The friends who bought a derelict fort

Summary: Beacon Hill Fort was once a testing ground for prototype weapons designed to keep England safe from potential invaders. Long since abandoned, this sprawling five-acre complex at the end of a dirt track in Harwich has now been bought by a pair of friends who want to turn it into a major attraction.

By Laurence CawleyBBC News A love story lies at the heart of how Paul Valentine and Barry Sharp came to own their very own fort. About 45 years ago, the estate agent and his then-girlfriend would spend time together on the grounds of Beacon Hill Fort, whose giant guns once stood guard out over the sea. More than four decades later, while visiting his former flame, he was reminded of their trips to the now-derelict site when he spotted plans for the fort there on her table. Her family had inherited the site and had an offer in for it from Tendring District Council. "I told her there and then I would double whatever they were offering," said Mr Valentine. Eventually a deal was struck and Mr Valentine and Mr Sharp, a retired car restorer, became owners of a hugely overgrown plot, peppered with 25 separate buildings, a warren of underground tunnels and debris left behind by generations of trespassers. The plot, which dates back to the Tudor period, was the first testing ground for "invisible" defences. Before 1889, coastal defence batteries were meant to be seen by the enemy. But their near monumental presence also made them easy targets for bombardment. Beacon Hill is thought to be the first battery to employ guns mounted on carriages which would rise to fire and then disappear down into their pits. You might also be interested in Mr Valentine and Mr Sharp, who are still discovering new buildings on the site, want to refurbish the complex - a designated scheduled ancient monument - into an adventure attraction, possibly aimed at school groups. "We want to create something that will really put Harwich on the map, that will create new jobs and protect this part of our history," said Mr Valentine. "It would be great to be able to open it up for people to visit, explore and enjoy. Eventually, we would like to create some kind of heritage trust and to give this site back to the people of Harwich." A brief history of Beacon Hill Fort Source: Tendring District Council Photography: Laurence Cawley Related Internet Links Tendring District Council

बीकन हिल फोर्ट कभी संभावित आक्रमणकारियों से इंग्लैंड को सुरक्षित रखने के लिए डिज़ाइन किए गए प्रोटोटाइप हथियारों के लिए एक परीक्षण स्थल था। लंबे समय से परित्यक्त, हारविच में एक मिट्टी के रास्ते के अंत में यह पांच एकड़ का विशाल परिसर अब दोस्तों की एक जोड़ी द्वारा खरीदा गया है जो इसे एक प्रमुख आकर्षण में बदलना चाहते हैं।


NHS waits: Getting the excuses in early?

Summary: The devil - as always - is in the detail.

Nick TriggleHealth correspondent The pledge by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to end year-long waits for routine treatment seems to make perfect sense. After all, the NHS has already made great strides on this issue. Three years ago the numbers of patients waiting over 52 weeks were hovering around the 20,000 mark. Now there are fewer than 600. So what could be wrong with the health secretary giving the NHS a last little shove over the line? Nothing, of course. But it is important to see this in context of the wider pressures on the system. While the number of patients facing long waits has dropped significantly since 2011 - when ministers first ordered action - there are signs the tide has begun to turn. The numbers facing long waits have actually started to creep up in the past year or so. In May last year 434 people had been waiting for 52 weeks, compared to 574 in May this year. There is a similar story for those waiting over half a year. A year ago it stood at 51,562, but now it is 65,394. In fact, whichever way you slice the waiting time figures there are warning signs. The numbers on the waiting list overall (once you add those waiting over 18 weeks to those who are still within deadline) have been going up. This year they have topped 3m for the first time in six years. The average wait for treatment has also been high in recent months - and in February hit its highest level since the 18-week target was introduced. While this has been going on, the NHS has still managed to keep to its official target. That is measured not by the numbers on the waiting list or the average wait, but by the proportion of patients seen within 18 weeks. For patients who need to be admitted - those undergoing hip and knee replacements, for example - the NHS has to see 90% in 18 weeks. Apart for February and March when it was missed ever so slightly, the 90% target has been met this year - as it has for most of the time since it came into place under Labour. But within the health service it has been widely acknowledged that this achievement - met despite the squeeze on spending and rising demands - could only be maintained for so long. That threat - I am told - has been causing a lot of angst at the Department of Health. So the acknowledgement that the 18-week target will be missed in the coming months in a "managed breach" is a critical detail. This is unheard of. The 18-week target is enshrined in the NHS Constitution and was personally committed to by the prime minister in June 2011 when the controversy over the government's NHS reforms were at their peak. What is more, the big improvements made from late 2011 through to early 2013 when the number of year-long waits fell 40-fold did not lead to a breach in the 18-week target. Instead, by making it clear the target is going to be missed at this stage and pinning it to the desire to tackle long waits the government - it could be said - has got its excuses in early.

शैतान-हमेशा की तरह-विस्तार में है।


Squabbling hinders repairs to Bethlehem Nativity Church

Summary: As thousands of Christian pilgrims and tourists visit Bethlehem, the site where it is believed Jesus was born, the local authorities are warning that unless urgent repairs are carried out to the centuries-old Church of the Nativity, they may have to restrict visitor numbers in future.

By Wyre DaviesBBC News, Bethlehem Visitor numbers are up again this year, as evidenced by yet another group of pilgrims who stoop to enter the Nativity Church through its extraordinarily small front entrance. First built in the 4th Century, the iconic church has been damaged by wars and natural disasters, but has always been rebuilt. The place marking the spot where most Christians believe Jesus was born is controlled and jealously protected in an uneasy agreement between three Churches - the Greek Orthodox, the Franciscans and the Armenians. Frequent in-fighting and disagreements between the various sects is one reason why parts of the centuries-old church are in a state of disrepair. The 500-year-old lead-and-wooden roof is giving greatest cause for concern. Qustandi Shomali from Bethlehem University says that local religious politics are standing in the way of critical repairs. "Water pours in through holes in the roof, affecting not just the structure itself but damaging frescoes and mosaics inside the church," he says. Tourism fears With religious leaders unable to agree over who should carry out or pay for the repairs, the Palestinian Authority has now had to step in and take charge of the process. Ziad Bandak, who advises President Mahmoud Abbas on Christian issues, says the Palestinian Authority gave the religious leaders an ultimatum to agree on how to do the work. "Unfortunately they couldn't agree, so we're now making an international appeal for donations and plan to begin restoration work some time in the New Year," said Mr Bandak. Historical disputes between priests notwithstanding, the local municipality would like to see even more visitors spending their dollars to boost the local economy and staying in the town itself. Nabil Jackman is a local shopkeeper with a prime site on the edge of Manger Square. He admits that increased tourism this year is good for business, but says that the overall picture is still bleak because of the severe practical restrictions placed on the numbers of visitors who are able to come to Bethlehem throughout the year. Many here bemoan the absence of a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians. In effect, Israel controls access to the holy town, through checkpoints and the huge separation wall that skirts around the edge of Bethlehem, meaning the town's potential may not be realised for some time.

जैसा कि हजारों ईसाई तीर्थयात्री और पर्यटक बेथलहम जाते हैं, जिस स्थान पर यह माना जाता है कि यीशु का जन्म हुआ था, स्थानीय अधिकारी चेतावनी दे रहे हैं कि जब तक सदियों पुराने चर्च ऑफ द नेटिविटी की तत्काल मरम्मत नहीं की जाती है, उन्हें भविष्य में आगंतुकों की संख्या को प्रतिबंधित करना पड़ सकता है।


Brand Merkel comes under pressure over migrants

Summary: It didn't much look like a protest.

Katya AdlerEurope editor@BBCkatyaadleron Twitter Lots of casually dressed, smiley very middle-class Germans - some with children, others with dogs, chatting animatedly in beautiful parkland on the outskirts of Hamburg on a sunny Sunday afternoon. But this was indeed a protest group, putting together a petition in an attempt to stop a new refugee centre being built on the green. People here were keen to emphasise that they were not anti-immigrant. Their main aim, they said, was to protect an area of natural beauty. But once we got talking, broader worries soon surfaced. Birgit said finding a home was difficult enough for Germans. Hamburg has an acute housing shortage at the best of times. With the arrival of tens of thousands of immigrants, the port city threatened to burst at the seams. In desperation, the authorities have been turning shipping containers into refugee homes and repossessing empty commercial properties and open spaces to build new migrant centres. "I don't think Angela Merkel has any idea what she started," Birgit concluded. Hanno kept shaking his head when he said, "I just don't think Germany can integrate this number of people. It's a real worry. A real worry." This was no demonstration of the minority anti-immigrant far right in Germany, so adept at grabbing headlines. These were Angela Merkel's core voters: the comfortable middle classes. Now plagued by doubt and insecurity. To be clear: most Germans don't question a duty to help those fleeing war or human rights abuses but they do find the huge number of arrivals unsettling. More than a million refugees are expected here by the end of the year. Some experts we spoke to told us the figure could reach 1.5m. Like the captain of a football team, Chancellor Merkel keeps repeating: "Wir schaffen es!" ("We can do it!"). It's her version of Barack Obama's "Yes We Can" - but increasingly Germans are asking: How? Only one in three here say they agree with Mrs Merkel's migrant policy, according to the most recent poll. And she's slipping in popularity ratings. The joke used to be that she was a politician of 'little steps' who made decisions only once she'd studied the opinion polls. But a summer of refugees drowning in the Mediterranean and desperate crowds thronging at the gates of Europe seems to have changed all that. Mrs Merkel completely surprised her countrymen a month ago by unilaterally declaring all Syrian refugees welcome and refusing to put an upper limit on how many Germany would take in. It seemed like a passionate outburst, a spontaneous throwing of caution to wind by a woman traditionally admired by Germans for her stable, strong and stoic disposition. All sought-after attributes here. 'Hers is a solid brand' Florian Juerg, a branding consultant, wonders whether Angela Merkel is now expressing her "other self". "Until now she has acted like the sensible scientist that she is," he told me (Mrs Merkel is a trained physicist). "But suddenly she's transformed back into the moral-driven pastor's daughter of her youth." Hamburg is the German hub for marketing and brand imaging. I asked Florian if "Brand Merkel" would be dented by the migrant crisis. "Not in the long-term," he told me. "Building up a brand takes a long time and the last 10 years of Merkel as Chancellor have been good for Germans. Hers is a solid brand." For now. But if her refugee policy backfires, it will stain her political legacy. Mrs Merkel's nickname here is Mutti, or Mummy. Election after election, Germans have put their trust in her to decide what's best for them. She's seen as key in making Germany the success story it is today. The way she's handling the migrant crisis is the biggest gamble of her political career. Brand Merkel may have helped make Brand Germany great but she could now inadvertently damage her country. The arrival of so many asylum seekers in one go will impact Germany's economy, its society and its politics. Already there are well-chronicled splits within Mrs Merkel's own conservative bloc. "We have to get the balance right," said Lorenz Caffier, CDU Interior Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. "The German constitution demands that we look after refugees but the benefits we give them are too generous. "Frankly, I'm amazed at any migrant who doesn't choose to come to Germany. Our benefit system acts like a travel agency. We must put the wellbeing of our own people first." Cucumbers, bananas - or greater matters? German newspapers are full of reports about the benefits refugees receive compared to German citizens on welfare, leading, in some quarters, to a sense of injustice. There's also a more widespread worry about strains on the national health and education systems. "Germany can't take everyone in," Mr Caffier told me. "Up till now we had no choice. Angela Merkel didn't open the door to the refugees. They were already at the door. "What was she going to do - send tanks to the Austrian border? Actually it's impossible to close borders. Any politician who suggests that is lying." He insisted vehemently that the rest of Europe play its part. "We Germans can't do this alone. Brussels has to decide whether it's going to focus on the curvature of cucumbers and bananas or tackle European issues of importance." In the meantime, other European leaders are not queuing up to take in asylum seekers by the hundreds and thousands. Chancellor Merkel's lead role in the migrant crisis is as controversial in the rest of Europe as it is at home. The queen of consensus politics is no more.

यह बहुत विरोध की तरह नहीं लग रहा था।


Coronavirus briefing: UK crackdown and WHO warning on 'accelerating' pandemic

Summary: If you want to get this briefing by email, sign up here

By Victoria KingBBC News UK cracks down hard First it was advice, now it's an order. Boris Johnson has issued a stark message to the country: "At this moment of national emergency... stay at home." Speaking after the UK death toll reached 335, the prime minister introduced unprecedented restrictions on everyday life, meaning people must leave their house for one of only four reasons - to exercise once a day, to travel to and from work where "absolutely necessary", to shop for essential items, and to fulfil any medical or care needs. Shops selling non-essential goods have been told to shut, along with libraries and children's playgrounds, and gatherings in public of more than two people who do not live together will be prohibited. The restrictions will be in place for at least three weeks and police will have the power to enforce them, including through fines. Read the prime minister's statement in full and get a more detailed breakdown of the new rules. The BBC's political editor Laura Kuenssberg says it's still not quite the kind of total crackdown seen in other countries, at least not yet - no curfews, for example - and there will be a time on the other side of this crisis to analyse whether the government made the right decisions at the right time. A reminder here of the symptoms of coronavirus and how you can minimise your risk. And here we answer 10 of your most-asked questions. Latest worldwide The World Health Organization says the pandemic is "accelerating", with more than 360,000 cases globally and more than 16,000 deaths. But WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said it was still possible to "change the trajectory" with rigorous testing and contact-tracing strategies. Many other nations have now imposed lockdowns along the lines of that in the UK. France is strictly limiting physical exercise and closing outdoor markets, and South Africa's government is preparing for the worst. India is stopping all domestic flights, but there are particular fears surrounding one textile city. In Italy, the worst-hit country, the latest daily increase in deaths was the smallest since last Thursday, raising hope that stringent restrictions on public life are starting to have an effect. The BBC's Sima Kotecha describes the haunting experience of Rome under lockdown. In the US, where 481 people have died, state governors and city mayors are pleading for more help from the federal government. However, the BBC's Anthony Zurcher explains why the president may be having second thoughts about following suit with a large-scale lockdown. Our live page has all the latest developments, while health correspondent James Gallagher looks at when and how life might return to normal. Get news from the BBC in your inbox, each weekday morning A closer look at business Coronavirus is an economic emergency as well as health one, and our colleagues in BBC Business have pulled together the guidance on how to apply for government business support. Lots of measures have been announced, but still, freelance and self-employed people tell us they feel forgotten. Companies are attempting to help in the fight against the disease. Carmakers are answering calls from governments to help make more ventilators and face masks, while several tech giants are teaming up to accelerate delivery of testing kits. At the opposite end of the economic scale, we meet some of the workers keeping our essential services running. US-China contagion: The battle behind the scenes By Jonathan Marcus, BBC defence and diplomatic correspondent It is clearly not a good time for the world and it is not a good time for relations between the US and China. President Donald Trump has repeatedly chosen to call the coronavirus the "Chinese virus". The president and his secretary of state have both denounced China for its failings in the initial handling of the outbreak. Meanwhile, social media in China has spread stories that the pandemic has been caused by a US military germ warfare programme. But this is not just a war of words, something more fundamental is going on. Read the full article One thing not to miss today Why is the Olympic decision taking so long? Listen up In the BBC's latest Coronavirus Newscast, Adam Fleming and the team discuss the newly imposed lockdown. Bake Off champion Nadiya Hussain joins them to offer some tips for cooking while cooped up. What the papers say The drastic measures announced by Boris Johnson are reflected in dramatic headlines. "End of freedom", the Daily Telegraph declares. "Britain shuts up shop", the Daily Mail says, while the Sun has a picture of a giant padlock with the headline "House arrest". As the Financial Times puts it, the prime minister has been "forced to close Britain". While there's widespread support for the measures, there's also a feeling that, as the i puts it, the prime minister has dragged his heels. The Guardian says he significantly "escalated his language" after days of being accused of "sending mixed messages about what the public should do". Leo McKinstry, writing in the Daily Express, says the imposition of these "savage rules" will have been particularly difficult for the PM, who is "an optimistic liberal at heart, with a deep suspicion of the big state", but he had no alternative. From elsewhere The conversation we should have with our loved ones now - leading medic (The Conversation) Policy vs Pandemic: Contagion outpaces consensus on response (Reuters) Stuck in a cramped space? This astronaut has some advice (National Geographic) Preparing to give birth in a pandemic (Refinery 29) Sign up for a morning briefing direct to your phone Need something different? Amid all the gloom, lose yourself in some beautiful wildlife photography, including stunning drone shots of seals and sheep. The 2020 Tokyo Games may be in doubt, but watch the teen figure skater from Latvia with Down's syndrome who dreams of competing at the 2021 Special Olympics. Our business desk have a couple of pieces you might find interesting too, including this one looking at whether synthetic fish grown in a lab could eventually replace the real thing. And if you're finding yourself stuck in a lot of video meetings these days, this fun film offers you seven tips to make them work.

यदि आप ईमेल द्वारा यह जानकारी प्राप्त करना चाहते हैं, तो यहां साइन अप करें


Covid: Frank Turner livestream gigs for struggling venues return

Summary: Music venues across England have remained largely silent for the past nine months after the coronavirus pandemic forced them to close their doors. As the unwanted anniversary of a year without live music approaches for some, musician Frank Turner is once again picking up his guitar to help.

By Oliver WrightBBC News "If you had told me back in March last year," says Frank Turner, "that this issue was going to go on for this long I would have been very depressed." The folk-punk singer has played more than 2,500 gigs in his 15-year solo career and sold out venues across the world, including Wembley Arena. But he has also performed in scores of small independent venues and credits each one with getting him to where he is. So when amplifiers and microphones fell silent in 2020, he livestreamed 14 free gigs from his home in aid of those venues, raising nearly £200,000 in donations. "The bottom line is that venues have not been able to open their doors," says Turner. "They've not been able to sell tickets, they've not been able to sell alcohol to punters, and therefore their business model remains completely on ice." Now, as the third lockdown bites, he is restarting his weekly shows in support of the Music Venue Trust's #Savethe30 campaign to help UK venues identified "at imminent danger of permanent closure". "It's the same predicament that pubs are in but with an extra added layer of awfulness," says Turner. "It's difficult to exaggerate how difficult it is for these places." Turner is not alone in his efforts to support struggling businesses and last year the government unveiled the £1.57bn Cultural Recovery Fund (CRF), but not all venues have been eligible. 'It doesn't work without the music' Opened in November 2017, owner and session musician Ben Adey said he set up The Lantern as "there was never anywhere to play in Halifax". The purpose-built, 130-capacity venue - which Turner will perform in support of later - was unable to apply for a grant as it had not been trading for long enough. Mr Adey said it had been "successful, going well", before Covid hit. "Everything just stopped, there was nothing coming in, but the rent and the overheads don't stop," he said. An attempt to reopen as a bar when restrictions allowed was not viable. "It was built as a live music venue as opposed to being a bar," he said. "Without the live music element it just doesn't work." A crowdfunding campaign launched last year has so far raised more than £20,000, and Mr Adey said he hoped Thursday's show would help with "getting to dry land" and give people something to look forward to. 'Twenty people better than none' Elisabeth Carley-Leonard owns The Shed, in Leicester, which has been closed since 20 March due to extra restrictions in the city. Turner's livestream last April raised more than £11,000 for the venue. "We were hoping to raise maybe £5,000 or £6,000 and it kept going up and up; even after the livestream finished donations kept coming in. I still get goosebumps thinking about it," she said. The funds raised "took the pressure off significantly" and "made the world a better place for a fleeting moment", she added. However, with monthly overheads nearing £6,000, the money soon went and the joy of not having to make staff redundant in April became a "horrible" reality in September when the venue had "about £20 left in the bank account". But, the following month it was awarded a £50,000 grant from the CRF. Ms Carley-Leonard now has her sights set on reopening on 1 April "come hell or high-water" to mark the fourth anniversary of the Shed's reopening under her stewardship. She hopes to welcome punters back to the venue on Friday and Saturday nights at first, though with capacity reduced from 100 people to 20. She said she was trying to see lockdown as a chance to "start from scratch", adding: "Even if it's only 20 people at a time, that's better than no people." 'When can we have live music back?' The 150-capacity Windmill, in Brixton, is another venue named on MVT's "at risk" list and was also ineligible for CRF support. But while The Lantern and The Shed either chose to or were forced to stay shut, venue booker Tim Perry said he was keen to put on as many gigs as possible last year. When restrictions in the capital allowed it, the venue took advantage of London's tier two status and staged about 90 reduced-capacity gigs, sometimes fitting in two a day. Mr Perry said: "We knew we were going to lose money but we thought we would be losing less money if we put on some gigs. "It felt like an important thing to do. "We were crowdfunding, asking people to support the venue so if we sat there with the doors closed it would have been a bit hypocritical." He said the venue had set a target of £56,000 to see it through to the end of March, though that figure had not included a third lockdown. Like Turner, Mr Perry said the issue for venues now was a need for clarity from the government on when they can reopen. "It's not just when either," he said, "it's when can we have live music, what will the capacity be, will there be a curfew?" 'A guerrilla warfare operation' Turner, who last year took part in a socially distanced trial show aimed at exploring how venues might reopen, said the industry needed a definitive restart date and called for a coronavirus insurance scheme to protect against "false dawns". Mark Davyd, CEO of the Music Venue Trust, said his team was working on a case-by-case basis to help all 900 venues it represents, with particular focus on the 30 most at risk. Reacting to the potential impact of each new announcement was like running "a guerrilla warfare operation", he said, and they feared the worst-affected would be gone before Christmas. But thanks to the Save Our Venues campaign launched last April and other projects, none of the 900 venues had closed and about half were "safe" till 31 March, Mr Davyd said. And while there was a "dark air" around the return of large-scale gigs and festivals returning in 2021, the possibility of events at smaller venues felt "a lot more likely", he said. He hoped socially distanced events could return in March or April while full reopening, with restrictions in place, may be possible "by the middle of the year". A spokesperson for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport said more than £168m has been awarded to 650 music venues from the CRF and applications were being accepted for the latest round until 26 January. Meanwhile, talks about insurance between government officials and music industry representatives continue. For Turner, helping the venues he cares so much about with his livestreamed performances had helped him through the first lockdown, giving him "structure and purpose". But they also taught him a painful lesson. "Drinking a beer and watching some live music is a magic, magic thing and I miss it terribly". Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk. Related Internet Links The Lantern, Halifax Windmill Brixton The Shed Music Venue Trust Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport

कोरोनावायरस महामारी के कारण अपने दरवाजे बंद करने के लिए मजबूर होने के बाद पिछले नौ महीनों से पूरे इंग्लैंड में संगीत स्थल काफी हद तक शांत रहे हैं। जैसे ही कुछ लोगों के लिए लाइव संगीत के बिना एक साल की अवांछित वर्षगांठ नजदीक आ रही है, संगीतकार फ्रैंक टर्नर एक बार फिर मदद करने के लिए अपना गिटार उठा रहे हैं।


Worcester Cathedral stone marks 2014 flood

Summary: A stone marker recording the water level of the February floods has been added to a 14th Century gateway at Worcester Cathedral.

The water gate, on the banks of the River Severn, has stones marking the high water points since 1672. Last winter Worcester was cut in half by floods and water at the gateway was 16.5ft (5m) deep. The carved stone has been made by an apprentice mason working on the cathedral's restoration. The new marker was made from Forest of Dean sandstone, the same type used in the cathedral restoration, by apprentice stonemason Emily Draper. "It has been a real pleasure to look at the previous letter styles and to put my own twist on it and put it up into the wall," she said. Worcester Cathedral water gate

फरवरी की बाढ़ के जल स्तर को दर्ज करने वाला एक पत्थर का निशान वॉर्सेस्टर कैथेड्रल में 14वीं शताब्दी के प्रवेश द्वार में जोड़ा गया है।


'The rug can be pulled any time' - how indie music has adapted during Covid

Summary: This was supposed to be Arlo Parks' year.

By Paul GlynnEntertainment & arts reporter The soulful indie singer was named on the BBC Sound of 2020 list, had her first UK headline tour under way and support slots in the States lined up, not to mention Glastonbury. But before spring had sprung, she saw those plans "dissolve before my eyes" due to the "devastating" pandemic. "I think I did have a fear that it was going to seriously rock my career and prospects," says the 20-year-old Londoner, who is signed to independent label Transgressive. "It's shown that the rug can be pulled from under my feet at any time. "But then on the flip side, I did learn that sense of resilience and finding ways to stay connected with fans and maintaining a sense of inspiration, and just doing my best with what was available and remaining optimistic." The Association of Independent Music Award winner says the pause has given her time to write and enjoy some "surreal" experiences - like playing in an empty church with Phoebe Bridgers, and performing to a bunch of cows at Glastonbury's vacant Worthy Farm. "I think taking time to just focus on my craft - learning to make beats, playing guitar, writing poetry and reading - getting back to the crux of like what makes me an artist, which is the actual creation process, has been my focus day-to-day," she says. "Then I guess trying to remain optimistic that gigs will come back at some future." Parks is among the indie artists helping BBC Radio 6 Music celebrate and examine the scene on its State of Independents Day on Thursday. Another rising star whose ascent has been slowed by the virus is fellow Sound of 2020 act Beabadoobee. The 90s-influenced rocker, real name Beatrice Kristi, says it "kind of sucked" to miss out on opening up for her Dirty Hit labelmates, The 1975, at New York's Madison Square Garden. Instead, she used confinement to live-stream bedroom gigs on social media, and create the "perfect aesthetic" for her debut album, Fake It Flowers, which drops next month. "I wouldn't say I didn't miss out on anything, but we have so much time and it's nice to take some things slow," offers the 20-year-old, who has a rescheduled tour booked in for September 2021. "In all honesty, I feel like if I went away for this whole year - I didn't think I was ready. Now I think I'm ready, because I've spent so much time with my family and my boyfriend and I've kind of grown up a bit." 'Cultural recovery' While socially-distanced indoor gigs have been allowed in England since mid-August, most venues have been unable to put them on in practice. The Brudenell Social Club in Leeds has seen shows pushed back until next spring, but owner Nathan Clark tells the BBC those dates are only provisional. The Yorkshireman is one of many grassroots venue bosses waiting to see if they will benefit from the government's £1.57bn Culture Recovery Fund, of which £3.36m has been set aside for music venues. Culture secretary Oliver Dowden told The Mail on Sunday that "mass indoor events" like opera, ballet and classical are now in sight. Yet Clark believes greater "sector specific support" is required to make it feasible for the live independent music circuit to re-start. He notes how the guidance for "someone going to a theatre to sit down and observe quietly with their arms crossed" is not applicable to those going to see a rock band, rapper or DJ. "You go to a gig to interact with people," says Clark. "To enjoy the music, dance and sing along. You can't do any of that, so it's taken away the main point of it. "We're starting to get back to arranging some types of events and finding ways to make it work," he goes on. "But it's not going to be live music as we know it. It's going to be quite weird for a long time and it's certainly not going to be worth any money for us, for the artists, or for anyone else. "It's basically an exercise in seeing, can we do it? Can it support a cultural recovery?" 'Normal jobs' Brighton-based guitar band Porridge Radio emerged from the rubble of 2020 after their second album, Every Bad, was nominated for the upcoming Mercury Prize. Fittingly, it finds frontwoman and main songwriter Dana Margolin reflecting on feelings of frustration and uncertainty. Plans for the four-piece to quit their "normal jobs" to chase the music dream full-time have had to go on hold for now, which she believes may have worked in their favour during the crisis. "I think for us, we don't have this sense of entitlement to a job in music," says Margolin, who also works as a nanny. "It's quite new for us anyway, for things to be going well! "We've not played any of our sold-out shows," she adds. "It just didn't happen. So I'm like, 'Oh well, does it really exist?'" 'Music is a product' Tom Gray's band Gomez won the Mercury Prize in 1998, when it was possible to stage an award ceremony. Gray, now a director of copyright collective PRS for Music, says Southport's finest would have "no chance" of making a living from music in today's landscape, partly because streaming royalties don't go far when split five ways. With gig earnings virtually cut off overnight, most artists have found they can no longer fall back on income from recorded music. Gray has launched the Broken Record campaign, calling for streaming giants like Spotify and YouTube to change their "outdated" models and pay artists more fairly. According to CNBC last year, rights-holding artists on Spotify earn around $0.006 (£0.0051p) per stream. "Recorded music is a product; it's a thing that we make and we spend months and years of our lives making it," says Gray. He stresses the "narrative" that most independent musicians earn as much as megastars like Adele or Stormzy needs to change too. "These people live in your communities, they play in your pubs, they probably make your coffee," he says. 'Consumption stronger than ever' North west-based indie label Nice Swan Records offer "artist-friendly 50-50" record deals to the acts that come through their stable, such as Mercury Prize nominees Sports Team, Pip Blom and Fur. The two-man operation, comprising Alex Edwards and Pete Heywoode, have also had to cancel tours this year and delay album campaigns for their more established acts, some of whom have had to take advantage of furlough schemes and other funding. However, they found that launching an "introducing" series, highlighting their new signings during lockdown, brought great exposure. "It's been really exciting launching new careers and getting loads of coverage in the media and press and radio," says Edwards. "But obviously with more established acts that are going into album two and three, we've hit some brick walls. "We've noticed streaming figures going up," notes Heywoode. "The consumption of music has been stronger than ever." The pair will continue to put their artists' material on streaming sites, and in independent record shops. Phil Barton, who manages the Sister Ray shop in central London, says they had a "brilliant" Record Store Day last month. They shifted most of their stock via a mixture of in-store and online sales, which he says was "a shot in the arm" after "a really bad six months". He thinks smaller record shops can help themselves by having an online presence. He'd also like to see some external help so they can continue to enable people to "make contacts, exchange ideas" and discover their own Arlo Parks, next year and beyond. "I think record stores should come under the same sorts of banner as live venues, and they should be treated as a sort of cultural necessity," states Barton. "If we are to save as many record shops as we can, then maybe we should make it very difficult to close them down."

यह आर्लो पार्क्स का वर्ष माना जाता था।


Gambling: 'A banking app helped me beat my addiction'

Summary: Tens of thousands of people have signed up to a new service from two mobile-only banks designed to help problem gamblers. One former addict says this "gambling block", available on the banks' apps, helped him beat his addiction.

By Dan Whitworth and Olivia BeazleyBBC Radio 4 Money Box "I'd be setting my alarm to wake up at 4am to do a first bet," says Danny Cheetham, who began placing bets in his early 20s. "I'd plan my route to work so I could call in to a bookies which opened early for commuters." Danny, who is now 29, found himself betting in bookies, on slot machines and online. He gambled a lot on football, which he doesn't even like. He began relying on overtime from work and on payday loans. In the course of eight years, Danny, who's from Stockport, estimates he lost more than £50,000. He sunk into depression and moved in with his dad as he could not afford to pay rent. It was the death of his mum Christine in 2015 that he says was the turning point for him - but he was not able to kick his habit until he signed up to a gambling block with his bank, Monzo. The so-called challenger bank is a mobile-only version of a traditional bank. Once the block is activated by the customer, it can spot any transaction that person might try to make with bookmakers - either online or in a shop - by using merchant category codes. It instantly stops the transaction from happening, before any money has left that customer's account. If a customer is tempted to place a bet in the heat of the moment, there is a 48-hour cooling-off period before the block is switched off. There is also a daily limit on cash withdrawals. Gambling addiction: The facts Source: Gambling Commission Monzo CEO Tom Blomfield says the block was introduced because customers asked for it. "We have a team of people who work with vulnerable customers and they were getting this feedback quite often" he says. More than 25,000 customers have signed up to the bank's block since it went live in June. "Not all of those were problem gamblers [but] about 8,000 people did have a history of gambling," says Mr Blomfield. "We've... seen a 70% decline in their gambling transactions so [it's made] a really big impact." Another challenger bank, Starling, is offering a similar type of block. It's gained 20,000 users since its launch in June. The Royal College of Psychiatrists is calling on the big five high street banks - Lloyds, Santander, HSBC, RBS Group and Barclays - to offer the same type of service. Doctor Henrietta Bowden-Jones told BBC Radio 4's Money Box: "If you are unable to access funds, this type of gambling block can save people's homes and their families." The banks say protecting vulnerable customers is a priority and they are always looking at new ways to do that. The Gambling Commission is talking to financial institutions about how to improve protection for problem gamblers. Three years on from taking his first steps to beat his gambling addiction, Danny says he is happy. "And I've actually got money in the bank which I never thought I'd have," he says. "I'm well on target to being debt-free by my 30th birthday, which is my next one, and I just don't feel depressed or helpless like I used to." He says he can now think about his future and - although he will have a bad credit file for up to six years - he says this will give him time to save for a deposit for his own place. "I just don't feel like it's an endless battle any more." You can hear more on BBC Radio 4's Money Box programme on Saturday at 12:00 BST or listen again here. If you're worried you might have a problem with gambling or know someone who does you can get help here.

हजारों लोगों ने समस्याग्रस्त जुआरियों की मदद के लिए डिज़ाइन किए गए दो मोबाइल-केवल बैंकों से एक नई सेवा के लिए साइन अप किया है। एक पूर्व व्यसनी का कहना है कि बैंकों के ऐप पर उपलब्ध इस "जुआ ब्लॉक" ने उसे अपनी लत को दूर करने में मदद की।


James Landale: David Cameron and Conservative EU rebels

Summary: Unless something utterly unexpected knocks the stuffing out of the parliamentary timetable and a substantial minority of the Conservative parliamentary party have woken up to discover they have lost their vertebrae, David Cameron is poised to suffer the biggest rebellion of his premiership later.

By James LandaleDeputy Political Editor, BBC News The current holders of the record are the 41 Conservative MPs who chose just a week or two ago to vote against their government on a motion affecting the timetable of the Protection of Freedoms Bill. The promised rebellion, according to the very excellent Philip Cowley of Nottingham University - the Bill Frindall of parliamentary rebellions - would not only be Mr Cameron's biggest revolt - if it tops that magic 41 - but it would also be the largest revolt ever by Conservative MPs in government over Europe. Period, as the Americans say. The issue at hand in the House of Commons vote at 10pm may be a piece of so-called backbench business on a motion that is binding on no-one, but it matters. It matters not because it would force anyone to hold a referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union. It would not. But it matters because of what it tells us of Mr Cameron's fractious relationship with his MPs and the potential consequences for the management of the coalition government. Here are a few thoughts: 1. Why oh why has the government played hardball on this? Why didn't the government just roll over and allow its MPs to let off a little steam over a non-binding vote while Messrs Cameron, Hague and Osborne were overseas? To find the answer to this question that has so vexed Tory MPs over the weekend, ministers urge you to look carefully at the wording of the motion. It reads thus: "That this House calls upon the Government to introduce a Bill in the next session of Parliament to provide for the holding of a national referendum on whether the UK should a) remain a member of the European Union on the current terms; b) leave the European Union; c) re-negotiate the terms of its relationship in order to create a new relationship based on trade and cooperation." There are two big no-nos in there. One is that it directly instructs the government to introduce a bill in the next parliament. This, say ministers, would be unacceptable to any government. Parliament does not tell governments what bills to introduce and when. If the motion had been less instructional and less specific, it would have caused less concern in Downing Street. Ministers note that the division earlier this year urging the government to oppose giving prisoners the vote was an expression of opinion, not an instruction to action, and thus ministers were able to roll with the punch. The second problem is more straightforward. It is not government policy to leave the EU. Downing Street insiders note dryly that the only large party to campaign on withdrawal from the EU were Labour in 1983. Any referendum that included the option of leaving the EU could never have been accepted by Downing Street. And whatever the rebels say about this being a non-binding motion, if it were passed, they would quite legitimately bang on about an in/out referendum being the will of the Commons until the cows were tucked up in bed and dreaming of clover. There is also, say others, the small matter of Mr Cameron wishing to avoid: a) headlines using the word "u-turn", b) accusations that he can be pushed around by a section of his party and c) comparisons with John Major's push-me-pull-you relationship with his party's eurosceptics. 2. Why has the government appeared to be in such a muddle over this, changing the day of the vote and winding up so many of its backbenchers? Some ministers are prepared to admit privately that the government could have handled this better. They were not clear from day one that this was a three line whip issue, something on which the government could not move. They allowed the rebels to believe that there was flexibility when there was not. They hinted that this was a second order issue by fielding junior ministers in the media and scheduling junior ministers for the debate. Tory MPs could not understand why the government would chose to use a three line whip against a measure that arose from two mechanisms - the backbench business committee and the use of petitions - that the coalition itself championed. 3. This is a fight that both sides knew was going to happen one day. There is a strong eurosceptic sentiment in the current House of Commons. Thus far it has been diffuse, its focus spread across a range of issues from repatriating powers, to membership referendums, to the proceedings of the European Court of Human Rights. This vote crystallises all that sentiment and provides an outlet, uniting for the first time the eurosceptics of yore like Bill Cash and John Redwood with the new intake of Conservative MPs elected last year. Ministers knew there would be a clash one day and this is it. Their greater fear is if there were to be a vote on a substantive motion, such as whether or not Britain should fund another European bail out, or support a financial transaction tax so beloved of the European Commission. The reason ministers fear such votes is because they know they could not win them. 4. This is not just about Europe. This is also about party management. Many Conservative backbenchers are unhappy about a range of issues and are therefore less ready to listen to their whips and more ready to allow instinct to outweigh loyalty. In no particular order, some Tory MPs are upset about: the existence of the coalition and their perception that too many concessions have been made to the Liberal Democrats; the boundary changes that are making them nervous and keener to appeal to their eurosceptic party memberships; the cull of MPs itself; the lack of attention that they feel David Cameron has been paying them; the failure of the government to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty; the recent appointment to government of women elected in 2010 over the heads of the 2005 intake; the growing awareness of many Tory MPs that they might never be ministers and are liberated as a result. The eurozone crisis has also put the wind in the sails of many eurosceptic MPs who feel vindicated after being marginalised for years. 5. So what happens now? The crucial moment could come not in the debate itself but during the statement that precedes it. Mr Cameron is due to be on his feet for an hour or so from 3.30pm informing the House about the European summit on Sunday. But his bigger task will be to answer questions about why a referendum on Britain's EU membership is not right now. The obvious point he will make is that this is a distraction when the eurozone is in such crisis. He will also go further and make it clear that Britain has to prepare for huge change within the EU in the very short term. There could be substantial treaty changes within the next few years. Three "Europes" could emerge: an inner core of the eurozone bound together by greater fiscal union, an outer core of northern euro countries who are cautious about more integration, and the ten EU members outside the eurozone. The prime minister will argue - as he did on Sunday- that Britain should use this transformation to protect and advance Britain's national interests by repatriating certain powers from Brussels to London. But, I am told, he may also suggest that such treaty change could prompt a referendum anyway if all 27 member states were affected and it transferred powers from London to Brussels, particularly over the single market. This is existing government policy. So watch closely to see if the prime minister hints at a possible referendum and if so, how hard he pushes the idea. His point would be: there is no need to push for an in/out referendum now because you are going to get a referendum sooner than you think anyway. 6. What will the rebellion mean for the future? The number of MPs who have tasted rebellion for the first time will have grown and it is often a taste they can learn to live with. It will be a rebellion that will set the tone for future debates and votes about Europe that could come to dominate the latter half of this parliament if the eurozone crisis forces institutional change. It will send a signal to voters that while many of David Cameron's MPs respect him, they don't always feel loyalty towards him, and that is something that voters tend to note and inwardly digest. It will allow Labour to compare Mr Cameron with John Major and claim the Tories are divided over Europe. But above all, the rebellion will cost Mr Cameron political capital that perhaps he may have preferred to spend in tougher times in the years ahead. There will be bigger votes and more important votes and from today he will find it harder to get the numbers he wants.

जब तक कुछ पूरी तरह से अप्रत्याशित रूप से संसदीय समय सारिणी से बाहर नहीं निकलता है और कंजर्वेटिव संसदीय दल का एक बड़ा अल्पसंख्यक यह पता लगाने के लिए जाग नहीं जाता है कि उन्होंने अपना कशेरुका खो दिया है, डेविड कैमरन बाद में अपने प्रधान मंत्री पद के सबसे बड़े विद्रोह का सामना करने के लिए तैयार हैं।


Bollywood ban may hurt Pakistan more than India

Summary: When India conducted an air strike in Pakistani territory, Pakistan didn't just retaliate with force: it also banned Indian film and television. It's an easy punishment, but may just hit the wrong target, as the BBC's Ilyas Khan and Shumaila Jaffrey report.

India and Pakistan have been at loggerheads since 1947, but their shared love of Bollywood has somehow survived through Partition and beyond. Despite this, Bollywood has all too often found itself the easy target of governments hoping to make a point - most recently following the deadly attack by militants on Indian soldiers in Indian-administered Kashmir, which ended with India launching air strikes against what it said was a militant camp in Pakistan late last month, and Pakistan downing an Indian fighter jet. A case of survival Pakistan's Association of Film Exhibitors said that they were banning the release of Bollywood films and in March, Pakistan's top court went a step further and ruled that no Indian content could be broadcast on local television either. The ban applies to Indian adverts, soap operas and films. "Who would want to watch Indian content when India is intruding [into] the country's boundaries?" the Supreme Court judge demanded as he imposed the ban. Student Aqsa Khan, 24, wholeheartedly agrees. "They are imposing war on us, how can we let their movies and dramas get released in Pakistan?" she asked. But exactly who the ban will really punish is yet to be seen. For a substantial number of Pakistanis, the pleasure of engaging with Indian entertainment would trump the patriotism of supporting a ban on it. "I grew up watching Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Salman Khan," said Ali Shiwari, an avid cinemagoer who was so inspired by Indian cinema he decided to study film. "It will take time to find someone like them in the Pakistani industry." Perhaps more importantly, however, taking it out of the equation could result in economic consequences - for Pakistanis. "The Indian film industry is crucial for sustaining the Pakistani box office," Rafay Mahmood, a film journalist, points out. There are around 120 movie theatres in the country, he explained, and the average shelf life of a good film is about two weeks. By his estimate, Pakistani cinemas need to show at least 26 new films a year to stay in business. But Pakistan's own film industry has only been producing 12 to 15 annually. And, Mr Mahmood notes, these did not attract a large audience. In fact, some 70% of the Pakistani movie industry's revenue is earned through Indian films, according to entertainment journalist Hassan Zaidi. "This ban is just not sustainable," he said. "The film industry here cannot survive without Bollywood." There is proof of just how hard such a ban would hit Pakistan: this is not the country's first ban on Bollywood. The longest lasted 40 years, from 1965 until 2005, put in place after a war with India. It sent the industry into decline: several hundred film theatres across Pakistan were converted into shopping malls or wedding halls. Read more: Once it was lifted, the Pakistani movie industry - which had died a death in the 1990s - also began to revive. "This spurred the return of audiences to the cinema," said Atika Rehman, editor of Dawn news website in Pakistan and and a former entertainment journalist. "It also encouraged Pakistani filmmakers to start producing films." But these Pakistani movies didn't always match Bollywood in budget or star power. That could explain why Bollywood has accounted for more than 60% of film screenings in Pakistani cinemas in recent years, followed by Hollywood, according to a cinema business source. In fairness, the two recent bans on Indian content in Pakistan were reciprocal - the current one was imposed after the All India Cine Workers Association (AICWA) announced a total ban on Pakistani actors and artists working in Bollywood following the Kashmir attack. And it wasn't the first time India had announced such a ban: Pakistan's Fawad Khan was banned from acting in Bollywood films after an Indian right-wing group demanded that all Pakistani artists leave the country after the "surgical strikes" in 2016. Khan had acted in a few Bollywood films by then and continues to enjoy a fan following in India. There was also a huge uproar when Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan starred in a movie alongside Pakistani actress Mahira Khan in 2017. The movie's release was punctuated by controversies as right-wing Hindu groups in India demanded for it to be banned. Its release date was delayed in India - but it did not screen in Pakistan, where the censor board claimed the film had "objectionable content". Nadeem Mandviwala, a Pakistani film producer, hopes that this ban is temporary. "Hopefully better sense will prevail between the two countries," he added. And let's not forget, these days Bollywood enthusiasts can stream films on Netflix, YouTube and other platforms - reducing the ban to little more than symbolism.

जब भारत ने पाकिस्तानी क्षेत्र में हवाई हमला किया, तो पाकिस्तान ने न केवल बल के साथ जवाबी कार्रवाई कीः उसने भारतीय फिल्म और टेलीविजन पर भी प्रतिबंध लगा दिया। यह एक आसान सजा है, लेकिन गलत लक्ष्य को मार सकता है, जैसा कि बीबीसी के इलियास खान और सुमैला जाफरी ने बताया।


Car rolls into Llangollen Canal at Pontcysyllte Aqueduct

Summary: A car has rolled into the canal near Wrexham's Pontcysyllte Aqueduct for the second time in months.

No-one was injured when the red vehicle plunged into Llangollen Canal, Froncysyllte, leaving its roof visible above the water line. It was parked in Woodlands Grove half a mile south of the aqueduct. In April, Tomos Williams's Toyota Avensis needed to be pulled from the canal after it rolled down a slipway after the handbrake failed. Mr Williams had been on a walk with girlfriend Jayne Roberts when the accident happened.

महीनों में दूसरी बार रेक्सम के पोंटिसिलेट एक्वाडक्ट के पास एक कार नहर में लुढ़क गई है।


Samantha Azzopardi: Australia's notorious con artist sentenced for child theft

Summary: Notorious Australian con artist Samantha Azzopardi has been sentenced to prison in Melbourne for child stealing. Having created a trail of false identities around the world, she has a history that runs deep.

By Vicky BakerBBC News Emily Peet, Lindsay Coughlin, Dakota Johnson, Georgia McAuliffe, Harper Hernandez, Harper Hart. Behind all these names - and many more - was just one woman: serial fraudster Azzopardi, 32, from Sydney. Over the past decade, she has been caught under assumed names in Ireland, Canada and various states within her home nation. She was sentenced to two years in prison on Friday, having faked qualifications to get a job as a live-in nanny and taken the two small children across the state of Victoria without permission. Melbourne Magistrate Johanna Metcalf said the motive behind the "bizarre crime" remains unclear. In the past, Azzopardi has posed as a victim of sex trafficking. She has claimed to be Swedish royalty and a Russian gymnast whose whole family died in a murder-suicide incident. Throughout her 20s and early 30s, she repeatedly pretended to be a young teenager. And with her slight figure, soft voice and a tendency to nervously chew her fingers, she often got away with it. For years she has been running into trouble with authorities. She has been deported from foreign countries, she has been jailed for short periods. Yet, the saga seemed never-ending. As the magistrate pointed out, there has been no monetary motivation for her actions and she does not appear to be actively seeking fame. During the trial, the court heard that she had been diagnosed with a severe personality disorder and a rare condition called pseudologia fantastica, which manifests itself in compulsive lying. Care issues have delayed the trial repeatedly. The fake au pair The latest court case hinged on a 2019 incident in Victoria involving a French couple, who have remained anonymous. Azzopardi told them she was an 18-year-old au pair called Sakah. During her brief period of employment, she asked to take the children out on a picnic, but instead of staying locally in Geelong, she took them to Bendigo, some 200km (120 miles) away, where she was eventually spotted by a police detective. Before she was intercepted in a department store, she had visited a nearby counselling service and presented herself as a pregnant teenager. She had dressed in school uniform and even arranged for an unknown person to call the service, pretending to be her father. Previously, Azzopardi also spent almost a year working as a nanny for Tom Jervis, a Australian professional basketball player, and his wife, Jezze, an ex-lawyer turned life coach. The couple said they found her through a web service for au pairs and trusted her at first. She moved into their house and relocated with them from Brisbane to Melbourne. But her story started to unravel when the couple received reports about her using Mrs Jervis's identity to pretend to be a casting agent. She had befriended a 12-year-old girl, telling her she could get her a job as a voiceover artist in a Pixar movie. "I treated her like my daughter," Mrs Jervis told Australian website MamaMia, saying she felt violated when she found out the truth. "We knew she'd lied to us. It just didn't make any sense." Playing mute in Dublin Irish police detective David Gallagher also had a strange encounter with Azzopardi, when she turned up in Dublin in October 2013. He did not know her name then. No-one did. In the local media, she later became known as GPO girl, because she had been found outside Dublin's General Post Office, which is often referred to by its initials. The Garda Síochána (Irish police force) found her pacing back and forth, looking distressed, but refusing to speak. Two officers took her to hospital and for weeks she did not say a word, leading authorities to fear she was a victim of human trafficking. Though she never told them her age, she indicated through hand signals that she was 14. Police investigators examined CCTV footage and carried out door-to-door enquiries. They worked with child welfare specialists and reached out to missing persons services, Interpol, a forensic science laboratory, the immigration bureau, the domestic violence and sexual assault unit. Noticing that braces on her teeth had been recently fitted, they contacted paediatric orthodontists across the country to see if they remembered her. Det Supt Gallagher said there were always questions over her age but he never expected her to be entirely ungenuine. "There was no endgame," he told the BBC. "She was put in a children's hospital, not eating, not talking. It wasn't fun." His investigations unit ended up seeking special permission from the high court to share her picture during a public plea for information, as she was deemed a minor. Nonetheless, someone recognised her: a family contact she had been staying with at the start of her trip to Ireland. Azzopardi was identified and put back on a flight to Australia, escorted by police. She never spoke on the journey. "When the truth of her situation and age became known, this divided opinion within those on the investigation team and those managing this investigation," said Det Supt Gallagher. "There were calls from some to move to a criminal investigation for wasting police time by making a false report, while others, including myself, felt that in a legal sense she in fact never made any statement or false report as she had never spoken. The matter should be treated as a mental health and welfare issue." She under went a mental health assessment but her issues were not deemed to be of a level to require intervention. An invented kidnapping in Calgary The following year, Azzopardi turned up in Calgary, Canada. A similar story played out but this time she vocalised it. She claimed she was Aurora Hepburn, 14-year-old victim of abuse, who had escaped a kidnapper. She was 26 at the time. Again, investigators and health care workers spent weeks on the case, until someone discovered the Dublin story and made a connection. This time she was convicted on a mischief charge for misleading Calgary police. Kelly Campbell, of the police's child abuse unit, said: "There was considerable impact to a lot of the professionals that were working on this investigation as we were led to believe that this was an actual occurrence and our concern was that there were victims that were out there, more victims." The Calgary Herald reported that documents submitted at the hearing showed that, just six months after Azzopardi was deported from Ireland, she was back in that country again working as an au pair, after managing to get another passport from Australian authorities. Azzopardi was deported from Canada and, again, given a police escorted flight back to Australia. There have been countless other stories, countless other identities. A US backpacker, Emily Bamberger, told the Courier newspaper how Azzopardi manipulated her in Sydney in 2014, just before the Canadian episode. She told her she was a Swedish royalty, Annika Dekker, and she had been kidnapped when she was a young girl. On another occasion, Azzopardi led a Perth family to believe she was a Russian gymnast, whose entire family had died in murder-suicide incident in France. In one of the most extraordinary incidents, she convinced social services in Sydney that she was a teen victim, and managed to get enrolled in a school and put into a foster home. The sentencing Wearing prison blue clothes and a matching face mask, her blonde hair piled on her head in a bun, Azzopardi looked at the ground as her sentencing played out via video link, due to Covid restrictions. This time, she had pleaded guilty. Defence lawyer Jessica Willard said her client had not planned to keep the two children - aged four and 10 months - from their parents, or to harm them. The magistrate agreed that they had not been harmed physically, but expressed concerns about emotional damage to the family and the separate 12-year-old, whom she had manipulated and promised a film role. She also acknowledged the concerns over Azzopardi's mental health. The court had heard how she had been subjected to severe trauma and abuse in her past. Psychiatrist Jacqueline Rakov recommended she be released if she received voluntary treatment and case management under specialist services, yet the prison refused to give the necessary referral. Azzopardi has already spent more than a year and a half in pre-trial detention, meaning she may be eligible for parole. The prosecution claimed there was high potential for reoffending. Det Supt Gallagher said he had been following her case from afar for the past eight years. People sent him clips every so often, whenever she turned up somewhere new. On the huge, costly hunt she sparked in Ireland, he said: "If I was involved in a similar type situation again, I would take the same approach again and err on the side of a person being a traumatised and vulnerable victim of crime." "The problem," he said, "is whether prison is a suitable place for her. Is a mental health institute? Is she a danger to herself, or is she a danger to others? In Ireland, she wasn't a danger to herself or others, albeit she was a considerable nuisance."

ऑस्ट्रेलिया की कुख्यात ठग कलाकार सामंथा अज़ोपार्डी को बच्चों की चोरी के आरोप में मेलबर्न में जेल की सजा सुनाई गई है। दुनिया भर में झूठी पहचान का एक निशान बनाने के बाद, उनका एक ऐसा इतिहास है जो गहरा है।


The Indian Dalits attacked for wearing the wrong shoes

Summary: Over the last month, Dalits (formerly untouchables) across India have been threatened, beaten and killed for seemingly mundane reasons, highlighting again how vulnerable the community is. On Sunday, a groom was threatened for riding a horse to his wedding - because doing so is considered an upper caste privilege.

Here are five reasons why Dalits have been attacked and threatened in the last month alone. Threatened for riding a horse On 17 June, Prashant Solanki, a Dalit man in his late 20s, was on his way to his wedding riding a colourfully decorated horse, as is common practice, when he was ambushed by a group of upper-caste villagers. They insisted that riding a horse was an upper-caste privilege and threatened to attack Mr Solanki and his family. Fearing for his life, Mr Solanki had the police accompany him to his bride's home and also to his wedding. This is not the first time a Dalit riding a horse to his wedding has been threatened. A similar incident occurred in 2015 when villagers hurled stones at a Dalit groom in the central state of Madhya Pradesh. Killed for sitting cross-legged Two Dalit men in the southern state of Tamil Nadu were killed by upper-caste Hindus after a Dalit man sat cross-legged in front of them during a temple ritual. The upper-caste Hindus called it a "dishonourable and insulting" gesture. About 15 of them went to the Dalits' neighbourhood and mounted an ambush. In addition to the two men killed, six others were injured and houses were damaged, according to police. "The men who suffered injuries had deep cuts on their bodies made with sickles," a senior police officer is quoted as saying in the Indian Express newspaper. Stripped and beaten for swimming Three Dalit boys were stripped, beaten and paraded naked by villagers in the western state of Maharashtra last week for swimming in a well that belonged to an upper-caste family, police said. In a video that was posted online, two of the boys are seen covering themselves with leaves as a man hits them with a stick and a belt. Laughter can be heard in the background. "We are still afraid of further attacks," one of the victims' mothers told BBC Marathi. She learned about the incident when she saw the video online. Police have arrested two of the men accused of involvement in the assault. Beaten for wearing 'royal' shoes Mahesh Rathod, a 13-year-old Dalit boy, was allegedly attacked in the western state of Gujarat for wearing a pair of "mojris" - leather shoes traditionally seen as royal footwear and worn by upper-caste members in some parts of India. According to local media, he was approached by a group of men who asked him which caste he belonged to and when he said he was a Dalit, they abused him for "posing as an upper-caste member by wearing jeans, mojris and a gold chain". In a video that went viral last week, a group of men can be seen beating Mahesh with a stick while he pleads for mercy. He is reported to have been given police protection after that. Violence over a Facebook name Dalit and upper-caste men attacked each other in a town in Gujarat after 22-year-old Maulik Jadav decided to add a suffix to his first name on his Facebook profile. Mr Jadav, a Dalit, changed his name to include "sinh" - a suffix that is traditionally used by an upper-caste community in the state. "I changed my name from 'Maulik' to 'Mauliksinh' thinking we are free to keep the name of our choice," Mr Jadav is quoted as saying in the Hindustan Times newspaper. He added that he received threats on Facebook and over the phone. "They told me to remove 'sinh' from my name or to face the consequences." The threats turned into violence when a group of men attacked Mr Jadav at his home the following day, leading to Dalit residents retaliating by storming the house of an upper-caste Hindu man.

पिछले एक महीने में, पूरे भारत में दलितों (पूर्व में अछूतों) को धमकाया गया, पीटा गया और मार दिया गया, जाहिरा तौर पर सांसारिक कारणों से, यह फिर से उजागर करता है कि समुदाय कितना असुरक्षित है। रविवार को, एक दूल्हे को उसकी शादी में घोड़े की सवारी करने के लिए धमकी दी गई थी-क्योंकि ऐसा करना एक उच्च जाति का विशेषाधिकार माना जाता है।


Juliane Koepcke: How I survived a plane crash

Summary: Juliane Koepcke was flying over the Peruvian rainforest with her mother when her plane was hit by lightning. She survived a two-mile fall and found herself alone in the jungle, just 17. More than 40 years later, she recalls what happened.

It was Christmas Eve 1971 and everyone was eager to get home, we were angry because the plane was seven hours late. Suddenly we entered into a very heavy, dark cloud. My mother was anxious but I was OK, I liked flying. Ten minutes later it was obvious that something was very wrong. There was very heavy turbulence and the plane was jumping up and down, parcels and luggage were falling from the locker, there were gifts, flowers and Christmas cakes flying around the cabin. When we saw lightning around the plane, I was scared. My mother and I held hands but we were unable to speak. Other passengers began to cry and weep and scream. After about 10 minutes, I saw a very bright light on the outer engine on the left. My mother said very calmly: "That is the end, it's all over." Those were the last words I ever heard from her. The plane jumped down and went into a nose-dive. It was pitch black and people were screaming, then the deep roaring of the engines filled my head completely. Suddenly the noise stopped and I was outside the plane. I was in a freefall, strapped to my seat bench and hanging head-over-heels. The whispering of the wind was the only noise I could hear. I felt completely alone. I could see the canopy of the jungle spinning towards me. Then I lost consciousness and remember nothing of the impact. Later I learned that the plane had broken into pieces about two miles above the ground. I woke the next day and looked up into the canopy. The first thought I had was: "I survived an air crash." I shouted out for my mother in but I only heard the sounds of the jungle. I was completely alone. I had broken my collarbone and had some deep cuts on my legs but my injuries weren't serious. I realised later that I had ruptured a ligament in my knee but I could walk. Before the crash, I had spent a year and a half with my parents on their research station only 30 miles away. I learned a lot about life in the rainforest, that it wasn't too dangerous. It's not the green hell that the world always thinks. I could hear the planes overhead searching for the wreck but it was a very dense forest and I couldn't see them. I was wearing a very short, sleeveless mini-dress and white sandals. I had lost one shoe but I kept the other because I am very short-sighted and had lost my glasses, so I used that shoe to test the ground ahead of me as I walked. Snakes are camouflaged there and they look like dry leaves. I was lucky I didn't meet them or maybe just that I didn't see them. I found a small creek and walked in the water because I knew it was safer. At the crash site I had found a bag of sweets. When I had finished them I had nothing more to eat and I was very afraid of starving. It was very hot and very wet and it rained several times a day. But it was cold in the night and to be alone in that mini-dress was very difficult. On the fourth day, I heard the noise of a landing king vulture which I recognised from my time at my parents' reserve. I was afraid because I knew they only land when there is a lot of carrion and I knew it was bodies from the crash. When I turned a corner in the creek, I found a bench with three passengers rammed head first into the earth. I was paralysed by panic. It was the first time I had seen a dead body. I thought my mother could be one of them but when I touched the corpse with a stick, I saw that the woman's toenails were painted - my mother never polished her nails. I was immediately relieved but then felt ashamed of that thought. By the 10th day I couldn't stand properly and I drifted along the edge of a larger river I had found. I felt so lonely, like I was in a parallel universe far away from any human being. I thought I was hallucinating when I saw a really large boat. When I went to touch it and realised it was real, it was like an adrenaline shot. But [then I saw] there was a small path into the jungle where I found a hut with a palm leaf roof, an outboard motor and a litre of gasoline. I had a wound on my upper right arm. It was infested with maggots about one centimetre long. I remembered our dog had the same infection and my father had put kerosene in it, so I sucked the gasoline out and put it into the wound. The pain was intense as the maggots tried to get further into the wound. I pulled out about 30 maggots and was very proud of myself. I decided to spend the night there. The next day I heard the voices of several men outside. It was like hearing the voices of angels. When they saw me, they were alarmed and stopped talking. They thought I was a kind of water goddess - a figure from local legend who is a hybrid of a water dolphin and a blonde, white-skinned woman. But I introduced myself in Spanish and explained what had happened. They treated my wounds and gave me something to eat and the next day took me back to civilisation. The day after my rescue, I saw my father. He could barely talk and in the first moment we just held each other. For the next few days, he frantically searched for news of my mother. On 12 January they found her body. Later I found out that she also survived the crash but was badly injured and she couldn't move. She died several days later. I dread to think what her last days were like. Juliane Koepcke told her story toOutlookfrom theBBC World Service. Listen to the programmehere.

जूलियन कोपेके अपनी माँ के साथ पेरू के वर्षावन के ऊपर से उड़ान भर रही थी जब उसका विमान बिजली की चपेट में आ गया। वह दो मील की गिरावट से बच गई और जंगल में खुद को अकेला पाया, सिर्फ 17। 40 से अधिक वर्षों के बाद, वह याद करती है कि क्या हुआ था।


Oxford murder accused appears in court

Summary: A man has appeared in court charged with the murder of a 33-year-old man who was found dead in Oxford.

Anthony Joyce was found unresponsive at a property in Redbridge Hollow on Saturday and pronounced dead at the scene, Thames Valley Police said. John Francis Joyce, 30, of Redbridge Hollow, appeared at Oxford Magistrates' Court earlier charged with murder. He was remanded in custody and will next appear at Oxford Crown Court on 31 July.

ऑक्सफोर्ड में मृत पाए गए 33 वर्षीय व्यक्ति की हत्या के आरोप में एक व्यक्ति अदालत में पेश हुआ है।


Scapa Distillery opens to visitors for first time

Summary: Orkney's Scapa Distillery has opened its doors to the public for the first time in its 130-year history.

Chivas Brothers has unveiled a visitor centre to "educate malt connoisseurs about its unique production process, provenance and quality". Two permanent and two seasonal jobs have been created. Scapa Distillery manager Brian MacAulay said: "I have personally taken the pleasure in removing our 'No Visitors' sign." VisitScotland island manager Barbara Foulkes said: "As this new attraction clearly demonstrates with the creation of four positions, tourism is a vital part of Orkney's economy, creating jobs and sustaining communities."

ऑर्कनी की स्कापा डिस्टिलरी ने अपने 130 साल के इतिहास में पहली बार जनता के लिए अपने दरवाजे खोल दिए हैं।


Jordan Hill death: Three held on suspicion of murder

Summary: Three people have been arrested on suspicion of murder following the death of a 21-year-old man in Sheffield.

Jordan Hill was found with stab wounds at a flat in Southey Avenue in Longley, at 21:45 GMT on Thursday. South Yorkshire Police said Mr Hill was taken to hospital but died as a result of his injuries. A 31-year-old man and 24-year-old woman were arrested earlier and a 29-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday. All remain in police custody. A post-mortem examination concluded Mr Hill died as a result of stab wounds.

शेफील्ड में एक 21 वर्षीय व्यक्ति की मौत के बाद हत्या के संदेह में तीन लोगों को गिरफ्तार किया गया है।


New flights from Newquay airport unveiled

Summary: Passengers from Cornwall will be able to fly direct from Newquay to two additional UK destinations this summer.

Newquay airport is launching weekly flights to Newcastle and Belfast from May. The Exeter-based airline, Flybe, said the routes would operate on Saturdays from 5 May. In December the Cornish airport announced weekly flights from Newquay to Norwich would also be starting in May. Newquay airport said the flights would be a boost for Cornish tourism despite the current state of the economy.

कॉर्नवाल के यात्री इस गर्मी में न्यूक्वे से ब्रिटेन के दो अतिरिक्त गंतव्यों के लिए सीधे उड़ान भर सकेंगे।


One Direction release new single ahead of documentary

Summary: One Direction are to release a new song called Best Song Ever.

The single appears on a full-length trailer for the boy band's 3D documentary film called This Is Us. Super Size Me and 30 Days director Morgan Spurlock is behind the movie, which is due for release in August. The trailer, which lasts more than three minutes, shows the group travelling around the world on tour and also features interviews with each member and their families. Fans will see Niall Horan pouring miso soup over his rice in Japan, Zayn Malik buys a house for his mum and Harry Styles visits the bakery where he used to work. Spurlock, 42, has been following the fivesome to events including this year's Brit Awards, where they won in the global success category. The director called the film "an incredible opportunity and an amazing moment in time for the band" with Simon Cowell, boss of One Direction's record label Syco, describing it as an "access all areas, behind the scenes" look at the group. One Direction is made up of Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson. They finished third on The X Factor in 2010 and have since had three number one singles in the UK with both their albums topping the Billboard 200 chart in America. They are on tour in North America with dates to follow in Australia and New Zealand. One Direction announced a world stadium tour for 2014 in May with five dates in the UK. The single Best Song Ever is available on pre-release from midnight on Wednesday. Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter

वन डायरेक्शन बेस्ट सॉन्ग एवर नामक एक नया गीत जारी करने वाला है।


Guantanamo papers: The UK's handling of detainees

Summary: Documents released in the High Court this week reveal for the first time some of the behind-the-scenes debates in Whitehall over whether the UK should work with the US on Guantanamo Bay - and how the decision was taken to allow British citizens to be taken to the camp.

By Dominic Casciani and Steve SwannBBC News home affairs team Somewhere in London, there is a secure room where some 80 lawyers and officials are reading through 500,000 documents - and deciding which will see the light of day. The work, with no clear end in sight, is part of what is fast becoming one of the largest actions in English legal history: an attempt by former Guantanamo Bay detainees to sue the British government. The men say MI5, MI6 and three government departments could have prevented their detention and mistreatment. The former Labour government rejected the allegations and promised to defend itself in the courts - but Prime Minister David Cameron is trying to get the six men to enter settlement talks to run alongside a judge-led inquiry into allegations of complicity in torture. On Wednesday, the High Court rejected a government plea to suspend the men's legal action for three months in the interests of a potential settlement. And on Thursday the government agreed to a demand by Mr Justice Silber to disclose more documents relating to the alleged mistreatment of British terror suspects in the months following the 9/11 attacks. To be released by 3 September, they will include material from departments including Downing Street and the Home Office, as well as the police, Crown Prosecution Service, and MI5 and MI6. The judge said he particularly wanted to see any emails relating to the men who are suing the government, and "any information showing actual knowledge on the part of any of the defendants of a serious risk of incommunicado or arbitrary detention, rendition, ill-treatment or torture of terrorist suspects by or at the behest of the United States authorities". Redacted The detainees' decision to fight on came as the High Court released the first documents covering what was going through the minds of British officials during Guantanamo Bay's opening in 2002 - and what happened next. The hundreds of pages of documents are heavily redacted with a censor's black pen. But what we can see indicates tensions in Whitehall, developments in the rules of engagement for intelligence officers overseas and the role of former Prime Minister Tony Blair's Downing Street. One series of documents suggests a row took place between Number 10 and Foreign Office consular staff over the future of one detainee, Martin Mubanga. His lawyers say he could have been brought back to the UK but the government denies wrongdoing. Emerging policy Guantanamo Bay received its first 20 al-Qaeda suspects on 11 January 2002. In London, officials were locked in debate over what to do with about a dozen men, who were thought to be British, being held by the US in Afghanistan. Each was suspected of being a dangerous extremist - and the UK did not want them back. A partially censored Foreign Office document dated 10 January 2002 reveals the developing thinking. At this time, there were no public pictures of the detention camp - and no indication of what conditions would be like. "Transfer of UK nationals held by US forces in Afghanistan to the US base in Guantanamo is the best way to meet our counter-terrorism objectives by ensuring that they are securely held," it reads. "Our line [for the media] - that we are seeking information and reassurances and that the US is aware of our opposition to the death penalty - is not strong, but a stronger line is difficult until policy is clearer." A telegram in the name of Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was sent to diplomats including Sir Christopher Meyer, the ambassador to Washington. It approved allowing the US to take British detainees to the US naval base - providing MI5 had finished interviewing the men in Afghanistan. "No objection to American plans to transfer UK detainees… we hope that UK national will not be included in the first group of transfers," it said. "We should also insist on consular access and full information on future handling. The UK approach on the repatriation and prosecution of UK nationals is still being considered." Men transferred Within weeks, British nationals were arriving in Guantanamo Bay but there had still been no decision on repatriation. Washington wanted to know what would happen to the suspects if handed back to the UK. But officials in London knew the men could not be prosecuted unless there was evidence against them. Home Secretary David Blunkett was reported to be concerned about prosecuting suspects who could turn out to be "young and ill-informed individuals" who may have been manipulated into travelling to Afghanistan. A minute from a 26 February 2002 inter-departmental meeting reveals the anxieties. "The meeting agreed that UK should not be in any hurry to take back the detainees though the FCO was quiet on that point," it says. "If the difficulties we face steers the Americans to make more use of military tribunals, FCO will have some obvious problems of public presentation… but these are likely to be preferable to those associated with the detainees being released in the UK." Requests for return Nine British citizens ended up at Guantanamo Bay, alongside five other men who had been UK residents. But the first formal request for the release of any of them was not made until 8 January 2004, the papers say. Policy and guidance was also shifting behind the scenes. The detainees involved in the legal action claim the security and intelligence services knew they faced mistreatment or torture but did nothing to stop it. This second prong of the action is also denied by the government and it will be the focal point of the judge-led inquiry launched by Prime Minister David Cameron last week. In early 2002, officers from the agencies told London that some prisoners were being mistreated. They asked for legal advice. They were told: "Given that they are not within our custody or control, the law does not require you to intervene to prevent this." But the guidance developed in the years that followed. One MI6 document, released to the courts this week, called Detainees and Detention Operations, demonstrates how complicated the rules became as lawyers explained the responsibilities that officers faced. The document, dated April 2005, covers in minute detail what officers should consider before joining a detention operation run by a foreign power - the kind of situation that officers may have found themselves facing if working alongside the CIA in Afghanistan. Most of the warnings are nuanced, reflecting the difficult work of intelligence and the need to gather life-saving information. Other questions officers are told to ask themselves are stark: "Is it clear that detention, rather than killing, is the objective of the operation?" reads one paragraph. It tells officers that "ministers may need to be consulted" if there is a real possibility that a suspect will be tortured. Later, MI6 produced a simplified flowchart, also released to the courts, telling officers how to uphold the law. The document looks at what officers should do if a foreign power ignores pleas from London to treat a detainee humanely. The guidance to the field officers, in that situation, remains redacted.

इस सप्ताह उच्च न्यायालय में जारी दस्तावेजों से पहली बार व्हाइटहॉल में पर्दे के पीछे की कुछ बहसों का पता चलता है कि क्या ब्रिटेन को ग्वांतानामो खाड़ी पर अमेरिका के साथ काम करना चाहिए-और ब्रिटिश नागरिकों को शिविर में ले जाने की अनुमति देने के लिए निर्णय कैसे लिया गया था।


Underground journey to find WW1 Somme tunnel digger's grave

Summary: Sapper William Arthur Lloyd was killed by a German mine while tunnelling below the Somme battlefield in 1915. Now his great granddaughter has retraced his steps to stand just feet from where he died - and where his body still lies.

By Trystan JonesBBC News The Somme, in northern France, was not only one of the bloodiest battles of World War One, but one of the bloodiest in history. More than 1.2 million men are believed to have been killed or injured during the main battle but below ground a group of soldiers, including Sapper Lloyd, fought their own private, hidden war. Sapper Lloyd's family, back home near Wrexham, knew little about what happened to him, other than he was killed by a German mine. His great granddaughter Lesley Woodbridge, of Telford, Shropshire, spent seven years investigating his death. On Sunday, with the help of a team of archaeologists studying the La Boisselle tunnels below the Somme, she descended 80ft (24m) and crawled along tunnels that in all likelihood her great grandfather had helped dig. "We've just made the very last journey that he ever made and now we're standing where he actually rests. That has to be emotional," she said. "I never even thought I would even find out what part of France he was in, so to be standing here, just a few metres away from him, is just incredible." 'Historical first' Ms Woodbridge, 59, said it marked the end of what at times felt like a futile search for her relative. But it is also a historical first, according to Peter Barton, who led the group studying the network of tunnels at La Boisselle. "This is hugely significant. I've just shivered thinking about it, because this is the first time ever that a relative has been able to visit these places," he said. "You can't do that for men on the surface, who are lost in battle, because you simply don't know where they are. "But of course in the tunnel wars it was so constrained and constricted and so well documented, we know exactly what happened, at what time and what the results were." Sapper Lloyd was a miner from New Broughton in north Wales, who joined the 179th Tunnelling Company in 1915. In October of that year he was sent to the Somme, only to die six weeks later in a German explosion far below No Man's Land. Aged 37, he left behind a wife and six children. 'An obsession' Ms Woodbridge said he had time to write one letter back home, although he was not allowed to explain what he was doing, nor where he was. In a section of it, he wrote: "Dear wife, children and mother, just two or three lines to let you know that I am quite well. "All I can tell you is I wish the war was over. It's a monstrous one. I am still thinking of home, the weather here is awful and cold. "Wishing you all a merry Christmas, but I shan't be home for it. From your husband William Arthur." Sapper Lloyd was not to see Christmas. The family received a letter confirming his death, but little else. Almost a century later, Ms Woodbridge said the search for her great grandfather had developed into an "obsession". "You can spend so much time looking, just trawling through information and finding nothing and getting really fed up with yourself and then suddenly you find something and it's just such a great feeling. "I just wish my grandmother and other members of the family were still around so they could see the results." One member who is still alive, but not able to make the trip herself, is Lesley's 88-year-old mother Thelma Roberts, who still lives in Wrexham. She broke down in tears as her daughter made her way along the tunnel and spoke to her on the phone. Ms Woodbridge's hunt began in 2005. Searching online she discovered that Sapper Lloyd was named on the Thiepval Memorial, among some 70,000 men lost at the Somme. However, her enquiries were proving fruitless until she got in contact with Simon Jones at the University of Birmingham. An expert on WW1 tunnelling, Mr Jones was also connected with the archaeological dig at La Boisselle. Mr Jones quickly confirmed that Sapper Lloyd was one of five men who died in a counter-tunnelling operation. 'Hidden battlefield' Members of what became the La Boisselle Study Group were invited, by the landowners, to investigate the site two years ago. "There was a little hole in the field and we slipped into the hole and it opened up into this labyrinth of tunnels," Mr Barton said. "We found that rather than being completely destroyed they were very well preserved." Today, the team can access almost four miles of tunnels, on four levels, beneath what is just a five acre site. Among those now accessible is W1 shaft, where, in a small gallery, Sapper Lloyd died. "It's a sobering experience, because they're not just tunnels, but a hidden battlefield," Mr Barton said. "We have a perception of a World War One battlefield, but this is an underground, private, clandestine war and William Arthur was a part of it." Using documents from the British, French and German archives, the study group was able to piece together what happened. In one German report on 23 December 1915, a deputy company commander wrote that a microphone first detected British miners working nearby on 18 December. A 750kg explosive charge was detonated immediately, presumably killing one group of miners. The company then started to prepare a 12,000kg charge. Oberleutnant Sihler wrote: "After six and a half hours' work, the charge had been laid in the mine chamber, and by 12:30 tamping and timbering had been completed and the mine was ready to be fired." It was detonated at 16:00, killing Sapper Lloyd and his fellow miners. Despite its depth, it created a crater 40m wide on the surface. The war underground has gone largely unrecognised, while history has focused on men pouring over the tops of trenches into a hail of bullets and artillery shell explosions. The La Boisselle Study Group hopes to remedy that, although there are no plans to open up the gallery that is now a grave for Sapper Lloyd and his four colleagues. For Ms Woodbridge, the group has given her a unique insight into her great grandfather's brief war and death almost 100 years ago. Down in the tunnels she left behind an urn containing soil from the colliery where her great grandfather first worked - "a little bit of home for him". "This is the end of the journey for me. There's nowhere else I can go is there?" she added. "I can't get any closer to him."

सैपर विलियम आर्थर लॉयड 1915 में सोम्मे युद्ध के मैदान के नीचे सुरंग बनाने के दौरान एक जर्मन खदान से मारे गए थे। अब उनकी परपोती ने अपने कदम पीछे खींच लिए हैं ताकि वह वहाँ से कुछ ही फीट की दूरी पर खड़े हो सकें जहाँ उनकी मृत्यु हुई थी-और जहाँ उनका शरीर अभी भी पड़ा हुआ है।


Nigerian ship stowaways found at Milford Haven detained

Summary: Four men who secretly boarded a ship from Nigeria to Wales have been detained by immigration officials.

The Nigerian nationals, aged between 18 and 25, were discovered on board the ship at Milford Haven on 26 October after the captain raised the alarm. The men, who had sailed from Lagos, were detained and interviewed by Border Force officers. The Home Office is investigating whether they have a right to remain in the UK.

नाइजीरिया से वेल्स जाने वाले जहाज पर गुप्त रूप से सवार होने वाले चार लोगों को आव्रजन अधिकारियों ने हिरासत में ले लिया है।