The prime minister has described Britain as an illegal colonial occupied after it ignored the United Nations' deadline to relinquish control of a small archipelago in the Indian Ocean by today in May the un General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on a 6 month time limit for Britain to hand the changes islands to militias a form of British British colony. Many people in n.d.i. Have expressed concern after their marriage that a popular cafe chain Chiles has been using facial recognition software to build customers Chai also defended its system saying it was committed to protecting customers. But our senator Roger and reports a simple cup of tea as it's called in India has triggered an angry debate on privacy issues the subject picked up traction on social media after an editor of a media watchdog posted a video on Twitter saying stuff but they tell your stuff they took his picture to bill him without consent Tchiowa said customers could choose to opt out using the facial recognition feature and instead use the phone number to pay bills experts say companies in India are collecting was volumes of biometric data which is deeply worrying at the moment India doesn't have laws governing the collection of bio matric data Lanka's newly elected leader go to by Roger puncture has appointed a 16 member cabinet which now includes 2 his brothers his elder brother Roger punctured joins another brother Mahinda form a Sri Lankan president it was sworn in as the prime minister on Thursday there's been criticism in Zimbabwe government decision to rename dozens of streets in the country many of them ousted president Emerson and God Some have described it as vanity others say it will do nothing to bring down triple digit inflation more than 40 streets in the capital Harare have been renamed. Well news from the b.b.c. . Several people caught up in a criminal investigation in Russia into a video of a gay man being on questions by children who told the b.b.c. That they fear for their safety the video producer Vittorio page says she's had to flee Russia as she could be charged with the sexual assault of children they are does know. When I found out about the criminal case earth out from beneath my feet and you know it's just yet it's 12 to 20 years in prison so I didn't hesitate I dropped everything and I just left the country the 1st is designed to teach about diversity and tolerance only features children asking a man questions about the fact that he's gay and does not include any discussion of sanctions a Japanese court has ruled against a strange parent seeking access to their children the group of 12 parents had sued Tokyo saying it was unconstitutional for both parents to receive an equal treatment under the law their rental l e a nation has long been a problem in Japan because the government grants sole custody to one parent after a marital split the other parent often loses contact with the children because the state does not enforce visitation rights. They can make a Tesla has suffered an embarrassing moment while I'm veiling a new electric pickup truck onstage in California Tesla's chief executive in a mosque watched a steel ball being thrown to the windows to show off the strength of a tough and gloss but things didn't quite go to plan Sure yeah. Maybe I was a little too hard to go through as a person I was trying to. Really. Get. To the windows smashed and after his response he'd almost jokes that there was room for improvement b.b.c. News. Thank you listening to the news room from the b.b.c. World Service with all of a calm way it was a killing which devastated a family and shocked and they should British backpacker Grace Elaine was strangled on the eve of a 22nd birthday while out on a date in New Zealand the body was stuffed into a suitcase and buried in bushland outside now a 27 year old New Zealand who can't be named for legal reasons has been found guilty of murder grace means parents wept as jurors delivered their verdict her father David spoke outside court. The wife lost the most brutal fresh in their lives have been unfair made to Paul. This will be read off for the best. Price to be true tell me to drop it off. And she will be mistress but she did not do deserve to be murdered in such a by public by Grace met the man through the dating app tend within hours she was lying dead in his hotel room this is the killer telling police why he failed to call an ambulance I. Didn't hit the button. Because I. Was scared about. What you think of me. Says that. This is. Our correspondent Sean material was in court in Oakland for the verdict it was the most tense of moments Grace's parents they were sitting down holding hands really really tightly and as the juror started to read out that guilty verdict Grace's mother just took an intake of breath and as the verdict was read out guilty she breathed out and they both just broke down crying this of course brings to a close a case that they have lived through for the past year or so finding out what happened to their daughter but really a case that has gripped and shocks New Zealand itself you know mothers stationed their little daughters out to the. Yeah you know where Grace is body was found to lay down flowers plaque cards saying Rest in Peace grace and this was really felt by the family because at the end of his speech David Malayan Grace's father sank to the people of New Zealand he said we felt your support we felt love come through and now we have to go back home and deal with our day to day lives of course without their daughter Yes And just to take us through the case to against this killer for 3 weeks now the jury and the court have been hearing arguments by both the defense and the prosecution the defense has maintained and has argued that Grace's death was accidental that this was a consensual sex act gone wrong the prosecution has come back and said well this is essentially about a young woman who was strangled to death and that you cannot consent to your own death the jury heard forensic evidence about how Grace would have been George sustained pressure on her net for 5 to 10 minutes which led to her death but the prosecution also went into the killer's attitude after Grace's death they told the jury how he sexualized her death by taking intimate pictures of her body they also went into details about how he went out got cleaning products how he bought a suitcase and put Grace's dead body in that case to later then bury it in woodland outside all cleaned and the argument really for the prosecution was that this was a man who was calm who was calculated who knew what he was doing but there was also a detail about how Grace's body was still in that man's room and he went out on a date with another woman the next day and so in the end the jury came to the decision that this was a man guilty of murder the judge addressed the killer he said you are now convicted of murder and a date will be set to sentence you he will be remanded in custody but there is an insistence on keeping his identity anonymous still. For legal reasons Sharma reporting from New Zealand half a century ago the people of the Che go silence were forced out of their remote Indian Ocean archipelago to make way for a u.s. Military base even now the island is want to go home but the trade offs remain in British hands in the u.k. Has banned any resettlement militia's has long claimed sovereignty and took its case to the un where it won but the u.k. Has refused to hand back the islands by a deadline of today correspondent Andrew Harding has met some of the Che go silent as he joins us now Andrew these families still devastated by being forced out no sign of them being able to go back anytime see no sign of them certainly being allowed to resettle the foreign office here in Britain has organized a few small trips not even overnight back to the islands heritage trips of the like and some people some sources have gone along with that many of them have boycotted that say no we only want to go when we are allowed back fully people who left their homes behind and want to go back even just to be buried an elderly generation of people who really still feel deeply traumatized by what happened to them you know the un overwhelmingly backed the case from what was the argument that. Well the Mercian government is saying look we're when we won our independence from Britain when we stopped being a colony 50 years ago that process wasn't complete because Britain secretly and illegally kept a chunk of our territory they chase us islands back they cut a deal with the Americans for that Abbe's it's not fair we were pressurised basically we were told that if we don't give up the chase our silence then we won't get our independence a tool the British government they will hang on we negotiated this in good faith yes we apologize for the way we treated Cinci got sins when we no longer need the islands for security purposes we'll give them to militias but Britain has its own legitimate longstanding claim to these islands as well and frankly the u.n. And the International Court of Justice are not the theater in which this kind of bilateral dispute should even be be held this is political this is the world ganging up on Britain but it seems to have lost most of those arguments frankly in the course of world opinion Yeah Britain looking isolated but is there any enforcement action the un can take well it's slow it's incremental and it is institutional It's not like Britain is going to be slapped with sanctions but what you will see and what we're already seeing is slowly things like the maps that the un put South Indian Ocean Britain will no longer be shown as owning the territory maritime councils all these organizations all these institutions that deal with overflight rights for instance territorial rights seabed fishing exploration science Britain will find itself pushed to the margins and it will become more and more uncomfortable for a country which is currently selling itself as global Britain it will find itself pushed out of institutions that it really desperately wants to be part of and treated with respect and Andrew Harding thank you more now on a facial recognition controversy in India. Sparked by a cafe chain and follows complaints that child has been using the technology to build its customers South Asia regional editor and person at a Raja and is here how did this facial recognition charging actually work so this is a chain that is based on a simple concept of providing t. Of a just with thing their website as 4 point ago so when you join one of the loyalty customers you know in any cafe you join you get points and then after a while you get to free coffee or free tea that is a way of attracting more business but now a new join this loyalty program you know they do take a picture and then that gets store and every time they just look at the show this camera on your face and then it adds up to your account and in some places that customers have complained in this Indian chain that they were regularly taking pictures even without the consent even though you would they were not part of this program this loyalty program I was just going through the time of the terms and conditions of this company read it clearly states that we may obtain information about facial recognition from Asian you a name email address date of birth and all these details and it also sais the company the customer should not expect that customers person information should always remain private customers may argue that who reads those terms and conditions and then are happy the customers are not happy to go in a big reaction on social media a lot of Indians were talking about you know how these privacy issues are being handled by these Indian companies because you know it's a normal cup of tea a time they call in India you know if you just go to buy a cup of tea and all your details are taken so how this is being handled there are complaints about how some companies are selling these data like the mobile telephone companies and others that give you free data but then they get all the information about you and then selling them to big companies as of now there are no laws in India which govern how people Shadd these privacy issues on biometric data . But that is no triggering concern about you know there should be some regulation about what kind of information can be taken how they are being used so this is again a kind of warning for people who want to give that information even for a cup of tea and ice and as a Rajan thank you this is the newsroom from the b.b.c. World Service or mind of headlines from Jerry a New Zealand man is found guilty of murdering a British bank back in his hotel room in Oakland Britain has been code an illegal colonial occupied by militias for ignoring a United Nations deadline to return control of the chain goes silence and charities have called on the u.k. And European countries to repatriate young children who are caught up in the conflict with the Islamic state group in Syria you saw as night it was announced that some children from an area formerly controlled by ass are being repatriated to the u.k. Save the Children said fervently hope this was just the start while the International Rescue Committee called it an important 1st step in Britain recognizing it was Judy bound to protect some of its most vulnerable young citizens Clinton some of those reports the children were handed over to a delegation from the Foreign Office in northeastern Syria they've since left the country and I said to be doing very well according to diplomats who met them on their journey the foreign secretary Dominic Robb welcomed the rescue we're in the process of returning back to the u.k. a Number of British children from the conflict in Syria we look at the cases individually very carefully and in these circumstances it's the right thing to do these children should be safe and sound here in the u.k. So caught up in the vicious conflict reporting restrictions mean that few other details can be revealed the children are expected to return to Britain in the next few days Save the Children estimates that around 60 British kids whose parents supported the Islamic state group still remain trapped in Syria other countries including France Denmark Norway in Kazakhstan have brought their children home. I s. Once controlled an area the size of Britain stretching across Iraq and Syria thousands of foreign fighters and family members have remained inside Syria since the collapse of the Islamic state group earlier the Shia Clinton some of for decades Sudan was a pariah state with long term. Accused of rights abuses in Darfur and elsewhere but in April this year his 30 year rule was brought to an end by protesters angered about economic hardship and decades of repression the military men who helped bring him down were eventually forced to agree a transitional government headed by a civilian so how Sudan's fortunes improved a former hot room correspondent James Copnall has gone back to assess the state of the country today there's certainly quite a lot of quite obvious changes perhaps small ones but significant ones of a general sense of freedom people feeling they can talk more openly people feel they can protest against the government will to make a point to the government and under almost assure that simply wasn't possible so that sense of we're in control of our destiny it is apparent I think the people are very much aware too that the military is still playing a key role in politics it's still part of this body called the sovereign council is made up of civilians in the military to replace the presidency they face a lot of challenges one of them is the economy which isn't going very well right now despite the new government I sure is one of the civilians on the suffering Council and he doesn't knowledge things are difficult and we are given very hard to active peace among the movements if you are doing that work I think we have done quite a lot of thing that we really not happy about is that we couldn't. Difficulties that the people are facing now they cannot make a situation people just say Do the people just let the patient. We have been patient. So we can wait 6 months to start the build up. So James what can be done to try to improve the economy was a key thing is getting international help in and that hasn't really been possible partly because of Sudan's debts to international institutions like the i.m.f. The World Bank and partly too because Sudan is on an American list of states the u.s. Consider a sponsors of terror and u.s. Officials in the past have admitted this is a political designation really rather than the else and Sudanese officials want that removed because as long as that same place there's really no prospect to getting major lending from the i.m.f. And other institutions like that so that's one measure people also feel that the former regime businessmen linked to the former regime are trying to stifle the economy too that's a very sort of political problem too and another major issue here that everyone's talking about really is the one of justice people killed during this revolution against all mad rush here and against the military and people killed during that 30 years America share was in power in Sudan will there be justice for them and one of the key stumbling blocks to that of course is the fact that military men generals a part of the sovereign council part of the governing body all they going to be prepared to allow free and fair full investigation into the abuses of the previous years James Copnall in Khartoum. Coming up gay man answering children's questions about his life be tantamount to sexual assault or police in Russia are investigating a video on those very grounds an investigation condemned by human rights groups Russia banned what it called promoting homosexuality to young people and 2013 for those involved in this case the repercussions could be very serious indeed as our Moscow correspondent Sara Rainsford reports so I'm going to get. This here after like a little bit as I just said why did you decide to turn again and I'll see if he's sometimes when you mix well I'm watching this video where children take it in turns to ask a young gay mountain questions about his life and his sexuality. But ever since the depths in parliament he complains of police the people behind this video have gone into hiding I've got the actual notification from investigators here and on this document they use words like debauch and they claim that the questions I meant to arouse the children sexually and because of this might seem the producer I think getting death threats are symbolic about the limit Maxine outside Moscow but he doesn't want me to say where he is for now but I'm visiting him going there's a couple of those nothing about sex in the video I just talked about my life but this article of law is basically put a feel that this man this is really about this little I have lost everything my family is those who love may don't think I'll be able to live in Russia now there are comments like burn in hell all they say people like me should be killed more I think you're not allowed to tell me why you want to say part of this project. Of the last of this is that the listeners of it was really important for me because I was always teased and called names at school at university in life generally so it was important to show that I would really am a normal person. C.m.d. . If you have a guy it is not a shock this is the You Tube channel of a popular young blogger called the cup peach and she produced the q. And a video with Max see how life is changed. She fled the country after she was questioned by investigators. But did agree to talk to me on line day I don't know. When I found out about the criminal case earth fell from beneath my feet it's 12 to 20 years in prison I dropped everything and I just left the country it's 6 years now since Russia banned what it calls promoting homosexuality to children breaking that rule can get you find and in this much more conservative climate that there is here now that is quite common. If you go to your houses but it's possible that you know look when I asked the Kremlin spokesman about the case which Human Rights Watch is called absurd Dmitri Peskov said it wasn't the Kremlin's business to judge . The investigative committee didn't comment either the video has been taken offline though now as investigators decide whether to charge him or the producer with sexual assault to report from Russia by our correspondent Sara Rainsford. When I became independent in 1980 s. Embalm we changed its name from Rhodesia ditching many of our colonial names as well but not all of them now nearly 4 decades on the government has decided to rename 10 street soft the president a Muslim man and God 2 years after he helped overthrow Robert Mugabe the move coming a day after an opposition rally was violently dispersed has not pleased everyone a Shingo New Yorker reports from Harare it was quite unexpected cabinet ministers meeting to approve sweeping changes to Colonial road names and government offices all in the middle of an economic crisis into price road which winds through the effluence northern suburbs of Haddadi will now be known as Amos and. Wrote over 40 other streets in the capital alone have been renamed off to mostly African presidents Jomo Kenyatta sits in Hama and national independence war heroes the government says the move will foster understanding and give the African nation a sense of its history but it will also come at a cost the country is facing triple digit inflation and a health care crisis some have described as a soft genocide denouncement has prompted criticism over the government's priorities and caused outrage on the social media platform Twitter one person asked if the name changes would bring down prices and stabilize the economy Ching on your car in Harare now look at some of these other news Jerry a 23 year old man from Northern Ireland has been arrested by police investigating the deaths of more than 3 dozen Vietnamese people found inside a lorry in southeast England 39 people were found inside a train London last month is being held on suspicion of conspiracy to traffic people and conspiracy to assist on lawful immigration. The cost of a cold written to hold the South-East Asian Games flame has led to anger in the Philippines leading to comparisons to the excesses of the Marcos Sara min and the games which starts on the 30th of November and almost $1000000.00 has been spent on the 50 meter cauldron one lawmaker said the money would have been better spent helping the nation's children and poor people. And says for remains over 200 years old to be returned to Sri Lankan tribes people the University of Edinburgh and Scotland chief one a year later the jungle dwelling vetted people will receive the know I need human skulls in a ceremony later on Friday the University's Professor Tom Gilling Botha explains why the remains are so important so that they believe the spirit of the body leaves on earth retained in their arms a strong homeland but the physical remains a skillet remains need to be in the same place for the rights and their rituals to be performed properly so they are very keen that the skeletal remains are returned back to Sri Lanka back to the forests where the the very people live so they can almost put them back with the spirits Professor Tom getting involved and then known as the godfather of snowboarding Jake Carpenter has died at the age of 65 he founded the company but snowboards and I have a sort of rise of the sport from fringe activity to and the limbic event areas reminiscing about the early days it was a 4 foot long piece of wood that was about 6 or 7 inches wide and no edges and you stood on it on these sort of staples that gave you traction and you had a rope attached to the nose it was a little bit like you're riding a fucking go just getting down the hill but it was fun and Brunswick made them they sold 800000 or something like that but it developed a sort of cult in a positive sense of the word that friends. We would do it together and we would modify them for me was never was the opportunity to serve it was basically serving us now serving on. Burton Snowboards has since grown into a multi-million dollar corporation staff said they would take some turns to get on the boards today in memory of the company's founder with more his Steve Jackson Jake Burton Carpenter was given a primitive snowboard to play with when he was 14 years old and he never looked back a decade later he quit his job and launched his own company Burton Snowboards from a bomb in Vermont as he perfected the design he also began marketing the sport and lobbying ski resorts to allow people to use no boards which at the time regarded with great suspicion his efforts paid off and in 1998 snowboarding made its debut at the Winter Olympics his company has grown into a major brand worth $150000000.00 Jake Burton Carpenter's death has prompted an outpouring of gratitude from snowboarding enthusiastic for what he did for the sport Steve Jackson on Jake been comforting has died at the age of $65.00 and that's it for now from the newsroom. Distribution of the b.b.c. World Service in the u.s. Has made possible by American Public Media producer and distributor of award winning public radio contact a.p.m. American Public Media with support from Cronos providing a church solutions for the modern workforce and the people who support them more and more at Kronos dot com slash h r swagger. After the news in the heart and soul we meet members of coal cutters once flourishing Jewish community originally from Baghdad until the mid 20th century they filled their synagogues even when I grew up the market was full and people came in their. Dresses and all dressed you know to the keys for the high holidays but now most of the Jews have left so what's the future of this small community with a distinctive past b.b.c. News for Jerry Smit charities are urging the U.K.'s government to bring home more British children caught up in the war in Syria after it was announced that some were being repatriated there the 1st to be returned to Britain from an area formerly controlled by the Islamic state group so badly a court in the Netherlands is hearing an appeal against averting that the Dutch government must repent create nearly 60 children from Syria. Mirages has described the u.k. As an illegal colonial occupied after it ignored the deadline to relinquish control of the trade goes islands in May the un General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on a 6 month time limit to head to the archipelago. Many people in n.p.r. Have expressed concern that a popular cafe chain China us being views Inc facial recognition software to build custom is a video appearing to show the practice has been shared online the firm said it was committed to protecting customers. The president of the European Central Bank Christine Legarde has called on the governments of the eurozone to do more to support economic growth mislead God said public investment was an important part of tackling global challenges. So Lanka's later go to by Roger Parikshit has named his new cabinet which includes 2 of his brothers his elder brother chum hall is now Minister for Agriculture and internal trade and other sibling the hand is Prime Minister. China's stock markets have had their lowest level in almost 3 months following concerns about deteriorating relations between Beijing and Washington earlier the Chinese president Xi Jinping said his government still wanted a trade agreement with the u.s. . There's been criticism in Zimbabwe of a government decision to rename dozens of streets many of them after president Emerson. Some has to some have described it as vanity and that's the latest b.b.c. News. This is a busy street in the heart of the Indian city of Tel cutter it's choked with taxis cars motorbikes and rituals and on each side of the road there are still selling trinkets and stationery and toys but if I turn off the street and goes through the gates in front of me there's something else that is equally part of the fabric and which story of. This is the imposing newly renovated mountain dotted the shield of David synagogue its peak constructed in the late 19th century with a $43.00 meta tower with an English manufactured clock on it this is one of several synagogues and prayer holes built to serve the once flourishing Jewish community who'd come to Calcutta from Iraq from Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East today that same Jewish community is just a fraction of its former size the Baghdadi Jews as a community are called the subject of this b.b.c. World Service heart and soul. I Mike will join with me is Yao's Silliman a writer and I couldn't make so we have a. 2 houses this is the grandest of all the cynic out somebody this is Majestic I call it the King of the synagogues that is the queen. Become inside the synagogue now and it is indeed ground lines stone columns gray and white marble floor tiles highly decorated panels with floral patterns and Hebrew inscriptions it's an Orthodox synagogue so male worshippers would be here on the ground floor and women in the gallery above up says you have the puta full round stained glass window with and of a magenta blue yellow XP or. I mean isn't Reds and it's really beautiful in different light because some of the colored stained glass they enticed synagogue is covered with slow dancing Khaled reflections. Of distinctive synagogue for sure one thing about it we're right here in the middle of an Indian city doesn't see obviously took too much to India you're absolutely right you must remember that our community came in the 18th century but privately here during the 19th century when Calcutta was a very British city so when they built a cynical they made sure that it had its features which is the central space in the middle from which the press were that the ha ha where we keep the many beautiful safe a Taurus which was written in Baghdad and encased in wood and silver using some of the best local server jewelry techniques so I think what they did is they sourced the materials and the designs from the synagogue from the cosmopolitan city that was on them so you know you have your own 1st hand memories of your synagogue from the 1950 s. On Woods but in the 10 years that you've been living back in the culture after off to being in America you've also compiled a digital archive of this whole community happen to you and talk to lengths to many older members over it so from them as well as your own memories what would worship in here have been like when this community was at its peak in terms of numbers actually the peak in terms of numbers would have been in the 1940 s. And 1950 s. But even when I grew up the mug in the lead was full and people came in they had seen their stockings and their dresses and or dressed you know to the keys for the high holidays how different sings out today there was an exodus of Jews from coal culture off to India's independence and also the creation of the state of Israel now no more than 30 Jews remain mostly elderly there was no resident rabbi from the bid. Sixty's own words and for years services have generally taken place only when visitors come and hold their own but the synagogue has occupied a special place in the hearts of those who've known and used it the group of people in Israel I think it was in the seventy's wanted that state to take the synagogue by brick and put it in Israel and you know when you have 2 Jews you have 3 opinions and immediately the Jews in Calcutta heard about this venture they said they wanted to keep it right here and so the grand plans to sell them like flying across the world you know to find a new home didn't actually happen the synagogue has recently undergone restoration a many more visitors now come to see it they have a lot of walking to us now heritage to us in Calcutta this is sort of the heart of the Old City the colonial city and all the visitors stop and see them in that it and this is one of the gems the city. One of the reasons that this synagogue still looks so well cared for and can still impress visitors who come to see it and say prayers here is that it has dedicated Muslim caretakers and has had for years on walk around and. With us now. Hundreds never end I did get the better says he's a 3rd generation caretaker and they make sure that the synagogue is clean and polished you've been doing the job for many years and your families but also some people surprised when they find that there are Muslim caretakers here. Hundreds as a questionis sorts and 7 look at the rubble says his family has also been doing this work for generations and his father always told him there's no difference between this place of worship and ours but as a house of God and you look after it as if it's your own. That we do it with our hearts as Anwar whether it's a church temple synagogue all. Mosque but you've also you see this Jewish community much reduced in size while you've been doing this work what do you think about the fact that it is now so much smaller than it was in years gone by. The dangers of the guard house says yes we've seen the community decline but this is God's house and whether the community has dwindled or not it must always remain a place of worship for everyone and United says the Baghdadi Jews and the Muslims do have a lot in common we knew that we shed a lot of traditions you are from other countries we knew there were it is we knew that a doll that she would never be brought into the synagogue if it was looked after by Muslims we also knew that there was no chance of him. Being brought into the synagogue. You know Zen family were also once Guardians of the sacred place. My grandmother's family were very very religious family they actually were the caretakers the custodians of the tomb of as of the Prophet which is a holy place for both Muslims and Jews in Iraq and it's still very ventilated by both communities. My granny Mary came out to bomb day to be in charge of the kitchen of the Sassoon family now the sons of Bombay who also from our community unknowingness about styles of the east they were extremely extremely wealthy and this is the song apparently gave her enough money for her dolly so she was able to get married so she came to Calcutta and they were helped by Jewish finance a b. And my granny Mary was able to go to school and she did well and her studies she became a teacher climbed out of poverty and became very much part of the middle class of our community the Pynoos of the Baghdad. They traded their way from. Singapore Well they moved frequently between cities along the route they maintained Jewish religious communities. They were. Strongly brought up in our own beliefs that everything. It was very stringent would you say the. Least you would. Do. Jewish refugees and servicemen. And attended synagogue services during the 2nd World War and full flower. For we had the American army did 4 or 5. From all. Mountainous area and they flew from China. You must remember that. Japanese had taken everything as far as. The Pacific. But there was access to China. From Shanghai and Hong Kong. You can imagine how impressed I was. Doorstepped I said to myself. And the left. Of this. Group of people who. Are different too. We sang shallow my left in a certain way sang it in a different tree the words are the same but the melody was different and tradition is chanted. You know it's more or less a chant but in the music that. Is rooted it goes like this. Life became much broader my cousins who were slightly older than the met and married. And they went abroad and they joined as it were Jewish communities in other parts of the word about the community was about to enter its period of greatest change and are people with many moving to the new Jewish homeland Israel and with the uncertainties created by the end of British rule the violence of partition and the coming of independence to. This is where Gandhi stayed in Calcutta and it was here that he undertook his fast which he said he would continue until the fighting in Calcutta was stopped we saw the bloodshed which I still get nightmares. I remember clearly we saw a pregnant woman but the mugger around her and they had a knife to her stomach I was just 16 so you can imagine how impressionable that was we went to save her and they said to us sob this is not your fight this is off it get on with your own thing we're not touching you otherwise you really get. The community was not directly affected the political developments taking place had that impact on the back down to Jews in a short space of time by the time I came along in the mid fifty's it was suddenly like all the it was so. And suddenly you see a community just Fos dissipating and by the sixty's it was a totally different India and the Jewish part of India was very little of my life I didn't go to the Jewish go school I was part of a very cosmopolitan community I went to a Catholic convent for me I was Indian There was no question of my being anything else it was the new India we are proud of the new nation that we were up octo and my granny could never understand she was like but you're Jewish starting a Jewish I don't know where any Am India and you know. Here it's Calcutta is Jewish cemetery you can get glimpses into the influence from the pioneering days of the dirty Jewish community it's a launch cemetery in a leafy suburb of come closer and there are untold more than 7 sons and adults buried here and he 144 confronts I've just seen the grave of the founder of the party Jewish community Shalom I don't know but our Cohen who died in 1836 you know Cinnamon's great grandmother father. Who died in the 1950 s. Is also buried here. I never met my great grandmother Unfortunately I heard a lot of stories about her and far what my mother said was this very tall and dignified woman who dressed in our clothing spoken Arabic and came to Calcutta at the age of 15 and got married at the docks where she met her father's friend business companion who she chose to be her husband who was about 25 or 30 years older than she was. He's a small trader he brings Fez caps. And the East and he brings back tea from China and since his wife was so young he didn't want to leave her back in Calcutta just strange days for her she just so he took her along with him on these long trips and she stayed. Jewish homes all along the way that was the custom at the time and she later use these networks that she created bolts for being a wonderful marriage broker she could tell you what the girl in Shanghai was like what the family in Rangoon was like and then she also used this network to create a small trading business up oh and when her husband died she was enterprising and she was very forward looking as well she was a woman who loved life lived fully she would smoke the hubble bubble on the. Fire of us quite a character in her own right and though she came at 15 she then we established a strong reputation in the Jewish community and I gather that of the time she died she had about 250 direct descendants Yes it was very prolific in more ways than one . You're listening to heart and soul the World Service of the b.b.c. . One of the surprising aspects of the Jewish presence in Calcutta is the impact that the Baghdadi communities had in proportion to its size. In the center of cocoa to young who points out some of the Jewish mansions of yesteryear a sign of how affluent some of the unity Jewish community became we had the songs of Bombay but we also had on this side the extra family who were equally as wealthy they did come from but that and they really made their fortune in the 19th century and they're really the big business family of Calcutta but there were many who made quite a lot of money and though we see ourselves as a merchant community and a community of great wealth it was also a community that always had a lot of poor people because they were coming from the Middle East seeking a better fortune Jewish community was very finance are big we had our own schools we had our own institutions and all members of the community were taken care of. The digital archive about the community and its history has been a revelation for ya I had no idea what global figures people and Calcutta they were music conductors magicians the 1st Miss India film stars they were people who were in the Communist Party the people in the Congress party it was no walk of life that the Jewish community of this 4000 people didn't touch and left a global footprint. I've come now to the Jewish boys school girls school one of 2 Jewish schools in Kolkata rounded small culture the classrooms are housed in balcony buildings the school secretary a 72 year old we know life for himself is a former pupil at the school and he learned he brew and recite to Jewish prayers here but the many changes since then he says by saying Do you want him to do I don't think. Jewish boy. His friend is mustn't think that this is being called news in Hindus. And Indians and Chinese in the running of the school do you still observe the Jewish holy days the Jewish festivals Yes we do and the students whether they're Muslim or whether they're of another faith they were they would take part in that yes as you well know in some parts of the world there are people who would find it surprising that there are so many Muslim students in order called the Jewish boys school and that their parents want to have them here so what's the particular situation here we haven't been any . Impact. Of this in you know that this point of time given those relationships in some other parts of the world does it surprise you that it has gone so well here. By his need because we haven't been pushed. Thank you did thank you no in the parts of the I did not being. To any. Discrimination. Prejudice or anything made that nothing like that but despite the fact that members of the Jewish community say there was never any anti semitism in India and despite their prosperity and success the history of the boy school demonstrates those rapid changes in the 1950 s. And sixty's every boy and every school with me every single one. Is. Getting. A stage nobody thought that there was a future for India so the communities want to run 20 or move 30 people perhaps today what do you see as the future of the factory Jewish community. Trying to build contacts with eggs. To keep. On the face of it there's a contradiction between the love and the cost put into restoring the Kolkata synagogues and the communities they serve barely existing anymore. Could things be about to change with the arrival in Kolkata of a new rabbi David Ashkenazi as a businessman in his fifty's who recently joined the synagogues board of management opposite restoration of the the synagogues the next thing to do is to get a rabbi. He's young his wife is young This is quite a turning point attorneys are clearing logistic Africans religious and also community wise we would present that it can be a Calcutta Jewish community once again maybe not to all people not the ex-pats that have left Capitol but different people there is at least the potential for a revival of some kind I tried to be positive I would never like to say that it's the I to a community can grow it is very important to know that whatever we have today we are custodians. That the future generations have something to fall into whether it is for the Baghdadi Jews or visitors for Europe in general is for an Ashkenazi do doesn't matter anymore you know Silliman says the preservation of the synagogues is also important in terms of India's wider religious heritage these are monuments to India's cosmopolitan past and the Jews the Chinese the angling ins the parses the Army and did make a huge contribution to the city's history so I'm really glad that this is a physical material reminder of the that people have played this I think it's important especially today when you have a sort of resurgent Hindu ism where Hinduism is gloried which it should be but the other communities is not really spoken about as much as they should be to say I'm really glad the synagogue is here it's the new rabbi who's just come to Kolkata from Israel is showing Benelli does he see it is important to maintain the traditions of the Kolkata community including its distinctive Baghdadi liturgy Yes I do feel that it is important because the community our sense of strength when these their traditions going Calcutta are being continued our plan is to continue with prayers. Are so far. But didn't you come hoping that the community could be revived we did come with that hope over juice from Kolkata movie is Rose also a great step for them and for jury in general so that's also something that we will be very probably is to help credit Jews make moved. Back at Mark and dovish down where it's Muslim custodians a welcoming visitors to the synagogue the House and both how they see the future. But. We believe that with Alice grace as rubble even though there have been many Jews here for the last 40 or 50 years they'll be a resurgence and more will come to pray in the synagogue with honors blessings from your experience both of you Ray do you think that Muslims and Jews should be able to get on well together everywhere especially in places where they don't. We know that there are differences elsewhere says particularly over property on land we don't have that here religious differences don't have the same impact. Maybe it's her perspective as a witness of the pact God teachers communities most striving times but for our cinema as a note of caution to see these cigars becoming heritage museums as a to visit with the duties and another couple of decades in the nobody here to. Do some make you feel personal but on the other hand I heart at the Hong Kong and Singapore synagogues have come back to life because a lot of foreign Jews have come back to work and live there so I hope at some time more Jews will come back to other parts of the world to do business they revive the city. You've been listening to heart and soul in Kolkata with me Mike Wooldridge the program was a Ruth Evans production for the b.b.c. World said. The last word goes to flowers daughter who cleft and then came back again to Kolkata to our clients the story of her community the bank. I don't see this as a sad story I think you know we need wonderful contributions here my grandmother moved seamlessly between Calcutta that I'm going to Shanghai Singapore so I'm not surprised that the same group of people who was so flexible when you know. These people woke very well connected very well educated and when they saw new opportunities and eyes they were able to pick up and move on India's gain from it we have gained enormously and we've seen the pitted they've created but that the Jewish synagogues in other parts of the world and their children have a little history and they still connected to India not suitable citizens. To the b.b.c. World Service on k.s.u. Team 4 Corners Public Radio and southern tribal radio thanks for joining us this is k s u t ignition yo k. Eugene again Katie and she Durango p u u g Farmington u.s.w. And Flora Vista. Go Springs we can also be heard in Cortez make us Silverton and online at k.s.u. . You can stream our signal right there on the website also on the n.p.r. News out i Tunes radio and on to news. Coming up on the 5th floor breathtaking views on an assignment in Ethiopia do you have faith in your driver it was it was very scary honestly deserve a tear off it's probably a main thing when you look out for the cars window you see like Cliff down there if you'd like Ok this guy is going to go 18 it's really scary yes we're taking you to a mountaintop village 900 years old where you get around by walking on your neighbors Ruth and Costa Rica's golden oldies 100 years old and still live in it lot she was incredible talking to him his mind is perfect and he has a horse named Shawn which means hard in Spanish and he takes her out every Sunday and just rides for hours which is incredible taken into account that he's 102 years old b.b.c. Mundo asking Costa Rican Zz What is the secret of long life that's on the 5th floor after the latest world news. B.b.c. News Hello I'm Gerri Smit charities in the u.k. Urging the government to bring home more British children caught up in the war in Syria after it was announced that some were being repatriated separately a court in the Netherlands is hearing an appeal brought by the government against a ruling that it must repatriate nearly 60 Dutch children from camps in northern Syria and a hologram reports lawyers acting for the Dutch state's argued the children's mothers made the choice to travel that they may still hold the hottest beliefs and pose a threat to national security and that extra casing the children alone may increase resentment within the families at home and abroad the grandparents who brought this case to course argue their grandchildren shouldn't be forced to suffer because their parents took them to or gave birth to them in the conflict so a verdict in this appeal is expected next week the Prime Minister mirages has described as an illegal colonial occupied of trees ignored the United Nations deadline to relinquish control of a small archipelago in the Indian Ocean by today in May the un General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on a 6 month time limit for Britain to hand the trader's islands to Mercer's which is a former British colony. There's been criticism in Zimbabwe of a government decision to rename dozens of streets many after President Emerson my.