Israels Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu has said he will seek parliamentary immunity from prosecution in three cases in which hes charged with bribery and fraud. The immunity request could delay Legal Proceedings against him for months. Protesters demonstrating outside the us embassy in iraq have pulled back from the area after a tense standoff. For two days the embassy has been targetted by crowds angry over deaths caused by us airstrikes. Police in hong kong say theyve arrested 400 people during a new years day pro democracy march. Tens of thousands had gathered for the march which began peacefully, before violence broke out. Dozens of endangered animals have died after a monkey house caught fire at a german zoo. Police say the fire may have been caused by sky lanterns used to celebrate new year. Now on bbc news, one of the most striking films of 2019 from our world the best pakistani transgender retirement home. In a country where its expected that your extended family will look after you in old age, what do you do if they rejected you a long time ago . Mobeen azhar reports from the city of lahore and a warning this programme contains some adult themes. Once upon a time, in the pakistani city of lahore, lived the superglam guru. Ashee was the talk of the town, the life of the party and an after hours artisan. Ashee is someone who describes herself as neither male or female in pakistan, commonly known as the third gender. But entertaining is the preserve of the young and, as the years went by, ashee realised more and more of her community faced destitution
when they could no longer work. This is the story of guru ashees quest to change the future of the third gender people in old age. The history of the indian subcontinent is rich with stories of third gender people. During the mughal empire, from the 16th century, they were advisors to the ruling class and experts in the arts. The reality today is much less romantic. Im about to meet one of the most revered members of the community, known affectionately as guru ashee. Guru literally means teacher. Theyre the elders of the Third Gender Community and are like surrogate mothers. Tonight, guru ashee has invited me along with her students to a private party. Im fine. You look very nice. Thanks. Ashee and her students are expected to get the party started. But theres more to it than that. Theres a deeply held belief that those like ashee, third gender, can bring good fortune to the soon to be married. The business of dancing at weddings has taken a hit since pakistan has moved towards a more conservative reading of islam. So tonight, as the money rains down, ashee makes the most of her role as master of ceremony. I loved it in there. It was really loud and brash tonight. And it was all the things that pakistan is famous for and reasons that i love this place. And its rare that you see Something Like that. But these events are few and far between. This is a family that she has history with, shes danced for them for a long time and they take care of her but, realistically, how long is she going to be able to do that . Away from the bright lights and music of lahores party scene, guru ashee has been working on a project she hopes will one day become her legacy. For the last eight years, shes been developing a retirement home for third gender people. It has everything you could need to stay well in old age, even a running machine. Once complete, guru ashee hopes it will become home to a0 members of her community. Though there are no official figures for the Third Gender Community,
its estimated to be close to half a million people. Its believed that almost 5 of them are hiv positive. If youre third gender, youre 50 times more likely to be living with hiv than someone from the general population. Less than ten miles away is the diamond market one of lahores worst kept secrets. Almost everyone knows about this place, but its rarely referenced in polite conversation. Its where societys outcasts have lived together for generations. Its currently home to guru ashee and many of the people wholl eventually move to the retirement home. Madhu, who i met at the retirement home, has invited me to her place for the evening. She rarely ever takes a night off work so, tonight, ill join her as she waits for clients. Madhus got her first client of the evening but, before they get to business, hes agreed to speak to me. Madhu told me all of her clients are men and identify as straight. Theyre either married or, like this guy, plan on marrying a woman soon. In a fiercely patriarchal society, these men make little distinction between women and those who identify as third gender. Sex workers like madhu generally charge less than women and, for some clients, that makes all the difference. Once madhu finishes up with her client, i spend some time with madhus housemate, who i also met at the retirement home. Sex workers have a shelflife. In the not too distant future, madhus going to need help just to survive. Madhu cant return to herfamily because they dont accept her as third gender. In a nation where the extended family system is the default for care in old age, what happens when that system rejects who you are . Khurram lives in the diamond market area. Today, hes trying his best to fit in to the ocean of bearded men in prayer caps, but it wasnt always like this for khurram. In fact, khurram used to be saima. Khurram works as a tailor, making clothes for the Third Gender Community clothes that he no
longer wears himself. I want to understand why he now dresses as a man. Theres this real sense of sadness, and thats because khurrams not entirely being himself. He said it. Theres the person who he was born, thats who he was assigned to be and he was raised as a boy, and then theres saima, and saima is who he feels his spirit is, and he says straight out that he misses saima. And he says saima comes out in the day a few times in a bit of his speech or in a bit of his attitude, but he cant live and dress and, most importantly probably, he cant love the way he wants to. Good evening, everyone. You guys are listening to fm 91. We have a very special
guest, guru ashee. Tonight, at one of lahores most popular radio stations, guru ashee is using her celebrity status to win over a National Audience and draw attention to the plight of her people. Shes really going for it. To have references to things like hiv and to people rejecting members of their own family and to social stigma, to have that on mainstream radio and to be starting those conversations in this country is pretty revolutionary, actually. The idea that being third gender is so unacceptable that it cant be tolerated is the cause of social isolation for many third gender people. Now khurrams getting older, hes attempting to conform. Hes turned his back on his third gender identity. Hes now a fixture at his local mosque. Sure, theres a spiritual element, but its also about the practicalities of being accepted back into the care and relative stability of his family. Here, its just accepted that third gender people will lose their dignity, families and the promise of care in old age, just for being who they are. Before i leave pakistan, i want to catch up with guru ashee. Today at the retirement home, shes handing out food to lahores Third Gender Community. Guru aashee is changing long established attitudes and demanding care in later life for the third gender. The retirement home isnt just bricks and mortar its about building a new type of future, one that brings a chance at dignity, care and love in old age
to guru aashee and her community. Hello. So, how was the first day of the new year for you. For some, i expect no complaints because you saw a little bit of sunshine, not too much in the way of cloud. But my, oh, my, particularly the south western quarter, it really was pretty miserable fare. But some braved the elements
and even took a bit of a dip. So, how is thursday shaping up . Well, were still essentially in swathes of these relatively mild airs. But, and it is a significant but, signs of a change on the way and initially it comes across the northern and western parts of the British Isles, for it is here that you start to tangle up with a set of weather fronts. And i bring you not one but two, in fact. Some areas, particularly across northern and western parts of scotland will see a pulse of rain and then it may well ease. And then you get the second lot. Eventually, that rain showing up across northern and western parts of england, through wales. Further south east it is dry. Wherever you are, my word, it is gusty. Its quite a contrast to where
we were through the course of wednesday. But with that wind coming in from the south and south west, just about everybody is making it into double figures. Now, we want to be saying that again for a wee while, simply because as those frontal systems move away, then we fall into a westerly flow. But i think you will notice it is fresher certainly as we get on into friday. But much, much brighter. Hurrah. The return of meaningful sunshine for the greater part of the British Isles once those fronts have cleared away. But its no longer the southerly, its more of a westerly, so many more of you will be into single figure temperatures. Come the weekend, we bring in a ridge of High Pressure from the atlantic and that will have the effect of settling things down quite nicely. A little bit of mist and fog perhaps, especially where the wind drops, and it will be nowhere near as gusty as it was on friday as we go on into saturday. Plenty of sunshine, save for that North Western quarter of scotland with a fair amount of cloud here. Again those temperatures, because the wind is essentially, such as it is, coming in from the west, we are back in the most part to single figures. But as i push through saturday night and into sunday, the High Pressure ever further
towards the east, then those isobars bend back and we start picking up again on sunday more of a south and south westerly. And with a little bit of sunshine in there, those temperatures will recover by a degree or two. Im not promising you a heat wave. Its not that time of year. But there we are. Many more see in temperatures back towards double figures, and again, there is that weather front close by to the north west of scotland. So, the dome of High Pressure fits into that dome in the upper atmosphere, the jet stream then starts really firing at us as we move through the course of the next week. So, thats always indicative of a fairly changeable pattern of whether. Pattern of weather. And sure enough, eventually, we will find that that upper air pattern just drags a weather front close by to the British Isles, especially into western spots as we get on through monday. But the breeze ahead of it is still coming in from the south, so still, it is relatively mild air that sway this, a good portion of central and eastern britain, and as a consequence those temperatures hold at around ten, possibly ii degrees or so. But that firing jet stream fires low pressures at us, particularly towards the northern portions of the British Isles. A little ridge of High Pressure just keeping things a little more settled further south. So thats where we will see perhaps the best of the conditions in the latter part of the forthcoming week. But as you have seen already, as you move that bit further north, thats where youre likely to find the more unsettled fare. Bye bye. This is bbc news, the headlines at ten bushfires have killed at least eight people in south eastern australia since monday and destroyed more than 200 homes. Two men and a woman, who all worked for british airways, are killed after a lorry collides with a car in stanwell in surrey on new years eve. The mother of the british teenager found guilty of lying about being raped in cyprus backs calls for tourists to boycott the country. In their new year messages, the Prime Minister says brexit will mark a new chapter for the uk, while the archbishop of canterbury urges people to heal the divisions of recent years. I was getting kind of used to being someone you loved. For the first time, more than 100 billion music tracks are streamed online in the uk in a single year. Coming up, the thousands round the uk braving