Why Azerbaijan is closer to Israel than Iran

Summary: First of all, you need to ask for an appointment well in advance. Security agents call your head office to make sure you are who you say you are.

By James ReynoldsBBC News, Baku If your credentials check out, an appointment is made, and a guard escorts you to the top floor of the building. Another guard calls you in, tests your equipment and ask you to leave behind your mobile phone. You are taken through further checks and invited to sit in a corridor and admire works of art on the wall as you wait. Then, just a few minutes behind schedule, one of the most fortified men in the Caucasus region arrives for his interview. Michael Lotem is Israel's Ambassador to Azerbaijan. His embassy is the closest that Israel physically gets to its principal enemy, Iran. From the embassy it is only a four-hour drive south to the Iranian border. The Israeli embassy in Baku is an important, and occasionally a dangerous, outpost. In January 2012, Azerbaijan's government said it broke up an Iranian plot to kill the ambassador. "I can tell you that the Iranians don't sit still for a second," says Mr Lotem slowly, as he fiddles with his shirt sleeve. "But I'm not worried about my security. I have full confidence in the Azeri security services." 'More Tel Aviv than Tehran' Israel and Azerbaijan have had diplomatic relations since April 1992, six months after the republic declared its independence from the Soviet Union. Israel and the secular government of Azerbaijan share the same goal: to check the spread of political Islam in general and Iran in particular. Theirs is an alliance reinforced by hardware. In February 2012, Israel sold Azerbaijan $1.6bn (1.3bn euros) of sophisticated weapons systems. "We share the same view of the world, I guess," says Michael Lotem. "We share quite a few common problems. For us Israelis to find a Muslim country which is so open, so friendly, so progressive, is not something the Israelis take for granted." Earlier this year, America's Foreign Policy magazine suggested the alliance between Israel and Azerbaijan went deeper than many had previously thought. The magazine reported that Israel had secured an agreement to use Azerbaijan's airfields in case it went ahead with a military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities. If true, this would give Israel a significant tactical advantage. But Israel denies the claim. "That's sheer science fiction", says the ambassador, "or maybe we should drop the science out of it. The aim is having very solid relations with Azerbaijan." Azerbaijan's population is mostly Shia Muslim. But its government is intensely secular. A lone shop in the centre of Baku, called simply The Muslim Shop, shows how rare the public expression of Islam is in the capital. In the evenings, restaurants serve Turkish-made beer to customers in Fountains Square. Most women do not wear headscarves. The centre of town has a McDonalds, a Mothercare and a Versace shop. Baku feels more like Tel Aviv than Tehran. The government is determined to stop its Islamic neighbour from encroaching. "Azerbaijan naturally rejects the Iranian Islamic influence because it is perceived as a threat to the very nation state," says Leila Alieva, the Director of the independent Centre for National and International Studies in Baku. "On the other hand, Azerbaijan has always enjoyed a very good relationship with the Jewish community." Strike 'disastrous' But there are those in Azerbaijan who disagree with their government's embrace of Israel. Ilgar Ibrahimoglu is an Islamic cleric who campaigns for a greater role for Islam in Azerbaijan. He works from a small office and prayer room in Baku. Guests are invited to take off their shoes when they enter in order to respect Islamic custom. Mr Ibrahimglu enters the room, sits behind a desk and warns that previous journalists have made him look stupid. So he says that he will speak in short sentences, perhaps conscious that Azerbaijan's government will keep a close eye on his words. "Iran is a Muslim country and a close neighbour of Azerbaijan", he says, "but I won't say more. Even if this was a live interview I'd say the same thing for five hours straight." But when the staccato conversation turns to Israel, the cleric decides to loosen his rules and speak slightly more expansively. "Azerbaijan shouldn't be friendly with a country that carries out state terror against another people, the Palestinians. Israel can't beat Iran. It couldn't win in Gaza or Lebanon, and it won't win in Iran." The cleric's words won't make Azerbaijan switch alliances. In May 2012, two Azerbaijani poets were detained in Iran on charges of espionage. Azerbaijan's government has since advised its citizens not to travel to the Islamic Republic. Elman Abdullayev, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, deals with Iran every day. He studied in California, and bounces from foot-to-foot as he talks. He apologises for the renovations being made to the Ministry's Soviet era building (the apology is prompted when we pass a man who accidentally pulls a door off its hinges.) "Azerbaijan has always been famous for its modernistic approach - for its secularism." Mr Abdullayev says. "You know we have been first secular state in the Muslim East. So we develop our relations with different countries based on our national interest - be it Israel, be it Muslim countries." Mr Abdullayev rejects the reports that Azerbaijan might lease its airbases to Israel. But what would his government do if its ally, Israel, strikes its neighbour, Iran? "This a hypothetical question which would be difficult to answer," he says. "We think that the Iranian issue has to be resolved diplomatically, peacefully, politically, because anything like that [a military strike] would be disastrous for the whole region, for all of us." Iranian suspicions Relations between Azerbaijan and Iran are made more difficult because they share not just a border, but a common heritage. The Azeri people once lived under the Persian Empire. In 1813, the Treaty of Gulistan after the first Russo-Persian war split the ethnic Azeri people into two. Those in the north lived under Russian, then Soviet rule - and are now in independent Azerbaijan. Those in the south lived under the Persian Empire - and are now in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Today, around nine million ethnic Azeris live in Azerbaijan. But even more ethnic Azeris live across the border in Iran. Figures show that there are around 10-20 million Azeris in Iran - around a fifth of the country's population. Millions more Iranians have Azeri ancestry, including Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Among many Azeris there is a desire for reunification. Simon Aruz is an ethnic Azeri from Iran. He worked as a writer and political activist and campaigned for better rights for the Azeri people in the Persian State. In 2009, he fled the country for Azerbaijan. "We used to live under pressure in Iran," he says. "We are always thinking about our brothers, our sisters, our family. I hope they can be free soon. " Such words make Iran suspicious. The government of the Islamic Republic is concerned that Azerbaijan wants to steal both land and people - a charge denied by Azerbaijan's government. The tensions of a shared, divided heritage are now magnified by the different ways in which each government sees the world. Border tension The overnight train from Baku to the southern border town of Astara leaves at 11pm and makes its way slowly south, along the coast of the Caspian Sea. Some travellers fall asleep immediately. Others drink and listen to the chorus of frogs outside. "Ask me anything about the Iranians," says one man who says he is travelling to Astara simply to drop off a music CD with friends. "I know them better than they know themselves." Early in the morning, the train arrives in Astara. My colleagues and I take a taxi to see the Iranian border. We stop at a gap in the trees half way up a hill. A group of Polish tourists is already standing by the fence. They are in Azerbaijan to watch a Europa League football match - and happily pose for photos with Iran as their backdrop. The Islamic republic is just on the other side of the fence. Houses with white walls and red roofs are clearly visible across the valley. Cars in northern Iran head towards the border crossing with Azerbaijan. The Polish tourists head off to watch their match. After a few minutes the security forces arrive and order my colleagues and me to accompany them to their base. They inspect the TV pictures we have filmed which show little more than the fields of northern Iran and order us to delete the footage. They explain that broadcasting the pictures would get them into trouble - they say that they do not want to do anything to increase tension with their Islamic neighbour. The commander, a vocal Wayne Rooney fan, finally drops us off at a hotel in Astara. At the border crossing itself, crowds of Azeris load up their cars with boxes of food and sweets. Day-to-day goods cost less across the border in Iran. One woman has brought back soap, bananas, biscuits for her grandchildren. "We are going to Baku," says Ali Mani, a carpet merchant from Iran. "Our friends invited us. There are some restrictions in Iran that we don't see here. It's interesting here. "We haven't any problem with Azerbaijan and I know Azerbaijan language," adds his friend in English. Our interpreter asks them in Azeri if they would like to talk about Iran and Israel. They say no, and also decline to have their picture taken. Next to the border gate, a driver called Ismail stands next to his car. His 23-year-old son is slumped in the front seat, trying to hide from the sun, barely able to move. The two are returning from a trip to hospital in Tehran. "My son was having treatment here in Azerbaijan but it wasn't doing anything," Ismail says. "The doctors didn't say what his problem was. That's why some people advised me to go to Tehran. "We went there, they carried out a stomach operation and it was successful. My attitude [towards Iran] is very positive. I went there with big hopes - for my son to be cured there. It was successful. So I'm happy." Ismail says that his son's operation cost $6,000. He has paid a first instalment to the Iranian hospital and has promised them he will pay the remainder. Azerbaijan and Iran share both history and mistrust. Their network of competition draws in both the Caucasus and the Middle East. But for those Azeris on the border Iran is more simple and more immediate. It is a cheaper place to shop, and the only hope to save a son's life.

सबसे पहले, आपको पहले से ही मुलाकात के लिए पूछने की आवश्यकता है। सुरक्षा एजेंट आपके मुख्य कार्यालय को यह सुनिश्चित करने के लिए कॉल करते हैं कि आप वही हैं जो आप कहते हैं कि आप हैं।


#DogsAtPollingStations: The trend you knew was coming

Summary: As people across the UK cast their votes in the general election their paw-fect pooches have also been exercising their voting rights, and predictably the hashtag #DogsAtPollingstations has become a social media trend.

By Lamia Estatie & Dhruti ShahBBC News But, as you'll see, we've noticed that babies, cats and even hedgehogs and guinea pigs are trying to grab a piece of the political pie. Many posted images of their dogs online after polling booths opened on Thursday morning and the hashtag has been used tens of thousands of times with over 8000 tweets sent in the first two hours of voting. The election trend also appeared last month in local elections, the EU referendum, and the last general election. But this year, a new Twitter emoji has been released for those using the hashtag - a terrier donning a union jack. Twitter partnered with The Dogs Trust to encourage use of "Paw-ing Stations" to make dogs joining their owners more comfortable. But it wasn't just dogs who took a casual stroll to the election booth, as the trend #babiesatpollingstations, also emerged shortly after voting began. There was an interruption when an unexpected guinea pig popped up: But the #dogsatpollingstation continues to remain a dominant trend. You might also like: Don't forget the working dogs! Some pooches were unable to make it to the polling station, but didn't want to be left out: But we couldn't continue without acknowledging the rival #catsatpollingstations trend: Even Friday the hedgehog wanted a piece of the action: There's been a lot of competition today though - #horsesatpollingstations anyone? And finally sheep - perhaps we can get a dog at a the polling station to herd them up: By the UGC and Social News team

जैसे-जैसे पूरे ब्रिटेन में लोगों ने आम चुनाव में अपना वोट डाला, उनके पंजे से संक्रमित कुत्ते भी अपने मतदान के अधिकार का प्रयोग कर रहे हैं, और अनुमानित रूप से हैशटैग #DogsAtPollingstations एक सोशल मीडिया ट्रेंड बन गया है।


Why wealthy sports stars get passionate about charity

Summary: New year, new ideas, time to broaden your horizons? For sporting stars, this might involve participating in a high-profile charitable campaign. After all, nothing announces your arrival as a sporting legend quite like attaching your name to a good cause.

By Bill WilsonBusiness reporter, BBC News Former top footballers such as David Beckham and Didier Drogba have been involved in widely publicised ventures in Africa, while boxer Tyson Fury recently vowed to donate his substantial purse from the Deontay Wilder fight to the homeless. "When I go home I'm going to build some homes for the homeless and set up some funds for drug addicts and alcoholics," he said in the US last month. Others, such as athlete Dame Kelly Holmes, have established their own foundation or fund, to assist chosen causes such as social inclusion or literacy. Indeed in the modern world it is hard to find a sporting celebrity - from Cristiano Ronaldo to Serena Williams - who has not dipped into their resources of money or time for charitable causes. The former has helped earthquake victims and the latter has help establish educational centres in east Africa, among their varied philanthropic ventures. What's the motivation? But why would high-earning and high-profile sporting names who seem to have it all - jet-set lifestyles, adulation and huge material wealth - choose to get involved with altruistic initiatives? Are they merely PR and brand-building exercises, a means of countering public perceptions that sportspeople are pampered and overpaid? Prof Jen Shang is a philanthropic psychologist at Plymouth University, and says that the reasons for getting involved can be complex, and are not usually driven by cynical concerns such as monetary gains or fame. "Looking at philanthropy in sport, and other professions, one may start out in one's career being motivated by external factors such as money or honours. But after a period of time it is unlikely that people are motivated so much by external rewards, and more by internal drives," she says. "Top sportspeople might say to themselves, 'I am achieving so much in my regular role, I would like to branch out and see what is out there in the wider world.' "And when they become involved in philanthropy, they then find the same sense of reward that they experienced when they started their careers." 'Wellbeing' Prof Shang adds: "The reason people choose to give money to a cause that is not materially benefitting them is because it is meeting some need. "By 'need', in my research I use the definition of psychological wellbeing. One's philanthropy can make a major difference, not just to others but to one's self." Prof Shang says that, if they so desire, sportspeople can eventually become "fluent in philanthropy" by using skills learned in their sporting careers - attributes such as risk management, business management and people skills. She adds: "They are faced by challenges they would not get in their normal environment. Often they have to provide money, time and a lot of tenacity if they are to make their ventures sustainable. "Problems can be more complex, which is why they often need time and space to develop their philanthropic identities." A charitable foundation: Liverpool star James Milner James Milner officially launched his charitable foundation in the 2011-12 season, and since then has donated around half a million pounds to charitable causes including leukaemia organisation Bloodwise, the NSPCC and Help For Heroes. Two recent high-profile events have included a Celtic v Liverpool legends Match for Cancer at Celtic Park in front of 20,000 fans, and the foundation's annual ball, attending by Liverpool teammates and manager Jurgen Klopp. Some £170,000 was raised at each event. "He is fairly quiet and not usually in the news, but it is good to see him now getting some recognition as a model professional and highly respected player," says PFA players' union official John Hudson, a trustee of the player's foundation. "Off the pitch he has been a massive advocate for putting something back. James has been really passionate about wanting to go along this road." 'Sustained commitment' Footballers can often set up charities as an after-thought to a benefit year, or as a way of attempting to manage the many charitable requests put to them by different causes. "I get a lot of calls from agents saying, 'My player wants to set up a charity,'" says John Hudson, director of corporate social responsibility at footballers' union the PFA. "I tell them to get the player to call me, and that it is about doing things for the right reason, because you are interested in a cause." But as Mr Hudson, who for the past five years has been offering advice to players about charities and wider social responsibility issues, says, it is not something to be done lightly. "Charitable foundations might not always be the right thing for a player. Often they don't realise it involves trustees, company guidelines, Charity Commission guidelines, financial and legal frameworks. "It is really important that it is set up the right way. We help with funding for players who want to set up a charity, we pay the legal costs to establish the proper regulatory framework. "If they do want to go ahead I tell them they will need the right people as trustees. There then needs to be sustained commitment. There is nothing worse than a charity that is dormant." 'Raising awareness' He points to charitable organisations that are run by footballers doing good work away from the glare of the spotlight, but which have highly committed backers. These include the Russell Martin Foundation run by the Walsall player and former Scotland international, and the Jason Roberts Foundation, run by the ex-Grenada international and West Brom, Portsmouth and Blackburn star. The PFA is now working with former Liverpool, Bradford and Bolton player Stephen Darby, whose career was brought to a halt at the age of 29 after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease. "We are looking to set up a foundation with him, as he wants to raise awareness of the illness," says Mr Hudson. "As well as getting the message out there he wants to do something practical, such as raising money for things like specialist physios."

नया साल, नए विचार, अपने क्षितिज को व्यापक बनाने का समय? खेल सितारों के लिए, इसमें एक हाई-प्रोफाइल धर्मार्थ अभियान में भाग लेना शामिल हो सकता है। आखिरकार, एक खेल किंवदंती के रूप में आपके आगमन की घोषणा करने के लिए आपके नाम को एक अच्छे कारण से जोड़ने जैसा कुछ भी नहीं है।


Oxfordshire's Big Picture

Summary: Each week we feature pictures shared with us from across Oxfordshire.

Find out how you can join in and submit your images and videos below. If you have a great image of the county send it to us by email to oxfordshire@bbc.co.uk.

हर हफ्ते हम ऑक्सफोर्डशायर से हमारे साथ साझा की गई तस्वीरों को प्रदर्शित करते हैं।


Why should I get a will?

Summary: Despite this being an age of complicated financial affairs and intricate family relationships, more than two-thirds of people in the UK don't have a will. So why do so many people simply refuse to make one?

By Lucy TownsendBBC News Magazine Wills, or the lack of, have formed the basis of many a fascinating story. From Dickens to EastEnders, they have made and broken lives, ripped apart families and created millionaires. But as much as people might be fascinated by others' tales of surprise windfalls or bitter disinheritance, when it comes to our own affairs, it seems we suffer a serious case of ostrich syndrome. Only three in 10 people in the UK have a will. Last year the Treasury gained £53m from people who died intestate - without a will. The year before it was £76m. And yet the fractured nature of modern families and an increasingly litigious society means making a will has never been so important. So what is it about signing on the dotted line that leaves people so nervous? And is the whole notion of wills about age or assets? November is Make a Will Month, when the £85 fee that would usually go to the solicitor will instead be donated to Will Aid, a charity that distributes the money to worthy causes. So it seems as good a time as any for me to put my assets in order. The first thing my solicitor tells me is that making a will does not mean I am about to die. The next is that I filled out my preliminary form incorrectly, accidentally cutting out my entire family. The language of wills is confusing. Steeped in history, it is formed on precedents of circumlocution. As mere laymen faced with the already daunting task of contemplating our death, navigating legal jargon makes it all the more stressful. "The language is getting better," says Nick Hall, of London's Davenport Lyons, the man charged with writing my will. "We are trying to make it clearer, but there are precedents decided by law and the language is part of that." The role of solicitors is to tell people what things mean, he suggests. "I have dealt with wills that people have written themselves, from the internet or from shop bought templates, and they have been totally invalid. "One I saw only had room for one witness signature - it has to be two. Another client I had wanted to leave all his golf clubs to his best friend, but his best friend was the witness - which means that was invalid - he could never get his golf clubs." Of course, a cynic might argue that solicitors have just a whiff of vested interest in suggesting DIY wills are a legal minefield that should be avoided. Off-the-shelf wills are popular. They can be quick and cheap and there are plenty that are perfectly valid if filled in correctly. WHSmith has sold more than a million of its £9.99 Will Packs. Or you could save yourself even that and go fully DIY. As with any task, the more complicated the parameters, the more likely you are to think about getting a professional in. By the end of my meeting with the solicitor, I realise making a will is not a harrowing process. I didn't die as I left his office and it's not particularly complicated, but then neither is my situation. It can be for families where the parents are unmarried and have children. Here things have the potential to become more problematic and not having a will can have devastating effects. Richard Moore died in 2009, suddenly, from a pulmonary embolism. He did not leave a will. "After his death, we were advised that as he was not married and had no dependants his estate would be shared equally between his surviving parents," says his brother Dr Jeremy Moore. "Richard's biological father played almost no part in his upbringing. My mother divorced my father in the early 1970s. We never saw him. He was not part of our lives." But Richard's biological father accepted his full entitlement. "It was my mother's responsibility to find my father, pay legal fees and then meet the costs of tracking him down," says Dr Moore. "Then it was not just a question of him having half of my brother's money, we had to sell his home and his possessions - his CDs, DVDs, his clothes - all for this man, a stranger, who didn't even send us a birthday card in our entire lives." But despite the horror stories there are many people who would rather not face up to making a will. Stephen Travis and Joanna Thompson have lived together in their Brighton home for 10 years. They have a son, they are not married and they have no will. "Making a will is not something that I have ever thought about," says Travis. "It isn't a priority. It's morbid and I don't like thinking about it. It's also a tricky thing to bring up without sounding like you want to ensure your inheritance." But if the worst happened to her partner, Thompson would be left with nothing. The house they share was originally his, and while they have shared the mortgage for 10 years if he died Joanna would have no claim. All Stephen's assets would be passed directly to his three-year-old son. Leaving Joanna to cope on her own until their son comes of age. Some parents have been forced to effectively sue their own children just so they have enough cash to live. Worse still - what would happen to their little boy should they both die? The solicitors who make wills encounter many reasons for reluctance. Many people just can't face the prospect of contemplating their own mortality, says Charles Neal, partner at Bell & Buxton Solicitors in Sheffield. "Others don't like trying to decide between family and friends who gets what," says Neal. "Some think it is something that people have to do in old age, some don't like the paperwork." And the reason for having a will is to make things easier for your nearest and dearest if you do suddenly die. But I still have not signed my will, because it is thought provoking and sad. Seeing my Last Will and Testament, bound in card and bearing my name, was a strange, almost out-of-body, experience. I felt like Reggie Perrin. But equally, as soon as it is signed I can put it in a drawer and concentrate on living. Maybe it is not such a big deal after all.

यह जटिल वित्तीय मामलों और जटिल पारिवारिक संबंधों का युग होने के बावजूद, यू. के. में दो-तिहाई से अधिक लोगों के पास वसीयत नहीं है। तो फिर इतने सारे लोग इसे बनाने से इनकार क्यों करते हैं?


Killing off cash: Could new tech mean the end of money?

Summary: Cash has been taking a beating lately.

By David WolmanAuthor and journalist Last week, Canada minted its last penny. Eurozone countries are working to restrict cash payments. Bitcoin is all the rage. Payments start-ups such as Square and iZettle are on a cash-killing mission, while non-profit organisations, governments, the World Bank, small businesses, multinational corporations, app developers, hippies, libertarians, liberals, right-wingers all have agendas that can be advanced by alternatives to cash, and they're all pushing to bring them about. But like forecasts of flying cars, predictions of a cashless future have a history of failure. This is in part because progress is incremental, and in part because physical money is a time-tested technology. It's fast, widely accepted, anonymous and useful for old-school budgeting and when the power goes out. Yet powerful forces are aligning against cash. Together, they provide a glimpse of what a cashless or mostly cashless future might look like, and illuminate the promise of digital money, irrespective of whether cash is ever kaput or just increasingly marginalised. Faster and cheaper The battery against cash is coming from three fronts - new technologies, scepticism about the stewardship of sovereign currencies and increased enthusiasm for alternative currencies, and greater scrutiny about cash's myriad costs. (Think anti-counterfeiting cops and armoured trucks, bank security, tax evasion, terrorists using 200-euro or $100 notes to buy explosives, and every cash-related crime ever.) Digital money innovations, particularly tools anchored to mobile phones, offer faster and cheaper ways to pay bills, buy and sell goods, send and receive money and make bank transactions. Alternative currencies, meanwhile, are moving from the fringe to the centre, as more and more people worry about the long-term value of coin of the realm. Angst about government currencies has traditionally sent people flocking to gold, and for many devotees of the shiny stuff, gold remains the one and forever answer. But gold is not value incarnate. It's just another commodity, albeit a historically pivotal and impressively hefty one. Those who grasp that fact, yet still distrust central bank-issued currencies, are turning to local and online options, barter exchanges, and the crypto-currency Bitcoin. But the most consequential aspect of this monetary revolution is growing recognition that the costs of cash fall disproportionately on the poor. When was the last time you saw a wealthy person patronise a cheque-cashing service, use Western Union or visit a payday lender (for an above-board transaction, I mean)? Cash is expensive not merely because of the risk of being robbed at the cash machine or losing your savings to a fire, flood or abusive spouse. It's also expensive because of steep prices paid in time, fees and opportunity costs. For you and me, those costs are, by and large, nominal. But for the billions of people who subsist on $2 (£1.28) a day, they are anything but. Going mobile Digital tools are already providing millions of people worldwide with the opportunity to avoid cash. And avoid it they do. They are storing value and transacting by way of electronic accounts "on" their mobile phones. For the first time, people who were trapped in the informal economy can steer clear of usurious local moneylenders, save precious time and money, and benefit from the basic financial services that you and I take for granted. And no, looping people into the formal economy isn't a clandestine Valentine to banks and bankers. The fact is that a bank account, online bill, person-to-person payment, access to credit, insurance - all of these tools for building economic stability depend on money in electronic form. If you don't have that, it's far more difficult to climb permanently out of poverty. The truth is that it doesn't matter all that much whether cash's further marginalisation ever leads to extinction. What matters far more is the potential for digital money innovations to improve the welfare of so many. David Wolman is a contributing editor at Wired and the author of The End of Money, due out in paperback this autumn.

कैश में हाल ही में गिरावट आई है।


The Vatican Bank is rocked by scandal again

Summary: When I first settled in Rome in the early 1970s, it was common knowledge among resident foreign journalists that you could get a much better exchange rate for the Italian lira from your dollars or pounds by visiting the Vatican's own bank, situated inside a medieval tower next to the Apostolic Palace inside Vatican City.

By David WilleyBBC News, Rome So, showing my press pass, I climbed the stairs into this strange Holy of Holies, where the only other clients in the marble-lined banking hall were priests and nuns. I wrote out a cheque, which the bank clerk cashed after checking my identity. He handed me about 10% more lira than if I had made the transaction in one of the commercial banks just down the street in Italian territory. I had just discovered my very own offshore fiscal paradise. Thus began my short-lived but instructive introductory course into Vatican banking. A few months later, someone leaked what was happening and I could no longer gain access to the Vatican's financial inner sanctum. Divine appreciation Then I got to know the Most Reverend Paul Marcinkus, a giant of a priest, who hailed from Chicago, and who had been appointed by Pope Paul VI in 1971 to head the Vatican Bank, the "Institute for the Works of Religion", or IOR in Italian. Pope Paul wanted to show his appreciation of the archbishop's efforts as chief organiser of the first ever visit by a pontiff to the Holy Land in 1964, where he had been the Pope's constant bodyguard and translator. I learned with some surprise that the archbishop had no previous specialist knowledge of international banking. In fact, upon his appointment he had been sent off to Harvard University for a six-week crash course to learn the rudiments of international high finance. During the 1980s, the archbishop got involved in some shady dealings, first with a Mafia-linked Sicilian banker called Michele Sindona, and then with an Italian financier called Roberto Calvi, president of the Banco Ambrosiano, which eventually collapsed with huge debts involving losses of at least $250m (£165m) to the IOR, one of the Banco's shareholders. Mr Calvi eventually ended up dead, hanging from a rope under Blackfriars Bridge in London, victim of a faked suicide. The archbishop was wanted for questioning by Italian prosecutors, not in connection with what turned out to be a Mafia murder, but over the Vatican Bank's losses incurred through the setting up of phony offshore shell companies in the Bahamas. But the burly archbishop successfully claimed diplomatic immunity, taking refuge inside the Vatican at one point. He had a sardonic attitude to his work. "When my workers come to retire, they expect a pension," he once told a friend of mine. "It's no use my saying: I'll pay you in 400 Hail Marys!" Broken promises Fast forward to the present. The Vatican Bank has once again been in the eye of a storm of scandal. It has been accused of money laundering and lack of due diligence in allowing non-religious, and even crony, businessmen to hold accounts in what amounts to an international offshore tax haven. Pope Benedict XVI attempted in 2010 to bring the IOR back on course by creating a financial information authority to monitor its performance - but promises of greater financial transparency clearly failed to materialise. A boardroom row erupted in 2012, and Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, an Italian economist then at the head of the bank, stormed out of a meeting chaired by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's secretary of state, and resigned. Mr Gotti Tedeschi is the author of an economic textbook entitled Money and Paradise: The Global Economy and the Catholic World. His post remained empty for nine months and then, on the very eve of Pope Benedict's retirement last February, the pontiff appointed a German banker, Ernst Von Freyberg, to head the IOR. Money laundering Now, another series of IOR bombshells have burst. Paolo Cipriani, director of the bank, and his deputy Marco Tullio have resigned after the arrest by Italian tax police of a Vatican monsignore who used to work as a senior account manager in the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA), which manages Vatican real estate holdings. The monsignore, Nunzio Scarano, is being questioned in jail over allegations of money laundering, corruption and fraud. Pope Francis is scandalised and angry at the goings on behind the scenes at the IOR. He has decided to begin his planned clean-up of the Roman Curia, the central government of the Church, with a complete shakeup at the IOR. Vatican security officers have been instructed to freeze any attempt to meddle with IOR documents, while an internal commission of inquiry with wide powers prepares a secret report on the current financial shenanigans, for the eyes of Pope Francis only. The Vatican Bank is a damaged brand at a moment when the Pope is urging his flock to turn their attention to the plight of the world's poor. There has been speculation that one of Pope Francis' options could be to dissolve the IOR altogether and hand over the Vatican's entire banking operations to a reliable commercial bank.

जब मैं पहली बार 1970 के दशक की शुरुआत में रोम में बस गया था, तो निवासी विदेशी पत्रकारों के बीच यह आम जानकारी थी कि आप वेटिकन सिटी के अंदर अपोस्टोलिक पैलेस के बगल में एक मध्ययुगीन टावर के अंदर स्थित वेटिकन के अपने बैंक में जाकर अपने डॉलर या पाउंड से इतालवी लीरा के लिए बहुत बेहतर विनिमय दर प्राप्त कर सकते हैं।


S4C managers are to lose cars and benefits as part of plans to save money

Summary: S4C managers are to lose benefits such as company cars and private insurance, the TV channel has announced.

Chief executive Ian Jones said the move was part of plans to save money. He said nine company cars will go in September - saving £50,000 - and health insurance at the end of the year. The channel's public funding is being cut by a quarter from £102m to £75m by 2015. There have been viewer complaints about recent changes to the S4C schedule due to reduced budgets.

एस4सी प्रबंधकों को कंपनी की कारों और निजी बीमा जैसे लाभों को खोना होगा, टीवी चैनल ने घोषणा की है।


Teenager raped in Southampton park sex assault

Summary: A teenage girl has been raped in a park in Southampton.

The 17-year-old was assaulted shortly after 10:00 GMT on Thursday in Houndwell Park, according to reports made to Hampshire Constabulary. Officers are currently conducting inquiries at the scene and the area has been cordoned off. The force said that the "investigation is in its very early stages and remains ongoing", and has appealed for any witnesses to come forward.

साउथेम्प्टन के एक पार्क में एक किशोर लड़की के साथ बलात्कार किया गया है।


Spending plan: What it means for health and care

Summary: In terms of health and care, there were two eye-catching numbers in the chancellor's spending announcement - £6.2bn extra for the NHS and £1.5bn for social care in England - but neither is quite what it seems.

Nick TriggleHealth correspondent@nicktriggleon Twitter The £6.2bn refers to the extra cash the front line of the NHS will receive next year as part of the five-year settlement announced a year ago by then Prime Minister Theresa May. And it takes the total available to NHS England, to pay for services from hospital care to GP practices and ambulance crews, to nearly £130bn. The increase amounts to a 3.4% above-inflation rise - and while that may seem generous when compared with other areas of public spending, it is still less of a rise than the NHS has traditionally be given throughout its history. What is new, however, is how much extra the rest of health is being given. This is money that goes on a range of other things, such as buildings maintenance and training for staff. And the money available for those areas is rising by £400m to £9bn. The extra money is welcome but still leaves the NHS playing catch up, with waiting lists growing and a huge backlog in buildings maintenance, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research. "The legacy of austerity continues," says the IPPR's Chris Thomas, "leaving our cherished health service under significant strain." The social-care announcement, meanwhile, is genuinely new. The £1.5bn is made up of: What could that money do for adult social care? About £30bn a year is set to be spent by councils on social-care services this year - a third of which goes on children. So if two-thirds of the extra £1.5bn goes on adult services, that would represent a 5% increase in funding. That is pretty significant but then the demands being placed on care services are pretty significant too. The County Councils Network believes the extra funding will be enough to provide some "breathing space" and to "protect" current services but little else. It is up to councils to decide how much they spend on care, so it is impossible to say just how much will end up going on these services in 2020-21. In theory, other spending priorities may mean care spending will not go up by quite as much as £1.5bn - although, that seems unlikely given the rest of the funding councils receive, for all services, is going up by £2bn to nearly £50bn, according to the Treasury. For a sector that has had to bear a heavy burden of the cuts made since 2010, all of this has come as a welcome relief. But the biggest challenge for the government is still to be tackled - how to reform the system of funding. Currently, only about a fifth of older people who need care receive it from the state, with the rest having to go without, rely on friends and family or pay for it themselves. The chancellor promised plans would be published in due course. But the problem is the government has been saying that for the past two years.

स्वास्थ्य और देखभाल के संदर्भ में, कुलाधिपति की खर्च की घोषणा में दो आकर्षक संख्याएँ थीं-NHS के लिए £ 6.2bn अतिरिक्त और इंग्लैंड में सामाजिक देखभाल के लिए £ 1.5bn-लेकिन दोनों में से कोई भी उतना नहीं है जितना लगता है।


Man dies at Reading Ikea in 'workplace accident'

Summary: A contractor has died after an accident at an Ikea store.

Emergency services were called to the Swedish furniture shop in Reading at 02:30 BST. The site, which opened in July, will remain closed while police investigate the circumstances of the man's death. No arrests have been made. Javier Quinones, the firm's deputy retail manager for the UK and Ireland, said safety and security was Ikea's highest priority. "Our thoughts are with the individual's family at this time," he added. Thames Valley Police confirmed it was investigating a "workplace accident".

आइकिया स्टोर पर एक दुर्घटना में एक ठेकेदार की मौत हो गई है।


Who can stop India WhatsApp lynchings?

Summary: India's government has asked messaging service WhatsApp to act urgently to halt the spread of "irresponsible and explosive messages" on its platform after a spate of deadly attacks. But will it have any effect, asks the BBC's Ayeshea Perera.

What messages are being sent? The statement comes amid a spate of mob lynchings that have killed at least 17 people across India in the last three months. Media reports put the number of dead higher. The violence has been blamed on rumours of child kidnappings, spread over WhatsApp, which have led people to attack strangers. Police say it is proving hard to get people to believe that the messages are false. In one of the most recent lynchings, in the north-eastern state of Tripura, the victim was a man employed by local government officials to go around villages with a loudspeaker, asking locals not to believe the rumours being spread on social media. The Indian government said the company cannot evade "accountability and responsibility" for the content its users are sharing. Why is the situation out of control? The spate of attacks is increasingly alarming and shows no sign of abating. India's telecom regulatory commission says there are more than one billion active mobile phone connections in India, and millions of Indians have started getting online in a very short space of time. For the vast majority of them, their first point of contact to the internet is through their mobile phone. "Suddenly people from rural areas in particular are inundated with information and are unable to distinguish what is real from what is not. They tend to believe whatever is sent to them," Pratik Sinha, the founder of fact-checking website Alt news, told the BBC in an earlier interview. With an estimated 200 million users, India is WhatsApp's biggest market. It is also the single largest internet-based service available to people in the country. This means it has tremendous reach, allowing not only messages to spread exponentially, but also enabling mobs to gather quickly. Because it is primarily a personal messaging app, people are more inclined to believe information they receive through it, because it comes to them via family and friends. Therefore, the inclination to double check is very low. This is only going to get worse when India adds its next 300 million internet users in the next three years, technology analyst Prasanto K Roy told the BBC. They will be non-English speakers, and most will be lower down the socio-economic pyramid with lower levels of literacy, he says. They will consume mostly video and music. "Video is the easiest of platforms for fake news. It's so easy to misrepresent: just find any old video of a fight or a brutal killing on the internet, describe it as something recent and inflammatory, and send it out. In minutes, it goes viral, racing around on Facebook and WhatsApp." And the technology it uses has made the situation even more complicated. WhatsApp is encrypted end to end, at the smartphone itself, and messages are not stored on WhatsApp's servers. The company itself says this: "Only you and the person you're communicating with can read what's sent - and nobody in between, not even WhatsApp" and "WhatsApp does not store messages once they are delivered or transaction logs of such delivered messages"."However, some metadata (such as who called or texted whom) is stored, and has been reportedly shared with US federal law enforcement after court orders," says Mr Roy. The fact that the service employs end-to-end encryption means it differs from services like China's WeChat, which has to comply with Chinese law that enables the state to monitor messages. It is more similar in nature to apps like Signal or Telegram, but those are not used by many people in India. The government seems to be out of its depth. Law and order officials apparently are at a loss over how to deal with messages going viral on WhatsApp, and or how to engage with technology companies to get them to do something. What has WhatsApp said? The company has told the government that it is also "horrified by these terrible acts of violence", calling the situation a "challenge that requires government, civil society and technology companies to work together". While it has declined to make changes to the way it encrypts messages because "the way people use the app is by nature still very private", it has outlined several steps it is taking to help address the problem. This includes enabling users to leave groups and block people more easily. WhatsApp is also planning to run long-term public safety ad campaigns in India, the statement said, adding it had already tied up with local organisations to help dispel rumours being spread on its platform. The company also said it planned to start an engagement programme with law enforcement officials, helping them share best practice for how WhatsApp is used by local police as a resource for their community. It is also labelling messages that have been forwarded from somewhere else. But Mr Roy says this does not show you how much a message has been forwarded. Should WhatsApp do more? That depends on who you talk to. Nikhil Pahwa, the founder and editor of the Medianama website, says WhatsApp needs to evolve to help stop the problem. "Of course platforms like WhatsApp are enablers of free speech and should not be censored. But that doesn't mean they don't have a responsibility in situations like this," he told the BBC. Mr Pahwa says there are several practical measures the platform can use. "For instance, all messages should be treated as private. This means that people will no longer have the ability to copy-paste or forward messages. Anything that is forwarded will need to be made public and this could generate a message ID that can then be tracked," he said. His other suggestions include enabling users to flag objectionable content and making first-time users watch a mandatory video that explains how the platform works. Mr Roy says however, that merely targeting the "messenger", when the biggest disseminators of misinformation on WhatsApp are political parties, is disingenuous. "This needs to be tackled at the source. Political parties, particularly the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP] need to take a more disciplined stand about using WhatsApp. Like a no-first use nuclear policy, maybe the answer is for all political parties to pledge not to use it to spread misinformation," he says. From a legal standpoint, while a message like this from the government would worry WhatsApp, it is protected under the Indian IT Act's Intermediary Guidelines, which recognises that such platforms are intermediaries and thus cannot be held accountable for content shared on them, with certain conditions. Mr Roy says that while these guidelines specify a "take down" process for websites to remove objectionable content, it is unclear what needs to be done with encrypted messaging platforms like WhatsApp, where traditional "takedowns" are not easy to implement.

भारत सरकार ने मैसेजिंग सेवा वॉट्सऐप को घातक हमलों के बाद अपने प्लेटफॉर्म पर "गैर-जिम्मेदाराना और विस्फोटक संदेशों" के प्रसार को रोकने के लिए तत्काल कार्रवाई करने के लिए कहा है। लेकिन क्या इसका कोई प्रभाव पड़ेगा, बीबीसी की आयशिया परेरा पूछती हैं।


Salford's elected mayor joins anti cuts demonstration

Summary: Hundreds of people marched from Salford to Manchester in a May Day protest against spending cuts backed by the city's new elected mayor Ian Stewart.

They marked International Workers Day by starting from Bexley Square, where unemployed people protested in 1931. They were addressed by Mr Stewart, former Labour MP for Eccles. "I will work with the Labour movement, employers, the voluntary sector and anybody else to mitigate the worst effects of those cuts," he said. The Salford marchers joined up with trade unionists and groups opposing government spending cuts including Manchester Coalition Against Cuts and Greater Manchester Against The Cuts. They gathered for a bigger rally at Manchester Cathedral Gardens, which was addressed by Fire Brigades Union General Secretary Matt Wrack. The rally was organised by Manchester, Salford, Bury and Oldham Trades Councils.

शहर के नए निर्वाचित महापौर इयान स्टीवर्ट द्वारा समर्थित खर्च में कटौती के खिलाफ मई दिवस के विरोध में सैकड़ों लोगों ने सैल्फोर्ड से मैनचेस्टर तक मार्च किया।


Defector says LTTE killed civilians

Summary: A former spokesman for Tamil Tiger rebels who surrendered to the Sri Lankan army has accused the rebels of shooting dead at least two-hundred civilians who were attempting to flee the war zone.

Velayutham Dayanidhi, better known as Daya Master, said the rebels were holding civilians as hostages and forcibly recruiting children as young as thirteen years of age. He made these allegations in a video interview released by the Sri Lankan defence ministry. It is not clear whether the interview was conducted under duress. The United Nations has said there were credible reports that the rebels were preventing civilians from leaving the war zone and shooting at those who were attempting to flee. The army says Daya Master and George Master arrived at the army defence line at Puthumathalan a week ago along with family members. It says they were in "in the company of fleeing civilians". Sri Lankan military spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara said Daya Master was the most senior rebel official to surrender so far.

श्रीलंकाई सेना के सामने आत्मसमर्पण करने वाले तमिल टाइगर विद्रोहियों के एक पूर्व प्रवक्ता ने विद्रोहियों पर युद्ध क्षेत्र से भागने का प्रयास कर रहे कम से कम दो सौ नागरिकों को गोली मारने का आरोप लगाया है।


Belfast: Homeless man dies in city centre

Summary: A homeless man has died in Belfast city centre.

He was found at a shop front on High Street on Wednesday evening. It is believed he was aged in his 40s. Paramedics and police were called to the scene. Sandra Moore, director of the Welcome Organisation which works with homeless people in Belfast, has called for greater co-ordination between homeless charities. "There is very good inter-agency working between the statutory agencies and most of the voluntary sector," she said. "Our outreach is on the street 17 hours a day and what would help would be co-ordination of the other groups that are out there. "My intelligence would tell me there are more volunteer groups on the street doing uncoordinated work than there are rough sleepers. That's the distinction we have to make, the difference between people who are homeless but are in temporary accommodation and those who are rough sleepers." Ms Moore said "an intensive package of support" had been available to the man who was found dead on Wednesday evening. "We did know this gentleman and gentleman is the proper word in this case," she said. "While this person has been labelled homeless he actually wasn't roofless, like some of the others who passed over in the last month he did have a bed, somewhere to go at night. "I don't know the cause of death in this instance, but I do know there were significant underlying health issues. "So many of the people who come to us do have a complex range of issues and as in this case there was an intensive package of support available to this gentleman."

बेलफास्ट शहर के केंद्र में एक बेघर व्यक्ति की मौत हो गई है।


BBC correction on Burberry coronavirus plea

Summary: Earlier on Friday we reported that a boss of an NHS trust had contacted the BBC with concerns about the provision of gowns for staff during the coronavirus crisis.

He had asked the BBC for the phone numbers of Burberry and Barbour - two companies which have become involved in making gowns - because he was concerned about supply shortages. We should clarify that the person concerned is not the boss of an NHS trust but is part of a network of organisations helping to source personal protective equipment for some NHS trusts. The mistake was caused by a misunderstanding of the person's role in the fight against the pandemic.

इससे पहले शुक्रवार को हमने बताया कि एक एन. एच. एस. ट्रस्ट के एक प्रमुख ने कोरोनावायरस संकट के दौरान कर्मचारियों के लिए गाउन के प्रावधान के बारे में चिंताओं के साथ बी. बी. सी. से संपर्क किया था।


Why al-Qaeda in Yemen scares the West

Summary: Whatever plot the US eavesdroppers overheard the top two al-Qaeda leaders discussing clearly rattled the US intelligence community so badly that Washington shut 19 of its diplomatic missions around the Middle East, Asia and Africa.

By Frank GardnerBBC security correspondent In the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, where the threat of attack is considered greatest, the UK, France and Germany have also shut their embassies. The British embassy has emptied completely, with all remaining British staff leaving the country on Tuesday, while the US air force flew out American personnel. So just what is it about al-Qaeda's branch in Yemen that triggers such warning bells in Washington? Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), al-Qaeda's branch in Yemen, is not the biggest offshoot of the late Osama Bin Laden's organisation, nor is it necessarily the most active - there are other, noisier jihadist cells sprawled across Syria and Iraq, engaged in almost daily conflict with fellow Muslims. But Washington considers AQAP to be by far the most dangerous to the West because it has both technical skills and global reach. Plus it is loyal to the nominal al-Qaeda leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and what remains of the group's core leadership hiding in Pakistan. For the West, AQAP presents three dangers: AQAP has form. In August 2009, its master bomb-maker Ibrahim al-Asiri, a Saudi national, built an explosive device so hard to detect it was either packed flat next to the wearer's groin or perhaps even concealed inside his body. He then sent his brother Abdullah, a willing volunteer, as a human bomb to blow up the Saudi prince in charge of counter-terrorism. He very nearly succeeded. Pretending he wanted to give himself up, Abdullah al-Asiri fooled Saudi security into letting him get right next to Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef before the device was detonated, possibly remotely by mobile phone. The blast blew the bomber in half, but with most of the explosive force directed downwards, the prince had a miraculous escape with only a damaged hand. AQAP boasted that it would try again and it did. In December 2009, Ibrahim al-Asiri devised another device to put on a volunteer, this time a young Nigerian called Omar Farouk Abdulmutallab. He was able to fly all the way from Europe to Detroit with a viable explosive device hidden in his underpants, a massive failure of intelligence and security. But when he tried to light it as the plane approached Detroit airport, he was spotted, overpowered, arrested and convicted of the attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. As Western intelligence heads scrambled to assess this new development, the British government decided to raise the UK national terror threat level to "critical", its highest ever. (It has since dropped back down to "substantial", the third highest of five.) Drone attacks The next year, 2010, AQAP tried again, smuggling bombs onto the cargo holds of planes hidden inside printer ink toner cartridges. The intended destination was America and one device got as far as the UK's East Midlands airport. The plot was thwarted at the last minute by a tip-off from a Saudi informer inside AQAP, but the group has promised to keep trying. Since then AQAP's leaders have come under continual attack from unmanned US Reaper drones or UAVs, losing several top operatives, including their deputy leader, Saeed al-Shihri, and the influential English-speaking propagandists Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan. According to the US think-tank the New America Foundation, US drone strikes in Yemen have soared, from 18 in 2011 to 53 in 2012. A drone strike on Tuesday reportedly hit a car carrying four al-Qaeda operatives. In Yemen, the US drones are deeply unpopular, sometimes hitting the wrong targets and wiping out whole extended families. Human rights groups have branded them as a form of extra-judicial killing. Local tribes also view them as an insulting infringement of national sovereignty. But US and Yemeni officials argue that in the wilder, more remote parts of the country, including Shabwa, Marib and Abyan provinces, targeting from the air based on tip-offs on the ground is their only means of stopping those plotting fresh attacks.

अल-कायदा के दो शीर्ष नेताओं की चर्चा ने अमेरिकी खुफिया समुदाय को इतनी बुरी तरह झकझोर दिया कि वाशिंगटन ने मध्य पूर्व, एशिया और अफ्रीका के आसपास अपने 19 राजनयिक मिशनों को बंद कर दिया।


Teenage boys seriously injured in Cambridge stabbings

Summary: Two teenage boys have been stabbed in the centre of Cambridge.

Police were called after "reports of violence" in Sidney Street, at about 19:40 BST on Sunday. Two boys, aged 13 and 16, were treated in hospital for serious injuries but have since been released, Cambridgeshire Police said. Two 15-year-old boys have been arrested on suspicion of assault causing grievous bodily harm and remain in custody. The Labour MP for Cambridge, Daniel Zeichner, described the stabbings as "shocking". "It is not something that is common in Cambridge and I hope that it remains that way," he said. "The growing trends in knife and violent crime is a real concern for communities across the country." He added he was "confident" police were doing their best "to meet growing and new challenges". Investigators are appealing for witnesses to the incident. Related Internet Links Cambridgeshire Police

कैम्ब्रिज के केंद्र में दो किशोर लड़कों पर चाकू से हमला किया गया है।


Apple aims for bigger bite of music market

Summary: If record companies had their way, the internet would never have been invented. For much of the second half of the 20th Century, music fans who wanted to listen to the latest release from their favourite artist had to make a trip to their local record store to buy an album or single on vinyl, cassette or CD.

By Chris JohnstonBusiness reporter, BBC News However, the mass adoption of broadband in the developed world at the start of the last decade soon destroyed what was a very cosy - and highly profitable - business model. A generation has grown up illegally downloading music - and many music fans are content to use advertising-funded websites such as YouTube to hear almost any track you can think of. In 1999 the global recorded music industry raked in $26.6bn - buoyed mostly by sales of highly profitable CDs. But as pirating took off the total slipped to less than $20bn in 2007 and last year was down to just under $15bn, according to industry body IFPI. The arrival of Apple's iTunes music download store in 2003 made it much easier to legally buy music online, but its growth has stalled as more music fans switch to streaming services such as Spotify. The transition is similar to the way that many consumers now rent movies online or through subscription services such as Sky or Netflix rather than buying a DVD. Spotify's jukebox-like service lets users play millions of songs for free with ads in between, or pay £4.99/$4.99 a month without those annoying interruptions. Since starting in 2006, the Swedish company now has 20 million paying subscribers and another 55 million using its free service. Aware of which way the wind is blowing, Apple this week joins the streaming bandwagon with the launch of Apple Music. It will offer users a three-month free trial, after which it will cost the same as market leader Spotify, but with no free tier. Apple Music will have a crucial advantage over the likes of competitors such as Spotify: it will be pre-loaded on the hundreds of millions of iPhones and iPads being used globally via a software update. That saves Apple from having to do much marketing to promote the service, says Andrew Sheehy, lead analyst at Generator Research. Exclusives Rather than aiming to make a profit from music, he says Apple's main aim is to give iPhone users another reason to keep buying its highly profitable devices. However, the company will use its might in the music business to persuade some big artists to offer some exclusive content - with Pharrell Williams being the first. His latest song, Freedom, will only be available on Apple Music. Similarly, Taylor Swift will make her music available on the service after pulling it from Spotify last year. There is no question that Apple's move into streaming will make life much harder for the likes of Spotify. Mr Sheehy predicts that up to 25% of Apple users will pay for Apple Music after the trial ends. "The competitive dynamics are very lopsided - it's not a level playing field, but that's not to say that Spotify cannot be a success," he says. Tim Ingham, editor of website Music Business Worldwide, says Apple is aiming to have at least 100 million subscribers after the three-month free trial ends. He argues Apple Music should be welcomed because it will "help remind people how exciting and integral to their lives music is", adding: "Apple's potential is far, far greater than what Spotify has achieved so far. Hopefully it will bring the glory days back to music." What is Apple's offer? Mark Savage, Entertainment reporter, BBC News The new Music app has that recognisable Apple sheen - bright, colourful and slick, with much less reliance on text than its predecessor. If you've used iTunes before, it trawls your purchase history to suggest your favourite genres or artists, which swarm onto the screen in a cloud of "bubbles". You simply tap one to highlight a favourite, or hold it down to "burst" it. Those decisions power the new "for you" tab - which suggests music and curated playlists from iTunes' vast library (the playlists we saw ranged from "chilling out" to "breaking up"). Subscribers can stream the songs and videos they like, or download them for offline use. Elsewhere, you can browse new releases and top 10 charts, listen to Zane Lowe's new radio show, or even stream the BBC World Service. What the service lacks is a coherent social element. At launch, there are no collaborative playlists - one of Spotify's most popular features - and the "connect" feature, which provides status updates from your favourite artists, is no match for Tumblr, Twitter or Facebook. Apple users will enjoy the seamless integration with their current iTunes library - but with the UK pricing now confirmed to be the same as Spotify others will need more persuasion to switch than the availability of Taylor Swift's album 1989. The end of Spotify? Given the enormous marketing power Apple can deploy to promote the new service - perhaps using some of its near-$200bn cash pile to do so - will this be the end for Spotify? Not necessarily. Mr Ingham believes Spotify can be a "very comfortable number two" after Apple. Some investors appear to agree. Despite the imminent arrival of Apple Music, Spotify said in June that it had raised $526m (£334m) in new funding and was now valued at $8.5bn (£5.4bn). That's more than household names such as Sainsbury and Royal Mail are worth. Unsurprisingly, Spotify also thinks it can survive the Apple onslaught. Mark Williamson, its head of artist services, says the company has only just "scratched the surface" after getting people to pay for music again. (To be fair, Apple probably deserves some of that credit for its iTunes store.) While admitting that streaming "is not an easy business to be in", Mr Williamson adds: "We don't think it's going to be easy, but we're confident we can continue to innovate." The big challenge for Spotify is continuing to grow if it has any hope of becoming profitable. The company reported a net loss of €162m (£117m) last year - largely because its agreement with record companies and publishers requires it to pay 70% of revenues to performers and writers. Streaming is a pretty good deal for music fans - given that a monthly subscription costs little more than buying one album. Sheeran for streaming Many artists, such as Ms Swift, are less certain - mainly because they get paid far less for having a song played on a streaming service than for selling a CD or an album on iTunes. Some, like her friend Ed Sheeran, are quite happy to be on Spotify because they believe the exposure helps increase sales of concert tickets. Live music is worth more than sales of recorded music in the UK. Streaming generated revenue of about $2.2bn last year, or 14.7% of the total, according to analysis of industry figures by MBW. That compares with a 46% share for physical music (that means CDs, with a tiny bit of vinyl on top) worth $6.9bn. The rest of the pie is accounted for by sales on download sites such as iTunes and royalties generated by the use of music in advertising, films and television. As Mr Ingham says, streaming is yet to capture the attention of most consumers, who might like music but will only buy a couple of CDs a year. Given that many so people - especially millennials - seem quite happy to get their music fix from YouTube, Apple might face a bigger battle to get fans paying for music than it anticipates.

अगर रिकॉर्ड कंपनियों के पास अपना रास्ता होता, तो इंटरनेट का आविष्कार कभी नहीं होता। 20वीं शताब्दी के उत्तरार्ध के अधिकांश समय तक, जो संगीत प्रशंसक अपने पसंदीदा कलाकार से नवीनतम रिलीज़ सुनना चाहते थे, उन्हें विनाइल, कैसेट या सीडी पर एक एल्बम या एकल खरीदने के लिए अपने स्थानीय रिकॉर्ड स्टोर की यात्रा करनी पड़ी।


Which country has the least sexist banknotes?

Summary: There are calls for the US and Canada to put a woman on a banknote. A similar campaign in the UK successfully convinced the Bank of England to put Jane Austen on the £10 note. But is just one woman per country enough?

By Elle MetzBBC News Magazine American bills have portraits of the country's Founding Fathers and former presidents. Chinese notes have Mao Zedong and Indian ones have Mahatma Gandhi, but none of them feature any women. Many other currencies also stick to men, sometimes including a token woman or two. Now there are calls for the US to put a female on the $20 bill. "The United States needs to show the world that we, too, recognise and value the contributions of women," says Susan Ades Stone, executive director of the campaign group Women On 20s. "Our money says something about us and what we represent as a society. So if we're all about gender equality and diversity and inclusion, let's walk the walk." The US currently has seven bills in circulation, all of which feature distinguished, deceased American statesmen. Women On 20s conducted an online poll and asked people to choose which of 15 historical female leaders they would most like to see on the note. The candidates included civil rights activist Rosa Parks, birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger, suffragette Susan B Anthony and Harriet Tubman who escaped slavery and went on to lead other slaves to freedom. More than 200,000 people voted in the first round, and the second round - set to last a few weeks - is currently underway. Once the final poll closes, the group will petition President Obama to replace Andrew Jackson with the chosen woman. Many wonder why Jackson - the seventh president of the US - hasn't been removed from the $20 bill already. He is especially unpopular with Native Americans due to his signing and enforcing the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which forced tribes off their land. Thousands of Native Americans died on the journey west - known as the Trail of Tears - from exposure, starvation and disease. His controversial legacy is one of the reasons why Women On 20s chose to target this particular bill for change. Meanwhile in Canada, more than 54,000 people have signed a petition to put a woman on a banknote there after the sole female to appear on the country's currency, Therese Casgrain, was replaced in 2011 by an icebreaker ship. "When we open our wallets and see the faces of four male prime ministers and Queen Elizabeth, the subtle message is that Canadian women aren't worthy of being celebrated," says author and historian Merna Forster who started the Canadian campaign. "Sexist banknotes are unacceptable in a country that boasts of being a world leader in promoting gender equality… If women are equal to men in Canada, they should be equally represented on our banknotes." A similar petition was launched in the UK in 2013 after it was announced that Winston Churchill would replace Elizabeth Fry - a social reformer and philanthropist - on the £5 note. More than 36,000 people signed it and convinced the Bank of England to put the author Jane Austen on the £10 note from 2017. In both the UK and Canada, the Queen's portrait is on many banknotes. But, critics say this doesn't count because she appears as a monarch rather than for her achievements. Plus, she will eventually be replaced by a male heir. Although the UK petition was a success, campaigners in all three countries - the US, Canada and the UK - have called for only one woman on a note. But is that enough? Should half of all portraits on currencies be of women, better reflecting the makeup of the population? That's what's happened in Sweden. "We thought it was very important to feature an equal number of men and women," says Susanne Eberstein, the chairman of the General Council at the country's Riksbank. "It was well in line with our aims. It was very natural." Women appear on three of the banknotes there, although one of those depicted is Mother Sweden. A new line of Swedish notes, to be introduced in 2015 and 2016, will feature three men and three women - actress Greta Garbo, Pippi Longstocking author Astrid Lindgren, and opera singer Birgit Nilsson. Australia, too, has an equal number of men and women on its banknotes - each one has a male on one side and a woman on the other, apart from one with the Queen on it which has parliamentary buildings on the reverse. So why isn't Women On 20s petitioning for more than one woman to appear on American dollar bills? The organisation does believe there should be more women on notes but wanted to be realistic about its initial goal. "We hope this is just the beginning," says Stone. But if bills should equally represent men and women, shouldn't they also reflect a nation's racial diversity? Again, this isn't usually the case, although there are exceptions. Australia, for example, has five bills in circulation, one of which features David Unaipon, an Aboriginal man. Unaipon was a pioneer for Aboriginal rights as well as a distinguished inventor and writer. Every US note features a white man, albeit one of the country's presidents or Founding Fathers, even though the US population comprises many races - notably, 13% are black and 17% Hispanic. The US Census Bureau lists seven different races, although Americans no doubt identify with many more ethnic backgrounds. When the Women On 20s selection committee compiled their list of female candidates, they were conscious of diversity, but they did not set out to fill any particular quota, Stone says. Instead, they focused on the candidates' overall impact and trusted that a diverse group would result from the selection process. It did. The 15 female candidates include African, Asian and Native Americans as well as Caucasians. "I feel that the money that we have now is very last century," says Stone, adding that the US has changed enormously. "We're more diverse. We're more inclusive. And the money should reflect that." However, "It would be unrealistic to imagine that we could have a female representative of every ethnic group on the bills," she says. "That's for another campaign." Perhaps a country can't fully represent the diversity of its population on a handful of notes. Euro bills - tasked with representing a huge span of people, cultures and history - depict stylised images of windows, doorways and bridges. Not even actual monuments, let alone portraits of real people. So could this be the solution - no portraits at all? Norway currently has women on two of its five banknotes. "In a society where gender equality is an important value, having both male and female portraits on the banknotes is a matter of course," says Hilde Singsaas, from Norges Bank. However, Norway will soon be getting rid of both men and women when it introduces a new series of notes which will have a sea theme. The specific designs are not yet finalised but proposed motifs (below) feature ships, water and fish. This wasn't because of difficulty reflecting the diversity of Norway's population through portraits though, Singsaas says. "All the previous banknote series featured portraits as the primary motif, without any clear connection between them," she explains. "This time, the aim was to find a recurrent theme binding the banknotes together into a coherent whole." Similarly, Denmark recently introduced a new series of notes featuring bridges and prehistoric objects rather than people. Its previous series of five bills had women on two, men on two and one with a woman and a man. On its website, the Danish National Bank explains that the bridges symbolise links between various parts of Denmark and between the past and present. Putting bridges instead of people on the notes did not have anything to do with difficulty depicting a diverse population, says the bank's spokesman Lars Luth Mikkelsen. Another reason it might be easier to choose landscapes or buildings over people is that prominent figures are often controversial in one way or another, like Jackson in the US. Every person that you put on a banknote will garner some negative and some positive feedback, says Sweden's Eberstein. She and the Riksbank received criticism about the decision to put opera singer Birgit Nilsson on one of Sweden's new notes. Nilsson is pictured singing an opera by Richard Wagner, whose works are sometimes associated with Nazi Germany. Eberstein pointed out that Nilsson most often performed Wagner, who is still very popular today. "She was a world famous singer," Eberstein says, "and a good representative of Sweden at that time." And Women On 20s' Stone admits, "You can never please everyone." 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अमेरिका और कनाडा से एक महिला को बैंक नोट पर रखने की मांग की जा रही है। ब्रिटेन में इसी तरह के एक अभियान ने बैंक ऑफ इंग्लैंड को जेन ऑस्टेन को 10 पाउंड के नोट पर रखने के लिए सफलतापूर्वक मना लिया। लेकिन क्या प्रति देश सिर्फ एक महिला पर्याप्त है?


Aloha to the US: Is Hawai'i an occupied nation?

Summary: An upcoming election has highlighted the deep disagreement between native Hawaiians over what the future should look like. For some, it's formal recognition of their community and a changed relationship within the US. Others want to leave the US entirely - or more accurately, want the US to leave Hawai'i.

By Taylor Kate BrownBBC News Magazine When US officials came onto the stage that June night, they must have known they would be hearing from a hostile audience. Speaker after speaker came up to the microphone, decrying a rigged process and an occupying government with no legitimacy. "We do not need you here. This is our country." "Get out of our house! Go home." The officials weren't hearing from foreign nationals, but a crowd of citizens in Honolulu, Hawai'i. Someone began singing the opening words to Hawaii Ponoʻī - a national anthem of the Hawaiian Kingdom and the state's official song. "Hawaii ponoʻī (Hawaii's own), Nānā i kou moʻī (Be loyal to your king)." Many in the room at the Hawaiian state capitol began singing along. This was the first in a series of 2014 hearings by the US interior department about whether it should offer a path to federal recognition to the Native Hawaiian community. Such a path has been long open to Native American groups on the mainland, but not to the descendants of Hawaii's indigenous people. A year later, the interior department has made it official - publishing a proposed "procedures for re-establishing a formal government-to-government relationship". The first ballots to elect delegates to a convention, or 'aha, for this purpose have now gone out in Hawai'i. Forty delegates from across the islands will meet in February to discuss whether there should be a Native Hawaiian government and what it should look like in the 21st Century. But not everyone is happy with the 'aha. Some of those who would be eligible to vote, or become delegates themselves, have said they will boycott it. One delegate candidate has already dropped out, calling the 'aha "not pono" (upright or fair). Federal recognition has been a wish of some activists for decades, but previous attempts to do so in Congress have failed. A prominent Hawaiian in Washington, however, has moved the process forward. Barack Obama publicly supported the last attempt to gain the recognition option through Congress. Like other issues that have been stymied in the polarised legislature, the administration has now decided to take action through the executive branch. But for those who see Obama as their best chance, time is running out - his term ends just over a year from now. Native American tribal governments are a nation within a nation. Such governments hold their own elections, run police departments, courts and other internal infrastructure on reservation land. American Indians are citizens of their tribe, the US and the state where they live. But tribal nations are still "domestic dependent nations" and the boundaries of their sovereignty have moved based on court rulings and legislation. Recognition would define native Hawaiians as a separate political entity - protecting many of the federal programmes currently provided to native Hawaiians, like favourable housing loans, a land trust programme, health care, educational and cultural grants. It would also allow for an element of economic independence, although one industry that has enriched a few Native American tribes - gambling - is banned in Hawai'i. But all of this is predicated on the idea the US government is the rightful authority in Hawai'i, something a small but increasing number of Hawaiians no longer believe. Williamson Chang, a professor of law at University of Hawai'i, is one of those Hawaiians. He argues under international law, one country can only annex another by treaty - a document which both parties sign. This is how the entire rest of the US was formed - the Louisiana Purchase, the treaties with Native American tribes, the addition of the Republic of Texas. Anything else - including what happened in Hawaii - is an occupation, Chang says. Hawaii occupies a unique place in US history - a set of islands 2,500 miles (4,023km) away from the mainland where in 1893, white businessmen and sympathetic politicians, with help from the US military, overthrew a constitutional monarchy. The coup leaders hoped to be immediately annexed, but President Grover Cleveland rejected the idea, calling US involvement in the overthrow an "embarrassment". Three years later, a treaty failed in the Senate after lobbying by the deposed Queen Liliuokalani as well as tens of thousands of petitions from Hawaiians opposing the move. But the next year, with fighting in the Pacific during the Spanish-American war and a new president in office, Congress passed a joint resolution annexing Hawai'i. US military might and a welcoming government in the Republic of Hawaii helped complete the process. But if countries could be simply annexed by another's legislature, Chang says, "Hawai'i by its legislature could declare the United States was part of it." While the US has formally apologised for their role in the overthrow of the Kingdom - a 1993 Congressional resolution admitted as much - there's been no word from the US government about whether the annexation was legal. "There are definitely flaws in the way in which Hawaii and its lands were transferred to the US," Melody Kapilialoha Mackenzie, a professor of law at the University of Hawaii, says. "But for me, the question is - where do you take those claims - is there any forum in which that voice can be heard?" In 2000, David Keanu Sai brought a case concerning Hawaiian sovereignty to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Netherlands. The court agreed to hear the case but ultimately made no ruling, saying it could not even consider the issue because "the United States of America is not a party to the proceedings and has not consented to them". Sai is also among those who believe that race or ancestry has no place in a Hawaiian bid to be free of the US. The Hawaiian Kingdom was a multi-ethnic government, and that's how it should remain, he says, something that wouldn't happen under federal recognition. What everyone can agree on is the hurt done to Native Hawaiians. Peter Apo says he spent almost half of his 75 years "not knowing who the hell I was". "The only thing I knew about Hawaiians was what I saw in television and the tourism ads," he says. He's now one of the trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, a state agency. By the time of the overthrow in 1893, the Hawaiian population had gone from at least 400,000 to less than 40,000 people - all in the space of a century, in part because of diseases introduced into the islands. After annexation, students were not allowed to speak Hawaiian in school, and the language almost died out as a result. Kahoolawe, an island considered spiritually important to Hawaiians, was used as test-bombing site by the US army until the 1990s. Unexploded ordnance still remains on the island even after a clean-up attempt. And today, many health indicators for Native Hawaiians are the worst of all the ethnic groups in Hawai'i. "I think for many native Hawaiians… it's not like something that happened way in the past," Mackenzie says. McGregor says the previous generation of Hawaiian activists struggled for the cultural and political gains Native Hawaiians have managed so far and younger Hawaiians take it for granted. She thinks federal recognition is needed. "It was fought for and it can be lost," she says. Joshua Lanakila Managuil, a young activist who is running for a seat on the 'aha, says he's lucky to be the product of a Native Hawaiian cultural and political renaissance, but he's worried about the ramifications of federal recognition. He points to the uneven and largely difficult situation of Native Americans. "That is not a model for me that is going to secure our safety," he says. "We need to acknowledge what was done and remedy those things instead of slapping on a [plaster]." Apo has written a number of editorials calling for a native Hawaiian government for the purposes of federal recognition. He suggests such a government could "carve out a duty free port of call", and be able to do business with other nations. "That would be huge...that would be an opportunity that would benefit all Hawaiians," even non-native ones. But Apo says he can see where the opposition is coming from. "I guess part of the sentiment is why would you want to deal with the very people who did you in?" While pro-independence Hawaiians dominated the microphones during interior department's hearings over the summer, the breakdown of the written comments was different. Chang estimates about 60% of those comments were in favour of federal recognition, and he suspects that percentage translates to the larger Hawaiian population. "I would say the majority of Hawaiians don't agree with sovereignty and independence - either they don't know their history or they think it's way too late to separate from the US," he says. "It's an uphill battle for the sovereignty groups." And it is a battle that now has a timetable. The 'aha is going forward after a federal judge ruled the organisation running the election, Na'i Aupuni, was sufficiently independent of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to make it a private election, despite receiving funds from the agency through an intermediary. Once elected, delegates will meet for 40 days and end in April. There is division within the independence movement whether to engage with the 'aha at all, says Managuil. "Truly in legal terms - under kingdom laws - technically this is an act of treason," he says. "But right now our kingdom isn't in any place to be calling the shots." He and others "are putting ourselves into the mix in order to protect the rights of our people," Managuil says. Despite Na'i Aupuni's reassurances, pro-independence Hawaiians feel that the 'aha is simply a vehicle to push federal recognition. "People are acting out of fear," Managuil says. "Either route, I think, demands more time." Apo has a clear preference, but whatever happens, he says, "at least it will be something that Hawaiians decided. Self-determination". "I think if we're able to get to at least to the government-to-government relationship - the stage where we're actually negotiating - that would cap the 123 years with a good ending to the story and a great future for Hawaiians in being able to maintain their identity as a people," Apo says. "If that doesn't happen this is never going to stop."

एक आगामी चुनाव ने भविष्य कैसा होना चाहिए, इस पर मूल हवाई लोगों के बीच गहरी असहमति को उजागर किया है। कुछ लोगों के लिए, यह उनके समुदाय की औपचारिक मान्यता और अमेरिका के भीतर एक बदले हुए संबंध है। अन्य लोग पूरी तरह से अमेरिका छोड़ना चाहते हैं-या अधिक सटीक रूप से, चाहते हैं कि अमेरिका हवाई को छोड़ दे।


SNP regain overall control of Dundee City Council

Summary: The SNP have regained overall control of Dundee City Council after winning a by-election called after the death of a Labour councillor.

Steven Rome, 32, a Dundee University graduate, was returned as the new councillor for the North East ward. Mr Rome received 1,507 first preference votes with Labour candidate Jim Malone receiving 1,224 first preference votes. Turnout in the election, which was called following the death of Brian Gordon in February, was 28.4%. The SNP now hold 15 of the council's 29 seats. The party previously lost overall control of the authority in 2017, but formed an administration with support from independent councillor Ian Borthwick.

एस. एन. पी. ने एक लेबर पार्षद की मृत्यु के बाद बुलाए गए उपचुनाव में जीत हासिल करने के बाद डंडी नगर परिषद पर समग्र नियंत्रण हासिल कर लिया है।


MOAB strike: US bombing of IS in Afghanistan 'killed dozens'

Summary: A US military strike with a weapon known as the "mother of all bombs", or MOAB, killed 36 Islamic State (IS) group militants and destroyed their base, the Afghan defence ministry says.

The most powerful non-nuclear bomb ever used by the US in combat was dropped on IS tunnels in Nangarhar province. No civilians were affected by the explosion, the ministry said. The US military said the bomb was used purely on tactical grounds, "the right weapon against the right target". A statement on the IS-supporting Amaq news agency denied there were any IS casualties in the bomb strike. Read more: How powerful is 'mother of all bombs'? What will Trump do about Afghanistan? How successful has IS been in Afghanistan? Chief Executive of Afghanistan Abdullah Abdullah confirmed that the attack had been carried out in co-ordination with the government and that "great care had been taken to avoid civilian harm". In a press briefing on Friday, Gen John Nicholson, commander of US forces in Afghanistan, said: "We have US forces at the site and we see no evidence of civilian casualties nor have there been reports." The Afghan defence ministry said the bomb struck a village area in the Momand valley where IS fighters were using a 300m-long network of caves. It said the 21,600lb (9,800kg) bomb also destroyed a large stash of weapons. Presidential spokesman Shah Hussain Murtazawi told the BBC that IS commander Siddiq Yar was among those killed. Mr Murtazawi said the IS fighters in the tunnels had "come from Pakistan and were persecuting people in the local area". The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb was dropped by plane in Achin district on Thursday evening local time, the Pentagon said. More than 9m (30 ft) in length, it was first tested in 2003 but had not been deployed in combat before. Gen Nicholson said it was "the right time to use the GBU-43 tactically". He added: "Let me be clear - we will not relent in our mission to destroy [IS in Afghanistan]... There will be no sanctuary for terrorists in Afghanistan." Achin district governor Ismail Shinwary told the BBC that Afghan special forces, with the help of American air support, had begun anti-IS operations in the area 13 days ago. He said IS targets had been bombed regularly but "last night's bombarding was very powerful... the biggest I have ever seen". Nangarhar Provincial Governor Gulab Mangal said IS fighters had used the complex to "kill people and hold important meetings". Massive blast area - Jonathan Marcus, BBC defence correspondent The clue is in the ungainly name - the MOAB or GBU-43/B massive ordnance air blast is the US military's most destructive conventional (that is non-nuclear) bomb. It is a huge weapon and is GPS-guided. It was dropped from a MC-130 aircraft - the US Special Forces variant of the Hercules transport. The weapon is carried on a special cradle inside the aircraft from which it is extracted by a parachute. Its principal effect is a massive blast over a huge area. It is a larger version of weapons used during the Vietnam War. The Trump administration's policy towards Afghanistan remains under consideration but the use of this weapon sends a powerful signal that IS is top of the administration's target list wherever its offshoots may be found. A member of an anti-IS group in the area who gave his name only as Mohammad told the BBC he was at a checkpoint 1km from the bomb strike. He said: "We were eating dinner when we heard a big explosion, [I] came out of my room and saw a mountain of fire... the area was full of light with the fire of the bomb." He said all civilians had left the area since the start of the anti-IS operation. President Donald Trump called the strike "another successful job". The BBC's Jill McGivering says it remains unclear what President Trump's Afghan strategy will be - he has talked in the past about the need for the US to get out of nation-building and may be keen to extricate himself from this long-running and expensive conflict. But, she says, he has also expressed determination to stop the spread of IS. Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai vehemently condemned the attack, saying on Twitter it was "not the war on terror but the inhuman and most brutal misuse of our country as testing ground for new and dangerous weapons". Syria error IS announced the establishment of its Khorasan branch - an old name for Afghanistan and surrounding areas - in January 2015. It was the first time that IS had officially spread outside the Arab world. It was the first major militant group to directly challenge the Afghan Taliban's dominance over the local insurgency. However, experts say it has struggled to build a wide political base and the indigenous support it expected. It has steadily lost territory and fighters to US air strikes and an assault by Afghan forces on the ground. Estimates about IS's numerical strength inside Afghanistan vary, ranging from several hundred to a few thousand fighters. US forces say their number has been cut in half since early 2016 due to military operations. The MOAB strike followed last week's death of a US special forces soldier fighting IS in Nangarhar. The news also came hours after the Pentagon admitted an air strike in Syria mistakenly killed 18 rebels. It said a partnered force had mistakenly identified the target location as an IS position, but the strike on 11 April had killed rebels from the Syrian Democratic Forces, which are backed by Washington.

अफगान रक्षा मंत्रालय का कहना है कि "सभी बमों की मां" या एम. ओ. ए. बी. के रूप में जाने जाने वाले हथियार के साथ एक अमेरिकी सैन्य हमले में इस्लामिक स्टेट (आई. एस.) समूह के 36 आतंकवादी मारे गए और उनके अड्डे को नष्ट कर दिया।


Aberdeenshire administration sees councillors leave alliance

Summary: Aberdeenshire Council's ruling administration has been dealt a blow with the resignation of councillors, leaving it a minority.

Independents Martin Kitts-Hayes - the council's deputy leader - and Sheena Lonchay have left the alliance. They follow Labour's Alison Evison and Raymond Christie, who left earlier in the week. It means the Conservative-led administration is now a minority, with 33 of the 68 councillors.

एबरडीनशायर परिषद के सत्तारूढ़ प्रशासन को पार्षदों के इस्तीफे से झटका लगा है, जिससे यह अल्पमत में आ गया है।


Waryam Hussain: Police investigate link to earlier Luton stabbing

Summary: The death of a man killed by a single stab wound could be linked to another stabbing that occurred less than two hours earlier, police said.

Waryam Hussain, 20, died after being attacked on Bishopscote Road, Luton, at about 16:40 BST on 6 May. At about 15:00 BST a man sustained serious injuries after he was stabbed in the leg in Dumfries Street, Luton. Bedfordshire Police said it was "working to establish whether there are any connections" between the incidents. A 21-year-old man has been charged with wounding with intent and possession of an offensive weapon in a public place in connection with the Dumfries Street attack. He was remanded in custody after a court appearance. Officers are appealing for anyone with information about either stabbing to contact them.

पुलिस ने कहा कि एक छुरा घोंपने के घाव से मारे गए व्यक्ति की मौत को दो घंटे से भी कम समय पहले हुई एक और छुरा घोंपने की घटना से जोड़ा जा सकता है।