IN A ROLL OF THE DICE (Linen Press; £9.99), Mona Dash explains the consequences of passing on faulty genes to her two sons and why she has relied continually on her faith and recital of the Hindu Maha Mrutyunjaya mantra (religious chant).
As the book’s subtitle makes clear, hers is “a story of loss, love and genetics”.
For good reason, it is commanded by two well-known authors. Neel Mukherjee has said, “It’ll go straight to your heart”, while Bidisha calls it “powerful, important and fearlessly honest”.
Mona, who comes from Odisha in eastern India, now lives in London where she works in software sales for a global technology company. She has dedicated her “memoirs” to her husband Kaustubh, and her two sons.
The first, Akshyat, was born in Kolkata on October 22, 1999, but died, aged eight months, on June 22, 2000, after inheriting a faulty gene, known as SCID – severe combined immunodeficiency – from his mother. His parents discovered too late that his white blood cells were unable to fight infection.
Since Mona was working for a UK company, she and her husband were able to move to London in March 2001, where her second son, Krish, was born prematurely on February 8, 2007.
He, too, was born with the same defective gene. But because the disease was caught immediately after birth, he was transferred urgently to the Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) for children, where “the tiniest baby we had seen” came under the care of Bobby Gaspar, professor of paediatrics and immunology.
Thanks to a transplant of vitally needed bone marrow from his father – which Krish received at six weeks- he is today a normal healthy 12-year-old. An enthusiastic cricketer, he was present at his mother’s book launch at Waterstones Islington last week, where he announced: “I would like to be a fast bowler like Jofra Archer.” Watched by his parents and the doctor who saved his life, he gave an impressive demonstration of his bowling action.
Gaspar, who has written the introduction to the book, says he wants all 800,000 babies born annually in the UK to be tested for SCID as a matter of routine. It is a very rare disease, affecting 15 to 20 babies a year, but if not caught early, it can prove a death sentence.
Mona said she wrote the book, which begins with an account of the death of her first son, “to give hope, inspire others and create awareness of the disease in case it can help somebody.
“The only treatment is a bone marrow transplant.
“Somebody read the book and said, ‘I feel sorry for you.’ I said, ‘You don’t need to because I have gone through so much. It made me a different person. It has shaped me very well. And I am a strong believer. There was a lot of praying that I did. All the stuff from the ‘Gita’ and ‘Maha Mrutyunjaya Mantra’. All that really helped – and, of course, medical care.”
That side of Mona’s story was taken up by Gaspar, who “spends 40 per cent of his time seeing patients in the hospital and 60 per cent in the laboratory developing gene therapy treatments for complex diseases of the immune system”.
This is what he told Eastern Eye: “To fight any infection, your body has special white cells in the bloodstream. Those white cells grow from your bone marrow and the growth of those cells is governed or determined by specific genes. There are certain diseases, where because a gene is missing or a gene does not work, those white cells don’t grow and those white cells don’t function.
“And that is essentially what SCID is – a condition where a gene is missing and the white cells don’t grow.
“What happens in the first few months is the mother passes on through breast milk some protection, some antibodies. That protects the baby for a few months. When that fades in normal children, they will start to make their own. And they will have their own immune function.
“In a normal baby, the white cells will kick into action and get rid of that cough or cold, that virus. A baby with SCID can’t do that. So, when the mother’s protection goes, the baby has got nothing to protect it. Even the most common infection can be fatal.
“Usually what happens is they get an infection, they go in and out of the hospital, or see their general practitioner. They are put on medicines, but they can’t fight the infection properly. And because they don’t have any white cells and usually the parents don’t know anything about it- it is devastating when it happens.
“A lot of doctors will not have seen the disease. They think it is just like a normal infection. By the time they get to make the diagnosis, it may be too late.
“Sometimes the first time we see these babies are when they are on intensive care. And it is too late to be able to do anything.
“The best way to diagnose them – and this is something we have been campaigning for – is that all babies should be tested for this condition. If you can diagnose the condition at birth, you can protect the children and institute some treatment quite quickly.
“We do nationally screen for certain conditions at birth, but not this. In the US they are now starting to screen for it; in Germany, they are going to screen for it, and we are campaigning to screen for it in the UK as well. It’s a cheap test – a couple of pounds per baby.
“We know if you leave children undiagnosed, then roughly half or more of the children will die from the disease. If you screen them and treat them before they get an infection, then you have got over 90 per cent survival. So you can save all these children as a result of diagnosing them at birth.
“The cells arise from the bone marrow. And what we do is to give the children new bone marrow – somebody else’s bone marrow that can grow in their immune system. That works best when the children are in good shape.
“That’s what happened with Krish – he had a one-off treatment and that will repair his immune system. Because of his brother who died from the condition, as soon as Krish was born, he was diagnosed. He also had SCID. So we then took bone marrow from his father and gave it to him. He had it when he was six weeks old.
“In some families, because of the history, you can diagnose second or third babies at birth but in many families, there is no history. Then it will be a child having a problem for the first time.
“That’s why we are campaigning to screen all babies.”
THE seven-year prison sentence handed to a 15-year-old boy convicted of the manslaughter of 80-year-old Bhim Sen Kohli is to be reviewed under the UK’s Unduly Lenient Sentence (ULS) scheme.
The boy, who cannot be named due to legal restrictions, was found guilty of carrying out an "unprovoked" attack on Kohli as he walked his dog in a park in Leicester, eastern England, in September last year.
The review follows a detailed assessment by Solicitor General Lucy Rigby KC MP to determine whether the case met the threshold for referral.
“The Solicitor General, Lucy Rigby KC MP, was appalled by this violent, cowardly attack on an innocent man. She wishes to express her deepest sympathies to Bhim Kohli’s friends and family at this difficult time,” said a spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office.
“After a detailed review of the case, the Solicitor General concluded the sentence of the 15-year-old could be referred to the Court of Appeal. The court will now determine whether the sentence should be increased.”
A 13-year-old girl, who was also convicted of manslaughter for her role in the attack, avoided a custodial sentence. She had filmed the assault while laughing and encouraging the boy, the court heard.
At a sentencing hearing on June 5 at Leicester Crown Court, Justice Mark Turner described the attack as “wicked”. He said he was legally bound to consider the defendants’ ages.
The boy, referred to as D1, was convicted of physically assaulting Kohli, while the girl, referred to as D2, received a three-year youth rehabilitation order with a six-month curfew.
Addressing the girl in court, Justice Turner said that a custodial sentence would likely cause “more harm than good”. It is understood that her sentence will not be referred for review as it did not meet the legal threshold.
During the trial, the court was told that Kohli had been racially abused and repeatedly punched and kicked. His daughter, Susan Kohli, found him lying on the ground after the attack.
“They chose to attack a defenceless pensioner and for that I cannot give them any of my sympathy,” she said after the sentencing.
Kelly Matthews, senior district crown prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service, called the incident “tragic” and said it had deeply affected the Leicester community and beyond.
“Kohli set out to walk his dog in his local park, as he did every day, but lost his life in what followed,” she said.
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Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama attends a prayer meet held for his long life at the Dalai Lama temple in the northern hill town of Dharamshala, India, July 5, 2025. REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis
THE Dalai Lama said on Saturday (5) he hopes to live until he is more than 130 years old, two decades longer than his previous prediction, following his assurance to followers that he would reincarnate as the spiritual head of the faith upon his death.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner was speaking during a ceremony organised by his followers to offer prayers for his long life, ahead of his 90th birthday on Sunday (6), and as China insists it will choose his successor. The Dalai Lama told Reuters in December he might live to 110.
"I have been able to serve the Buddhadharma (the teachings of Buddhism) and the beings of Tibet so far quite well," he said between prayers, clearing his throat now and then.
"And still, I hope to live over 130 years," he said, sparking applause and cheers among his followers.
The 14th Dalai Lama, already longest-lived head of Tibetan Buddhism, spent about 90 minutes at the prayers in his temple. The ceremony was attended by thousands of followers from around the world who gathered in the northern Indian hill town of Dharamshala, where he has lived since fleeing Tibet in 1959 in the wake of a failed uprising against Chinese rule.
"We have lost our country and we live in exile in India, but I have been able to benefit beings quite a lot. So, living here in Dharamshala, I intend to serve beings and the dharma as much as I can," he said in Tibetan, which was translated simultaneously in English and other languages.
China, keen to consolidate its control over Tibet, views the Dalai Lama as a separatist. Beijing insists its leaders would have to approve his successor, in a legacy from imperial times.
The Dalai Lama has previously said that he would reincarnate in the "free world" outside China and this week told his followers that the sole authority to recognise his reincarnation rests with his non-profit institution, the Gaden Phodrang Trust.
The Dalai Lama is a charismatic figure whose following extends well beyond the millions of Tibetan Buddhists living around the world. He won the 1989 peace prize for what the Nobel committee said was keeping alive the Tibetan cause and seeking genuine autonomy to protect and preserve the region's unique culture, religion and national identity without pressing for independence.
At the prayers on Saturday, he sat on a throne before a large statue of the Buddha, with dozens of monks seated in front of him. Marigold garlands hung from pillars as his followers and journalists crowded around the main temple area.
Oracles and other figures, shaking in trance, arrived to pay their obeisance to their guru. Monks struck cymbals and played ornate long trumpets in honour of the Dalai Lama and others.
The Dalai Lama said he prays daily to benefit all sentient beings and feels he has the blessings of Tibet's patron deity, Avalokitesvara.
"Looking at the many prophecies, I feel I have the blessings of Avalokitesvara," he said. "I have done my best so far. At the least, I hope to still live for 30 or 40 years more."
His birthday celebrations on Sunday will be attended by senior Indian ministers as well as diplomats from the US, along with thousands of his devotees.
(Reuters)
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Daytime temperatures meeting or exceeding set thresholds of 25°C
Met Office forecasts rising temperatures by mid-July
Possible third heatwave after record-breaking June
High pressure system likely to bring hot air from the Atlantic
Yellow rain warning and flood alerts issued in parts of Scotland and Cumbria
Possible heatwave to return by mid-July
The UK could experience its third heatwave in a month by mid-July, the Met Office has said. Forecasters expect rising heat and humidity during the second weekend of July, following two weekends of unusually warm weather in late June.
June was officially the hottest on record in England, and the return of high temperatures could mean another heatwave for parts of the country. However, the Met Office cautioned that it is too early to confirm how hot conditions will get.
Heatwave thresholds and forecast temperatures
A heatwave in the UK is defined as three consecutive days with daytime temperatures meeting or exceeding set thresholds of 25°C in the west and north, and 28°C in London and surrounding counties.
According to Met Office meteorologist Zoe Hutin, “Whilst it is difficult this far ahead to determine exactly how hot things could get next week and weekend, there is the potential that some parts of the country could reach heatwave criteria.”
Early forecasts show that temperatures in the south east may rise to the high 20s on 9 July and could reach the low 30s on 10 July.
High pressure building over the south
The likely heat is being driven by a high-pressure system developing from the west, which is expected to extend across southern parts of the UK. This system may draw in warm air from the Atlantic and the Azores, increasing the chances of another period of hot, settled weather.
“Most likely it will be the south and east that see prolonged heat and thus could have another heatwave,” Ms Hutin said. “But it is too soon to say exactly how high temperatures could get.”
Cooler and wetter spell before the heat
In the meantime, cooler weather is expected across the UK this weekend and early next week. Cloudy skies and rain will affect western areas in particular, with temperatures forecast to drop slightly.
The south east is expected to reach 25°C on Saturday (6 July), followed by 24°C on Sunday and 23°C on Monday. Drizzly outbreaks are likely on Saturday, with showers expected on Sunday, especially in the east.
Rain warnings and flood alerts
A yellow weather warning for rain remains in place until Saturday afternoon across parts of Scotland, including Argyll and Bute, the south Highlands, Mull and Skye. Up to 60mm of rain is expected, with more than 100mm possible in mountainous areas.
The Environment Agency has issued flood alerts in Cumbria, including for rivers such as the Duddon, Crake and Mill Beck, following heavy rainfall on Friday. Meanwhile, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has issued six flood alerts for areas including Argyll and Bute, Ayrshire and Arran, Easter Ross and Great Glen, Skye and Lochaber, west central Scotland and Wester Ross.
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Two men have been jailed for defrauding investors of £1.5 million through a fake crypto investment scheme. (Representational image: iStock)
TWO people who duped investors of £1.5 million by selling fake investments in crypto have been jailed for 12 years, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said.
Raymondip Bedi, of Bromley, and Patrick Mavanga, of Peckham, conned at least 65 people by cold-calling them between February 2017 and June 2019. They operated companies including CCX Capital and Astaria Group LLP.
Bedi was sentenced on July 4 by judge Griffiths sitting at Southwark Crown Court to five years and four months, while Mavanga was sentenced to six years and six months.
Judge Griffiths said Bedi and Mavanga “were both leading players in a conspiracy whereby the victims of the fraud were persuaded to invest in crypto currency consultancy” and “you conspired to drive a coach and horses through the regulatory system”, according to the FCA.
It said anyone scammed by Bedi and Mavanga and who had not yet heard from the FCA should call 0800 111 6768 or email operationhickory@fca.org.uk.
Bedi on May 2, 2023, pleaded guilty to four charges – conspiracy to defraud, conspiracy to breach the general prohibition under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and money laundering offences at an earlier hearing.
Mavanga pleaded guilty to three charges – conspiracy to defraud, conspiracy to breach the general prohibition under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and possession of false identification documents with an improper intention – on June 9, 2023. He was also convicted of perverting the course of justice on November 7, 2024, for the deletion of phone call recordings following the arrest of Bedi in March 2019.
GREATER MANCHESTER POLICE is now investigating more than 1,000 child sexual abuse suspects, following years of public criticism and institutional failings in tackling child sexual exploitation.
A new report by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has revealed the force has made “significant improvements” in dealing with group-based sexual abuse and related crimes.
According to the 76-page report, GMP is handling ongoing investigations involving 714 identified victims and 1,099 suspects. These are described as “multi-victim, multi-offender” cases, reflecting the complex and organised nature of many of the crimes under investigation.
Michelle Skeer, HM Inspector of Constabulary, said that since 2019, GMP has taken steps to improve how it handles both historic and ongoing abuse cases. “It is clear that the force has, for many years, been trying to provide a better service to those who have or may have experienced sexual exploitation,” she said. “But for some, trust and confidence in the police had been lost.”
The report praised the leadership of chief constable Sir Stephen Watson and his team, noting a cultural shift within the force. Senior officers have made child protection a top priority, personally engaging with staff to reinforce its importance. “Investigating child sexual exploitation is now considered everyone’s business,” the report stated.
GMP is the only police force in the UK with a dedicated Child Sexual Exploitation Major Investigation Team (CSE MIT), formed in 2021.
The unit has around 100 staff and a ring-fenced budget. It applies the same specialist tactics used for tackling serious organised crime, which has already resulted in 42 convictions and over 430 years of prison sentences for offenders.
According to the report, the delay in sharing crucial data from local councils, particularly Manchester City Council, which was criticised for submitting evidence so heavily redacted that some pages contained only a few words.
These delays have hindered investigations such as Operations Green Jacket and Bernese—cases linked to historic abuse in South Manchester, including the death of 15-year-old Victoria Agoglia in 2003.
Manchester City Council said legal restrictions around personal data sharing led to redactions, but it has since introduced a new evidence-sharing process with police, allowing investigators remote access to unredacted documents.
Sir Stephen acknowledged past failures and issued a renewed apology. “I am sorry that when you needed us, we were not there for you,” he said. “To those who are responsible for these repugnant crimes – as is now very apparent – we will pursue you relentlessly.”
A report by Baroness Louise Casey previously found a significant over-representation of Asian men among child sexual abuse suspects in Greater Manchester. While this remains a sensitive issue, Sir Stephen noted it was a “legitimate question” that could be addressed in a future national inquiry.
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, who commissioned the review, said he was “confident” the system is now in a stronger place. “Never again will any child here be labelled or dismissed when they come forward to report concerns,” he said. Burnham added that the reforms had sparked a “widespread culture change” across police, councils, and care services.
A separate Ofsted report backed these findings, acknowledging "much good practice" but calling for continued vigilance, especially in how agencies respond to missing children and those at risk of exploitation as they approach adulthood.
The Crown Prosecution Service has been approached for a comment.