Many of us are guilty of feeling too lazy to cook some nights, or needing a pick-me-up to cure a hangover – but how much are our takeaway meals costing us?
The average person in the UKon an annual salary of £25,971 spends £641 a year on takeaways, according to KPMG data.
Raisin UK has calculated the average person spends roughly £1,508 a year on food shops, breaking down to £29 a week – meaning the average percentage spent on takeaways is a huge 42.51%.
It also calculated the top 20 takeaway hotspots in the UK – as in, the areas with the most options – and their favourite cuisine.
But why are people still ordering takeaways even as money is tight?
Chris Tompkins, a life coach and associate therapist for Theara, says that “even in financially sticky situations, there is an omnipresence of temptingsocial and food cues”.
“This means the individual is fuelled by their emotional desire to eat takeaway and they push their financial logic to the side and revisit that logic after the meal has been consumed. Financial strain is no match for emotional self-control (or lack thereof),” he said.
Plus, he added, takeaways are easy – there are no dishes to be washed or preparation to be done.
So how can you cut down on costs?
Plan your meals ahead and make sure you have the ingredients in
Make sure you always have some basic ingredients in your cupboard
Try “fakeaways” – recreating your favourite takeaway meal
Have a list of reliable recipes that you enjoy making
The United States says threats are concerning, and that it will defend Saudi Arabia and other Middle East allies.
The United States has responded to reports of threats from Iran against Saudi Arabia by saying it is concerned and will not hesitate to respond if necessary.
“We are concerned about the threat picture, and we remain in constant contact through military and intelligence channels with the Saudis,” the National Security Council said in a statement on Tuesday. “We will not hesitate to act in the defence of our interests and partners in the region.”
The Wall Street Journal newspaper first reported on Saudi Arabia sharing the intelligence with the US earlier on Tuesday.
Neither Saudi Arabia nor Iran has commented on the matter publicly.
Iran has alleged, without providing evidence, that Saudi Arabia and other rivals have been behind anti-government protests that have been ongoing in the country since mid-September.
In October, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned Saudi Arabia to tone down coverage of the protests in Iran by Farsi-language satellite news channels, including Iran International, a Saudi-backed satellite television channel based in London.
“This is our last warning because you are interfering in our internal affairs through these media,” Major-General Hossein Salami said. “You are involved in this matter and know that you are vulnerable.”
The heightened concerns about a potential attack on Riyadh come as the Biden administration criticises Tehran for its crackdown on the protests and condemned it for sending hundreds of drones – as well as technical support – to Russia for use in its war in Ukraine.
One of the officials who confirmed the intelligence sharing to the Wall Street Journaldescribed it as a credible threat of an attack “soon or within 48 hours”. No US embassy or consulate in the region has issued alerts or guidance to Americans in Saudi Arabia or elsewhere in the Middle East based on the intelligence. The officials were not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Asked about reports of the intelligence shared by the Saudis, Brigadier General Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said US military officials “are concerned about the threat situation in the region”.
“We’re in regular contact with our Saudi partners, in terms of what information they may have to provide on that front,” Ryder said. “But what we’ve said before, and I’ll repeat it, is that we will reserve the right to protect and defend ourselves no matter where our forces are serving, whether in Iraq or elsewhere.”
US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said America was “concerned about the threat picture,” without elaborating.
Strained relations
The latest concerns come at a time of strained relations between Riyadh and Washington after the Saudi-led OPEC+ alliance last month decided to cut oil output targets, which raised fears of a gasoline price spike in the US.
The US and Saudi Arabia blamed Iran in 2019 for being behind a big attack in eastern Saudi Arabia, which halved the oil-rich kingdom’s production and caused energy prices to spike. The Iranians denied they were behind the attack.
The Saudis have also been hit repeatedly in recent years by drones, missiles, and mortars launched by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. Saudi Arabia formed a coalition to battle the Houthis in 2015 and has been internationally criticised for its air attacks in the war, which have killed thousands of civilians.
In recent weeks, the Biden administration has imposed sanctions on Iranian officials for the brutal crackdown on demonstrators after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September after her arrest by Iran’s morality police. The administration has also hit Iran with sanctions for supplying drones to Russia for use in its war in Ukraine.
At least 288 people have been killed and 14,160 arrested during the protests, according to the group Human Rights Activists in Iran. Demonstrations have continued, even as the feared paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has warned Iranians to stop.
Central command says offenders will face legal consequences according to the rules.
Police in Iran has launched an investigation after a video showed riot police repeatedly kicking and then shooting a man.
The two-minute clip was posted on social media on Tuesday, in the seventh week of the protests that erupted across Iran after the death of a young woman in custody.
It shows policemen walking in an alley at night and using their batons to beat a man lying on the ground. The man, whose lower body and feet are visible in the angle of the video, tries to protect his head and body from the hits and kicks.
The officers in riot gear then leave him on the ground but moments later, another police member arrives and starts beating him with a baton. The final moments of the video, which was shot on a mobile phone from an overlooking building, show a policeman shooting the man at point-blank range with what appears to be a pellet shotgun.
On Wednesday, the central command of the Iranian police said in a short statement carried by state media that it had launched an investigation to determine the exact time and place of the incident and identify violating officers.
“The police in no way condones violence and unconventional behaviour and offenders will certainly face legal measures according to the rules,” it said.
British-based rights group Amnesty International also posted the video on Twitter, calling it “another horrific reminder that the cruelty of Iran’s security forces knows no bounds” and urging the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate.
The release of the video comes amid the protests that broke out shortly after the death of Mahsa Amini on September 16.
The 22-year-old woman died in a hospital in Tehran after collapsing in a “re-education” centre that she had been taken to by the country’s so-called “morality police” following her arrest due to alleged non-compliance with a mandatory dress code. Her family has challenged an official investigation that found she was not beaten and died of pre-existing conditions.
Dozens of people, including security forces, are believed to have been killed during the protests, but authorities have not published an official tally. Many more have been wounded or arrested, and Iran this week began holding the first court cases for “rioters”.
The UN has expressed “concern” about developments in Iran, while the United States and Albania are due to hold an informal Security Council meeting on the protests on Wednesday that can be attended by all UN members.
Iranian officials have denounced the meeting as politically motivated and criticised the special UN rapporteur on human rights in the country for agreeing to brief it.
In a speech delivered on Wednesday, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, repeated once again his claim that the United States, Israel, and others have been behind unrest across Iran.
The events of the past few weeks constitute not only “street riots” but also a “hybrid war”, Khamenei said.
“Enemies, meaning the US, the Zionist regime (Israel), some insidious and treacherous European powers, and some groups came to the field with everything at their disposal and tried to hurt the nation using their intelligence and media organisations and social media and employing past experiences in Iran,” he added.
The supreme leader for the first time said some of the many young people who have taken to the streetsin the protests were “our own children”, but had been misled and acted as a result of “excitement and feelings, and some carelessness”.
During a two-day visit to Beijing, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met with top Chinese leaders.
President Xi Jinping stated that China will continue to assist Pakistan in stabilising its economy while hosting Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for talks.
On Wednesday, the leaders met at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, the final day of Sharif’s two-day visit to China, his first since taking office in April.
Xi said the two neighbours should boost collaboration in the development of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a $60bn infrastructure project, as well as speed up work on building the Gwadar seaport in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, according to Chinese state media.
For his part, Sharif thanked Xi for China’s “invaluable assistance to Pakistan’s relief and rehabilitation work” in the aftermath of recent floods, which killed more than 1,700 people and affected some 33 million.
A statement released by his office said the leaders spoke about various projectsof “strategic importance”, including work on the CPEC and the construction of a railway line.
Sharif said Pakistan drew inspiration from China’s socioeconomic development and national resolve for progress and prosperity, the statement added, noting that the prime minister had extended an invitation to Xi for a visit to Pakistan, which was accepted.
Later on Wednesday, Sharif also met his Chinese counterpart, Li Keqiang.
The relationship between historical allies Pakistan and China have only grown stronger during the past decade, a period in which Islamabad’s ties with Washington gradually cooled.
Balanced approach
Muhammad Faisal, an Islamabad-based foreign policy analyst and a close observer of Pakistan-China ties, said Sharif’s visit was an important marker for Pakistan as it seeks to maintain a balanced approach in the face of the escalating strategic competition between China and the United States, which has direct implications for the regional order in South Asia.
He said he expected issues related to Afghanistan and India, which has emerged as Pakistan and China’s biggest regional rival, to have topped the agenda in the leaders’ talks.
Andrew Small, the author of The China-Pakistan Axis, says that Islamabad needed to tread carefully while maintaining stable relations with both Beijing and Washington.
“It is trying to reconcile the deepening of ties with China with the opportunity to reset relations with the US after the withdrawal from Afghanistan, all in the context of intensifying Sino-US rivalry. Normally US-Pakistan and China-Pakistan relations have been able to coexist happily – now there are pressures from both sides,” he told Al Jazeera.
Pakistan’s dependence on China for its financial and defence needs has increased over the years – but this has come at a cost.
Pakistan owes nearly $30bn – or 23 percent of its total external debt – to China.
“The visit is taking place at a time when Pakistan is facing serious economic challenges, multiplied by the recent flooding in the country. If Pakistan manages to achieve guarantees of rescheduling of debt and rolling over of deposits, it could be a landmark achievement of this visit,” Fazal ur Rahman, director of the Pakistan Institute of China Studies at the University of Sargodha, told Al Jazeera.
Small also said the issue of debt would be closely watched in the US.
“The real question in Washington [is] about whether Pakistan will fix some of its debt issues directly with China, or expect other actors to do the heavy lifting,” he added.
Security incidents
China’s growing presence in Pakistan has coincided with an increase in the number of attacks against Chinese nationals and installations, especially in the country’s restive southern region.
Many of the Chinese infrastructure projects are situated in the resource-rich province of Balochistan, which is also Pakistan’s most impoverished region and home to a long-running armed campaign by fighters.
Three Chinese citizens were killed in a suicide attack in Karachi in April. Pakistan’s largest city saw another attack in September in which three more Chinese-Pakistani citizens, who worked as dentists and had lived in the country for decades, were killed.
Rahman said a stable and secure Pakistan was in China’s strategic and regional interests.
“However, one should keep in mind that Pakistan will be going for elections, so the Chinese may not agree to any long-term commitments with the incumbent regime,” he added.
Small noted that China was “uncertain about the political landscape in Pakistan – and there’s not much the visit can do on that front.
“The Chinese government likes Shehbaz Sharif and this government generally, but they will be waiting to see whether things settle before making any really major new commitments.”
Within hours of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi‘s husband being attacked by a hammer-wielding intruder at the couple’s home, a slew of unsubstantiated claims began to circulate in fringe far-right circles, contradicting the official police account of what happened.
One of the most widely circulated myths about the attack is that Pelosi and his attacker, David DePape, were in a relationship and had a drunken brawl.
There is also an online claim that both DePape and Pelosi were in their underwear when police arrived, or that the two men knew each other and were friends prior to the attack.
But the FBI complaint against DePape quotes a witness as saying he was dressed “in all black” carrying a large black bag on his back, and, according to the complaint, Pelosi did not know DePape.
Another claim circulating is that two blogs and a Facebook account, which show signs that DePape was radicalised, were fake and only created on the day of the attack to support the narrative that he believed in far-right conspiracy theories.
But the BBC has screenshots of the blogs which show he had made posts as early as August, weeks before the attack.
Many of these misleading claims have since gone viral after being amplified by new Twitter chief Elon Muskand a number of conservative influencers.
With less than a week until the US midterms, President Joe Bidenhas warned voters that “democracy is on the ballot”.
Biden was speaking at a fundraising event for Charlie Crist, the Florida Democratic candidate for governor, who is running against Ron DeSantis, the state’s incumbent Republican governor.
“You’ve got 350-so-election deniers on the ballot, on the Republican ticket … democracy is on the ballot this year,” Biden said.
He was referring to Republican candidates who back Donald Trump’s false assertion that he won the 2020 presidential election.
Biden also took aim at DeSantis.
“Charlie is running against Donald Trump incarnate,” he said.
DeSantis is widely believed to be considering a presidential run in 2024, along with former President Trump.
Crist said DeSantis “is tearing us apart”.
He accused his opponent of “attacking anyone who doesn’t look like him, doesn’t act like him, doesn’t think like him and they are women, people of colour, LGTBQ community, teachers, doctors, scientists.
“He punishes businesses like Disney Worldbecause they disagree with him on a bill. It’s unconscionable.”
“Governor DeSantis only cares about the White House. He doesn’t give a damn about your house,” he added.
While Biden was in Florida, former Vice President Mike Pence travelled to Georgia, another crucial battleground state, to campaign for the Republican candidate for governor there.
Pence told supporters at a rally in the Atlanta suburbs last night that Georgia must “lead the way to a great American comeback” by re-electing Governor Brian Kemp.
Kemp is ahead of his Democratic opponent Stacey Abrams in most polls, but that did not stop him or Pence from emphasising the need to get people out in support – whatever the data suggests.
Pence, who was elected alongside Donald Trump in 2016, emphasized what he called Kemp’s credentials as a “champion for the Conservative Agenda”.
After the rally, Pence said: “No one has done more to create jobs, cut taxes, restore sanity to our schools, put criminals behind bars, protect the unborn, secure our elections, and defend our God-given rights enshrined in the United States Constitution.”
Stephen Richer is a one-man embodiment of the anguish and despair that lies at the heart of traditional Republicanism.
Long a GOP supporter and elected official in charge of running the voting process in Maricopa County, Arizona’s largest county, he now finds himself very much out of step with the direction his party has taken.
The Republican slate here is dominated by election deniers in a state where the conspiracy has really taken root.
“One of the most preposterous allegations that still has people believe in it is that we took ballots from the 2020 election, we fed them to chickens, and then we incinerated the chickens,” Richer tells me.
With key positions – including the job of administering Arizona’s vote in the 2024 presidential election – being contested by candidates who claim Donald Trump won in 2020, Richer says he’s deeply worried about the future health of US democracy.
While he believes many of the candidates don’t actually believe the last election was stolen and are instead supporting the theory purely for “pecuniary of political gain” he sees little comfort in that.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on the verge of a dramatic comeback after preliminary results showed he was on track to win a parliamentary majority with the help of the far right.
With 84% of general election votes counted, Mr Netanyahu’s bloc is on track to win 65 of 120 seats.
“We are close to a big victory,” he told jubilant supporters in Jerusalem.
However, he will be dependent on the support of the ultra-nationalist Religious Zionism party.
Its leaders, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, have gained notoriety for using anti-Arab rhetoric and advocating the deportation of “disloyal” Arab politicians or civilians.
Mr Ben-Gvir was a follower of the late, explicitly racist, ultra-nationalist Meir Kahane, whose organisation was banned in Israel and designated as a terrorist group by the United States. Mr Ben-Gvir himself has been convicted of incitement to racism and supporting a terrorist organisation.
Last month, Mr Ben-Gvir hit the headlines when he was filmed pulling out a gun after being targeted with a stone thrown by Palestinians while visiting a predominantly Arab area of occupied East Jerusalem, and calling for police to shoot the culprits.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Mr Ben Gvir promised to “work for all of Israel, even those who hate me”.
Mr Netanyahu, accompanied by his wife Sara, appeared at his Likud party’s election night venue at 03:00 local time (01:00 GMT) on Wednesday to thunderous applause.
“We have won a huge vote of confidence from the people of Israel,” he told his cheering supporters.
Hours earlier, when exit polls predicted that Mr Netanyahu’s bloc would win 61 or 62 seats, the room had been a scene of celebration as people jumped up and down, waved flags, and chanted his nickname, Bibi. One man repeatedly blew a shofar, or ram’s horn, a ritual instrument used by some Jewish people at times of special significance.
At his party’s camp in Tel Aviv however, current Prime Minister Yair Lapid told his supporters that “nothing” was yet decided and his center-left Yesh Atid party would wait for the final results.
Mr Netanyahu, 73, is one of Israel’s most controversial political figures, loathed by many on the centre and left but adored by Likud’s grassroots supporters.
He is a firm supporter of Israel’s settlement-building in the West Bank, occupied since the 1967 Middle East war. Settlements there are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.
He opposes the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Stripas a solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict – a formula supported by most of the international community, including the Biden administration in the US.
Mr Netanyahu is also currently on trial for alleged bribery, fraud, and breach of trust – charges he fiercely denies. His possible partners in a Likud-led coalition government have said they would reform the law, in a move that would bring a halt to his trial.
According to the partial results, Likud stands to be the biggest party, with 31 seats, commanding a majority with the support of nationalist and religious parties.
Yesh Atid, which led the coalition which brought down Mr Netanyahu in elections last year, is projected to win 24 seats.
Religious Zionism appears to have won 14 seats, which would make it the third-largest party.
“It will be better now,” said Religious Zionism supporter, Julian, at the party’s venue in Jerusalem.
“When [Religious Zionism politician Itamar Ben-Gvir] will be a minister of public security, it will be even better – he’ll bring back security to the people of Israel. That’s very important.”
However, political scientist Gayil Talshir, from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, warned that if the exit polls “reflect the real results, Israel is on its way to becoming Orban’s Hungary”, recently branded an “electoral autocracy” by the EU.
If Mr Netanyahu can secure a majority, it will stave off the prospect of a sixth election in just four years after analysts predicted deadlock.
It would mark a remarkable turnaround for Mr Netanyahu, whose political future was widely written off after Mr Lapid formed an unlikely alliance of ideologically diverse parties to take power in June 2021, with the uniting aim of making it impossible for Mr Netanyahu to form a government.
At the time, Mr Netanyahu vowed to bring it down as quickly as possible and one year later the coalition government concluded it could not survive and collapsed after resignations meant it no longer had a majority.
Court documents indicate that a man accused of hammering the husband of senior US politician Nancy Pelositold police he was on a “suicide mission.”
David DePape, 42, pleaded not guilty in a San Francisco court on Tuesday to attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon against Paul Pelosi, 82.
He allegedly broke into the couple’s house early Friday morning.
Court documents say he had planned to hold Nancy Pelosi hostage and break “her kneecaps” if she “lied” to him.
Mrs Pelosi, who is second in line for the presidency, was on the other side of the country at the time.
According to court papers cited by US media, Mr DePape told police at the scene that he was sick of the “lies coming out of Washington DC”.
“I didn’t really want to hurt him, but you know this was a suicide mission,” he allegedly said. “I’m not going to stand here and do nothing, even if it cost me my life.”
Mr DePape also told police he planned to target several state and federal politicians and members of their families, as well as a local professor, according to the filing.
No potential targets were named in the court papers.
Judge Diane Northway of the Superior Court in San Francisco denied Mr DePape bail at Tuesday’s hearing.
The defendant’s lawyer, Adam Lipson, said his client – who appeared in court with his right arm in a sling – had his shoulder dislocated during his arrest. He has since been moved from the hospital to county jail.
The charges filed against Mr DePape are being brought by the state of California, but he also faces federal counts of assault and attempting to kidnap Mrs Pelosi. No court date has yet been set for that case.
The suspect’s lawyer also pleaded not guilty on Tuesday on his client’s behalf to the other charges he faces:
Elder abuse
Burglary
False imprisonment
Threatening a public official
The accused would face 13 years to life in prison if convicted on the state charges and a maximum of 50 years on the federal charges.
The justice department said the suspect had a roll of tape, white rope, a second hammer, and zip ties in his possession when he was arrested.
He had been searching for the top Democrat and reportedly shouted “Where is Nancy?” while inside the property.
According to the authorities, he also told police that if Mrs Pelosi was injured, she would have had to use a wheelchair to enter Congress, which would send a message to other politicians.
Mrs Pelosi, 82, was in Washington DC but flew back to see her husband in the hospital, where he underwent successful surgery for a skull fracture and injuries to his hands and right arm. The venture capitalist has been married to Mrs Pelosi since 1963.
Hours after the attack, the US government distributed a bulletin to law enforcement across the nation warning of a “heightened threat” of domestic violent extremism against candidates and election workers driven by individuals with “ideological grievances”.
A blog, website and social media accounts under the name of the suspect seen by the BBC contained anti-Semitic memes, Holocaust denial, references to far-right websites, and conspiracy theories such as QAnon.
Jair Bolsonaro,Brazil’s far-right president, has broken his silence since losing the presidential election on Sunday.
He expressed gratitude to those who voted for him but refused to admit defeat.
But, contrary to popular belief, he did not challenge the outcome.
Ciro Nogueira, his chief of staff, spoke after Mr Bolsonaro’s brief statement, saying that the “transition of power” would begin.
Even though Mr Bolsonaro did not himself acknowledge defeat in his own words, Brazil’s Supreme Court released a statement shortly after his speech saying that by authorising the transition of power, he had recognised the result of the election.
Combative statements from the president in the past – such as that “only God” could remove him from office – meant that there had been a tense wait for him to appear in public.
Before the election, he had also repeatedly cast unfounded doubts about the voting system.
When he finally appeared in public, 44 hours after the election result was announced, Mr Bolsonaro’s statement lasted only two minutes and he did not take any questions from the assembled reporters.
He repeated the values he says he and his party stand for – “God, fatherland, family, and freedom” – and insisted that he would continue to strive for “order and progress”, the words emblazoned on Brazil’s flag.
He did not mention Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, his arch-rival who narrowly beat him on Sunday, at all. In a break with tradition, Mr Bolsonaro has still not called the man who defeated him in the election.
Hardcore supporters of Mr Bolsonaro – who refuse to accept that he lost – have erected hundreds of roadblocks in all but two states of Brazil.
In his speech, Mr Bolsonaro referred to them as “current popular movements” and said they were “the fruit of indignation and a sense of injustice of how the electoral process unfolded”.
He added that “peaceful demonstrations” would always be welcome, but that “our methods can’t be the same as those used by the left, which always harmed the population, such as invasion of lands, disrespecting property and impeding the right to come and go”.
IMAGE SOURCE, REUTERS Image caption, Kneeling protesters disrupted the access to the airport in São Paulo
The top electoral judge, Alexandre de Moraes, had said earlier on Tuesday that the roadblocks posed “a risk to national security” and ordered that they be cleared.
But police have struggled to remove all of them, with more than 250 still in place.
The blockages are causing considerable disruption and affecting food supply chains.
They started shortly after Brazil’s electoral authorities announced a narrow win for Lula in the run-off of the presidential election. With all the votes counted, Lula had 50.9% of the valid votes against Mr Bolsonaro’s 49.1%.
Congratulations immediately started pouring in for Lula from across the world, with US President Biden saying the win came “following free, fair, and credible elections”.
Mr Bolsonaro, who is normally a keen user of social media, stayed silent and out of the public eye. But he started to look more and more isolated as even his close allies congratulated Lula.
But some supporters of Bolsonaro appeared emboldened by his silence.
“We will not accept losing what we have gained, we want what is written on our flag, ‘order and progress,” one protester in Rio de Janeiro told AFP news agency. “We will not accept the situation as it is,” the man added.
President Guillermo Lasso declared war on the attacks by increasingly powerful drug gangs.
They had threatened retaliation after the government enacted tougher measures to limit their power inside prisons.
More than 400 people have died in gang violence in prisons since 2020.
Officials said nine separate attacks were launched in the coastal provinces of Guayas and Esmeraldas on Tuesday, apparently in response to transfers of prisoners from overcrowded and violent jails.
Six explosions were reported in the western city of Guayaquil, police said, while two police officers were killed in an attack on a patrol car in the suburbs.
Three others were shot dead in the city and nearby later in the day, they added.
Three blasts were reported in Esmeraldas province, where seven prison officers were taken hostage by inmates. They were later released after negotiations, officials said.
IMAGE SOURCE, REUTERS Image caption, The attacks came in response to prisoner transfers
President Lasso introduced emergency measures in the two states for 45 days, restricting freedom of assembly and movement. Similar measures were taken in several provinces last year and in April this year.
Violence in Ecuador has grown sharply in recent years, including decapitations and prison riots, similar to scenes previously associated with Mexico.
It is thought this is because Mexican cartels have been recruiting local gangs to smuggle cocaine.
The latest violence comes nearly a month after clashes between prisoners in one of Ecuador’s largest jails – in Latacunga – left at least 15 inmates dead.
The national prisons agency Snai said prisoners had fought with guns and knives before guards managed to regain control of the facility just south of the capital Quito.
The turf wars between gangs fighting for control of lucrative cocaine networks have put a huge strain on the under-resourced and overcrowded prison system.
The worst prison clash was in the port city of Guayaquil in September last year, when more than 120 inmates died.
Last year Ecuador’s police seized a record 190 tonnes of drugs, mostly cocaine.
An anonymous public donationprovided a brand new boiler to a couple in their 70s who were facing a freezing cold winter.
Ann and Keith Hartley, 71 and 74, have had a broken boiler in their Burnley, Lancashire, home for almost a decade, but it stopped working completely this year, just in time for a winter of skyrocketing living costs.
Faced with a “freezing” home and unable to afford a costly replacement with their monthly pension earnings of around £1,000, the couple reached out to Disabled and Elderly Plumbing and Heating Emergency Response (Depher).
The charity provides free plumbing and heating services to those in financial needand was founded in 2017 by James Anderson, 55, from Burnley, who assessed their boiler.
In a tweet posted after visiting the couple’s home, Mr Anderson said he was brought to tears by the couple’s situation and asked for donations.
💔 HEARTBREAKING
I have just cried with a couple aged 74 & 72.
They only get £1050.00 a month, they have Copd, heart condition & depression!
The boiler has not worked on heating for 5 years, their home is freezing
Within hours an anonymous member of the public had donated enough money to cover the cost of the unit.
Mr Anderson also helped the couple to apply for a £400 rebate from Burnley Council and said he would install the boiler for free, meaning they would not have to pay anything.
“We were both dumbfounded, we were stuck for words… (Mr Anderson) was like an angel in disguise to be quite honest, we were both very emotional about it,” Mrs Hartley said.
“I cried, my husband, cried. We didn’t think it was possible for somebody to help us, it doesn’t normally happen to us.”
Mrs Hartley added they “couldn’t thank” the person who donated £695 “enough”.
Actor Hugh Grant has previously donated tens of thousands of poundsto Depher, most recently giving £10,000 in June 2022.
A soon-to-be mum of triplets facing a £40,000 a year childcare bill said working mothers are being penalised during the cost of living crisis.
Vicki Sevgili, from Andover in Hampshire, is currently 28 weeks pregnant and has been told by the government and Citizen’s Advice Bureau she is better off “giving up work and living off the government” than returning to work once her maternity leave ends.
She calculated the impending cost of childcare by researching how much it would cost for one child and then multiplying it by three.
“The lowest figure I got was £38,000, and the highest was £54,000,” she told Sky News.
This amount, she said, would swallow her entire wage: “I would be better off giving up work and living off the government.”
She added: “I was told I would get support returning to the workplace.
“But I enjoy my job and I want to keep it – not find a new one. Why can’t they support me to help me keep my job?”
She is calling on the government to do more to support working mothers, to help them keep their jobs.
Meanwhile, her mortgage has increased by £200 a month, as well as her energy bills rising and she is facing growing costs for groceries – all while needing to buy three of everything.
Ms Sevgili said that while it would make more financial sense for her husband to stay home, he is in the UK on a spouse’s visa and would receive no monetary support.
“When we first were told this, I went home and I said to my husband, let’s just move. The system just doesn’t work.
“But I know the UK is the best place for our family to be, so we will make it work one way or another.”
Rishi Sunakhas said he will attend the COP27 climate summit in Egypt in a U-turn from his previous snub.
Rishi Sunak has said he will go to COP27 in Egypt, in a reversal of his previous snub.
In a statement on Twitter, the prime minister said: “There is no long-term prosperity without action on climate change.
“There is no energy security without investing in renewables. That is why I will attend COP27 next week: to deliver on Glasgow’s legacy of building a secure and sustainable future.”
The pressure was growing on the PM after Boris Johnson confirmed to Sky News yesterday that he would be going to the climate summit.
Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, said Mr Sunak had to be “dragged kicking and screaming into doing the right thing”, and called the U-turn “embarrassing”.
Ed Miliband, the shadow climate secretary, said: “The prime minister has been shamed into going to COP27 by the torrent of disbelief that he would fail to turn up.
“He is going to avoid embarrassment not to provide leadership.”
Caroline Lucas, the Green Party’s only MP, said: “Glad to see Sunak’s screeching U-turn on COP27, but what an embarrassing mis-step on the world stage.
“Let this be a lesson to him – climate leadership matters.
“Now he urgently needs to increase UK ambition on emission reduction targets& pay what we owe to global climate funds.”
Mr Sunak initially said he was not going to head to the conference in Sharm El-Sheikh due to “other pressing domestic commitments”.
But the PM faced a raft of criticism, with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer accusing him of displaying a “failure of leadership” and Greenpeace UK saying he was not taking climate change “seriously enough”.
Within days, Downing Street changed course, saying the PM’s attendance was “under review”, depending on progress around preparation for the economic statement, set for 17 November.
A No 10 source told Sky News that Mr Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt have made “good progress” on the autumn statement after working on it over the weekend and this week.
North Korea has launched the most missiles in a single day, and a ballistic missile has landed near South Korean waters for the first time since the countries’ division in 1948.
North Korea launched at least 17 missiles off its eastern and western coasts on Wednesday morning, with one landing near the rivals’ tense sea border, according to South Korea’s military.
Seoul responded quickly by launching missiles.
It was the most missiles fired by the North in a single day – and the first time a ballistic missile had landed near the South’s waters since the countries’ division in 1948.
“This is unprecedented and we will never tolerate it,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
The missile landed outside South Korea’s territorial waters, but south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), a disputed inter-Korean maritime border.
“We heard the siren at around 8.55 am and all of us in the building went down to the evacuation place in the basement,” an Ulleung county official said.
“We stayed there until we came upstairs at around 9.15 am after hearing that the projectile fell into the high seas.”
Yoon Suk-yeol, the South Korean president, said it was an “effective act of territorial encroachment”.
South Korean warplanes fired three air-to-ground missiles into the sea across the NLL after Mr Yoon’s office pledged a “swift and firm response” so Pyongyang “pays the price for provocation”.
South Korea is in a period of national mourning after more than 150 people were killed in a deadly crowd crush in the capital, Seoul.
Hours before the missiles were launched, the North threatened to use nuclear weapons to get the US and South Korea to “pay the most horrible price in history” in protest over the two nations’ ongoing military drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal.
Washington said the drills were “purely defensive in nature” and that the US had made clear to North Korea that it harbored no hostile intent towards the country.
Today’s ballistic missile launches mark another step in what feels like an incremental but steady increase of tensions in the Korean Peninsula.
Not only was this the closest a North Korean missile has come to the South Korean shore since the countries’ division in 1948, but it also comes shortly after its longest known missile flight yet over Japan in early October.
The European Union is looking into ways to help Ukraine’s energy sector, which has been harmed by Russian attacks for weeks.
During a visit to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Tuesday, Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson confirmed the move.
“I am in Kyiv today to help scale up support to the Ukraine energy sector,” she said.
“I have witnessed the scale of destruction in Ukraine first hand and am making all efforts to increase financial, technical, and practical help.”
Ms Simson called Russia’s attacks “a cruel and inhumane tactic to cause human suffering as the winter is approaching”.
The European Union is looking into ways to help Ukraine’s energy sector, which has been harmed by Russian attacks for weeks.
During a visit to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Tuesday, Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson confirmed the move.
The additional help will have to come from EU institutions, member states, international partners, and private donors, she said.
The commissioner travelled to Kyiv following weeks of Russian attacks that focused on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, in particular power stations.
Ms Simson plans to meet Ukrainian energy companies to talk about how the EU, international partners, and the private sector can help.
She will also discuss the situation at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhianuclear power plant, the security of supply, and the future reconstruction of the energy system.
A Ukrainian official has asked people to donate heaters and generators to Ukraine, which is still without power as a result of Russian strikes on energy facilities.
“Best support for Ukraine today, aside from weapons, is autonomous electricity & heat sources,” said Ministry of Internal Affairs Adviser Anton Gerashchenko on Twitter.
Best support for Ukraine today, besides weapons, are autonomous electricity & heat sources
If you have a generator you don’t or rarely use – please consider gifting it to 🇺🇦. We have a difficult winter ahead but we will prevail
Please contact 🇺🇦 embassy in your country for this
“If you have a generator you don’t or rarely use – please consider gifting it to Ukraine. We have a difficult winter ahead but we will prevail.”
In recent weeks, the Kremlin has attacked Ukraine’s critical infrastructure with wave after wave of air strikes – leaving people without electricity, heat, and water.
On Monday, large parts of Kyiv were cut off from power and water supplies after Russian strikes hit critical infrastructure in the capital, Kharkiv, and other cities.
The series of attacks appeared to be an apparent retaliation for what Moscow alleged was a Ukrainian attack on its Black Sea Fleet over the weekend.
Mr Geraschenko added that those who want to donate them should contact their Ukrainian embassy.
After Home Secretary Suella Braverman used the word “invasion” to describe the migration crisis in the Commons yesterday, a YouGov survey has found that 44% of Britons felt the word was “inappropriate”.
The survey of 4,790 adults in the UK also found that 43% felt the word was “appropriate”.
Meanwhile, 76% of Conservative voters felt the word was “appropriate” and 16% believed using the term was “inappropriate”.
When it came to Labour voters, 16% said the word was “appropriate” and 74% felt that using the term was “inappropriate”.
The home secretary has said that southern England is facing an “invasion” of migration. Do you think this wording is appropriate or inappropriate?
Ukraine’s defence ministry has announced, Iran intends to send over 200 drones to Russia at the start of this month.
The ministry said the drones include the Iranian-made Shahed-136, dubbed “kamikaze drones” because they fly at a target and detonate, plus the Mohajer-6 and Arash-2s.
It added: “It is known that the UAVs will be delivered via the Caspian Sea to the port of Astrakhan. Drones will arrive in a disassembled state. In the future, on the territory of the Russian Federation, they will be collected, repainted, and applied with Russian markings, in particular.”
Shahed-136 drone
Ukraine claims Russia has already used more than 400 “kamikaze drones” for its war in Ukraine, despite initially denying this was the case.
It is thought Vladimir Putin may have ordered as many as 2,400.
He may be a former British prime minister, but any comment made by Boris Johnson on the war in Ukraine still carries weight, especially when it comes to nuclear weapons.
His uniquely close relationship with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his decision to be a leading voice amongst western allies in supporting Ukraine from the outset of the invasion has made London one of Kyiv’s most trusted and valued partners.
It also gave Mr Johnson privileged access during his time in office to the private thoughts of Mr Zelenskyy, as well as a deep understanding of Ukraine’s need to defeat Russia’s invasion and the threats it could face – all the way up to Vladimir Putin launching a nuclear strike.
Having been the leader of a nuclear power, Mr Johnson would have been carefully briefed by officials about the risk of nuclear escalation by Russia and how western allies, led by the United States, might respond.
NATO allies have a deliberate policy of “strategic ambiguity” when it comes to anything nuclear – refusing to set out in public how they might retaliate should the Kremlin choose to break the nuclear taboo and use an atomic weapon against Ukraine.
However, Mr Johnson made clear there would have to be a western response, noting in his interview with Sky News’s Mark Austin that there “are all sorts of options”.
A decision by the UK to send anti-tank weapons to Ukraine, the first of any European nation, in the run-up to the war – followed by a steady flow of increasingly lethal munitions – has made Mr Johnson a legendary figure amongst the Ukrainian public and leadership.
It will be interesting to see how or if the former prime minister will choose to use this special relationship, especially with President Zelenskyy, going forwards.
It is a status his latest successor, Rishi Sunak, will find almost impossible to fill given the personal chemistry that the two men enjoyed.
Mr Johnson was the first foreign leader who Mr Zelenskyy called early on the morning of 24 February, when Russia launched its all-out war.
Britain’s then prime minister then became one of the first western allies to venture to Kyiv as the war raged and even chose a trip to see Mr Zelenskyy as his swansong on the international stage before stepping down from office.
Boris Johnson has told Sky News that he does not think Vladimir Putin will use a tactical nuclear weapon in his war in Ukraine.
There have been suggestions that the Russian president could carry out such a military strike as his forces continue to lose territory which they captured earlier in the invasion.
But in his first interview since leaving Number 10 for Sky News’ Ukraine: A Modern War programme, the ex-prime minister told Sky’s Mark Austin: “I don’t think he will, he’d be crazy to do so.”
Mr Johnson also said he will be traveling to the COP27 climate summit in Egypt next week, as question marks remain over whether Rishi Sunak will join him.
Mr Johnson said using a nuclear weapon would mean Mr Putin “would immediately tender Russia’s resignation from the club of civilised nations”.
The former UK leader said it would be a “total disaster” for Russia, which would be put into a “cryogenic economic freeze” and Mr Putin would “lose a lot of the middle ground of global tacit acquiescence that he’s had”.
Mentioning sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and South Asia, Mr Johnson said: “There’s a lot of willingness to give Putin the benefit of the doubt. That will go, the minute he does anything like that.
“He would also crucially lose the patronage of the Chinese. And in his own country, I think he would trigger an absolutely hysterical reaction.”
Mr Johnson said if there was such a military action from Mr Putin, there would have to be a response of some kind.
“There are all sorts of options” both in NATO and the P3 nations (US, UK, and France), he said.
He also said it was a “critical” and “pivotal moment” for the world.
Looking ahead to how the conflict could be resolved, the former PM warned about the danger of trying “to comprise and find some sort of deal, some grubby bargain with Putin”, trying to encourage the Ukrainians to trade some of their territory, which Mr Johnson said, “will only encourage Putin to make further aggression”.
Putin’s only aim is to ‘spread terror’
He said that it is going to be very difficult for the Ukrainians to accept any deal that stops short of a full return of all the areas taken by Russia since the invasion began on 24 February.
Mr Johnson also said it was “absolutely inevitable” that the Ukrainians will eventually win the war.
“We have to show strategic patience and continue to support them,” he added.
The storm is expected to move eastwards on Tuesday, resulting in a wet day for much of the UK, with Wales and areas in southern and central England predicted to see the most frequent rainfall, the Met Office added.
Neil Armstrong, the chief meteorologist, said: “The biggest impacts from Storm Claudio are expected in northern France, which is why is has been named as a system by Meteo-France.
“What it means for us in the UK is for some high winds to be possible along much of the southern coast of England.
“Some isolated and especially exposed coastal areas could see gusts in excess of 70mph, while much of the warning area will see gusts of between 50 and 60mph.”
Forecasters say conditions are unlikely to improve by mid-week as low pressure comes in from the west and is predicted to bring in wet and windy weather.
Irish Sea coastal areas are likely to feel the strongest winds, including western Wales, northwest England, and southwest Scotland, as well as the east coast of Northern Ireland.
🎃 It’s turning into a wet #Halloween in some southern areas
🚗 Showery rain, heavy at times, is moving north. As well as some sudden downpours, there’s also some thunder and #lightning in places, giving locally tricky driving conditions and spray on the roads pic.twitter.com/jOvsE6i8Id
Steven Keates, Deputy chief meteorologist said: “This weather is associated with low pressure moving towards the northwest of the UK, which is bringing with it some heavy rain on Wednesday, especially across parts of southwest Scotland, Cumbria, and western Wales, although much of the UK will see some rain through the day.
“In addition to high winds in the warning area, many parts of the UK will experience strong and gusty winds, at least for a time, during Wednesday.”
Storm Claudio comes after the UK enjoyed above-average temperatures in October, with temperatures reaching the low 20s in some parts of the country resulting in mild conditions for this time of the year.
Labour’s Andy McDonald reiterates the home secretary’sclaim that she ignored legal advice on asylum seekers, citing her own admission that she violated security protocols six times by sending government documents to personal accounts.
“How on earth can she stand at that dispatch box with a straight face and defend cruelty to the most desperate of people?” he asks.
“Doesn’t she need to take a look in the mirror to see who is a threat to national security and accept she is totally unfit for the job?”
Ms Braverman refers to her letter again, saying it gives “very fulsome” detail of what happened, and repeated her apologies.
But she continues to deny she ignored legal advice.
Suella Braverman claimed earlier today that migrants crossing the Channel were “invading” England.
According to the home secretary, approximately 40,000 people will arrive on England’s south coast in 2022, more than doubling the number of arrivals via the English Channel in 2021.
“Let’s be clear about what’s going on here: the British people deserve to know which party is serious about stopping the invasion on our southern coast and which party isn’t,” she said.
“Some 40,000 people have arrived on the south coast this year alone. Many of them are facilitated by criminal gangs, some of them actual members of criminal gangs.
“So let’s stop pretending that they are all refugees in distress. The whole country knows that is not true. It’s only the honourable members opposite who pretend otherwise.
“We need to be straight with the public. The system is broken. Illegal migration is out of controland too many people are interested in playing political parlour games, covering up the truth than solving the problem.”
Now, the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants has condemned Ms Braverman’s comments.
They said the minister’s “dehumanising language” and decision-making were “putting lives at risk”.
They discussed what is being characterized as an eye-watering black hole, and agreed that tough decisions will be needed on tax rises as well as spending.
It comes ahead of the 17 November autumn statement.
It is reported that the pair are eyeing fixing income tax bands, so they can increase receipts as wages grow.
But they agreed those with the “broadest shoulders” should bear the greatest burden.
The source said: “It is going to be rough.
“The truth is that everybody will need to contribute more in tax if we are to maintain public services.
“After borrowing hundreds of billions of pounds through COVID-19 and implementing massive energy bill support, we won’t be able to fill the fiscal black hole through spending cuts alone.”
The Resolution Foundation thinktank – who we will hear more from shortly – warned that tax cuts were “likely” as the government faces an “unpalatable menu” of ways to fill a black hole in the finances they estimate at £40bn.
Suella Braverman’s second term as home secretary has already been fraught with controversy.
She admitted to breaking the ministerial code six times during her first tenure and is currently dealing with the south coast migrant crisis.
Chief political correspondent Jon Craig said on the Sky News Daily podcast, “Clearly, there is a concern in Whitehall about her behaviour.”
“And we know that Priti Patel never cared much for the rules and the protocol and the mandarins in the Home Office who tried to tell her what to do.
“And it seems that Suella Braverman has even less time for all the protocols and rules about security and how you do business.
“As a senior cabinet minister, she’s prepared to have a fight.”
Meanwhile, John Vine, the UK’s first independent chief inspector of borders and immigration, said that “one single policy” will not make a difference.
He added: “We need to think through the asylum and immigration system, and we need to decide how it’s going to operate.
“And we need to stick to that.”
On the Sky News Daily, Sally Lockwood is also joined by Conservative MP Sir Roger Gale, who explains his view of the current Home Office migration policy.
When Liz Truss unveiled the now infamous mini-budget, even her cabinet colleagues didn’t know what was coming. Rishi Sunak is taking no such risks.
Late last night, the Treasury issued a briefing to friendly newspapers – seen by Sky News – setting out the “eyewatering” scale of the fiscal black hole, which means “everyone” will need to pay more tax.
Following a meeting between the prime minister and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to discuss the Autumn Statement on 17 November, they “agreed that tough decisions are needed on tax rises, as well as on spending”, the Treasury stated.
A Treasury source said: “It is going to be rough. The truth is that everybody will need to contribute more in taxes if we are to maintain public services.
“After borrowing hundreds of billions of pounds through COVID-19and implementing massive energy bill support, we won’t be able to fill the fiscal black hole through spending cuts alone.”
They also briefed that while there will be pain all around, those with the broadest shoulders will bear the highest burden – something former chancellor George Osborne, the architect of austerity, also used to say.
It’s expected income tax thresholds will be frozen – dragging tens of thousands more people into the 20p and 40p tax rates in the coming years, and the windfall tax could be extended.
But day-to-day spending is also expected to be squeezed, with the possible exceptions of the NHS and defense, on departments already struggling with inflation.
Some in government say they expect Mr Sunak to raise benefits by inflation as promised in a signal of fairness to the most vulnerable, but no decisions have been made yet.
This is rolling the pitch – preparing the public and MPs for grim newsand setting out priorities.
It allows interest groups within his party, and external groups and charities, to make their cases in advance and hopefully avoid some of the worst pitfalls.
But it’s a high-wire act – the last time spending was squeezed like this, under the austerity drive of David Cameron and George Osborne from 2010, they had years to craft a narrative around it.
This time, Rishi Sunak made clear on the steps of Downing Street that a lot of the economic damage is self-inflicted by his predecessor Liz Truss and her failure to balance the books, although borrowing to tackle COVID is a key driver too.
Many voters who turned to the Conservatives for the first time in 2019 will have heard Boris Johnson saying austerity was over, indeed that he had always thought it was “just not the right way forward for the UK”.
The PM does not have long to craft a case that it is now time for everyone to tighten their belts – and to try and ensure the balance looks fair.
The mayor of Londonhas called on the government to impose a rent freeze on social housing after a charity warned that the city has seen a 24% increase in rough sleepers year on year.
Sadiq Khan stated that he has “repeatedly” pleaded for a rent freeze for private renters in London, but added that “those in social housing and shared ownership also deserve the benefits this would bring.”
“A social housing rent freeze is the only sensible solution as we continue to build a fairer London for all,” he said.
It comes after City Hall found there were 5,712 people on the capital’s streets between April and September – an increase of more than a fifth from the same time last year.
The same research uncovered a steep 24% rise in homelessness between July and September, compared with the same period in 2021.
The mayor said 3,500 people had been helped off the streets since 2016, with eight in 10 staying housed for good, but progress was being offset by extraordinary financial pressures.
Many Londoners living in social housing are struggling in this cost of living crisis, facing ever increasing bills & costs. That’s why I’m urging Ministers to implement a rent freeze for social housing tenants via a rebate to compensate for any upcoming social rent increases. 1/4
To assist families struggling with the rising cost of living, a burger restaurant is launching a “kids eat free” programme.
The Beefy Boys in Hereford is offering a free kids’ meal from 3 to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday throughout November with the purchase of an adult burger or fries.
“So grab the little sprogs and bring them down,” it said as it announced the deal on social media.
Instagram’s issues come less than a week after another Meta platform, WhatsApp, experienced a significant outage.
Instagram has stated that it is investigating why thousands of users’ accounts were suddenly suspended.
Users from all over the world have taken to other social media platforms to inquire as to why they have been locked out of their accounts, after receiving a message stating, “We suspended your account on October 31, 2022.”
“We’re aware that some of you are having issues accessing your Instagram account,” Instagram said.
“We’re looking into it and apologize for the inconvenience.”
Tens of thousands of people have logged problems, according to the website Down Detector.
The Verge reports that millions of people seem to have been affected, with follower counts dropping on some of the platform’s biggest accounts.
Those affected are told they have 30 days to disagree with their suspension.
Why are accounts being suspended?
Users are being presented with three reasons why their account has been suspended.
• The account does not meet Instagram’s community guidelines
• The account cannot be confirmed
• It is not visible right now and cannot be used
People first began reporting issues at around lunchtime on Monday.
“Did anyone else’s Instagram just get suspended for no reason?” tweeted one affected user.
“And now Instagram won’t even bother to let you appeal it just gives you an error?”
Another said: “Anyone else facing this issue on Instagram? Or is my account really suspended?”
Instagram’s troubles come less than a week after another Meta platform, WhatsApp, suffered a major outage.
Tens of thousandsof people reported being unable to send and receive messages last Tuesday morning.
After petrol bombs were thrown at the centre, the suspect was discovered dead.
Today, Kent Police officers served a warrant at a property in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.
Police said “two to three incendiary devices” were thrown at the centre by “a single suspect who arrived at the scene in a car”.
Emergency crews were called to the site in Kent shortly after 11.20 am on Sunday after the Reuters news agency – who had a photographer at the scene – reported that a man had thrown petrol bombs attached to fireworks at the centre.
The photographer captured the moment the man hurled the homemade bomb from the car window. The man was seen with a lighter in his hand as he threw the container toward the centre.
Image: Members of the military and UK Border Force extinguishing the fire from a petrol bomb
At least 45 baby deaths could have been avoided at two Kent hospitals, report into maternity care at NHS trust finds.
One witness named Brian Wood told Sky News he was about 200 metres away from the migrant centre and heard “three bangs” and saw smoke.
He added: “Then I heard the alarms going and people yelling and shouting.”
Kent Police said “two to three incendiary devices” were thrown at the centre by “a single suspect who arrived at the scene in a car”, with two people suffering minor injuries.
Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)seized the crew and cargo of a foreign ship carrying 11 million litres (2.9 million gallons) of smuggled fuel reports a local judiciary official.
Mojtaba Ghahremani, the judiciary chief of Hormozgan’s southern province, announced on Monday that the IRGC’s naval force had confiscated the unnamed vessel in Gulf waters.
“The captain and crew of this foreign tanker are also detained as investigations and legal procedures are being completed,” he said in a video message released by the semi-official Tasnim news website, while flanked by IRGC and judiciary personnel on the ship’s deck.
The nationality of the vessel or its crew was not announced, but Ghahremani said the value of its cargo amounted to 2.2 trillion rials (about $6.6m).
Tasnim also released a clip that showed the smuggled fuel on the tanker.
“All vessels which have delivered fuel to the violating tanker will also be subject to prosecution,” the judiciary official said.
Ghahremani said the arrested smugglers will be slapped with a financial penalty of up to 10 times the value of the confiscated cargo in addition to receiving jail sentences, while the vessel will be seized in favour of the Iranian government.
He also described the bust as a “major blow” to organized fuel
South Korea and Poland are set to evaluate the feasibility of constructing four 1,400-megawatt nuclear reactors in Patnow.
According to ministries from both countries, Seoul and Warsaw have signed outline agreements to develop nuclear power in Poland, as Poland strives to phase out coal and reduce carbon emissions and South Korea seeks to revitalise its nuclear industry.
Poland’s ZE PAK and PGE and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) will assess the viability of building four 1,400-megawatt nuclear reactors in Patnow, central Poland, using South Korean technology, the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said on Monday in a joint statement with the Polish Ministry of State Assets.
The companies, with government backing, intend to prepare a preliminary development plan for the plant by the end of this year, they said in a statement.
Since the election this year of President Yoon Suk-yeol, who pledged to revive the country’s nuclear power industry, South Korea has stepped up efforts to win nuclear power plant export orders.
If a final deal is signed, it will be “an achievement supported by the Korean government’s firm determination and policy to export nuclear plants”, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Chang-Yang Lee said.
Defence partnership
During his visit to South Korea, Polish State Assets Minister Jacek Sasin also discussed enhancing Poland’s defence partnership with Seoul, he said on Twitter.
“We welcome the information that ZE PAK and PGE have entered into talks with KHNP, which will further strengthen relations between Poland and South Korea,” Sasin was quoted as saying in a statement.
ZE PAK, owned by billionaire Zygmunt Solorz, produces energy mainly from lignite but plans to phase out coal by 2030 and produce energy only from renewable sources afterward.
Monday’s agreements follow an announcement on Friday when Warsaw said US firm Westinghouse Electric Co will build the country’s first nuclear power plant in northern Poland.
According to a Human Rights Watch report, the Bahraini government is using “political isolation laws” and a variety of other tactics to keep the opposition out of the public office and other aspects of public life.
The report released on Monday details the alleged use of Bahrain’s 2018 laws to prevent political opponents from running for parliament seats or serving on the boards of governors of civic organisations, describing the practises as “targeted marginalisation of opposition figures from social, political, civil, and economic life.”
“Bahrain has spent the last decade cracking down on peaceful opposition and the political isolation laws are yet another example of the government’s repression expanding into new spheres,” said Joey Shea, Middle East and North Africa researcher with the rights group, which is based in the United States.
“These draconian laws have made a mockery of Bahrain’s upcoming parliamentary ‘elections,’ which can neither be free nor fair when you make any political opposition essentially illegal.”
Human Rights Watch said that it interviewed activists, civil society members, and opposition figures, and reviewed and analysed government statements, laws, and court records.
The group added the laws in question introduced new punitive consequences by punishing individual members of two major opposition parties, al-Wefaq and Wa’ad, that were dissolved in 2016 and 2017, respectively.
Shea said the two parties were “hugely popular political parties” before they were dissolved.
“Not only these groups were dissolved by the judiciary, but the 2018 law also takes the repression further by barring individual members from running for parliament, not even part of these societies,” she told Al Jazeera.
Al-Wefaq won 18 out of 40 seats in the 2010 parliamentary polls, which is the last election the party joined
Crackdown
The report also said that the law targets activists and human rights defenders who were arrested in the government’s large-scale crackdown duringthe peaceful 2011 pro-democracy and anti-government uprising and in its aftermath.
The final clause of the political isolation laws, concerning individuals who have “disrupted” constitutional life in Bahrain, has been interpreted by Bahraini lawyers and civil society to prevent former MPs and others from running for office again, Human Rights Watch said.
In addition to cases of people barred from running for office, the group said it documented three cases of civil society organisations that struggled to form a board and carry on with their activities due to the effect of these laws.
The report says the group also documented the continued detentions and summons of Bahraini citizens for speech-related offenses.
“The Bahraini government should repeal the 2018 political isolation laws, end the practice of denying certificates of good behavior to punish perceived opponents and restore full legal, political, and civil rights to all Bahraini citizens,” according to the group.
Human Right Watch also called on the international community, including close allies like the US, United Kingdom, and European Union member states, to pressure Bahraini authorities to end the “repression of peaceful opposition and civil society”.
Iranian officials criticise a United Nationsrapporteur, while a large number of journalists demand the release of their detained colleagues.
Protests in Iran that began last month in response to the death of a young woman in police custody have been documented in cities across the country this week, even as protesters’ first court hearings have been held and internet restrictions remain in place.
More protests were seen on social media at universities, particularly in Tehran and Sanandaj, the capital of Kurdistan’s northwestern province, where Mahsa Amini, 22, was from. She died on September 16 after being detained by Iran’s morality police.
Social media footage showed clashes breaking out on Sunday at Tehran’s Azad University between students and security forces, who fired tear gas.
The demonstrations persisted after Hossein Salami, the commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said on Saturday, “Today is the last day of the riots,” as he warned people “not to come to the streets”.
An unknown number of protesting students was suspended from universities this week, reports on social media and foreign-based outlets said. It prompted their fellow students to demonstrate on Monday in their support, according to images on social media, which could not be independently verified.
Meanwhile, a court in Tehran on Sunday held the first hearings for “rioters” accused, among other things, of intentionally killing police officers and burning public and government property. Several people are charged with “corruption on Earth” and “waging war against God”, which carry the death penalty.
The Iranian judiciary said more than 1,000 indictments have been issued for people participating in “riots” across the country after a call this month by the judiciary chief to fast-track cases and hand out harsh sentences.
Iranian media reported that one arrest was of Toomaj Salehi, a dissident rapper who had filmed himself participating in protests and regularly posted his opposition to the Iranian establishment on social media. His friends rejected reports that he was arrested in a border province while trying to flee the country. Salehi had been previously detained in September 2021 after releasing songs with lyrics decrying the establishment but was released on bail.
‘Let’s free the journalists’
Amini died days after being detained by Iran’s morality police and taken to a “re-education centre” for allegedly not fully complying with the country’s mandatory dress code.
Those arrested since the start of the protests include a slew of reporters and photojournalists. More than 500 local journalists have signed a statement that calls on authorities to release their colleagues. They say the detained journalists have been denied access to lawyers and charged prior to facing public trials and official submission of evidence.
“Let’s not blind the eyes of the society,” said the statement on Sunday, which was carried on the front page of several newspapers. “Let’s free the journalists.”
Its publication came two days after Iran’s intelligence community, in a rare joint report, accused two journalists – Niloufar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi – of covering Amini’s death after being trained abroad by the United States spy agency.
Hamedi had reported on Amini’s death from a hospital in Tehran and posted an image of the woman’s parents holding each other. Mohammadi had travelled to Amini’s hometown of Saqqez to cover her funeral. The editors-in-chief of the two newspapers they work for have said the reporters were on assignment and only did their job.
Dozens of people are thought to have been killed during the protests and many more injured, but Iranian authorities have yet to release an official tally. Dozens of members of the security forces have also been killed. Several of them died this week, according to authorities, who release their names and hold state funerals for them.
Speaking with the family of a security officer killed in Tehran, President Ebrahim Raisi promised, “We will under no circumstances allow the enemy’s designs for harming our security.”
Top Iranian authorities, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, have accused the United States and Israel of being behind the unrest.
Some officials have signalled that they are open to reforms as a result of the protests, provided protests are differentiated from “riots” and efforts to “overthrow the establishment”.
“The country’s political establishment is a definitive platform for any type of reforms and changes to secure popular interests, and some of this change consists of reforms in governance within the framework of the Islamic Republic’s political establishment that must lead to new governance,” Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said.
Foreign tensions rising
The persistent protests and lingering internet restrictions have put the Iranian state at odds with a number of other countries and officials.
The US and Albania are preparing to hold an informal meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday to discuss what Washington has called “brutal suppression” of the protests.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani criticised Javaid Rehman, the special UN rapporteur on human rights in Iran, for a “deeply anti-Iranian approach” and for agreeing to participate in the Security Council meeting, which Tehran considers to be politically motivated.
“Unfortunately, human rights have become a tool for pursuing the political goals of some countries, especially the US,” Rehman said.
On Sunday, a group of prominent women from 14 countries – including Nobel laureates Malala Yousefzai and Nadia Murad, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former US first lady Michelle Obama – published an open letter calling for Iran’s immediate expulsion from the UN Commission on the Status of Women.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the European Union was examining whether to classify the Revolutionary Guard as a “terrorist” organisation for its response to the protests, something the Iranian foreign ministry on Monday called “illegal”. The US already designated the elite force as a “terrorist” group in 2019.
Tehran has responded to human rights sanctions by the US, EU the United Kingdom, and Canada with sanctions of its own and has said new measures on US and Canadian officials and entities would be imposed.
Iran this week blocked a host of services by Google, including its maps and Android apps store after the store flagged a major state-backed application as being unsafe because of suspicions of “spying” on users’ data. Authorities denounced Google’s move as being politically motivated.
State-affiliated media showed footage of “large numbers of students and professors” who were reported to be taking part in demonstrations denouncing a “terrorist” attack on a major Shia religious shrine in Shiraz last week. It killed 15 people and wounded dozens.
Authorities organised rallies in the southern city and elsewhere to denounce the attack. Top Iranian officials have linked the attack to “riots” and pledged to take revenge as a website linked with ISIL (ISIS) claimed responsibility.
Consumer pricegrowth in the eurozone’s 19 member countries accelerated in October, putting the ECB under pressure.
Government bond yields in the Eurozone have risen after data showed consumer prices rose at a record pace in October, putting pressure on the European Central Bank to maintain aggressive policy tightening.
Consumer price growth in the 19 countries that use the euro as their monetary unit accelerated to 10.7 percent in October, up from 9.9 percent the previous month, according to data released on Monday.
Inflation excluding unprocessed food and energy accelerated to 6.4 percent from 6 percent, while an even narrower measure that also filters out alcohol and tobacco rose to 5 percent from 4.8 percent.
The data points to further rate increases from the European Central Bank (ECB) in an attempt to bring inflation back down toward its target.
“The ECB’s goal of pushing the inflation rate back to just under 2 percent on a sustainable basis seems a long way off,” Commerzbank senior economist Christoph Weil said, noting the ECB forecast inflation at 9.2 percent in the final quarter of 2022.
“This also increases the pressure on the ECB Governing Council to further raise key rates sharply,” Weil added.
Germany’s two-year yield was up 4 bps to 1.968 percent.
The ECB policy meeting on Thursday had pushed investors to bet on a slower pace of rate hikes, but policymaker comments since the meeting and elevated price pressures suggest the central bank remains in tightening mode.
Money markets are pricing in a 50 bps rate hike at the December meeting, with about 140 bps of further tightening priced in for this cycle, according to data from Refinitiv.
On Sunday, ECB governing council member Klaas Knot helped push back expectations for a slower pace of tightening, saying it was likely the next hike would be a choice of 50 or 75 bps.
Italy’s 10-year government bond yield rose 9 bps to 4.243 percent, pushing the spread between Italian and German 10-year yields wider by 3.5 bps to about 209 bps.
Black Sea grain deal
Eyes were also on the inflationary effect of Russia suspending participation in an UN-brokered Black Sea grain deal.
Chicago wheat futures jumped almost 6 percent on Monday and corn rose more than 2 percent as Russia’s withdrawal from the agreement raised concerns over global supplies.
“Food inflation has been a big deal and any decline in grain shipments from Ukraine is not going to help the inflation issue,” said Lyn Graham-Taylor, senior rates strategist at Rabobank.
“It’s another wrinkle to add to the many inflationary issues out there.”
Looking further ahead, investor focus looks set to turn to the Federal Reserve policy meeting on Wednesday.
The Fed is likely to raise rates by 75 bps at the meeting but is seen slowing the pace of hikes from December.
‘Don’t let Russia starve the world’: Ukraine responds to Russia’s suspension of grain agreements
As US politicians make their final appeals to voters ahead of critical midterm elections, a wide-reaching and varied set of issues has dominated discussions across the United States.
Republicans, who are seeking to retake control of Congress from their Democratic Party rivals, are lamenting the state of the economy amid a global financial downturn and a steady rise in the cost of living.
And Democrats are focusing on abortion rights after the US Supreme Court revoked the constitutional right to the procedure while raising concerns about the future of democracy and fair elections in the country.
The November 8 election, which will see all the seats in the House of Representatives and more than a third of the Senate up for grabs, will have an enormous influence on the rest of President Joe Biden’s term.
Here, Al Jazeera examines the major issues at play in this election cycle.
The economy
“It’s the economy, stupid.”
That was the de facto motto of Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign against incumbent President George HW Bush, who had rallied dozens of countries across the world to beat back Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait. As Bush tried to tout the triumph of the first Gulf War, Clinton shifted the focus to an economic recession at that time and won the presidency.
Taking a page out of Clinton’s book, this year Republicans have been pushing to make the economy a central issue in the midterm elections, often accusing Biden of seeking to distract from soaring inflation.
Despite a dip in petrol costs in August, consumer prices went up 8.3 percent compared to the same month last year. While Democrats argue that inflation is linked to global events, such as the war in Ukraine, and coronavirus pandemic-related supply chain issues, Republicans say government spending, which has accelerated under Biden, is to blame.
“Inflation is crushing Americans, and it’s disproportionately hurting the most vulnerable,” Mehmet Oz, a Republican Senate candidate running in the swing state of Pennsylvania, wrote on Twitter on September 20. “It’s making everyday necessities like groceries cost more. Hurting small businesses. And hitting seniors, many of whom rely on Social Security, when they need every last penny.’
Abortion
In contests across the country, Democrats are prioritising abortion rights in their pitch to voters, portraying the elections as a referendum on reproductive rights.
Since the overturning of the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v Wade ruling in June, many conservative US states passed restrictive abortion laws, including near-total bans.
In response, Democrats have been trying to pass a federal law to protect the right to abortion, but currently, they do not have the numbers in the Senate, where a legislative procedure known as the filibuster requires 60 votes in the 100-member chamber to pass major legislation.
With the election looming, Biden and other top Democrats have promised to carve out a filibuster exception if they retain the House and expand their majority in the Senate.
Most Republican officials argue that abortion regulations should be handled by US states. But Senator Lindsey Graham – who is not up for re-election – recently introduced a federal bill to ban abortions at 15 weeks of pregnancy.
“This November: Abortion access will be on the ballot. A woman’s freedom will be on the ballot. The future of women’s reproductive rights will be on the ballot,” Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan, who is seeking re-election in New Hampshire, wrote on Twitter on September 17.
Abortion rights became a major campaign issue for Democrats after the US Supreme Court in June revoked the right to the procedure [File: Alyssa Pointer/Reuters]
Immigration
With a record number of migrants and asylum seekers crossing the southern border this year, Republicans are turning opposition to Biden’s immigration policies into a political rallying cry ahead of the elections.
Republicans blame Biden – who reversed some of his predecessors Donald Trump’s anti-immigration policies but has failed to revoke others – for the arrivals, saying his administration is failing to secure the border.
Most recently, Republican governors in Texas, Arizona, and Florida have captured national headlines by paying to transport migrants to liberal-leaning northern cities in what they say is an effort to share the burden.
Migrant rights groups, Democratic lawmakers, and the White House have denounced the push as “cruel political theater” meant to curry votes at the expense of asylum seekers. But the Republican governors are sticking by it, while others have pledged to continue some of Trump’smost hardline strategies if elected.
For example, on his campaign website, Adam Laxalt, a Republican Senate candidate trying to unseat a Democratic incumbent in Nevada, has vowed to “finish the wall” at the southern border.
Democracy
Democrats have been sounding the alarm that Trump’s Republican base is growing increasingly authoritarian – or as Biden put it, “semi-fascist” – as the former president is still contesting the 2020 presidential elections based on false allegations of voter fraud.
Democratic candidates are now arguing that a Republican return to power could fundamentally harm the governing system in the country, especially with the GOP having nominated election deniers to offices up and down the ballot across the country.
Trump had pressured state legislatures, the US Department of Justice, and his own vice president to overturn the 2020 vote, and as recently as last month, he called to be reinstated as president.
With Trump likely to seek the White House again in 2024, Democrats say blocking a Republican return to power is needed to safeguard American democracy.
Earlier this month, Biden warned that Trump’s far-right supporters “represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic”.
“As I stand here tonight, equality and democracy are under assault. We do ourselves no favour to pretend otherwise,” he said.
Other issues
Education: Republicans – wary of discussions about race, sexuality, and gender identity in schools – want more parental control over what children are taught. In his platform, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy vows to “recover lost learning from school closures, and expand parental choice so over a million more students can receive the education their parents know is best”. Democrats dismiss the Republican rhetoric as a push for censorship that especially harms LGBT students.
Climate: Democrats, especially those in the progressive wing of the party, say mitigating the climate crisis is one of their most pressing priorities. They are looking to keep control of Congress to expand on recent legislation signed by Biden that incentivises a push towards green energy and electric cars.
Public safety: The US saw an uptick in homicides and violent crime in 2020 and 2021 – a trend that conservatives blame on liberals and progressives. Biden had rejected calls to “defund the police” that rose in the wake of the George Floyd racial justice protests in 2020. Still, many Republicans are trying to paint their rivals as enabling crime. “In the US Senate I’ll fight every day to make life in Arizona safe again,” Republican Senate Candidate Blake Masters says on his website.
Gun control: With the country regularly witnessing mass shootings, Democrats are pushing for tighter gun restrictions, including an assault weapons ban. At the same time, Republicans are vowing to protect gun access and the Second Amendment of the US Constitution, which grants the right to bear arms.
A Ukrainian official has reacted strongly to Russia’s decision to withdraw from the Black Sea grain deal.
Government official Oleg Nikolenko said: “Don’t let Russia starve the world”.
Global prices for wheat have increased by 5% following Russia’s suspension of the grain deal. Millions in Africa and Asia will face malnutrition and hunger because of Moscow’s cruelty. Ukraine wants to continue grain exports to those in need. Don’t let Russia starve the world.
It comes as wheat and other wholesale food costs have risen sharply after Russia withdrew from the export deal which is designed to ensure crucial supplies flow from Ukraine.
Ukraine and Russia account for 30% of global wheat supplies.
A deal with Vladimir Putin’s government had been struck, brokered by the UN, in July to allow shipments from Ukraine.
A Ukrainian MP has said recent Russian attacks on energy infrastructure are making it “harder” for Ukrainians, but added that “no one is complaining”.
Kira Rudik told Sky News: “There are no military targets in these objects Russia is attacking, Putin is attacking them just to make sure it is harder for us to survive winter. Today, people are figuring out how to get water for themselves and their families.
“We were ready for spending a couple of days without electricity and heat, but we were not ready to spend days without running water and this is what may happen.”
She added that while Ukrainians are working to restore damaged sites, she claimed Russia waits for them to be restored and targets them again.
Ms Rudik added that people are preparing to supply water for themselves and using local sources.
“People are supporting each other, but it’s getting harder and harder in Kyiv and other major cities in Ukraine.”
Moscow withdrew from the Black Sea agreement after accusing Ukraine of carrying out a drone attack in Crimea.
Western governments are urging Russia to reverse its decision to withdraw from an UN-brokered grain deal, which undermines efforts to alleviate the global food crisis, with Ukraine claiming Moscow planned the move well in advance.
In July, Russia and Ukraine signed a deal brokered by Turkey and the United Nations under which Moscow allowed grain ships to leave Ukrainian Black Sea ports. The agreement, which had already allowed the export of over 9 million tonnes of Ukrainian grain, was set to be renewed on November 19.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday expressed “deep concern” as Ukraine’s maritime grain exports were halted.
“The Secretary-General continues to engage in intense contacts aiming at the end of the Russian suspension of its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative,” Guterres’ spokesman said.
“The same engagement also aims at the renewal and full implementation of the initiative to facilitate exports of food and fertilizer from Ukraine, as well as removing the remaining obstacles to the exports of Russian food and fertilizer.”
Moscow suspended its participation in the deal on Saturday, effectively blocking shipments from Ukraine, one of the world’s top grain exporters, in response to what it called a major Ukrainian drone attack earlier in the day on its Black Sea Fleet headquarters near the port of Sevastopol in Russian-annexed Crimea.
“Russia’s decision to suspend participation in the Black Sea deal puts at risk the main export route of much-needed grainand fertilisers to address the global food crisis caused by its war against Ukraine,” European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Twitter on Sunday.
“The EU urges Russia to [reverse] its decision.”
Russia’s decision to suspend participation in the Black Sea deal puts at risks the main export route of much needed grain and fertilisers to address the global food crisis caused by its war against Ukraine.
The Russianmayor of Labytnangi has shared photos of local schoolchildren who appear to be sewing clothes for soldiers fighting in Ukraine.
Marina Treskova said on the Russian social network VK: “Our compatriots continue to demonstrate their readiness to help not in words, but in reality”.
She added that the school students were sewing clothes for “military personnel who are in the special operations zone” – the term Russia uses to describe its invasion of Ukraine.
Missile debrislanded in the northern Moldovan village of Naslavcea on Monday morning after a Russian fusillade was intercepted by air defences in neighbouring Ukraine, according to a statement from Moldova’s interior ministry.
No one was hurt, but the windows of several homes in Naslavcea, which borders Ukraine, were shattered, according to the ministry.
Nicu Popescu, Moldova’s foreign minister, said the Russian attack had targeted a Ukrainian dam on the Nistru River that runs through the two countries.
“Attacks on water infrastructure and ensuing stress on the river could put the entire region in danger of floods,” he tweeted, condemning Russian aggression against Ukraine “in the strongest possible terms”.
This morning a part of a Russian missile shot down by Ukrainian air defences landed in the Moldovan village of Naslavcea on the Ukrainian border.
There were no casualties; the shock wave shattered windows of several residential houses.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Turkeyis determined to “serve humanity” and move forward with the UN-brokered Black Sea grain export deal after Moscow withdrew from the initiative over the weekend.
“Even if Russia behaves hesitantly because it didn’t receive the same benefits, we will continue decisively our efforts to serve humanity,” Erdogan said in a televised address.
“Our effort to deliver this wheat to countries facing the threat of starvation is evident. With the joint mechanism that we established in Istanbul, we contributed to the relief of a global food crisis,” the Turkish leader added, noting the deal had already provided 9.3 million tonnes of food to world markets.
Suella Braverman has written to the House of Commons’ Home Affairs Select Committee to explain how she sent government information to a backbench MP.
This action prompted Ms Braverman to resign as home secretary, only to be reappointed six days later (last week, upon Rishi Sunak, becoming PM).
Ms Braverman also admitted to sending work emails to her personal address on six occasions, in violation of the ministerial code.
In the letter, Ms Braverman says the information related to a written ministerial statement outlining immigration policy.
She says the information would “outline the government’s position” – and allow the OBR to incorporate the position into their forecasts.
The information was sent to Tory MP Sir John Hayes, with Ms Braverman saying she “intended to copy his secretary’s parliamentary email address” but she put the wrong email in. The information instead went to the secretary of a different MP.
According to Ms Braverman,
Suella Braverman has written to the House of Commons’ Home Affairs Select Committee to explain how she sent government information to a backbench MP.
This action prompted Ms Braverman to resign as home secretary, only to be reappointed six days later (last week, upon Rishi Sunak becoming PM).
Ms Braverman also admitted to sending work emails to her personal address on six occasions, in violation of the ministerial code.
had “specifically requested” that the policy be discussed with “parliamentary colleagues”.
The home secretary also gave her a timeline of events as she saw them on the day inquestion.
She said it started with getting up at 4 am to go on a police raid, before travelling two hours by car to the Home Office.
It was during this journey that Ms Braverman sent the email in question from her personal phone as she did not have her work phone with her.
Following a morning of meetings, Ms Braverman says when she realised she had sent the email to a staffer of MP Andrew Percy by accident, she “decided to inform my officials as soon as practicable”.
But before informing the civil service, Ms Braverman bumped into the chief whip and Mr Percy – a meeting during which Mr Percy raised his concerns.
Suella Braverman,the Home Secretary, is expected to give a speech in the House of Commons this afternoon.
It comes as she faces mounting scrutiny for her handling of government information and decisions to postpone the transfer of migrants from overcrowded detention centres to hotels.
In a letter to the Home Affairs Select Committee published in the last hour, Ms Braverman admitted to breaching rules around using her personal email address for government business on six occasions.
The home secretary has been urged to get a “grip” of the situation with migrants in the south of England.
Some 4,000 people have been held at Manston in Kent, a facility designed to hold fewer than 2,000 people.
It is believed her statement today will be on the situation in Manston.
Almost 500 people crossed the Channel in small boats yesterday, and a person threw incendiary devices at a facility in Dover.
Russia has warned that it would be “risky” for Ukraine to continue exporting grain via the Black Sea after Moscow suspended its participation in an initiative to facilitate shipments.
“In conditions when Russia is talking about the impossibility of guaranteeing the safety of shipping in these areas, such a deal is hardly feasible, and it takes on a different character – much more risky, dangerous and unguaranteed,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Peskov said Russian contacts with Turkey and the United Nations, who brokered the grain export deal in July, were continuing. He declined to comment when asked what needed to happen, from Russia’s point of view, for the deal to be resumed.
There are two potential political scandals to address today, and both are on the home secretary’s desk.
First is the deteriorating situation at Manston processing centre in Kent, described by the chief inspector of prisons as “dangerous” and inhumane.
It’s expected a minister will have to answer questions about it in Parliament this afternoon. Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick, who visited the site for three hours yesterday, may be asked to step in for Suellla Braverman to explain why the processing facility is almost three times over capacity and families were reportedly left sleeping in tents for weeks.
If the Home Office does not offer up a statement from him, then they are likely to be forced to answer an urgent question.
A government minister, Mark Spencer, appeared to confirm on Sky News this morning that failure to procure other accommodation was deliberate policy, saying that Ms Braverman had prevented people from being moved out of the site so they could be processed more quickly.
But answers have been demanded by Labour, campaigners, and by Conservative MP Roger Gale, whose constituency in North Thanet includes the facility. He gave the home secretary and her predecessor both barrels on Sky News this morning.
He said it was “clearly Home Office policy” not to book hotel accommodation for those held there for the past few years. He said this was a mistake, which has led to significant overcrowding, and that Mr Jenrick was in the process of moving people out.
“I do believe that whoever is responsible, that is either the previous home secretary or this one, has to be held to account because a bad decision was taken and it has led to what I would regard as a breach of humane conditions,” he said. He added that the migrant issue should be addressed “in a grown-up fashion, not by dog whistle politics.”
The home secretary – who the weekend papers reported has been nicknamed “Cruella” by officials – has been tasked with tackling the issue of migrants crossing the Channel in flimsy boats, with the numbers reaching a record 38,000 this year.
MPs were told last week that just 4% of those who arrived last year have had their claims processed. Senior Conservatives are privately concerned that the home secretary – returned to her post by Rishi Sunak six days after she resigned over a security breach – is not the right person to sort out this complex issue.
She may also need to answer questions today, or the next time she appears publicly, about the circumstances surrounding her resignation. She admitted a security breach and said she had reported it “rapidly” as soon as she realised.
But Labour’s Yvette Cooper predicted that Ms Braverman would dodge questions on Manston today after revelations over the weekend that after sending the email from her personal account and realising it was to the wrong recipient, she told them – in an email seen by the BBC – to “delete the message and ignore.”
Having been forced to resign once already, there are already questions about how long she can survive in the post.
DISCLAIMER: Independentghana.com will not be liable for any inaccuracies contained in this article. The views expressed in the article are solely those of the author and do not reflect those of Independent Ghana
Visitors no longer need a negative COVID test or download the Ehteraz app.
Football fans traveling to Qatar for the World Cup will no longer need to present negative COVID tests and preregister on a government app to enter the country.
The Qatari government has cancelled the majority of travel restrictions related to COVID-19 ahead of the start of the World Cup that kicks off on November 20.
From November 1, travellers no longer need to present a negative COVID-19 PCR or Rapid Antigen tests to enter the country.
Visitors entering Qatar are not required to preregister on the government’s Ehteraz health application before their arrival.
A green health status on Ehteraz is now required only to access the country’s health facilities.
A COVID vaccination certificate is also no longer required to enter Qatar.
The arriving fans, players, officials, staff, and media are by far the biggest influx of visitors seen in Qatar, which has a population of approximately 2.9 million.
Qatari citizens and residents also no longer need to take a PCR or rapid antigen test within 24 hours of returning from abroad, the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) said.
The measures cover all visitors arriving from November 1, when Qatar will be closed to anyone without a Hayya card – the mandatory document issued to players, officials, staff, media and ticket holders, and their guests.
Qatari organisers and football’s governing body, FIFA, have said they want the event to be a sign the world is getting over the devastating pandemic.
But MoPH has previously warned that special measures would be ordered “in the event of a worsening pandemic situation in the country”, such as the emergence of a threatening new variant.
Players and match officials may be forced into a secure “bio-bubble” if COVID cases take off again, with the threat of expulsion from the tournament for those who breach the secure environment, the ministry said last month.
A requirement to wear masks on public transport was scrapped in October and masks are also not compulsory inside the eight World Cup stadiums.
South Africa’s football team offered hope to a divided nation but has struggled to make an impact internationally.
In the early 1990s, the South Africanmen’s football team carried the hopes of millions, that it would bring together a divided nation at the end of apartheid.
In July 1992, the team was readmitted to FIFA after a nearly 30-year ban.
However, Bafana Bafana has failed to make a lasting impact, and observers are divided on the reasons.
Some former national team greats say its problems come from a lack of consistency, others point to the absence of South Africans in top European leagues as an indicator of player quality.
Others say the players, and the team, need to develop their own footballing identity instead of imitating the way teams develop in Europe.
From rising force to flunking out of the group stage
Following the country’s first democratic elections in 1994, the national team looked like a rising force in African football.
It won the 1996 African Cup of Nations (AFCON), lifting the trophy on home soil on its tournament debut, reaching an all-time high FIFA ranking of 16 in August that year.
Things looked promising for Bafana Bafana until the mid-2000s, boasting players such as Benni McCarthy, Steven Pienaar, Quinton Fortune, Lucas Radebe and Fish – all of whom played in the English Premier League. Then the team started to decline.
In the years to follow, Thulani Serero, Kermit Erasmus, Keagan Dolly, Phakamani Mahlambi, and Luther Singh were hailed as potential saviours of South African football but have not achieved consistency.
South Africa has not qualified competitively for a World Cupsince 2002. The team’s failure to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar meant it will not feature in a third consecutive World Cup since hosting the 2010 edition where it finished third in Group A.
That early exit gave them the ignominious title of being the only host nation in World Cup history not to progress beyond the group stage.
Since 2010, the team has also missed out on qualifying for four of seven AFCON tournaments – most recently the delayed 2021 event held in Cameroon earlier this year.
Even when Bafana Bafana did qualify for the continental event, the team has not advanced beyond the quarter-finals since 2000.
Former Charlton Athletic defender Mark Fish, who played for South Africa in the 1998 World Cup and in three AFCON events, believes a major change in the mindset is needed, and not just among the players and coaches, but also fans and the media.
Katlego Mphela during the game against Mexico in the World Cup 2010 group stages. South Africa is out of a third consecutive World Cup since hosting the 2010 edition [Jason Cairnduff/Action Images/Reuters]
“Sometimes we hear about players playing well in three or four games, and then being talked about as though they are the next best player. Even when I coach youngsters, I find that a player is quickly nicknamed Messi. I tell them they need to earn a nickname like that,” Fish told Al Jazeera.
Strong leagues make better players
Hans Vonk, who was part of Bafana Bafana’s 1998 and 2002 World Cup squads, believes the lack of South African players in Europe’s top five leagues – England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain – impacts the national team’s performance.
“What we are lacking now is players who play in strong leagues,” said Vonk. “The experience makes them better players internationally.”
Current national team coach Hugo Broos, a Belgian, recently stirred controversy by saying the DSTV Premiership, South Africa’s top league, was not strong enough to equip players for the international stage, and Vonk agrees that the league is well-organized and marketed, but does not meet global standards.
“There is no good reason why a country of 50 million people is not producinggood players regularly,” he said. “The clubs are not focused on youth players but are instead focused first on making money. There is also no structure because the coaches are not educated enough.”
Vonk spent most of his career playing in the Dutch Eredivisie before ending it in South Africa with the now-defunct Ajax Cape Town in 2011.
At the 1998 World Cup, where Vonk started all three group matches, South Africa were outplayed by France in their opening game but went on to draw against Denmark and Saudi Arabia, finishing third in Group C.
In 2002, South Africa started their campaign with a 2-2 draw against Paraguay before claiming their first World Cup win with a 1-0 victory over Slovenia.
Needing only a draw against Spain, an Andre Arendse goalkeeping error meant South Africa crashed out.
“In 2002, we could have reached the last 16 if there was more focus,” said Vonk. “I felt like some of the players did not really feel like they were at a World Cup.”
‘Must do things our way’
Masilo Modubi, another former South Africa international, believes the domestic league harms the progress of aspiring players by trying to emulate systems in Europe instead of forming its own unique football identity.
A former Chelsea youth player, Modubi spent his career in Belgium with Westerlo and Dessel Sport. He currently works as a coach with KESK Leopoldsburg in Belgium.
Modubi said the age limits in the leagues work in Europe because players start their development from the age of six or seven. In South Africa, however, that development doesn’t start until about the age of 21, he said.
“Because of the age limits, the development of players is harmed. We can pick out certain things from Europe but we must still do things our own way. Top former players in South Africa like Teko Modise and Siphiwe Tshabalala only peaked in their late 20s,” said Modubi, adding that many of the best players cannot afford to attend academies.
Former Belgian international Hugo Broos became coach of South Africa’s national team in 2021 [Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters]
In addition, South Africa has had 20 different coaches in the 30 years since its readmission to international football in 1992.
“There is no consistency in the South African national team. We change coaches like we change underwear,” Modubi said.
“For the public, progress is about winning things. For a coach, progress is taking the team in the direction that he wants. The public in South Africa is less patient than other countries when it comes to coaches.”
Modubi also said the country was losing out on “many talented players who will prefer to watch TV and play on their gaming console instead of playing the sport”.
“There are quite a few players who are good but they are too casual and don’t really focus on developing themselves,” he added.
The South African Football Association (SAFA) refused to comment on what ails the national team.
Neil Tovey, a former Bafana Bafana captain and SAFA technical director – who led the team to AFCON success in 1996 – believes a lack of leadership “and poor mentality” from players may be a key factor behind the inconsistency and a fall in performance.
“They have the talent but they do not have leadership as we had in 1996. When things went wrong, we changed it with our own ability. We did not wait until half-time for instruction or for post-match analysis,” said Tovey.
While many have praised Broos for slamming the state of South African football, Tovey thinks the Belgian “must stop looking for scapegoats and try to find something that will make the team better”, and believes South Africa can qualify for the expanded 48-team World Cup that takes placein 2026.
