Hello you're listening to World update from the B.B.C. World Service in London this is Dan Damon on our Friday feature shortly the 54 towns in England and Wales that didn't lose a single soldier who went to war in $114.00 they were dubbed the Thankful villages I've been travelling with a musician Darren Hayman who's been visiting each and every one of them in some of the villages they have a plaque or something or a snort and has a stained glass window which mentions how they affect fullness and the fact that the soldiers returned in coal Winston in Wales I remember one man going up to me insane and we are very very very functional The words did have some resonance more from his music and his travels later we begin with news from the government of his back a stand that says the health of President cut him off has sharply deteriorated he is critically ill the official announcement the 1st on the president's condition after much speculation was made by a state T.V. Of well how about a Klingon addict it was reported earlier that the head of state Islam cut him off was hospitalized on Saturday after suffering a stroke dear compatriots with a heavy heart we have to inform you that yesterday a sharp deterioration occurred in our president's health condition according to doctors it is estimated as critical. With us in the studio I mean it is my life as head of the B.B.C. World Service Central Asian Service thanks for being with us how made what's happening in Pakistan the reaction on social media what's been said about the president the social media easy in the state of grief. Most. The most sort of well known the presenters there blackening up their profiles there plus teen sort of crying images and sound and so forth so the parent lead. News has been broken in. NEWSBREAK is down. What we know apart from the state media announcement about the deterioration of his state most probably all our experts are saying that he was on life support machine and all indications are all the sort of activities of the government where indicating that he was on life support machine it was just a matter when to announce the death of the president this is a repressive state and the reaction of the people can't necessarily be seen as a natural how did he hang on to power for so long. I must say that the generalization which was brought up during key is you know power maybe even sincerely believe that he is the architect of you know independence that he is the Garand DE of the peace in the country and so on and so forth. They might sincerely believe in that one though the critiques for example they are saying that the economy is in touch that. Several 1000000 or 4 people from Uzbekistan are migrants in Russia they have working there as a work migrants in Russia and so on and so forth a lot of steam to christen the criticizer But what we can say that he is quite divisive figure and his legacy will be quite divisive. For the moment thank you very much indeed if we get more information and a confirmation of the speculation that he may already have passed away then we'll bring it to you of course with him it's hope that some of his money from a Central Asian service you're listening to well dumped $800.00 can mean made landfall in Florida's Big Bend area well not an hour or so ago it's been downgraded to a Category one storm which probably doesn't help much if you are being hit by winds around 80 miles an hour we can talk to Sean Rosman a reporter with the Tallahassee Democrat part of the USA Today network what's been happening shown well for the past day and a half we've been a preparing for her mean who has been traveling from the middle of the Gulf of Mexico north east to the Big Bend region of Florida and about shortly before busy 2 am this morning it made landfall becoming the 1st hurricane to make landfall in Florida and 11 years have you seen any signs yet of the destruction these are very high winds I guess people are prepared but even so it's a it's a real problem for some right in Florida it's almost a given that when these storms come through that power outages are going to occur flooding is going to occur and that's exactly what happened here we saw a lot of trees going through roofs of homes and rain destroying homes and. Contents inside many downed power lines more than $70000.00 customers that's about 60 percent of the people in Tallahassee. Are without power as we speak so it was a pretty devastating storm but crews are back out and they are working to get power up and were the sun still hasn't come up so we're not quite sure what type of debris is all over the road. Moves in yards in what other phones working the Internet working. I am at an office which has a generator so people have generators it is working in phones are up but for many the power source isn't there so for the most part those options are available and any other bad weather on its way would have the National Hurricane Center say. The hurricane center. In Tallahassee it's pretty much moved it's in gone on it is now heading into Carolina South Georgia into the Carolinas along the Atlantic coast it is continuing to move that direction and those that with 80 mile per hour winds and strong rains Sean thanks so much today from Daytona Sean Rossman from the Tallahassee Democrat you're listening to World update a new documentary is often access to the workings of some of London's most brutal gangs it's using footage shot by gang members themselves it's called Gang Land it gives an insight into a world where young people are pictured with guns knives and Class A drugs. This is kind of a strong with a strong warning subclassed ironic and no one but if you want. US alone or violence seen gunshots when I was here on the Gaza fence one and 0 point one time people thought that means who's going to run because the Gaza. So you can imagine being the moron do you mean people no one. And that's just part of what is a really striking documentary made by Paul Blake who's here in our studio I learned some new words watching your documentary The bits of it that I have seen it's remarkable access where you were in danger at any time and these are guys with guns and knives Yes it was and it's very dangerous space among them and pretended it wasn't. I think the danger came with that then you came to a head actually when you're in Paris and guy just pulled a gun and was waving around and pointed at me and my cameraman and just clicked and pulled the trigger and it just clicked and I mean there was a there was just a real. Atmosphere of danger around these guys. What we learn and I suppose we knew this but it's so intense to see it filmed in this way is that there are a lot of guns and there are a lot of drugs out there and there are a lot of young mostly men not always men but are mostly men who see the only way to get the things they want to look good to have respect to have a standing in society is to get involved in crime it'll be easier to believe when they're That's the urban scene that's not all of it but it's a big part of it this is not sure it's people that live in London in London the cool groovy place one of the best cities in the world but it was something that I felt I should document as I was over the last 10 years or so and I was always depressed about the numbers of young black men in I'm in the main that were cropping up on the page of The Evening Standard's almost like one every 2 weeks dying and and it was all linked to gun crime and so I thought I should do something about it I spoke to lots of commissioning types at various broadcasters and no one had the appetite I didn't think it's a big enough story and I just felt that I should push on I pushed on various I committed individual when I decided projects worth doing and the reason why we made . What about those who escape that pull of the gang culture of the money that's available did you meet them as well there are lots and lots of kids. In many ways unspoken kind of heroes in that space age and very Don't make it on television because they're doing it I might be working here at the B.B.C. In my working a record company my work in insurance but they're raised around that on some of these estates and they have to be incredibly resilient to resist the overtures because it's a very intoxicating space for young people if you are you know I use the term mobile as I really hate using it but if you're surrounded by people who have nice cars or got nicer clothes. They are people you look up to you know if a local drug dealer comes to your estate he's got a brand new Mercedes golf I fancy Rolex watch and all the trimmings. That person will be somebody that you look up to you know you don't get C.E.O.'s of major for 500 companies coming to the states and offering people jobs offering the money or from them real opportunity so those that. Are there are lots and lots of there are more people there on involved there are are involved and you know if any of them a listening they're here as with within their own particular story of all of the many shocking scenes one is with the gun as they call them these are our babies where this is our family where they get the guns from. I did just for clarity I never met those individuals they were people that there was a. Form I use where we would drop cameras and people would pick the cameras up at some given point and they would film them and come and then the cameras were right back and we see it was him. On the camera in terms of footage. Guns are the gun trade and guns there's a massive amount of decommissioned arms from Northern Ireland from the new vine conflict on arms that come from the East and Eastern European from the war theaters and these make their way onto the shores the U.K. . I was told by a policeman of one policeman not so long ago that there are only 2 boats to patrol the whole of the coastline of the U.K. And there are countless inlet some bays that. Contraband weapons and other kind of forms of contraband can be dropped into the U.K. And where there is criminality there's ingenuity and people will find ways of getting hold of things well Paul a fantastic place to work thanks so much indeed for coming and telling us about that it's called gang land it will be on British T.V. And maybe it'll be given international play as well you're listening to World update from the B.B.C. And updates soundscapes at G. Mail dot com This. This from Michael who's described yourself as a loyal listener in Chicago and thanks for the raucous flamingos says Michael waiting for breakfast in the old ornithological park and prodigal in the south from . And his FROM DAVID KIRK This is my work truck I record it makes me laugh it's so loud I wish you could see the contents of what I was dumping I worked for my brothers and their private disposal and recycling company. Be with. US update soundscapes at the mail dot com I've put up a post on the Dan Damon journalist page on Facebook about Thankful villages because I feature is coming next on those places where people went to war and they all came back now it's a U.K. Story but it must be a story that could be told in other parts of the world where people went to war 100 years ago have a look at that see if you have a story of your own this is World update coming up later on our program on the anniversary of the death of Ellen Kurdi the drowned Syrian boy who shocked the world his father peels to the leaders of the world how when I went to him at 1st the world was anxious to help the refugees but this did not even last a month in fact the situation got worse the war has escalated and more people are leaving and I hope that all the leaders of the world can try and do good and stop the wars so that the people can go back to normal life. As the father of Ellen Kirti has that happened have people responded by being more welcoming we talk about that later the top story at least 10 people have been killed by a suicide bomber who attacked a court in northern Pakistan and the governor of Florida says one of the life threatening danger posed by the 1st hurricane to hit the U.S. State in a decade this is World update. This is Dan Damon in London and you're listening to World update. Welcome to our feature which TODAY begins in the seaside resort of Ramsgate on the south coast of England the indie rock singer songwriter Darren Heyman is telling the audience about his latest project OK Right after me wrote a set of guidebooks in the 19th thirty's a book for every county in England it was called the King's England and in these books he identified these things called funk full all blessed villages every soldier that went away came back alive at the Ramsgate Music Hall on the Kent coast Daryn Hayman and his band are performing some other songs from his thankful villages tour he identified about 20 villages now we can prove records we think there are 54 villages I'm going to every one of those 54 villages and find in a story a soul or something only fact villages very close to it's called Knowlton the war monument in Knowlton says that it's the bravest village in England they won the monument in a competition in the newspaper by claiming they had the cards proportion of their village had volunteered for the war but they cheated and used all the employees at Knowlton Manor so this is a song about no it's about cheating it's about playing fair. The bravest when a cry. Against by the wrong side no turn is won thank you Village the Darren's depicted in song and video I travelled with him to another be debris. Please take care. Please don't she. Not there and I have been singing the Knowlton song from the thank villages here in another thankful village when stressful. In Essex my home county of Essex This is the only country village in Essex randomness never looks like you expected to it's not like anyone spread So for instance Somerset has 9 thankful villages What started you off on this track which you are now what 2 thirds of the way through not only to further the way through. $36.00 out of $54.00 offer me who's famous for writing a children's encyclopedia and he came up with this term of thankful or blessed villages. And I'm a sucker for a good title I just as with the last couple of records I've made I just felt immediately that that would look good on the front of a 12 inch piece of plastic funk 4 villages that would immediately intrigue me and I would want to know what thankful villages as I was hooked really and I have done records before the based on location I did a record about opening a swimming pools live in England I did a record about the Essex witch trials and in the Civil War Both of which required me to travel and think a little bit about source psychogeography about the fact that I would write a different song by actually coming here than I would by look at photos of it by researching not to say that there isn't a way to to work a virgin I have worked that way but in this particular case is project it was the idea that these 54 locations were scattered across England and Wales not none in Scotland. It was a brief I'd been set in a set of briefs and I had to go to each one of these and find out what the village would give me find out what story the village would give me where under the Yewtree sat in this church grounds the sun is shining it is atmospheric and you're also interested in rural life these aren't only about war stories are there no not taught in crime well I talk about training exercises the went wrong in the seventy's on the we're in stock clinch in Somerset I had rolls the churchwarden telling me a story of a painting of the old church to travel to the new church I'm finding stories that I wouldn't of found but for this random device that are for me laid down for me in the night in 30 of what I felt for village is other villages thankful actually do they feel well there's this there's kind of a difference in awareness in some of the villages they have a plaque or something or a snort and has a stained glass window which mentions how their fact fullness and the fact that the soldiers returned Yeah in coal Winston in Wales I remember one man coming up to me insane and we are very very very frank for the word did have some resonance down the years and certainly I think it might be subconscious but I think I am picking up on that word quite a lot in the narratives I find in churches feature a lot don't what's the place of the church in your mind in these villages because they are the center whether the spiritual center anymore that's debatable is now absolutely Well initially it was because it was all I could find hard code to the village and where I'm going to do this and the door was nearly always open they are lots of things they are still a place of worship but usually in a frank village where there is no village hall it becomes a community center in. Ace hole in the quantum hills in Somerset I call Tim who was a friend of the church to read a poem by Dali Radford about the concept hill so I recorded him his name Fiesta but was still involved in the church society we don't know much about all the Red Hood community she was here with who took Hill's with and then when what she was doing here she read this poem called in the interview. Here. Like flying Good grief troops come swiftly in the States and these girls who were in some rooms. In the days where you can see. Morrow morning reading Sue's mission going to the ground graciously interested. What's the story and stressful here we are the countryside all around us is absolute wonderful What's the story that you telling your song about I wanted something from the parish records so Park and Acme us as the title of infidelity pregnant the parish has to pay for the bringing up of the child just no one wanted the baby really to have the whole community kind of thinking we wish this problem would go away. Parker take. Your. Believes from the. Lead I miss in your garden. Oh where you. Where. A small alone look of love bar you. Where you. A small newcomer by. Oh. Boy. The small. Club I was. There in has 18 more thankful villages to go remote communities in Wales and the North of England funding comes from sales of his paintings of the villages and tickets to his gigs around the country a different kind of cottage industry. What. Was life. Like. A. Love life. Thankful villages on the Don diamond journalist page and on the group that we run our last year is that something that you can identify where you OD say U.K. Story it's must have happened in other places that everybody who went to war came back and that's off each other it'll be the sun the pope cast if you subscribe. This is the B.B.C. World Service where we're about to go in a route trip looking back at the presidency of Barack Obama. As if it has gotten much worse for the working class. It's. The same feel. I. Should be sending I'm going to like people who can. Remember programs running for president the B.B.C. Each other to pass the talking to people in the helps me to finally get it out to the tangible we can see something that 8 years on return to those people in places to find out how bad his presidency has been should anybody could do it this was the guy who could do it and then we can revisit is going to tell it of September. This is what update with Dan Damon coming up in this half hour it's been a year since the image of a drowned refugee boy in Turkey made headlines around the world have attitudes towards migration hardened in Europe sank some suspense sale of its new smartphone the Galaxy Note 7 after exploding batteries are reported we got you some more on that and the Great Fire of 1666 London is marking that defining moment all of that after the news. B.B.C. News with Eileen McHugh The electronics giant Samsung has suspended sales of its latest top of the range smartphone following reports of exploding batteries and some d