertility rate reduced the number of dependent children. The working-age share of the population rose strongly. That trend was then turbo-charged by the entry of China and the former Soviet bloc into the world economy. The global workforce available to firms roughly doubled in two decades. In other words, for roughly four decades (and especially so in the last two) "labour" has been in broad supply. But if the global glut of workers is set to end - driven by both slowing population growth and a falling working-age share - then that could have major impact on global economics. Wages up and inequality down? The implications of this demographic change have been examined by both former Bank of England Chief Economist Charles Goodhart and by fund manger Toby Nangle (and I've blogged on both of their analysis). The Goodhart-Nangle view is that a combination of demographic change and China's entry into the global system can explain some of the bigger trends observed in advanced economies over the past few decades and that the ending of the "sweet spot" could see these trends reverse. In particular they both have interesting things to say on both wage growth and interest rates. Taking just wage growth, simply put (and for more detail follow the links above), an end to the global labour glut should see real wages (wages accounting for the change in prices) start to rise at a faster pace. An ONS report of 2014 found that UK real wages in the 1970s and 1980s grew by an average of 2.9% a year. That fell to 1.5% in the 1990s, and 1.2% between 2000 and 2010. A smaller workforce though should raise demand for workers, restore some bargaining power and could see that trend of declining real wage growth reverse. And, as Charles Goodhart has argued, a trend towards rising real wages could have important implications for inequality. As the relative returns on labour versus capital rise one would expect inequality to fall. In other words, Professor Piketty may be wrong to fret about ever rising inequality - demographic change should bring it down. When I last blogged on demographics, wages and inequality I received a large amount of feedback via Twitter of varying degrees of politeness. To many the idea that a global demographic change - rather than changing tax rates, the growth of finance, the decline of trade unions or some amorphous concept that goes by the name "neoliberalism" - has driven inequality is contentious. Policy still matters And of course people are entirely correct to say that demographics can't explain everything. But it can explain a lot. In January this year, the final report of the Commission on Inclusive Prosperity (ran by the Center for American Progress and chaired by Ed Balls and Larry Summers) found that low and middle-income workers in countries has diverse as Australia, Canada, France, Japan, Sweden, the UK and the US had all seen a multi-decade wage growth slowdown. These are countries with vastly different tax laws, vastly different financial industries (in terms of their size and structures) and radically different trade unions (in terms of laws, coverage and raw size). All have seen the same broad trend and that perhaps is a clue that something bigger has been going on in the background. Workers have done better (in terms of wage growth) in some countries and the rise of inequality has not been entirely uniform. National policymakers aren't powerless in the face of global trends - different labour laws, different tax systems and different economic policies will lead shape and shift what happens to wage growth and inequality. But they only shape and shift, they don't fully determine the outcome. For four decades demographic trends have acted as a headwind to wage growth. That now may be becoming tailwind. But the exact outcomes will vary from country to country.

"जनसंख्या का काम करने की उम्र का हिस्सा 2012 में चरम पर था और अब इसमें गिरावट आ रही है।" यह शायद विश्व बैंक और अंतर्राष्ट्रीय मुद्रा कोष से इस सप्ताह प्रकाशित सबसे महत्वपूर्ण वाक्य है-लेकिन यह एक अप्रत्याशित स्रोत से आता है।


Siberian bird spotted on Norfolk coast

Summary: A bird that lives most of the year in Siberia and winters in south east Asia or Australia has been spotted in north Norfolk.

The Great Knot, a small wader, has attracted dozens of bird watchers from far and wide to Titchwell's RSPB reserve on the coast. Only five have ever been spotted in England and this is the second to come to Norfolk. Titchwell volunteer Geoffrey Fitt said it was a very rare and unusual visitor. "It breeds in north-east Siberia and normally this time of year heads for the coasts of south east Asia or Australia." The last Great Knot appeared on Breydon Water in July 2014.

एक पक्षी जो साल के अधिकांश समय साइबेरिया में और सर्दियों में दक्षिण पूर्व एशिया या ऑस्ट्रेलिया में रहता है, उसे उत्तरी नॉरफ़ॉक में देखा गया है।


Katie Price arrested on suspicion of drink-driving

Summary: Former glamour model and TV star Katie Price has been arrested on suspicion of drink-driving.

The Loose Women panellist, 40, was held after police came across a damaged car stopped at the roadside on Shooters Hill Road, Woolwich, at about 02:00 BST. Scotland Yard said a woman inside the vehicle was arrested. Ms Price was taken to a south London police station but has since been released under investigation.

पूर्व ग्लैमर मॉडल और टीवी स्टार केटी प्राइस को शराब पीकर गाड़ी चलाने के संदेह में गिरफ्तार किया गया है।


Lock failure caused Airlander collapse at Bedfordshire base

Summary: The world's longest aircraft detached from its moorings and collapsed after a locking mechanism was not inserted correctly, a report has said.

Airlander 10 collapsed at its Bedfordshire base less than 24 hours after a test flight in November 2017. An investigation by owner Hybrid Air Vehicles said failure to insert locking safety pins properly was the "root cause" of the incident. It said there was "no evidence of structural or functional failure". Hybrid Air Vehicles said its investigation "showed it was possible to insert the mast locking safety pins in an incorrect position without obvious indications of this being the case". It has since started working on a number of actions to improve the mechanism to minimise the possibility of a similar event in the future. The Air Accident Investigations Branch said it will not be publishing a report into the incident as "there are no wider safety messages that would benefit the general public".

एक रिपोर्ट में कहा गया है कि दुनिया का सबसे लंबा विमान अपने लंगर से अलग हो गया और एक लॉकिंग तंत्र को सही ढंग से नहीं डालने के बाद गिर गया।


Avicii: The superstar DJ behind some of the decade's biggest hits

Summary: The death of Swedish DJ Avicii , whose supreme knack for uplifting, melodic pop-house hits made him one of the world's biggest dance producers, has left fans and fellow musicians in deep shock.

By Ian YoungsArts & entertainment reporter He was just 28. He headlined arenas, notched up billions of streams and worked with some of the biggest names in music, but suffered health problems and struggled with life on the road. From the Swedish school of pop Born Tim Bergling in Stockholm in 1989, his mother is the actress Anki Liden, who starred in Lasse Hallstrom's Oscar-nominated film My Life as a Dog. He once said he was shaped by the Swedish pop sensibility. "We grow up singing great folk songs, so the sense of melody is good, and you grow up with that in you. I think it moulds everybody. "But I also grew up knowing people like Eric Prydz and Swedish House Mafia were in the same neighbourhood." It all went Pete Tong... in a good way Fellow DJ Pete Tong spotted Avicii when he entered a talent competition a decade ago. The Swede won by a landslide and Tong released the entry - titled Manman - on his own label. "Clearly he had a very strong talent for constructing a melody and showed great maturity in the way he put a track together," Tong told the Evening Standard in 2014. "A natural. My only regret is that I didn't sign him on a longer deal." Reaching new Levels After making his name with a string of singles, Avicii's popularity exploded with the song Levels in 2011. The song combines a pulsating, euphoric hook with a sample of Etta James' Something's Got a Hold on Me, and reached platinum status in at least 10 countries. That success snowballed with dancefloor anthems like I Could Be The One with Nicky Romero and the country-tinged Wake Me Up, featuring the vocals of Aloe Blacc - both UK number one singles in 2013. Avicii had a range of influences he could reach for, but his biggest hits had the same elements - insistent, escapist house production; guest vocals to lend accessibility and depth; and, above all, irresistible melodies. When it was suggested that he didn't make "real music", he told the Standard: "You are drawing the melodies, drawing the chord progressions. You are making music. Mozart wrote everything down on a piece of paper. DJs write on computers. I really don't see any difference." A superstar among DJs The hits kept coming - in the form of songs like Hey Brother, You Make Me, The Nights and Waiting For Love. As Billboard magazine wrote: "Even when he's being cheesy, it's the kind of cheese you wanna cover your fries in and just give yourself heartburn shoving down your own throat." Avicii headlined festivals and became the first EDM DJ to pull off a worldwide arena tour, earning $19m in 2015, according to Forbes. Big-name collaborations saw him work with Coldplay, Rita Ora, Sia, Lenny Kravitz, Leona Lewis and Robbie Williams. Last year, he was reported to have been working with disco legend Nile Rodgers on Chic's comeback album. And high-profile gigs included the 2014 World Cup closing ceremony and the wedding of Sweden's Prince Carl Philip. Gigging for good causes In 2012, the DJ embarked on a 27-date US House for Hunger tour, pledging $1m for the hunger relief charity Feeding America. "I discovered when I started making money that I didn't really need it," he once said. "When you have such an excess of money you don't need, the most sensible, most human and completely obvious thing is to give to people in need." He also supported other causes. In 2015, he tackled the issues of human trafficking and gang violence when he directed the videos for his tracks For a Better Day and Pure Grinding. "All the songs have a story I wanted to tell," Avicii said. Heavy drinking and health setbacks Avicii's health problems began in January 2012, when he spent 11 days in hospital with acute pancreatitis, reportedly caused by heavy drinking. "Drinking became routine for me, but it's impossible to keep up touring and drinking at the same time, because you are going to crash," he told the Standard. "Especially when you are playing 320 shows a year.' He went back into hospital in 2013 and was advised to have his gallbladder removed. He declined and continued touring, but was forced to have the surgery in 2014. Doctors discovered his appendix had ruptured, and removed that at the same time. "I took a month off, but it wasn't really a month off," he told Billboard. "I was in the studio 12 hours a day, and then went right back to touring. It's hard to say no in this industry. You want to play everything and be everywhere." Touring takes its toll Despite his health problems, the announcement in 2016 that he was retiring from touring still came as a shock. "To me it was something I had to do for my health," he told the Hollywood Reporter. "The scene was not for me. It was not the shows and not the music. It was always the other stuff surrounding it that never came naturally to me. "I'm more of an introverted person in general. It was always very hard for me. I took on board too much negative energy, I think." After the announcement, he said he had got his "private life back" and was "focusing on myself for the first time in a long time". "This was obviously the hardest decision of my life so far," he said. "But so far it has paid off tremendously in terms of well-being for me. I'm happier than I have been in a very very long time." His final gig was in Ibiza in August 2016, and he released a comeback EP in August 2017. Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.

स्वीडिश डीजे अवीची, जिनके उत्थान, मधुर पॉप-हाउस हिट के लिए सर्वोच्च कौशल ने उन्हें दुनिया के सबसे बड़े नृत्य निर्माताओं में से एक बना दिया, के निधन ने प्रशंसकों और साथी संगीतकारों को गहरे सदमे में डाल दिया है।


Dating apps, video games and TikTok: The digital activists boosting Black Lives Matter

Summary: If you didn’t think you could use a dating app or a video game to protest against racial injustice, think again.

By Sophia Smith GalerBBC World Service With many cities still under lockdown measures, people are finding innovative online ways to demonstrate solidarity or collect donations in support of Black Lives Matter. It's more than just posting a black square to an Instagram feed - activists are coming up with ways to try to trick algorithms, swarm hashtags and turn views into donations in an attempt to spread the movement online. Video by Sophia Smith Galer Follow BBC Trending on Twitter @BBCtrending or on Facebook.

यदि आपको नहीं लगता कि आप नस्लीय अन्याय का विरोध करने के लिए डेटिंग ऐप या वीडियो गेम का उपयोग कर सकते हैं, तो फिर से सोचें।


Thorpeness cliff collapse left man with 'massive injuries'

Summary: A man died from "massive multiple injuries" when a cliff collapsed on to him as he walked his dog, an inquest has heard.

Brendan Lavery, 58, of Ingham, was buried by the cliff at Thorpeness, Suffolk, on 14 January. Members of the public joined police, fire, ambulance and coastguard crews in an attempt to save him, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. The inquest into Mr Lavery's death was adjourned until 1 June. Assistant coroner Kevin McCarthy expressed his condolences to the family of Mr Lavery, who worked as an electronics engineer, at the opening of the inquest in Ipswich. He said Mr Lavery had been on the beach for the pleasure of a walk, and it was a "major tragedy" that it cost him his life.

एक पूछताछ में पता चला है कि एक व्यक्ति की "भारी कई चोटों" से मृत्यु हो गई जब एक चट्टान उस पर गिर गई जब वह अपने कुत्ते को ले जा रहा था।


Hong Kong parking space breaks price record at £510,000

Summary: How much are you prepared to pay for a parking space?

Someone in Hong Kong recently paid out HK$4.8m ($0.62m; £0.51m) for the privilege of parking their car. The transaction last month broke the record of HK$4.24m for the most expensive parking space in the crowded city. It is in a luxury property development on Conduit Road in the Mid-Levels, one of the most affluent and prestigious residential areas in Hong Kong. The 135sq ft (12.5sq m) space was bought by a foreigner, local media reported. Hong Kong riled by latest tiny 'space capsule' homes Online, Hong Kongers seemed rather jaded by news about yet another expensive property, in a city where house prices are among the world's most unaffordable. "We are already used to this kind of news. Every day we learnt about expensive things that break records from the media. But labour cost is only increasing at the speed of a tortoise," said Gary Lo. Ed Lau wrote: "How ridiculous can Hong Kong be? A parking space is even more expensive than a brand new Ferrari."

पार्किंग स्थल के लिए आप कितना भुगतान करने के लिए तैयार हैं?


How can you tell the restaurant you're eating in is clean?

Summary: A BBC investigation found bacteria with traces of faeces on the ice served in a branch of a well-known fast food chain. Since most UK restaurants don't have to display their hygiene rating, how can you tell you're not at risk of food poisoning, asks Rob Unsworth.

When you go into a restaurant or a takeaway, you might spot a bright green sticker on the door or the window telling you its food hygiene rating. It's a very helpful steer on whether or not the standards inside are up to scratch - or at least it should be. But in fact - though you might have assumed otherwise - restaurants are not obliged to display their rating in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. In other words, any place that scored particularly badly doesn't have to tell you about it. So short of actually poking your head into the kitchen, how can you tell if a restaurant is clean as a whistle - or no such thing? Anywhere serving food - from the poshest restaurants, to burger vans, and everything in between - is subject to on-the-spot checks by environmental health officers, with the best standards rewarded with a maximum rating of five. All scores are available online, on the website of the Food Standards Agency (FSA). But that's little use if you're choosing where to eat on the hoof and don't have a smartphone to hand - when being able to see a restaurant or cafe's hygiene rating may well influence your decision. On a street in London's Soho with 34 restaurants visited by BBC One's consumer series Rip Off Britain: Food, only nine displayed their hygiene rating. In February 2016, there were 14,251 food outlets across the UK scoring a rating of just two or below - that's nearly 9% of all premises inspected. Worse still - 973 of these scored zero on the rating scale - which means they need "urgent improvement". Among them will typically be branches of some of the country's most familiar names. Rip Off Britain inspected branches of five well-known chains that had recently received the lowest possible rating, to see if things had since improved. Undercover researchers visited a branch of Costa in Loughborough, Leicestershire, the Chicken Cottage in Hampstead, north London, a Caffe Nero in Bath, the Wimpy in Basildon, Essex, and a KFC in Birmingham. The samples were then sent to a lab at Leeds Beckett University for analysis. While the results in most cases turned up only low or harmless levels of bacteria, that wasn't the case at the KFC branch in Birmingham's Martineau Place - which, only weeks earlier, had temporarily closed for a deep clean following its zero rating. Find out more Rip Off Britain: Food is broadcast on BBC One at 09:15 BST on weekday mornings from Monday 25 April - catch up on BBC iPlayer Samples from all the public areas tested - such as tables, serving areas and doors - came back clean. But in each establishment visited, the Rip Off Britain team had also asked for a cup of tap water with ice, as that can be an good indicator of standards behind the scenes. And at KFC, the ice was found to have high levels of what scientists call faecal coliforms - germs showing traces of faeces. Dr Margarita Gomez Escalada, who examined the results at Leeds Beckett University, says: "We found high levels of bacteria in the ice. The presence of faecal coliform suggests that there's faecal contamination either on the water that made the ice, or the ice itself, and so it increases the risk of getting sick from consuming this ice." KFC says it was "extremely disappointed" by the ice test results. It had "immediately launched an investigation", as well as undertaking "a retraining programme with all team members on our standards for touch point cleaning and procedures". The restaurant chain adds that following a re-inspection this branch now has "the highest possible mark of five out of five", and it takes "food safety and hygiene extremely seriously". The other establishments the team visited have also now been re-inspected under the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme, introduced in England and Wales in 2010 - Scotland already had a similar scheme. This time, environmental health officers gave them scores of either four, or the maximum five. In Wales, all businesses must by law display the sticker that shows their hygiene rating in a prominent place. How clean is your local eatery? The Food Standards Agency provides ratings for restaurants throughout the UK at its website here Catriona Stewart, head of the FSA's Food Hygiene Ratings Scheme, says the FSA wants the rest of the UK to follow suit, and it's currently assembling the evidence that it hopes will persuade the government to introduce legislation to that effect. "We need to be able to show that it doesn't have an additional burden on food businesses, and we'll be putting that case to the government," she says. In the meantime, how can diners eating on the hoof somewhere that doesn't display its hygiene rating get a sense of how clean it is? John Thornhill, who owns a tapas restaurant rated five in central London, says fresh flowers are usually a good sign - if owners care enough to put them out "there's still some love there". Also, he suggests: "I would ask your server what their favourite dish is. If you get a response that talks about the latest seasonal changes and how they tried this as a group last week, chances are you're in a good situation. If you get the impression that they never eat there, you probably shouldn't either. " Food safety and hygiene expert Dr Lisa Ackerley recommends the time-honoured route of checking the loos. "Go in the toilets, see what it looks like in there, if they can't get that right, I'm sure they won't have got the kitchen right," she says. Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the BBC team visited KFC after a re-inspection in which it had received the maximum hygiene rating. Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.

बीबीसी की एक जांच में पाया गया कि एक प्रसिद्ध फास्ट फूड श्रृंखला की एक शाखा में परोसे जाने वाले बर्फ पर मल के निशान वाले बैक्टीरिया पाए गए। चूंकि अधिकांश यूके रेस्तरां को अपनी स्वच्छता रेटिंग प्रदर्शित करने की आवश्यकता नहीं है, इसलिए आप कैसे बता सकते हैं कि आपको खाद्य विषाक्तता का खतरा नहीं है, रॉब अनसवर्थ पूछते हैं।


Rudolf Abel: The Soviet spy who grew up in England

Summary: The arrest and trial of the "most famous Soviet spy of all time", Rudolf Abel, is the inspiration for the latest Steven Spielberg blockbuster, Bridge of Spies. But who was Abel and what is the story behind his unlikely upbringing as a grammar school boy in the north-east of England?

By Simon ArmstrongBBC News "Red spy nabbed" screamed the Pathé News broadcast of October 1957 as Rudolf Abel was marched away in handcuffs. It was the archetypal Cold War tale - an undercover operative arrested after his cover was blown. Spared the electric chair, Abel was sentenced to three decades in prison. But just over four years later he would be handed over in return for Gary Powers, an American apprehended by the Soviets when his U-2 plane was shot down in 1960. As an intelligence colonel, Abel was the highest-ranking Russian to face spy charges in the US. He had worked as a radio operator during World War Two before taking a role with the Foreign Intelligence Service as a translator and then joining a forerunner of the KGB. But while Abel was what he called himself when taken into custody in the US, perhaps unsurprisingly for a secret services emissary, it was not his real name. "He was born William Fisher on 11 July 1903 in Benwell, in Newcastle's West End," says David Saunders, a professor of Russian history at Newcastle University, who has been instrumental in uncovering the full story of the spy's childhood. Spotting a review of a Russian language book by former spy Kirill Khenkin in The Times Literary Supplement in 1983, he was amazed to read of Abel's English childhood and set about obtaining a copy of his birth certificate. "Abel was familiar to me," says the professor. "I remembered the exchange of 1962. He's the most famous Soviet spy of all time. "We make a lot in this country about Kim Philby and the Cambridge Five, but those British spies didn't have any rank in the KGB. Abel is the only British-born ranking officer in Soviet external security services that we know of. "He was born at 140 Clara Street, a property which is no longer there, and his family lived at a number of other addresses - Greenhow Place, Hampstead Road, Armstrong Road - from 1901." In 1908, William's parents would move their two sons out of the city for the fresher air of the nearby coast. "William sketched and was artistic. He was also musically talented. It was a middle-class life of a kind," says Prof Saunders, who describes a gifted youngster who - to the outside world at least - enjoyed an ordinary existence. But the future spy's father was no ordinary man. A Bolshevik revolutionary, Heinrich Fisher was a "staunch socialist" and had been imprisoned in his home country by the Tsarist authorities. He and his wife Lyubov emigrated from Russia in 1901, making their way across Germany. "He'd been a metal worker in St Petersburg and almost immediately got a job as an iron turner at Armstrong's [in Newcastle] and then as an engine fitter," said Prof Saunders. "In 1921 he took the family back to Russia. It was now a Communist society." William Fisher would never return to Tyneside. Vin Arthey, author of Abel: The True Story of the Spy They Traded for Gary Powers, believes the years he spent in the North East would have helped shape his political views. "The north-east of England at the beginning of the 20th Century was textbook territory for Marxism: heavy industry, the wealth concentrated in few hands, the working class living in pretty grim conditions. "He was a committed Communist, as his parents were, and he joined the Red Army as a radio operator. "A skilled linguist - a native English speaker, as well as Russian and German from his parents and French from Monkseaton Grammar School - he got a job as a translator." Soviet security service postings to Oslo and London followed in the 1930s before World War Two saw him heavily involved in radio deception in efforts to trick German forces. It was, says Dr Arthey, the "most significant contribution" of his career. The KGB colonel would arrive in the United States illegally in 1948. Working without diplomatic cover as a photo finisher, he assumed a number of identities as he "managed" agents. "In 1948 Stalin was ailing, he died in 1953," says Dr Arthey. "The FBI was working hard to disrupt Soviet spy rings, but Fisher kept the show on the road. "I don't think his job was seeking out military secrets, but he was an important cog in the wheel that got information back to Russia." But he was betrayed by a member of his own network and arrested in Brooklyn in 1957. News reports said he had "high-powered radios capable of receiving signals from Moscow". He never revealed his true identity and stood trial on espionage charges as Rudolf Abel. The name was in fact that of a fellow KGB colonel and had been deliberately chosen, says Prof Saunders. As well as concealing the spy's true identity, it also acted as a means of "testing" defector Alexander Orlov by seeing whether he would inform his new American allies that Abel was not who he said he was. No such alert was forthcoming and, found guilty by a jury, "Rudolf Abel" was jailed for 30 years before becoming part of the famous exchange of prisoners on the Glienicke Bridge that linked West Berlin with Potsdam - the first of several such swaps between 1962 and 1986. What, though, of the way he spoke? If Abel was brought up on Tyneside would he not have had an identifiable Geordie accent? Like many aspects of the spy's life, the matter is shrouded in mystery. "I've met everybody who knew him as an English speaker," says Dr Arthey. "They said he didn't speak anything like [a Geordie]. The best we've got is that he spoke with a kind of Scots-Irish accent, which he told people was down to being brought up by an aunt in Boston. "It has been impossible to find the existence of any tapes from his FBI interrogation. That's not to say they don't exist - they could be classified, or be hidden or lost - but there's no audio record of him speaking English that I know of." Abel died in Moscow in 1971, where his remains were interred at the city's Donskoy Monastery. His tombstone bore his birth name of William Fisher - the identity that was never exposed during his captivity as one of the most notorious spies of the Cold War.

"अब तक के सबसे प्रसिद्ध सोवियत जासूस", रुडोल्फ एबेल की गिरफ्तारी और मुकदमा, नवीनतम स्टीवन स्पीलबर्ग ब्लॉकबस्टर, ब्रिज ऑफ स्पाइज के लिए प्रेरणा है। लेकिन एबेल कौन था और इंग्लैंड के उत्तर-पूर्व में एक व्याकरण स्कूल के लड़के के रूप में उसकी अप्रत्याशित परवरिश के पीछे की कहानी क्या है?


Paradise Papers: Why offshore business is turned down

Summary: Appleby is the main source of the leaked Paradise Papers documents and, like all providers of offshore financial services, has to check certain things with its prospective clients in order to prevent money laundering, corruption and other illegal activity.

This process is called "due diligence". Different countries have different requirements, but most expect the service provider to know who its client is, where the client's money has come from and the purpose of the company it is setting up. Among the applications, there are often some questionable individuals and companies trying to set up shell companies. Then there are the PEPs, or politically exposed persons. They may or may not have genuine applications but the risk they would bring has to be fully vetted. The lawyers at the heart of the leaks The examples below reflect decisions made at the time; it is unclear whether further requests were made. Some are shown in their original document format: 15 Feb 2012: Proposed shareholders/directors of funds, both principals produced passport copies issued by the "World Government of World citizens". This was deemed to be outside of ACSL's (Appleby Corporate Services Limited) risk parameters and these potential clients were therefore declined. 23 Apr 2012: Potential client wishes to acquire a "shelf" company in Mauritius or BVI (British Virgin Islands). The shelf company would be owned by Isabel José dos Santos, who is the daughter of the then Angolan President, José Eduardo dos Santos. The company was to be used for investment purposes. ACSL does not provide shelf companies to clients. Furthermore World-Check searches indicate both Isabel and José are PEPS. Other internet searches revealed adverse findings for both Isabel José dos Santos and José Eduardo dos Santos. 29 May 2013: Potential client wishes to set up BVI company. Details of the proposed transaction regarding citizenship and residence and activities of company is risky. Client may want to use precision guided bombs to communicate. 20 Jun 2013: Proposed engagement presented as very high risk. The High Risk Committee declined to take on the business due in part to the clients' ties to the Rwandan military thus would be PEPs and Rwanda may be on various sanctions lists, and bribery and corruption are of concern. The company proposed business will be conducted in a non-recognized jurisdiction. 20 Jan 2014: Proposed engagement presented as high risk as the proposed business dealings are concentrated in the Middle East and Iran. Iran remains the subject of several sanctions and we could not mitigate against bribery and corruption risks and the payments to escrow could be illicit. 10 Mar 2014: Potential engagement requested our service to incorporate a company which will be a holding company providing instant exchange between Bitcoin* and Kenyan Shillings for their investors. (virtual currency related business). *NOTE: The reasons for this decline are not known, but other documents show internal discussions within Appleby about the risk of Bitcoin being used to fund terrorism or the drug trade. 16 Jun 2014 Business for President of Ukraine: Potential engagement for companies controlled by President of Ukraine who is obviously a PEP. Without any details presented, the latest news involving Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko regarding retaliation after pro-Russia separatists shot down a military plane in the East, killing 49, this presents an inherent reputational risk of becoming involved. Find out more about the words and phrases found in the Paradise Papers. Your browser does not support this Lookup Your guide to financial jargon The papers are a huge batch of leaked documents mostly from offshore law firm Appleby, along with corporate registries in 19 tax jurisdictions, which reveal the financial dealings of politicians, celebrities, corporate giants and business leaders. The 13.4 million records were passed to German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung and then shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). Panorama has led research for the BBC as part of a global investigation involving nearly 100 other media organisations, including the Guardian, in 67 countries. The BBC does not know the identity of the source. Paradise Papers: Full coverage; follow reaction on Twitter using #ParadisePapers; in the BBC News app, follow the tag "Paradise Papers" Watch Panorama on the BBC iPlayer (UK viewers only)

एप्पलबी लीक हुए पैराडाइज पेपर्स दस्तावेजों का मुख्य स्रोत है और अपतटीय वित्तीय सेवाओं के सभी प्रदाताओं की तरह, धन शोधन, भ्रष्टाचार और अन्य अवैध गतिविधियों को रोकने के लिए अपने संभावित ग्राहकों के साथ कुछ चीजों की जांच करनी होती है।


The social media life of a Malaysian jihadist

Summary: There is growing concern in South East Asia and Australia over nationals fighting with Islamist groups in the Middle East. Australia is planning laws to block fighters from conflict zones and Indonesia has banned the ideology of the Islamic State, the Islamist militant group which has overrun areas in Iraq and Syria. In Malaysia, which believes a small number of its citizens are fighting overseas, officials are monitoring the online activity of suspected militants. At home arrests have been made of people planning to travel to fight, police say, and the home minister says when Malaysian fighters return they will be arrested and charged. But amid mounting awareness of how these fighters are using social media to preach and recruit, BBC Monitoring looks at the online activity of a group of Malaysians claiming to be in Syria.

They are online every few days, posting images and videos of life in Syria: posing with AK-74s and tanks; celebrating Eid with spiced meat and coffee from home; and answering questions from the interested. Ahmad Salman Abdul Rahim and Mohd Lotfi Ariffin are two of a group of Malaysians in Syria who say they are engaged in jihad, fighting against Bashar al-Assad. According to their Facebook accounts, they are based in the city of Hama, and they claim to be members of Ajnad al-Sham, which they say is loosely linked to the al-Nusra Front. They disavow any links to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis), now called the Islamic State. Al-Nusra Front Profile: Syria's al-Nusra Front Syria: Report shows how foreign fighters use social media The two men have such a presence on social media that a number of Malaysian news outlets have interviewed them through Facebook. Their posts explain and glorify what they see as a religious mission but also document its banalities. In a picture posted during Ramadan, Ahmad Salman stands with one foot on a headless body, sunglasses on and a rifle in each hand. But the picture is overwritten with the words "penyakit riak" - the disease of conceit. Contrary to his victorious pose, its caption explains that he has posted it to remind himself to act sincerely, rather than to attract adulation, and piously quotes the Koran and Islamic teachings. Amid sympathetic comments, one from a doe-eyed girl addressing him as "uncle" wishes him well and asks: "What time do you break your fast over there?" The picture was liked more than 1,300 times, and responses to this and other posts are mostly positive - a source of worry to Malaysian authorities and experts, who say using social media is one of the ways in which groups in the Middle East are radicalising and recruiting fighters. Social media's lure Syria says 15 Malaysians have been killed in fighting there so far. The Malaysian government says it has not confirmed this but believes at least 30 Malaysians are fighting in Syria. A suicide bomber who killed 25 policemen in Iraq in May is also thought to have been Malaysian. At home, police have arrested at least 16 suspected militants since April and say they are keeping a close eye on sites recruiting to jihadist causes. But the Facebook pages of Ahmad Salman, Mohd Lotfi and others fighting with the group appear little affected and clearly have an interested audience. Mohd Lotfi has at least four Facebook accounts with almost 60,000 followers or likes between them. One of the newest fighters to join the group, 21-year-old Mohammad Fadhlan Shahidi, says he was intrigued by Lotfi's Facebook posts and messaged him to ask how he could become a fighter. In a video on his Facebook page, dated 15 May, which has since been removed, he said he was told to make his way to Istanbul with RM6,000 (£1,113), eventually joining the group in Hama. Another Malaysian fighter frequently seen in photographs and videos posted by Messrs Salman and Lotfi manages a Facebook page with almost 3,000 followers under the name "Akel Zainal". "Early in the first month I used FB to communicate with just family and close friends... ", he explains in one post. "After Ust [short for ustad, or cleric] Lotfi arrived in the third month, I watched him FB and I saw he had a positive impact proselytising, so I said why not." Media savvy and mortality Ahmad Salman appears the most media-savvy of the group. His pictures frequently have filters applied to enhance them and he poses artfully in them, perched casually on the gun barrel of a tank, sitting cross-legged with a knife drawn. A separate Facebook account called Jelajah Jalinan Bumi Syam - A Tour of the Syrian Lands - is filled with photos of his travels on the way to Syria, and has gained more than 4,000 likes since it was started in May. In his videos, he frequently narrates what is going on and interviews his fellow jihadists as if he were presenting a travel show. He is also surprisingly free with information, such as his point of entry into Syria - the Bab al-Hawa border crossing - and the group's various purported locations on their journey to Hama. Now that they have begun taking part in the fighting in Hama, some seem to be starting to appreciate the implications of their jihad, with mentions of the deaths of fellow fighters and, in the case of one calling himself Abu Khattab Malayziya, recording the pain of being shot in the arm, and having to take a badly injured group member to hospital. Nonetheless, Abu Khattab's latest posts, of his friend's and his own injuries, have been liked several hundred times. BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. For more reports from BBC Monitoring, click here. You can follow BBC Monitoring on Twitter and Facebook.

मध्य पूर्व में इस्लामी समूहों के साथ लड़ने वाले नागरिकों को लेकर दक्षिण पूर्व एशिया और ऑस्ट्रेलिया में चिंता बढ़ रही है। ऑस्ट्रेलिया संघर्ष क्षेत्रों से लड़ाकों को रोकने के लिए कानूनों की योजना बना रहा है और इंडोनेशिया ने इस्लामिक स्टेट की विचारधारा पर प्रतिबंध लगा दिया है, इस्लामी आतंकवादी समूह जिसने इराक और सीरिया के क्षेत्रों पर कब्जा कर लिया है। मलेशिया में, जो मानता है कि उसके नागरिकों की एक छोटी संख्या विदेशों में लड़ रही है, अधिकारी संदिग्ध आतंकवादियों की ऑनलाइन गतिविधि की निगरानी कर रहे हैं। पुलिस का कहना है कि लड़ाई करने के लिए यात्रा करने की योजना बना रहे लोगों की घर पर गिरफ्तारी की गई है, और गृह मंत्री का कहना है कि जब मलेशियाई लड़ाके लौटेंगे तो उन्हें गिरफ्तार किया जाएगा और उन पर आरोप लगाया जाएगा। लेकिन इस बारे में बढ़ती जागरूकता के बीच कि ये लड़ाके प्रचार और भर्ती के लिए सोशल मीडिया का उपयोग कैसे कर रहे हैं, बीबीसी मॉनिटरिंग सीरिया में होने का दावा करने वाले मलेशियाई लोगों के एक समूह की ऑनलाइन गतिविधि को देखता है।


The fight over the Indian baby born in a bank queue

Summary: He arrived in the world with a bang. His birth in a bank queue made global news. But two-year-old Khazanchi Nath is now at the centre of a bitter fight between the two sides of his family and two villages because of his celebrity status. The BBC's Geeta Pandey travels to rural Kanpur in northern India to piece together the toddler's story.

Khazanchi, which means "treasurer", was born in the state of Uttar Pradesh on 2 December 2016, less than a month after the Indian government banned 1,000 and 500 rupee notes overnight. The decision by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, locally called demonetisation, led to a major cash crunch and for weeks millions of Indians were seen queuing outside banks to withdraw new currency notes. A very heavily pregnant Sarvesha Devi had walked from her home in Sardar Pur village to the bank in Jhinjhak town and taken her place in the line - along with her mother-in-law Sashi Devi, her eldest child, 10-year-old daughter Priti, and hundreds of others - when she went into labour. Her story made headlines and tiny Khazanchi became the poster boy in the state election campaign against India's ruling BJP. When he was just over two months old, I travelled to their dusty village to see him. Four months before his birth, his father had died from tuberculosis. Describing the trauma of giving birth in the bank, his mother told me she too would have died if it wasn't for her mother-in-law. But last week, when I wanted to see Khazanchi again, I had to visit another dusty village - Anantpur Dhaukal, where his mother moved last year after a bitter row with her in-laws. It's where Sarvesha Devi's parental home is, where her mother and three brothers live with their families. Khazanchi is curious about me - he fixes his kohl-lined eyes on me and, at his mother's prompting, shakes my hand. I ask him who painted his nails deep pink. He smiles and points at Priti, his sister. Unaware of the bitter battle being fought over him, he seems more interested in my glasses and tries to snatch away my phone when I get close to him to take a photo. Sarvesha Devi borrows two wobbly plastic chairs from a neighbour's house and we sit facing each other to chat. Within minutes, Khazanchi begins to get cranky. "He's hungry," she says and starts breastfeeding him. By now, word has spread about my visit and we are soon joined by her mother, her brothers and a few neighbours. Once Khazanchi has quietened down, I ask Sarvesha Devi about her relationship with her mother-in-law. This time, she has nothing complimentary to say about Sashi Devi. In fact, the relationship has soured so much that she talks about threats to life - her own and Khazanchi's. After her baby was born, Sarvesha Devi was awarded 200,000 rupees ($2,990; £2,395) as compensation from the government for having to give birth in a bank queue. The previously life-saving, loving mother-in-law is now described as the dreaded monster-in-law whom she accuses of hitting her regularly and demanding half the compensation money. It's a significant amount of money for a family steeped in poverty with no fixed sources of income. And it was then that the family relations began unravelling. So what happened that tore the family apart like this? That's the question I posed to Sarvesha Devi - and to her mother-in-law when I visited her later in Sardar Pur. And their family members and villagers. In the claims and counterclaims, sometimes it's difficult to sift the truth from falsehood, to understand who's being honest and who's just exaggerating. Khazanchi's family belongs to the Baiga tribe, which is among India's poorest and most deprived communities. They have little education, own no land and most make a living through begging. Traditionally though, the Baigas were snake-charmers, and even though catching snakes was outlawed a long time ago, every time I've visited them, they've proudly shown off reptiles. This time too, one villager asks me if I want to see the latest catch and even before I can respond, an angry baby cobra is brought out of a basket. He prods and pokes the reptile which begins to crawl on the ground, less than a metre from me. It's defanged, he assures me. It'll grow up to three times its current size, he explains before packing it back in the basket. I keep a wary eye on it as we resume talking. Uttar Pradesh, where Sardar Pur and Anantpur Dhaukal villages are located, is India's most populous state. It's home to more than 200 million people and more than 15,000 babies are born here daily, so it's difficult to imagine that the birth of one child could generate much excitement. But Khazanchi was catapulted to stardom because of the circumstances of his birth, and that it came at a time when the state was getting ready to hold key regional elections. The then chief minister Akhilesh Yadav used the "birth in the bank queue" to point out what a misadventure demonetisation had been. He invoked the infant at every political rally, insisting that PM Modi's currency ban had hurt the poor most, the sort of family that is Khazanchi's. A few months after his birth, Mr Yadav presented his mother with the compensation money. Sarvesha Devi says she spent a part of it clearing debts her husband had left and on the treatment of her eldest son, who also suffers from tuberculosis. The remainder has been secured in a bank deposit. But then, she says, her mother-in-law demanded half the reward money and when she refused, "the family threw me on the ground and beat me up". And that's when she decided to leave. The 37-year-old mother-of-five, who walks with a very pronounced limp, says she refused to part with the money because "I'm disabled and with my husband gone, there's no-one to look after my children and I have to secure our future". Relations further deteriorated after she moved. Malkhan Nath, her eldest brother, says he's come under pressure from the community to send her back. "We keep telling her that's your family, your home, please go back, but she refuses because she says they beat her and treat her badly. We don't know what to do. She's my sister: how can I tell her to go if she doesn't want to?" The family dispute is now in the community court that Malkhan Nath calls their "high court". It comprises prominent community elders who adjudicate in matters involving Baigas. Their rulings are not legally binding, but they're rarely ignored because the defiant can face a social boycott and have to pay monetary fines. Malkhan Nath says that in the past year he's had to appear before the "court" three times, and that once he had to pay 650 rupees as a fine because his sister defied the order to appear along with Khazanchi. Matters came to a head earlier this month. On 1 December, a day before Khazanchi's birthday, Sarvesha Devi says two car-loads of officials turned up late at night at her home. "I was just sitting down for dinner and Khazanchi was asleep. They insisted that we go with them to Sardar Pur for his birthday celebrations the next day. I refused, so they picked him up and took him to the car. He woke up and started crying. We raised an alarm and chased them. All our neighbours came over and helped us rescue him. They were trying to kidnap him," she insists. Though Mr Yadav didn't win last year's regional election, he has maintained contact with Khazanchi. Local journalists say he had planned to use the toddler as his mascot for the general elections due in the summer and had announced that he would be gifting him two homes on his birthday - one each in Sardar Pur and Anantpur Dhaukal. The plan was for the former chief minister to visit Sardar Pur on his birthday and hand over the keys to Khazanchi. With local journalists invited to cover the celebrations, it was meant to be a perfect photo-op. But when Mr Yadav arrived at Sardar Pur, Khazanchi wasn't there so the keys were handed over to Sashi Devi. Clearly disappointed at the toddler's absence, Mr Yadav said he didn't know about the "battle between his maternal and paternal grandmothers" and sacked two senior party colleagues for "embarrassing" him. A few days later when I visited Sardar Pur, I found the spanking new house right by the roadside. Sashi Devi had gone to the market, so I chatted with her relatives and neighbours as I waited for her return. The marigold flowers used to decorate the house had nearly wilted, and the mood was downbeat too. "A lot of people had gathered to see Khazanchi, but his mother chose to stay away," says his great-uncle Asharfi Nath. "Mr Yadav had come laden with presents, but he took it back. Sarvesha Devi could have come for an hour. By refusing to attend the celebrations, she humiliated Mr Yadav." The villagers say all was well until Khazanchi's birth and they blame "the greed and jealousy of his mother's family and her village" for ruining things. They allege that her family wants her money and her village believes that if the boy stays there, they will see development. The villagers also darkly hint at a wider political conspiracy - Sardar Pur supports Mr Yadav's Samajwadi Party while Anantpur Dhaukal is dominated by upper-caste Thakurs who support Mr Modi's BJP. Mulayam Nath, a villager, says if Sarvesha Devi doesn't want to return, she can stay on in her parental village but "she must send Khazanchi back because he is our baby, he belongs to our village. The progress and the benefits the authorities have promised must come to us". By the time Sashi Devi returns, it's beginning to get dark. She squats on the ground outside the newly constructed house as I ask her to respond to the allegations against her. "It's all lies," she says. "I never asked my daughter-in-law for any money. She's been coached to say what she's saying." Sashi Devi talks about how Sarvesha Devi and her five children were fed and clothed by the family when her son was too sick to work. And in the months after his death, how the little money her husband and other sons brought home was shared with her even though no-one was obliged to do so. She rejects allegations that they ever hit Sarvesha Devi. "I have four more daughters-in-law and 16 grandchildren. How come no-one else gets hit?" she asks. She has her own stories of assault and abuse: "I went to her village twice to bring her and the children back. Each time, they hid Khazanchi, and the women there assaulted me." Sashi Devi also rubbishes the charge that she or any of her family members could hurt Sarvesha Devi or Khazanchi. "How can we kill our own daughter-in-law and grandchild?" As I prepare to leave, I ask her if there's any chance of a reconciliation, but she's not very hopeful. "I've met her thrice recently and asked her to come back and live in her new house, but she has refused," she says, wiping a tear with the corner of her sari. "Earlier, I lost my son. Now I've lost my grandchildren too."

वह एक धमाके के साथ दुनिया में आया। बैंक की कतार में उसका जन्म वैश्विक समाचार बन गया। लेकिन दो साल का खज़ानची नाथ अब अपने सेलिब्रिटी दर्जे के कारण अपने परिवार के दोनों पक्षों और दो गाँवों के बीच एक कड़वी लड़ाई के केंद्र में है। बीबीसी की गीता पांडे बच्चे की कहानी को एक साथ रखने के लिए उत्तर भारत के ग्रामीण कानपुर की यात्रा करती है।


Teddy bears: Adults on their stuffed toy companions

Summary: A recent article by David Cannadine about grown-ups with teddy bears prompted readers to write in with their own toy stories.

The article discussed the enduring appeal for both children and adults. Below is a selection of your stories about the powerful bond between bear and owner. Big Ted is an 84-year-old Jewish refugee bear from Vienna. He came to London on 15 August 1938, and now has many patches and hardly any stuffing left. He only has one eye, a rare blue one, as I pulled the other one out. As a toddler I refused to eat, much to my mother's worry, unless I clasped Big Ted's blue glass eye in my hand. Over the years he has been hugged and loved and kissed by my two children, seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. He now lives in Israel with my daughter. Vera Feldman, 82, Birmingham The bear in my life is called Simon and I've had him for 58 years. He is on a six-month waiting list for bear surgery, "beartox", pampering and a nose job. Apparently his squeaker has moved to under his armpit so it's heart surgery too. My family think I've lost the plot and my sister-in-laws think it's hysterical, although they have promised to send him a get well card. Beverley Ettle, Eastleigh, Hampshire I've had my teddy, Paddie, for just over a year now. But he's already seen me through a lot. When I bought him, I was still married and living in the US. Then, after my husband and I divorced, we (Paddie and I) moved to London. I couldn't fit him in my luggage or my cargo containers. So I had to pull out all of his stuffing. It was a tearful event, akin to surgery. I even told him he was going into a very deep sleep, but when he woke up he'd be in London with me. He's my best friend and I would be heartbroken if anything were to ever happen to him. My bed would seem very empty indeed without Paddie. No, not just my bed. My life. Mary Gillian Notzon, Westminster For the last 12 years, my husband and I have shared the attentions of a French teddy bear named Arthur and his matching companion, a floppy-eared bunny named Camila. She's a true material girl, with wardrobe. He's a wise observer of her foibles. We can always tell who our true friends are because they "get it" about these fuzzy kids - that although not alive, they have been enlivened by affection and interaction. They provide us with comic relief, a bit of psycho-drama and surprising wisdom. They even have their own blog. Elyn Aviva, Girona, Spain My bear was made in about 1946 in the Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany when I was two. My mother made him herself because 1946 were the hunger years there, and goods of any description were non-existent. He is dark red and the material is woollen upholstery velvet, now with a few holes. His arms and legs have been connected to the body with screws. If I ever gave him a name beyond Teddy it has been lost on the long journey from Germany to Australia. Maybe it is time I gave him a proper name - better late than never. Ally Hauptmann-Gurski, Adelaide, Australia I have a small brown bear, Frank by name. He is so called because he is an earnest, honest, upright bear. He was given to me by a friend, as a promise that he would come home to me - and Frank. Frank had looked after my friend when his life went wrong. My friend never came home, he went to France and found someone else. Now Frank and I look after each other and we go everywhere together. Frank is a very special wee bear and very knowing. He has a beautiful soul. I will love him always. He is a good listener and he is my best friend. Heather, Rutland Back in 1968, I bought my then girlfriend a blue teddy from Woolworths. I met a friend and his girlfriend coming out of the shop, and he asked who it was for. When I told him he said, "What a stupid thing to buy a girlfriend." His girl turned on him scornfully and said, "He's lovely. You would obviously never buy me anything nice like that." Edward Erbert Bear (Ted E Bear for short) is still one of my wife's most prized possessions. Bill Walker, Portsmouth My Big Ted was sent from India where my father was serving during WWII. One night when I was about five, my mother told me I was sobbing for hours before she managed to persuade me to tell her the reason. I confessed that I loved Ted more than Jesus. Coming from a family of devout Christians I must have thought this particularly risky. Ted is still in my bedroom 65 years later and I credit him with my life as a card-carrying atheist. Margaret, Derbyshire I herniated a disc in my lower back in my early 30s and the doctor recommended I purchase one of those long body pillows to help reduce pain while sleeping. The thought depressed me and made me feel old. On a whim I googled "giant teddy bear" and, to my delight, found a website that sold giant teddy bears that were just as long as the body pillow and cost a few dollars less. I've been sleeping with a polar bear ever since. Happy back, happy dreams. Benjamin Dahlbeck, Atlanta, Georgia, US I took my two bears everywhere with me, clinging to them throughout my childhood and always planned to be buried with them in my coffin. They both therefore became very bashed and thin as their stuffing leaked out more and more. The oldest one, Little Ted, was so thin and patched he looked more like a glove puppet. Then disaster struck. Little Ted simply disappeared from my bed. I last saw him one day when I'd gone for a nap with my year-old son. Ted was never seen again. I spent years searching. Finally I came to suspect that my husband had thrown him away, as he was in the habit of throwing away my things if he thought they were worn out. But I was seriously suicidal for a very long time at the loss. He was the one enduring security in my life. I really had to struggle to get a grip on my grief. I wonder if other readers have felt so distraught about the loss of a bear that they too have been plunged in to such despair. Even now, in my 50s, I have to brace myself to think about Little Ted's loss. Apart from that, I'm not too nutty. Paula, Oxford My first bear was bought for me by my grandfather. Today that bear has had his missing eyes replaced with buttons, his fur is almost all gone, one ear is ragged and he is all wrinkled through compacted stuffing. I was also given his venerable wife and three others, so I have quite a family of them rapidly approaching pensionable age. Someone once said that if I had to escape the house quickly, I would find time to collect the teddy family and I could not actually deny that. They are very special to me as a link to my past. Philip Meers, Birmingham My bear was already second-hand when he was given to me in 1945. I think he was already 13 years old. I was an only child and he featured as the hero in all my imaginative games - Prince Charming was a favourite role. Now he has no eyes and not much fur, and his right paw has recently burst open, but he sits upright on a shelf in my study and I love him still. Ros Aitken, Richmond I am 59 and I have a teddy bear which I got as a child. He originally belonged to my brother who died when I was three (my brother was 14). He has never had a name, just Ted. He has seen a lot of wear and tear. His head which used to rotate has been sown back on to the torso twice and he is threadbare with hardly any fur left. I am a 6ft 3in burly Yorkshireman, and I suppose if pushed I might admit that I love this tatty inanimate object, which has been the only consistency throughout my life. He has pride of place sitting on my bedroom windowsill looking out at the world. Somehow it is soothing to know he is still around when everything else has changed. Rob, Hull, East Yorkshire I've had my teddy called Nardi for 48 years. Given to me at birth by my maternal grandmother, he's named after the ice cream parlour Nardini's near Glasgow. I wouldn't be without him. I used to cuddle him tightly at night just in case I was snatched by monsters in the night. Then at least I'd have him with me to help me get home. Katie Bell, Glasgow I'm 57 and still have my childhood bears, along with many others that have moved in with us over the years. Another moved in yesterday. It's somewhere around 150 in total now. They are loyal friends. Jonathan Pope, Kings Lynn, Norfolk My partner and I have 17 teddy bears which we've collected over the last five years, one of whom is my partner's best friend and has been since he was 18 months old. Our teddies are a huge part of our lives. They travel the world with us and I couldn't "bear" to leave any of them at home. Laura, Exeter, Devon I miss my teddy bear. He was called McCluskey and I'd had him since I was a baby. When I was 19 I asked my Mum where McCluskey was and she told me she'd given him to a kid down the street. The boy was about 12, who I can't imagine wanted a teddy. My Mum said his Dad had left him and she felt sorry for him. I had no Dad either but, whereas this kid had a room full of toys, I'd had virtually none. I went round to their house a few times to get McCluskey but they weren't in and then I found out they'd moved away. I think of McCluskey in that kid's house, not being loved like I loved him, and sat on a shelf or in a box, or even discarded. I'm 58 now and still think of McCluskey every time I see a teddy bear. Where are you, McCluskey? Mark Leigh, Bolton You can follow the Magazine on Twitter and on Facebook

टेडी भालू वाले वयस्कों के बारे में डेविड कैनाडाइन के एक हालिया लेख ने पाठकों को अपनी खिलौनों की कहानियों के साथ लिखने के लिए प्रेरित किया।


Govt.changing demography in North and East-Archbishop

Summary: The Archbishop of Colombo, Malcolm Ranjit, who’s soon to become a Cardinal, said that attempts were being made to change the demographic make-up of northern and eastern Sri Lanka, which currently have an ethnic Tamil majority.

The bishop alleged that security forces were violating human rights with impunity in the former war zone. He and a group of senior Catholic witness who were similarly critical of the Sri Lankan government were were testifying before the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) on Wednesday. A member of the commission repeatedly challenged the contention of the clergy that the 27 year-old state of emergency should be lifted. Missing: The Bishop of Batticoloa and Trincomalee Kingsley Swampillai, told the commission there were numerous missing and disappeared Sri Lankans whose fate was unknown for many years now. Most of the cases remained undocumented, said Bishop Swamipillai . The missing included priests – father Jim Brown who went missing in Jaffna in 2006 and another, Father Joseph Francis, who the bishop said was in his late 70s and had “got involved with” the Tamil Tiger militants while living in their heartland. Bishop Swamipillai said Father Francis was among those leaving the war zone in May 2009 and passing through the military checkpoint at Omanthai. At Omanthai while he was being checked, the people who had travelled with him had said that he was taken in for special questioning by the military. Nobody has seen him thereafter.

कोलंबो के आर्कबिशप मैल्कम रंजीत, जो जल्द ही कार्डिनल बनने वाले हैं, ने कहा कि उत्तरी और पूर्वी श्रीलंका की जनसांख्यिकीय संरचना को बदलने के प्रयास किए जा रहे हैं, जहां वर्तमान में जातीय तमिल बहुसंख्यक हैं।


Why is Jeremy Corbyn not trying to topple Theresa May right now?

Summary: With Theresa May on the ropes, Jeremy Corbyn is coming under pressure from other opposition parties - and some of his own MPs - to finish her off with the knockout blow of a no-confidence vote in the House of Commons.

Unlike the vote she has just survived this would give all 650 MPs - not just 317 Conservatives - a say over whether she should remain in power. A no-confidence vote - won by a single vote - was how Margaret Thatcher removed Labour from power in 1979, triggering a general election that she won. The rules have changed since then. Under the Fixed Term Parliaments Act, if a majority of MPs backed a no-confidence motion, it would start a countdown which would lead to an early election, if no successor government was able to win a vote of confidence within 14 days. The Labour leadership's main aim has always been to force an election, which it believes Mr Corbyn will win. So what are they waiting for? "We're fully prepared to bring a no-confidence vote when we know we can win," said Labour chairman Ian Lavery in a video message on Facebook, but, he added, doing so too soon would "serve only to strengthen Theresa May". Why would a no-confidence be likely to fail now? The Democratic Unionist Party, whose 10 MPs the Tories rely on for a majority, have promised to support the government in a confidence motion. They want to give her time to seek changes to her EU withdrawal deal. But their support is not tied to Mrs May personally and they would not back her if she sought to press ahead with her deal without ditching the Northern Ireland "backstop" clause, which they object to. So why the clamour for one as soon as possible? Mr Corbyn has been accused of "cowardice" and of failing to provide proper opposition by the SNP, the Lib Dems and others, for apparently sitting on the sidelines as the Conservative Party tears itself to pieces over Brexit. But Unite general secretary Len McCluskey, a key ally of Mr Corbyn, has warned that the Labour leader should not be "bounced" into holding a no-confidence vote by "those who have little or no interest in seeing Labour elected". Mr Corbyn has said he has no confidence in the government but will wait for an "appropriate" time to strike. Those pushing for a no-confidence vote as soon as possible are mostly advocates of a further EU referendum - and their best, possibly their only, hope of getting one is if Labour gets behind it. They include the SNP, the Lib Dems, Plaid Cymru, the Green Party, a small group of Conservatives and MPs from Labour's pro-EU "moderate" wing like Chuka Umunna and Margaret Beckett, who are not natural allies of Mr Corbyn. Labour's shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer and deputy leader Tom Watson are also reported to be in the "just get on with it" camp. Mr Corbyn bowed to pressure from his own party members at this year's Labour conference - the majority of whom, polls suggest, want another referendum. The party leadership said it would consider supporting another referendum if it fails in its bid to get a general election. So the strategy of those pushing Mr Corbyn for a no-confidence vote depends, to some extent, on that vote failing. Why don't the SNP and the others table their own no-confidence vote? They are threatening to do this - but it would be largely symbolic, without Labour's backing. Any MP can table a motion of no confidence but it is unlikely to be given Parliamentary time without the support of a major party - and it would stand very little chance of success without the backing of the main opposition party. When could a no-confidence vote be held? Some are arguing for a vote next Monday, when Mrs May makes a statement to the Commons on Thursday's EU summit. But it is more likely to be in the New Year when MPs finally get a vote on Mrs May's deal with the EU, which she is widely expected to lose. Some in the pro-referendum camp fear this will be too late to get a referendum together. And some - such as Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville Roberts - have suggested this would suit Mr Corbyn, who, she said, might be "comfortable" with a no-deal Brexit. What is the Labour leadership's position on a no-deal Brexit? They are adamant that this is the last thing they want. They say they want to win an election and then delay Brexit so they can go to Brussels and get a better deal that would see the UK being part of a customs union with the EU. Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has said Labour is ready to work with Theresa May on alternatives to prevent a no-deal Brexit. "The easiest thing for any opposition to do in these circumstances is to warm your hands as the Conservatives self-immolate," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "But you can't do that, not when the issues are so big for the future of the country." He urged the prime minister to hold a series of votes in Parliament on different scenarios, including no-deal, to establish what MPs were willing to accept. "I think there's an overwhelming majority in the House of Commons against no-deal," he said. "Let's establish that once and for all and use parliamentary mechanisms to narrow that option away. Then let's get a proper debate going."

थेरेसा मे के साथ, जेरेमी कॉर्बिन अन्य विपक्षी दलों के दबाव में आ रहे हैं-और उनके अपने कुछ सांसद-उन्हें हाउस ऑफ कॉमन्स में अविश्वास मत के नॉकआउट झटके के साथ समाप्त करने के लिए।


Matthew Boulton: The grandfather of modern coinage

Summary: In 18th Century England, coin counterfeiting was rife until an entrepreneur dubbed the Richard Branson of his day harnessed the new technology of steam power. Now every coin in circulation can be regarded as the "great-grandson" of those created in a Birmingham factory.

By Caroline GallBBC News In the late 1700s the town of Birmingham was at the centre of the industrial revolution and the entrepreneur Matthew Boulton one of its driving forces. A snappy dresser and visionary businessman, his partnership with James Watt saw the latter's steam engine utilised to power machinery while his Soho Manufactory was the largest industrial complex in the world. But while Britain's industrial technology was leading the world, its currency was unsophisticated and failing to keep pace. Copper coins were in short supply and counterfeiting was rampant. Dr Kevin Clancy, director of the Royal Mint Museum, said distribution problems of copper coins and the prevalence of fakes meant employers found it very hard to pay their workers. The Royal Mint had stopped making copper coins in 1775 because they were not distributed beyond London and traders believed there were too many in circulation. However the industrial revolution was taking off in the Midlands and North and workers needed to be paid in small change - ha'pennies were driving the working man's economy but were in short supply so, inevitably, counterfeiters stepped in. "People didn't know what was genuine," he says. "You needed an expert to make the fake coins but... the authorities were making it easier for that [counterfeiting] to happen, shall we say. "Boulton saw the problems and enhanced coin-making." The main issue was the machinery used by the Royal Mint to make coins. This needed four workmen to operate it which invariably meant each coin was struck slightly differently, some better than others and not all perfectly round, which made it easier for forgers. Boulton spotted an opportunity to literally make money and set up his own mint in 1789. It replaced the workmen with steam power, producing a machine which struck coins perfectly each time, producing a regular coinage. Who was Matthew Boulton? To further frustrate the fraudsters he also added a design he thought would be very difficult to copy - a large, raised rim around the edge which prompted them to be nicknamed Cartwheels. In a notebook from 1789, Boulton wrote: "It will coin faster with greater ease, with fewer persons, less expence and more beautyfull than any coining machine ever made. "It strikes each piece quite round, all of equal Diameter and exactly concentrick with the Edge which cannot be done quick by any other Machine ever used." The new technology brought new levels of accuracy, forever changing the way in which coins were made, not just in England, but around the world. Whereas distribution was once a problem with the Royal Mint, Boulton addressed that by shipping coins to customers. The Soho Mint produced 10s of millions of Cartwheel pennies within its first 18 months. His machines were also bought by mints in Denmark and Russia in 1797. Dr Symons, curator of archaeology and numismatics at Birmingham Museums Trust, said Boulton had expected to get a copper coinage contract from the government - "it's like Richard Branson doing the same now" - but he was forced to wait nine years until the authorities relented. In the early 19th Century, the Royal Mint bought steam engines and coin presses from Boulton, ending the minting of British coins in Birmingham. "A lot of people wanted to reform what was going on but I think Boulton was the one who came up with the clever idea of how to do it and obviously it worked because every coin used in the world today is made using essentially the system Matthew Boulton pioneered," Dr Symons says. "We don't use steam engines any more, but they are externally powered coin presses, so you could almost say that every coin used in the world now is the grandson or great-grandson of what Matthew Boulton produced here in Birmingham. "Mints around the world have always tried to stay ahead of forgers... so there have been changes since Boulton's day, but I think he was the last major individual who had a big impact. I don't think anyone since then has changed coinage in the way he did." In recognition of Boulton's achievements, a memorial to him was being unveiled at Westminster Abbey on Friday alongside an existing memorial to James Watt. While Boulton was not the first person to tackle counterfeiting, he was arguably the most successful. "He thought he could do better than what was around, that was true, he moved technology forward, no doubt," says Dr Clancy. "He was an industrialist, an entrepreneur, he had the means and access to copper and needed an outlet. "The Mint is into making symbols of trust and that was what Matthew Boulton was doing too - the principles remain the same across the last two centuries."

18वीं शताब्दी के इंग्लैंड में, सिक्के की जालसाजी तब तक प्रचलित थी जब तक कि एक उद्यमी जिसे उनके समय का रिचर्ड ब्रैनसन कहा जाता था, ने भाप शक्ति की नई तकनीक का उपयोग नहीं किया। अब प्रचलन में हर सिक्के को बर्मिंघम कारखाने में बनाए गए सिक्कों का "परपोता" माना जा सकता है।


Mikaeel Kular search: 'Every mother's worst nightmare'

Summary: As hundreds of people gather at the North Neighbourhood Centre in West Pilton Gardens to help in the search for missing Mikaeel Kular, local people have spoken of their fears for the missing three-year-old.

Large sections of Ferry Gait Crescent, where Mikaeel lives, remain cordoned off and police officers are stationed outside several of the modern blocks of flats, including the one containing the family's home. The windows of the flat have been covered up to protect the family's privacy. One neighbour Tracy Johnston, 45, said the community was in shock. "It's pretty horrific," she said. "I've been up since the back of 6am and most of the lights have been on which is unusual. "I don't think anyone slept very well last night. There are hundreds of people with kids here. "I used to see the wee boy, he used to come up to the window with all the kids to get a biscuit." Nicola Hunter, 31, from Muirhouse has two sons aged 11 and five. She is one of those taking part in the search for Mikaeel. She said: "I am a mum and I just want to try and help. It's every mum's worst nightmare. It's just too close to home, to think that he was out there last night." Kimberly MacFadyen, 34, from Davidson's Mains, has a five-year-old boy. "I would be absolutely devastated if it was my wee boy and I would want every person in Edinburgh to stop what they were doing and come to look for him," she said. "Everyone is pulling together it seems. Everyone is talking about it at school and about what they are trying to do." 'Hoping and praying' Another woman said she intended to stay with the search for Mikaeel for as long as it took to find him: "You just have to take part in the search," she said. "It's one of these in-built things. A child has gone missing and you can't stay at home and not do anything. "For the sake of the family, everybody has to stay positive and hope that the wee boy is going to get found today. It's been really cold overnight and wet so hopefully he's somewhere safe, just wondered off or fallen asleep." A man, who works for a local charity, said: "We just left our work this morning, just packed our things and came down to help." A local childminder, who also joined the search team, said: "We just want to find the wee boy safe and well and get him back to his mum. "The turn-out today just shows how how much folk are hoping and praying that he's fine. Hopefully we're going to find him."

वेस्ट पिल्टन गार्डन में नॉर्थ नेबरहुड सेंटर में सैकड़ों लोग लापता मिकाइल कुलार की खोज में मदद करने के लिए इकट्ठा होते हैं, स्थानीय लोगों ने लापता तीन वर्षीय बच्चे के लिए अपनी आशंकाओं के बारे में बात की है।


Tyrone Hayman death: Murder-accused boy, 14, appears in court

Summary: A 14-year-old boy has appeared in court charged with murdering a teenager who was stabbed to death in Bristol.

Tyrone Hayman, 17, was found with a stab wound to the chest in Parson Street, Bedminster, on Saturday. He died a short time later in hospital. Appearing at Bristol Youth Court, the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, spoke only to confirm his name, age, address and nationality. He is due to appear at Bristol Crown Court on Friday.

ब्रिस्टल में चाकू मारकर हत्या किए गए एक किशोर की हत्या के आरोप में एक 14 वर्षीय लड़का अदालत में पेश हुआ है।


Drama teacher Simon Parsons banned after sex with pupil

Summary: A 54-year-old drama teacher who had a relationship with a student has been banned from teaching for life.

In 2015, Simon Parsons was jailed for 12 months after admitting five counts of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust. He had sex with his 17-year-old pupil while teaching at Castle School in Thornbury, South Gloucestershire. The Teaching Misconduct Panel said his actions were "deliberate and sustained". Parsons will have the right to appeal 28 days after notice of this order.

एक छात्र के साथ संबंध रखने वाले 54 वर्षीय नाटक शिक्षक को आजीवन पढ़ाने से प्रतिबंधित कर दिया गया है।


Michael Cohen: Takeaways from testimony of Trump's ex-lawyer

Summary: Michael Cohen is unleashing a series of explosive accusations directed towards Donald Trump touching on multiple controversies that have bedevilled the president during his time in office. Here are five takeaways from his dramatic testimony to Congress.

Anthony ZurcherNorth America reporter@awzurcheron Twitter Blockbuster allegations Mr Cohen suggests the president had advance knowledge of his son's June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Russians and that WikiLeaks was poised to release damaging information about Democrats. He says the president personally signed cheques reimbursing him for a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels. He alleges that the president was fully aware of ongoing negotiations for a Trump Tower in Moscow well into the 2016 presidential campaign. All the latest from the hearing Many of these assertions rely almost exclusively on Cohen's word - the word of a man who has already admitted to lying to Congress and to the federal government on his taxes. What's more, while his allegations are certainly politically damaging, they aren't incontrovertible evidence of legal misconduct by the president. If there is a case to be made against Mr Trump, it will have to rely on more than the word of his former lawyer and fixer. That's not to undersell the blockbuster nature of the day's proceedings, however. The public now has a chance to determine, under the glare of the spotlight, whether Cohen lied in the past to protect the president or is lying now to protect himself. Or, perhaps, a bit of both. 'Racist, conman, cheat' Most of the early attention paid to Michael Cohen's testimony involved his connections to the assortment of controversies that have swirled around Mr Trump since he became president. It's one thing to read the advance text of a committee statement, however, and it's another to see it in the flesh. If there were any doubts about how effective Cohen would be as a witness, he quickly put them to rest. Cohen - in a dark suit, with his voice occasionally wavering - testified about what it was like to work with Mr Trump for more than a decade. What he learned, he said, made him ashamed. He called his former boss a racist, a cheat and a conman. He says he had both good and bad attributes, but that bad outweighed the good. "Since taking office," Cohen said, "he has become the worst version of himself." Republicans were quick to pounce. Mark Meadows asked why, if Cohen was so ashamed, he stuck with Mr Trump for 10 full years. Wasn't it a possibility, he suggested, that Cohen was bitter that he didn't get a White House job and was taking it out on his former boss? "I got exactly what I wanted," Cohen replied, noting that he preferred to spend his time in New York, with his teenage children. That may have been the case two years ago, but there's little chance Cohen wanted - or imagined - the situation he finds himself in now. Implicated in a crime? Democrats on the House Oversight and Reform Committee have repeatedly hit on what could be the most legally damaging part of Cohen's testimony on Wednesday. Mr Trump's former lawyer has presented new, documentary evidence of payments made to him by Mr Trump - including a cheque with the president's signature. He says this money was a reimbursement for his 2016 election eve hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels. The adult film star was poised to claim that she and Mr Trump had sexual relations in the 2006. US government prosecutors in New York have said that Mr Cohen's payment to Daniels constituted an undisclosed campaign contribution in violation of federal election law - a charge to which Cohen has pleaded guilty. If Cohen can help draw a connection between the Daniels payment and the president himself, it could implicate Mr Trump in a crime. The president's legal team has responded to similar allegations in the past by arguing that the payments to Cohen were part of a retainer fee and that Mr Trump had no knowledge of Cohen's illegal activities and was relying on his lawyer to know and abide by campaign finance law. The more evidence Cohen presents to back up his claim that Mr Trump was fully aware of the hush-money payments, the more difficult it becomes for him to maintain this position. 'Liar, liar, pants on fire!' The Republican strategy for responding to Cohen's testimony has been clear from the beginning. They want to paint the former lawyer as a convicted liar who can't be trusted on any count. They're less concerned about rebutting the individual allegations - about Trump Tower, Russia business dealings, hush-money payments or WikiLeaks revelations - than they are in dismissing Cohen's testimony as the work of an untruthful man being put forward by enemies of the president for political purposes. Congressman Paul Gosar went so far as to hold up a large sign with "Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire!!" emblazoned over a picture of the witness. Cohen has tried to parry these charges multiple ways. One is to claim that he has come to the realisation, after Mr Trump's performance as president, of how damaging his support of his former boss has been. He cited the Charlottesville violence, the Helsinki summit with Vladimir Putin and the president's coarseness on Twitter as prime examples. That could be a tough sell, however, given the litany of allegations Cohen has levelled against Mr Trump that predate his time as president. A more effective counter has been when Cohen has tried to hold himself up as a cautionary tale - that he is making amends because his life has come crashing down and not the other way around. "I protected Trump for 10 years," he told the committee. "The more people that follow Mr Trump as I did blindly are going to suffer the same consequences that I'm suffering." He called himself the "picture perfect example of what not to do". Cohen isn't going to convince many that he's a saint or a sympathetic figure. When he's been his most effective on Wednesday is when he hasn't tried to. Trump watches from afar Donald Trump wrapped up his day in Vietnam around the time Cohen began his congressional committee testimony. After a lavish dinner of chilled shrimp, grilled steaks and "chocolate lava cake" with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, he returned to his hotel room, where if past history is any guide, he probably reviewed the day's news coverage. What he saw couldn't have made him happy. US media - including his favourite, Fox News - are giving the Cohen hearings wall-to-wall coverage. The president's second summit with Mr Kim, being billed as "historic" by the White House, has been relegated to a secondary story. That might change on Thursday, when the two leaders hold a joint press event where they could announce the results of their negotiations. But for one day at least his former lawyer - who he once said was a "fine man with a wonderful family" and later called a "rat" - held the national stage. Cohen has given Democrats on the Oversight and Reform Committee a number of threads to pursue in further hearings and investigations. It isn't a stretch to imagine that portions of his testimony could someday be cited by Democrats as evidence for impeachment hearings. In addition Cohen hinted at other potential presidential wrongdoing and illegalities - including a conversation with the president in June 2018 - that he couldn't discuss because they are currently being investigated by US attorneys in New York. The president is half a world away, but the fallout from Cohen's day on Capitol Hill - a day when Cohen called the president a racist, a conman and a cheat, and Republicans called Cohen a liar - will be waiting for him when he gets home.

माइकल कोहेन डोनाल्ड ट्रम्प के खिलाफ उन कई विवादों को छूते हुए विस्फोटक आरोपों की एक श्रृंखला को उजागर कर रहे हैं जिन्होंने राष्ट्रपति को उनके कार्यकाल के दौरान परेशान किया है। यहाँ कांग्रेस के लिए उनकी नाटकीय गवाही से पांच निष्कर्ष दिए गए हैं।


Balmedie to Tipperty section of Aberdeen bypass to fully open

Summary: The 7.5-mile (12km) Balmedie to Tipperty section of the new Aberdeen bypass will fully open to traffic on Wednesday, it has been announced.

The £745m, 28-mile (45km) route was given the green light by Scottish ministers in 2009, but was delayed by legal action. The first main part - between Parkhill and Blackdog - opened in June. Michael Matheson, cabinet secretary for transport and infrastructure, said the opening was "very welcome news". He said: "Every day tens of thousands of drivers will now begin to reap the benefits of this section of new road."

यह घोषणा की गई है कि नए एबरडीन बाईपास का 7.5-mile (12 किमी) बालमेडी से टिपर्टी खंड बुधवार को यातायात के लिए पूरी तरह से खुल जाएगा।


Man appears in court charged with Swansea sex attacks

Summary: A man has appeared in court charged with 12 sexual offences allegedly carried out within a 48-hour period.

Oliver Smith, 27, of Uplands, Swansea, faces 10 charges of intentionally touching women in a sexual nature, one of touching a girl under 13 and another of attempting to touch a woman. Swansea Magistrates' Court heard the alleged offences happened over two days in Singleton Park and Bishopston. Mr Smith was remanded into custody and will appear at crown court on 15 March.

एक व्यक्ति कथित रूप से 48 घंटे की अवधि के भीतर किए गए 12 यौन अपराधों के आरोप में अदालत में पेश हुआ है।


Samurai sword seized as seven arrested over Lincoln attack

Summary: Seven people, including a 14-year-old boy, were arrested and a samurai sword seized after two men were attacked.

An armed group was seen wearing masks in the Shuttleworth House area of Lincoln on Saturday night. Lincolnshire Police said the suspects, aged between 14 and 28, were being questioned on suspicion of aggravated burglary and causing grievous bodily harm. The victims' injuries are not thought to be life-threatening, the force said. It added that the sword was among a number of weapons recovered by officers. Follow BBC East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk.

एक 14 वर्षीय लड़के सहित सात लोगों को गिरफ्तार किया गया और दो लोगों पर हमले के बाद एक समुराई तलवार जब्त की गई।


The best photos rejected from the National Portrait Gallery's Taylor Wessing Prize

Summary: The Portrait Salon Awards 2017 celebrate images submitted to, and rejected by, the Taylor Wessing National Portrait Gallery Photographic Portrait Prize.

The awards were founded by Carole Evans and James O Jenkins in 2011. Artist Julie Cockburn selected 46 images for this year's exhibition, on 16 November 2017 in London Fields. She says: "As an artist who looks at and works with portraits every day, I thought that selecting from the submissions to Portrait Salon would be a straightforward process - but it was one of the hardest things I have done, testing me, educating me and touching me in ways I had not expected." The exhibition of 46 portraits can be seen at The Atrium at Ravensbourne, London, from 23 November to 7 December 2017.

पोर्ट्रेट सैलून अवार्ड्स 2017 टेलर वेसिंग नेशनल पोर्ट्रेट गैलरी फोटोग्राफिक पोर्ट्रेट पुरस्कार को प्रस्तुत और अस्वीकार की गई छवियों का जश्न मनाता है।


The Nook - too late to catch the Kindle?

Summary: The e-reader and tablet markets are sorted, right? Amazon owns the e-reader business with its Kindle, Apple's iPad dominates in tablets, with a bit of room at the cheaper end for Google's Nexus and the Kindle Fire. But a giant US book chain begs to differ.

Rory Cellan-JonesTechnology correspondent@BBCRoryCJon Twitter Barnes and Noble has unveiled its plans for an assault on the UK market this morning. It will be offering British customers its Nook range of e-readers, along with new colour tablet computers, the Nook HD and the Nook HD+. I had a briefing earlier this week, and got a chance to look at the devices. At first glance they seem worthy competitors to the Kindles, iPads and Nexuses. The Nook Simple Touch Glowlight, for instance, is a touchscreen e-reader with an inbuilt light which enables you to read in bed in the dark without disturbing your partner. Backing up the impressive hardware is the Barnes and Noble online store, offering 2.5 million books, all of the leading newspapers and magazines and plenty of movies and TV series. It seems a compelling offering and Barnes and Noble, which has grabbed 27% of the e-book market in the US, hopes to make a big impact in the UK. It believes its e-readers will prove more attractive than the Kindle, and its Nook colour tablets will give the Google Nexus and the Kindle Fire - when it arrives in the UK - a run for their money. But here's the problem - it may be too late, the die may already be cast. In the smartphone market, hopeful executives from Nokia and Microsoft insist that the race has only just started because most of the world has yet to get a smartphone. Similarly, Barnes and Noble can point out that most people have not yet got an e-reader or a tablet so there should be room for all sorts of new entrants. The trouble is that in both markets, the early adopters have chosen the winners - Apple and Samsung in smartphones, Apple, Amazon and maybe Google in e-readers and tablets. And when consumers new to these markets ask friends what they should buy, they are likely to be told to get whatever those early adopters have chosen. New devices may have better screens, superior battery life, and be lighter or thinner than the market leaders - but it's increasingly hard for consumers who aren't experts to differentiate between them. I waved a Nook around at a techie gathering this week, and most people thought it was a Kindle. Given the huge dominance of Amazon in e-books - and Apple in tablets - many will be wishing Barnes and Noble well as it tries to carve itself a place in the UK market. More choice is surely a good thing. But a brand that is virtually unknown in the UK may struggle to get consumers to snuggle down with a good Nook rather than cosy up to a Kindle.

ई-रीडर और टैबलेट बाजार अलग-अलग हैं, है ना? अमेज़ॅन अपने किंडल के साथ ई-रीडर व्यवसाय का मालिक है, ऐप्पल का आईपैड टैबलेट में हावी है, जिसमें गूगल के नेक्सस और किंडल फायर के लिए सस्ती जगह है। लेकिन एक विशाल अमेरिकी पुस्तक श्रृंखला अलग है।