Ebola crisis: Struggling to change behaviour in Sierra Leone

Summary: For weeks it has been the same here in Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown. Every day the Ebola burial teams - now well organised and promptly dispatched - collect about 60 bodies from around the city and its crowded suburbs.

Andrew HardingAfrica correspondent@BBCAndrewHon Twitter Some days it is 50, sometimes as many as 80. About 20% of those bodies turn out to be Ebola cases. The rest are just the usual range of deaths you might expect in a large city in West Africa. Every death is now treated as suspicious. There is an air of brisk efficiency at the workers' base - the British Council offices, on a hill overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, now transformed into an Ebola command centre for the western region of Sierra Leone. Calls are logged, white boards filled, statistics for the past month collated by close-knit teams. Down the hill, at the municipal cemetery, bulldozers are busy clearing new ground, scraping away mounds of rubbish to give the gravediggers more space. "At the moment we're having some success in holding on to the epidemic and I don't see the more astronomical predictions coming through at the moment," said British army Colonel Andy Garrow. Dying at home And yet, as the weeks go by and the body collection teams continue to bring in the same number of corpses, Col Garrow finds himself drawn increasingly to one particular conclusion. "Behaviour change," he says. Or rather the lack of it. Here is the problem: By now, everyone knows about Ebola; and nobody with symptoms should, logically, be dying at home or on the street anymore. They should all have been taken to hospital. But to understand why that is not happening, all you have to do is drive to any of the impoverished suburbs of Freetown. Mariatu Kamara had been hiding her illness for several days. When we found her outside her home in Rogbangba village only a few people knew she was sick - a headache, sore bones and boils on her head and legs. Perhaps it was not Ebola. But if it was, her three young children - one tied to her back - were at grave risk. Ebola burials "I don't have a phone," Ms Kamara explained at first, when I asked her why she had not contacted the Ebola telephone hotline. But she became visibly alarmed when I suggested we could help. "I can't leave my children here on their own," she said. Her nine-year-old daughter, Aisatu, began to cry. The village headman, Abdul Karama, arrived and promptly called 117 to report a possible Ebola case. He was worried that it would not make a difference. "We call, but sometimes nobody comes," he said, citing other instances. Ignoring quarantine A few doors away, Rogbangba village revealed another problem - quarantine. Fifteen-year-old Aminata Bangura died last week of suspected Ebola. The rest of her family - 11 people - were promptly told to stay indoors. Food parcels were delivered to help them out. But it was quickly obvious that the family were ignoring the quarantine order. We saw Ms Bangura's brothers emerging from a crowded mosque across the dirt road. "It's lonely at home. I go to the mosque because I don't know how to pray on my own," said 22-year-old Ibrahim Bangura. He continues to run a hairdressing business from a nearby wooden shack. Ebola deaths Figures up to 13 January 2016 11,315 Deaths - probable, confirmed and suspected (Includes one in the US and six in Mali) 4,809 Liberia 3,955 Sierra Leone 2,536 Guinea 8 Nigeria The local headmaster - now out of work because the schools are closed - has become a fervent anti-Ebola campaigner and social mobiliser. But Godfrey Kamara is finding it almost impossible to change the community's behaviour. "It's not working. When they're quarantined people should stay around and have security. And they still wash the dead," said Mr Kamara, accusing Ms Bangura's family of doing just that. "They washed her body before calling 117. I know it. They shouldn't do that. I tell everyone they shouldn't wash the body but they still don't believe Ebola kills. "I've been house to house telling them not to touch bodies, but they still do it," he said in a quiet fury as he stood on the road outside the quarantined house. Later, I called Mr Kamara to find out what happened to Mariatu Kamara (no relation). She had been taken the next day to a hospital in Freetown. Her children were being looked after by neighbours. But while he was on the phone, Mr Kamara said those neighbours were now attacking him - blaming him for breaking up the family. "They're angry with me," he said, before hanging up. Read Andrew Harding's other reports from Sierra Leone:

सिएरा लियोन की राजधानी फ्रीटाउन में हफ्तों से ऐसा ही हो रहा है। हर दिन इबोला दफन दल-अब सुव्यवस्थित और तुरंत भेजे गए-शहर और उसके भीड़भाड़ वाले उपनगरों से लगभग 60 शव एकत्र करते हैं।


'My Airbnb flat was turned into a pop-up brothel'

Summary: Police have warned owners of short-term holiday lets that their properties are increasingly being used for prostitution. Colin (not his real name) contacted the BBC when he discovered the flat he rents out on Airbnb had been turned into a pop-up brothel. Here he tells his story, while below Charlotte - a sex worker who rents short-term lets in a different part of the country - explains why she goes "on tour".

Colin: I feel like I've been conned. I feel like I've been deceived and forced into doing something that I wouldn't ordinarily have done. I lived here for six years, then I moved away, so I'm letting it out. You could get four people in here, so [£85 per night] is pretty good compared to a hotel rate. They made a booking through the Airbnb website. They messaged and said that they wanted to pay cash, which I was a little bit suspicious of, and I refused that. It's not only against the rules, but also if anything goes wrong then it's a booking that's outside of the website and not covered by any of the guarantees. You might as well just get someone in off the street. So when they checked in I was a little bit suspicious, but I thought little else of it. They texted [on the day they were due to leave] and said, "We've had a heavy night, can we leave a couple of hours later?" And a name was on there. It was quite an unusual name, so I just thought: "Well, let's have a look and Google this." Find out more When you put that name into Google plus the lead guest's name, there was a picture of the two together, and that's when I found a story about them acting as high-profile escorts. Looking at both their ads, some of the rates were about £1,300 a night. So if they were fully booked for the two nights that's £2,600 each - £5,200 in total. The feeling was a bit like when I had to rush home from work a couple of years ago because I thought I'd left a tea towel on the hob. It felt like the place was burning down. So I came into the flat. It smelled of wine and perfume. I found used condom wrappers under the bed, I found the bin was overflowing with tissues and condoms. And basically what I had to do was pick all that up with my hands. There were probably about seven or eight wine bottles as well - they'd got through a fair bit of Prosecco and a fair bit of Pinot Grigio. It might seem a strange thing to say, but one of the things that really surprises me is that if they want to carry on doing this, how easy would it have been for them to clear up their own tracks? Quite easy. And then they might even have ended up with a repeat booking. So it actually surprised me that they were that bad at cleaning up after themselves. I called the police and I told them everything. I gave them all the information possible, because what I was worried about was basically ensuring I hadn't broken the law as well by renting the place out to them. The police took down all the information. They took my contact details, I got a crime reference number. Then I heard nothing further. I did inquire again about it and follow it up. They basically said, "Well, you may well not hear from us again but we have taken it down as intelligence." As far as I know I won't hear anything back from the police at all. I feel a bit let down. It's not just that I feel bad for myself but I feel bad for other people as well who might be renting out in good faith then, unwittingly, potentially committing a crime. I want to sell [the flat] now, I just want rid of it, to be honest. I really, really liked living here. I love the place but unfortunately it's not worth it at all. Airbnb commented: "We have zero tolerance for this type of behaviour and are urgently investigating this case. Over 160 million people have travelled on Airbnb and bad experiences are extremely rare." Charlotte: Going on tour, I either rent holiday apartments or I use hotels. I do two or three days here and there. I always come back to Devon once a month. I've built up a nice client base in Kent and I'm just starting to branch out in West London. There's all sorts of apps that you can use. They're really easy to access. At the end of the day, if you're renting an apartment or short term-let - holiday apartments, anything like that - providing you're leaving that property in the condition you found it in, I don't see what the problem is. When I was living in Exeter I had my own apartment to work from. I was able to have my own routine, to vet clients. I had a screen on the buzzing system so I could see who I was buzzing in. I was able to ensure my own safety. But when I did a documentary with Rupert Everett in 2014 my next-door neighbour saw it, made a complaint against me and I was evicted from my family home. The start-up costs of being able to get your own property to work from are massive. You've got your month's rent and then a month's rent in advance, the security deposit - sometimes it's not financially viable. What is the law in the UK? So short-term lets and hotels are probably the only other answer but the downfall with that is that you've not got that safety element of being able to understand the local area. You don't know who any of the dangerous clientele could be because you've not already got that experience there. I would never go on tour on my own to a new place that I've never been to before. No way. Because there is no safety agency or union out there that I can tell where I am or what I'm doing. So if I was going to try a new area then of course I will want another worker there with me. But the unfortunate thing is, that is breaking the law - two sex workers working together. And until we decriminalise sex work, sex workers will never be safe by not being able to work in pairs. Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.

पुलिस ने अल्पकालिक अवकाश के मालिकों को चेतावनी दी है कि उनकी संपत्तियों का तेजी से वेश्यावृत्ति के लिए उपयोग किया जा रहा है। कॉलिन (उसका असली नाम नहीं) ने बीबीसी से संपर्क किया जब उसे पता चला कि एयरबीएनबी पर किराए पर दिए गए फ्लैट को एक पॉप-अप वेश्यालय में बदल दिया गया है। यहाँ वह अपनी कहानी बताता है, जबकि शार्लोट के नीचे-एक यौनकर्मी जो देश के एक अलग हिस्से में अल्पकालिक किराए पर लेती है-बताती है कि वह "दौरे पर" क्यों जाती है।


Marks and Spencer extends 30-minute home delivery service

Summary: Marks & Spencer has extended its home delivery service.

By Robert PlummerBusiness reporter, BBC News Customers can order from a range of about 130 M&S food and household items through Deliveroo. M&S has kept its Simply Food stores and food halls open during the coronavirus pandemic, but the delivery service will make its products available more widely to those confined to their homes. Deliveroo has added 20 M&S stores in city and town locations - and is providing a more extensive range. The service, which costs £4.99, is available from 142 M&S outlets across the country. Rival Sainsbury's recently introduced a one-hour delivery service called Chop Chop, which allows customers to order a top-up shop of up to 20 items. It too charges a £4.99 delivery fee. M&S is one of the few big food retailers without its own internet-based delivery service. This has hampered the chain as it struggles with the decline of bricks-and-mortar High Street stores and the move to online shopping. It is planning to launch a new delivery service with Ocado in four months' time. The coronavirus outbreak has accelerated this trend. Online sales now account for 10.2% of the grocery market, up from 7.4% before the pandemic, according to latest data from Kantar. Tactical move Retail analyst Richard Hyman said M&S's arrangement with Deliveroo was a "pragmatic move" that felt more tactical than strategic. "It sells niche products which have often been used as a top-up to the main food shop for treats," he told the BBC. "In this constrained period, if people are going to have to queue to get into the shop, they may well jettison their top-up." Mr Hyman said bigger M&S stores were likely to be "right at the heart of the country's population centres, where everything else is shut, and that will have impacted footfall". Dave Gill, national officer for the shopworkers' union, Usdaw, said the company needed to be mindful of its workforce: "We understand that retailers are having to introduce new working practices and services to help keep our communities fed during the Coronavirus emergency. "These innovations are welcome, as we all try adapt to the 'new normal', but they must be done safely and that is best achieved when working with a trade union." He pointed out that Marks and Spencer have a tradition of not engaging with unions. M&S announced last year that it would go into partnership with Ocado from September this year, replacing the online grocer's existing deal with Waitrose. Under the deal, M&S is buying a 50% share of Ocado's retail business for £750m. Ocado will also continue to supply its own-label products and big-name branded goods.

मार्क्स एंड स्पेंसर ने अपनी होम डिलीवरी सेवा का विस्तार किया है।


Man arrested over £500,000 Hanley jewellery raid

Summary: A man has been arrested in connection with a £500,000 robbery at a jewellers in Stoke-on-Trent.

The raid, at Beaverbrooks in Hanley on 17 November, saw jewellery and watches stolen. A 25-year-old man and a 27-year-old woman have already been charged in connection with the raid. A 36-year-old man was arrested in the Oldham area of Greater Manchester on Friday and a number of homes in the area were searched by officers. Det Ch Insp Ricky Fields, from Staffordshire Police, said there was a "substantial reward" for information that led to the recovery of stolen items.

स्टोक-ऑन-ट्रेंट में एक जौहरी में 500,000 पाउंड की डकैती के मामले में एक व्यक्ति को गिरफ्तार किया गया है।


Belfast Zoo: Two monkeys escape from their enclosure

Summary: Two monkeys have escaped from Belfast Zoo after giving their keepers the slip.

One of the lion-tailed macaques is being pursued near houses in the Ben Madigan Park area of the Antrim Road in north Belfast by zoo staff. The other monkey has been spotted on the cliff face of the Cave Hill, but cannot be reached at present. Previously, six lion-tailed macaques escaped from the zoo in October 2013. Belfast Zoo has said they are tracking the movement of the animals.

बेलफास्ट चिड़ियाघर से दो बंदर अपने रखवालों को पर्ची देकर भाग गए हैं।


Climate change: The massive CO2 emitter you may not know about

Summary: Concrete is the most widely used man-made material in existence. It is second only to water as the most-consumed resource on the planet.

By Lucy RodgersBBC News But, while cement - the key ingredient in concrete - has shaped much of our built environment, it also has a massive carbon footprint. Cement is the source of about 8% of the world's carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, according to think tank Chatham House. If the cement industry were a country, it would be the third largest emitter in the world - behind China and the US. It contributes more CO2 than aviation fuel (2.5%) and is not far behind the global agriculture business (12%). Cement industry leaders were in Poland for the UN's climate change conference - COP24 - to discuss ways of meeting the requirements of the Paris Agreement on climate change. To do this, annual emissions from cement will need to fall by at least 16% by 2030. So, how did our love of concrete end up endangering the planet? And what can we do about it? In praise of concrete As the key building material of most tower blocks, car parks, bridges and dams, concrete has, for the haters, enabled the construction of some of the world's worst architectural eyesores. In the UK, it helped the massive wave of post-World War Two development - much of it still dividing opinion - with several of the country's major cities, such as Birmingham, Coventry, Hull and Portsmouth, largely defined by the concrete structures from that building push. But concrete is also the reason some of the world's most impressive buildings exist. Sydney Opera House, the Lotus Temple in Delhi, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai as well as the magnificent Pantheon in Rome - boasting the largest unsupported concrete dome in the world - all owe their form to the material. A mix of sand and gravel, a cement binder and water, concrete is so widely embraced by architects, structural engineers, developers and builders because it is a remarkably good construction material. "It's affordable, you can produce it almost anywhere and it has all the right structural qualities that you want to build with for a durable building or for infrastructure," explains Felix Preston, deputy research director at the Energy, Environment and Resources Department at Chatham House. Despite known durability problems with using steel reinforcement, which can crack concrete from the inside, it is still the go-to material across the world. "Building without concrete, although it is possible, is challenging," says Mr Preston. Growth of cement industry It is these unrivalled attributes of concrete that have helped boost global cement production since the 1950s, with Asia and China accounting for the bulk of growth from the 1990s onwards. Production has increased more than thirtyfold since 1950 and almost fourfold since 1990. China used more cement between 2011 and 2013 than the US did in the entire 20th Century. But with Chinese consumption now appearing to level off, most future growth in construction is expected to happen in the emerging markets of South East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa - driven by rapid urbanisation and economic development. The floor area of the world's buildings is projected to double in the next 40 years, say Chatham House researchers, requiring cement production to increase by a quarter by 2030. Concrete has a long history While many of us assume concrete is a recent addition to our cities, architects, and builders have actually been using cement-like binders for millennia. The earliest use is believed to have been more than 8,000 years ago, with traders in Syria and Jordan using such binders to create floors, buildings and underground cisterns. Later, the Romans were known to be masters of cement and concrete, building the Pantheon in Rome in 113-125AD, with its 43m-diameter free-standing concrete dome the largest in the world. But the concrete used in our modern-built environment owes much of its make-up to a process patented in the early 19th Century by bricklayer Joseph Aspdin of Leeds. His new technique of roasting limestone and clay in an oven and then grinding it to a powder to make "artificial stone" is now known as Portland cement - still the key ingredient in almost all modern concrete. But, despite its ubiquitous presence, concrete's environmental credentials have come under increased scrutiny in the last couple of decades. Not only does the production of Portland cement involve quarrying - causing airborne pollution in the form of dust - it also requires the use of massive kilns, which require large amounts of energy. The actual chemical process of making cement also emits staggeringly high levels of CO2. 'Action needed' The sector has made progress - improvements in the energy-efficiency of new plants and burning waste materials instead of fossil fuels has seen the average CO2 emissions per tonne of output fall by 18% over the last few decades, according to Chatham House. The newly-established Global Cement and Concrete Association (GCCA), currently representing about 35% of the world's cement production capacity and with a focus on sustainable development, was at COP24. Chief executive Benjamin Sporton says the fact the organisation now exists "is a demonstration of the commitment of the industry to sustainability, including taking action on climate change". The GCCA is due to publish a set of sustainability guidelines, which its membership will have to follow. "By bringing together global players to provide leadership and focus, as well as delivering a detailed work programme, we can help ensure a sustainable future for cement and concrete, and for the needs of future generations," Mr Sporton says. But despite the promise, Chatham House argues that the industry is reaching the limits of what it can do with current measures. If the sector has any hope of meeting its commitments to the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, it will need to look at overhauling the cement-making process itself, not only reducing the use of fossil fuels. 'Clinker' - the big polluter It is the process of making "clinker" - the key constituent of cement - that emits the largest amount of CO2 in cement-making. In 2016, world cement production generated around 2.2 billion tonnes of CO2 - equivalent to 8% of the global total. More than half of that came from the calcination process. Together with thermal combustion, 90% of the sector's emissions could be attributed to the production of clinker. Because of this, Mr Preston and his colleagues argue the sector urgently needs to pursue a number of CO2 reduction strategies. Further efforts on energy efficiency, a move away from fossil fuels and pursuing carbon capture and storage will help, but can only do so much. "We've got a long way to close the gap," Mr Preston says. What the industry really needs to do is plough efforts into producing new types of cement, he argues. In fact, low-carbon cements and "novel cements" might do away with the need for clinker altogether. New cements One of those trying to drum up greater support for such alternative cements is Ginger Krieg Dosier, co-founder and CEO of BioMason - a start-up in North Carolina that uses trillions of bacteria to grow bio-concrete bricks. The technique, which involves placing sand in moulds and injecting it with microorganisms, initiates a process similar to the one that creates coral. "I have a long fascination with marine cements and structures," explains Ms Krieg Dosier, a trained architect who was surprised to find no real green alternatives to bricks and masonry when she began research at an architectural firm more than 10 years ago. The discovery led her to create her own solution, which, after years of development, now takes only four days. It happens at room temperature, without the need for fossil fuels or calcination - two of the main sources of the cement industry's CO2 emissions. Ms Krieg Dosier believes green cements and technologies such as hers offer a solution to the sector's emissions issue. "Traditional Portland-based cement production practices will continue to release CO2 due to its fundamental chemistry," she says, adding that rather than turning to carbon capture and storage, we should be investing more in techniques that actively remove carbon from the atmosphere. "Alternative cements and binding technologies go beyond evolutionary CO2 capture to revolutionary methods that fundamentally sequester CO2." 'Disruptive forces' Alongside such alternative cements, other "disruptive" forces are also beginning to drive change. Digitalisation, machine learning and an increasing awareness of sustainability are all having an impact on the cement industry's culture. "It's partly changing because of how people want to live, but also because of our ability to dream up new and innovative structures and test those with computer models," says Mr Preston. "There's also the ability to build things more cheaply with robots - with automation." But changing processes quickly enough to meet the cement industry's obligations will be a challenge. The sector is dominated by a small number of major producers who are reluctant to experiment or change business models. Architects, engineers, contractors and clients are also, rather understandably, cautious about using new building materials. "This quite slow-moving, difficult-to-change sector is starting to bump against these quite profound disruptions that we're starting to see in the built environment," says Mr Preston. But, with very few low-carbon cements reaching commercialisation, and none being applied at scale in an industry where bigger and taller is often the ambition, it looks likely that sustained government support will be needed. Without governments applying pressure on the industry or providing funding, it may not be possible to get the next generation of low-carbon cements out of the laboratory and into the market within the required timescale. And the timescale is ever-shrinking. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - the leading international body on global warming - last month argued the global average temperature rise needed to be kept below 1.5C - not 2C as noted in the Paris Agreement. This means CO2 emissions need to decline by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030. Like other young companies, Ms Krieg Dosier describes the difficulties of simultaneously developing and marketing her products and scaling up manufacturing processes to compete within the wider construction industry. But she thinks there are reasons to be optimistic. "I do believe the construction industry is approaching a point where alternative materials will be more widely adopted," she says. "This is in part due to market demand, other innovative technologies and wider concern for climate change." The cement industry, too, points to more optimistic assessments of the industry's progress on emissions and suggests that, across its lifetime, concrete could make a net climate benefit when all possible action is taken into account. This includes re-carbonation (or the re-absorption of CO2 by cement), concrete's contribution to the energy efficiency of buildings, and innovation in the way cement is manufactured - including carbon capture and storage. The GCCA says such innovation is its key priority in the months and years ahead. Projects are already underway and showing promise, it added. But Mr Preston says it is imperative that governments and industry now act quickly at a time when global development is expected to rise but CO2 emissions need to fall. "There's a desperate need for quality, affordable homes," he says. "There's a need for new infrastructure. We can only square this circle if we can dramatically improve the way that we build, so that overall these buildings are constructed with, as close as possible, net zero emissions." Design by Lilly Huynh.

कंक्रीट अस्तित्व में सबसे व्यापक रूप से उपयोग की जाने वाली मानव निर्मित सामग्री है। यह ग्रह पर सबसे अधिक खपत वाले संसाधन के रूप में पानी के बाद दूसरे स्थान पर है।


Rolls-Royce warns Osborne over cuts to research support

Summary: How valuable is a sizeable engineering firm to the UK?

Kamal AhmedBusiness editor@bbckamalon Twitter Rolls-Royce, which makes and maintains aircraft engines and supports submarine engineering for the offshore oil and gas sector, suggests the answer to that question is - very. The company directly employs more than 21,000 people in the UK, 9,000 of whom are engineers; the kind of high-value, highly technical jobs that the government is keen to promote because such jobs are hard to replicate abroad and enable companies to make things the world wants to buy. Like aircraft engines. Rolls-Royce's own figures reveal that the UK division of the company generates annual sales of £5.7bn, 75% of which comes from exports. That's about 2% of the UK's total goods exported. So, when the chief executive of the company, Warren East, reveals that he has been in touch with the chancellor about tomorrow's Autumn Statement and Spending Review it is worthy of note. Mr East's concern is simple - if the government cuts grants for business and scientific research and development then it will have an effect on Britain's engineering future. "It does have a negative impact on the [engineering] ecosystem," Mr East said. "It is bound to be a headwind on jobs at some stage, particularly if there is a positive impact [from research and development grants] from other parts of the world." Grants to loans? It is clear from speaking to Mr East, Rolls-Royce will put investment where government support is most forthcoming. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, which oversees grant support, is under pressure to find 20% of savings in its £18bn budget. At present £500m worth of grants are distributed by Innovate UK. Many believe they could be a target. One plan is to turn at least some of those grants into loans, moving the costs off the government's balance sheet and onto the balance sheets of the recipient companies in the form of debt finance. And thereby creating a revenue stream for the government. Mr East argues that much of the money granted, for example, to Rolls-Royce, goes straight to fund university research - and therefore is not a good target for loan repayments. Rolls-Royce also says that the government's direct grant investment is significantly boosted by the businesses which receive the money. "For every £1 [that flows] from the government into industry, we add £17 of investment in research and development, capital expenditure and training," Mr East said. "It is a good channel for them." He said that the grants support the development of valuable intellectual property (Rolls-Royce alone applies for 600 patents a year) and the maintenance of a skilled engineering base. Without the grants such skills could "leach away", he said. Mr East will hope that Mr Osborne will have better news on research grants than many predict. Profit warnings He has, of course, other issues on his plate beyond research support from the government. Over the last year, Rolls-Royce has announced a series of profit warnings as aircraft engine orders have stalled and oil majors and emerging market governments - buffeted by the falling oil price - have cut back on offshore production. Investors are nervous that a business with a complicated reporting structure - some say opaque - has little visibility of future risks to the firm. And finds it hard to respond. Mr East has pledged to make Rolls-Royce more transparent, less complicated (it has 27 different management structures dealing with "technology", a number he would like to cut to 8) and faster at reacting to changing global markets. He also admitted that further "revisions of expectations" cannot be ruled out given the "mud in the system". That's short hand for further profit warnings - although Mr East insists that at heart Rolls-Royce is a strong and highly profitable business. Rolls-Royce wants to find savings of up to £200m a year, which is likely to mean job losses, particularly among senior managers. We will hear more about that next February when Mr East completes his review. By then he may also be dealing with a cut in research and development support from the government, worth at the moment £33m a year.

ब्रिटेन के लिए एक बड़ी इंजीनियरिंग कंपनी कितनी मूल्यवान है?


Retired priest accused of sexual and physical assaults

Summary: A retired priest has been charged with 18 offences allegedly committed at schools in the Highlands and East Lothian between the 1950s and 1980s.

Robert MacKenzie, 87, from Cupar, Saskatchewan, in Canada, has been accused of sexual and physical assaults. The offences allegedly took place at Fort Augustus Abbey and a preparatory school in North Berwick. He made no plea when he appeared in private at Inverness Sheriff Court. The case was continued for further examination and Fr MacKenzie was remanded in custody. Most of the charges allegedly happened at Fort Augustus Abbey, a former Catholic boarding school in the Highlands. Fr MacKenzie was extradited from Canada to Scotland earlier this month.

एक सेवानिवृत्त पादरी पर 1950 और 1980 के दशक के बीच हाइलैंड्स और ईस्ट लोथियन के स्कूलों में कथित रूप से किए गए 18 अपराधों का आरोप लगाया गया है।


The slow decline of American Chinatowns

Summary: Chinatowns are a feature of many US cities, but some of the best known are succumbing to gentrification, campaigners say. Even one of the largest and most vibrant, in Manhattan, is slowly being invaded by luxury shops and apartment buildings.

By Aidan LewisBBC News, New York It's late afternoon and Mei Rong Song is serving a few last customers in Lao San Snack on East Broadway. Giant metal pots steam behind a counter stacked with metal trays of pig's blood, heart and intestines. Mei has run her restaurant for a decade, catering to a wave of immigrants who began arriving in the 1980s from Fuzhou in south-eastern China. But high rents have been pushing Chinese immigrants out of the area, their place taken by wealthier white tenants. "My shop has Fuzhou speciality foods, and as Fuzhounese people stop living in this neighbourhood there's less and less demand for what I sell," she says. "I don't know that I can stay for more than a year or two." Rapid immigration led to the formation of US Chinatowns in the late 19th Century, though a long period of exclusion and discrimination for the Chinese began around the same time. The next large wave of arrivals followed the 1965 Immigration Act, but in recent decades older Chinatowns have shrunk. "Chinatowns are turning into a sanitised ethnic playground for the rich to satisfy their exotic appetite for a dim sum and fortune cookie fix," says Andrew Leong, one of the authors of a recent report that charted gentrification in New York, Boston and Philadelphia's Chinatowns. Washington DC's version is little more than a collection of Chinese restaurants, gift shops and an ornate arch. This is partly a result of the success of Chinese immigrant families. Many of those from Manhattan's Chinatown have moved to younger Chinese neighbourhoods in Flushing, Queens and Brooklyn's Sunset Park. But up to now, new arrivals in New York have always taken their place. Thousands of working-class families still live in Chinatown's humble tenement buildings, protected by the city's rent-control laws. English is seldom used for business. On an icy winter's day, shoppers stop at stalls selling Chinese delicacies, and cluster in a basement fish and vegetable market. "It's remained a very dynamic immigrant centre for 100 years because it's retained its ability to be an immigrant gateway - a place where new immigrants come in and are able to find housing and job networks," says Ken Guest, an anthropologist at New York's Baruch College. "East Broadway is the first stop as people try to figure out how to make their way in the US economy." Services on offer there include immigration agencies, Chinese doctors, herbal shops, lawyers, phone card companies, banks and wire transfer firms. Employment bureaus send people out to jobs in restaurants on Chinese-run bus routes that stretch as far as the Rockies. An estimated 50,000 people are passing through this network at any one time, says Guest. It's this community that has preserved Chinatown's special character. The shop signs, the language, the groceries, the aroma of the restaurants are unlike those of any other Manhattan neighbourhood. Visitors to Chinatown have entered a subculture. Yet things are changing. The report on gentrification, published by the Asian American Legal Defense Fund, finds that from 2000-2010 the share of the Asian population has fallen from 48%-45% in New York's Chinatown, 57%-46% in Boston's, and 49%-30% in Philadephia's, and that the share of the white population rose in all three cities. As local government encourages commercial development, low-income families and small businesses have been displaced, the report says. The process is less advanced in New York, says Andrew Leong. But even there high-end stores, non-Asian restaurants and luxury apartment buildings have been spreading. Former garment factories have been converted into expensive lofts and landlords have illegally evicted low-income residents, the study says. This story is echoed by Zheng Zhiqin, a campaigner who has noticed growing pressure on low-income tenants, many of them Chinese, over the past 10 years. "They're encouraging people to leave all the time. Sometimes by not providing hot water, or adequate heat, and raising the rents as high as they can," she says. "I see this happening all over Chinatown with my neighbours and friends, and in other buildings in the area." Zheng says big celebrations for Chinese festivals allow immigrants to feel "very much at home" in Chinatown. But this year her landlord, keen to keep the building tidy, asked her for the first time not to hang a traditional bright red scroll from her front door for Chinese New Year. Increasing numbers of immigrants live outside Chinatown and come in for business during the day, or a weekend shopping trip. Cynthia Koo, a 26-year-old start-up employee who went to elementary school in Chinatown, says that all but one of her childhood friends have left the neighbourhood. Her mother used to work in the garment industry before its rapid decline in the 1990s and her father manages a Chinatown restaurant that she says now serves non-Chinese communities. "I think it's a little sad," she says. "It definitely from my experience feels a lot less lively." But some argue that Chinatown has to adapt in order to survive. Wellington Chen, who runs a community network formed to help the neighbourhood recover after the 9/11 attacks, thinks the focus on gentrification is misplaced. "At the end of the day the narrow splitting of us versus them - the class differentiation, the gender, the race thing - that's nonsense," he says. "The best communities, just like the best individuals, are the ones that can adapt to changes very flexibly, nimbly, quickly." Chen supports Chinatown's Business Improvement District (BID) scheme, which uses levies from local business owners to pay for projects to spruce up the area. Keen to make the area more welcoming to outsiders, Chen would like to see waiters speaking better English and has expressed support for the construction of an eye-catching Chinatown arch. It's ideas like this that feed Andrew Leong's fears of an "exotic playground" for wealthy visitors. Some recent research suggests that gentrification can actually benefit an area's original residents. Though vulnerable tenants can be pushed out, those who stay may benefit from improving services and better credit ratings. But Peter Kwong, a professor at New York's Hunter College, says that while this may apply to struggling communities in areas suffering from industrial decline, it doesn't apply to Chinatown. That explains local resistance to the BID and to "rezoning" laws that allow for future property development, he says. "Manhattan is practically all gentrified - this is one of the last areas," he says. "There is a lot of money targeting this area, that would like to see this place [become] a destination for tourism - a quaint place, kind of a hip place for rich people with an ethnic flavour." Bonnie Tsui, author of the book American Chinatown, says that when Chinese communities decline "there is this larger sense of loss of that everyday vibrancy that a neighbourhood like Chinatown has". Visitors "like that concentration, they like that richness of experience, they like that people are speaking in a different language because it feels foreign yet familiar," she argues. "They don't really see that in many neighbourhoods any more." Follow @BBCNewsMagazine on Twitter and on Facebook

अभियानकर्ताओं का कहना है कि चाइनाटाउन कई अमेरिकी शहरों की एक विशेषता है, लेकिन कुछ सबसे प्रसिद्ध शहर नरमी के आगे झुक रहे हैं। यहां तक कि मैनहट्टन में सबसे बड़े और सबसे जीवंत में से एक, धीरे-धीरे लक्जरी दुकानों और अपार्टमेंट इमारतों द्वारा आक्रमण किया जा रहा है।


Dominic Cummings: Fact-checking the row

Summary: Durham Police have investigated Dominic Cummings' relocation of his family to Durham during lockdown. They found that when he subsequently drove to Barnard Castle to check his eyesight "there might have been a minor breach" of the law.

By Reality Check teamBBC News Mr Cummings has maintained he behaved reasonably and legally throughout the episode. 1. Why did Dominic Cummings drive his family 25 miles to Barnard Castle? Mr Cummings drove his family to Durham to stay at his father's farm on the evening of 27 March, after his wife fell ill and suspecting that he might soon fall ill. The next day he developed coronavirus symptoms and was self-isolating. By 12 April Mr Cummings was cleared to return to work and wanted to travel back to London. He decided to go for a drive first to see whether he could drive safely. "My wife was very worried particularly given my eyesight seemed to have been affected by the disease. She did not want to risk a nearly 300-mile drive with our child given how ill I had been." He explained that after parking on the outskirts of Barnard Castle town, he felt sick and the family walked "about 10-15m" and sat by the riverbank for about 15 minutes. Durham Police have now investigated and said that if an officer had stopped Mr Cummings on the way to or from the town he would have been told to return to his father's property. If he had agreed no further action would have been taken. The police view is that it might have been a minor breach of the regulations because Mr Cummings maintained social distancing - ie stayed more than 2m away from anyone. According to Adam King, a senior criminal barrister at QEB Hollis Whiteman, "the use of the word 'might' makes clear that it's not the police's ultimate decision whether to determine reasonable excuse, that's for the courts." "However, if the police's view was that it was a reasonable excuse you would expect them to say that, as they do in relation to the drive to Durham," he says. Many people have questioned whether it was dangerous to test his ability to drive with his wife and child in the car and said it was a breach of the Highway Code and motoring laws. Others have pointed out that it took place on his wife's birthday. Cabinet Minister Michael Gove earlier defended the trip by saying it was "consistent with the guidelines". He also referred to a reason that Mr Cummings did not during his press conference. "It was part of the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) guidance that you could drive at that time in order to take exercise as well," Mr Gove said. But the NPCC guidance referred to by Mr Gove - which was publicised in mid-April - says "driving for a prolonged period with only brief exercise" was not likely to be reasonable. 2. Was the initial relocation to Durham a breach of the guidelines if not the law? When Mr Cummings originally took his family to Durham to stay at a cottage on the family farm, the police view was that the law wasn't broken. "Durham Constabulary does not consider that by locating himself at his father's premises, Mr Cummings committed an offence contrary to regulation 6 of the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020." The lockdown has been underpinned by both the law and various sets of government guidelines. The police only deal with the law. That says: "During the emergency period, no person may leave the place where they are living without reasonable excuse." The law gives examples of reasonable excuses such as obtaining necessities, exercise, medical need and travelling to work. But the list is not exhaustive which means there can be reasonable excuses that are not on it. There are lockdown "rules" that are in the guidelines but not in the law. When Mr Cummings drove his family to Durham he suspected his wife had coronavirus and the whole family should have been remaining in their home and self-isolating, according to the guidelines. But he said he feared both him and his wife becoming incapacitated and unable to look after their four-year-old. He has cited a section in the advice that says: "We are aware that not all these measures will be possible if you are living with children, but keep following this guidance to the best of your ability." 3. Should Mr Cummings have driven to a hospital to pick up his wife and child while he was sick with Covid-19 symptoms? On 2 April, Mr Cummings' son was taken to hospital in an ambulance after he "threw up and had a bad fever". The next day his son "had recovered and seemed back to normal" and Mr Cummings said he drove to the hospital to pick up his family as "there were no taxis". The night before Mr Cummings was so ill he "could barely stand up", he said, and his wife's Spectator piece described how he had a high fever and muscle spasms in his legs for 10 days. As he had coronavirus symptoms like fever, Mr Cummings was supposed to be isolating. On this car journey, Mr Cummings said he did not get out or have contact with any strangers. But were other forms of transport available? There were taxi firms who were taking patients home from hospital in Durham at that point. However, the government guidance told self-isolating people: "Do not use public transport or taxis." But in March and April, the North East Ambulance Service (NEAS) policy was to offer transport for patients leaving hospital with suspected Covid-19 but without a confirmed test result. Mr Cummings confirmed that his son was tested upon leaving the hospital, but did not receive his negative result until "a few days later". So an ambulance could have taken them home. A spokesperson for Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, which runs nine hospitals and two accident and emergency units in the area, told the BBC they "could arrange ambulance transport via North East Ambulance Service" in early April. 4. Did Dominic Cummings return to work on 27 March while suspecting his wife might have coronavirus? Mr Cummings was seen running out of 10 Downing Street on 27 March. His wife, Mary Wakefield, in an article for the Spectator magazine about having the virus, wrote: "My husband did rush home to look after me." In his press conference in the Downing Street rose garden, Mr Cummings said his wife was feeling a bit better after a couple of hours. "There were many critical things at work and she urged me to return in the afternoon and I did." Public Health England (PHE) guidance, published on 12 March, stated that along with the infected individual "all other household members who remain well must stay at home and not leave the house for 14 days". Mr Cummings returned home again in the evening and spoke with his wife. "She was ill. She might have Covid although she did not have a cough or a fever." 5. Why did Dominic Cummings say he had written about the threat of coronaviruses last year? In his prepared statement at the recent press conference Mr Cummings said: "For years I have warned of the dangers of pandemics. Last year I wrote about the possible threat from coronaviruses and the urgent need for planning." Journalists quickly found a blog by the adviser from last year that mentioned SARS a single time. But it was soon established by a bit of internet sleuthing that the blog had been edited to contain this coronavirus reference on the evening of 14 April this year, the day Mr Cummings returned to work from Durham. When originally published it had contained just a link to another article. Mr Cummings has not revealed why he made the edit when he did. Additional reporting by Oliver Barnes, Chris Morris and Tom Edgington What claims do you want BBC Reality Check to investigate? Get in touch Read more from Reality Check Follow us on Twitter

डरहम पुलिस ने डोमिनिक कमिंग्स द्वारा लॉकडाउन के दौरान अपने परिवार को डरहम में स्थानांतरित करने की जांच की है। उन्होंने पाया कि जब वह बाद में अपनी दृष्टि की जांच करने के लिए बर्नार्ड कैसल गए तो कानून का "मामूली उल्लंघन हो सकता है"।


South Sudan conflict: The hungry emerge from swampland for aid

Summary: Three years of civil war in South Sudan have driven thousands of families into the marshes of the Nile to hide from the fighting. A famine has been declared some parts. The BBC's Alastair Leithead has been to the rebel-held town Thonyor in Leer County, where people have been told to gather to get help.

By Alastair LeitheadBBC News, Leer County, South Sudan They emerged from the marshlands of the Nile in their thousands, as word spread that help had come. Forced by fighting to live on the isolated islands of the Sudd swamps, they have been surviving for months on wild plants. Now they sat on the dry, cracked earth in long lines under a brutal sun - mostly women and children - waiting to register for the food aid which would be air-dropped in a few days time. "We are only surviving by eating wild honey and water lilies from the river," said Nyambind Chan Kuar as she sat with 16 of her children and grandchildren. "The fighting has been disastrous - children have been killed, they are taking our things, our cattle, our goats, taking everything, even though we have nothing to do with this war." Each person is given a card that entitles them to 30 days of food rations when supplies arrive. Their finger is then stained with ink to avoid duplication. "People are dying because of this hunger," said Mary Nyayain. "That's why we are here queuing for these tokens." The town of Thonyor in Leer County was chosen as the central point for distributing aid after long negotiations with both sides in the civil war. It's one of the four counties in Unity State suffering pockets of famine, which the latest hunger assessment says is affecting 100,000 people. Leer is the birthplace of the former vice-president turned rebel leader Riek Machar which is perhaps why it has been the centre of so much fighting. Thonyor is controlled by the rebels or the "IO" as they're known - forces "In Opposition" - but the government troops are just 20 minutes up the road. "The war has been so difficult for us," said another woman waiting in line for a cholera vaccination. "Especially for the old women who are not able to run to the river to survive in the islands. Our cows and goats were taken so that's why we are only able to survive through the food agency." Under each tree is a different medical post - with health checks for the children. The worst cases of malnutrition are treated straight away. "You may think this child is actually very healthy - he's fat, he's looking OK," said James Bwirani from the Food and Agriculture Organisation. "But this is just water accumulating in the body and he has not been consuming adequate food for some time." The child has a distended belly and his face and limbs are swollen. "If left untreated for between a week to two weeks, this child is going to be dead," Mr Bwirani said. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is coordinating this emergency response, expecting about 36,000 people to come in from the swamps for help. But there are many thousands more who are too far away, cut off by rivers or in areas where the government and the rebels have not agreed to provide access. "For many, many months humanitarian agencies have not been able to make it into this area. This is first time we're doing so," said George Fominyen from the WFP. "Without safety, without assurance of security for the people that are in need and the aid workers, we'll be having a catastrophic situation down the line." The UN describes this as "a man-made famine" - created by the civil war which has divided the army and the country largely along ethnic lines. A political row between President Salva Kiir and Mr Machar led to killings in the capital and fighting which has spread across the country. The war has displaced millions of people, many into neighbouring countries, and 40% of the population now depends on international aid. Mr Machar fled South Sudan in July when a fragile peace deal collapsed. He is currently in South Africa, unable to return but apparently still commanding his troops by phone. Leer county commissioner Brig Gen Nhial Phan said there won't be peace until Mr Machar is allowed back to take part in a proposed national dialogue. He believes President Kiir wants to drive people out of his county. "The government kills people - their militia is raiding, taking cows, killing and burning the church and the houses, forcing people into the islands," he said. There are scorch marks where the market used to be and the remains of a Medecins Sans Frontieres clinic, destroyed when the government forces took the town for two days last November. By getting help in fast, aid agencies hope to pull this region back from famine and stop the famine from spreading - if they are allowed to access to the worst affected areas.

दक्षिण सूडान में तीन साल के गृहयुद्ध ने हजारों परिवारों को लड़ाई से छिपने के लिए नील नदी के दलदल में धकेल दिया है। कुछ हिस्सों में अकाल घोषित कर दिया गया है। बीबीसी के एलिस्टेयर लीटहेड को लीयर काउंटी के विद्रोहियों के कब्जे वाले शहर थोनिओर में भेजा गया है, जहाँ लोगों को मदद लेने के लिए इकट्ठा होने के लिए कहा गया है।


Condor Ferries swaps ships 'to minimise delays'

Summary: Condor Ferries hopes to minimise delays while it makes repairs by switching two of its ships on routes between the Channel Islands and the UK and France.

The swap of the Rapide and Vitesse for a week will see the Vitesse operate between the islands and France. This will allow repairs to a fault in one of the engines to be conducted overnight while the vessel is in dock in St Malo. Condor Ferries said the move minimised changes to their schedules. Simon Edsall, managing director, said: "The majority of people travelling will see little difference aside of a different name on the ship." He said the switch delivered more passengers to their destinations closer to the original schedule than might otherwise be possible with the Vitesse operating on reduced power. Mr Edsall said those passengers affected had been informed of the changes. The fault to be fixed was found in a piston's lube oil system.

कोंडोर फेरी को देरी को कम करने की उम्मीद है जबकि यह चैनल द्वीप समूह और यूके और फ्रांस के बीच के मार्गों पर अपने दो जहाजों को बदलकर मरम्मत करता है।


Ed Sheeran eBay clothes auction raises £1,500 for charity

Summary: An eBay auction of clothes once worn by global music star Ed Sheeran has raised nearly £1,500 for a Suffolk charity.

A bag of 17 items was handed to the St Elizabeth Hospice shop in Framlingham, where the singer-songwriter grew up, by his family last month. One of the star lots was a onesie that sold for more than £300. On the charity's Facebook page, a spokeswoman thanked everyone for their bids, adding the money would help it continue to care for local people. Bags containing more of Sheeran's clothes have been given to other charities in the area, with some selling them via eBay or through their shops.

वैश्विक संगीत स्टार एड शीरन द्वारा पहने जाने वाले कपड़ों की ईबे नीलामी ने सफ़ोक चैरिटी के लिए लगभग 1,500 पाउंड जुटाए हैं।


Plumstead death: Four-year-old victim named as Kingswealth Bayode

Summary: A mother accused of murdering her four-year-old son in Plumstead, south-east London, has been named as Oluwakemi Badare.

The Old Bailey heard the 36-year-old is facing a charge of killoing her son Kingswealth Bayode. Kingswealth's body was found at a flat at Invermore Place on Sunday morning, the Met Police previously said. Ms Badare did not appear in court but has been remanded into custody ahead of a plea hearing on 17 March. Related Internet Links HM Courts & Tribunals Service

दक्षिण-पूर्व लंदन के प्लमस्टेड में अपने चार साल के बेटे की हत्या के आरोपी मां का नाम ओलुवाकेमी बदारे है।


Translink: Mobile payment problems frustrate commuters

Summary: Angry customers have taken to social media to vent their frustration at problems with Translink's app.

The mLink app allows passengers to use pre-paid tickets on public transport. However, some customers experienced difficulties on Monday and Tuesday. Translink say the problem was a result of "supplier capacity issues" which affected operators in the UK and parts of Europe, adding that the app is now working again. In a statement, Translink acknowledged the purchase of new tickets "was not possible in some cases". They have urged customers who are experiencing problems to contact them.

गुस्साए ग्राहकों ने ट्रांसलिंक के ऐप के साथ समस्याओं पर अपनी हताशा व्यक्त करने के लिए सोशल मीडिया का सहारा लिया है।


Coronavirus bailouts: Which country has the most generous deal?

Summary: Coronavirus shutdowns around the world have pushed countries into crisis-mode, prompting a massive rescue spending in an effort to soften the blow from what is expected to be the worst economic contraction since the 1930s.

As of 7 April, countries around the world had approved more than $4.5tn worth of emergency measures, according to the IMF. That figure has only grown in the weeks since. So how do the responses compare? New spending Columbia economics professor Ceyhun Elgin has been working with colleagues around the world to track the responses in 166 countries. By his calculations, Japan's response has been among the most aggressive, with a spending package estimated at roughly 20% of the country's economy. (It is topped only by Malta, which benefits from European Union funds.) That compares to rescue spending estimated at roughly 14% of GDP in the US, 11% in Australia, 8.4% in Canada, 5% in the UK, 1.5% in Colombia and 0.6% in Gambia. But that ranking looks different if measures beyond spending, such as central bank actions, are considered. In the biggest European countries, for example, government pledges to guarantee new loans provided to businesses hurt by the shutdowns - a move meant to keep banks lending and stave off bankruptcies - has accounted for a major part of the response. America's central bank has also stepped in with lending programmes with a similar aim. Factoring in those kinds of actions puts France at the top of the pack and moves the UK into fifth place, instead of 47th. Prof Elgin says the biggest responses have occurred in countries that are richer, older - and have fewer hospital beds. Countries like the US and Japan are also in a better position to finance new spending, since investor willingness to buy their bonds means they benefit from low borrowing costs. However Prof Elgin says size shouldn't be mistaken for effectiveness, noting that countries are deploying funds differently. "All the different contents in these packages, they might have different multiplier effects, creating different outcomes," he says. Relief directed at companies tends to be a phenomenon of "advanced economies", says Paolo Mauro, deputy director of the IMF's fiscal affairs department. While the sums involved are potentially significant, he says such programmes tend to be relatively low risk, since many firms will be able to repay the loans as planned. Meanwhile, some poorer countries have prepared responses, but will need to get money from international organisations and other donors to execute. Direct payments Some strategies can be found in relief plans around the world, such as cash transfers. In many countries, the aid is targeted at the poor or people working in the informal economy and unlikely to get assistance through other programmes; or else conditioned on a person's job having been affected by shutdowns. Canada, for example, is providing CAD 2,000 (£1,150; $1,400) per month for up to four months to those who have lost income due to the pandemic, while Costa Rica is funding a monthly allowance of $220 (£177) for people who have lost their jobs due to the virus. The US and some countries in Asia have taken an even broader approach. All Americans earning under $99,000 - an estimated 90% of households - are due to receive as much as $1,200 (£964) per adult, while South Korea's central government is sending cheques of up to KRW 1 million (£659; $820) to families in the bottom 70% income bracket. Hong Kong in February announced a handout of $10,000 Hong Kong dollar ($1,280; £985) per adult; Japan is sending its citizens JPY 100,000 (£752; $931) per person, and Singapore $S600 (£340; $422). In Europe, in contrast, many countries have opted against one-off bonuses and are relying on relatively strong existing safety net programmes, like the UK's Universal Credit, to meet the increased needs. "The difference is in what economists call the automatic stabilisers," says Mr Mauro of the IMF. "The discretionary response is very large in the United States but when you're comparing you need to take into account that actually more needs to be done in the US because the social safety nets are smaller." Wage subsidies Another common strategy has been government programmes that help cover payrolls for companies suffering from lockdown measures. The hope is that if firms retain staff it will help the economy bounce back more quickly once the restrictions are lifted. The Netherlands has put forward one of the most generous plans, pledging to replace up to 90% of wage costs for eligible companies, while France is offering to cover 84% of the gross wage - and up to 100% if a worker makes minimum wage. The UK's scheme will pay 80% of earnings of furloughed staff up to £2,500 per employee per month, for at least three months, while Canada will cover 75% of wages for up to three months. Many of these plans build on existing "short-term work" programmes. The US, where such programmes were not already widespread, has taken a less direct approach, dedicating more than $650bn to business loans, which do not have to be repaid if firms maintain staffing levels and spend the majority on wages within two months. The so-called the Paycheck Protection Program has been overwhelmed by demand but it has also been roiled in controversy. There has been widespread outcry about large companies sucking up much of the money, which had been pitched as relief for small businesses. Other firms have criticised the rules focusing the spending on payrolls, arguing that it is other expenses that threaten their survival, while low-wage staff may be better off receiving newly expanded unemployment benefits. Providing wage subsidies makes sense if the shutdowns are brief, says Daniel Bunn, vice-president of global projects at the Tax Foundation, a Washington think tank. But they are likely to be less effective if they persist, and significantly alter the contours of the economy. "The challenge is not knowing how long the economic shutdown is going to last or what position businesses or families or workers will be in on the other side of this," he says. For now, he says many countries with the funds on hand have decided to err on the side of doing too much - and it's too early to tell whether even that will be enough.

दुनिया भर में कोरोनावायरस शटडाउन ने देशों को संकट-मोड में धकेल दिया है, जिससे 1930 के दशक के बाद से सबसे खराब आर्थिक संकुचन होने की उम्मीद से झटका को कम करने के प्रयास में बड़े पैमाने पर बचाव खर्च को बढ़ावा मिला है।


Man critical after tractor and van crash in Highlands

Summary: A man is in critical condition after he was involved in a crash between a tractor and a van in the Highlands.

Emergency services were called to the A95's Skye of Curr junction near Grantown on Spey at about 07:45. The 33-year-old suffered serious injuries and was airlifted to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary for treatment. The road was closed at the scene for eight hours while investigations were carried out. Sgt Angus MacLeod issued an appeal for information to road users who may have been in the area at the time. He urged anyone with dashcam footage to speak to officers via the Police Scotland non-emergency line.

हाइलैंड्स में एक ट्रैक्टर और एक वैन के बीच दुर्घटना में शामिल होने के बाद एक व्यक्ति की हालत गंभीर है।


Australian carmaking runs out of road

Summary: Australia's final locally made car left the production line on Friday when Holden stopped manufacturing in the nation. It is considered the end of an era after similar exits by Ford and Toyota, writes the BBC's Hywel Griffith in Sydney.

"We love football, meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars." The chorus to Holden's 1970s TV advert tells you everything you need to know about the company that gave Australia its first homegrown, mass-produced motorcar. Or almost everything - since 1931, this all-Aussie brand has in fact been owned by the American giant General Motors. It is Holden's position in the global market that is key to understanding the rise and fall of car manufacturing in Australia. Holden started off as an Adelaide saddle-maker before adapting to the arrival of motorbikes and cars by supplying upholstery and vehicle bodies. Following World War Two, it got the backing of the Australian government, which wanted to kickstart domestic car manufacturing and give the nation some global status. The birth of the first Holden 48-215 in 1948 began the public's love affair with "Australia's own car", which would blossom over the decades. "It's what we grew up with, it's just what we know," explains Jason Fischer from Gosford Classic Car Museum, as he shows me their collection of vintage Holdens, from one of the first 48-215s to a classic Aussie ute. "I came home from hospital in a Holden car, my dad had one, my grandfather had one and so on, so you know - it's just a natural progression." While there were other cars on the market, Holden could lay claim to producing the first vehicle made by Australians, for Australians. "They were rugged, they could deal with our temperatures," Mr Fischer says. "Outback Australia is a pretty harsh place and these things were made tough." Tribal loyalty Through the 1960s and '70s, Holden was king of the road in Australia, with the only serious competition coming from Ford, who launched their own Australian-made family car, the Falcon. Toyota also started production in Australia in 1963, but it was Holden and Ford who built almost tribal loyalty among their customers, which culminated each year in the companies going head-to-head in the Bathurst 1000 motor race. These were the sunshine years - the time of that technicolor TV advert for meat pies and kangaroos that showed Holden cars being driven by happy, smiling, patriotic Australians. As more families could afford a car, Holden expanded and introduced its popular new model, the Commodore. Until the late 1980s, steep import tariffs kept Australian-made cars ahead of the pack, as foreign-built vehicles from the rest of the world remained largely unaffordable. But that same protectionist policy may have created complacency, according to Prof Roy Green, the dean of UTS Business School in Sydney. "In a sense, the Australian local assembly industry was destined to fail because it was established originally behind very high tariff barriers," he argues. "It couldn't become export competitive when the tariffs were reduced. This is when imports started to flood in and the local industry was very slow to adapt, very slow to take on new ideas and methods." As those tariffs started to fall, global competition increased - but Holden's decline wasn't instant. The company's Commodore model continued to figure prominently among Australia's best-selling cars well into the 21st Century. Holden was also an important exporter, shipping cars to the Middle East and Brazil, and contributing significantly to Australia's balance of trade. 'Loss for Australia' But by 2013, with decades of government subsidies drying up, the writing was on the wall and Holden announced it could no longer afford to manufacture cars in Australia. With Ford and Toyota already having ceased production in Australia, Holden said its vehicles would also be built abroad. The decision means the deep loyalty many customers have felt will be tested. At the Australian Car Sales garage in western Sydney, we found one worker with a Holden tattoo on his arm. But manager Shayne Hennessey is concerned about how people will respond. "I think it's going to be a huge loss for Australia," he says. "I don't think the public are going to take lightly to this, they might go to a different brand." At the moment around 70% of customers at his used car yard are looking for a Holden Commodore, and he anticipates there will at least be an initial spike in sales for the last Australian-made Holden cars. "The only thing it's going to be now is a historic car," he says. "[For] people who can afford to put it away in the garage, it might be worth a fair bit of money in years to come." With the rapid growth in electric vehicles threatening to disrupt the market, there is at least some hope Australia could one day produce its own cars again. But for now, the story of "Australia's own car" seems to be at the end of the road.

ऑस्ट्रेलिया की अंतिम स्थानीय रूप से निर्मित कार ने शुक्रवार को उत्पादन लाइन छोड़ दी जब होल्डन ने देश में निर्माण बंद कर दिया। इसे फोर्ड और टोयोटा द्वारा इसी तरह के निकास के बाद एक युग का अंत माना जाता है, सिडनी में बीबीसी के हाइवेल ग्रिफ़िथ लिखते हैं।


Nottinghamshire County Council to retain three-term school year

Summary: Nottinghamshire County Council has said it has agreed to keep a three-term year with a fixed two-week break at the end of the spring term starting in 2013.

The decision was made at a Children and Young People's Committee meeting earlier. Almost 4,000 responses were received during a 12-week public consultation about school term and holiday dates. Plans for schools in Nottingham city to switch to a five-term year resulted in a series of strikes. The city council agreed to reconsider those plans after talks with a teachers' union in May. It had said a five-term year would boost attainment but teachers viewed the change as disruptive. The NUT said there was no evidence it would help pupils and claimed it could cause problems with county and city schools being on different systems.

नॉटिंघमशायर काउंटी काउंसिल ने कहा है कि वह 2013 में शुरू होने वाले वसंत कार्यकाल के अंत में एक निश्चित दो सप्ताह के विराम के साथ तीन कार्यकाल वाले वर्ष को रखने पर सहमत हो गई है।


Iran sanctions: Does US 'Plan B' on Iran risk war?

Summary: So this then is the US "Plan B" for Iran - to step up the sanctions pressure in order to force the Tehran government into a new diplomatic deal. It would need to accept broader constraints, not just on its nuclear activities, but also on its missile programme and wider behaviour in the region.

By Jonathan MarcusDefence and diplomatic correspondent But is this a realistic policy for a new compromise with Tehran? Or is it a recipe for growing tensions; in reality a hawkish diplomatic smoke-screen intended to cloak a policy whose fundamental goal is regime change in Iran? It is certainly tough. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was at pains to spell out a comprehensive effort to contain Iran and to roll back its influence in the region. But how realistic is this policy? And how many of Washington's allies are likely to sign up to it beyond the Saudis and the Israelis, for whom the new policy in Washington must be music to their ears? Still a non-starter At one level there was, of course, a certain logic to this speech. Mr Pompeo explained why the Trump administration regarded the Obama-era agreement with Iran - often known by its initials JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) - as fundamentally flawed. He charges that the Obama team failed to use the leverage afforded to them by the sanctions regime and settled for a half-measure, a half-deal with Iran that only addressed part of the agenda. But the historical record shows that Iran was not wilting under the sanctions regime. It was getting ever closer to a bomb. The Obama administration took the view that by accepting that Iran might continue to enrich uranium at controlled levels they would be able to get an agreement that would lengthen "the break-out time", during which Iran might sprint towards a bomb. That deal - if it worked - could in time be followed up by further negotiations. It was imperfect, but then diplomacy so often is. It is easily forgotten that the wider international sanctions regime against Tehran was slowly weakening. Mr Obama opted for some constraints today, knowing that there would be more work to be done in the future. But the very real risk of a war with Iran was averted. Now one of Mr Pompeo's demands of Iran - he set out a check-list of a dozen - is that it agree to give up enrichment altogether. That was a non-starter back in 2015 when the JCPOA was agreed and it is equally a non-starter today. Business decides The US strategy rests upon marshalling a new punitive sanctions regime against Tehran and a cohort of regional allies to contain its growing influence. Of course, for sanctions to work they must be comprehensive and supported by as many countries as possible. For now Washington's European allies want to stick with the JCPOA. The smart money says that what European governments say does not really matter - it is business that must make the decisions to invest in Iran or risk punitive US sanctions. And the view of experts is that while the big European governments will splutter and protest, just like the French oil giant Total, business will worry about the bottom line and pull out of any Iranian holdings. How far are Russia, China and India likely to bow to US sanctions pressure? Compelling allies and other countries to abandon trade with Iran risks damaging a whole series of wider diplomatic relationships. Is the Trump administration really ready to hold a series of key bilateral ties hostage to its policy towards Tehran. To hear Mr Pompeo speak, this is a disagreement about means not ends. The Europeans, Russia, China and, of course, Iran are indeed happy to see the JCPOA continue. But they share many of Washington's concerns - which are hardly new - and are eager to look at additional steps that might be taken to try to curb Iran's missile programme and regional adventurism. But the fear of many is that this is actually a disagreement about ends and that the Trump administration is more eager to follow National Security Adviser John Bolton's line, which has long been to foment regime change in Tehran. However the fundamental problem remains Iran itself. It is not going to accept any of Mr Pompeo's 12-point plan. At some point it may well decide to pull out of the deal itself and step up its nuclear activities. This is not a recipe for weakening hardliners in Tehran or ensuring regional stability. Many fear that this is not a strategy that will lead to a new and better agreement but one that risks a steady descent into war.

इसलिए यह ईरान के लिए अमेरिकी "प्लान बी" है-तेहरान सरकार को एक नए राजनयिक समझौते के लिए मजबूर करने के लिए प्रतिबंधों का दबाव बढ़ाने के लिए। उसे न केवल अपनी परमाणु गतिविधियों पर, बल्कि अपने मिसाइल कार्यक्रम और क्षेत्र में व्यापक व्यवहार पर भी व्यापक बाधाओं को स्वीकार करने की आवश्यकता होगी।


Domestic abuse: How therapy helped my violent son to recover

Summary: Children from violent homes are more likely to carry a weapon, seriously hurt others, drink alcohol, bully fellow students and damage the property of their peers, says a study by the NSPCC. Inaction from the government and local authorities could cost society dearly, the charity warns. Christine from Leeds is a victim of domestic abuse, but as she describes, she did not realise her son was being mentally scarred by the violence:

Things went very fast at the beginning of my relationship with Gareth. Before I knew it he had moved in with me and after a while we were trying for a baby. He only showed his violent side after I became pregnant. When I was 10 weeks pregnant he threw me to the floor before smashing up my house. I had him arrested but he was so sorry afterwards and said that he would pay for repairs. I believed him and dropped the charges. The abuse continued when I was pregnant and after I had the baby, with him pushing me to the floor, pulling my hair and punching my face. He regularly beat me up in front of the baby and my eldest son from a previous relationship. Attacking children My eldest was only six when the abuse started and he had to witness his stepfather attacking me for a year before I had enough and got him arrested and eventually convicted. The NSPCC helped me to rebuild my life and my relationship with my sons. But it was not until my eldest son was 10 that I started to see how much he was affected by witnessing his step-father attack me. I noticed that he was angry a lot and he started to get into trouble at school. He got excluded for three days at a time on three separate occasions when he was 11 for attacking other children. It makes me sick to the stomach even now, because it was something he saw his stepfather do to me. Gareth had asked for contact with him and his younger brother, but my son said that if he was made to see his stepfather he was going to stab him. He ran away from school once and then ran away from home in February 2011. He was only gone for three hours, but it was dark and rainy and felt like an eternity. It was only after the police brought him back that he broke down and let me know how he was feeling. Moving on He could not make sense of what he was seeing when he was six, but by the age of 10 he became more aware of what he had seen and became angry as a result. He threatened to harm himself and said he didn't want to live any more. It was heartbreaking. He also told me that Gareth was physically abusive towards him, which I had not known. He was referred for therapeutic help and I do not know what would have happened if he had not got this. I had told him time and again that it was not his fault that Gareth attacked me, but his therapist helped him understand this and come to terms with what happened. The therapist made my son believe that he was not a bad kid and helped him move on. He is 12 now and still has times when he gets angry, but he knows how to control that anger now and has stopped lashing out at school. I think therapeutic help is essential to help a child who has witnessed domestic violence move on from what has happened without lashing out at others.

एन. एस. पी. सी. सी. के एक अध्ययन में कहा गया है कि हिंसक घरों के बच्चे हथियार ले जाते हैं, दूसरों को गंभीर रूप से चोट पहुँचाते हैं, शराब पीते हैं, साथी छात्रों को धमकाते हैं और अपने साथियों की संपत्ति को नुकसान पहुँचाते हैं। सरकार और स्थानीय अधिकारियों की निष्क्रियता समाज को बहुत महंगी पड़ सकती है, चैरिटी चेतावनी देती है। लीड्स की क्रिस्टीन घरेलू दुर्व्यवहार की शिकार है, लेकिन जैसा कि वह वर्णन करती है, उसे एहसास नहीं था कि उसका बेटा हिंसा से मानसिक रूप से घायल हो रहा थाः


Canary Island volcano: A new island in the making?

Summary: An undersea volcano erupting just south of Spain's Canary Islands may be the beginnings of a new island, or an extension to an existing one. For some, it's a colourful spectacle - for others a major blow to their livelihood.

By Rob Hugh-JonesPRI's The World "It's angry today. Look at it go!" says fisherman Elio Morales Rodriguez in the village of La Restinga, on the south coast of El Hierro island. "That green patch on the water is a dead zone," he says, looking out to sea. "It kills everything. No fishing, no dive schools, no tourists, just dead fish on the surface." For more than a month, the underwater volcano has been erupting three miles to the south of El Hierro, the smallest of the seven Canary Islands, about 50km (30 miles) south-west of its nearest neighbour, La Gomera, and 100km (60 miles) from the most populous of the islands - Tenerife. From about 60m below the sea, the so-called "submarine" volcano is spewing gases and burning lava, some of which is breaking the surface of the water. That has drawn lots of camera crews racing to the island to see what's going on, but far fewer tourists than usual. Local journalist Barbara Belt says the islanders don't know when all the fuss will die down and they will be able to get on with their lives again. In the coastal village of La Restinga, many bars, restaurants, and hotels are shut, and many of the village's residents have already left. Tremors Scientists say the eruption is part of the long-term volcanic evolution of the Canary Islands, which may result in a new island, or add new territory to the southern coast of El Hierro. There is seismic activity to the north of the island too. "There has been an enormous amount of seismic activity around the island," says Nemesio Perez, scientific coordinator at Involcan, the Canaries Institute of Volcanology. "Off the south coast, the magma has broken through the crust. The question is whether that will also happen off the north coast too." Mr Perez studied volcanology in Japan and the United States before returning to his native Canary Islands in 1997 to help improve the archipelago's volcano monitoring network. In the past four months, the network has detected more than 11,000 tremors across El Hierro island, one of which measured magnitude 4.6 and was strong enough to be felt on La Gomera and Tenerife. One resident of El Hierro said it was like an "energy jolt", while another described the noise as "a deep roar". Most of the tremors on El Hierro have gone unnoticed by the 10,000 residents, but a number have been powerful enough to make some a little nervous. "Islanders have had suitcases ready by the door, with a change of clothes, battery radio, torch, blanket and emergency rations," says Barbara Belt. On the north of the island, in an area called La Frontera, a teacher named Carmen says she's using games to encourage children at her infant school to follow emergency procedures. "When I blow a whistle, they scramble to get under the tables as fast as they can. We sing songs until the all-clear, then line up holding a rope to go outside," she adds. "Islanders are told to stay inside during tremors," says Barbara Belt. "When calm returns, they move outside to prearranged meeting points." The island got a visit from the Spanish defence minister in September. In La Caleta, a civil defence task force has arrived from the Spanish mainland and is on stand-by to help in case of emergency. Ash cloud? The islanders' daily lives were disturbed by the temporary closing of a vital road tunnel. There have also been evacuations from homes in potentially hazardous areas. For some, the worst of it has been the impact on the tourist trade. "The TV and papers dramatise everything," says Maximo Rodriguez, chatting in a near-empty bar in La Restinga. "It scares people off. People should come. How often do you get the chance to witness this?" he asks. On the north side of the island, in La Frontera, the owners of the Tasca La Cantina bar, Jose Antonio Padron Perez and his wife Maria Fonte Armas, say they are similarly fed up. "We get walking groups from northern Europe throughout the winter season. Everyone cancelled. But real life isn't as dramatic as the press say. We are all aware of volcanic activity. These are volcanic islands!" El Hierro has more than 500 open-sky cones, making it the most volcanic of all the Canary Islands, and this may be why so many Herrenos say they are unperturbed. Carmen says her children's paintings of volcanoes are colourful and fun, not dark and sinister. Dr Joachim Gottsmann, a volcanologist at Bristol University in the UK, who leads a European Commission-funded volcano study, says there is no obvious or impending prospect of an Iceland-style "ash cloud" developing in the Canaries. "Right now, the eruption south of El Hierro is really a submarine eruption only," he says. But he adds that this could change at any minute. So a cloud of uncertainty does hang over the heads of the islanders. They would like the fuss to subside - or at least for more tourists to come to the island to witness volcanic evolution for themselves. Listen to more on this story, and see aerial photos of the effects of the underwater eruption, at PRI's The World, a co-production of the BBC World Service, Public Radio International, and WGBH in Boston.

स्पेन के कैनरी द्वीप समूह के ठीक दक्षिण में समुद्र के नीचे ज्वालामुखी का फटना एक नए द्वीप की शुरुआत हो सकती है, या किसी मौजूदा द्वीप का विस्तार हो सकता है। कुछ लोगों के लिए, यह एक रंगीन तमाशा है-दूसरों के लिए उनकी आजीविका के लिए एक बड़ा झटका।


Migrant crisis: A Syrian's struggle to become German

Summary: More than a year after arriving in Germany, Sami Farah, a 23-year-old music therapist from war-torn Syria, is finally putting down roots in his new home - Berlin. Sami was among nearly 900,000 non-EU migrants who reached Germany last year - an unprecedented influx. Helped by activist group Jobs4refugees, he has now found a job as a hotel dish-washer. This is his story.

They don't teach you in school how to start a new life from zero. You don't learn how to leave everything behind, your family, job, friends, community - your home - and go to a new place, where you are no-one, you know no-one. It's not taking a leap of faith - it's jumping into the sea, literally. That is how people reach Europe - on small, crowded boats. But the wondrous human spirit is surprisingly capable of more than you could imagine. I've reached a milestone in my life. I speak German, I have a supportive family, I live in a shared flat with two other Germans. I have two new close friends and, finally, a job in a hotel kitchen, after waiting five months for a work permit. It's minimum wage - €8.5 per hour (£7.7; $9.3) - which is just enough to live on and pay your bills and legal fees. My colleagues are nice, my boss is very supportive. There are still a lot of dark days - when you can't attend your elder brother's wedding, or your sister's. They refused to recognise me as an official refugee - instead I got subsidiary protection status, with one-year residency. Some days you have to wait for 10 hours at the State Office for Health and Social Affairs (LaGeSo) - only to be treated in a demeaning way by some security guys and some employees. Then there were cold weeks when you had to wait outside for eight hours, in a never-ending queue. But let's try to stay positive and optimistic: you do meet interesting people, and hear different stories - some that make you cry inside, but others that make your heart smile. I consider myself blessed to have met such great people since I arrived here, people I learned from, and shared experiences with - memorable times. At times I needed to get out of my comfort zone and try out new things. Some ended up badly, but some changed my life. Do I have worries? Of course - I'm worried about discrimination, about anti-refugee extremist groups, and how that might affect my life in this country, or any other country. I worry about the safety of my relatives in Syria - only a few managed to flee to Germany. I worry about my family's finances, as there is little job security for Syrians in Jordan. I won't lie - I don't feel secure. But again, the human spirit pushes us on, to believe in a better future, to hope that life will be normal again. You know, the usual: being able to study, have a career of your own, a family of your own some day. I want the same things that you want. A life. A note on terminology: The BBC uses the term migrant to refer to all people on the move who have yet to complete the legal process of claiming asylum. This group includes people fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, who are likely to be granted refugee status, as well as people who are seeking jobs and better lives, who governments are likely to rule are economic migrants.

जर्मनी पहुंचने के एक साल से भी अधिक समय बाद, युद्धग्रस्त सीरिया के 23 वर्षीय संगीत चिकित्सक सामी फराह आखिरकार अपने नए घर-बर्लिन में अपनी जड़ें जमा रहे हैं। सामी लगभग 900,000 गैर-यूरोपीय संघ के प्रवासियों में से थे जो पिछले साल जर्मनी पहुंचे थे-एक अभूतपूर्व प्रवाह। कार्यकर्ता समूह जॉब्स4रिफ्यूजीज की मदद से, उन्हें अब एक होटल डिश-वॉशर के रूप में नौकरी मिल गई है। यह उनकी कहानी है।


India 'poisonous flour' kills nine in Bihar

Summary: At least nine people have died in India's Bihar state after eating poisoned flour, police said.

The victims, all poor labourers, ate sattu - a variety of gram flour - bought from a roadside stall in Jehanabad district on Monday afternoon. They were taken to hospital after they complained of stomach-ache but their condition deteriorated. Police said they raided the store but the shopkeeper had run away. An inquiry has been ordered into the incident. Bihar's government has announced compensation of 200,000 rupees ($3,720; £2,312) to the families of each victim.

भारत के बिहार राज्य में जहरीला आटा खाने से कम से कम नौ लोगों की मौत हो गई है।


Oxford city centre abandoned bikes go to homeless charity

Summary: Abandoned bicycles around Oxford are to be donated to a community programme which teaches homeless people maintenance and repairs.

Oxford City Council will provide the Broken Spoke Bike Co-op with a proportion of bicycles for participants on its Build-a-Bike courses. Last year, 119 abandoned bikes were removed by city council officers. The Build-a-Bike courses allow participants to keep the bikes for themselves at the end. Ellie Smith, from Broken Spoke, said: "Not only are we diverting abandoned bikes from the waste stream, we're also giving Oxford residents an opportunity to learn practical skills and take direct ownership of how they get around."

ऑक्सफोर्ड के आसपास छोड़ी गई साइकिलों को एक सामुदायिक कार्यक्रम में दान किया जाना है जो बेघर लोगों को रखरखाव और मरम्मत सिखाता है।


London fire: A tale of two tower blocks

Summary: London is increasingly becoming a city of high-rise living. There are more than 700 tower blocks, ranging from brand new luxury developments to the post-war council-owned buildings seen as a quick fix to cure problems caused by crumbling and unsanitary 19th Century hovels.

By Bethan BellBBC News About 8% of Londoners now live in tower blocks. Some flats are bought for millions; others are relatively low-cost social housing rented from a local council at a fraction of the private rate. Grenfell Tower itself was designed in 1967, started in 1972 and finished in 1974. Originally built as municipal housing as part of the slum clearances of the 1960s, it had 120 one- and two-bedroom flats over 20 of its 24 storeys, and was renovated in 2016. It's in a neighbourhood ranked among the most deprived 10% in England. Just two miles away - or four stops along the Circle/Hammersmith and City line - is 3 Merchant Square, a 21-storey tower that is part of a new development around Paddington Basin. The contemporary block was finished in 2016 and holds 60 apartments over 15 storeys. It's a different world. The penthouse apartment was sold for £7.5m. One-bedroom flats are at least £1m. Surrounded by restaurants and bars, workers and residents can lounge on deckchairs on a newly-built floating park. Lunchtime yoga sessions are held and there's a luxury fitness club. There's an enormous fountain and a bridge created by renowned designer Thomas Heatherwick, a nursery and winter garden. But nice though these peripheries undoubtedly are, they don't keep people safe from fire. For that, we must have a look at the specifications of the apartments in the tower. Once you get past the sales brochure description of 3 Merchant Square's walnut cutlery drawer inserts and integral wine coolers, the adjustable mood lighting and heated bathroom walls, you come to the fire safety details: Every flat has not only ceiling mounted smoke detectors but sprinklers. The International Fire Sprinkler Association (IFSA) says that automatic fire sprinkler systems are the single most effective fire protection measure available, and are able to make up for a wide range of other fire protection deficiencies. There has never been a multiple loss of life from a fire developing in a building protected by a properly designed, installed and maintained fire sprinkler system. While fire sprinkler systems have been required in new high-rise residential buildings in England since 2007, it is not compulsory to retrofit them into existing buildings. So Grenfell Tower had none. Former chief fire officer Ronnie King, honorary secretary of the all-party parliamentary group on fire safety and rescue - which had recommended fitting sprinklers to buildings to save lives - said the regulations "badly need updating" and "three successive ministers have not done it". "My own thinking is there was the red tape challenge and they don't really want to put regulation on to businesses, adding a burden. "It's one of those that if you bring in a new regulation, you have got to give three up to get it." A 2012 report by the British Automatic Fire Sprinkler Association (BAFSA) concluded that fire sprinklers could be retrofitted with tenants in place at a cost of about £1,150 a flat. Since the 24-storey Grenfell Tower contained 120 flats, it would have worked out at £138,000. That's significantly less than the £2.6m spent on the cladding and replacement windows. Do you live in a tower block with similar cladding to Grenfell Tower? Let us know by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk Architect and fire expert Sam Webb said: "We are still wrapping post-war high-rise buildings in highly flammable materials and leaving them without sprinkler systems installed, then being surprised when they burn down. "I really don't think the building industry understands how fire behaves in buildings and how dangerous it can be. The government's mania for deregulation means our current safety standards just aren't good enough." Some of these issues were raised in a report following a fatal fire at a tower block in 2009 in Camberwell, in which six people were killed. Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Sajid Javid said his predecessor in the role had accepted the report's recommendations and put them into action. "The coroner did not recommend new planning regulations. The coroner recommended a change in the guidance. There is a lot of information out there and it is right that it is independently looked at by a judge-led inquiry," Mr Javid said. When asked whether the government would retrofit sprinkler systems to tower blocks, he said: "I don't think we can immediately jump to the conclusion that sprinklers is the issue here. We will do whatever it takes." Another factor adding to the building's fire risk, according to the Grenfell Action Group, was the fact that in the past rubbish, having accumulated in the hallways of the tower, was not collected. At one point, the only emergency exit to the building was cluttered with an old mattress, sheets of cardboard and a broken heater. It's hard to imagine residents in 3 Merchant Square having to put up with rubbish filling the corridors. An associate pastor of Notting Hill Community Church, Danny Vance, says "the poor are constantly neglected" in the city. "The disparity between rich and poor in this city is disgusting," he said. "This would not have happened to the £5m flats around the corner." The gap between rich and poor The average salary in the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, in which the tower block stands, is £123,000: the highest in the UK. But the median average - the midpoint of all salaries in the area - is £32,700. No other local authority in the country has such a large gap between these two averages, pointing to a huge contrast between high and low earners. There is a similarly large gap when measuring the total income for people in the area. The average is £158,000, but the median is £38,700. Again, no other local authority in the UK reports such a difference. In laymen's terms, it means that the total income in the area, if distributed among the local population, would be £123,000 per resident, the highest in the UK. Yet half of the population there earns less than £32,700, highlighting the extreme disparity between top earners and those at the lower end of the spectrum. Source: Department for Communities and Local Government, the Office for National Statistics, and Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs. Hannah Mansell, chair of the Passive Fire Protection Forum and trustee of the Children's Burns Trust, said: "I regularly sit in meetings with fire safety professionals, and their fury and frustration at the inaction of local councils and social landlords is palpable. "We have been warning about the risks of a fire like this for years. "'What we need to get people to take notice is a huge fire in a tower block' they say. "Well, here it is. There's an endemic fire safety problem in this type of housing stock." As Ronnie King says, "it's sad that we always have to go to stable-door legislation" after a tragedy. Correction: An earlier version of this story had the wrong image of 3 Merchant Square. This has been corrected. Do you live in a tower block with similar cladding to Grenfell Tower? Let us know by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk You can also contact us in the following ways:

लंदन तेजी से ऊंची इमारतों वाला शहर बनता जा रहा है। यहाँ 700 से अधिक टावर ब्लॉक हैं, जिनमें बिल्कुल नए विलासिता विकास से लेकर युद्ध के बाद की परिषद के स्वामित्व वाली इमारतों तक शामिल हैं, जिन्हें 19वीं शताब्दी के जर्जर और अस्वच्छ हॉवेलों के कारण होने वाली समस्याओं को ठीक करने के लिए एक त्वरित समाधान के रूप में देखा जाता है।


RAF Lossiemouth jets scrambled for 'unidentified aircraft'

Summary: Fighter jets scrambled from a Scottish RAF station due to unidentified aircraft approaching UK airspace.

Typhoon jets from RAF Lossiemouth in Moray were called out on Monday morning. The RAF said the fighters were scrambled as a "precautionary measure", but no intercept took place and the Typhoons returned to base. They launched from RAF Lossiemouth with the Meteor air-to-air missile for the first time. Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Hillier said: "RAF Quick Reaction Alert Typhoon fighters are now armed with the most advanced air-to-air missile in the world."

ब्रिटेन के हवाई क्षेत्र में अज्ञात विमान के आने के कारण स्कॉटिश आरएएफ स्टेशन से लड़ाकू विमान भाग गए।


Santander Cycles test laser light safety device

Summary: A light that projects a bicycle symbol on the ground 6m (19ft) ahead of cyclists to make them more visible to drivers is being tested in London.

The Blaze Laserlight trial involves 250 Santander Cycles for hire, with the front light built into the frame. It aims to increase cyclists' safety by giving them a bigger visible footprint and to overcome drivers' blind spots. There have been eight cycling deaths in the capital this year, seven of which involved heavy goods vehicles. Critics say dedicated cycle lanes would keep cyclists safer. Santander Cycles said the trial was being funded as part of its annual budget and if the trial was successful it hoped to extend the laser light technology to more of its bicycles.

लंदन में एक प्रकाश का परीक्षण किया जा रहा है जो साइकिल चालकों को अधिक दिखाई देने के लिए साइकिल चालकों से 6 मीटर (19 फीट) आगे जमीन पर एक साइकिल प्रतीक पेश करता है।