Louis Theroux: Moving to Los Angeles

Summary: For his new series of documentaries about Los Angeles, Louis Theroux and his family relocated to the city, where they found themselves gradually embracing the Angeleno way of life.

Late in 2012, having grown temporarily tired of life in dark and rainy west London, I moved with my family to sun-kissed Los Angeles, land of freeways, palm trees, beaches and celebrity. We wanted an adventure. My children were young enough to be open to the idea of a big move - or, more likely, too young to understand what they were signing on for. My wife, raised abroad in sunnier climes, craved a break from another British winter. As for me, a professional observer of American culture in all its glory and absurdity, I reasoned it could only be a good thing for my work if I lived in the midst of the strange tribe I was studying, in classical anthropological style. The alleged negatives of Los Angeles are well known. You have to drive everywhere. The city is a big, ugly sprawl. The people are shallow and obsessed with appearances. Everyone is either in The Industry or trying to get into The Industry. It's "faddy" - there is always a new ludicrous self-help regimen which involves drinking "kale smoothies" while "soul cycling", then spending the afternoon in your dojo studying the Kabbalah and getting a butt-wax. But the shallow, trendy side of LA in a way is part of its appeal. That's what LA is for - to celebrate the shiny surfaces of life, to be a counterpoint to the excessive self-effacement and reserve and sense of tradition of the British. In theory, isn't that why so many Brits go to live in LA? Not just for the sun but for the sense of un-selfconsciousness and the chance of self-reinvention. My wife and I found a house on the east side of Los Angeles, in a pleasant tree-lined area called Los Feliz. Our children enrolled in a local school and we started our new lives as Angelenos. The BBC rented a small office on a Hollywood lot, built aeons ago (in LA years) by Charlie Chaplin. We did our best to acclimatise (or "acclimate"), but slowly. We sourced local outlets that stocked PG Tips. We had Alpen and Soreen flown in by visitors. We bought a second-hand car, becoming, rather freakishly in LA terms, a one-car family. I cycled into work, taking my life in my hands as LA drivers zoomed past me, texting, checking email, applying make-up, making their lunch. Labouring with my small production team, alongside the ghost of Charlie Chaplin, we began to evolve the idea of multi-part series set in Los Angeles - not so much about the city, but osmotically of it. Los Angeles would be a backdrop, infusing it with its own irresistible LA-ness, but we would not be making documentaries about Hollywood glamour, showbiz agents and publicists, parties, premieres. No, the programmes would be our kinds of stories - immersive examinations of life at its most raw and emotional, explorations of crime, mental illness, life and death, but unfolding in this sprawling megalopolis, which embodies all the best and some of the worst of life at the beginning of the 21st Century. Back in England, I'd been reading about the peculiarities of the US healthcare system and the strange paradox of its end-of-life spending - that patients and doctors sometimes feel an obligation to keep going at any cost, even where the treatment is painful and the benefits highly speculative. Doctors, for understandable reasons, like to offer solutions and look on the bright side, even when reality has other plans. Massive amounts are spent on interventions that are (arguably) of questionable benefit. Patients are - in some cases - robbed of the chance of spending their final moments at home comfortably among friends and family, and instead die hooked up to machines in a sterile room. Not exactly a feel-good story, but the hope was that the drama of the decisions being taken - of whether to accept an ultra-long-shot treatment or coast gently onto the off-ramp from life's freeway - would make up for the potential bleakness of the subject. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center allowed us in and we filmed over the course of several months. Cedars-Sinai is sometimes characterised as the favourite hospital of the glitterati. But it also caters to normal civilians. The experience of being among people facing the most awful decisions of their lives was as harrowing as you might expect. But as odd as it sounds, it was also, at times, life-affirming - seeing the unstinting support from families, the dedicated care of the doctors, and forming a connection with people going through the darkest of times. It became clear that, because we were based in LA, we could be present for moments of actuality that we would have missed had we been working from London. The results are evident in the film, in the quality and power of the scenes. Conscious that, powerful as it was, what we'd filmed so far was a little on the sad side, we made an effort to lighten things with our second documentary for the series. I became interested in Los Angeles' dog lovers - the lives of the pampered pooches and anthropomorphised Beverly Hills chihuahuas, and also the grittier world of pitbulls and weaponised "bully breeds" in the high-crime areas of south Los Angeles. In Los Angeles the division between rich and poor is reflected in an even more extreme way in its canine population. Where haute bourgeois pets can expect the best of everything - custom-made doggy hamburgers, rooms at doggy hotels, grooming and even plastic surgery - large numbers of the dogs of south Los Angeles are neglected and abused. Many are street dogs, roaming free in packs, committing mayhem. Among American cities, LA has one of the worst problems of stray dogs. In the low-income area of south LA the city shelter euthanises thousands of unwanted dogs every year, a disproportionate number of them pitbulls. But perhaps most intriguing is the social mobility of these dogs. Many of the pampered dogs are "rescues". They are taken out of shelters, adopted, My Fair Lady-style, and taught how to behave in polite society. These dogs are given new homes, new names, new lives - but all of it is contingent on their ability to learn, well, new tricks. Their failure to do so - an inability to drop their old hood habits - can mean a one-way trip to the vet. And so the dogs film became a film about that old Hollywood staple - reinvention and its limitations. Filming on both stories proceeded with the rhythm of LA traffic - passages of maddeningly slow progress gave way to stretches of open road. In the meanwhile, I grew used to the pleasures and frustrations of the city. I loved being able to film and at the end of the day, go home - not to a hotel in a foreign country but to my family. I loved seeing the pool swimming and boogie-boarding at the beach. The children picked up situational American accents that they used with their friends but not with us. But the city took its toll. I gave up cycling to work. It was too scary sharing the road, on the way home, with distracted drivers going 50mph in the dark. I adopted the LA practice of cycling simply for pleasure - "going biking". (In the same way as Angelenos don't walk anywhere but love to "hike".) After a couple of not-so-great experiences with bus journeys across the city, I caved in and rented a second car. It was faintly heartbreaking to recognise the city had foiled my best intentions. We became one of those families that drive round the corner to buy a pint of milk. Very occasionally, when I met my wife and kids out somewhere, we would drive home in an absurd one-family motorcade. The glamorous side of life was occasionally in evidence. Through tenuous connections to the world of showbusiness, I found myself at one or two A-list parties and had the ambiguous pleasure of watching a top actor's eyes glaze over as I mentioned that I "made documentaries for the BBC". I was also pleased to attend a local dinner party at which one guest announced his self-imposed dietary restriction - that he wasn't a full vegetarian but he only ate meat when he was outdoors and another mentioned she only ate meat after 6pm. If anything it was nice to confirm that the randomness of LA lifestyle choices is alive and well. At work, the subject of the third and final episode of our LA series proved tricky to nail down. Then I stumbled across a newspaper article about a park that was breaking ground in south LA. Though it was hoped it would be used by children, the park's primary purpose was to drive out sex offenders from the area. Across California, there are laws preventing registered sex offenders from living close to places where children congregate, and so the park would, in theory, render swathes of housing out of bounds to them. This story led us into an exploration of the dark world of Los Angeles paroled sex offenders - their troubled histories, the atmosphere of fear and suspicion that surrounds them, and the difficult tension most of us feel between the urge to punish and monitor these people and the impulse to rehabilitate and reform. It was a difficult few months of filming. The sex offenders were at best ambiguous figures and at worst chaotic and dangerous. More than once I remember feeling nostalgic for the less complicated emotions of sadness and loss on the cancer wards. And yet, for all its ugliness, and maybe partly because of it, it became clear over time that the sex offenders story would make for a compelling documentary, following my stumbling attempts to find a way through the moral maze of how we should treat and what we owe some of society's most hated and most feared people. I am feeling a little trepidation about returning to London to do some promotion, worrying that it will be cold and rainy and that I'll have to walk and be among other people without reassuring glass and metal of my car to insulate me. As I type this, I am sitting in a Starbucks on Hollywood Boulevard. Like most coffee shops in LA, it is suspiciously full, catering to that over-subscribed Angeleno specimen - the person who doesn't have anything to do in the day. We are a five-minute walk from my house but I drove here. I think I may be adjusting to life in Los Angeles rather too well. The first episode of Louis Theroux's LA Stories, City of Dogs, is broadcast at 21:00 GMT on 23 March on BBC Two - or catch up on BBC iPlayer Follow @BBCNewsMagazine on Twitter and on Facebook

लॉस एंजिल्स के बारे में वृत्तचित्रों की अपनी नई श्रृंखला के लिए, लुई थेरॉक्स और उनका परिवार शहर में स्थानांतरित हो गए, जहाँ उन्होंने खुद को धीरे-धीरे एंजेलेनो जीवन शैली को अपनाते हुए पाया।


Man guilty of murdering Paul Lundy in Kidderminster

Summary: A man has been convicted of murdering a man whose body was discovered in a house.

Nathan Calder, 28, had denied killing 48-year-old Paul Lundy in a property on Broad Street, Kidderminster in Worcestershire on 23 May. A jury at Worcester Crown Court unanimously found Calder, of Eddy Rd, Kidderminster, guilty and he will be sentenced on Friday. The body of Mr Lundy was found by police. Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, and sign up for local news updates direct to your phone.

एक व्यक्ति को एक व्यक्ति की हत्या का दोषी ठहराया गया है जिसका शव एक घर में मिला था।


Sark reports rise in visitors after Dark Sky status

Summary: A Sark Tourism Officer has reported a rise in visitor numbers following the island gaining Dark Sky status.

Karen Adams said the access ability for star-gazing meant winter holidays in the island could be advertised. Sark was granted Dark Sky status in January 2011 by the International Dark-Sky Association, which recognises star-gazing locations around the world. Ms Adams said the combination of clear night skies and a range of hotels and campsites made it an ideal destination.

सार्क के एक पर्यटन अधिकारी ने बताया कि द्वीप को डार्क स्काई का दर्जा मिलने के बाद आगंतुकों की संख्या में वृद्धि हुई है।


China's woes and a still flawed global economy

Summary: With share prices in Shanghai and Hong Kong up and down all day, it would be premature to say that yesterday's decision by the People's Bank of China to cut interest rates and make it easier for banks to lend has brought calm to stock markets.

Robert PestonEconomics editor That is especially so after last night's gyration on Wall Street, when shares lurched downwards towards the close, after being up for most of the session. Anxiety rules among investors. And as I said last night on the News at Ten, in some ways I thought yesterday's events on markets were if anything more disturbing than Monday's global rout. Because if share price gains could not hold after the significant monetary easing by China's central bank, then mistrust about the true state of the world's second largest economy (actually the number-one economy on the purchasing-power-parity measure of GDP) has become very pronounced indeed. And another thing, the Chinese interest rate cuts will exacerbate the phenomenon that has caused so much stress in so many different global markets, from commodities, to foreign exchange, to stocks and bond - the fall in the Chinese currency, the RMB, since it was allowed by Beijing to float more freely on 11 August. Since then, share prices alone - in other words excluding other huge markets such as oil - have lost $8tn in value. The point is that the cut in Chinese interest rates is likely to speed up the withdrawal of capital from China, putting further downward pressure on the RMB. And in making Chinese exports cheaper, that causes pain for competitor economies - especially Asian ones, like Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia - whose own currencies then fall (as they continued to do today). This process of competitive devaluation among emerging economies ends up undermining their growth prospects - which matters to us all, since they account for half of global GDP and most of the world's growth. And also means that lower prices or deflation is exported to the rich West. Now you may say yippee, that we can buy more petrol and food for our pounds, euros and dollars. But that is a short term windfall. In the long term, it creates less "balanced" growth - it encourages us to live beyond our means, because the weakness of demand in the rest of the world means we can't sell enough abroad to match all the spending we want to do. And for those of you with short memories, it was those deficits of the consuming countries like ours, the corollary of giant surpluses of the producing ones like China and Germany, which was such a big contributor to the Crash of 2007-08. Which is one reason why the influential governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Raghuram Rajan, said - in a BBC interview yesterday - that he feels governments are expecting too much of central banks when it comes to fixing the world's economic problems. In a slowdown, central banks can give economies a temporary boost by making money cheaper and more plentiful, to encourage spending and investment. But if the fundamental flaws in economies are to do with industrial inefficiency or lack of competition, for example, well those are problems only governments and businesses can fix. In fact, monetary easing by central banks can make matters considerably worse in the long term, by encouraging excessive lending while governments dither and delay over politically unpopular economic reforms. So here is the dilemma faced today by the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England, both of which are desperate to end the era of near-zero interest rates in developed economies, by slowly and gradually increasing interest rates. They wanted to start raising rates in a matter of weeks and months. But were they to do that at this moment of chronic anxiety about the health the global economy, well they could turn a slowdown into something much worse. That is why the first rise in interest rates, in the US and UK, is likely to be deferred yet again. It also explains why the influential economies and former Treasury secretary, Larry Summers, is mooting that the Fed may need to resort to yet more money creation through quantitative easing. His view is not that of the consensus. But the fact that he is able to make a credible case for QE shows that even seven years on from the worst crash and recession since the 1930s, the global economy is still some distance from being mended in a structural sense.

शंघाई और हांगकांग में शेयर की कीमतें पूरे दिन ऊपर-नीचे रहने के कारण, यह कहना जल्दबाजी होगी कि पीपुल्स बैंक ऑफ चाइना द्वारा ब्याज दरों में कटौती करने और बैंकों के लिए ऋण देना आसान बनाने के कल के फैसले ने शेयर बाजारों में शांति ला दी है।


India lockdown: Frontline heroes of the coronavirus war

Summary: India is at a critical stage in its fight against coronavirus as fears of community transmissions rise. During its lockdown frontline workers are still going out every day to win what one doctor described as "a war India can't afford to lose". The BBC's Vikas Pandey reports.

Experts have warned that India still has time to contain what otherwise could be a catastrophic outbreak, putting millions of lives at risk. Many fear that the country's healthcare system may not be able to cope with a massive outbreak. Around 130 million people will head to hospitals even if 10% of India's population is infected, according to conservative estimates. And the country only has 0.5 hospital beds per 1,000 people, one of the lowest ratios in the world, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. So, India is pinning its hope of containing the outbreak on social distancing and a complete lockdown of major cities and towns. And the success is down to the efforts of unknown but selfless workers. Many workers, including doctors, nurses, paramedics, police, pilots, railway workers and rubbish collectors, are braving grave odds every day. And medical staff are at the forefront of these efforts. Dr Taarini Johri, a medical officer at a government-run hospital in the western city of Ahmedabad, said the medical sector "was not prepared to deal with the crisis". "Doctors and nurses working in the coronavirus wards have good safety equipment. But doctors who are screening patients don't have the same despite the fact that we are at most risk," she said. "A lot of doctors are at risk. We desperately need more safety gear." Priya Srivastava, a doctor at a hospital in the northern city of Lucknow, said "the time to act is now". "We need to build makeshift hospitals quickly. If community transmission aggravates, we will have to be ready for it - it will be unlike any scenario we have seen before or we are trained for," she said. She added that the flu season is making matters worse. "There is so much panic. People are reaching hospitals with minor coughs and colds, thinking they are infected with Covid-19. So, we need to keep hammering the right message about how to identify coronavirus symptoms." Dr VK Batra, who has been practising medicine in Delhi for more than three decades, says doctors are "doing everything we can". "I have just one key message for people - stay at home. Just do this for a few weeks and we may have a fighting chance to control the outbreak." "Some of us have to stay away from our families for days so we can continue to see patients. That's stressful, but we don't have any other option. We are fighting an enemy we didn't expect to fight or even see coming. "We are not getting personal protection equipment as quickly as we should," he said. "We are the frontline soldiers and you can't win a war without them." India has now allowed private labs to conduct coronavirus tests, and some lab technicians are being trained. Amardeep Chaudhary is one of them. "I am used to going to people's homes to collect samples. We take care to protect ourselves. But coronavirus is something different. I am scared for sure, but I won't give up," he said. While doctors are fighting the battle inside hospitals, it's the police who have to enforce the lockdown outside. Rahul Srivastava, a senior officer in Uttar Pradesh, says the first two days were extremely tough. "People are not used to staying indoors. They would just not understand the importance of the lockdown." In most areas he says police are following the policy of "explaining, persuading and requesting people to stay indoors". "We are stricter when people get adamant about going out. It's a tough job and doubly challenging as we have to keep people safe and also ensure the safety of our own personnel. "We will be on the streets 24/7 to ensure the lockdown is enforced." And then there are key workers almost hidden in plain-sight: security guards and refuse collectors. Sonu Kumar, who collects rubbish in a Delhi suburb, says his first instinct after the lockdown was to rush to his village but his boss made "me realise the importance of our job". "Hygiene is key in fighting the virus. But we are scared - people not covering their rubbish bins. We see used tissues, masks and gloves in their open bins. We are using protective gear but it still scares us. "Just think of our safety. Please seal it. We are doing this for you." Vijay Dubey works as a security guard in Noida near Delhi and has had "a hard time dealing with people". "I understand when people want to go out to buy medicines and food. But it makes no sense when they say they are bored and want to go for a drive. "They are educated and yet they don't understand. We are risking our own safety by being out - the least people can do is to just stay at home.". India has shut down trains and flights. But pilots and railway staff have been doing their jobs until now. National carrier Air India flew several rescue flights to evacuate Indians from Europe and Iran. But some crew believe their safety was sometimes compromised, staff from the airline told the BBC. "Before flights were suspended on all international routes, pilots and crew returning from foreign countries were only given four days rest before being asked to fly on a domestic route. "This was extremely risky for us and for the passengers. I just hope none of us picked up any infection during layovers in Europe and the US," one said. "We don't mind serving in the time of national crisis - all we asked was that the 14-day quarantine period should be followed." A spokesman for the airline denied the allegations, saying it had "followed all protocols". Then there have disturbing allegations of discrimination by some members of the public against cabin crew and railway staff who are suspected of carrying infection. One flight attendant said the neighbours "refused to talk to my mother when I was away". "Even the neighbourhood grocers refused to give us the essentials," she said. Some Indian Railways staff had similar stories. "We interact with least 100-150 people every day but we were not given any protective gear or sanitisers," one employee, who did not wish to be identified, told the BBC. "We kept working because so many passengers wanted to reach their villages before the lockdown. "Now our neighbours suspect we may have picked up the coronavirus infection. All we need is unity and humanity to win this war. "Otherwise, we will lose and we can't afford that," she said.

भारत कोरोनावायरस के खिलाफ अपनी लड़ाई में एक महत्वपूर्ण चरण में है क्योंकि सामुदायिक संचरण की आशंका बढ़ रही है। इसके लॉकडाउन के दौरान अग्रिम पंक्ति के कार्यकर्ता अभी भी हर दिन जीतने के लिए बाहर जा रहे हैं जिसे एक डॉक्टर ने "एक युद्ध जिसे भारत हारने का जोखिम नहीं उठा सकता" के रूप में वर्णित किया है। बीबीसी के विकास पांडे की रिपोर्ट।


When is a boom not a boom?

Summary: In his column today, the FT's Martin Wolf assesses the economic record of the coalition government . But any assessment of the current government's record can't just begin in 2010, they did not inherit a blank slate, any more than the incoming Labour government did in 1997.

Duncan WeldonNewsnight economics correspondent@Duncanweldonon Twitter Wolf today writes that "the argument that the UK economy was in a grossly unsustainable state in 2007 is largely ex-post rationalisation." That's a point recently made by Oxford Economics Professor Simon Wren-Lewis in a series of posts arguing against what he terms "media macro" - or macroeconomic reporting - that he feels bears no relation to reality. This question - of whether the UK economy was in a sustainable or an unsustainable position in 2007 is important. It doesn't just help us judge the performance of the last two governments but it may also give us clues to the state of the economy today. Prof Wren-Lewis's case against an unsustainable boom is straightforward. Firstly he notes that, while there was clearly a boom in house prices, that isn't necessarily reflective of the wider state of the economy. Secondly he turns to the concept at the heart of this economic debate: "output gap". That's the gap between how much output the economy is actually producing and the level of output which would keep inflation constant. In simple terms it's a way of thinking about the relationship between the demand side of the economy (spending) and the supply side (or the economy's ability to produce goods and services). A positive output gap suggests an economy is at risk of overheating: the demand for goods is outstripping supply and one would expect prices to rise. If the output gap is negative, then the opposite is happening: the economy's ability provide goods and services is not being matched by adequate for demand for that output. As Prof Wren-Lewis notes, back in 2007 the Treasury, the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies and international observers such as the IMF and the OECD all believed the UK output gap was small. That's a strong case against an unsustainable boom. As Wren-Lewis argues, there was also little sign of a problem in the unemployment data, inflation or interest rates. Productivity growth Subsequently the IMF and OECD have both - in retrospect - raised their estimates of the UK output gap in 2007 substantially. In effect they now argue that although they did not see it at the time, the UK's position in 2007 was indeed unsustainable. The output gap is not something that can be "measured", only "estimated" and that can make it a difficult guide to policy. Further support for Wren-Lewis and Wolf's position can be found in a study published in 2011 by the London School of Economics on the UK's economic record since 1997. It found that the UK enjoyed a strong performance in terms of growth and employment until 2007 and that crucially this was underpinned by strong productivity growth. A plausible story can be told, that the UK enjoyed a strong performance in terms of economic growth, employment and productivity from 1997 until 2007, when it was knocked off course by global events and financial crisis. But there are at least three reasons to think this might not be the whole picture. First, as has since gained relatively widespread acceptance - growth by 2007 has become unbalanced. That's a point that is now made by politicians from all the major parties. In particular the UK's tax base had become overly reliant on too few sectors. This was a point made by the OBR in July 2011, which argued that the fall in revenue from the finance and housing sectors post-2008 was "one of the primary drivers of the severe deterioration in the UK public finances in recent years, exposing the risks to sustainability of reliance on revenue from these sectors". Miracle or mirage? Second, there are reasons to fret that the strong productivity performance that underpinned growth was not all that it appeared to be. Andy Haldane, the Bank of England's chief economist, has argued that what was seen at the time as a "productivity miracle" in financial services may have actually been a "mirage". As banks ran more risks their profits increased and they appeared to be much more productive but eventually those risks turned bad. This offers a partial and pessimistic answer to the UK's high-profile productivity puzzle: it may be that productivity growth didn't suddenly fall off a cliff in 2008, it was actually weaker than it appeared all along. Finally, though, most of the above analysis has concentrated on the traditional ways in which we score macroeconomic performance - growth, jobs and productivity - looked at through an alternative frame that performance looks impressive. An important Bank of England research paper published in 2011 provides that alternative frame. Rather than focusing on just GDP and other "real" factors it takes seriously financial factors - the flow of credit between different sectors, changes in asset prices and the state of household, company and bank balance sheets. As the authors of that paper concluded: "While real activity and consumer prices were stable, asset prices, financing flows and balance sheets were manifestly not. There were two distinct episodes in financial markets over this period: the tech boom of the 90s and the credit expansion of the 2000s. When the credit boom collapsed it completely overwhelmed the system." It's this analysis which really demonstrates the importance of what might sound like a sterile academic and historical debate. A focus on balance sheets, asset prices and credit flows rings alarm bells about the state of the UK economy in 2007. It suggests that the experience of 2008 onwards was not just a sudden bolt from the blue but the result of fundamental imbalances in the UK economy. While credit growth has been much weaker in recent years than before 2007, there are reasons to worry that the UK's current recovery is demonstrating some of the same patterns. The household savings ratio (the amount of their income saved by households in aggregate), which rose in 2009 and 2010, has now fallen back to roughly where it was in the middle of the last decade. Asset prices (from shares to houses) have risen strongly and the UK is running its largest current account deficit (borrowing from the rest of the world) since the Second World War. The economics profession is divided on whether the UK's position in 2007 was unsustainable or not. But if it was unsustainable in 2007 then there are reasons to worry it might be becoming so once again.

आज अपने कॉलम में, एफ. टी. के मार्टिन वुल्फ ने गठबंधन सरकार के आर्थिक रिकॉर्ड का आकलन किया है। लेकिन वर्तमान सरकार के रिकॉर्ड का कोई भी आकलन 2010 में शुरू नहीं हो सकता है, उन्हें एक खाली स्लेट विरासत में नहीं मिला, जो 1997 में आने वाली लेबर सरकार ने किया था।


Do skiing apps encourage dangerous behaviour?

Summary: Doctors in the French Alps are reporting an increase in the number of collisions and injuries involving skiers - and some are asking whether popular mobile phone apps that measure the skiers' speeds are to blame.

By Emma Jane KirbyBBC News, Val d'Isere "I beat you!" shouts Tom triumphantly and waves his phone in his brother's face. "Yeah, this time!" agrees Matthew reluctantly. "But don't forget that I got 96 kilometres an hour in Canada last year!" "You're both rubbish!" jibes their dad Marcus as he skis up to join them. "I beat you both on that run!" The family is using smart phone Ski Apps - it's a new craze which many boarders and skiers admit has given their mountain holidays a new energy and competitive edge. By hitting "start" as you set off down a run, the App which works like a car's GPS system, records where you've been on the mountain, how far you've gone - and much more to the point, how fast. The Goldsworthys, who are all competent skiers, insist they are careful to race only on deserted slopes and have never been involved in collisions while racing against their apps. But Matthew and Tom admit that in the race to win pole position on the family leader board, they do push themselves to the limits of their ability. I ask Tom how he felt when he realised he was skiing at 96 kilometres an hour and he there's a pause before he answers honestly; "Scared." Speed may give a head rush to holiday makers but to the ski safety patrollers, it simply means headaches. As we sit on his Skidoo outside his first aid hut, patroller Fabrice Jolly rolls his eyes when I mention the ski app phenomenon. With his handlebar moustache and his Gallic accent diluted by an Australian twang he's picked up from his ski work Down Under, he's the epitome of laid-back cool. "Everyone lives in the fast lane these days," he says as he watches skiers zoom past us on the piste. "People come here on holiday from the pressure of the cities and they're all addicted to technology and telephones and I watch them playing on the lifts with these apps on their phones - and when they get off…" He makes a sweeping gesture down the mountain "….They just switch off the brain." He seizes an imaginary joystick suddenly and simulates playing a computer game. "I mean, hello? It's not Disneyland here! We're not playing a video game - this is real life with real risks. I'm sorry but ski apps may be helpful if you're lost on a mountain but on the slopes they just help you to make mistakes." There are no statistics to suggest that ski apps cause accidents but the Medecins de Montagne, a group of French Alpine doctors has suggested it may be interested in carrying out some research. Over the last ten years they have noted a hike in the number of "heavily wounded" casualties on the pistes from 3.95% in 2001 to 5.3% last year. There are more collisions (a third of all head injuries are now caused by skiers crashing into each other) and more accidents occurring at high speeds. Dr Alan Griffiths, a GP at Val d'Isere who's also a member of the Medecins de Montagne, has just started collecting data on the number of his patients who were using a ski app when they fell. "I routinely ask my patients how fast they were going," he says as we sit in an outdoor cafe watching the ski schools gather on the nursery slopes. "It's important for me to know what force was involved in the injury and some of my patients can give me the exact speed they were skiing at before the impact because they were using a ski app." We look at a feedback forum on a ski app website together and read some of the comments left by ski app users. I point to a few which are complimentary but which add that the apps had pushed them to ski harder and faster. "It's important to continue to monitor this trend," Dr Griffiths says thoughtfully. "We mustn't kill all the fun…but I think it's possible that the apps do encourage people to push out the envelope." One of the ski app providers, Ski Tracks, sent the BBC this statement in response to concerns raised about the use of apps on the slopes: "We work very hard to promote mountain safety through communication with our users and we have a number of safety initiatives that we are working on. We provide a great deal of enjoyment to many thousands of skiers and snowboarders around the world. We receive thousands of emails per week from all kinds of users including resort owners, patrols, parents, even schools and these have never indicated any safety issues arising from the use of Ski Tracks… The tiny minority who put themselves and others at risk would do so anyway whether they were using Ski Tracks or not." Above the lower slopes at the nearby resort of Plagne Montalbert, the clouds have started to thicken and there's a distinct threat of snow in the biting wind. But the large group of people clustered around the speed gun by the safety netting haven't noticed the weather is changing - all their attention is fixed on the big display screen that's wired to the speed trap. Every minute or so there's a splintering sound of cracking ice as a skier hockey stops at the bottom of the run and a loud cheer goes up from the onlookers. "84 kilometres an hour!" shouts the man in the orange ski jacket pointing to the display which has flashed up the score in lights. "Fantastic speed - congratulations!" If anyone should know about the thrill of speed it has to be this man, Xavier Cousseau. He holds the world speed record for a descent on a mono ski - 212 kilometres an hour. These days he takes his passion on to the slopes to share with holidaymakers, cordoning off a piste, handing out helmets and encouraging tourists to bomb down as fast as they can while he clocks their times. But there's method in his madness: "You know, people have no idea how fast they ski" he explains. "And this speed test, carried out on a secure, empty slope, makes them reflect on how fast they're skiing everyday on an ordinary, crowded slope." He breaks off to yell the score at the latest triumphant skier who's schussed down the slope.At the top of the Solaise lift in the Alpine Ski Resort of Val d'Isere, Matt Goldsworthy and his twin brother Tom are pouring over each other's smartphones as the sunshine breaks through the clouds. "These ski apps worry me because people are just using them to race and they think it makes them good skiers. But do they know how to stop at 100 kilometres an hour? And do they know that if you hit a child at 80 kilometres an hour you will kill him - and maybe yourself?" A teenager is punching the air and delightedly screaming his 70 km/ph speed score at anyone who will listen. Xavier pulls away from me suddenly, shakes the child by the hand in and then reminds him sternly that he must never attempt to ski so fast on an ordinary slope. His father approaches and nods towards the chronometer. "I think your scoreboard is exaggerating a bit!" he remonstrates. "I mean my boy doesn't ski that fast - I ski faster than him and I only ski around 40 kilometres [per hour], maybe 50 kilometres on a steep red like this one." Xavier hands him a helmet and tells him to ski the run, not as if he were racing, but as if he were descending an ordinary slope. The man grins and takes the chair lift, confident that he is right and the chronometer wrong. When the score board flashes 83km/h as he skies past the gun, the man does not crow as his son did. In fact, when he takes off his helmet, his hands are trembling. "A child of five skies at 50km per hour," says Xavier quietly "And you should remember that cars are put through crash tests at 50km/h. And they are usually written off." I sit in a bar in Val d'Isere with my dear friend Pat Zimmer, a former downhill champion of France - and the man who so patiently taught me to ski. Pat has reason to mistrust anything that might encourage us to ski faster - a few years ago, an out-of-control skier smashed into him and sent him flying, leaving him with a serious head injury. Now recovered, he tells me how he's anxiously watched hordes of holidaymakers stand at the top of a run, switch on their smart phone ski apps and then hurtle downwards as they try to beat their own and their friends' top scores. "It's not just two or three of them in the race," he says "It can be six, seven, even eight of them - can you imagine the force of a group speeding down the slope?" He sips his tomato juice thoughtfully. "But you know, I wouldn't ban ski apps," he says suddenly. "Because maybe they can be educational. Maybe when you see on your iPhone screen that you are skiing at 100 kilometres an hour, you are going to get a big shock and the wake-up call you need to make you realise you are skiing beyond your capabilities. And maybe then you will slow down." I hand him my phone to show him my speed scores of the day but he waves it away and repeats the maxim that has been his life's mantra. "Forget speed. Technique is what counts." Follow @BBCNewsMagazine on Twitter and on Facebook

फ्रांसीसी आल्प्स में डॉक्टर स्कीयरों से जुड़ी टक्करों और चोटों की संख्या में वृद्धि की सूचना दे रहे हैं-और कुछ पूछ रहे हैं कि क्या स्कीयरों की गति को मापने वाले लोकप्रिय मोबाइल फोन ऐप दोषी हैं।


Guernsey housing licence numbers fall by 8%

Summary: The number of active housing licences in Guernsey fell by nearly 8% in a year, according to figures from the Policy Council.

There were 4,858 live licences at the end of March 2012, 413 (7.8%) fewer licences than a year earlier. At the same time the population, which is expected to rise to 70,000 by 2040, was slightly up on the year before at 63,085. The majority of the growth was due to a natural increase of 127 people. This was caused by more births than deaths during the 12 months. It was also caused by 43 more people coming to live in the island, which is the balance of those who emigrated and immigrated in the period.

नीति परिषद के आंकड़ों के अनुसार, ग्वेर्नसे में सक्रिय आवास लाइसेंसों की संख्या में एक वर्ष में लगभग 8 प्रतिशत की गिरावट आई है।


Race between education and ignorance

Summary: The tinderbox mix of high youth unemployment, lack of education and the threat of extremism is turning access to school into a "security issue", says Irina Bokova, director general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

By Sean CoughlanBBC News education correspondent The volatile prospect of millions of uneducated, illiterate youngsters in developing countries, under pressure from the financial downturn, has brought an unprecedented political significance to the campaign to give every child a primary school education, she says. Ms Bokova was speaking ahead of a speech later this week at the United Nations from Malala Yousafzai, who will call for all children to have the right to go to school. The Pakistani schoolgirl, who will make her speech in New York on her 16th birthday, defied the bullets of the Taliban in defence of her right to an education. But behind the optimism of Malala's campaign and the creation of an annual "Malala Day" is a much more complex global story, with failure as well as success. In 2000, in the warm glow of a new millennium, world leaders pledged that universal primary education would be achieved by 2015. No child would miss out on the basics of schooling. Head and heart After an initial surge, progress stalled and achieving the target in the next 18 months now seems unlikely. "By 2015, it's impossible," says Ms Bokova, the Paris-based head of Unesco. But she says that rather than being a cause of pessimism, the pursuit of the target has brought "huge progress". There were 108 million children out of school when the pledge was made; the most recent figures suggest this has fallen to 57 million. "If the right strategies are in place, and you put your head where your heart is, then things can be improved. In Afghanistan in 2000 only 4% of girls were in school, now there are more than 70%." Ms Bokova says that another positive outcome has been a much stronger recognition of the importance of measuring the quality of education, rather than simply counting heads going into a classroom. Among the more sobering discoveries has been that many pupils have spent years in school but remained functionally illiterate. So in the autumn, Unesco is planning to produce a new set of global metrics to measure what's actually being learned in primary classrooms around the world. "It will give a global understanding of what quality education means," says Ms Bokova. It remains unclear whether there will be more targets after 2015, but anything that emerges will be more about quality of education, rather than simply volume of places. Funding gap Ms Bokova says the financial crisis delivered a major blow to achieving the goal of universal primary education. Donor countries pulled the plug and left an "alarming gap" in funding. In sub-Saharan Africa there remains a shortage of 1.7 million teachers. But despite this gloom, she says that the financial crisis has given education a "paradoxical" political importance. Youth unemployment is a major threat in many countries and education and training are seen as vital investments. "Education is now becoming in some cases a security issue," she says, with examples such as Afghanistan, Iraq and across the Middle East, where there is huge pressure to provide education to promote stability and democracy and to avoid extremism. "The same is true of big emerging powers. In Brazil, the government recognises that the education system is one of the biggest challenges as it moves forward to a competitive economy and an inclusive society." The social tensions of deepening inequality and a lack of social mobility are also shaped by decisions about education systems, she says. Economic and political stability are now inextricably linked to improving education, says the Bulgarian-born Unesco director general. "Education is becoming the key issue now in discussions about overcoming the economic crisis. "But how are we going to make this happen? Budgets and international aid are shrinking. "We try to convince countries that if they want to invest in coming out of the crisis, then invest in education." 'Malala Day' Another barrier to getting all children to school is a lack of fair access, particularly for girls. Ms Bokova says it's not acceptable for countries to hide behind ideas of "cultural differences" or "tradition" as a reason for discriminating against girls. Malala Yousafzai has become a powerful emblem. "One event can spark a huge reaction and understanding and I think it was the case with Malala," she says. "It was a stunning example of courage and a desire to learn." And she says that getting more girls into school is the single most important goal. "It's not just a human right, it's what is needed to have normal societies. If a girl goes to school, she is less likely to have an early marriage, she will have healthier children, she'll find it easier to earn an income, she's less likely to be subjected to violence, less likely to have an early pregnancy. "There are so many advantages, healthier communities, less violence, more economic growth. It has such an incredible multiplying effect. "This is the best thing that could happen to humanity." Biggest problems The pledge for education for all has also highlighted where the problem is most acute. A meeting organised by the UN in April brought together eight countries - Bangladesh, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, India, Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen - which between them have about half the children in the world who are missing out on school. It was an unprecedented attempt to systematically work out what has been going wrong. A minister from the DR Congo said that about 60% of those missing out on school did so because of the cost of school fees with the other 40% blamed on armed conflict. In Ethiopia the problem was identified as being focused on rural communities and lack of access for girls. In South Sudan it was a lack of trained teachers and a low level of school participation among girls. In Nigeria, which has the most children out of school, the difficulty was not necessarily about money, but was caused by low participation among girls in some areas and problems with "infrastructure" about providing teachers. Weaknesses in state authorities delivering the plans of the national government were also blamed. The country has also seen brutal attacks on schools. Secondary schools in Nigeria's north-eastern state of Yobe were ordered to close this week after a massacre in which suspected Islamist extremists killed 22 students. Ms Bokova says that there is now a willingness among such countries to recognise what needs to be changed. Despite the failure to make the 2015 deadline, she says the attempt has shown the international community what can be achieved. Countries such as India and Ethiopia have taken substantial steps forward. This has disproved the feeling that "education is too complex, too costly and it takes too long to show results". But there is no escaping the harsh truth that millions of children, born a decade after the world promised universal primary education, still won't have even the most basic access to school. It's been possible to launch hundreds of satellites and put a spacecraft on Mars, but not to put children into classrooms a few hours south of Heathrow. "In many cases we have failed, but it shouldn't discourage us. We're winning the argument."

संयुक्त राष्ट्र शैक्षिक, वैज्ञानिक और सांस्कृतिक संगठन की महानिदेशक इरीना बोकोवा का कहना है कि उच्च युवा बेरोजगारी, शिक्षा की कमी और चरमपंथ के खतरे का मिश्रण स्कूल तक पहुंच को "सुरक्षा मुद्दे" में बदल रहा है।


Richard III v Claudio Ranieri: How do Leicester's titans compare?

Summary: On the face of it, they have little in common. And yet - has anyone had more impact on Leicester than King Richard III and Claudio Ranieri? BBC News compares the qualities of two men who have, in different ways, boosted the city over the past 12 months.

By Neil HeathBBC News The discovery of Richard III's remains and his later reburial has been a boon to Leicester's tourism industry and captured the imagination of the city. Thousands lined the cortege route as the remains of the king, found beneath a city centre car park after more than 500 years, were escorted to the cathedral. Scenes like this could easily be replicated should Leicester be crowned Premier League champions in the coming weeks. "Leicester is witnessing a different sort of history being made," said Ian Stringer, football correspondent for BBC Radio Leicester. "The greatest team sport story ever." So how do the men's leadership styles compare? Personality The question of what makes a great leader has been pondered for centuries. If Richard III had been a better chief would he have won the Battle of Bosworth? Are Leicester City top of the Premier League simply due to Claudio Ranieri's command? While "King Claudio" has skilfully guided the 5,000-1 long shots, it is perhaps more of a team effort - players, coaches and thousands of fans making waves from the stands. Richard III, in contrast, was a medieval monarch - a dictator whose word was law. Depicted as evil and brutish by Shakespeare, his alleged role in the disappearance of his young nephews certainly made him infamous. However, The Richard III Society dispute the negative image and believe Tudor propaganda was to blame for this portrayal. Despite this, his reputation has stuck. Ranieri, on the other hand, has been doing very well in challenging the public's perception of himself. It was at Chelsea he picked up the moniker "The Tinkerman" due to the way he frequently changed his team selection. He was also considered a figure of fun because of his quirkiness - some journalists even labelled him "Clownio". That has all changed, according to Mr Stringer. "Claudio is fun and certainly turns on the laughs when he wants to but don't be fooled into thinking he's a jester because he isn't," he says. The Italian has let the football do the talking and silenced his critics - Leicester are top and Chelsea, mid-table. Inspirational qualities "Great leaders know how to communicate in many ways," says Andrew Wilson, a leadership expert at the BBC's College of Journalism. "They have a different style [of communicating] to different people, there's also the skill to know when you don't need to say very little or anything at all." Richard III was an "inspiring leader in the battle" according to the Richard III Society chairman, Dr Phil Stone. "He was clearly popular with his men as he cared for them and looked after them, even providing them with medics and spiritual care." However, by the time of Bosworth, his popularity was waning. The disappearance of his nephews turned many against him and he faced a struggle to persuade some nobles to join his army. One of the major aristocrats, William Stanley, joined forces with Richard's challenger, Henry Tudor - a factor which played a large role in deciding the battle's outcome. In contrast, Ranieri has inspired a group of largely unheralded players to the brink of the Premier League title, with his team displaying a togetherness and self-belief that puts some of the larger clubs to shame. He has never been one to give "Churchillian" speeches at half-time, says Mark Bosnich, one of his former players at Chelsea. The goalkeeper says his former boss wore "his heart on his sleeve" but knows "which switches to flick and when". An example of this was in September when he told his players he would buy them all pizza if they kept a clean sheet against Stoke City. He has also frequently plays down his team's chances, taking the pressure off the players and giving them the freedom to play. Strategic awareness Richard III had a bigger army at Bosworth, he also had the higher ground and he had never lost a battle - so what went wrong? "He was a notable tactician but he lost due to treachery not because of his own cock-up," says Dr Stone. "[During the battle] he saw Henry [Tudor] was exposed, organises a charge but hit the marsh and his horse got stuck. He was just yards from Henry but was slain." Football managers have been known to blame the conditions - maybe Richard should have had a pitch inspection? "Possibly... but I think it was just bad luck," says Dr Stone. Ranieri, meanwhile, has not had a problem with his pitch. In fact, the King Power stadium has been a fortress - the fans even make earthquakes. Tactics wise, the Italian may have been blasted in the past for "tinkering" too much but squad rotation is now commonplace in football. Mr Stringer says Ranieri is an "expert" when it comes to tactical substitutions. In February, during a match with Norwich City, with the score at 0-0, Ranieri threw on Leo Ulloa who poached a late goal, sending fans into meltdown. "He's smart is our Claudio," says the reporter. "And ahead of the chasing pack when it comes to tactical awareness." Backroom staff Every general relies on strong lieutenants and Richard III and Ranieri are no different. According to Mr Wilson, recognising the whole team has a right to be heard is key to leadership. "The very best leaders realise they don't have to be the best in the room." Many historians would agree the Duke of Norfolk, John Howard, was Richard's biggest ally - his friend, his star man - at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. But the duke was slain early on and some say this had a demoralising effect on the king. Ranieri has also relied on his support staff. Everyone knows about the Foxes' headline makers - striker Jamie Vardy and Algerian playmaker Riyad Mahrez, to name but two. However, it's the backroom where Ranieri has perhaps been at his shrewdest. The Italian's "lieutenants" - Craig Shakespeare and Steve Walsh - were part of the previous reign under Nigel Pearson, but Ranieri kept the pair on. Walsh and his team were responsible for bringing Mahrez and Vardy to the club while Shakespeare works with the players on the training pitch. "These two are worth their weight in gold," says Mr Stringer.

इसके बावजूद, उनमें बहुत कम समानता है। और फिर भी-क्या लीसेस्टर पर राजा रिचर्ड तृतीय और क्लाउडियो रानीरी से अधिक किसी का प्रभाव पड़ा है? बीबीसी न्यूज़ उन दो लोगों के गुणों की तुलना करता है जिन्होंने पिछले 12 महीनों में अलग-अलग तरीकों से शहर को बढ़ावा दिया है।


Indian variant: What's causing the spike in Bolton?

Summary: Cases of the Indian Covid variant have more than doubled in the past week, figures from Public Health England show. Bolton in Greater Manchester is one town that has seen a sharp spike in infections since mid-April. So how concerned should we be?

By Jim ReedHealth reporter Like much of north-west England, Bolton saw a rise in coronavirus cases in October, a lull over Christmas, and then another wave in January. By mid-April, lockdown had forced daily infections back almost to single figures locally. Then something worrying happened. Rates started rising sharply again - doubling in the last week of April, then doubling again in the first week of May. No one knows for sure how this spike in infections started. "We've got higher rates in the younger age groups, but the increases are now happening across all the under 60s," says Lynn Donkin, the assistant director of public health in Bolton. "That suggests to me that we've got transmission within households and that's now part of the situation here." Samples from Bolton were sent to scientists at Public Health England who identified a variant of the virus - now known as B.1.617.2 - that was first spotted in India earlier this year. "Initially we did see some cases linked to international travel," says Ms Donkin. "But we've now got a picture of widespread community transmission, associated with all sorts of different settings." Those settings are thought to include a number of schools which have sent home classes to self-isolate. Viruses mutate all the time, producing different versions of themselves. Most of these mutations are insignificant - but others can make the virus more contagious or harder to vaccinate against. There is still a lot we don't know about B.1.617.2 - recently named the fifth variant of concern in the UK. Public Health England scientists believe it is "at least" as transmissible as the so-called Kent variant now dominant across Europe. Others think it may be able to spread substantially faster. Work is still under way in labs across the world but there is currently no evidence it causes more severe disease or can evade Covid vaccines in any way - the single biggest concern of scientists. In Bolton, the B.1.617.2 variant now makes up the majority of new coronavirus cases. Attention has been focused on just a handful of neighbourhoods to the south of town centre - Rumworth, Deane and Great Lever. About half of new cases detected in Bolton over the last week have come from those three areas alone. "It's is an incredibly busy part of the town," says Yasmin Qureshi who was elected as the local Labour MP in 2010. "It's very urbanised with major bus and train routes. There is a university, a sixth form college and a community college. There are some deprivation issues with a lot of people in social housing; some people not working or in low-paid jobs." It's areas like this, with dense urban housing, that have been vulnerable to coronavirus since the start of the pandemic - making it difficult to disentangle the effect of the variant from other factors. The local council has been targeting the area for some weeks now, with mobile testing units, leaflets in Hindi and Gujarati, and door-to-door visits, handing out self-testing kits. Enhanced contact tracing has also been put in place, meaning those who have been close to a positive case are tested rather than simply told to self-isolate. "We're doing everything we can, and we've got a comprehensive plan in place to control the spread," says Ms Donkin. "Our schools have already reached out to us, for example, to say they want to continue with face coverings for the time being, and we would very much support that." Overall, Bolton's infection rate is now sitting at 192 cases per 100,000 people - the highest in the country. It is younger age groups who are far more likely to test positive, perhaps in part because school children are routinely tested twice a week. Encouragingly, rates in those most at risk from a serious Covid infection - the over 60s - have not risen significantly so far, and hospital admissions are still well below the levels recorded earlier this year. "We have seen an increase in people attending the emergency department with confirmed or suspected Covid over the last week," says Dr Rauf Munshi, clinical lead for acute medicine at the Royal Bolton hospital. "Cases are highest in the younger age group, but we know from dealing with previous waves that this will eventually start to affect older and more vulnerable people. This is also a cause for concern. "We do know that there is usually a delay of around 14 to 19 days between rising cases and admissions to hospital, so we are prepared for this eventuality in the coming days." What doctors in Bolton, and scientists across the country, hope is that here is where the vaccination programme will kick in. The latest data suggests both the AstraZeneca and Pfizer Covid vaccines are extremely effective at preventing severe disease, hospitalisation and death, meaning the most vulnerable should be far better protected than they were in earlier waves of the pandemic. But there is one stumbling block. In Bolton, the areas with the highest infections over the last week map very closely to areas with the lowest vaccination rates. The NHS is now sending out a mobile vaccine bus into those parts of the town and it's thought door-to-door jabs are also being considered. And at a national level, the growth of this variant creates problems for the government. England is just days away from the single most significant relaxation of Covid restrictions so far - with indoor mixing starting again from 17 May. Ministers are thought to be considering a "surge vaccination" strategy - allowing areas with high case rates to open up jabs now to younger age groups rather than asking them to wait to be called forward. It's an idea the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, has been calling for over the past week. The government could go further and impose stricter local rules on hotspot areas, similar to the tiered system of regional restrictions which existed last autumn. That is likely to be strongly resisted in Bolton - where people have already lived under more weeks of lockdown than most of the country. "I just don't think tiers work because people simply move from one area to another," says Ms Qureshi. "I think we can sometimes get too anxious about things. I'm not saying we shouldn't be concerned and it is important to get vaccination rates up. But it's a judgement call for each individual and I think people are sensible enough to know who to hug." As has been said many times before in this pandemic, the next few weeks will be key. If infections can be controlled - and if the vaccines work as they should, with a lid kept on hospital admissions - then life can start to return to normal in Bolton as planned. Additional reporting by Rob England, BBC England Data Unit Follow Jim on Twitter

पब्लिक हेल्थ इंग्लैंड के आंकड़ों से पता चलता है कि भारतीय कोविड संस्करण के मामले पिछले सप्ताह में दोगुने से अधिक हो गए हैं। ग्रेटर मैनचेस्टर में बोल्टन एक ऐसा शहर है जहाँ अप्रैल के मध्य से संक्रमण में तेज वृद्धि देखी गई है। तो हमें कितना चिंतित होना चाहिए?


North Korea: Past lessons will affect the next move

Summary: North Korea has a long history of confrontation with the outside world over its weapons' programmes. In the past it has claimed historic diplomatic victories over the United States and others. Is history about to repeat itself, or has North Korea miscalculated this time?

By Charles ScanlonBBC News North Korea was an acknowledged master of Cold War diplomacy - playing China off against the Soviet Union to extract maximum assistance from its squabbling Communist backers. Since the 1990s it has tried to master a different game - a survival strategy that uses threats and limited military action to divide its neighbours and enemies and extract concessions from them. Even some US officials concede that Kim Jong-il played his hand with some skill. The fear is that his son, Kim Jong-un, does not have the same touch or strategic grasp - and could provoke a conflict that no-one wants. The new leadership, however, is using a familiar playbook - and has reminded the world that North Korea is at its most dangerous when confronted. Pyongyang's strategic goal is a deliverable arsenal of nuclear weapons which it believes will guarantee the regime's survival in a hostile world. It wants to force the United States to acknowledge it as an equal and fellow nuclear power. Washington's pursuit of sanctions - especially the targeting of the regime's finances - and its defiant military stance appear to have stung Kim Jong-un and his advisers into a spiral of escalation. Past confrontations The nuclear confrontation began two decades ago. In 1994, it brought the small, crowded, heavily urbanised Korean peninsula close to a potentially cataclysmic war. In the Spring of that year, the Clinton administration seriously considered air strikes on North Korea's small nuclear reactor at Yongbyon. US military chiefs planned a massive reinforcement of American military forces in South Korea - a process that risked provoking the pre-emptive North Korean strike that it was designed to forestall. After months of crisis, Washington finally agreed to direct talks with Pyongyang - a long term North Korean goal - and an agreement was reached that traded a nuclear freeze for economic aid diplomatic concessions. It is debatable who blinked first. But two decades later, North Korea has a small and possibly growing stockpile of nuclear weapons - and the United States no longer contemplates going to war to stop it. Kim Jong-il was celebrated in North Korea as a military genius who had humbled a superpower. He also claimed a famous victory during another major confrontation with the US in 2002. President George W Bush accused him publicly of cheating on the nuclear freeze - by developing a separate uranium enrichment programme - and spoke of North Korea as part of an "axis of Evil" at a time when talk of regime change was much in the air in Washington. North Korea scrapped the nuclear deal and threatened retribution and war. But once again, the crisis ended in talks - this time with North Korea's neighbours at the table as well - including Russia and its principal backer, China. While the talks dragged on inconclusively, North Korea built up its nuclear arsenal and missile technology. The North Korean leadership appears to have drawn an important lesson from these experiences. It concluded that threats of chaos and war - in the midst of one of the world's must dynamic industrial regions - would always force adversaries to back down and grant concessions. The bluff requires two ingredients: North Korea's threats must be credible. The leadership in Pyongyang must appear wild and irrational enough to risk a suicidal war. And, North Korea's adversaries - in effect the United States - must have ruled out the threat of war as an ingredient in coercive diplomacy. That effectively happened in 1994, when the Pentagon looked at a potential war on the Korean peninsula and concluded that it would lead to hundreds of thousands of casualties in a few days, and the destruction of one of the world's largest cities. The new leadership Kim Jong-un appears in a hurry to establish his credentials as a military leader - and poker player - in the mould of his father and grandfather. He was unknown to the North Korean public just two years before he was appointed supreme ruler of the country and its million man army. He now styles himself a great general, appearing in the front line and making very specific military threats - a dramatic contrast with his enigmatic father, who never made a public speech during his 17 years in power. In the past, North Korea has relied on other regional players to lose their nerve and intervene with the United States, persuading it that war is too big a risk to take and that North Korea will respond well to incentives. That may yet happen again. South Korea stands to lose the most from a conflict, Japan is within range of North Korean missiles and China wants to avoid chaos and the possible destruction of a buffer state on a key frontier. But Kim Jong-un will first have to convince them that there is some substance to his threats. His bellicose style and almost daily threats of war have gone well beyond the rhetoric employed by Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung. Any military action would be sure to meet a determined response from South Korea and the United States. China could yet intervene by cutting a crucial oil pipeline and other economic aid and trade if it concluded the new leader was out of control and bent on self destruction. Kim Jong-un and his advisers are relying on an old script to bolster their position at home and abroad. It is far from clear that this time they will succeed.

उत्तर कोरिया का अपने हथियारों के कार्यक्रमों को लेकर बाहरी दुनिया के साथ टकराव का एक लंबा इतिहास रहा है। अतीत में उसने संयुक्त राज्य अमेरिका और अन्य पर ऐतिहासिक राजनयिक जीत का दावा किया है। क्या इतिहास खुद को दोहराने वाला है, या उत्तर कोरिया ने इस बार गलत गणना की है?


Councillor Mark McKinty stands down over 'driving incident'

Summary: An Ulster Unionist councillor has resigned ahead of a court appearance over a "driving incident" which happened earlier in July.

Mark McKinty served on the Mid and East Antrim Borough Council. It is understood he is due to appear in court on Thursday in relation to a drink driving charge. In a statement, the UUP said Mr McKinty had apologised "to all those who he had let down". It added that this was "unacceptable for a public representative and damaged trust in democracy". The party says it has started a process to fill the vacant position.

अल्स्टर के एक संघवादी पार्षद ने जुलाई में हुई एक "गाड़ी चलाने की घटना" पर अदालत में पेश होने से पहले इस्तीफा दे दिया है।


#EnemiesOfThePeople; London's new night tsar, and cashing in on pro-Trump websites

Summary: This Friday: A tabloid headline sparks a heated discussion about "enemies of the people"; London's 'night tsar' receives a warm welcome; some Macedonians are gaming Facebook and Google; and why some in China don't want to reward a pilot who averted a crash Who are the real #EnemiesOfThePeople?

By Tse Yin LeeBBC News A Daily Mail headline calling three judges "enemies of the people", for ruling that Theresa May could not trigger Article 50 without support from parliament, has prompted strong responses on social media in the UK. The phrase trended all morning on Twitter and tens of thousands are talking about it on Facebook. "This is getting completely out of hand. If The Daily Mail speaks of Judges as enemies of the people, democracy is being undermined. Shame!" tweeted barrister Nigel Pascoe. Many said they were "horrified" by the phrase. Some commentators referred to other instances when it had been used: "Robspierre, Lenin, Pol Pot..." said one. One popular meme was a re-creation of the paper's front page, but with the pictures of Viscount Rothermere, Rupert Murdoch and the Barclay Brothers - the owners of the Mail and two other pro-Brexit papers, The Times and The Telegraph. Feelings ran equally high for pro-Brexit accounts. The most popular post read: "RT ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE-Brits have been betrayed by the establishment. 17.4 million people overruled by unelected judges. Democracy is dead." Before long though the phrase turned into a hashtag and some humour emerged to leaven the otherwise agitated tone of posts. Who are the real enemies? Hang your heads in shame: "People who blocked us naming Boaty McBoatface." "People who write 'should of'." "People who don't awkwardly run forward when you hold the door open for them." Social media welcomes London's "night tsar" Some news to light up the start of the weekend: the appointment of DJ and broadcaster Amy Lamé as Mayor Sadiq Khan's 'night tsar' has been greeted with enthusiasm and approval on social media, particularly from the LGBT community, for whom she actively campaigns. "Amy Lamé is officially queen of the night", posted the Pink News Facebook page. Attitude magazine called it "a big win for the LGBT community". "I don't know what the Night Czar role entails but having an LGBT activist is probably a good start, given London's dying LGBT venues," said one tweet. Ms Lamé is charged with boosting London's nightlife. Mr Khan has claimed that the capital has lost 50% of its nightclubs and 40% of its live music venues in just the past eight years. Some questioned whether she would be able to make real changes though. "Part-time role, little to no actual power," said one comment. "Looks a good appointment as London Night Czar - assuming she is given actual, real power & influence," said another. We're sure it's not going to be the easiest ride but we wish her the very best of luck! Cashing in on pro-Trump and conservative websites Would you guess that websites with names and URLs like Donald Trump News and usconservativetoday.com were run out of Macedonia? Well they are. A Buzzfeed investigation has learned that more than a hundred websites appealing to American conservatives and Trump supporters are being run out of the small town of Veles in Macedonia. Why? Well people running these websites have learned that sensationalist stories that get shared a lot on Facebook can earn them a rather reasonable income - up to 277,000 denars ($5,000, £4,000) a month in one instance cited. Not bad when you consider that the average monthly salary there is less than a tenth that. Buzzfeed spoke to some of the people running these websites and found they did not really care whether the content was sensationalist or false - in fact they were aware such stories were shared the most on Facebook. "These sites open a window into the economic incentives behind producing misinformation specifically for the wealthiest advertising markets and specifically for Facebook... as well as within online advertising networks such as Google AdSense," Buzzfeed said. Interested in where your news comes from? I'd read the article! Cynical Chinese people think pilot's reward is a way of masking mistakes Should a pilot who averted a potentially disastrous crash at Shanghai airport last month be rewarded? Most commentators on Sina Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter, think so. Captain He Chao was given 3m yuan ($443,000, £355,000) yesterday for having the presence of mind to make an emergency take-off, so his plane avoided crashing into another about to taxi through the runway ahead of him. Investigations later blamed the incident on the air traffic controllers. Tens of thousands of people praised him and the airline's decision to reward him. "Three million yuan in reward isn't that much - the hundreds of lives are priceless," said one popular comment. "The pilot really deserves this more than anyone else," said another. But a small number have echoed what some newspapers are saying - that the move was aimed at masking the mistakes and poor judgement of the controllers. The criticism is some indication of the cynicism with which some view the authorities in China and their ability to address systemic failures. When firemen killed in an explosion in Tianjin last year were declared "martyrs", critics also alleged the move was just an attempt to divert attention away from issues such as the poor training given to firemen. Additional reporting by BBC Monitoring

इस शुक्रवारः एक टैब्लॉइड हेडलाइन ने "लोगों के दुश्मनों" के बारे में गरमागरम चर्चा शुरू कर दी; लंदन के "नाइट ज़ार" का गर्मजोशी से स्वागत किया गया; कुछ मैसेडोनियन फेसबुक और गूगल पर गेम खेल रहे हैं; और चीन में कुछ लोग उस पायलट को पुरस्कृत क्यों नहीं करना चाहते हैं जिसने दुर्घटना को टाल दिया।


Podcast: Did Donald's data trump Hillary?

Summary: Rory's podcast: Did Donald's data trump Hillary?

Rory Cellan-JonesTechnology correspondent@BBCRoryCJon Twitter Donald Trump may not have had as impressive an operation on the ground as Hillary Clinton - but since June a very sophisticated data analysis operation had been underway. This involved a British data science firm called Cambridge Analytica. On my podcast this week, we speak to one young British data scientist from that firm about the techniques used. David Wilkinson, who has spent six months in San Antonio, Texas where the operation was based, tells us that they were able to generate very granular data to help the campaign see where to direct its fire. "It's not just about what demographic you are or where you're based - it's about what kind of things you're interested in and what kind of things you buy," he says. One intriguing insight from his data - when the FBI reopened its investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails, it gave undecided voters "an excuse" to choose Donald Trump. Facebook and fake news On Thursday, I examined Facebook's role as a news platform in the election, and asked whether Mark Zuckerberg was aware of the power he wielded as a media tycoon. Overnight he hit back at suggestions that fake news stories spread on the social network may have played a part in deciding the election winner. On the podcast, Joshua Benton from the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University tells us that the data shows that Facebook is hugely influential as a source of news for millions of Americans. He takes us through some of the fake stories about both candidates, which were widely shared during the campaign. Counting babies in Tanzania While Cambridge Analytica could give the Trump campaign detailed information about most American voters, governments in sub-Saharan Africa struggle to know of the existence of many citizens. In Tanzania, more than 80% of people do not have birth certificates, according to the government registration agency Rita. However, mobile technology is providing an answer. We have a report from the BBC's Sammy Awami on a project to use mobile phones to register newborn babies in the Tanzanian countryside, where parents find it too difficult to travel to a government office. Other countries - keen to have at least some basic data about their populations - are looking closely at the scheme.

रोरी का पॉडकास्टः क्या डोनाल्ड का डेटा हिलेरी को पछाड़ देता है?


Singapore's home businesses lament lockdown shutdown

Summary: Cooks and bakers operating out of their kitchens in Singapore - and those who order meals and treats from them - have been dismayed by the government's decision to clamp down on home businesses as part of measures to curb the spread of Covid-19.

By News from Elsewhere......as found by BBC Monitoring The city state recently extended its lockdown measures following a spike in cases among migrant workers living in dormitories. At first, home businesses were told they could operate as before. However, after actress Ateeqah Mazlan posted a video on social media, asking the authorities to clarify the new restrictions, the government said such businesses could only operate if customers or third parties did not need to collect or deliver their goods - effectively ruling out any business delivering physical goods. The new measures affect not just cooks and bakers but also delivery drivers and vendors who had hoped to move business from cancelled Ramadan bazaars online, the Today website reports. A petition calling on Singapore's authorities to allow home-based businesses to adapt their operations to the measures instead of stopping them operating has gained more than 70,000 signatures. The Covid-19 outbreak is expected to push the country into recession, and many reacted angrily to Ateeqah's post, accusing her of jeopardising a source of income for others. "Why is she so motivated to break peoples' rice bowl?" demanded one commentator on a popular news and culture Facebook page. There was also a particular sense of betrayal among Singapore's minority Malay Muslim community, for whom selling food from home is an important source of seasonal income during Ramadan, according to the Straits Times. Ateeqah Mazlan later apologised, saying she had not expected her post to go viral, but has received limited sympathy over the angry backlash to her actions. 'It's not that serious' "Ateeqah Mazlan is that annoying neighbour who will complain to HDB [the Housing and Development Board] if you keep cats in your house. I know it's against the law. WE ALL KNOW. It's not THAT serious," said one commentator on Twitter. Singapore's authorities take a different view, however. The minister in charge of Muslim Affairs, Masagos Zulkifli, said that while he understood the frustration of home business operators, "what alarms me is that there are some people trying to incite our HBB [home-based business] operators to pressure the government to make exceptions". "This is irresponsible," he said in a Facebook post, "Because they know the government cannot make exceptions to any sector affected." The authorities have since said, however, that rules on home-based food operators could be eased if community transmission numbers decrease. "If we all cooperate and stay calm, it will be in time for the Hari Raya orders," Mr Masagos said. Reporting by Tse Yin Lee Next story: Manhole cover thieves 'may get death sentences' in China

सिंगापुर में अपनी रसोई से काम करने वाले रसोइये और बेकर-और जो उनसे भोजन और व्यंजन मंगाते हैं-कोविड-19 के प्रसार को रोकने के उपायों के तहत घरेलू व्यवसायों पर नकेल कसने के सरकार के फैसले से निराश हैं।


Analysis: new Archbishop's challenge

Summary: When Dr Rowan Williams was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury he said only a fool would think he could carry out the task well. Ten years on, the challenges of the Church of England's "impossible job" have if anything intensified.

By Robert PigottReligious affairs correspondent, BBC News Bishop of Durham, the Right Reverend Justin Welby, will take over a church divided about women bishops, and, even more potently, about sexuality. In the last decade secularism has taken a deeper hold in England, starting to erode the influence of the established, state, church. It has also become more assertive, no longer content to see the Church of England - or other religious institutions - exercise traditional privileges. One current example of this is the campaign by secularist organisations to have an official representative at the Remembrance Sunday ceremony at the Cenotaph. And perhaps most threatening of all, the passing of 10 more years in which congregations have continued to age and dwindle have sapped the energy and resources of a church still committed to a presence in every corner of England. Senior figures in the Church are quick to point to the continual crises that have threatened its integrity since its formation in the Reformation of the 16th Century, and before then when it was part of the Roman Catholic Church. Church income But Bishop Welby's appointment does seem to come with the Church at a cross-roads. It is unarguable that it needs new congregations, especially of young people, that it needs money to pay for clergy and the upkeep of a vast estate of medieval buildings, and that it needs to show a sceptical world how the Christian message remains relevant and of value. But deciding how that should be done, and having the sheer drive, influence and determination to make it happen will be critical, and no single person will bear the burden more directly than Bishop Welby. Part of that burden will be instilling a new focus on the gritty business of raising money. As clergy age and retire in greater numbers, they soak up the vast majority of the Church's income, and without money change is all the harder to bring about. The Church has plenty of ideas for creating what it calls "fresh expressions" - new ways of providing the experience of church to a public. There are café services, others that focus on discussion, services moved to midweek lunchtimes and evenings, and others based on music and reflection. But the Church cannot afford to alienate the older, mostly female, congregations that form the mainstay of its active membership. Most clergy believe the answer lies in what they call a "mixed economy", a variety of service styles and experiences at different times. Bishop Welby, has described it as being like a tent in which the sides have been rolled up in sunny weather, providing different ways in. "It should be a church that likes to say 'yes'" he says. Spiritual growth But where do the limits lie? Research and polling have described a profound change in public attitudes to religion - increasingly suspicious of institutions and less willing to be given a prescribed set of doctrines. It's not that belief in God has disappeared, and some academics insist that a sense of "spirituality" is increasing. Professor Linda Woodhead of Lancaster University says religious belief is changing rather than disappearing. She has documented the growth in "holistic religious practices", and there has been renewed interest in Paganism. People are willing to obey morals that make sense to them - the "moral relativism" deplored by some traditionalist Christians - and are also proving willing to compose a sense of the religion itself that makes sense to them. From the Church's view there's a need to show how Anglicanism is the answer to their questions. For that it needs a leader able to answer hard questions. When Rowan Williams was presented to the public in October 2002, he said his ambition was to "recapture the imagination of the public for Christianity". Dr Williams was skilled in addressing those questions, but few would claim that he succeeded in his aim. His charisma, intellect and articulacy were wasted, partly because of an estrangement from the media that meant the public had too little opportunity to hear what he had to say about Christianity. Bishop Welby will need to use the media to tackle public scepticism about Christianity from the basics upwards, something that Dr Williams touched on in a speech a few days ago. Dr Williams was also wasted because of the Church's preoccupation with its divisions. Much of his time was spent on the fraught process of creating women bishops, and patching up disputes about homosexuality, in the Church of England, and in the 38 autonomous churches that make up the Anglican Communion. Divisions Over the last 10 years those divisions have become both more entrenched and more dangerously volatile. Conservative Evangelicals have made it clear that they are ready to recruit bishops from overseas if they feel they are being thwarted by what they see as a liberal church leadership. Meanwhile progressives are pushing with increased determination for the Church hierarchy to transform its spirited opposition to gay marriage into support. Above all the new archbishop needs authority if he's to tame the rival factions. Repeatedly the respect and loyalty that Dr Williams earned, was able to turn the tide of opinion. Even so, Dr Williams was accused of a failure to lead, that is a failure to command, cajole and coerce Anglicans. Bishop Welby will perhaps need a more ruthless streak. It will also require organisation, perhaps more than the Church has managed up until now - informed spokespeople, bishops, clergy and lay people, ready and willing to speak on particular topics. It might learn from the robust approach of political parties, and be ready with instant rebuttals when misjudged or misunderstood. But many Anglicans see the Archbishop of Canterbury's greatest task as articulating the Christian message, speaking up for the poor and the marginalized. They see the Church's leader as the conscience of the nation, and for that he will need to command respect, not just inside the Church, but in the country too.

जब डॉ. रोवन विलियम्स को कैंटरबरी का आर्कबिशप नियुक्त किया गया था तो उन्होंने कहा था कि केवल एक मूर्ख ही सोचेगा कि वह इस कार्य को अच्छी तरह से कर सकता है। दस साल बाद, चर्च ऑफ इंग्लैंड के "असंभव काम" की चुनौतियों ने अगर कुछ भी तेज कर दिया है।


Arrest after attempted abduction of girl in Basingstoke

Summary: A man has been arrested after an attempted abduction of a two-year-old girl near a Hampshire park.

The girl's mother had been pushing her in a pram when they were approached by an unknown man near Eastrop Park in Basingstoke on Thursday. Hampshire police said the man made conversation before trying to take the girl out of the pram. The 51-year-old was arrested on suspicion of attempting to take a child and remains in custody. Related Internet Links Hampshire Constabulary

हैम्पशायर पार्क के पास एक दो वर्षीय लड़की के अपहरण के प्रयास के बाद एक व्यक्ति को गिरफ्तार किया गया है।


Long road to getting ban relaxed on Saudi women drivers

Summary: A social media campaign in Saudi Arabia to win women there the right to drive culminates with a call for them to take to the wheel across the country on Saturday. It is the third such campaign in the past 20 years, and while authorities have warned against taking part, there are some signs attitudes are changing, as Sebastian Usher reports.

Since launching the latest campaign last month, activists say they have sensed a new mood in Saudi Arabia that is increasingly favourable to lifting the ban on women driving. They say it is very different from back in 1990 when nearly 50 women staged their first act of defiance - leading to arrests and many losing their jobs. One of the women who took part in that first protest as well as the second one in 2011, Dr Madeha al Ajroush, has posted a video of herself driving on YouTube in which she says: "It is now time for Saudi women to drive. I am ready. My daughter is ready. And society is ready." Dozens of other Saudi women have also posted videos of themselves driving in various Saudi cities online. One that has attracted a lot of attention shows a woman driving on a highway, receiving the "thumbs up" from several Saudi men in another car as they pass her. One of the organisers of the campaign, Zaki Safar, told the BBC that the fact that none of these women has been arrested encouraged activists to believe that the authorities were taking a softer stance on the issue. He said that in the one incident where a leading woman activist was stopped by the police for filming women driving, the police had behaved with considerable politeness and then let her go as they did not seem to know what other procedure to follow. 'Outdated' Thousands of Saudis have signed an online petition in favour of lifting the ban or posted slogans and cartoons in support. Local newspapers and TV channels have addressed the issue in an unprecedented way, with many articles suggesting it is time for the ban to be lifted. Many do so on purely practical grounds - that it is no longer in line with a more modern Saudi Arabia where many women work. One such woman is Hatoon Kadi. She comes from Mecca but is currently studying for a PhD in England. But her alter ego is as a female comedian with a popular show on Youtube, NoonalNiswa. In one episode, she underlines the irony of the ban. Addressing Saudi men, she tells them that whatever they might think, they were not actually the most important men in the lives of their mothers, sisters or wives. Instead, it was their drivers. She told the BBC: "It's not an issue of 'let's be equal with men'. This is just necessity. Maybe restricting women's movements 50 years ago was an appropriate thing to do but it's not any more". Her husband, Turki, agrees: "From my own point of view I think sharing responsibilities between men and women is a good idea." He says that having to pay the expenses of a driver is a big financial burden. The fact that Saudi men also have to be prepared to drop other commitments at a moment's notice to chauffeur their wife or mother somewhere disrupts the workplace. Mr Safar says that one of the biggest changes in the latest campaign compared to 1990 and 2011 is the growing support of men for lifting the ban. He says that there had been indications that the official line on the ban was shifting, too. Statements by the religious police that there was basically no reason to arrest women drivers encouraged the sense that things were changing. Three women on the influential Shura Council also recently made an official call for the ban to be lifted. Opposition One of the key movers behind the campaign, Eman al Nafjan, advised caution, though, telling the BBC that there were always rumours that the ban might be removed whenever protests against it were organised. It is not as if there is not still opposition to it in Saudi Arabia. A group of around 100 conservative clerics gathered at the Royal Court, denouncing the campaign as a conspiracy by women and a serious threat to the country. One sheikh had earlier attracted mockery online when he suggested that a key reason for not letting women drive was that it would damage their ovaries and lead to defective children. There are women who are against the campaign too, seeing it as the product of an arrogant, Western-educated elite, wanting to interfere with traditional values still held dear by their less privileged Saudi sisters. Ms Kadi acknowledges this, which is why she does not want to call for the right to drive as a political issue. "We are talking to other people with different views. They think that we should not drive, because this is our society and you should not be doing this. "So if I approach them, saying: 'Now we will drive and then we will do this, this and this' - for me it's never going to work. Driving is out of necessity - it's just a basic human right." Mr Safar says that he has friends from the younger generation of Saudis who also think it is a bad idea. "They say that it will increase car accidents. Their excuse is that there will be more sexual harassment. They think that women will not be able to handle situations like accidents or flat tyres". Mixed messages After taking a low profile, the Saudi authorities have in recent days restated that the ban remains in place and implicitly told women not to take part in the campaign. Women planning on driving have been contacted by phone. Some have said they have now changed their mind and will not participate. Others say they will not be put off. The number of videos of women driving being posted has also dwindled. The Saudi authorities are concerned about any hint of public protest - however benign its organisers declare their intentions to be. This may have been the most dynamic campaign so far to win Saudi women the right to drive - it even has its own song by a well-known Saudi-born singer, Shams - but its organisers, participants and supporters never expected change overnight. The latest hardline reaction from the government may not tell the whole story of how the authorities view the issue. It is still a case of mixed messages, with some government figures privately backing change. But it has shown the campaigners that they still have a struggle on their hands - whether they want to win the right to drive purely as a practical necessity or another step on the road to greater rights for women.

सऊदी अरब में महिलाओं को गाड़ी चलाने का अधिकार दिलाने के लिए एक सोशल मीडिया अभियान शनिवार को पूरे देश में महिलाओं को गाड़ी चलाने के आह्वान के साथ समाप्त हुआ। पिछले 20 वर्षों में यह तीसरा ऐसा अभियान है, और जबकि अधिकारियों ने भाग लेने के खिलाफ चेतावनी दी है, कुछ संकेत हैं कि दृष्टिकोण बदल रहे हैं, जैसा कि सेबेस्टियन अशर रिपोर्ट करते हैं।


Jersey census to create 200 temporary jobs

Summary: Up to 200 temporary jobs will be created as part of the roll-out of the 2011 Jersey census.

The extra staff are needed for various roles, including support for people filling in the census forms. Most of the recruits will check addresses and deliver the questionnaires over the three weeks before census day on 27 March. The census information will let Jersey's government predict future demand for services. There will be 10 office-based staff to enter the information from returned forms. These roles are expected to last for up to five months.

2011 की जर्सी जनगणना के हिस्से के रूप में 200 तक अस्थायी नौकरियों का सृजन किया जाएगा।