Memories of Becontree council estate 100 years on

Summary: Crescents, cul-de-sacs and indoor toilets were but a dream for the residents of London's slums in 1919. But thanks to chancellor Lloyd George's revolutionary scheme to make "homes fit for heroes", Becontree - the first and largest council estate in the UK - made those fantasies a reality. A century later, its residents reflect on living in a "working class haven".

By Sarah LeeBBC News "Those who watched the construction of Becontree were immediately filled with hope of a new world," says Peter Fisher, who has lived on the estate for 92 years. "These people watched with wonder and excitement as a new era - of luscious homes that had running water, indoor toilets and private gardens - was created. "For them, the days of slumming it in the East End were over." Peter's family was one of the first to move into Dagenham's newly built estate in east London, taking up residence in 19 Chitty's Lane. At the age of four, he recalls his mother telling him they were "going on an adventure to a new life, away from disease and plague." "My parents, my four brothers and I moved from a two bedroom flat in Whitechapel to Chitty's Lane in 1926. It was a few doors down from number 26 - the first house built in Becontree. "Our house was gigantic - it had a big kitchen, a well-kept garden that ran all the way around the back and the front. I was the king of the castle. As far as my mum was concerned, it was heaven - though she had difficulty making a house look a home with our somewhat meagre possessions. "She loved having the simplest of things - like kitchen cupboards and a stove. She'd never let me open the fruit cupboard in case I got dirt on it." Smells of grass, freshly grown flowers and the surrounding acres of fields were a stark contrast to the toxic smog in the city. "It was just like being in the countryside - the air was so fresh, despite some construction work still taking place," says Peter. "You could even go pea and potato picking in the fields nearby. Becontree was simply a working class haven." The 96-year-old still lives on the estate in Burnside Road - two streets away from his childhood home - and is one of the few who still remember what it was like in its early years. He recalls how London County Council attempted to discourage heavy drinking by refusing to build no more than six pubs on the estate and how residents had to adhere to strict rules. Parents had to ensure their children were kept orderly, no washing could be hung from windows and front gardens had to be kept neat. "My father, who worked in a biscuit factory in Bermondsey, used to complain there wasn't a pub on the corner [at home] where he could enjoy a few pints after his long commute. Some families moved out of the area for that very reason." At the time Peter and his family moved in, Becontree was proclaimed the world's largest council estate, with 26,000 homes. The four square mile estate, which was finally completed in 1935, is still considered to be the largest in the UK, followed by the Wythenshawe estate in Manchester. "Becontree was among the first of the London County Council's post-war schemes in 1919," says social housing author, John Boughton. "It was certainly the largest in the UK when planned and developed in the interwar period. In terms of population, it's probably since been superseded by some large estates in the former Soviet Bloc but it must remain one of the largest in area today." Barry Watson lives with his wife, Shirley, in one of the estate's desirable "suntrap houses" on Wykeham Avenue. She grew up 10 minutes away, on the same estate, in a two-bed home that belonged to her parents, who moved from Hackney when their house was bombed in the Blitz. Around the same time, Barry moved in with his grandparents, who had moved from Poplar to Hunters Hall Road in Becontree in the 1940s. "One abiding memory of my childhood was my grandmother's fear of the 'terrifying weasel-looking' rent collector," says Barry, 77. "He would report people if they didn't keep their hedges trimmed or if their curtains were not clean enough." As revenge for confiscating a football, Barry and his friend once played a "cruel trick" on the rent collector. "We put a piece of chewing gum which was hiding a drawing pin on the latch of his gate. On top of that piece of chewing gum was some cat poo - and I bet you can imagine what happened," he said mimicking someone sucking their thumb in pain. "A month or so later, he fell off his bike in the street and not one person went over to help him. That's how universally hated he was." 'Homes for Heroes' The Becontree estate was a groundbreaking scheme that re-housed some 100,000 people, many of whom had lived in London's slums. The allure of a spacious home with running water, two to four bedrooms and a parlour was hugely appealing, despite conditions that windows were to be cleaned once a week, doorsteps must be scrubbed and children were banned from playing in communal gardens. If families failed to meet these standards, they faced being thrown out of their homes. It was a novel idea and one that attracted attention from royalty to famous people who took up residence, including singer Sandie Shaw, England football manager Sir Alf Ramsey and footballer Bobby Moore. "It was such an innovative scheme that King George V visited the estate in 1923, when he had tea with one of the early tenants," remembers Bill Jennings, who moved to the estate in 1954. "Mahatma Ghandi once spent the night at Kingsley Hall [community centre], leaving a portrait of himself and a spinning wheel as gifts to the community." But all was not rosy. Becontree was often referred to as "Corned Beef City" by historians and commentators because of the "staple diet" of its "poor residents". Alexander McDonald, who lived on the estate from 1921 until he was 81, wrote in his memoirs that he had never heard it referred to by that name. "I agree that there were some very poor people [living there] but there were many more men who had jobs to go to." But he conceded that the estate was unfinished when he moved from Poplar to 5 Manor Square when he was five years old and how the property had no fences and no garden, as it was still "littered with builders' equipment". "Some of Becontree was but a muddy lane with a ditch running its length and filled with water. We used to watch the water voles swimming about in them," he wrote. Alexander's daughter Christina said while her father's memories of the estate were mostly happy ones, he had considered it a "dump" in the years before his death. "Throughout my father's life he watched the estate decline steadily," she said. "The budgets for parks and gardens and general maintenance must have felt a serious squeeze and everything generally felt much less cared for. "Front gardens have become driveways and flower beds are now a place to put rubbish bins. One has to wonder what the next hundred years will see." You might also be interested in: Walking through the estate today, dozens of cars line pavements, wheelie bins rest against the front of garden walls, and satellite dishes are dotted on roofs. Its near-identical streets, whose houses once all looked the same, now have a sense of ownership about them: one house is painted pink, another is coated in trails of wisteria. "The estate has changed vastly throughout the years," says Peter. "People used to fight over who had the best kept garden, now they are merely extra space for cars or rubbish. "But that's life. You can't change it. All I have is the lovely memories of my beautiful home and how Becontree became Becontree."

1919 में लंदन की मलिन बस्तियों के निवासियों के लिए क्रेसेंट, कुल-डी-सैक्स और इनडोर शौचालय एक सपना ही रह गए थे। लेकिन चांसलर लॉयड जॉर्ज की "नायकों के लिए घरों को उपयुक्त" बनाने की क्रांतिकारी योजना के लिए धन्यवाद, यूके में पहली और सबसे बड़ी काउंसिल एस्टेट, बेकोनट्री ने उन कल्पनाओं को वास्तविकता बना दिया। एक सदी बाद, इसके निवासी "श्रमिक वर्ग के स्वर्ग" में रहने पर विचार करते हैं।


Damien Chazelle on La La Land's 'challenging' opening

Summary: It's a rare thing in cinema for a film to receive a round of applause even before its titles appear. But that's what has been happening at early screenings of Oscar-tipped musical La La Land.

By Tim MastersArts and entertainment correspondent SPOILER ALERT - This article discusses the opening scene of La la Land. The film stars Ryan Gosling as a jazz pianist and Emma Stone as an aspiring actress who are both chasing dreams of stardom in Los Angeles. So why the amazing reaction to the opening scene when the pair have their first encounter? It's all down to the jaw-dropping song and dance sequence that takes place in a traffic jam on a Los Angeles freeway. "That was up there with the most challenging things I've done," the film's director Damien Chazelle tells the BBC. 'Everything came together' The sequence involved more than 100 dancers in a complex routine that weaves in and out - and on top of - a long queue of stationary cars and trucks. It was filmed on a "brutally hot" weekend on a closed road ramp in LA - while the city's real traffic continues to flow on a freeway in the background. But after days of intensive rehearsals on boxes in car parks, the actual shoot didn't go entirely to plan. "At times like that you're just lucky you have a great crew," Chazelle says. "All these little things seemed to go wrong. As we were shooting, clouds came to cover the sun, a truck door wouldn't open - but everything came together at the end." Co-producer Fred Berger admits it was a tough sequence. "There were many weeks of preparation leading up to that and then it turned out to be one of the hottest weekends on record." On screen, the scene looks like it was shot in a single take. "It was shot over two days," Chazelle explains, "And the result is about three takes stitched together. It was fun - but it was a challenge." La La Land is Chazelle's follow-up to his 2014 film Whiplash. The drama about a young jazz drummer won three Oscars, including best supporting actor for JK Simmons, as well as awards for its sound mixing and film editing. Since premiering at the Venice Film Festival in August, La La Land is being talked up as a major contender at next year's Academy Awards. It won the People's Choice award at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, which in the past has proved to be a decent predictor for Oscars success. Chazelle wrote the script six years ago but was not able to persuade anyone to produce it until he made his name with Whiplash. He says his aim with La La Land was to give a new twist to an old genre. "I grew up loving those old Hollywood musicals, and what I wanted to do was to take that form of film-making we think of as old fashioned and see if it could be updated and revived for today." The film goes on limited release in the US on 9 December (with a wider release on 16 December) and opens in UK cinemas on 13 January. Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.

सिनेमा में यह एक दुर्लभ बात है कि किसी फिल्म को उसके शीर्षक के आने से पहले ही वाहवाही मिलती है। लेकिन ऑस्कर-टिप्ड संगीतमय ला ला लैंड की शुरुआती स्क्रीनिंग में ऐसा ही हो रहा है।


Homeless man found dead in Cardiff street

Summary: A homeless man was found dead in a busy city street, while another was injured when his tent was set on fire.

The incidents happened in Cardiff on 10 December, and are both being investigated by police as part of separate inquiries. The dead man was found on St Mary Street at 19:30 GMT. His death is being treated as unexplained. A man received minor injuries in the tent fire, which happened at about 13:30 GMT. South Wales Police said: "The man has not yet been formally identified, but he is believed to be from the Llanrumney area and efforts are being made to contact next of kin."

एक बेघर व्यक्ति शहर की व्यस्त सड़क पर मृत पाया गया, जबकि एक अन्य घायल हो गया जब उसके तम्बू में आग लगा दी गई।


Stoke-on-Trent couple die in sea during Portugal holiday

Summary: A UK couple have died while swimming on holiday in Portugal.

Kim Fletcher and Danny Johnson, both 33, from Stoke-on-Trent, are believed to have been swimming in Zambujeira do Mar when they got into difficulties. A family friend said Mr Johnson tried to save his partner, but they were caught by a strong undercurrent. The Foreign & Commonwealth Office said it was liaising with Portuguese authorities and supporting the families of the deceased. Friend Ben Cook, who has known Mr Johnson since they were teenagers, said of the couple: "They've been together over 12 years and were completely devoted to each other. "It's absolutely tragic. It's devastated everyone who knew them." He said caves underneath rocks where the pair swam created a strong undercurrent which led to their deaths. Ms Fletcher was a mother-of-two and yoga teacher. Mr Johnson was a steward at Stoke City FC, Mr Cook said. A Foreign & Commonwealth Office spokesperson said: "Our staff are supporting the families of a British man and woman following their deaths in Zambujeira do Mar, Portugal and are in contact with the Portuguese authorities." Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, and sign up for local news updates direct to your phone.

पुर्तगाल में छुट्टियों पर तैरते समय ब्रिटेन के एक दंपति की मौत हो गई है।


London Fashion Week: Representation is 'still a problem'

Summary: Was this the most diverse London Fashion Week to date?

By Lucy ToddEntertainment reporter Victoria Beckham chose 47-year-old Stella Tennant to open her debut show in London, model Winnie Harlow, who has vitiligo, opened for House of Holland and wheelchair user and former Paralympian Samanta Bullock closed at the Fashion's Finest show. Last week, Kate Moss welcomed the increase in diversity in the fashion industry, saying it had changed for the better. "There's so much more diversity now, I think it's right. There's so many different sizes and colours and heights. Why would you just be a one-size model and represent all of these people?" Designer Steven Tai, who has worked at design houses including Viktor + Rolf, teamed up with photographer Rankin and charity Changing Faces to challenge the fashion industry's perception of beauty. At his show he had models with visible scars or disfigurements alongside conventional models. Speaking after his show on Sunday, he said: "It enriches the setting and enriches the clothes as well. It gives the context of the collection a lot more depth. "I just want an accurate reflection of the world that we live in. I think as much as fashion is about telling a story, it needs to be conscious of the social responsibilities as well and the effects that it could have on younger girls growing up. "Familiarity breeds acceptance." 'Treated like a leper' Brenda Finn was one of the models in the show and told the BBC the feedback after coming off stage was "amazing". "They loved that the show looked so much more real. People are interested in how the clothes fit on a different body, and on women who look like me." Finn, who has had alopecia since she was 14, said she was "treated like a leper" when she was younger, and had to be taken out of school because the bullying became so severe. "To be seen as different was seen as negative," she says. "Ten years ago I never even thought we'd see someone like Winnie Harlow in a magazine, so we've made great strides. "I hope that someone seeing this show thinks they are normal and can do what they want to do. It took me a long time - I wasted six years of my life before I got to where I wanted to be - so I hope it can help others." Chloe Root, who was born with a port wine stain birthmark, which covers about half of her body and two thirds of her face, also modelled in Sunday's show. "I've never seen women who look like me in the mainstream media - it's disheartening to feel like I'd never look like that and never fit in. "It's frustrating that it's such a mono-culture - not just for someone with an obvious difference, but also for someone who's walking down the street that isn't a size six. "It creates a unity, that goes beyond fashion." 'No regulation' Supermodel Eunice Olumide has added her voice to the discussion: "The fact that we're not able to represent reality in the industry is a problem," she says. "We're looking at life through a very parochial lens. When I started out, people in China and other markets wouldn't even look at you if you're dark-skinned. "There are no requirements for diversity in the industry," continues the Scottish model. "How can you have an industry that's worth trillions that has no regulation? There's no minimum wage for models, no requirement to make clothes in different sizes. It's common to have hairdressers who have never worked with afro hair before. "That reflects badly on you as the model because you don't look good, and won't get re-booked." Fashion commentator and campaigner Caryn Franklin says she's "thrilled" more and more younger designers are taking the issue of representation seriously. "Teatum Jones have led the way by using models like Kelly Knox and I know they have been hugely influential. This conversation gets louder every season," says the fashion expert. "Repetition is key - when we see something over and over again we normalise it. That's why it's important to see a range of body shapes. "Fashion has to wake up to the needs of the end user and show a broader range of people. We all want that. In fact, studies show when the audience can make a connection to the model wearing the clothes, the desire to actually want to make a purchase is increased by 300% - so it's a business no-brainer," she says. But the obstacles to presenting a show at fashion week with various size models are not only due to "fear of putting their head above the parapet" on the part of the fashion houses, as Franklin puts it, but also one of logistics. Designers make clothes in sample sizes - meaning that it's, literally, a straight-forward one-size fits all approach to dressing models. For plus-size or "curve" models, there is more work involved planning the show and getting the model in for repeat fittings to make sure the clothes look good on them. 'New York is killing it' But some don't see that as an excuse. "The UK is still really far behind," says Beth Willis, co-director at model agency Bridge. "New York had their best year yet in terms of the number of bigger models and those of colour who were walking in campaigns. London is still using a token plus-sized model here and there." Willis, who runs an agency for curve models, says none of her models were booked for London Fashion Week - which she says was "not a massive surprise". The plus-size fashion week in May, on the other hand, saw her models booked out: "That's great, but we shouldn't need a plus-size fashion week at all," she says. She says she's "frustrated" by what she sees as PR stunts on the part of brands. "Generally a lot of these clients will use a token model and get some good press, but that's it. The repeat bookings are what we need. Designers can't just do one-offs - we need to be changing the face of things regularly." Brands like River Island, Asos and Figleaf have been lauded for their inclusive advertising campaigns and clothing lines directed at different sections of the population - including plus-size and maternity. "Fashion week hasn't really been the place where strides are made on diversity," says Willis. "Some people within the industry think it cheapens the brand - and it's not seen as cool. "Where it needs to come from is the students - so when they're learning pattern-cutting and doing their first shows they need to be thinking about clothes which suit different body shapes. Scaling up a design for a size six doesn't really work. "It's got better over the past 30 years," Willis says, "but more needs to be done. In terms of the number of brands we work with, that's increased massively - but if you look at New York they are just killing it. You look at the likes of big name models like Ashley Graham, and that doesn't exist here yet. There's a massive difference in what they're doing compared to us." Olumide says she's seen fellow models heading to New York agencies because they think they may be more likely to get work there: "In the UK we are much too safe, fashion houses will use people who they know and who they've used before. "In the US they're interested in who'll sell. There's a migration of models to New York because there they are more likely to take a risk." In February's fashion week, it was calculated 34.6% of shows represented models of colour in London - compared to New York's 37.3%. The British Fashion Council said in a statement: "Our numbers are above the national UK average representation of 15% but we'd like it to be closer to London's population average of 40%. "The BFC's objective is for London to become the most diverse Fashion Week." 'LFW diversity has been terrible' Tamara Cincik, who runs Fashion Roundtable, an organisation which promotes representation in the fashion industry, agrees with Willis and Olumide: "It's always New York that is leading the way. To be world-leading you have to make changes. And make changes within the organisation. It goes deeper than what's on the catwalk. "Just because Edward Enninful's at Vogue they think that's it," she adds. "But we're still at the point where you have PRs this London Fashion Week going up to women of colour and asking them why they're sat on the front row at a show. "One editor of an Italian fashion magazine was sat on the second row while the rest of her team were sat on the front row - because she is of a different ethnicity. It's disgusting. "Two other editors I know, who are women of colour, were asked whether they were seated in the right seats at two different shows. Both had front row tickets. It plays into a trope of the norm not being women of colour in positions of power and agency - which is what the front row signifies: think front bench in Westminster." The former stylist says the fashion industry runs the risk of alienating many would-be customers by its lack of representation. "I was discussing it with another fashion industry insider and she said she thought the diversity on the catwalk this week has been terrible. Burberry had some inclusion but other big brands had nothing. "There is a changing demographic. You cannot just have white privilege on the front row, within the organisation and then in the casting, and expect that to resonate with consumers. I think it's got a long way to go." And that doesn't even take into account the number of shows where disability is not considered - either on stage or off: "At plenty of shows you can't get a wheelchair in them," says Cincik. "Organisations need to start thinking we can't show here if there is no disability access, however cool it is." Fashion's Finest was, however, one of the LFW shows which represented disabled people by the inclusion of model Samanta Bullock - a wheelchair user. The Brazilian model, a Paralympian and former wheelchair tennis champion, has been working on and off as a model for the past 30 years, and says it feels like "change is coming". Previously, her work was mainly for fashion aimed at wheelchair users. Now she has done a number of high-end shows and campaigns aimed at the mainstream market and is optimistic about the future. "If you don't show people in a wheelchair or disabled people in magazines, it's like we don't exist," she says. "A few years ago it was the same for black people, or gay people. It's the right thing to do to show all different types of people. "It's like opening Pandora's box - people aren't going to go back to how it was before. Once you know what is right, you don't go back." Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.

क्या यह अब तक का सबसे विविध लंदन फैशन वीक था?


From the carbon bubble to 'dirty energy'

Summary: Leaving the "dirty stuff" in the ground is fast becoming the mantra of environmentalists, with the global campaign to move money out of fossil fuels gaining momentum. There is pressure to divest from oil and gas companies on the basis that they represent a "carbon bubble" of overvalued assets, but the industry says this stance is "simply naive". Here are some of the key questions.

By Helen BriggsBBC Environment Correspondent Where does the idea of divestment come from? Rewind 30 years to the 1980s, when divestment meant ditching shares in South Africa during the apartheid era. Academics argue that divestment increased public visibility of the injustices of South Africa's apartheid government and contributed to its decline. Since then, similar movements have targeted a host of issues, such as sweatshop labour, use of landmines, and tobacco advertising. The fossil fuel divestment campaign is based on encouraging people to move their money away from fossil fuels and invest in sustainable energy. Who is leading the way in getting out of fossil fuels? The campaign started in the US and has spread around the world. Hundreds of institutions controlling about £30bn of assets have now pledged not to invest in companies seen to fuel global warming. Among those in the UK who have signed up are universities and organisations such as Glasgow University and the British Medical Association. The Church of England, which has an investment portfolio of £9bn, has warned it could withdraw its investments from oil giants BP and Shell unless they do more to tackle climate change. There are also consumer campaigns, such as Move Your Money, which wants customers to put pressure on their banks to cut ties with "dirty energy". What does the science say? Scientific studies show that existing fossil fuel reserves are several times greater than can be burned if the world's governments are to fulfil their pledge to keep global warming below the limit of 2C regarded as the threshold of dangerous climate change. What are the pros and cons? Some charities, such as the Wellcome Trust, say it is better to work with the energy companies involved to become more environmentally friendly rather than sell out on them. Others, including some scientists, take the view that expensive technologies such as carbon capture and storage could be a solution to the problem of carbon emissions and will need financial investment from industry as well as government. Many oil companies accept that some reserves will have to remain in the ground to tackle global warming. The practical approach is to burn the fossil fuels that are most cost-efficient and least "dirty". But some environmentalists say fossil fuel companies will never play a leading role in any move towards a low-carbon economy. What happens next? One view is that the recent drop in oil prices presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for governments to get rid of fossil fuel subsidies and introduce a price on carbon. This generally goes against government thinking and concern over job losses in the oil and gas industry. With the divestment campaign gathering pace - and momentum building for the Paris climate talks in December - there is renewed hope among campaigners. But with environmental policies getting little attention in the UK election, and coal, oil and gas companies continuing to spend billions on exploration, NGOs are already upping their rhetoric in calling for renewed government efforts over climate change.

"गंदी चीज़ों" को जमीन पर छोड़ना पर्यावरणविदों का मंत्र बन रहा है, जीवाश्म ईंधन से पैसे निकालने के वैश्विक अभियान में तेजी आ रही है। तेल और गैस कंपनियों से इस आधार पर विनिवेश करने का दबाव है कि वे अधिक मूल्य वाली संपत्तियों के "कार्बन बुलबुले" का प्रतिनिधित्व करते हैं, लेकिन उद्योग का कहना है कि यह रुख "बस भोलापन" है। यहाँ कुछ प्रमुख प्रश्न हैं।


Stranded Lossiemouth holidaymakers rescued by lifeboat

Summary: Two holidaymakers were rescued by lifeboat after they became stranded at Lossiemouth's east beach on Wednesday.

The lifeboat crew from Buckie used an inflatable dinghy to pick up the couple, a man and a woman, after they called for help at about 21:00. The footbridge leading to the beach has been taken out of use for safety reasons. Some people wade across the water to avoid a long detour to the beach but risk becoming stranded. Work on a replacement bridge is ongoing. Moray Council previously said the sheer number of people crossing the footbridge had led to its condition deteriorating.

बुधवार को लॉसीमाउथ के पूर्वी समुद्र तट पर फंसे होने के बाद दो छुट्टियाँ मनाने वालों को जीवन रक्षक नौका द्वारा बचाया गया।


No place to hide for LGBT people in Indonesia's Aceh province

Summary: Two gay men were publicly caned in the conservative Indonesian province of Aceh on Tuesday, the first to be punished under Islamic laws introduced two years ago that outlawed gay sex. As the BBC's Rebecca Henschke reports, the case has deeply worried Aceh's gay community.

Salman (not his real name) joined the crowd of hundreds to watch the public caning. He flinched as the convicted men, dressed in white gowns, stood on a stage murmuring prayers while a team of men dressed in hoods took turns to lash their backs with sticks. The two men closed their eyes in pain while the crowd cheered. "It's horrible, it's terrifying, it could happen to me," Salman said. "I think now I should be more careful about how I behave. My partner is not in Aceh at the moment but I worry about my future." Salman is Acehnese and stays here so that he can look after his elderly mother - leaving is not an option for now. "There are lots of people in the gay community who are smart and have lots to contribute to Aceh but now they are scared and they have to hide their sexuality. Many others are leaving." We were treated like animals Gay rights activist Hartoyo travelled up from Jakarta for the caning. In 2007, he too was caught with his boyfriend in Aceh, when he was an aid worker helping to rebuild the province after the devastating 2005 tsunami. "The police urinated on my head and beat the two of us up, we were treated like animals," he recalls. "I was lucky that homosexuality wasn't officially a crime then," he says. A day before the public caning, I went with Salman to the prison to meet one of the convicted men. He was terrified, his hands and body shaking. He was nervous and said at first he didn't want help from the gay community: "I have been deeply depressed in jail, I am trying desperately to be accepted here, I am trying to pull myself out of a dark hole." What he wanted was to go home to his family and return to his old life, he says. Before neighbourhood vigilantes broke down his rented room door, he was in his final years of a medical degree. But returning to that life will be hard. Read more on this: Aceh's Sharia code empowers local vigilantes to publicly identify and detain anyone suspected of violating the rules. And that includes breaking and entering someone's house to catch people in their most private moments. Mobile phone footage of the raid that circulated online shows the men naked and visibly distressed. One of them appears to call for help on his phone. "Raids like that are allowed under our laws," says Illiza Sa'aduddin Djamal, the mayor of the provincial capital, Banda Aceh. "They were in a rented room." "The neighbours were suspicious; they knew what was going on. But they needed to get proof." In February last year, she wrote on her Instagram account that she was going to "flush" LGBT people out of Aceh, below a picture of her pointing a pistol. "I want to save our next generation," she told me. "Imagine what it would be like if the whole world started liking the same gender." "We don't hate them as people, what we hate is what they do." Veranda of Mecca Aceh is believed to be one of the first places Islam entered Indonesia and is often referred to as the "veranda of Mecca". Acehnese separatist rebels, known as GAM, fought a decades-long brutal separatist war to break away from Indonesia. It wasn't until the devastating tsunami hit the province in 2004 that peace talks started in earnest. And in a peace deal made with the national government in 2006, Aceh was granted the right to practise Sharia. At the time, Acehnese political leaders promised the law would not affect religious minorities and would respect international human rights, but it has become an increasingly strict code. And the Sharia police have been accused of human rights violations and abuse of power. Last year a Christian woman became the first non-Muslim to be caned under the regulations. Her crime was selling alcohol. And there was international outrage a few years ago when a vigilante gang raped a woman in the town on Langsa. They had raided her home and found her with a married man. Accusing them of committing adultery, the men, one of whom was a 13-year-old boy, raped the woman, before marching the couple to the Sharia police. I went to Aceh at the time and met with the head of the Sharia police in Langsa. He told me she was to blame, because she was wearing "super sexy clothes". "I think any normal man would have been provoked." He said then he would have liked to have seen both of them stoned to death. "The man would be buried at the crossroads and whoever passes throws a stone until he dies. The women would be buried and stoned to death," he said. 'The shame hurts the most' For now Aceh's Sharia doesn't allow stoning, but it is getting stricter. Before the caning this week of the gay men, an organiser warned the crowd not to attack them. "They are also human," he said. He also told all children to leave the area. "This is not something children should watch," he said. But a number of parents ignored that. "This is a positive punishment that creates a better society for all and is our right under our autonomy law," H A Gani Isa, the head of the Ulama council of Aceh, told the crowd. Our driver in Aceh, Brandi, says he has had quite a few friends who have been caned - for drinking and gambling. "They say it is the shame that hurts the most, the cane not so much," he says One of his friends has been caned three times. "But it hasn't stopped him from drinking, and he even takes a selfie before the caning now," he laughs. Acehnese leaders are quick to state that their right to enforce Sharia came after a bloody civil war. But rights groups have strongly criticised the use of caning. The New York-based group Human Rights Watch says it constitutes torture under international law. 'My family accept me' Syeril, a transgender woman in Aceh, says LGBT people now need to be "very careful about how we dress and how we behave and what we say". "We don't wear sexy clothes for example, we can't do that anymore," she says with a smile. But she says her family are comfortable with her sexuality. They were senior members of GAM and are still politically powerful. She says she was often beaten by Indonesian soldiers looking for her rebel brothers during the civil war, and survived the tsunami and says she is a true Acehnese. "I am a little bit scared after what's happened to others. But I don't have a problem personally because my family and my village accept me. "They have always been very good to me and whatever happens I will not leave them," she says. No place to hide Gay rights activist Hartoyo didn't end up watching the caning. After he posted his plan to attend on social media, an online campaign began calling for him to be forced out of the province. Men in the crowd were asking where he was. He now wants to reach out to the caned men and see if they want help to get out of Aceh and go to the capital, Jakarta. "I want them to know they are not alone and there is a safer place." But after this week's arrest of 141 men at a gay sauna in the capital, Jakarta, and similar arrests in the city of Surabaya, the space for Indonesia's LGBT community is dramatically shrinking.

रूढ़िवादी इंडोनेशियाई प्रांत आचेह में मंगलवार को दो समलैंगिक पुरुषों को सार्वजनिक रूप से बेंत से पीटा गया, जिसे दो साल पहले पेश किए गए इस्लामी कानूनों के तहत दंडित किया गया था, जिसमें समलैंगिक यौन संबंध को गैरकानूनी घोषित किया गया था। जैसा कि बीबीसी की रेबेका हेंस्के ने बताया, इस मामले ने आचेह के समलैंगिक समुदाय को गहराई से चिंतित कर दिया है।


Brexit: What would 'no deal' mean for food and medicine?

Summary: The government has been urged to speed up the publication of its guidance for a 'no deal' Brexit, after a survey of 800 businesses by the Institute of Directors found that fewer than a third of them have carried out any Brexit contingency planning.

By Chris MorrisReality Check correspondent, BBC News Recently, the Brexit debate has been dominated by the potential implications of the UK leaving the EU without any kind of deal in place next March. Some of the details have been pretty alarming, but the whole point about contingency planning is that it has to take account of the worst-case scenario. So what could 'no deal' mean for two essentials of daily life - food and medicines? Food The UK produces roughly 60% of the food it consumes. Of the remaining 40%, about three-quarters is imported directly from the European Union, including a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables like citrus fruits, grapes and lettuces. In other words, the food industry is highly dependent on just-in-time supply chains, and while the UK has more supermarkets per head than anywhere else in the world, those supermarkets keep very little in stock. It all comes in overnight, much of it through Dover. That is why the idea of gridlock at UK borders - in the event of a 'no deal' Brexit - is such a worry. Strike action which closed the port of Calais in 2015 led to queues of lorries on the M20 in Kent stretching back for 30 miles. The logistics industry, and Dover District Council, fear that the disruption caused by a 'no deal' Brexit could last for far longer. "If there were to be no deal there would be many, many months of disruption to existing choices," said Ian Wright, of the Food and Drink Federation, "frankly until some kind of deal was reached." So what has the government said? Not a lot in public, and pressure on the government from supporters of Brexit to highlight 'no deal' planning (as a means of putting pressure on the European Union) has now been replaced by accusations that their opponents are selectively leaking scare stories. The government is planning to publish, in two tranches in late August and early September, about 70 technical notices on how businesses and consumers should prepare for no deal. I understand that about 20 of them will impact directly on the food industry. Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab was reluctant to give MPs many details when he appeared before the Exiting the EU Select Committee, insisting that he wanted to wait until he could "set it out in a responsible and full fashion". But when Mr Raab was asked directly if the government was considering stockpiling food, he said: "It would be wrong to describe it as the government doing the stockpiling. "Of course, the idea that we only get food imports into this country from one continent is not appropriate, but we will look at this issue in the round and make sure that there is adequate food supply." The implication that it was businesses rather than the government that should be doing any stockpiling has not gone down well within the food industry. "If they are expecting the industry to be stockpiling things, they will be in for a surprise," said one executive working for a major supermarket chain. "It's nonsense. There is absolutely no capacity in the UK supply chain for extra food to just sit around." For one thing, you cannot stockpile perishable food. That's obvious. And a huge amount of fresh produce arrives from the EU on a daily basis. "The problem is the government doesn't appreciate what that means in practice," said Andrew Opie, of the British Retail Consortium (BRC). "For example, in the run-up to last Christmas 130 lorry-loads of citrus fruit came through Dover from Spain every single day. That's the sort of volumes we're talking." The BRC estimates that, on average, more than 50,000 tonnes of food passes through British ports every single day from the EU. So border delays, caused by sudden customs and regulatory checks, could very quickly lead the distribution system to break down. For fresh produce that could mean shorter shelf lives, and rising costs in the system. Industry sources say the government has suggested that it would keep regulatory checks at borders to a minimum in the event of no deal, in an effort to keep traffic moving. But that wouldn't help much if robust checks were being carried out on the EU side. "If there were big border hold-ups, after three days there would be gaps on the shelves in fairly short order," said Chris Sturman, chief executive of the Food Storage and Distribution Federation (FSDF). What about chilled or frozen food? The trouble is there is very little spare storage capacity. According to the FSDF, there are 385 refrigerated warehouses around the country, but more than 90% of refrigerated warehousing is in constant use and margins are extremely tight. Supermarkets are certainly making contingency plans. But rather than involving stockpiling food, which one executive described as a "non-starter", they revolve around how they might be able to source produce from other countries if European supply chains are seriously disrupted. They have done that before. For example, bad weather in Spain last year meant lettuces were temporarily imported by air (and therefore more expensively) from Latin America, and supplies were rationed. The 2015 industrial action in Calais also promoted retailers to diversify their supply chains. But these are short-term fixes and at the moment the whole industry is trying to plan for an outcome that is impossible to predict. "We're not going to run out of food if there is no deal," said Ian Wright from the FDF. "There is a way to increase capacity, to grow more of particular vegetables, to cut out the waste that occurs at the moment. "But the short-term disruption could be severe. The government needs to understand that." A spokesperson for the Department for Exiting the European Union said the government was preparing for all eventualities but had no plans to stockpile food. "The government has well-established ways of working with the food industry to prevent disruption - and we will be using these to support preparations for leaving the EU. Consumers will continue to have access to a range of different products." Medicines Another big issue is medicines. Every month the UK exports 45 million packs of medicines to the EU and EEA countries, and imports more than 37 million. Again, prolonged disruption at borders could threaten supplies of drugs and other vital healthcare products - both in the UK and elsewhere in Europe. There is more scope with medicines than with food to increase stocks of things like tablets, but other imported drugs such as insulin often need to be refrigerated and may therefore pose bigger logistical challenges. So what has the government said? Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the House of Commons Health Select Committee recently that "we are working with industry to prepare for the potential need for stockpiling in the event of a 'no-deal' Brexit". "This includes the chain of medical supplies," he said, "vaccines, medical devices, clinical consumables and blood products." Industry sources confirm that they are in close contact with the government to make sure it understands their plans, and that it knows what the practical implications of leaving without a deal could be. The UK-based pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca told the BBC on 17 July that "as a safety net" it was increasing its drugs stockpiles across Europe by about 20% in preparation for a no-deal Brexit. AstraZeneca's chief executive, Pascal Soriot, has subsequently said the company is doing everything it can to be prepared, and to make sure patients do not run out of their medicines. "We typically run about three months of inventory for our medicines," he said. "We are increasing this by one month so that we have additional inventory to protect against a disorderly Brexit, if you will." The company is not increasing its global stock, but it is locating more of it in the UK and Europe to be available if necessary. Two other big companies, France's Sanofi and Switzerland's Novartis, have also confirmed plans to increase stockpiles. But I understand that the other big UK-based pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline, has decided for the moment not to increase the additional stocks of drugs that it holds in the UK. GSK was not able to say why it has taken such a decision, citing commercial confidentiality. The focus of its stocks is mostly on medicines that are not necessarily readily available from competitors or generic alternatives. GSK is certainly preparing for Brexit though. It has already started the process of moving the EU-wide marketing authorisation for more than 1,000 drugs registered in the UK to other EU countries, mostly to Germany. And GSK's annual report released in March 2018 reveals that the company is spending £70m in one-off costs connected to Brexit, with additional ongoing costs of up to £50m per year depending on what arrangements are made in the future. But perhaps the biggest challenge in the health sector is faced by those who rely on products which are only of medical use for a few days or sometimes a few hours. In particular, this means radio isotopes that are essential for things like cancer scans. "A 'no deal' scenario will be difficult for the nuclear medicine community," said John Buscombe, of the British Nuclear Medicine Society. "We calculate that 60% of the radiopharmaceuticals we use come from the EU, affecting as many as 600,000 patients per year." At the moment they arrive by road and rail across the Channel. "If they arrive too late," Mr Buscombe said, "they may not be useable because they will have decayed too much. "They could be flown in, but that will result in increased costs that the NHS will have to pay." When asked about the supply of medical radio isotopes by the Health Select Committee, Mr Hancock said: "We are working with industry to ensure that exactly that sort of medicine, or rather diagnostic need, is taken care of… it is incredibly important for me, as Secretary of State, to ensure that people will have access to the medicines they need." What do you want BBC Reality Check to investigate? Get in touch Read more from Reality Check

इंस्टीट्यूट ऑफ डायरेक्टर्स द्वारा 800 व्यवसायों के एक सर्वेक्षण में पाया गया कि उनमें से एक तिहाई से भी कम ने किसी भी ब्रेक्सिट आकस्मिक योजना को अंजाम दिया है, जिसके बाद सरकार से 'नो डील' ब्रेक्सिट के लिए अपने मार्गदर्शन के प्रकाशन में तेजी लाने का आग्रह किया गया है।


Top 10 'ones to watch' in 2010

Summary: Newsbeat has unveiled the upcoming stars of music, film and TV to look out for this year. Check out who made the top 10 list for the year ahead, what they'll be up to and where you can see the artist or programme.

Ellie Goulding Newsbeat's number one tip for super stardom in 2010 is singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding. The 22-year-old's dance-infused songs have created a lot of buzz and she's also topped the BBC's Sound of 2010 poll, voted for by industry insiders and taste makers. Goulding is also definitely in with the right crowd, counting artists like Marina And The Diamonds, Laura Marling and Mumford & Sons as friends. "There's a lot of musical people in our group," she admits. The singer's acoustic pop/electro mix should be all over the TV and radio this year, with her debut Lights due out in March. If you want to get in on the action early she's also on tour in a few months, supporting US band Passion Pit. Andrew Garfield Twenty-six year-old actor Andrew Garfield is number two in our list. Garfield was born in LA (his dad's American and his mum's English) but he moved to the UK when he was three. In 2009 he appeared in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Heath Ledger's last film, and also in Channel 4's critically-acclaimed Red Riding series. However, 2010 should see his profile rise to new heights when he appears in British sci-fi film, Never Let Me Go, which stars Keira Knightley. He's also set to star alongside Justin Timberlake in a movie about the founders of Facebook, called Social Network. Glee Much-hyped new American TV show Glee is a comedy set in a US high school focusing on the Glee club - a group of kids who sing and dance. Each week they perform covers of classic tracks which you can then download. The cast have just been honoured with a People's Choice Award for favourite new TV comedy. "I don't know if we can really wrap our heads round it. We're just enjoying the ride. "We're still filming, we're still completing season one and that's really important to us right now." There was a sneak preview of the show on E4 just before Christmas and it starts properly on 11 January. The Vampire Diaries It's already picked up a gong for favourite new TV drama at the People's Choice Awards in LA, and if the success of Twilight and True Blood are anything to go by, The Vampire Diaries is set to be a big hit over in the UK too. The show is based on the very popular books and has been adapted for TV by Kevin Williamson - the man behind Scream and Dawson's Creek. The cast say there's definitely room for the series in an already crowded Vampire-themed market. "You have Twilight which is the large theatrical franchise and you have True Blood which is the more R-Rated HBO version. This show fits into this niche, where a 13-year-old girl can't watch True Blood with her mum but can watch Vampire Diaries. "It caters to a much younger audience, however it also caters to an older, maybe more mature audience. It hits on a lot of facets, which makes it a well-rounded show." Justin Bieber US pop and R'n'B singer Justin Bieber has been a big hit Stateside and he's only 15. You may not have heard about Justin yet but you will in the next 12 months. His debut single is called One Time and it's already being played on Radio 1. He was discovered singing on YouTube when he was 13 and a battle then ensued between Usher and Justin Timberlake to sign him - he went with Usher. Probably his biggest gig to date was playing for President Barack Obama at the White House this Christmas. Delphic Expectation put on new bands can be great. But even greater can be the expectation put on them by themselves. Manchester dance/indie hybrids Delphic were so consumed by making their debut album Acolyte, that when finally finished they bolted to Paris and didn't tell anyone. "We completely freaked out," admitted guitarist Matt Cocksedge. They needn't have worried though, with current stellar single Doubt a mere taster of the albums Underworld meets Bloc Party charms. With the trio's claim that "the guitar is dead" they might just have to the future. Hurts The Manchester duo Hurts is made up of Theo Hutchcraft and Adam Anderson. The new noir-pop neurotics are becoming as well known for their dapper dress sense as their music and unlike many acts tipped for success who play down the hype, these guys are going to milk it. "I think we intend for next year just to continue living off the hype. We'll probably make an average record and live off the hype for as long as possible. "We feel like we've duped everybody at the moment." The boys have yet to play a single gig but a clutch of dates in Salford, London, Berlin and Koln are planned for February. Everything Everything Despite what it might look like today (i.e. snow covered) Manchester is a hot bed right now. Musically, at least. Joining Lancashire cohorts Hurts and Delphic as the most touted outfits for the forthcoming year are experimental-pop foursome EE. "There's a lot that's in our heads and in our fingers that's ready to go," said lead singer Jonathan speaking to us last year. After the brilliance of recent single MY KZ, UR BF and the promise of an album before summer 2010 - we can't wait… Saoirse Ronan Fifteen-year-old Saoirse Ronan is being talked about as one of the brightest new acting talents of 2010. She plays the main role in The Lovely Bones, the latest film from Lord of the Rings mastermind Peter Jackson, (who's described the actress as like a "young Cate Blanchett"). The movie's about a murdered teenager who watches over her grieving family and her killer from heaven. It also stars Susan Sarandon, Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz. Some critics think the film could be Oscar nominated but Saoirse says she's not paying too much attention to that at the moment. "I'm trying not to think about it really," she admitted. "It's a little bit nerve wracking, quite a lot of anticipation from people... it would be a great honour." However, the Irish actress is no stranger to award ceremonies. In 2007 she was nominated for an Oscar for her role in Atonement, where she starred alongside Keira Knightley. You can catch Saoirse in the The Lovely Bones when it hits UK cinemas on 29 January. Plan B Look back three years and Ben Drew was the rough-cut voice of Britain's disenchanted streets. He spat about inner-city poverty, teenage pregnancy and drug trafficking on his sarcastically titled debut Who Needs Action When You Got Words. Eminem with an acoustic guitar is how he got boxed. Not strictly a brand new tip then, but 2010's Ben Drew is a reinvented man. After starring alongside Sir Michael Caine in last year's Harry Brown he's now directing his own full length movie but it's in his music he's made his biggest strides. "I've reinvented myself so if people are saying that I'm basically a newcomer," he says. “I’m doing a completely different style of music. "My life has changed and I don't feel like I'm part of the same struggle I was in before." Indeed, now suited, clean shaven and smartly dressed with a fresh pop sensibility (see single Stay Too Long) on soul-influenced, brassy second album The Deformation Of Strickland Banks he’s a changed man. It seems like Plan B has reverted to Plan A, and it looks like it'll be a success. Carey Mulligan The final tip is for British actress Carey Mulligan who most recently starred in An Education. That film netted her two gongs - the Critics Choice Award and a British Independent Film Award for best actress. The 24-year-old has also been nominated for a Golden Globe -which is usually a good indicator for the Oscars, but like Saoirse Ronan above, she told Newsbeat she's taking the whole thing in her stride. She said: "It's too surreal to be exciting. It's too mad a concept. It's so huge that the Oscar thing seems like a whole other stratosphere that I can't really think about. "It meant that more people went to see the film and that's what I wanted, so that's brilliant." Carey is also starring as Michael Douglas' daughter in the upcoming Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps and is said to be dating Transformers star Shia LaBeouf, after the pair met on the set of Wall Street.

न्यूज़बीट ने इस वर्ष देखने के लिए संगीत, फिल्म और टीवी के आने वाले सितारों का अनावरण किया है। देखें कि आने वाले वर्ष के लिए शीर्ष 10 की सूची में कौन है, वे क्या करेंगे और आप कलाकार या कार्यक्रम को कहाँ देख सकते हैं।


Cheltenham Literature Festival sets ticket sale record

Summary: A record number of tickets for the Cheltenham Literature Festival have been sold for this year's event.

Organisers say 126,000 tickets have been sold so far. A total of 119,000 were sold during the whole festival last year. Famous names such as JK Rowling, Salman Rushdie, Michael Palin, Kofi Annan and Sir Roger Moore will appear at events in the town over the next 10 days. Festival director Jane Furze said: "Ticket sales are absolutely amazing." Other authors due to speak about their works include PD James, Ian Rankin, Sir Terry Pratchett and Ian McEwan.

इस वर्ष के आयोजन के लिए चेल्टेनहैम साहित्य महोत्सव के लिए रिकॉर्ड संख्या में टिकट बेचे गए हैं।


Covid-19: Five ways to avoid lockdown back pain

Summary: Millions of people are less physically active than they were before Covid-19. For those working from home, the morning walk to the bus stop has gone. Days on end can be spent hunched over a laptop without ever leaving the house.

By David BrownBBC News For some, that's taking a painful toll. A survey of people working remotely, by Opinium for the charity Versus Arthritis, found 81% of respondents were experiencing some back, neck or shoulder pain. Almost half (48%) said they were less physically active than before the lockdown. Another study by the Institute for Employment Studies found 35% reporting new back pain while working from home. Physiotherapists and other back pain experts say those with serious or persistent problems should seek professional help, but there are things that many of us can do to help ourselves. Don't just sit there Pretty much all the experts agree that one of the best things you can do is get moving. Don't sit in the same position for long periods. "Make sure you take any opportunity you can to move your body," says Ashley James of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists (CSP). "It doesn't need to be about exercise as such," he says. "It's about building movement into your day." He calls it taking "regular movement snacks". That could be taking phone calls or joining online meetings standing up, just having a stretch or walking up and down the stairs when you don't really need to, he says. When you're moving, different muscle groups share the work of keeping your head, neck, back and the rest of your body supported, rather than continually overloading the same muscles. Where lockdowns have restricted outside exercise to once a day, Mr James's advice is to use that daily opportunity for at least a good walk whenever you can. Movement can help with breathing by opening up your chest, and reducing muscle atrophy. It increases blood flow and lubricates synovial joints - joints that allow free movement - like hips and shoulders. Set an alarm Creating a new routine to help keep you moving can be difficult, so experts suggest setting a timer on your phone or laptop to remind you to move. It's a good way to avoid getting stuck in the same position hour after hour, says neck specialist Chris Worsfold. "We've evolved to move," he says. "We naturally want to move after about 20 or 30 minutes, so that's when you need to go and shake it about." If you're sitting when it goes off, stand up. If you're standing, have a stretch or walk up and down the stairs. "The key is to create a routine that works for you," says Leanne Antoine, who treats patients in Hertfordshire. "There's no point in creating a schedule that makes you feel like a failure when you don't keep to it." So ask yourself honestly what you would be prepared to do, and stick to it. Be careful, but as long as it gets you out of the chair, stretching, walking or Zumba dancing in your living room, it doesn't matter, she says. Sort out your workspace "You don't need the perfect set up with a thousand pound chair, but if you're scrunched up on the sofa, it's not going to be good for your back," says Chris Martey. Your workspace is worth some serious thought, but companies have a big interest in selling expensive equipment, so he says beware of unnecessary costs. Leanne Antoine agrees: "Just make small tweaks that don't cost the earth." That could be as simple as using a cushion to raise you up on your chair, or to support your lower back. An inexpensive adjustable office chair can help. A mount for your laptop will raise your screen to eye level so that you're not always looking down, particularly on long online video calls. An external keyboard is also useful. "Talk to your employer," says Ms Antoine. Many will supply equipment to staff. If you have to use a sofa, at least make sure your feet are firmly on the floor and you're sitting back with a cushion to support your lower back. Standing desks can be helpful, says Chris Martey. But you need to alternate between standing and sitting - and take regular screen breaks. If you don't have a standing desk, some experts recommend standing with your laptop on an ironing board for short periods. Get better sleep We're in a "perfect storm" for back trouble - according to Ashley James, with Covid-19 restricting physical activity while simultaneously ramping up anxieties about health, job insecurity, children's education and more. It's impossible to quantify but a lot of back pain is driven by anxiety, he says. In the jargon, back problems are "biopsychosocial". It doesn't help that we're now in winter - when many people experience a dip in mood. People de-stress in all sorts of ways of course. Pilates and yoga are helpful for some. One of the best ways is to work on getting better sleep, says Mr James. "Sleep hygiene" is the key. That means cutting down on caffeine in the afternoon and evening, keeping to a consistent night time routine and trying to wake up at the same time every day. The NHS advises against using electronic devices for an hour or so before you go to bed, as the light from the screen may make it more difficult for you to sleep. Light suppresses the secretion of melatonin, a hormone which helps to make you sleepy. Many studies have suggested that blue light does this most powerfully, but some research suggests the warmer colours used in "night mode" on many devices may actually have a bigger impact. Desk exercises The CSP has designed some simple stretches which, if done regularly, can help ward off aches and pains. They're for people who are working remotely and find themselves sitting for long periods. The chest stretch, the leg stretch, the sit stretch and the wall press, are designed to help different muscle groups. The CSP says there is no "perfect posture" and that the priority is to keep moving. There's a positive message here, says Chris Martey. For millions of people suffering everyday aches and pains he says: "You can take control. You can self-manage. You don't have to be dependent." Illustrations by Gerry Fletcher. You may also be interested in...

लाखों लोग कोविड-19 से पहले की तुलना में कम शारीरिक रूप से सक्रिय हैं। घर से काम करने वालों के लिए, सुबह की सैर बस स्टॉप तक चली गई है। अंत में दिन बिना घर से निकले लैपटॉप पर बिताए जा सकते हैं।


Iran sanctions disrupt medicine supplies

Summary: Hospitals, clinics and pharmacies in Iran are running out of medicine as the government cuts health funding because of international sanctions, putting the lives of thousands of people at risk, reports the BBC's Mohsen Asgari.

At the well-known 13 Aban Pharmacy in central Tehran, Atefeh Allahyari is queuing. Ms Allahyari left her house at 04:30 to make sure she would be first to get Paclitaxel, a chemotherapy drug used to treat cancer, for her younger brother. However, she does not hold out much hope. "I have come here for the last four days, but the pharmacists say nothing has arrived yet," she says. Khosrow, one of the pharmacists, says there is nothing they can do. "We cannot import medicine," he explains. "My uncle has been in this job for many years but he cannot import anything because no banks accept Iran's money for fear of facing punishment by the West." "They are not legally bound to refuse services to Iranians; but they err on the safe side for fear of getting into trouble." Dwindling reserves Although trade in medicine is exempt from international sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council and the unilateral sanctions announced by the US and EU, Iranian importers say Western banks have been declining to handle it. The US and EU have placed restrictions on dealings with Iran's Central Bank - the only official channel for Iranians to transfer money abroad - and Swift, the body that handles global banking transactions, has cut Iran's banks out of its system. The move has isolated Iran financially by making it almost impossible for money to flow in and out of the country. Foreign currency which Iran used to receive for its oil and gas exports has also dried up in the wake of an EU-wide embargo. The government said in July that it had $150bn in foreign currency reserves to help cushion the blow of the sanctions. By October, the central bank's reserves were reported to have fallen to $110bn. Iran's currency, the rial, is also believed to have lost 80% of its value against the dollar since the start of the year. A subsidised exchange rate was set up by the government to protect vital imports, but some reports say it has been open to abuse. The health ministry has also allegedly been denied access to cheap dollars to purchase medicine and equipment. Officials have also sought to step up domestic production of medicine. However it has been limited by subsidy reforms which have increased the cost of fuel and electricity, as well as by shortages of increasingly-expensive raw materials. On Wednesday, Britain's Times newspaper reported that Iran had stockpiles of medicine to last only another 100 days. 'Silent death' Iranians suffering from diseases such as the blood disorders thalassemia and haemophilia, and various types of cancer, so far have been hardest hit. For months they have had to worry about whether they could afford the spiralling cost of vital drugs, but now they are struggling to get hold of them. Manouchehr Esmaili-Liousi, a 15-year-old boy suffering from haemophilia, died in July because his family did not have access to medicine. He was from a nomadic tribe based in the mountains near the city of Dezful, in Iran's south-western province of Khuzestan. "He lived far away from the city and because the family had not the medicine on the spot they had to take him to hospital. But it was too late," Ahmad Ghavidel, the director of the Iranian Haemophilia Society, told local media. Mr Ghavidel blamed Manouchehr's death on the US and EU sanctions. "This is against human rights. Even in wars, women and children and patients are protected by international treaties," he added. "But sanctions hitting medicine in Iran are causing a silent death and are a ploy to hurt the health of Iranian people." Milad Rostami, a seven-year-old haemophilia sufferer from Kuhdasht, a town in Lorestan province, desperately need injections of a US-made medicine, but it is no longer available locally in sufficient quantities. Supplies have run out even in Tehran. Milad has been receiving treatment at the Iran Haemophilia Centre. "We came to Tehran by bus to find medicine for our son. He had to take medicine two to three times a day. But now he receives injections every three or four days and his bleeding is increasing," says Afsaneh Souri, his mother. "They say the medicine is scarce." 'Appalling atmosphere' Fatemeh Hashemi Rafsanjani, the head of Iran's Charity Foundation for Special Diseases, has expressed serious concern about the fates of the six million patients, especially those suffering from haemophilia, multiple sclerosis and cancer. In a letter to the UN secretary general, she wrote that restrictions on bank transfers had severely affected the import of medicines. "I hereby implore you to exert all your endeavours to champion human rights in lifting the sanctions as they are political in nature and prove to the inexcusable detriment of the patients in Iran," she said. In a statement, the US treasury said: "It has been the longstanding policy of the United States not to target Iranian imports of humanitarian items, such as food, medicine and medical devices. "If there is in fact a shortage of some medicines in Iran, it is due to choices made by the Iranian government, not the US government." Mismanagement Critics of the government believe its mismanagement of the national finances, as well as the inefficacy of local bureaucracies and corruption, have exacerbated the problems. Many importers say they have struggled to get access from state institutions to the dollars and euros they need to purchase medicines, most of which are made in the West. Iranian Health Minister Marziyeh Vahid Dastjerdi recently complained her department's inability to get access to foreign currency she had been promised. "Some $2.5bn has been allocated for [the import of] medicine," she said. "However, Iran's Central Bank has given only $600m to the ministry since the beginning of the Iranian year [in March 2012]." Importers have also complained that customs duties on medicine have risen significantly, while some have been accused of withholding stocks to increase prices. The Times reported that drugs for a course of chemotherapy which would cost $2,000 at the state-subsidised rate, now cost $6,000. There are also reports of a black market in medicine developing, as well as claims that hospitals are turning to drugs which have been struck off by the health authorities but remain available and affordable. Sanctions or mismanagement? For patients and their families it does not matter which one is to blame for the crisis which is slowly threatening a nation's health.

बीबीसी के मोहसिन असगरी की रिपोर्ट के अनुसार, ईरान में अस्पतालों, क्लीनिकों और फार्मेसियों में दवाएं खत्म हो रही हैं क्योंकि सरकार ने अंतरराष्ट्रीय प्रतिबंधों के कारण स्वास्थ्य वित्त पोषण में कटौती की है, जिससे हजारों लोगों का जीवन खतरे में पड़ गया है।


The plan to ban work emails out of hours

Summary: Should governments step in to regulate work emails and so rescue harassed staff from the perils of digital burnout? The answer in France appears to be "Yes". President Francois Hollande's Socialist Party is about to vote through a measure that will give employees for the first time a "right to disconnect".

By Hugh SchofieldBBC News, Paris Companies of more than 50 people will be obliged to draw up a charter of good conduct, setting out the hours - normally in the evening and at the weekend - when staff are not supposed to send or answer emails. Much mockery was made in the foreign press when the proposal was first mooted, with images of hawk-eyed work inspectors snooping on the industrious. But the French government says the problem of permanent connection is universal and growing - and that intervention is needed. "All the studies show there is far more work-related stress today than there used to be, and that the stress is constant," Socialist MP Benoit Hamon tells me. "Employees physically leave the office, but they do not leave their work. They remain attached by a kind of electronic leash - like a dog. The texts, the messages, the emails - they colonise the life of the individual to the point where he or she eventually breaks down." The measure is part of a labour law - named after Labour Minister Maryam El Khomri - many of whose other provisions have sparked weeks of protests in France. The "disconnection" clause is about the only part on which there is consensus. Few - in France or elsewhere - would disagree that work-home encroachment is a troubling by-product of the digital revolution. "At home the workspace can be the kitchen or the bathroom or the bedroom. We shift from a work email to a personal WhatsApp to a Facebook picture to a professional text - all on the same tool," says Linh Le, a partner at Elia management consultants in Paris. "You're at home but you're not at home, and that poses a real threat to relationships," she says. Le says the businesses she advises are increasingly aware of the dangers to staff. The most extreme threat is so-called burnout which she describes as "physical, psychological and emotional distress caused by a total inability to rest". But apart from wishing to spare their suffering, companies also need employees to be creative. And this is less likely, says Le, without regular downtime. She applauds a US insurance company that has given workers sleep monitors and pays them a bonus if they get 20 consecutive nights of good sleep. "It shows how good companies recognise the importance of not harassing workers at home. "Here in France we speak of the two types of time, as defined by the Greeks: chronos and keiros. Chronos is regular, divisible time. Keiros is unconscious time… creative time. "Keiros is essential for productive thinking, and good employers know they need to protect it." But will the law work? Many have doubts. At PriceMinister - an online marketplace run from central Paris - chief executive Olivier Mathiot has instituted "no-email Fridays", to encourage employees to resort less to digital messaging. Sales manager Tiphanie Schmitt says this idea is fine - it helps to get people to talk - but she would resist any government interference in the way she does her job. "I do sales. I like doing sales. It means I use email late into the evening, and at the weekend. I don't want my company preventing me from using my mail box just because of some law," she says. Similar views can be heard expressed at the Bowler pub near the Champs-Elysees, a hang-out for financial and computer workers. "I think [the right to disconnect] is wonderful for improving the human condition but totally inapplicable," says software writer Gregory. "In my company we compete with Indian, Chinese, American developers. We need to talk to people around the world late into the night. Our competitors don't have the same restrictions. "If we obeyed this law we would just be shooting ourselves in the foot." Olivier Mathiot of PriceMinister says the issue should be addressed by education rather than legislation. "In France we are champions at passing laws, but they are not always very helpful when what we need is greater flexibility in the workplace," he says. And according to Linh Le at Elia Consulting, the law will be very quickly made irrelevant. "In a few years' time emails will have ceased to exist," she predicts. "We'll have moved on to something else." Even cheerleaders such as the MP Benoit Hamon admit that the impact of the law will only go so far - as presently drafted there is no penalty for violating it. Companies are expected to comply voluntarily. But almost everyone in France agrees that the subject of communications overload is one that needs to be on every employer's agenda. More from the Magazine German vehicle-maker Daimler has an innovative approach to holiday email, which many people may wish their company would copy, writes William Kremer. Should holiday email be deleted? (August 2014) Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.

क्या सरकारों को काम के ईमेल को विनियमित करने और परेशान कर्मचारियों को डिजिटल बर्नआउट के खतरों से बचाने के लिए कदम उठाना चाहिए? फ्रांस में जवाब "हां" प्रतीत होता है। राष्ट्रपति फ्रांस्वा ओलांद की सोशलिस्ट पार्टी एक उपाय के माध्यम से मतदान करने वाली है जो पहली बार कर्मचारियों को "डिस्कनेक्ट करने का अधिकार" देगी।


Syria air strikes: Were they legal?

Summary: The justifications put forward by the US, UK and France for the air strikes in Syria have focused on the need to maintain the international prohibition against the use of chemical weapons, to degrade President Assad's chemical weapons arsenal and to deter further chemical attacks against civilians in Syria.

By Marc WellerProfessor of International Law Prime Minister Theresa May argued that the UK has always stood up for the defence of global rules and standards in the national interest of the UK and of the organised international community as a whole. However, in its formal legal defence of the operation issued some time later, the UK government rather emphasises the need to protect the population of Syria from further harm. Legally, the claim to enforce international law on chemical weapons by violent means would return the world to the era before the advent of the UN Charter. The Charter allows states to use force in self-defence and, arguably, for the protection of populations threatened by extermination at the hands of their own government. The use of force for broader purposes of maintaining international security is also possible. However, such action is subject to the requirement of a mandate from the UN Security Council. This arrangement tries to balance the need of states to preserve their security in the face of an actual or imminent attack through self-defence when strictly necessary with the need to ensure that force cannot be used as a routine tool of international politics. Hence, international law since 1945 precludes military strikes in retaliation - to teach other states a lesson, as it were - or by way of reprisal. Reprisals are acts that are in principle unlawful, but they can be excused because they aim to force a state back into compliance with its international obligations. Hence, in 1981 Israel was condemned by the UN Security Council when it attacked the Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq. Israel had argued that it might contribute to the production of weapons of mass destruction in the future. A US attack against an alleged chemical weapons facility in Sudan in 1998 in response to US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania was also criticised. In this instance, the three states mounting the air strikes have taken it upon themselves to force Syria into compliance with its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention. Syria joined the Convention in 2013 as part of the diplomatic settlement that followed the failure of the UK, and the US, to go through with threatened air attacks after gruesome chemical attacks in Eastern Ghouta. The Convention prohibits the production, possession and use of chemical weapons. No fewer than 192 states have signed. Syria was also subjected to additional duties contained in mandatory Security Council resolution 2118, reinforcing these obligations and providing for the destruction of its chemical weapons stockpile. In an impressive example of international co-operation, also involving Russia, this was largely achieved a year later, by September 2014. Russian veto However, since then, there have been some 40 recorded instances of alleged chemical weapons use in Syria. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has the ability to dispatch fact-finding missions to determine whether such weapons have actually been used. A special joint mechanism was set up by the OPCW and the Security Council with a mandate to assign responsibility for such uses. However, after the mechanism pointed the finger at the Assad government last year, Russia vetoed its renewal. An attempt to establish a new mechanism empowered to determine responsibility for the latest use of chemical weapons in Douma failed this week, again due to a Russian veto in the Security Council. Russia's own proposed investigatory mechanism, which was opposed by the Western states and others, would have lacked that power. The three states intervening in Syria now argue that there was no prospect of obtaining a mandate from the Council to confront chemical weapons use by Syria. In striking Syria, they claim to have fulfilled an international public order function of defending the credibility of the prohibition of the use of chemical weapons in general terms, and enforcing Syria's obligations in particular. This argument is somewhat reminiscent of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, supposedly to enforce Baghdad's disarmament obligations imposed by the Security Council in the absence of clear Security Council authorisation. Moreover, in April of last year, President Trump launched 59 cruise missiles against the Syrian air-base at Shayrat. It was claimed that the installation had been involved in a chemical attack in the town of Khan Sheikhun, again to restrain further chemical weapons use. The blockage in the Security Council on Syria opens up some space for this kind of argument. The Chemical Weapons Convention provides for referral of grave instances such as the Douma attack to the Security Council for enforcement action. But the Council could not even agree on a mechanism to establish responsibility, not to speak of more decisive action to repress future uses of such weapons. The claim of the three states involved to act instead of the Council, as the world's enforcement agent of a highly important international rule, is of course being resisted by some. Russia has already asserted that the attacks flagrantly violate the prohibition of the use of force. The UN secretary general has also emphasised the need to respect the primacy of the Security Council. Humanitarian suffering The arrogation of the functions of the Council by a group of states claiming to act in the common interest therefore reflects the reality of the present, little Cold War between Russia and the West. The breakdown of the consensus that facilitates the operation of collective security necessarily results in unilateral acts and, in consequence, further division. In addition to the general interest in maintaining the obligation to refrain from chemical weapons use, Mrs May also referred to the protection of civilians from further chemical attacks to alleviate further humanitarian suffering. This, in fact, is a stronger and more persuasive legal argument in favour of the strikes. In fact, the formal legal argument put forward by the UK government sometime after the prime minister addressed the nation does not rely on the claim to enforce the terms of the chemical weapons convention or of resolution 2118. In 2013, when the use of force was expected after the Ghouta attack, the UK already expressly invoked the doctrine of humanitarian intervention. A good argument has been made that states can act in cases of overwhelming humanitarian necessity that cannot be addressed by any other means to protect populations in danger of imminent destruction. The doctrine of forcible humanitarian action gained credence throughout the 1990s when it was applied to rescue the Kurds of northern Iraq and the Marsh Arabs in the south of Iraq from destruction by Saddam Hussein. It was later employed unopposed in cases including Liberia and Sierra Leone. However, international division about its application emerged in the wake of the operation on behalf of the Kosovo Albanians of 1999. Since then, the UN has embraced the concept that international action can be taken to rescue a population under immediate threat. However, the doctrine of responsibility to protect (R2P) was narrowed down to cover operations mandated by the Security Council. Still, a number of states claim a right to act when the Council cannot. Innocent civilians at risk of destruction should not pay the price for a political blockage at UN headquarters in New York. Others, including Russia and China, oppose humanitarian intervention. The application of this doctrine is not restricted to uses of chemical weapons against civilian populations. However, given the uncontrollable and indiscriminate effect of chemical weapons, their use against civilians offers perhaps the clearest trigger for the application of this doctrine. In this instance, the UK points to the history of repeated uses of chemical weapons by the Syrian government, adding that it is "highly likely" that further such attacks would follow. Given the failure of previous attempts to rein in this practice, and the present blockage in the Security Council, it is argued that no means other than the use of force were available to secure the humanitarian objective of the operation. Moreover, it is asserted the force used was strictly limited and specifically targeted at objects connected with the objective of degrading the capacity to launch future chemical attacks and deterring such attacks in the future. These arguments conform to the legal requirements for humanitarian intervention. It could also be argued that the attacks aim to preserve the national security of the states involved in the attacks, by way of an extensive right to self-defence. Diluting the protection stemming from the prohibition of the use of chemical weapons in recent practice posed a threat to all states. Of course, every state may defend itself, under some circumstances even before an armed attack aimed at it has landed on its territory. But the attack must be imminent, leaving no choice of means and the response must be proportionate to the attack. In the run-up to the Iraq war of 2003, there was the famous 45-minute claim concerning Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction. Laying the ground for an argument of anticipatory self-defence against a strike that might come in the future, the UK argued that Iraqi weapons of mass destruction might reach UK military bases in Cyprus with minimum warning. But there was no evidence that Baghdad was contemplating such an attack and the argument was abandoned. Similarly, there is no suggestion in this instance that Syria was preparing to launch an attack against the US, UK or France. Marc Weller is Professor of International Law in the University of Cambridge and the editor of the Oxford University Press Handbook on the Use of Force in International Law.

सीरिया में हवाई हमलों के लिए अमेरिका, ब्रिटेन और फ्रांस द्वारा दिए गए औचित्य ने रासायनिक हथियारों के उपयोग के खिलाफ अंतर्राष्ट्रीय प्रतिबंध को बनाए रखने, राष्ट्रपति असद के रासायनिक हथियारों के शस्त्रागार को नीचा दिखाने और सीरिया में नागरिकों के खिलाफ आगे के रासायनिक हमलों को रोकने की आवश्यकता पर ध्यान केंद्रित किया है।


Stories from the bookshelves: What does your library mean to you?

Summary: "Lost dispiriting places with the reek of missed opportunities" or "places of innovation, spirit and community"? As the number of libraries in England falls , BBC News looks at some of the experiences of people who love or loathe visiting public libraries.

Sally Ball, Hanham I am a mother of two young boys and regular visitor to Hanham library in South Gloucestershire. I have been personally involved in the campaign to stop the proposed library cuts in our area. I am also a member of award winning Black Sheep Harmony, a female a cappella group from South Gloucestershire. We have produced a song against library cuts. We have chosen the song's lyrics to show libraries as not only places from which to borrow books but, increasingly, hives of community activity, appealing to different areas of society. Michael Johns-Perring, Edinburgh I was one of those cool kids at school that volunteered in the library. When I was a sixth former, some of the teachers thought I was a member of staff - something that granted me staff room privileges. I was even a fan of libraries before I was a fan of reading. Typically, as a boy, I wasn't much into books. Maybe it is the calming atmosphere of a library that has always appealed to me; after all, a library is also a public study. I have also always liked order. I was fascinated by the Dewey Decimal system [of categorising books]. I still remember, with fondness, skipping a class in order to put the school library's National Geographic collection in chronological order. Ah, those halcyon days. Sally Newton, Hemel Hempstead I grew up in Hertfordshire and on Saturdays when I was little my Dad would either take me swimming or to the Hemel Hempstead library. Both pursuits were equally brilliant as far as I was concerned. I could borrow up to six books a week, and I frequently did. History, biology, fiction, mythology - anything I liked. I read far more books than I would have had a chance to purchase alone. Dad still lives in the area and said the library we used to go to isn't even there any more. I am sad that the service libraries provide is being eroded. Mark, Cheltenham It pains me to have to say it, but public libraries have had their day. They have less life in them than the zombies in the Night of the Living Dead. Decades of under-investment, poor leadership and fundamental professional disagreements about what libraries are for has wrecked libraries as much as the internet and Amazon. Too many libraries are beyond redemption. They are lost dispiriting places with the reek of missed opportunities. They have also not been best served by some of their main public supporters. Having authors leading campaigns makes those campaigns look self-serving and they ignore the role modern libraries were supposed to fulfil. The key test is this: would anyone today be proposing to establish public libraries if they didn't exist? The simple answer is "no". Claire Warren, Nottingham I am a qualified and chartered librarian. I find it utterly horrifying that councils have cut services to libraries so fiercely over the past few years, having to rely on volunteers and very little money. Libraries are so much more than the stagnant, dull and lifeless places that they are sometimes perceived - they are a place of innovation, spirit and community. I work in schools and see the instrumental impact of a lack of books around children through low literacy levels and children struggling to read. Libraries need to be protected now, not struggling for survival. Charlotte Thomas-Collins, Crediton I went in to register my daughter and that was it. They register them at birth now. The books were filthy and had bits missing, looked chewed and I didn't want them in the house. The staff were very friendly, though. Another problem we had is that kids get obsessed with a favourite book and would have a fit if you returned it. They're so cheap on Amazon anyway. Less risky. Adam, London I became a librarian to help people but left the profession because I was tired of making excuses for why we couldn't any more. Mistakenly, I thought my voice would be heard as a campaigner outside the service, but the local council seems only marginally less disdainful of public voices. The service was being run down long before they started planning closures in the local authority I worked for. It wasn't just in libraries but across the council, as every service councillors are elected and paid to run are viewed as burdens if they aren't generating income. Sue Bentley, Northamptonshire Libraries introduced me to the world of books at a young age. They shaped my life, broadened my view of the world, and became the spur to a career - I am a successful writer of multi-million selling children's series Magic Kitten. Literacy is so important in all areas of life. Research shows that children who are read to at an early age do better at school that those who are not. We need our libraries and must fight for them.

जैसे-जैसे इंग्लैंड में पुस्तकालयों की संख्या घटती जा रही है, बीबीसी न्यूज़ उन लोगों के कुछ अनुभवों को देखता है जो सार्वजनिक पुस्तकालयों में जाना पसंद करते हैं या उनसे नफरत करते हैं।


In pictures: Hot red deer cool off in Highlands loch

Summary: A herd of red deer have been photographed heading into a Highlands loch during last week's heatwave.

The animals were pictured cooling off at Reraig Forest at Ardaneaskan, Lochcarron, in Wester Ross. Last Thursday, Scotland had its hottest day of 2019 when 31.6C (88.9F) was recorded in Edinburgh. Later Scotland had its hottest night ever, after temperatures fell to only 20.9C (69.62F) in Achnagart, north-west Scotland. Images copyright of Reraig Forest.

पिछले सप्ताह की गर्मी की लहर के दौरान लाल हिरणों के एक झुंड को हाइलैंड्स लॉच में जाते हुए फोटो खिंचवाया गया है।


The influence of controversial preacher Zakir Naik

Summary: The controversial Indian Islamic preacher, Zakir Naik, has been accused by the government of causing disaffection along religious lines and inciting youth through speeches. The BBC's Zubair Ahmed went to Mumbai to find out more about him and the impact of his preaching.

Zakir Naik's Islamic International School, located in a crowded Mumbai suburb, could be easily missed due to the fact that it is partially hidden by trees and high walls. Although both boys and girls studied there, the two sexes were not allowed to mix. The classrooms on the first floor were for girls, all of whom were clad in black burka. The boys, wearing skull caps, occupied the ground floor. The school, now shut, was modelled on the preacher's own hardline brand of Islam, but much like Mr Naik himself, this is mixed with "modernity". In this case, a Cambridge IGCSE curriculum. Mr Naik has courted controversy by aggressively advocating fundamentalist Islam. He has always refused to denounce al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden and also famously dismissed the 9/11 terror attack in New York as an "insider job". However, these speeches are delivered in fluent English. He is always attired in a suit and tie, matched with a Muslim skull cap. And he has a massive following. Bangladesh to ban Islamic TV channel Indian preacher is banned from UK He has travelled widely in Africa and the Middle East and addressed large gatherings, while his lectures have been attended by heads of governments and heads of states. He is also believed to have huge followings in the Gulf countries as well as Pakistan, Africa, Indonesia and Malaysia. And his impact is considerable. Many detained al-Qaeda activists have reportedly told authorities that he had been a huge influence on them. He has been living a self-exiled life in the Middle East after being blamed for "influencing" the Dhaka terror attackers on 1 July this year. His offices and schools have since been raided and sealed. The Indian government is likely to ask him to return to the country to help with their investigations. Mr Naik believes that spreading the word of Allah should be the mission of every Muslim. Many in the community call him and his followers "Wahhabi", an ideology which advocates a return to the era of Prophet Muhammed. Amir Rizvi, a designer and an Islam enthusiast, has closely followed Mr Naik's progress as a preacher. "Zakir Naik has made himself into a brand. He is a package. His image is that of a man who is western-educated, with a medical background and wearing suit and tie. He has also cultivated the image of a man of Islam. He sports a beard and wears a skull cap" Mr Naik's journey to becoming one of the world's most controversial preachers - he has a popular television channel called Peace TV, which is now banned in Bangladesh - has been an unusual one. He was born in 1965 in Dongri, a predominantly Muslim locality in Mumbai, into a family of doctors. Dongri was once a playground for smugglers, underworld dons and gangsters, and has been unable to shed its reputation of notoriety. It has also been home to the city's most infamous underworld figures including Dawood Ibrahim. His father, who died recently, was also a doctor and so is his older brother. Mr Naik, who attended St Mary's High School also followed the family profession, choosing to study medicine at the Topiwala National Medical College in Mumbai. He founded the Islamic Research Foundation in Dongri in 1991 soon after abandoning his medical practice. 'Spectacle' Saleem Yusuf, a former employee of Mr Naik's foundation, left him because he says he was never happy with the "spectacle" Mr Naik used to create on stage over the conversion of non-Muslims (into Islam). He once asked about it but he says he never got a satisfactory reply. Mr Yusuf says he often felt uncomfortable with Mr Naik's speeches in which he allegedly made fun of other religions. But both Mr Yusuf and Mr Rizvi despite being self-declared opponents of Zakir Naik, say they believe banning him and his institutions is "unjustified and anti-democratic". Mr Naik's followers believe he might be arrested if he returns to India. But he will look at his school with some satisfaction. He is influencing a whole new generation of Muslims who think and talk like him.

विवादास्पद भारतीय इस्लामी उपदेशक, जाकिर नाइक पर सरकार द्वारा धार्मिक आधार पर असंतोष पैदा करने और भाषणों के माध्यम से युवाओं को उकसाने का आरोप लगाया गया है। बीबीसी के जुबैर अहमद उनके बारे में और उनके उपदेश के प्रभाव के बारे में अधिक जानने के लिए मुंबई गए थे।