Comey, Cohen and Stormy: What a whirlwind week means for Trump

Summary: Whoever is writing the script for the political drama that Americans are currently living through needs to take it down a notch. The number of threads to the story is getting out of hand, and it's becoming difficult for even dedicated Washington-watchers, pundits and journalists to keep up.

Anthony ZurcherNorth America reporter@awzurcheron Twitter This week alone has seen multiple developments in the swirling morass of controversy that has engulfed the Trump administration and those who have been or are investigating it. Here's a quick review of the (exhausting) week that was. Fallout from the Cohen raid Just under two weeks ago, federal investigators raided the office and hotel room of Michael Cohen, Mr Trump's long-time personal attorney, business associate and all-around fixer of uncomfortable problems. It represented a new legal front in the investigations into the president - including possible Cohen-orchestrated payments to women alleging affairs with Mr Trump - conducted by the US attorney's office in Manhattan, not special counsel Robert Mueller. This week the legal battle centred around who gets to review the results of that search and determine what is covered by the protected communications lawyers can have with their clients. Mr Cohen - joined by the president's legal team - argued that they should have first crack. The judge all but laughed them out of court. The US attorneys want a special government team not directly connected to the case to do the review. The judge also entertained the possibility of appointing an independent third party to go over the documents and audio recordings. There's more than a little concern in the White House (anonymously, on background, of course) that the search could expose misdeeds on Mr Cohen's part, perhaps involving personal or campaign finance violations, and he may feel pressure to co-operate with investigators, possibly jeopardising the president. The search may also have led to the end of two lawsuits this week that could have generated big headlines if they had been allowed to proceed. Mr Cohen dropped his defamation suit against news outlets that published the so-called Steele Dossier, which suggested that he had unsavoury ties to Russia. He had said the dossier damaged his professional and personal reputation. Now he's saying he has bigger legal fish to fry. Then there's former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who alleges she had an affair with Mr Trump in 2005. She just settled her lawsuit to free herself from an exclusive agreement - brokered in part by Mr Cohen - to share her story with the National Enquirer. It was a tale the tabloid magazine with ties to Trump never chose to publish. In both cases, material from the Cohen search could have proven relevant. It was out there for the taking, and now both cases have been put to bed. Maybe it's all a coincidence. Maybe it isn't. "Maybe" is the sort of thing that keeps lawyers - and politicians - up at night. The Comey media blitz debuts This was supposed to be Comey Week, remember? It started off with a bang, as former FBI Director James Comey took to the airwaves to accuse the president of being morally unfit for office and share new details of his sometimes awkward interactions with Mr Trump before the president sacked him. The interview certainly rankled the president's supporters and probably, when Mr Comey defended his handling of the Hillary Clinton email server investigation, reminded Democrats why they weren't his biggest fans in 2016, either. After the fifth or sixth interview, the accusations lost a bit of their punch. Was that Mr Comey being interviewed by comedian Stephen Colbert? Did he really appear with Whoopi Goldberg et al on the daytime talk show The View? Then, on Thursday evening, the Justice Department provided Congress with the memos Mr Comey wrote shortly after those key meetings and, within minutes, they ended up in reporters' hands. The documents were consistent with Mr Comey's recent comments and testimony before Congress last June. They paint a picture of a president who wanted loyalty from his FBI director in general and to ease off the government investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn in particular. Mr Trump's critics see the memos as damning corroborating evidence of the ex-director's accounts. The White House and congressional Republicans argue that they're proof Mr Comey was out to get the president from the start. The battle lines were drawn a long time ago, and no one seemed interested in coming out of their trenches this week. McCabe (and Democrats) in the barrel One new bit of information the Comey memos revealed is just how suspicious the president was of FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe from the very beginning. Mr Trump had blasted Mr McCabe on the campaign trail, accusing him of pro-Clinton bias in his handling of the email server investigation because his wife had taken campaign contributions from a Clinton ally during her run as a 2015 Democratic candidate for state office. Last week a Justice Department inspector general report put the former deputy director in a tough spot, finding that he misled federal investigators under oath about his efforts to leak information to essentially protect his reputation. Mr Trump has cited this as vindication, although Mr McCabe's actions ended up being damaging to the Clinton campaign by revealing an ongoing federal investigation into her family's charitable foundation. This week we learned the inspector general referred Mr McCabe's file to a federal prosecutor who could bring criminal charges. That would probably put Mr Comey in the position of testifying against a former deputy he has vouched for in the past. Meanwhile, 11 House Republicans wrote a letter urging Attorney General Jeff Sessions to consider a criminal investigation of Mr McCabe, Mr Comey, Hillary Clinton, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and FBI employees Peter Strzok and Lisa Page for various actions during the 2016 presidential campaign. "Because we believe that those in positions of high authority should be treated the same as every other American, we want to be sure that the potential violations of law … are vetted appropriately," they wrote. Mr Trump has repeatedly groused that he is being unfairly targeted by investigators, when it's his political opponents who should feel the heat. Past presidents may have felt this way, but Mr Trump is one of the few to say (and tweet) it publicly, time and time again. Trump's legal team OK. Take a deep breath. We're not done yet. This week also saw re-enforcements arrive for Mr Trump's short-handed private legal defence team - and one of the new arrivals is a very familiar face. Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York City and a vocal Trump campaign supporter who was sidelined when the Trump administration was formed, is being brought on board - at least for a short time - to help "negotiate an end" to the investigation. Mr Giuliani was once, a long time ago, the US attorney for the Southern District of New York - the jurisdiction that is handling the Cohen case - so he has some familiarity with how the government prosecutorial machinery operates. He also in the last days of the election was vocal about the various government investigation into Mrs Clinton and appeared to have advanced information on the newly discovered emails that led to Mr Comey's election-eve letter to Congress re-opening the investigation. Mr Comey said in an interview Thursday night that he had ordered an inquiry into possible FBI leaks to Mr Giuliani, but he was fired before it concluded. This whole thing sometimes feels like a snake eating its own tail. The other addition to the president's legal squad is a husband-and-wife team of former federal prosecutors from Florida who specialise in defending clients accused of white-collar crime. Multiple higher-profile law firms, and lawyers, had reportedly declined offers in recent weeks. The website for the firm Raskin & (before, it seems, it crashed, perhaps due to massive amounts of traffic) quotes a reviewer who says "they are a good team to get you out of trouble." Sounds like just what Trump and his team needs. The case for Trump Meanwhile, amid all the sturm und drang of various Trump-related controversies and investigations, Texas Senator Ted Cruz - in a glowing Time Magazine tribute to the president published this week - concisely sums up why none of it may matter. "The same cultural safe spaces that blinkered coastal elites to candidate Trump's popularity have rendered them blind to President Trump's achievements on behalf of ordinary Americans," writes the 2016 presidential candidate who was bested by Mr Trump and once called him a "pathological liar" and a bully. "While pundits obsessed over tweets, he worked with Congress to cut taxes for struggling families. While wealthy celebrities announced that they would flee the country, he fought to bring back jobs and industries to our shores. While talking heads predicted Armageddon, President Trump's strong stand against North Korea put Kim Jong Un back on his heels." Trump was elected to "disrupt the status quo," Mr Cruz contends, which is exactly what he's doing. The chaos and the controversy, the gnashing of teeth by establishment lifers typified by people like Mr Comey, are "not a bug but a feature". That's the Trump re-election pitch in a nutshell. For struggling Americans, Washington chaos isn't a pit; it's a ladder. Mr Trump and his team have two-and-a-half years to sell that to the US public.

जो कोई भी उस राजनीतिक नाटक की पटकथा लिख रहा है जिससे अमेरिकी वर्तमान में गुजर रहे हैं, उसे एक पायदान नीचे ले जाने की आवश्यकता है। कहानी के धागे की संख्या हाथ से निकल रही है, और वाशिंगटन के समर्पित दर्शकों, पंडितों और पत्रकारों के लिए भी इसे बनाए रखना मुश्किल होता जा रहा है।


Union Square visitors in Aberdeen rise by 22%

Summary: Visitor numbers at Aberdeen's Union Square retail development have risen by more than a fifth, its bosses have said.

Union Square - which hosts shops, restaurants and a cinema - opened in October 2009 at a cost of £275m. Management said visitor numbers had increased 22% for the year to 1 July compared with the same period in 2010. General manager Ryan Manson said Union Square was now Aberdeen's "premier shopping and leisure destination". He said: "It highlights Union Square's popularity even in the face of a very tough economic climate."

एबरडीन के यूनियन स्क्वायर खुदरा विकास में आगंतुकों की संख्या में पांचवें से अधिक की वृद्धि हुई है, इसके मालिकों ने कहा है।


Bosnian war: Ratko Mladic appeals against genocide conviction

Summary: Ex-Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic has begun appealing against his conviction for genocide and crimes against humanity, in a court hearing where three of the judges are taking part via video link.

The two-day hearing has already been delayed by Mladic's health issues and the coronavirus pandemic. Mladic was jailed for life in 2017. He led forces during the massacre of Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks) during the 1990s Bosnian war. Mladic, 78, appeared in court on Tuesday, initially wearing a surgical mask before removing it. He will address the court in The Hague for 10 minutes on Wednesday. As Tuesday's session began, his lawyers told the UN court that the proceedings should not go ahead until a medical team had reviewed his capacity to take part. They argued he was wrongly convicted of "unscheduled incidents" made as accusations during his trial. Originally convicted on 10 counts, prosecutors say he should also be found guilty of genocide against Bosniaks and Croats in 1992. The trial appeared to be affected by technical issues. Presiding Judge Prisca Matimba Nyambe, who was among the judges following proceedings by video link, said at one point she was unable to decipher the defence lawyer's words and would have to rely on transcripts. At one point defence lawyer Dragan Ivetic complained he could not communicate with his client "or be assured that he is able to meaningfully follow proceedings". Mladic appeal overshadowed by Covid restrictions Perspex screens separate the staff, most of the judges are taking part remotely via video link, security officers are wearing transparent visors and Ratko Mladic started the session in a pale blue disposable face-mask. These hearings represent Mladic's last chance to secure his freedom. If he loses his appeal, he will spend the rest of his life locked up. Problems with the video conferencing connection - which at one point had the presiding judge mutter "this is nonsense" into the microphone - and translation audio will feed into the defence's claim that conducting these critical hearings inhibited by Covid-19 restrictions risks jeopardising Mladic's right to a fair trial. Survivors have their hopes pinned on the prosecution's appeal, which contends that the original verdict didn't go far enough in recognising the true extent of his genocidal intent beyond Srebrenica, in other Bosnian municipalities, where his forces were accused of "ethnically cleansing" Bosnian Muslims in their quest to create a "greater Serbian republic". Mladic's son, Darko Mladic, told the AFP news agency that his father "hasn't been able to prepare" for the appeal hearing due to his health issues. "He doesn't have the energy needed for work of this kind and there are questions about how well his memory is working," he said. A verdict is not expected until spring 2021. The so-called "Butcher of Bosnia" had earlier needed an operation to remove a benign polyp on his colon, and had a request for a delay on health grounds rejected ahead of the hearing. The Mothers of Srebrenica, a group of women related to victims of a massacre in the town in 1995, said the tribunal "must not lose motivation, and must carry out its mission". "We hope Mladic will be found guilty for genocide in other towns as well," Munira Subasic, the organisation's president, told AFP. What was Mladic convicted of? Mladic was the military commander of Bosnian Serb forces against Bosnian Croat and Bosniak armies. He went on trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in 2012, and was convicted in 2017. The court found that he "significantly contributed" to the genocide in Srebrenica in 1995, where more than 7,000 Bosniak men and boys were murdered, the worst atrocity in Europe since World War Two. The other charges included war crimes and crimes against humanity. He was cleared of a second count of genocide in other municipalities. The court will hear an appeal by prosecutors against this acquittal this week. At the end of the war in 1995 Mladic went into hiding and lived in obscurity in Serbia, protected by family and elements of the security forces. He was finally tracked down and arrested at a cousin's house in rural northern Serbia in 2011 after 16 years on the run.

पूर्व बोस्नियाई सर्ब कमांडर रात्को म्लादिच ने एक अदालत की सुनवाई में नरसंहार और मानवता के खिलाफ अपराधों के लिए अपनी सजा के खिलाफ अपील करना शुरू कर दिया है, जहां तीन न्यायाधीश वीडियो लिंक के माध्यम से भाग ले रहे हैं।


Publishing's digital switchover

Summary: Take two industries trying to adapt to the digital era, music and publishing. One is packed with bright young ruthlessly ambitious people who have to be aware of the latest trends - the other is, well, publishing. So which is coping better? Publishing, believe it or not.

Rory Cellan-JonesTechnology correspondent@BBCRoryCJon Twitter The latest figures from the Publishers Association make surprisingly positive reading for anyone in the book trade. For some years, readers of specialist, technical and academic titles have been going digital - now the general reader is embracing e-books. Spending on digital fiction books rose from £23m in the first six months of 2011 to £64m in the same period this year. In total, digital sales now account for more than £1 in every £8 we spend on books. But what will cause the publishing industry to raise a glass of dry sherry is that the figure for physical book sales is down just 0.4% - and overall physical and digital sales are up 6%. It seems that the move to digital is not eroding the overall value of publishing as it has in the music industry where, as the saying goes, analogue dollars are being replaced by digital cents. "It looks like unalloyed good news", Richard Mollet, the chief executive of the Publishers Association, told me. It seems that all those people reading Kindles or other e-readers on the way to work are actually consuming more books than they did before. Of course, the big contrast with the music industry is the extent of online piracy, which has yet to make much of an impact on publishing. "We do send thousands of copyright infringement notices to Google every month," Mr Mollet told me, "but it's not on the scale of the music industry." The book trade did have the benefit of observing what happened to music long before its own digital transformation got underway. What's more, legal digital platforms like the Sony Reader and the Kindle were around before consumers had the chance to choose an alternative unlicensed "brand": "We didn't have a Limewire or a Napster to contend with," Richard Mollet says. Maybe pirated copies of digital books were never going to be as popular as their musical equivalents - or maybe times will get harder as the pirates work out how lucrative this market can be. And of course if you're a high street bookseller, squeezed for years by online giants like Amazon and now watching readers use your shops as showrooms before going home to download to their e-readers, it is hard to be cheerful. But for now, the fusty old publishers are looking rather more comfortable in the 21st Century than the hip young gunslingers of the music industry.

डिजिटल युग के अनुकूल होने की कोशिश कर रहे दो उद्योगों को लें, संगीत और प्रकाशन। एक उज्ज्वल युवा निर्दयी महत्वाकांक्षी लोगों से भरा हुआ है जिन्हें नवीनतम रुझानों के बारे में पता होना चाहिए-दूसरा है, ठीक है, प्रकाशन। तो कौन सा बेहतर मुकाबला कर रहा है? प्रकाशन, इस पर विश्वास करें या नहीं।


BBC reporters on Israel-Gaza violence

Summary: As violence continues in southern Israel and the Gaza Strip after Wednesday's killing by Israel of the Hamas military leader Ahmed Jabari, BBC correspondents around the region and in London have been analysing and bearing witness to the unfolding events.

Jeremy Bowen, Middle East Editor The danger of the kind of operation Israel has started is that rising casualties on both sides cause a violent escalation that neither side can control. If that happens it could cause a much bigger crisis across the Middle East. At the moment Israel seems to be calculating that it can damage Hamas without the all-out attacks - and the international condemnation - it faced during the winter war of 2008/2009 in Gaza. Hamas threatens terrible vengeance. But it's hugely outgunned by the Israeli military. As expected, Israel is being supported from the United States - despite the poor relationship between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Barack Obama. Even so, the White House will not want a long and bloody episode in and around Gaza, at a time when the entire Middle East is uncertain and unstable. The Americans used to turn to former President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt to push the Palestinians towards a ceasefire. They've lost an ally they - and the Israelis - used to trust above any other Arab leader. Egypt's current President Mohammad Mursi cannot ignore Egyptian rage at Israel's actions - nor would he want to. Hamas is an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, of which he is a leader. The Brotherhood is cautious. But its presence in power in Egypt will reassure the leaders of Hamas that they are not alone. Wyre Davies in Gaza The overwhelming mood in Gaza is sombre but vengeful. Sombre because few here want another war with Israel - another war in which civilians would undoubtedly suffer as much as the fighters. But there's anger too. The thousands of mainly young men who carried the body of Ahmed Jabari aloft through the streets of Gaza cried that his death, his assassination could not go unavenged. And therein lies Israel's problem. Every time it hits back at Hamas and the other militants who fire volleys of rockets from Gaza they seem to recruit more fighters and lay their hands on more rockets, smuggled in through the tunnels from Egypt. Israel has already threatened all Hamas operatives, junior and senior, to keep their heads down and stay off the streets. But such threats fall on deaf ears in this febrile atmosphere. The main Hamas leaders were conspicuously absent during the public funeral. But even as the body of Hamas's military commander was being put in the ground, hundreds of rockets were launched towards Israel - three Israelis killed and 15 Palestinians, half of them civilians. A familiar cycle continues. Yolande Knell in Kiryat Malachi Sirens continued to wail at regular intervals in southern Israeli towns like Kiryat Malachi, sending residents rushing for cover. Usually when rockets fired from Gaza are heading for a populated area we see interceptor missiles fired by Israel's Iron Dome batteries - there are loud booms overhead and vapour trails cross-cross the sky. But earlier one rocket did hit a building here. There is a gaping hole on the top floor of an old four-storey apartment building where two Israeli families were living. A resident, Yerumichael Simon, told me: "I live across the street and I used to live inside that building. We grew up together. It's very hard for me to think about what happened. At eight in the morning we heard the alarm and a big boom. When I went outside I saw the big hole."

बुधवार को हमास के सैन्य नेता अहमद जाबरी की इजरायल द्वारा हत्या के बाद दक्षिणी इजरायल और गाजा पट्टी में हिंसा जारी है, इस क्षेत्र और लंदन में बीबीसी संवाददाता इस घटना का विश्लेषण और गवाह बन रहे हैं।


Lost letter: 'I would love to know what she wrote'

Summary: When Katie Schneider was two years old she was put into foster care. Four years ago she found out her birth mother had written a letter for her to open when she was older. When she asked to see it, the council responsible could not find the letter or any record of her being in its care. Her mother died 17 years ago. Devon County Council apologised after Ms Schneider took her complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman . The 34-year-old has been speaking to BBC News.

By Johnny O'SheaBBC News "My mother was an alcoholic and a drug abuser. I was removed from her care when I was two. "She wrote me a letter which I only discovered about four years ago because my dad gave me all my court documents. In there it stated that my mum had written this letter to me. "I contacted Devon County Council and they really just sort of shrugged me off for quite a while. "I made several complaints saying I was not happy with how they were dealing with me. I felt like they just wanted me to go away. "In October last year we had a meeting and they told me not only could they not find the letter, they had also lost all of my records of even being in care. "There was no real explanation as to where they had gone. "They didn't even know where to look which I thought was astounding. But they assured me they turned every possibility upside down and it couldn't be found. "I would love to know what she wrote in that letter. "She could have written a load of twaddle, or she could have put something important in there for me to read. But I will never know. "I'm one of these people that thinks you either become a victim or you don't. "I'm not going to dwell on my history - it doesn't define me as a person. I've got two beautiful children, a good job, a nice home. "I think I'm one of the lucky ones but purely put that down to my dad. He is an amazing dad. Maybe if I had been left in the system my life wouldn't be how it is now. "It has taught me to appreciate things and don't judge people. "For years and years I was really angry with my mum. I hated her. "But then when my dad handed me those court papers and I read everything - I sobbed when I read it. Because actually she's had something terrible in her life for her to become the person that she was - some really awful things. "When I read it I realised I didn't hate her, I actually felt really sorry for her. "The letter could have said anything. She could have given me secret bank details for a million pounds or she could have written something from the heart, or apologised, or it could have been anything. "I can't change what happened and social services aren't going to find that letter. Hopefully they will do better in the future and someone else won't have to go through all of this again. "It is extremely sad but there is nothing I can do about it so there is no point on dwelling on it. "It's one of those things I just have to put my big girls pants on and carry on." The Children Act 1989 says that councils should keep records for at least 50 years. A Devon County Council spokesman said: "For young people and children in care it's both important for them, and in their best interests, to keep connections with their birth families. "In this case however, a link with her birth mother had been lost. We apologise unreservedly for that, and have reviewed our practice to ensure that mistakes like this are not repeated in future." Follow BBC News South West on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to spotlight@bbc.co.uk. Related Internet Links Local Government Ombudsman

जब केटी श्नाइडर दो साल की थी तो उसे पालक देखभाल में रखा गया था। चार साल पहले उसे पता चला कि उसकी जन्म देने वाली माँ ने उसे खोलने के लिए एक पत्र लिखा था जब वह बड़ी थी। जब उसने इसे देखने के लिए कहा, तो जिम्मेदार परिषद को पत्र या उसकी देखभाल में होने का कोई रिकॉर्ड नहीं मिला। उसकी माँ की 17 साल पहले मृत्यु हो गई। डेवोन काउंटी काउंसिल ने सुश्री श्नाइडर द्वारा स्थानीय सरकार के लोकपाल के पास अपनी शिकायत ले जाने के बाद माफी मांगी। 34 वर्षीय बीबीसी न्यूज से बात कर रही है।


JP Morgan settles for $5.1bn with US housing regulator

Summary: JP Morgan has reached a $5.1bn (£3.2bn) settlement with the US Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) over charges it misled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the housing boom.

A separate settlement with the US Justice Department is expected to be announced soon. "This is a significant step to address outstanding mortgage-related issues," the FHFA said in a statement. It is the biggest settlement ever by a US bank. In a statement JP Morgan said the settlement resolves the biggest case against the firm relating to mortgage-backed securities. The bank added that the agreement relates to "approximately $33.8 billion of securities purchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from JP Morgan, Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual" from 2005 - 2007. JP Morgan purchased Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual at the height of the financial crisis of 2008-2009, and has tried to argue that it should not be punished for mistakes made before those deals. As part of the agreement with the FHFA, the bank will pay $4bn to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to settle claims that it violated US securities law. It will pay the agencies an additional $1.1bn for misrepresenting the quality of single-family mortgages. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are the biggest mortgage lenders in the US. They received $187bn in US taxpayer aid to help them stay afloat during the financial collapse. They have since repaid $146bn of the loan. 'Broader resolution' JP Morgan has been under investigation for several months by US regulators. The bank said that it hoped the settlement would be part of a "broader resolution" of the firm's housing bubble woes - a nod to an expected settlement with the US Justice Department that is also likely to run to several billions of dollars. The firm reported a rare loss last quarter, having set aside an additional $9bn to help it deal with its mounting legal troubles. JP Morgan has set aside a total of $23bn to help the bank work through its many investigations by regulators in the US and abroad. Last month, the bank agreed to pay more than $1bn to help it end various investigations into its 2012 "London whale" trading debacle, which cost the bank more than $6bn and raised questions about its oversight procedures.

जेपी मॉर्गन ने अमेरिकी फेडरल हाउसिंग फाइनेंस एजेंसी (एफ. एच. एफ. ए.) के साथ आवास उछाल के दौरान बंधक दिग्गजों फैनी माई और फ़्रेडी मैक को गुमराह करने के आरोपों पर $5.1bn (£ 3.2bn) का समझौता किया है।


Motherwell water supply warning as fire tackled

Summary: Efforts to tackle a shop fire in Motherwell have resulted in water supply problems in the area.

Scottish Water said the incident at Merry Street has resulted in an "interruption" to the supply to customers in the area. It said the volume of water being drawn from the network by the fire service was the cause. Customers were warned of possible low pressure, intermittent supplies, or discoloured water from their taps. Local MSP Richard Lyle visited the scene of the fire, at a convenience store, and posted on social media that he was happy to help anyone in the area affected.

मदरवेल में एक दुकान में लगी आग से निपटने के प्रयासों के परिणामस्वरूप क्षेत्र में पानी की आपूर्ति की समस्या पैदा हो गई है।


Coronavirus: Why reopening French schools is a social emergency

Summary: It's obvious that a lack of schooling has increased inequalities, says France's Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer. "Social emergency" is the term he uses to describe the need to unlock the country's schools.

By Lucy WilliamsonBBC Paris correspondent France started reopening its education system after lockdown with primary schools, because it was even more important for young people than for older pupils, he explained. In the UK, there has been strong opposition to the government's plans to reopen schools in England on 1 June. Some scientists, councils and teachers' unions say it's too soon to welcome pupils back safely. In France, 40,000 primary schools have reopened since lockdown was lifted on 11 May along with some middle schools. So far, around one in five primary school pupils has returned to class. Mr Blanquer admitted that the children who had returned were often those from wealthier families. "It's true that the children of poor families are coming less than the others," he said. "That's why it was important to start in May, not in June, because we know that it's [a] step-by-step [process] with poor families. It takes time to persuade people." Why is there a social divide? Fathia Sissani lives in Seine-Saint-Denis, a poor suburb of Paris that last month recorded the highest rate of coronavirus deaths anywhere in France. She is a single parent to three children, two girls and a boy, aged between 11 and 14. She gave up work to look after her middle child, who is disabled. Her youngest, Riya, has dropped out of school because it was too hard for him to follow the courses online at home. "I'm a parent, not a teacher," says Fathia. "I grew up in Algeria so I studied in Arabic. I speak French well, but I don't understand lessons like maths or grammar." Her internet connection has also been a problem. "I had to change provider because I didn't have a good signal," she explained. "I was having difficulty connecting to the school. Everyone is online. We tried for a bit, but I'd had enough of it." Having everyone at home has been hard for Fathia. Her two daughters love school, but even though schools are reopening she isn't sending any of them back into class yet. "I was among the first parents who said 'no'. I can't allow myself to take this risk," she says. "At school, there are lots of pupils; you can't watch everyone or follow all of them, you can't let them out to play. So I'm against the idea." The town where school gates are staying shut It's not yet compulsory for parents to send their child back to school in France, and many parents say they're nervous about it. In Sens, a pretty market town 100km (62 miles) south of Paris, all the state primary schools have remained closed since lockdown was lifted because of three suspected cases of coronavirus reported by teachers. All have since tested negative. The town's mayor, Marie-Louise Fort, says her decision to shut all 19 schools was very popular. There's too much pressure on parents, she told me, because the government has asked each family to decide if their child should return to school. "The way it is now creates guilt for the parents," the mayor explains. "If they put their children in school and they get sick, they'll feel guilty; if they keep them at home and they fall behind, they'll feel guilty. When you govern, you have to take clear decisions." How the government is trying to get children to return When I asked the education minister whether it was unfair to pass so much responsibility on to parents, he said the reasoning behind this decision was exactly the opposite. Even before the closures, more than 90% of parents in Sens told the local education department that they wouldn't be sending their children back to school. And most of the parents we spoke to in the town said they were still planning to keep their children at home. "The best way to reassure parents that it's safe is other parents and other children," Mr Blanquer said. "The fact that the first 10 days have been a success is the best factor, because people see on TV that they're ok, they're happy to come back." The education ministry has issued 56 pages of detailed instructions to schools on how to keep their premises clean and their pupils safe, in the hope of building trust. There must be no more than 15 children in a class, no shared toys, and timed arrivals at school. Children over the age of 11 also need to wear masks.

फ्रांस के शिक्षा मंत्री जीन-मिशेल ब्लैंकर कहते हैं कि यह स्पष्ट है कि स्कूली शिक्षा की कमी ने असमानताओं को बढ़ा दिया है। "सामाजिक आपातकाल" वह शब्द है जिसका उपयोग वे देश के स्कूलों को खोलने की आवश्यकता का वर्णन करने के लिए करते हैं।


Covid: Life on the frontline as part of an emergency ambulance crew

Summary: Francesca works as part of London Ambulance Service's emergency ambulance crew (EAC). The role means she often drives the ambulance and goes out on call outs with a paramedic - she is also able to provide some treatment herself. She tells the BBC what it is like working on the NHS frontline at the minute, with coronavirus cases rising steeply.

I've worked throughout the pandemic. Up until now it's felt manageable and I was optimistic the NHS could cope. But with the surge in cases this week, the gravity of the situation really hit home. The NHS already feels at breaking point. For the first time I'm not sure we will be able to treat everyone who needs it. Up until December I was typically seeing perhaps one or two Covid patients per 12-hour ambulance shift - the rest could be elderly fallers, people who have had fits, people experiencing mental health crisis, that kind of thing. This started changing as the new variant emerged and infections accelerated. In the last four days pretty much all my patients have been Covid patients, give or take a couple of exceptions. What's been striking is that we'll turn up to see one person and find that literally everyone else in the family is infected, too. That wasn't happening before. In this part of London there are many intergenerational Bangladeshi families living together, so that might be a family of eight or more all infected with the virus. It's affecting all types of communities, but some are being particularly hard hit. Often when we arrive the patients look terrified and are breathing so fast, they are gasping and simply unable to speak. Relatives tell me they wanted to call an ambulance earlier, but the patient was too scared of going to hospital. They tell us they know too many people from their communities who went into hospital with Covid and never came back. Sometimes people are in denial that they have the disease, even with the classic symptoms of breathing difficulties, a cough, and loss of taste or smell. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's a combination of fear or shame, or perhaps it's the influence of the conspiracy theorists telling people Covid doesn't exist. For elderly frail people with comorbidities like dementia, diabetes or advanced cancer, we know their chances of recovering are slimmer. It feels wrong in so many ways taking them away from their families; they may well die in hospital and never see them again. But unless a palliative care plan has been made for the patient to stay at home, which they have agreed to whilst they still have mental capacity, we don't have much option but to take them to hospital. Sometimes we've had 10 or more family members clambering onto the ambulance to say their goodbyes. Naturally, they want to kiss or hug their loved one. Yet there is a huge infection risk. My medical head says we need to go now; the patient is critically ill and I don't want them to decline further and go into respiratory arrest. But it feels desperately brutal telling their loved ones they must say goodbye. I have to turn off my emotions, concentrate on what needs to be done, and not look too much at the family's anguished faces as I shut the doors. This week I've treated several younger, fitter patients too, including a young white guy in his late 30s with children under five. He seemed shocked and panicked, telling me he's never ill, he runs regularly and cycles to work, but has felt simply wretched since coming down with Covid over Christmas. 'He feels like he's dying' As we did his checks, he became tearful telling me he feels like he's dying. In his case, his oxygen SATs (saturation level) are still within normal range, albeit on the lower end. He's not sick enough to warrant hospital and I know if we take him in it's simply putting extra strain on already-stretched resources and he'll be discharged. So we leave him home with advice on what to do if his condition worsens and reassurance that he can call us back any time. A woman we see later in the week is quietly stoical and initially seems not too poorly, or not "big sick" as we say in the trade. But after we check her SATs we find she has silent hypoxia, meaning her oxygen level is already dangerously low (around 70% - normal is 94-98%). It is "silent" because she is not experiencing the shortness of breath which might have alerted her or family sooner. She is 50, slim, leads an active life and does not fit the profile of those we might expect to become critically ill. We give her high-flow oxygen, grab a bag for her purse, phone and charger and she's being wheeled out of her home within 10 minutes. Even though her English is poor, we're unable to bring her daughter to translate because the hospitals can't cope with the extra people and the infection risk. En route, other than giving oxygen, stroking their hands and telling them we're here to look after them, there's little we can do to treat patients. The best place for them is hospital, where there are more options - including drugs like dexamethasone - and the medical teams are now experts having dealt with hundreds, if not thousands, of patients. We take patients to hospitals across east and north London. For the last couple of weeks all these hospitals have been breaching, day after day, meaning their emergency departments are effectively full and patients have to wait in ambulances or divert to the next nearest hospital. We get messages telling us which hospitals to avoid. Sometimes it feels like dominoes with one hospital falling after another and I'm wondering if we'll be sent out of London soon. The longest wait I've had to hand over a patient at hospital is three hours, but there have been longer. Not only is this distressing for our patients on board, but it's also tying up our ambulances for hours at a time. This obviously leads to delays in our response times. We are also seriously understaffed with so many of our own people off sick or isolating. We have the fire brigade helping us already, as well as St John Ambulance volunteers, and I hear the police will be joining us, too, soon. Even resuscitation patients, who are the sickest, have to sometimes wait on ambulances, as staff scramble to free up beds. I've never seen this happen before. 'Cracks have been showing' In these cases, we update the staff regularly on the patient's condition and if they show signs of deterioration, they will find them a place. Hospitals are adapting constantly, introducing new systems, repurposing wards and spaces into Covid wards, building isolation pods and bringing in staff from other areas of the hospitals to help. With the less seriously ill patients, we are being encouraged to call ahead and discuss them with consultants who can sometimes offer alternatives to them being admitted - such as being assessed by an initial video call, having daily phone calls, and with home monitoring kits that include SATs monitors. I'm amazed at how upbeat and professional the hospital staff are, although this week the cracks have been showing with nurses and consultants looking worn out and stressed, and occasionally snapping at us. Mainly though we're all pulling together and despite the stresses and relentlessness of this pandemic, I'm glad I'm here helping, at the eye of the storm as it were. I feel privileged to be doing something useful during this time. Francesca's name and some patients' details have been changed or removed to protect their anonymity. This article refers to Francesca's shifts last week.

फ्रांसेस्का लंदन एम्बुलेंस सेवा के आपातकालीन एम्बुलेंस चालक दल (ई. ए. सी.) के हिस्से के रूप में काम करती है। भूमिका का मतलब है कि वह अक्सर एम्बुलेंस चलाती है और एक पैरामेडिक के साथ कॉल आउट पर जाती है-वह खुद भी कुछ इलाज प्रदान करने में सक्षम है। वह बी. बी. सी. को बताती है कि इस समय एन. एच. एस. अग्रिम पंक्ति पर काम करना कैसा लगता है, जिसमें कोरोनावायरस के मामले तेजी से बढ़ रहे हैं।


Fishermen rescued from Maughold fishing boat fire

Summary: Two Isle of Man fishermen have been rescued after a fire broke out on their boat.

The small fire started in the trawler's engine off the coast of Maughold shortly before 07:00 GMT and a lifeboat was launched from Ramsey. An RNLI spokesman said the fire was put out at sea and the two crew were not injured. The trawler's engine was not restarted and it was towed to Douglas as low tides hampered the return to Ramsey.

आइल ऑफ मैन के दो मछुआरों की नाव में आग लगने के बाद उन्हें बचा लिया गया है।


Ex-fire chief on fraud charge over Land Rover sale

Summary: A former Gloucestershire chief fire officer has been charged with fraud in connection with the sale of a Land Rover belonging to the fire service.

Stewart Edgar, 52, stepped down from his role after he was accused of buying a Land Rover Discovery worth up to £8,000 for £500 after the service put it up for auction. Mr Edgar is due to appear at Cheltenham Magistrates' Court on 10 March. Gloucestershire Police investigated the sale of the vehicle in April 2018.

ग्लूस्टरशायर के एक पूर्व मुख्य अग्निशमन अधिकारी पर अग्निशमन सेवा से संबंधित लैंड रोवर की बिक्री के संबंध में धोखाधड़ी का आरोप लगाया गया है।


Regatta at new Riverside museum in Glasgow

Summary: The £74m Riverside Museum in Glasgow has provided the backdrop for a regatta event, featuring events such as wakeboarding and rowing.

The Clyde Waterfront Riverside Regatta was scheduled to end at 1800 BST. Visiting tall ship, Glaciere of Liverpool, also sailed in, offering visitors the chance to go on board. The Riverside Museum, Scotland's Museum of Transport and Travel, opened last month. It houses more than 3,000 exhibits including trains, cars, motorbikes, buses and trams and has more than 150 interactive displays. The ground floor of the museum, in Pointhouse Place, also includes a recreation of a city street during the 1900s.

ग्लासगो में 74 मिलियन पाउंड के रिवरसाइड संग्रहालय ने एक रेगाटा कार्यक्रम के लिए पृष्ठभूमि प्रदान की है, जिसमें वेकबोर्डिंग और नौकायन जैसे कार्यक्रम शामिल हैं।


Is India's politics becoming less dynastic?

Soutik BiswasDelhi correspondent Serving up some revealing data on the stranglehold of family and lineage on Indian politics, historian Patrick French wrote in his 2011 book India: A Portrait that if the trend continued, India could slide back to the days when it was ruled by a "hereditary monarch and assorted Indian princelings". He also expressed concern that the next Lok Sabha - the lower house of parliament to which 543 MPs are directly elected - would be a "house of dynasts". New research by political scientist Kanchan Chandra of New York University actually points to a fall in the number of dynastic MPs in the new parliament, formed after May's general election. Professor Chandra found that 21% of the MPs in the new parliament have a dynastic background, down from 29% in the last parliament. (A survey by The Hindu newspaper, however, found a quarter of MPs - 130 - in the current parliament have a dynastic background.) Also, 24% of India's new cabinet, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is dynastic in nature, down from 36% in the previous Congress-led government. The fall in numbers of dynastic MPs in the parliament may have something to do with the massive victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is considered to be less dynastic than the Congress party it replaced in government. (The BJP alone has 282 of the 336 MPs in the ruling coalition.) "For me the decline in numbers of dynastic MPs is significant," Baijayant Jay Panda, a prominent MP from the regional Biju Janata Dal (BJD) party, told me. "I think we will see a further fall in numbers in future parliaments." Professor Chandra is not so sure. Favourable to dynasty She says most parties, including the ruling BJP, are favourable to dynastic politicians: 15% of the BJP's MPs and 26% of its cabinet are dynastic, and a number of its chief ministers have had their family members follow them in political positions. Of the 36 political parties that have now at least one seat in the parliament, the leaders of at least 13 (36%) were preceded by family members who were MPs. Also, as Professor Chandra says, the rise of "young, aspirational voters does not quite represent a deterrent to dynastic politics". This appears to be borne out somewhat by a survey of young voters by the Delhi-based Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) in 2011 that found that although the majority of young voters - 18-30 years of age - opposed dynastic politics in general, they preferred voting for a dynastic candidate when a dynasty was associated with youth. More interestingly, another study by Milan Vaishnav, Devesh Kapur and Neelanjan Sircar earlier this year found that 46% of Indians had no problems supporting dynastic politicians. "What we found was kind of shocking," said Mr Vaishnav. "Nearly one in two Indians say, if I had a choice, I would prefer to vote for a candidate who has a family background." Regional dynasts Also, India's Nehru-Gandhi family which leads the Congress is no longer the only dynastic party. The fragmentation of Indian politics has led to a sharp rise in parties led by regional dynasts - at least 15 of them remain politically significant despite many having fared badly in the recent elections. No wonder, as Professor Chandra points out, dynastic politics is alive and well in the states: 28% of the state governments are led by a dynastic chief minister. To be sure, politics is not the only sphere where India tolerates dynasties - they dominate businesses, Bollywood and many other spheres of life. In politics, dynasties offer readymade kinship networks that substitute for party organisations. Dynastic politics, Professor Chandra argues, is also linked to "increasing returns from state power" - public officials continue to yield enormous discretion in the exercise of power and patronage from what remains a large and powerful state. But things, Mr Panda insists, are changing. He believes that more first-generation politicians with no dynastic links are coming up than ever before and predicts that regional dynasties will splinter further and wither away. Most importantly, he says, social media is making it easier for politicians to organise networks without depending on families. "When you are a dynastic politician you easily inherit the network that helps you win election. But the advent of the social media shows that this advantage is breaking down and politics is becoming a more level playing field," Mr Panda says. For evidence, he points out the way the anti-corruption Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) used social media successfully in Delhi's state elections last year to mobilise supporters. "I am not saying," Mr Panda cautions, "that dynasties will vanish overnight. "But as more and more young Indians get connected to the world, there will be a breaking down of established modes of feudalism. That includes dynastic politics."

क्या भारत की राजनीति कम वंशवादी होती जा रही है?


Nigeria elections: Mapping a nation divided

Summary: Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil producer and most populous country - but poverty is widespread and the country is in the grip of a violent uprising by Islamists Boko Haram. The BBC maps the country's divisions ahead of its postponed elections.

President Goodluck Jonathan came to power with the People's Democratic Party (PDP) in 2011 after winning 59.6% of the vote - with most support in the mainly Christian and animist south - while former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari had most backing in the largely Muslim north. It was the first time a vote had split the country along these lines. Defections by state governors have since changed the country's political map. Nigeria's 160 million population is also divided among numerous ethno-linguistic groups. The Hausa-Fulani people, based in the north are mostly Muslims. The Yorubas of the south-west are split between Muslims and Christians and the Igbos of the south-east and neighbouring groups are mostly Christian or animist. Most Boko Haram fighters are ethnic Kanuris. Oil and gas accounts for 35% of Nigeria's GDP - and pays for 70% of government spending. Petrol products account for 90% of the country's export earnings. But the recent fall in oil prices has forced the government to revise its budget, and cut growth forecasts. For the first time since 1999, Nigeria's government revenue is shrinking and the value of the national currency, the naira, is falling. Poverty is still widespread in Nigeria, despite the country's recent boom years. According to the national bureau of statistics, almost two-thirds of the population lived in absolute poverty - ie without basic needs like food, safe drinking water and shelter - in 2009-10. The problem is worst in the north - Jigawa state has the highest poverty rate, of 88.5%, while in Sokoto it is 86%. The northern half of the country also has the lowest take-up of childhood vaccinations. In the north-western state of Sokoto, only 1.4% of children aged 12-23 months had received all their basic vaccinations, including BCG, measles, DPT and polio. According to the 2013 demographic and health survey, the country's nine most northerly states all have vaccination rates below 15%. Some northern groups have boycotted immunisation programmes in the past, saying they were a Western plot to make Muslim women infertile. However, more recently the country has been making good progress. The Global Eradication Initiative says that January 2015 marked six months since the last case of polio in the country. Literacy is seen as one of the keys to raising living standards for the next generation. Again the north/south divide is evident, with lower school attendance across northern Nigeria. The percentage of pupils aged 13-18 attending secondary school is only 12.3% of students in Yobe. Boko Haram has attacked schools teaching Nigeria's national curriculum, which the militants regard as too Western. In one of the worst attacks last year, more than 200 schoolgirls were abducted from a boarding school in Chibok in April. Boko Haram promotes a version of Islam which makes it "haram", or forbidden, for Muslims to take part in any political or social activity associated with Western society. A state of emergency was declared in May 2013 in the northern states where Boko Harma is strongest, Borno, Yobe and Adamawa. The Islamist group now controls much of Borno state and some other areas, where it will be impossible to hold the election. Analysts say the threat from Boko Haram will disappear only if Nigeria's government manages to reduce the region's chronic poverty and builds an education system which gains the support of local Muslims.

नाइजीरिया अफ्रीका का सबसे बड़ा तेल उत्पादक और सबसे अधिक आबादी वाला देश है-लेकिन गरीबी व्यापक है और देश इस्लामवादी बोको हराम के हिंसक विद्रोह की चपेट में है। बीबीसी अपने स्थगित चुनावों से पहले देश के विभाजन का नक्शा बनाता है।


Fox greenlights new Seth Macfarlane show Bordertown

Summary: The Fox TV network has given the go-ahead to a new 13-episode animation called Bordertown by Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, according to TV Guide .

The show centres on two families living in a small town along the US-Mexico border. One is headed by a border patrol agent, the other by an industrious Mexican immigrant. It is the first new animation from MacFarlane since Family Guy spinoff The Cleveland Show in 2009. The comedy writer, who scored a box office hit with the profane, surreal comedy Ted, also hosted this year's Oscars - to decidedly mixed reviews. Bordertown has been co-created by Family Guy executive producer Mark Hentemann, and is due to be aired in the US next year. In May this year, it was reported that The Cleveland Show was to be cancelled. MacFarlane's American Dad, now in its tenth season, is set to move from Fox to rival broadcaster TBS.

टीवी गाइड के अनुसार, फॉक्स टीवी नेटवर्क ने फैमिली गाइ के निर्माता सेठ मैकफार्लेन द्वारा बॉर्डरटाउन नामक एक नए 13-एपिसोड के एनीमेशन को मंजूरी दी है।


Man charged with murdering estranged wife Sophie Cavanagh

Summary: The estranged husband of a woman found dead in a south-east London flat has been charged with murder.

Sophie Cavanagh, 31, was found dead at a flat in Bromley on 20 May. Her death was initially treated as unexplained but a post-mortem examination found a provisional cause of death as compression of the neck. Martin Cavanagh, 35, appeared at Bromley Magistrates' Court earlier and he was remanded in custody for a hearing at the Old Bailey on Wednesday.

दक्षिण-पूर्वी लंदन के एक फ्लैट में मृत पाई गई एक महिला के अलग रह रहे पति पर हत्या का आरोप लगाया गया है।


Q&A: DR Congo's M23 rebels

Summary: The M23 rebels have brought havoc to eastern Democratic Republic of Congo since April 2012 but have now ended their insurgency after the government said they had been defeated.

At least 800,000 people have fled their homes and at one point, there were fears a new regional war could break out, with accusations that Rwanda and Uganda were backing the rebels - charges both countries denied. The advances by the Congolese army follow changes in the military structures and the intervention of a brigade of UN troops with a tough mandate. Understanding DR Congo

एम23 विद्रोहियों ने अप्रैल 2012 से पूर्वी कांगो लोकतांत्रिक गणराज्य में तबाही मचाई है, लेकिन सरकार के यह कहने के बाद कि वे हार गए हैं, अब उन्होंने अपना विद्रोह समाप्त कर दिया है।


Government can't govern: Opposition can't oppose

Summary: Can't move. Won't move. Be it a white rabbit or a pig in a poke, Boris Johnson's "final offer" to the EU negotiators in his keynote speech to the Conservative conference enabled his supporters to portray it as an attempt to end the Brexit stalemate.

Patrick BurnsPolitical editor, Midlands Reflecting on my interviews with each of our main Parliamentary party leaders over the past three weeks, it's no wonder our politics is in such a jam. Jo Swinson told me how the Liberal Democrats would unseat Conservative MPs in Remain-supporting places like Cheltenham where her party finished a strong second last time. Her message was that the "seismic change" in politics would enable a Liberal Democrat government to prevent or reverse Brexit without recourse to a further referendum. "Neither Liberal nor Democratic" was how Bromsgrove's Conservative MP, the Chancellor Sajid Javid, described that in his party conference speech. I have never known a Tory conference where the Lib Dems have been attacked so often. Brexit is redefining the battle lines in ways which show how far we have come since the Cameron-Clegg coalition. Jeremy Corbyn explained to me how he wanted a general election so that a Labour government could negotiate a new Brexit deal which would then be put to the country in another referendum offering "credible options" for Leave or Remain: in other words, he would offer electors the chance to vote against the very agreement negotiated by his own government, while he himself would remain "neutral". How easy would it be to sell neutrality into an electoral marketplace which seems to be polarising with every passing day? We used to talk about the middle ground, Middle England, being where elections were won and lost. This looks more like a land of extremes. In the last of my interviews, Boris Johnson was absolutely uncompromising. At the other end of the scale from Jo Swinson, the Prime Minister told me "we need to get Brexit done", with or without a deal, "to deliver the mandate of the people." That's the message he will be taking to Leave-supporting areas, currently held by Labour, in the Black Country and Stoke-on-Trent. One of the themes of Sajid Javid's warm-up act in Manchester was that the Conservatives were now the real party of working people, and therefore, of labour. Can't vote So when can we expect these slogans finally to be tested in those key marginals of ours? It's clear the opposition parties are split over who should lead a temporary government of national unity formed specifically to avoid no-deal. Jeremy Corbyn may indeed lead the principal Opposition party, but for ex-Labour MPs who have defected to the Liberal Democrats largely to escape him it would be too much to expect them to serve under him again. While ex-Conservative defectors are scarcely better-disposed to a Corbyn government than they were before. This amounts to one big reason that we do not expect a vote of no confidence either this week or next. But surely something has to give eventually. One thing the Opposition parties can agree on is that they want to trap Mr Johnson in office until after the next European Council meeting in two weeks' time: unable, they still believe, either to secure a deal or to avoid an extension, leaving him in no position to fight a convincing election campaign. Can't wait This is the theory that's been doing the rounds during conference season, which identifies the end of that EU Summit in two weeks' time as the moment when the Opposition will finally strike and table their long-awaited no-confidence motion. Should a general election be triggered, the likeliest date would then be Thursday 28th November. And the last time Britain went to the polls in the eleventh month? Can't remember Thursday 14th November 1935! That, incidentally, was the only time one Midlander was replaced by another in Number Ten. The Conservative MP for Birmingham Edgbaston, Neville Chamberlain MP took over from his party colleague Stanley Baldwin, the MP for Bewdley. It was a moment in this country's stormy past that's still talked about 84 years later. Much in the same way as I reckon our Brexit convulsions will still be keeping historians arguing for just as many years to come.

हिल नहीं सकता। हिल नहीं सकता। चाहे वह सफेद खरगोश हो या सुअर, बोरिस जॉनसन के कंजर्वेटिव सम्मेलन में अपने मुख्य भाषण में यूरोपीय संघ के वार्ताकारों को "अंतिम प्रस्ताव" ने अपने समर्थकों को इसे ब्रेक्सिट गतिरोध को समाप्त करने के प्रयास के रूप में चित्रित करने में सक्षम बनाया।


How a BBC show helped shape Africa

Summary: As BBC Focus on Africa marks its 60th anniversary, one of its former deputy editors, Ghanaian journalist Elizabeth Ohene, looks back at her time with the radio programme, how its journalism changed and how it helped shape the continent.

I joined Focus on Africa in September 1986. I left the programme in July 2000. The team I joined was a small group, dominated totally by Robin White, the editor, and the voice of the programme, Chris Bickerton. My introduction on air was a shock to the system; an obviously Ghanaian-accented English was not exactly what people were used to on Focus on Africa - not the BBC hierarchy and certainly not the listeners. Until then, the BBC voices sounded like the BBC, clipped, upper Middle-Class, posh, public-school educated English and the only African voices were of those involved in the stories who happened to be interviewed. There were protests about my voice and accent, but everybody kept their nerve and after a while, people with even stronger African accents were allowed on the programme. Only four countries could receive calls Our famous reporters around the continent, on whom Focus built such a strong reputation, were not broadcasting "in voice" in those days. Their reports came in written form by telex and were edited and read in the studio by Focus staff. Until the mid-1990s when the telephone systems became much improved, any listener of Focus on Africa must have thought Sola Odunfa, our legendary Nigerian reporter in Lagos, sounded like presenters Julian Marshall or Rick Wells, or Robin White, who would read his reports in the studio. When I started work with Focus in Bush House, where the BBC World Service was based for many years, there were only four countries in Africa that you could make telephone calls to directly from London. The first satellite phone call that came to the office came from a rebel group at the time waging a war against the Ethiopian government. I took the call and it was a crystal-clear line and of course, I was incredulous when the man on the line claimed to be calling from some place in northern Ethiopia, an area which is now Eritrea, and said there had been a major battle that they had won. It was a bright late morning in London and I suspected the man must have been in one of the red telephone booths outside Bush House at the junction of Kingsway and the Strand. I looked out of the window onto the street, fully expecting to see the man that I was sure was trying to stage a gigantic hoax on us. Rebels with phones Satellite phones were to come to play a big role in our lives later on with the most notorious being the calls from Charles Taylor, who launched a rebellion in Liberia in 1989. There were many anguished arguments in the Focus office about what to do with people who call up offering to tell us stories - and they were not all rebels fighting to overthrow governments. When Laurent-Désiré Kabila rang to say he had invaded Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo, and about to chase out its leader Mobutu Sese Seko, we almost didn't use the story, for fear of being accused of instigating rebellions. Focus on Africa at 60 Full coverage Focus on Africa had by this time got a reputation as the programme that gave space for opposition voices to be heard. I don't think there was much hesitation in playing that role. At the time, there were very few private radio stations on the African continent and the state broadcasters were usually not minded to allow any dissenting voices to be heard. The irony was not lost on us about the number of rebels or opposition leaders, who, once they became the government were no longer keen on speaking to Focus. Love affair with South Africa The first reporting trip I went on, took me to Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana. I was physically carried and thrown out of the Zambian parliament, not for doing something heroic, but because I was not properly dressed. I have never lived that one down. I met Dennis Liwewe in the flesh and a more dramatic sports reporter has never graced our programmes. I interviewed then-President Kenneth Kaunda, got back to my hotel and discovered my tape recorder had malfunctioned! I got a recording of the interview from the Zambian presidency and President Kaunda became my friend. On that same trip, I met and interviewed a certain Frederick Chiluba in his office in Kitwe. He was so grateful I interviewed him, I was embarrassed. A few years later, he became President Chiluba and I never got an interview from him. I finally got to South Africa in October 1989 and started a love affair with that country. Milton Nkosi, later to become BBC Johannesburg bureau chief, was fresh out of school and had started work in the BBC office with Mike Woolridge. There were many times Nkosi and I were not sure we would survive the madness that had taken over South Africa in the period leading to the first democratic elections, but we did. The day of Nelson Mandela's inauguration as president, as I was reporting on the events for our programmes, I felt a big part of the Focus story was coming to an end. The liberation struggles on the continent were coming to an end. The next struggles were bound to be different. We got a Sony award for our coverage of the day Mandela was released from jail; but somehow, in spite of our best efforts, we never thrived in the coverage of post-apartheid South Africa. Maybe Focus is wired for crisis and not for everyday drab events. 'Abacha dead, may he rot in hell' So, what sticks in my mind? UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher scrambling on all fours trying to find my umbrella after Robin White and I had gone to interview her in Downing Street in 1989 prior to her visit to Africa. The newspaper headline I saw as I got out of the airport in Lagos soon after the death of Nigerian military ruler Sani Abacha. The banner headline said: "Abacha dead, may he rot in hell". A hospital room in Makeni, Sierra Leone, full of people, young, old, male, female, all of whose arms had been butchered. There was a lot of blood around, there was one doctor in the midst of it all and there was a man with a fresh, deep, cutlass wound across his head, I could see his brain; miraculously he was not dead and he wanted to talk to me. And a jug of iced Pimms as the tensions eased in the Focus office at the end of a broadcast at the height of summer. My recollections of Focus on Africa are from a different era, but then I am an old woman.

जैसे ही बीबीसी फ़ोकस ऑन अफ्रीका अपनी 60वीं वर्षगांठ मना रहा है, इसके पूर्व उप संपादकों में से एक, घाना की पत्रकार एलिजाबेथ ओहने, रेडियो कार्यक्रम के साथ अपने समय को पीछे मुड़कर देखती हैं कि इसकी पत्रकारिता कैसे बदल गई और इसने महाद्वीप को आकार देने में कैसे मदद की।


Nirav Modi fraud case and India's bank debt crisis

Summary: The biggest news story in India over the last week has centred around a billionaire jeweller, Nirav Modi, who has allegedly defrauded one of India's largest banks of more than a billion dollars. Columnist Vivek Kaul explains why the case could be just a sign of a far deeper problem in India's banking system.

Punjab National Bank (PNB) is India's second largest government-owned bank with assets of around $111.7bn (£79bn) as of 31 March 2017. The total amount of the alleged fraud has been estimated to total $1.8bn. Reports suggest that Mr Modi - no relation to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi - left the country in early January. His immediate family also left India during the course of the month. He is believed to be staying in a luxury hotel in New York and was last seen at the World Economic Forum in Davos as a part of an Indian delegation, which even had its picture taken with the prime minister. Mr Modi has not been formally charged by Indian authorities yet, but several investigations have begun. Police have also arrested two bank officials and a business associate of Mr Modi's on suspicion of helping him. In a letter to PNB, the businessman has said he owed the bank $775m and not $1.8bn. He also denied the allegations and said the "erroneously cited liability" and the resulting "media frenzy" had "destroyed my brand and the business and have now restricted your ability to recover all the dues leaving a trail of unpaid debts". The bank has not commented on the nature of the fraud but analysis so far suggests that what the billionaire is accused of involves PNB guaranteeing him loans by issuing a letter of undertaking (LOU). This would mean that every time a loan was due, Mr Modi would get PNB to open another LOU equivalent to the loan amount plus the interest that was due on it. The money from the new LOU was used to pay off the loan and the interest due on the previous LOU. So in effect, he would have never repaid the initial loan. But how does Nirav Modi's alleged fraud look in light of the other frauds that Indian banks face? In July 2017, the finance ministry shared some data showing that PNB's control systems were in bad shape, which meant it got defrauded significantly more than other banks. The data shows that between the years 2012-2013 and 2016-2017, Indian banks saw a total number of 22,949 instances of fraud, with total losses to banks amounting to $10.8bn. Of the 78 banks on the list, PNB faced the highest losses when it came to fraud. Over the five-year period, the bank faced 942 cases with losses of $1.4bn. Also, more significantly, PNB faced more fraud cases than the country's largest bank, State Bank of India, which has an asset base 4.6 times larger than PNB. Having said that, the average fraud at PNB cost the bank 95.5m rupees ($1.48m; £1.05m). In Nirav Modi's case, the size of the alleged fraud is much bigger than the size of the average fraud PNB has faced in recent years. This shows the allegation against Nirav Modi is more than petty bank fraud. It is basically more along the lines of a large bank loan default, which many of India's crony capitalists specialise in. India's government-owned banks have been under great pressure in the face of corporate loan defaults over the last few years. As of September 2017, the bad loans ratio of these banks stood at 13.5%. This essentially means that of every 100 rupees of loans given by these banks, 13.5 rupees has been defaulted on. A bad loan is a loan which has not been repaid for a period of 90 days or more. The corporate default rate is even higher. Largely due to corporate loan defaults, Indian banks have had to write off loans worth around $38.8bn for the period of five years ending 31 March 2017. Nirav Modi's alleged bank fraud will only add to this. To keep these banks going, the Indian government has to regularly keep injecting capital into them. In fact, an estimate made by The Times of India newspaper suggests that over the last 11 years, the government has injected $40.3bn into the banks that it owns. Every rupee that goes into these banks is taken away from more important areas like agriculture, education, health and defence. The reason why many Indian businessmen blatantly default on loans is because they know that given India's slow judicial system and their closeness to politicians, their chances of getting away with a loan default are very high. If proven, the Nirav Modi case would expose just a small part of a much bigger and more significant picture for the country. Vivek Kaul is the author of India's Big Government—The Intrusive State and How It is Hurting Us.

पिछले सप्ताह भारत में सबसे बड़ी खबर एक अरबपति जौहरी, निरव मोदी के इर्द-गिर्द केंद्रित है, जिसने कथित तौर पर भारत के सबसे बड़े बैंकों में से एक को एक अरब डॉलर से अधिक की धोखाधड़ी की है। स्तंभकार विवेक कौल बताते हैं कि यह मामला भारत की बैंकिंग प्रणाली में कहीं अधिक गहरी समस्या का संकेत क्यों हो सकता है।


Albatrosses counted from space

Summary: Scientists have started counting individual birds from space.

By Jonathan AmosBBC Science Correspondent They are using the highest-resolution satellite images available to gauge the numbers of Northern Royal albatrosses. This endangered animal nests almost exclusively on some rocky sea-stacks close to New Zealand’s Chatham Islands. The audit, led by experts at the British Antarctic Survey, represents the first time any species on Earth has had its entire global population assessed from orbit. The scientists report the satellite technique in Ibis, a journal of the British Ornithologists' Union. It is likely to have a major impact on efforts to conserve the Northern Royals (Diomedea sanfordi). Ordinarily, these birds are very difficult to appraise because their nesting sites are so inaccessible. Not only are the sea-stacks far from NZ (680km), but their vertical cliffs mean that any visiting scientist might also have to be adept at rock climbing. "Getting the people, ships or planes to these islands to count the birds is expensive, but it can be very dangerous as well," explained Dr Peter Fretwell from BAS. This makes the DigitalGlobe WorldView-3 satellite something of a breakthrough. It can acquire pictures of Earth that capture features as small as 30cm across. The US government has only recently permitted such keen resolution to be distributed outside the military and intelligence sectors. WorldView-3 can see the nesting birds as they sit on eggs to incubate them or as they guard newly hatched chicks. With a body length of over a metre, the adult albatrosses only show up as two or three pixels, but their white plumage makes them stand out against the surrounding vegetation. The BAS team literally counts the dots. The researchers first checked their methodology at Bird Island, South Georgia. This is a unique nature reserve in the South Atlantic where the nests of another species of great albatross, the Wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans), are individually marked with GPS locators. The biggest confounding factor is large, light-coloured rocks. But the analysis showed the team could get a very close match between the pixelated birds in the space images and the nests that were recorded in the ground-truth data. There tends to be a slight over-counting, which the team puts down to breeding partners or non-breeding birds also being captured in a satellite scene. Applying the technique at the Chatham Islands, the team counted just over 3,600 nests. This is slightly down on a manual count of 5,700 that was made in 2009. Dr Fretwell said: "The breeding numbers we counted were much lower than we anticipated, which could show us that the population is declining or it could show just that we had a particularly poor year. But this illustrates why you have to do this over several years, and doing it by satellite is going be a lot cheaper and more efficient." Dr Paul Scofield at Canterbury Museum, NZ, is a co-author on the Ibis paper. He described the difficulty of counting the birds in the traditional way at the group of stacks known as the Forty Fours. "The 44s are particularly tricky," he told BBC News. "I once waited a whole month on the main Chatham Island for the weather to clear so I could land. "Even if you use a plane, it's a problem as planes are only available infrequently and the wind and cloud prevent flying. Then if you take photos, you have to count them. That can take 100s of hours. This technology still requires the satellite to be in the right place and no cloud but it is certainly cheaper and more reliable." Like the other five species of great albatross, Northern Royals are under pressure for a variety of reasons. Commercial fishing has depleted the stocks on which these seabirds also feed, and the baited longline gear used by some vessels has an unpleasant knack for attracting foragers and pulling them underwater where they drown. But the Northern Royals in particular are vulnerable because of their desire to nest only on the Chatham Islands sea-stacks. If one big storm rolls through at the wrong time of year, it can severely dent breeding success. "In 1986, a huge storm washed waves over these 50m-tall islands," said Dr Scofield. Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos

वैज्ञानिकों ने अंतरिक्ष से अलग-अलग पक्षियों की गिनती शुरू कर दी है।


Bank of Cyprus big depositors could lose up to 60%

Summary: Bank of Cyprus depositors with more than 100,000 euros (£84,300; $128,200) could lose up to 60% of their savings as part of an EU-IMF bailout restructuring move, officials say.

The central bank says 37.5% of holdings over 100,000 euros will become shares. Up to 22.5% will go into a fund attracting no interest and may be subject to further write-offs. The other 40% will attract interest - but this will not be paid unless the bank performs well. It was known that the wealthiest savers at the Bank of Cyprus would take a large hit from the bailout deal - but not to this extent, the BBC's Mark Lowen reports. Cypriot officials have also said that big depositors at Laiki - the country's second largest bank - could face an even tougher "haircut". However, no details have been released. The officials say that Laiki will eventually be absorbed into the Bank of Cyprus. The fear is that once the unprecedented capital controls - which are in place for an indefinite time - are lifted, the wealthiest will rush to move their deposits abroad, our correspondent says. He adds that the larger than expected loss could also have devastating consequences for large depositors such as schools and universities. And it could spread fear in other indebted eurozone countries that Cyprus might set a precedent. 'Loans written off' Cyprus needs to raise 5.8bn euros to qualify for the bailout, and has become the first eurozone member country to bring in capital controls to prevent a torrent of money leaving the island and credit institutions collapsing. The original 10bn-euro bailout deal was agreed in Brussels earlier this month. It placed a one-off tax on all customers of Cypriot banks, starting at 6.75% for the smallest deposits. But this led to mass protests across Cyprus, and the deal was later voted down by the country's parliament. MPs later backed a revised deal. Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades has said the financial situation has been "contained" following the deal. He has also stressed that Cyprus has no intention of leaving the euro, stressing that "in no way will we experiment with the future of our country". On Thursday, banks in Cyprus opened for the first time in nearly two weeks. Queues formed of people trying to access their money, but the mood was generally calm. By Friday, banks had returned to their normal working hours and there were no longer reports of big queues. In a separate development, Cyprus launched an investigation after Greek media published the names of politicians who allegedly had loans forgiven by three Cypriot banks at the height of the crisis. The Bank of Cyprus, Laiki and Hellenic Bank apparently wrote off loans of millions of euros to companies, local authorities, and politicians from some of the island's biggest parties. The list has now been handed to the ethics committee of the Cypriot parliament.

अधिकारियों का कहना है कि 100,000 यूरो (£84,300; $128,200) से अधिक के साथ बैंक ऑफ साइप्रस के जमाकर्ता ईयू-आईएमएफ बेलआउट पुनर्गठन कदम के हिस्से के रूप में अपनी बचत का 60 प्रतिशत तक खो सकते हैं।


Making food crops that feed themselves

Summary: By 2050, the world's population is expected to reach 9.8 billion. With limited land, and intensive farming already causing irreversible environmental damage, how can we feed the world without exhausting its natural resources?

By Ly Truong & Claire PressBBC World Service All over Vietnam it's transplanting season. In every direction farmers with their famous conical hats are pushing tiny rice seedlings deep into the mud. Rice farming is essential for Vietnam's food supply and economy, but such a booming industry comes with an environmental cost. Farmers are dependent on nitrogen-based fertilizers to boost yields. But excess nitrogen can wash away, polluting rivers and oceans, as well as evaporating into the atmosphere. Travelling two hours southeast of the country's vibrant capital Hanoi, I arrive in the Tien Hai. This modest farming town is host to an international research trial, investigating whether a strain of nitrogen-fixing bacteria can help to reduce the amount of fertilizer used by farmers. Leading the field trial is Dr. Pham Thi Thu Huong, from the Field Crop Research Institute. "Rice, like other crops relies on getting its essential nutrients from nitrogen fertilizer, but over 50% of the fertilizer used either evaporates, or washes away," explains Dr. Huong. "It forms nitrous oxide which is 300 times more harmful than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas." For Dr Huong, transplanting the 15 day old rice seedlings from the lab out into the field is her first chance to examine the difference in length and weight between the treated and untreated seedlings. As seeds, the treated plants are coated in nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Normally found in sugarcane, these bacteria enable the rice plants to extract nitrogen directly from the air, instead of being reliant on artificial fertilizer. "As the plant grows, an aerobic relationship between the bacteria and the rice plant develops" says Dr. Huong. "This allows the bacteria to take nitrogen straight from the atmosphere in a form the plant can use." 'Dead zones' The 'Green Revolution' of the 1960s prompted worldwide use of nitrogen-based fertilizers and pesticides. The boost in global food production saved millions of lives from the imminent threat of famine. However, the excessive use of fertilizers has continued to be so inefficient, more nitrogen is pouring off into the waterways and oceans than ever before. Excess nitrogen causes 'dead zones' by unleashing algal blooms, which then rot and consume all available oxygen, suffocating other marine life. Today there are more than 500 dead zones in the world's oceans, a figure that has quadrupled in the last 50 years. The farmers Three times year, Vietnam's millions of famers transplant tens of millions of seedlings into their waterlogged fields. Living off an annual income of just $1300 dollars, Bui Thi Suot relies on the success of her crops to support her family. "We are aware of the pollution and the environment, but our crops need fertilizers. We are farmers, we don't have any other choice" says Bui Thi Suot. A 'super bacterium' solution? With half the world's crops and farmers depend on synthetic fertilizer, how can we feed the world's growing population without causing further harm to the environment? Dr. Huong's trial in Vietnam is just one part of a global network of scientists and entrepreneurs hoping nitrogen-fixing technologies can be a part of the solution. Bioscientist Dr. Ted Cocking, from the Centre for Crop Nitrogen Fixation in the UK, was the first to unlock the potential of this unique bacterium - Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus, or Gd for short. Effective in the laboratory, Dr. Cocking's ambition was always to get this technology out into the field. In 2011, he paired up with entrepreneur Peter Blezard. Together they started a company called Azotic, one of the funders behind Dr. Huong's rice trial in Vietnam. Mr. Blezard hopes Azotic will begin selling the 'super bacteria' in liquid and powder form, on the US commercial market from next spring. "Currently we are focusing on corn and soya crop trials in the US and Europe, and rice trials in Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines," says Mr. Blezard. "In Vietnam, we seeing up to 50% reductions in nitrogen fertilizer, combined with a 15% increase in rice yields." But not everyone is as convinced. Microbiologist Dr. Tim Mauchline from the Rothamsted Research in the UK, doubts this technology can be replicated in all crop varieties, all over the world. "The world is a big place with different climates, weather patterns, crops, and soil types," he says. "To think there's one silver bullet that can solve all of these problems, this would be fantastic, but I will be surprised if it is the case." Dr Huong has discovered, even within the optimum conditions of the trial, some rice varieties are proving more responsive to the bacteria than others. However, for Dr Huong, precision and patience are finally paying off. "The first trial was a complete failure, but we brought the bacteria back into the lab and tested it repeatedly until we got the formula right", she says. "I hope my work will help to ensure global food security, at the same time as preserving and protecting natural resources." This BBC series was produced with funding from the Skoll Foundation. Part of our series Taking the Temperature, which focuses on the battle against climate change and the people and ideas making a difference. Photos: Derrick Evans and Ly Truong

2050 तक दुनिया की आबादी 9.8 करोड़ तक पहुंचने की उम्मीद है। सीमित भूमि और गहन खेती से पहले से ही अपरिवर्तनीय पर्यावरणीय क्षति हो रही है, हम इसके प्राकृतिक संसाधनों को समाप्त किए बिना दुनिया को कैसे खिला सकते हैं?


Edinburgh oil firm Cairn Energy Indian deal delayed

Summary: A multi-billion pound deal in which Cairn Energy agreed to sell up to 51% of its Indian business has been further delayed after being referred to a panel of ministers by the Indian government.

The Edinburgh oil exploration firm agreed last August to sell a majority stake in Cairn India to Vedanta, one of India's largest metals and mining companies. The deal, which would be the largest in India's oil and gas sector, was estimated to be worth up to £6bn. Approval has been delayed by a dispute about royalty payments by Cairn India's partner, state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Cairn Energy, which has a 62.37% stake in Cairn India, recently completed the world's longest heated pipeline to pump oil from its Rajasthan field in India. At the end of March Cairn Energy announced that profits were up 20-fold since oil started flowing from its Rajasthan field. The company made US$1.1bn (£674m) in pre-tax profits last year, before extensive exceptionals, compared with US$53m (£32m) in 2009.

एक बहु-अरब पाउंड का सौदा जिसमें केयर्न एनर्जी ने अपने भारतीय व्यवसाय का 51 प्रतिशत तक बेचने पर सहमति व्यक्त की थी, भारत सरकार द्वारा मंत्रियों के एक पैनल को भेजे जाने के बाद इसमें और देरी हुई है।


Coronavirus: Private hospitals enable vital surgery to go ahead

Summary: Private healthcare facilities - largely the preserve of the affluent prior to the coronavirus pandemic - have been made available to NHS patients in recent weeks. It has meant some cancer or cardiac patients considered at high risk if they contracted Covid-19 are now able to undergo critical surgery.

By Thomas MackintoshBBC News, London On the day the UK went into lockdown, 32-year-old Robert Rodrigues received the news that he had cancer. "I was due to get married the week I found out I was diagnosed," he said. The wedding and honeymoon were all put on hold - as large gatherings and foreign travel were restricted - and Mr Rodrigues tried to make sense of his diagnosis. "I saw the coronavirus as a lesser evil compared to suffering from cancer and it spreading," he said. "I tend not to be a worrier which is a good thing. The doctors were all so professional and pulling me through all the way. "Their opinion was let's act quick and I kept telling myself that everything was in hand." Because of the risk of spreading or catching coronavirus, Mr Rodrigues's diagnosis and all of his consultations were carried out remotely. Within three days he was in the privately-run London Bridge Hospital having his tumour removed before it spread. It was all possible because of a historic deal made between the NHS and private hospitals to acquire thousands of extra beds, ventilators and medical staff. "I would definitely urge anyone to get checked out," he added. "There is no reason for being stuck at home - the healthcare system is still looking after people who have things not related to Covid-19." London Bridge is one of 28 private and independent hospitals in the capital which have helped the NHS during the coronavirus outbreak. Operating theatres, beds and intensive care units have all been made available to NHS patients at no extra cost, the hospital's chief executive Janene Madden said. Strict precautions are in place to ensure the hospital remains as coronavirus free as possible. Temperatures are taken and full personal protective equipment (PPE) is donned by staff during complex surgeries. Patients are swabbed in the throat and through the nose 48 hours prior to surgery to make sure they are not coronavirus positive - if they are then the surgery is put on hold. Former milkman Ted Grenham, from East Peckham in Kent, is another patient who has undergone a life-saving operation, this time to have a valve put into his heart. Mr Grenham has just turned 83 and because of his age and heart problem is considered to be at risk from coronavirus. Many London hospitals have large numbers of Covid-19 patients and undergoing surgery at one would have been too risky. "We have had more than 1,000 Covid patients at King's [College Hospital]," says Prof Phil MacCarthy - part of a team of doctors at the hospital who have come to London Bridge to operate on Mr Grenham. "There are many, many wards full of patients. "So this risk benefit about exposing the patient [to coronavirus] versus leaving them alone is that much more difficult at King's because trying to keep them Covid free at King's is very much harder. "The risk of contracting Covid at London Bridge Hospital in this relatively Covid-free environment is a lot less than at King's. "We are working on a recovery plan to get the patients back to King's to start doing these procedures but that's a complex plan. "What we are seeing for the first time is NHS staff working with private hospital staff and they work very well together - I've been very impressed." The extra resources for the NHS have helped make other urgent treatments possible during the pandemic. The NHS often uses private sector facilities when the need arises, but it is the mass purchasing of these resources which is unprecedented. Elsewhere across the capital, The Cromwell Hospital, in Kensington, is also ensuring critical urology, gynaecology, colorectal and endocrine surgery are made available for patients from several London NHS trusts. Director Phil Luce said Bupa was "dedicated to helping alleviate pressure" on the NHS and it had also shared ventilators with the new temporary Nightingale hospital in east London. "We're facing the greatest challenge in healthcare that we have seen in our lifetime," he said. "We will do whatever we can to support the NHS to ensure patients get the medical help they need."

हाल के हफ्तों में एन. एच. एस. रोगियों के लिए निजी स्वास्थ्य देखभाल सुविधाएँ-मुख्य रूप से कोरोनावायरस महामारी से पहले समृद्ध लोगों के लिए संरक्षित-उपलब्ध कराई गई हैं। इसका मतलब है कि कुछ कैंसर या हृदय रोगियों को उच्च जोखिम में माना जाता है यदि वे कोविड-19 से अनुबंधित होते हैं तो वे अब गंभीर शल्य चिकित्सा से गुजरने में सक्षम हैं।


Jamaica's marijuana growers split on legalisation

Summary: The Jamaican government has said it is planning to decriminalise possession of small amounts of marijuana by the end of this year. The BBC's Nick Davis travelled to Jamaica's interior to gauge the reaction of those currently growing the crop illegally.

In Jamaica, marijuana, or ganja, as it is more commonly known on the Caribbean island, is used in religious ceremonies by Rastafarians and as a herbal medicine by many others. But it is not just grown for local consumption. According to the US state department, Jamaica remains the largest Caribbean supplier of marijuana to the US as well as other Caribbean islands. Cultivation and import of the drug have been illegal since 1913, although those caught with small amounts are rarely prosecuted. Clandestine growers The debate surrounding its use and whether it should be decriminalised, or even legalised, has been further fuelled by the drug's legalisation in Uruguay and the US states of Colorado and Washington. But those who would be most affected by any change in the law, the marijuana growers, are divided on the issue. At an idyllic spot overlooking a mountain and a river in the island's lush green interior, I meet a ganja grower among his many marijuana plants. The grower, who wants to remain unnamed, is a Rasta man in his late 60s, whose rough hands and bleached dreadlocks suggest he has worked the land all of his life. As I clamber up the near vertical hillside, struggling to stay upright, this man who is a good 30 years older than me negotiates the slopes like a mountain goat. The ganja in his half-acre plot is grown in between other crops so that it cannot be seen from the air. In the past few years, he has had a two-acre field destroyed by police who fly over the area in helicopters looking for the plant. "I smoke it, I boil it, I eat it, and drink it as medicine," he says. "And I love to see the beauty of the plant" he adds. I ask him what he thinks of the legalisation debate. "Hopefully [they will legalise it], but the government is dragging its feet," he says. "I don't know why, we produce the best ganja in the world and they fail to legalise it, so I am advertising it," he adds. Full circle Ganja was first introduced to Jamaica by indentured Indian workers in the 19th Century and grew wild across the island. It was declared illegal a century ago but recently there have been moves to decriminalise it. Jamaican minister Philip Paulwell has said he hopes to steer a law decriminalising marijuana through parliament by the end of 2014. And at the end of last year, Jamaica's first medical marijuana company was launched with the official blessing of the government. Ministers lauded the possibilities of the new industry. Dr Henry Lowe, a leading researcher into the use of Jamaican plants as herbal remedies, says the country already has decades of experience in this field. "We could be said to be the pioneers, as back in the 1970s we produced the first commercial product, which was Canasol [cannabis-based eyedrops] for glaucoma," he explains. "The wheel has come full circle," he adds. "It was all about smoking and illicit use, now we want to make it licit and legal and to use our science and technology to make new products," he says. Jamaica is trying to implement new laws to allow firms like Dr Lowe's Medicanja legally to develop medical marijuana without falling foul of the law by getting hold of the raw material. 'Losing out' Some in Jamaica, like the Ganja Law Reform Coalition, would like to see the government go further and are arguing for legalisation rather than just decriminalisation. But some of those growing the crop illegally say they do not want a change in the law, as they fear the licences to grow the plants would only go to those with the right connections. In the mountains overlooking Kingston, I meet another ganja grower. But this man has decided to stop growing marijuana, saying that he has had "too many close shaves" with the police. He argues that a change in the law will not cut down on crime, as pro-legalisation activists argue, but only drive criminals into other illegal activities. "If it becomes legal, the big men won't make as much money and they'll have to find new ways to make money," he says. Another grower in the rural parish of St Mary fears small scale marijuana farmers like himself would lose out if the drug is legalised. He, too, thinks that the licences to grow the plants would be awarded to "bigger heads", and he would no longer be able to pay for his children's school fees. In January, Jamaican Foreign Minister AJ Nicholson also urged caution, saying that the island's history as a major exporter of marijuana meant that the island was bound by international agreements on curbing drug trafficking, and that any change in its laws would therefore have to take into account its international commitments. But with Uruguay and even some US states blazing a trail, and parts of Jamaica's research and scientific community pressing for a change, Jamaica's 1913 Ganja law may not stand in its current form much longer.

जमैका सरकार ने कहा है कि वह इस साल के अंत तक थोड़ी मात्रा में मारिजुआना रखने को अपराध की श्रेणी से बाहर करने की योजना बना रही है। बीबीसी के निक डेविस ने वर्तमान में अवैध रूप से फसल उगाने वालों की प्रतिक्रिया का आकलन करने के लिए जमैका के आंतरिक भाग की यात्रा की।