Well Baghdad and much of the south of the country to a halt addle Abdul Marty said the unrest was costing the economy billions of dollars thousands of demonstrators have blocked all roads leading to Iraq's main Gulf port near the oil rich city of Basra which receives the bulk of Iraq's imports of grain vegetable oils and sugar on Sunday the 1st day of Iraq's working week students say sit ins and many government offices stayed closed Well news from the b.b.c. Islamists demanding the resignation of the Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan have maintained their protest in Islamabad despite the passing of the deadline they had set for his departure the protests were organized by the leader of a religious party Marlen of Loretto who accuses the government of rigging last year's election tens of thousands of opposition supporters set off on what they describe as a freedom March or as r.t. a Week ago arriving on Friday the chief executive of the fast food company McDonald's has been sacked for having a consensual relationship with an employee the company said Steve Easterbrook had demonstrated poor judgment and that it was against company rules for managers to become romantically involved with a subordinate Mr Easterbrook said he had made a mistake and that he agreed with the company that it was time for him to move on. The British racing driver Lewis Hamilton has secured his 6th Formula one world title at the Us Grand Prix the 34 year old took 2nd place at the circuit in Austin Texas guaranteeing the 2900 Championship his Jack Nickols Howells and only needed an 8th place finish to secure the championship and starting 5th on the grid it would have been reasonable to expect a cautious conservative race but that is not the way Hamilton is wired He gave one place at the start overtook Sebastian Vettel in super fashion and employed a bold strategy to try and beat his teammate to the victory while the tie gamble didn't pay dividends he wrapped up the title in aggressive style Alton's title puts him in 2nd place in the all time f one standings behind Michael Schumacher who won the World Championship 7 times and then 19 year old Greek woman has for the 1st time been reunited with 2 Jewish siblings she helped save from the Nazis during World War 2 many Dina was a teenager when she helped hide 6 members of the Mordechai family near the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki before helping them to flee into the mountains and that's the latest b.b.c. News. I know you're listening to the news room from the b.b.c. World Service I'm Nick regime they start in the United States where large swathes of California are still burning wildfires across the state over the past 2 weeks have led to power cuts and fouls ins of people being ordered to evacuate their homes nearly 100000 acres of land have been burned and the governor of California Gavin Newsom declared a state wide emergency last week now though in a twist President Trump has blamed the governor for the fires and threatened to withhold federal aid if Mr Newsome didn't as he put it get his act together Mr Newsome reacted angrily to the president's tweets and later spoke of the impact of the trumpet ministrations recent rollback of environmental protection measures u.s. Correspondent Peter Bowes is in Los Angeles he told me more about the political route and revealed how he has been personally affected this is a repeat of the kind of spark that we've been hearing between these 2 for many months now and suddenly Donald Trump is repeating his climb verts one of the problems is cleaning the forest floor as he says Governor Newsome has done a terrible job of forest management he said I told him from the 1st day we met he must clean his forest floors regardless of what his bosses the environmentalists demand of him and those are comments that is made before in terms of clearing the forest floors of leaves the president went on to say every year as the fires raging California burns it's the same thing and then he comes to the federal government to ask for financial help no more he says Get your act together governor and the governor has responded in a tweet quite a pointed tweet saying to the president you don't believe in climate change you are excused from this conversation what's the latest with the wildfires the wildfires that we've been hearing about in the last few days firefighters are getting control of those fires certainly the one in Northern California which was the biggest in wine country to the north of San Fran. Cisco is still burning and book probably take another couple of weeks to be completely contained have been several in the Los Angeles area as well some are completely contained now and others are certainly not posing any risk to the people or to their properties and you had your own personal experiences through what's gone on in recent days Yes Well one of those Los Angeles Fire has affected me and that about 30 miles to the north of Los Angeles this is more of a rural area and it was an extremely fast moving fire I live in an agricultural area in a canyon and it really took seconds for that fire to spread it across the entire canyon and it was very close call for me and my neighbors some of whom did actually lose their homes and a reminder once again that these fires are not something to mess with they are extremely ferocious they move extremely quickly and as opposed to the significance of looking at what we've just been talking about is that there are no forests in this area these fires these l.a. Fires are generally grassland fires they are are great cultural fires and they don't involve forests so the argument about sweeping forests I know from personal experience certainly doesn't apply in the area that I live in Peter Bowes there well India is trying to tackle its own environmental crisis in an hour's time a traffic restriction scheme will come into effect in the capital Delhi as the city grapples with the worst air pollution it's experienced in 3 years the local authorities hope that reducing the number of cars by only allowing drivers into the city on odd or even dates and that depending on the final digit of their number plate will provide some relief from the toxic smog but Delhi's Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has likened the city to a gas chamber and called on the central government to do more in many areas of Delhi the air quality deteriorated into the hazardous category on Sunday and is around said. Charms worse than the Chinese capital Beijing protection reports now from Delhi. Dead is choking people here are breathing the city's most toxic in years with pollution levels more than 20 times this each moment the problem returns here every winter but many are saying that this is the worst they have experienced. But to find oh protesters gathered outside the prime minister's house demanding a basic right clean air they believe there isn't the political will to find a solution you can obviously see how terrible it is and it's actually scary you can't see things in front of you patients are coming but more like us bravely this is just like more of a kid with asthma. One major source of the pollution is stubble burning farmers in Delhi's neighboring states say they don't have the modern machinery they need to clear their fields without setting them alight so the smoke from their fires drifts over the city where it stays for days on end but the worst sufferers are people who work on the streets like traffic police took to drivers and the homeless. India's government says it is doing what it can it has banned construction activities is limiting the number of cars on the road and has asked for schools to remain shut for a few days but despite the public health emergency no long term solution seems to be in sight here on the street to be particularly difficult to breathe and I can feel it in my throat it's a huge concern for residents with study showing that the pollution is causing higher levels of lung cancer and premature deaths protection in Delhi. Now almost a year after the body of a British backpacker was discovered in New Zealand a man who's got on trial accused of murdering her Grace Malayan who was $21.00 was staying at a hostel in Central or Clint when she went missing last December and has Smith from Radio New Zealand has been in court and has been updating me on the case she disappeared from Auckland say b. Day on the eve of her 22nd birthday which sparked a large police investigation her family in Essex and nationally grew worried so when she wasn't responding to birthday messages. A place investigation into it and the cover of her body buried in the white talk the Rangers about a way caster she went missing and a 27 year old man who his name suppression has been charged with murdering her and this man has name suppression why the stiffing that and were granted and term name secretion the or current district court right after he was charged and that's continued on the basis of preserving his fair trial rights and you is the one that's an option that's up to a judge to decide whether someone is eligible for interim name suppression or permanent name suppression and that's the case it is an interim basis and that's to preserve as their trial rights and to ensure that he gets a fair trial and that things are opened up for an appeal in the future and what has happened in court today the very start of the trial so we got a large jury polled 7 woman and 5 men were selected in the court was adjourned until Wednesday and on Wednesday is really going to be the big day when the crown will open its case and actually we heard today that David malign prices father will be given events as well I was under Smith a court reporter at Radio New Zealand You're listening to the news room from the b.b.c. World Service David here with the headlines President Trump has threatened to withhold aid from California because of a route with the state's governor traffic restrictions are coming into force in Delhi as the Indy. In capital struggles to tackle choking air pollution and the motor racing Britain's Lewis Hamilton has won his 6th Formula One world championship title and that happened at the Us grown Prix in Austin Texas it's now 3 brought us up to the final corner to check in. 3 dogs with 2019 Osteen 3 that is not enough to stop Lewis Hamilton being a $29.00 team if you want to be at the same. Championship title I knew Michael she like it now as more than the British tried to get to know that stunning Formula one seeded Lewis Hamilton champion so that is the moment Lewis Hamilton became the 2nd most successful Formula One driver of all time in his miss a days the 34 year old as we've heard there needs to win just one more championship to equal Michael Schumacher his record B.B.C.'s former motor racing correspondent Jonathan lead John told me it was a remarkable achievement the way that how it has gone about the season has been exactly as you would expect from a 5 time champion as we now know a 6 time champ and there being 98 races is what 10 of them he started off with his team mate wondering whether Ferrari were going to dominate because they had a very good winter testing period which it always gives you some sort of indication of how the season might go but they got the 1st race and Ferrari were pretty much no where a Mercedes dominated and it's not just that he's got the best car cause a lot of people so it's all down to say he's they've got the best car is a very good driver but actually if you put other drivers in the most eighty's car they would just as well I don't know whether they would because Houghton hasn't won just by disappearing into the distance at the start of a race from pole position he's set today for example in the Us Grand Prix qualified 5th he was beaten by a teammate but he managed the way that he got through the field and came 2nd when he had to come 8th or something in order to take the title 3 much formality but it was just the fact that he uses his brain he's got a great. Tical strategic approach to racing it's not just pedal to the metal an accelerating and disappearing ears in a way I think about the rest of the field whether it was in a fast car the best car or not if he uses his brain what is it that says he doesn't quite sell himself enough to the public or at least the British public that's a very good question why isn't he is like someone like Damon Hill or Nigel Mansell or Jenson Button they all won the World Championship in Formula one once but they are much more popular much more liked by British fans and maybe a lot of people around the world it's funny how it has never really caught it popularity and even if you talk to Dr was within the follow on paddock do they get on yes we get on but do they actually really like him is there a real bond not necessarily actually if you want once you start to speak them quite privately but you have to say that nice guys don't or don't always come 1st I'm not saying it's not nice you've got a very charming personality and I think a lot of the Taliban like a compartmentalizes life she market could be like a machine at the track but a completely different person with family and friends and Hamilton's pretty much the same as well but there is no doubt that he is for once great a star ever I mean a global star and he has done so much for sport away from the track in terms of raising awareness of the prestige of the sport as much as he has on it Jonathan legend the death has been announced in fronts of event Lindy a figure in the resistance movement who taught reconciliation after surviving the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp she was 103 years old Greek and has more savvy than others like you said Compton given that he's shooting believe I. Think I have a scene that was a bit Lundy describing her experience of arriving at that even spur concentration camp in Germany and 944 as a resistance work in occupied France 90. They began supplying forged papers to Jews mean flaying the Nazis forced labor program and escaped prisoners of war but 4 years later at the age of $28.00 she was a wrister by the Gestapo the secret place of Nazi Germany and transported to Raven's book a camp near Berlin specifically for women where between 30 and 50000 people died over the years Miss London spoke of the dehumanization she experienced there a memory she said she would never figure it was being forced to undress in front of him. At the very beginning of her ordeal. Her trauma at the camp would last nearly a year until she was assigned to a commander's slave labor unit that was a liberated by the Russian Army in April $945.00 it was nearly 15 years before she began to speak out about her experiences giving talks to French enjoyments students did occasion her live to re conciliation he had his 4th in Detroit yesterday there is hope to remind yourselves that in life and during a war the struggle is for freedom and there was a duty to respect freedom to respect skin color religion political ideas and to know have to tolerate others respecting oneself and respecting others that is freedom on the Ok Zhen of her 100th birthday Mrs Mundy was awarded the legion of on a 2nd that of Grange officer Mrs Mundy died at the age of $103.00 in the northern French town of Epona the town's mayor paid tribute to her incredible commitment to the juicy of the mean burns Gregan there let's take you to Lebanon where large crowds of anti-government protesters have taken to the streets once again and the demonstrations that have become known as the country's October Revolution began just over 2 weeks ago with a handful of protesters that were outnumbered by riot police guarding the parliament building in Beirut since then the movement has swelled to hundreds of thousands of people gathering in several cities across the country their demands have changed to the prime minister's resignation on Tuesday wasn't enough they now want the whole political system dismantled. Which was ousting the government but now we demand a new 2 technocratic government not a political one well reporter Gary Barlow joins me in the studio now growth just remind us how and why this all started this all began back in October and amid the worst economic crisis for decades in. Lebanon the government proposed the attacks on course made by fire mobile apps such as what's out for example now they're normally free and this enraged Lebanese protesters they took to the streets in small numbers that got bigger and bigger and bigger at one point there was 170 kilometer long human chain hand in hand across the country and that weight of protesting in the end led to the resignation of the Prime Minister Saad Hariri and also the entire cabinet but was really notable in Lebanon a country so often plagued by sectarian division is the unity of these protests and how things change now then over the past couple of weeks the protests have got smaller especially in recent days but the protesters who are still out on the streets aren't satisfied with just that resignation the prime minister they want more they want the entire political system to effectively be ousted and removed and replaced with technocrats their technical experts who could work to improve the unemployment the economic crisis the level of poverty in the country and also in recent days we've seen other movements add to their advice to it for example on Sunday families marched and wanted their course heard as well and there has been some support for the president in terms of this counter demonstration what's the reaction been there earlier on Sunday supporters of the President shall I one as you say took to the streets they say that if the political establishment and what is known and the ruling powers are taken out of Lebanon then there will be chaos he son in law is the foreign minister and he said that they would work to try and bring about changes or we have long and difficult days ahead we were racing against time to prevent collapse but corruption and public debt beat us the reality is though that there is 25 percent poverty in Lebanon and there are many endemic issues and whilst there has been lots of change already those issues haven't yet been tackled and that's what the protesters want and that's what the politicians will need to see what happens thanks a lot God bother. The fast food chain McDonald's has sacked its president and chief executive Steve Easterbrook for having a relationship with an employee the company said the British businessman who Chone poor judgment has been replaced by the former president of McDonald's USA Chris Kempinski Shala Gallagher reports in an e-mail to staff Steve Easterbrook described their relationship with an unnamed employee as a mistake even though it was consensual the board of McDonnell said it violated company policy Steve Easterbrook was hided chief executive in 2015 and has been widely credited with turning around the company's financial fourteen's the value of shares more than doubled during his tenure he remodeled the business striking a lucrative delivery deal with eats and installing digital ordering kiosks in restaurants although last month the company missed Wall Street profit estimates for the 1st time in 2 years the meeting movement has led to increased scrutiny of powerful businessmen and Steve Easterbrook isn't the thirst executive to be forced out because the relationship deemed to be inappropriate last year the former chief executive of Intel Brian Griese and it resigned for the same reason Charlotte Gallagher there David here now with some other stories from our news desk 7 British prisons are to get new equipment to try to tackle the smuggling of weapons drugs and phones the government hopes the new x. Ray machines and metal detectors will help reduce violence the opposition Labor Party says Conservative cuts are to blame for jails becoming more dangerous the consumer goods giant Unilever has vowed to stop its brands running adverts on pornography sites The move comes after its men's grooming range Dollar Shave Club ran a campaign on pornhub a British newspaper raised concerns about the ants alleging the controversial website had failed to remove illegal content pornhub disputed the claims but Unilever said it was extremely concerned. Ariana Grande a has been snubbed at the m.t.v. Europe Music Awards after failing to win a single prize despite being nominated in 7 categories the Grammy award winning American pop star didn't attend the event in Spain Billie Eilish took home 2 awards for Best Song and Best Newcomer k. Pop superstar's b.t.s. Also scored a double win for Best Live and best family Army David thank you now 30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall the former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has told the b.b.c. The current standoff between Russia and the West is putting the world in colossal danger the man who helped to end the Cold War described east west relations today as chilly but still a war and remembering the fall of the wall he says Moscow took the decision not to intervene it was a matter for the Germans he said bloodshed had to be avoided Moscow correspondent Steve Rosenberg reports. You here at the age of 88 we hurl Gorbachev is in poor health. But his sense of humor is fighting fit. He will write to rush over for this interview he tells me at my age I could go any moment here. The former Soviet president tells me about his family his late wife recently his father a war hero rather endearingly he's given his Zimmer frame the nickname my Russia he's mother's name go bitch off gives few interviews these days but he's agreed to talk to me about an event 30 years ago the changed the world. Under them by the 9th 1809 the building who fell heaving the way for German reunification but how would Moscow yet at the time there were hundreds of thousands of Soviet soldiers in East Germany risk growing we took the decision there mustn't be bludgeoned and we couldn't allow it over an issue of such magnitude for Germany for us for Europe the whole world. There were some people like Margaret that general who didn't want to united Germany but we declared we would not interfere it was a matter for the Germans to decide yet the diligence of putting in just 2 years later the Soviet Union fell apart many Russians still blame President Gorbachev for the death of a superpower but they were achievements to the president of the United States and the general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Which off performed a diplomatic double act with Ronald Reagan to reduce the nuclear arsenals of the u.s.s.r. And America for the 1st time in history the language of arms control was replaced by arms reduction in this case the complete elimination of an entire class of u.s. And Soviet nuclear missiles but the disarmament treaty they signed has collapsed. But Russia and America are testing new missiles and to being sucked into a new arms race how dangerous do you think the current confrontation is between Russia and the West Parker years asshole been as long as weapons of mass destruction exist nuclear weapons the danger is colossal on their part what see in the order of the day all nations should declare all nations nuclear weapons must be destroyed to save ourselves and our planet. That report from Steve Rosenberg let. News today President threatened to withhold aid from California because of the state's governor and traffic restrictions are coming into force in Delhi as the Indian capital struggles to tackle choking pollution You've been listening to the news from the b.b.c. World Service. Distribution of the b.b.c. World Service in the United States is made possible by American Public Media producer and distributor Public Radio. American Public Media with support from progressive offering snapshot. Insurance rates driving habits progressive. Progressive. Progressive. Is a massive challenge. Around the world 70000000 people start this week's edition of. Q. And a what can people do about it. And also from the people who stutter. B.b.c. News with David Harper a traffic restriction scheme comes into effect today in the Indian capital Delhi as the authorities grapple with the worst ad pollution the city has experienced for several years for the next 12 days car drivers will only be allowed into Delhi on alternate dates based on their number plates the governor of California Gavin Newsome has reacted angrily to treat spot tweets by President Trump blaming him for the recent wildfires and threatening to withhold federal aid Mr Trump said the governor had done a terrible job of forest management governor Newsome responded tersely saying that Mr Trump does not believe in climate change and so he was excused from the conversation the former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has warned that the current tensions between Russia and the West are putting the world in colossal danger in an interview with the b.b.c. Marking 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall was to go but you have said that nuclear weapons should be destroyed and Norway based shipping company says that 9 of its employees have been abducted from one of its vessels one it was Mordor off the coast of Benning in West Africa a company statement said the cargo ship the Banita was attacked by pirates 15 kilometers out to sea Brazil's police associations have denounced what they say are President Jaya both scenarios attempts to intimidate those in charge of investigating the assassination of a Rio de Janeiro politician President ball scenario have strongly denied allegations that he is linked with the murder of Mary Allie Frank who a prominent human rights activists shot dead last year in Rio de Janeiro the chief executive of the fast food company McDonald's has been sacked for having a consensual relationship with an employee the company said Steve Easterbrook had demonstrated poor judgment and that it was against company rules for managers to become remand to be involved with a subordinate That's the latest b.b.c. News. My starter have been. It's stream. At 8. To. When I was the. I've felt pretty isolated. Describe it like. I was in. Our prison. Imagine being isolated feeling like you're stuck in a prison and then imagine struggling to vocalize those feelings. In myself. I'm going to spawn and this is crowd science from the b.b.c. World Service the programme that answers your science questions this week stuttering. Is hiding behind someone. Oh and I have to talk. To me speaking is everything it's how I make my living after all I'm paid to talk out loud sound I tell my family that I love them or gossip with friends but the people who start are speaking can be a source of fear of shame and a huge struggle something that can hamper their work love and their entire lives. But. This is Daniel. Bank in 2014 when he was 21 1st forward to today it took me 42 seconds to. Interview. And we're happy to be able to say my name and there's that's made it hard to understand for people who. Don't use the director at the Scandinavian branch of a stammering course called the McGuire programme we made him and everyone else you'll meet in this. In Oslo the capital of Norway including the listener who started us on this journey my name is Britta My question is can start to ring be overcome or is it a part of me why I asked that question what led you to want to name stuttering is something that I've lived with all my life I've done speech exercises move movement exercises breathing I've been very very for 14 hours that I went into a movement training in Korea. Stuttering has been a lifelong challenge for breeder so can it be cured and if not how do you learn to live with it and what's the science behind the starter. Here we're going to investigate what life's like when talking doesn't come naturally we joined a cohort of brave young stammers you heard from some of them at the beginning of this program they've signed up for the McGuire programme it's a 4 day rigorous and potentially life changing stuttering course. Before we go on it's worth saying that these are some of the bravest people I've ever interviewed they spoke to me in a 2nd language when speaking doesn't come easily We have had to edit some of these interviews so we can fit everything into the program but we've tried to retain the essence of their speech and you sometimes hear us refer to stuttering and sometimes to stammering they really mean the same thing stuttering can be very different from person to person but what we see is that you can either have repetitions such us. Chocolates Lynne stock a good homes is a research ship at the effective stuttering treatment project at the University of own slate They're exploring the effectiveness of stuttering treatments in children also meet Thomas sound and he's the course instructor and also a stammer if I were to say my name to you 56 years ago I have to take all my classes I think. It would be a. Thomas like this now this is radio so it may not sound as much but you could see my face really scrunched up a lot of effort. Distortion you know facial distortion or you can have prolongation such as. Go. Or you can have blocks or silent process such as. And stuttering can also be this many starter is hide their condition by not talking or avoiding situations that make them stutter people who try to get their start a secret get really good at finding replacement words to avoid ones they struggle to say I think that. I was just not that good at hiding. In the 1st day of the Course it's real sense of nervousness here in the real postures and fearful eyes that one go has just stepped outside for a 2nd time that I was told is actually that some people become physically sick when they hear about the 1st challenge. With a call to do is answer a few simple questions about themselves their name and their address where they go to school those kind of things this might not seem very remarkable but it is a huge challenge for a person with a lifetime of speech difficulties and so that you don't get confused by any of this like I've been. Taught in a mix of the weeds in Danish Swedish and even English one by one they've been called to the chair and then being filmed. You. Know. Bass never wrecking power it's time for the hard work to begin. Everyone has an elastic to belt around their chest which says breathe speak release . Who. Can we just ask you describe what's happening at the moment what we're all doing right now is the most fundamental thing it's the breathing and it sounds strange but for most stammers the studying is related to good reading or the lack of reading through the air. The idea of regulating breathing isn't new it was developed back in the 1970 s. Back then the scientific studies were less rigorous when included fewer people and scientists today would prefer that but there is a general consensus about its effectiveness at least for the students here it seems to work are you ready to learn to dream Yes Yes So what to do today what have you been doing to set up a set of each other again meet Henny Christy so-called old Grant further up please and you have to tell us you can see can really feel your breathing off the belts around my chest under my arms so you're sitting straight you have your hands on your legs and you have to look me in the eyes to say stutters they avoid looking into parasites to stare embarrassed when I talk. So you look at me and the only Brit with your chest. Well we've really there just to get a lot more power. So I can talk to you when I use the chest so try again and technique is holding your hand so from your chest and. Every finger is laced together and if you breathe out hands go down. Just breathing. And if you do it too much to get really get a lot of oxygen to your brain. How much is this technique changed how you are able to speak and your starter. I'm able to say my name Flint that's. Right and it helps me in school a lot and I can. Become a midwife which I wanted to do and I can because I can speak of my patients even in crisis situations. And just being confident I guess I can talk to people in the streets now I could never do that I can order things on Burger King I can talk on the phone. So many things I couldn't do I can say yes I feel safe I want to I was terrified when I was a kid that I couldn't get married because I couldn't say yes I have a friend. Comma Cannick and he only chose that child because he doesn't have to talk to stutter and I think that's really really sad the organizers of the cool and I'm and there's no kewl. Studies on stuttering so far there's no single treatment that works for everyone but we just start it is time to call a neuroscientist. Pedro Chang how he good how are you really good thank you very much really good My name is Singh and Cheney and I am a speech language but follow just a neuroscientist studying the neural basis of stuttering I'm an associate professor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor Michigan USA You and I have fortunately I would have this conversation now $200.00 fluently war goes through the brain when we try to say something what's happening in in my brain at the moment so when we speak there are vast areas of the brain that become active it's actually one of the most complex motor behaviors that humans perform and it literally involves 100 muscles across our aural facial orange oil and rust retore systems that need to coordinate within milliseconds so depending on the content of the message you wish to convey brain circuits that support memory and attention may be involved and areas that store words and grammar and rules for combining speech sounds become active as well and there are also deeper structures involved as well such as the basal ganglia and cerebellum that modulator the timing and initiation of speech sound articulation speaking he's hugely complex and involves the jewel brain lungs larynx tongue and that's not all of it to understand what might be going on for starters we have to get deep into the brain down to individual nerve cells the part of the nerve cell that is called the axon which can be compared to an electrical cable that part is oftentimes insulated with a fatty structure called Mylan which helps speed up the transmission of nerve impulses along the length of the axon So if a part of the brain has well Myla needed axons and they are organized in the same direction without a lot of crisscrossing of these axons we would have a higher white matter integrity value. Think of the nerves like a bundle of electric cable the cable is a well organized and well maintained and they were thickly if they jumbled up an insulation around the cable is footie then that can cause problems. Happens then if the mind in the white matter in the brain doesn't insulate the nerves as well as it should we found that there is decreased white matter integrity in people who stutter which suggests that the neural transmission between these areas might not be as efficient or not occur in a sufficiently expeditious matter and people who stutter see one studies brain scans detail pieces of people's brains other research is back in 2000 the study tell the brain communicates between regions milliseconds by milliseconds and the people who started some of these regions seem to be and to seek that study was the 1st and only study that that actually found that it seemed like there was a reversal in the sequence of the activity patterns between the speech motor and the planning region you're supposed to have the planning region activate 1st followed by the production region but that was reversed and people who stutter stutter is it trying to be speech before the brain is told what to say with so much to play construction be cute that depends on when the intervention can be offered so we know from brain development research that different parts of the bring developed during different time in your life so among all the different parts of the brain the speech and language regions of the brain have the most attracted duration of growth which means that these areas are open to neural plasticity for longer periods in life so if you are able to provide intervention during childhood for example you have more of a chance of altering or supplementing growth in that region that could help toward recovery. In some cases it's a little bit more challenging in adults who stutter who have had this pattern of speaking for decades but there may be new treatments on the way there have been some recent exciting new developments in this area involving noninvasive brain stimulation techniques specifically there is a technique called transcranial direct current stimulation T.C.'s that involves a very weak electrical current that is directed to targeted areas of the brain with the goal of in Hansing activity in those regions for example a researcher at University of Oxford has been conducting this trial and they have found promising results in people who stutter initial results stuttering is 1st and foremost a neurological condition but how does it come about well genes are involved he's lean from the University of Oslo again we know that stuttering is highly heritable it runs in families and we can also see that in identical twin pairs it's more common that both are stuttering are not suffering than in identical twin pairs so insistent know how common the gene package is that make people vulnerable to develop a stutter we do know that that around 70000000 people across the world will stammer at some stage of their life 11 percent of children have periods of stammering before the age of full but the vast majority recover by 7 leaving less than one percent of grown ups with the condition boys a 2 to 5 times more likely to start to think gills so James in gender are affected what else affects our speech research have not been able to identify all factors but what the year is center is that individuals factors in the child such as emotions and language and speech motor. Skills can influence the answer is neither entirely down to nature nor nurture it's likely to be a bit of both how we feel also influences our speech for example when I get nervous I talk more and when someone with a stammer is under pressure it tends to get worse so a large part of tackling stammering is psychological my own. Back in Oslo the participants have been promoted from breathing to saying one letter to one word and now the whole sentences talking big camp. We are doing the Harrison workshop which is like. Which is like a training camp. Where we exercise Ziff and technique 123. The I can't hear you. Ok again 123. Ah yes. All 3 of us can now explain with their own words to the new students about last quarter. It. Was. Put. Into leading up to the toughest parts of the course the aim for this session is $100.00 contacts no less after spending a couple of days in the classroom the new grants have to hit the streets of Muslim and approach $100.00 strangers talking about anything asking the time or directions for example is not about talking with fluency It's about being comfortable stuttering in front of strangers and facing their fear is injured that you are attending a speech course. You're listening to crowd signs from the b.b.c. World Service this week we're cracking the signs of stuttering if you too have a question for us then please e-mail us a crude signs at b.b.c. C o don't you k. If you are afraid of heights and you are diving tower and you think that the 3 metre died is terrifying then we will make you jump from the 10 year let's $100.00 types in when you have done the doing of the 3 metre jump which is your every day life will seem quite manageable so this is the really vital part of the psychological part of the course this is the very essence of it all. What Thomas is describing is what scientists call exposure therapy is sometimes used to treat phobias although it's often used with other types of therapies for example if you're scared of spiders some therapists might use a method of slowly exposing the 1st to a picture of a spider then perhaps to a dead spider and then maybe asking you to hold one. About half of adults who stutter also suffer from social anxiety so the idea is to face the fear of being judged by other people in social situations one recent study found that exposing stutterers to social interactions of a fear does improve how they feel and think about a stutter but there's no evidence that it actually helps with speaking more fluently for many people stuttering is something you want to hide if you show it more on purpose you can be proud and you can start or it's Ok then you get more self-confidence he would assume threat from the University of Oslo has been working with stuttering for over 21 years and is one of just a few scientists who has studied them acquire program though she says exposure therapy can be good for some people thought everyone benefits equally and it might even be counterproductive for some people it's too much their interests it might not be the right exercise to do and then I think too many related it to it's avoidance behavior you are weak you don't dare to go out but maybe it's not your type of communicating maybe it's not the right thing for you to do and I think that it's the MacWrite program might be too strict and the McGuire program be improved is there new information to weave into it yes you have the people who are really benefiting very much it's a life changing story there's also another group who benefit from the program but they are more disappearing Athan they are not so active any longer but they still find them acquire program useful and then you have the 3rd group and that is the group which is totally disappearing what is happening with them we don't know what happens after 3 months a year we don't have a need. Documentation of that I suppose you would like to see people being followed along through the course of their life to kind of evaluate the impact of groups like this for longer so that we can build in more reverence to the brain was like yes I think it is really important to collect more evidence but also that the speech therapy we also need to continue document thing for statement we asked the British stammering Association for their input they sent this statement from their c.e.o. Jane Powell here read by my producer Louisa we believe that stammering is a difference not a defect so while it is essential there is help out there for people to find ways of managing their stammer those just Emma should be able to stammer without sense or pity or the need to sound quote unquote normal There are many different therapies and interventions which work really well and the McGuire program is an approach that has proved useful and life transforming and that should be celebrated but it doesn't work for everyone. It's pretty incredible I have. Never. Talked. Before we found a group to tag along with for some intense exposure therapy including Danish 1st time a Sebastian who's been having really good results after just one day. You've been paired up with one of the older grads to go and do your contacts hit the streets of yeah after. We've come out into central Oslo it is all ring with rain and now the real hard work starts for Sebastien and ruin their verse Oh yeah. It's just you have to do that but I'll try. To screw do you know. Where the train station these days. I can't just down I think. Thank you for. Who my heart is pounding so hard right now your hearts pounding your sake a good there is the biggest smile across your face it's it's so nice I didn't. Do Well that's right and I have talked to one person now so that's one clear. Now out there it's $99.00 to go. Could you of seeing yourself doing this when you arrived on Wednesday and the course started on Thursday. There I was so afraid I told my mother that I probably were a panic attack but here we are for the students on the course the days working on breath control vowel sounds and mentally overcoming their stammer has all built up to one moment. In the heart of a very wet or slow a box is placed in the center of a square each new grad has to get up on the box and give a speech. Each to the hundreds of people who are walking by and as they do so the rain tumbles down but that doesn't to turn them from showing the world and themselves just how far they've come. So far so amazing to be up here and to. Top 3 me at the elbow nothing of my is to say what ever I will. What was it like watching service to stand on the box and he says say whatever he wanted it was like seeing the son that I always I know he's like that and still be able to see him just be himself and it's one of the best moments in my life I think . It was incredible to be part of that moments and it's something that has stuck with me since to think more about the ease of which I can speak and also think about how I can help people who maybe struggle if there's somebody in your life or your work or your world who stutters How can you help them my top 3 tips for communicating with a person a starter is 1st of all do not complete a person sentence because that can be very frustrating for the person and you actually don't know what the person is going to say secondly keep eye contact in the communication situation and thirdly be calm and not expose the person to time pressure. This program has followed some remarkable people on a remarkable journey at the beginning some of them were physically sick of the sort of having to talk and they finished by talking to us on the radio and it's not very often you get the opportunity to witness lives being transformed so huge thank you to everyone who shared their stories and the scientists who helped us along the way now the last words of course go to breeder for the credits. That's it for this edition of crowd science from the b.b.c. World Service Today's question was from me breeder in nor the program was presented by Garth Barlow and produced by Louisa field if you have a question about life Earth or the universe please email it to crowd science at b.b.c. Dot a c o u k thank you for listening. This is the b.b.c. World Service and with news of the next World Book Club Here's Harriet Gilbert's who'd been reading a novel about a man frantically trying to rescue not only his marriage but his family and marriage has run its course Douglas I think I want to leave I wanted to explore what it feels like in a family when there's a tug in a particular direction talking to bestselling author David Nicholls about us world picked up at b.b.c. World Service dot com slash world big club you're listening to the b.b.c. World Service our technology reporter Zoe Kliman told us when I asked our Washington Correspondent Chris Buckley or what was in this article our Europe regional editor Mike Sanders is here in the studio that speak to each other media analyst Kerry Allen probably to see monitoring on air on life and on smartphone this is the b.b.c. World Service the world's radio station. 2 It's 3 o'clock in London alone welcome to News Day on the b.b.c. World Service with advocacy Jack and me James Copnall good to have you with us our top story today the smog in the Indian capital Delhi has got so bad if your throat is a protein restrictions on vehicles but will it work as protests in Iraq continue we'll ask just how far will they go and our correspondent in the Netherlands investigates medicinal cannabis and the lengths some people in and out of the country will go to get it and after finding a long lost giant taught a species this team is going back to look for more on the volcano was extremely active and so this is probably a species that's on the edge of very existence anyway is the helicopter will be extremely useful to retrieve any tortoises that are style all that and more living sports and business coming your way on news day 1st that was billeted of the latest world news. Hello I'm David Harper with the b.b.c. News a traffic restriction scheme has come into effect in the Indian capital Delhi as the authorities grapple with the worst and pollution the city has experienced for 3 years can't we no reports from this morning car drive.