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Tag: UK

  • UK economy to be boosted by 0.08% over trade deal

    UK economy to be boosted by 0.08% over trade deal

    Three years after it formally left the European Union, the UK has agreed to join a trade agreement with 11 countries in Asia and the Pacific.

    By lowering tariffs on products like cheese, vehicles, chocolate, machinery, gin, and whisky, joining the group will increase UK exports, according to the government.

    But, according to the government’s own projections, joining the bloc will only increase the UK’s economy by 0.08%.

    500 million people live in the market that is covered by the trading region.

    Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam are participants in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, or CPTPP, which was founded in 2018.

    Membership of the CPTPP loosens restrictions on trade between members and reduce tariffs – a form of border tax – on goods.

    Together, the 11 members account for about 13% of the world’s income and after 21 months of negotiations, the UK has become the first European country to join.

    The government said the agreement was the UK’s “biggest trade deal since Brexit”.

    However, the gains for the UK from joining are expected to be modest. The UK already has free trade deals with all of the members except Brunei and Malaysia, some of which were rolled over from its previous membership of the EU.

    And even with some gains in trading the government only estimates it will add 0.08% to the size of the economy in 10 years. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), which provides forecasts for the government, has previously said Brexit would reduce the UK’s potential economic growth by about 4% in the long term.

    ‘Prime position’

    But Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the deal demonstrated the “real economic benefits of our post-Brexit freedoms”.

    “As part of CPTPP, the UK is now in a prime position in the global economy to seize opportunities for new jobs, growth and innovation,” he said.

    “British businesses will now enjoy unparalleled access to markets from Europe to the south Pacific.”

    Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch said the agreement was like “buying a start-up”.

    “This is not to replace EU trade, this is in addition. We are still in a free trade agreement with the EU,” she told Radio 4’s Today programme.

    “You wouldn’t buy a small company like that and expect it to be delivering on the day – we are thinking about the potential,” she said, adding that in seven years “40% of the world’s middle class is going to come from that region”.

    Ms Badenoch denied there would be any hit to UK agriculture, saying the deal would “create new markets” for farmers.

    Labour’s shadow international trade secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said the UK joining the CPTPP was “encouraging”, but added that questions remain on “consumer safety, food safety, data protection and environmental protections”.

    The government said other “benefits” of being in the bloc included, a boost to the services sector, by UK firms not being required to establish a local office or be resident to supply a service, meaning they will be on a par with local firms.

    The government said it and CPTPP members would make the final legal and administrative steps required for the UK to formally sign in 2023. 

  • UK: Two police officers who had sex in police van cited for misconduct

    UK: Two police officers who had sex in police van cited for misconduct

    According to testimony during a misconduct tribunal, an on-duty cop had sex with an off-duty coworker in a marked police van.

    Stephen Athawes and Daria Krolewicz were found guilty of gross misconduct at a hearing earlier in March.

    Both former PCs had left their posts before the hearing, Devon and Cornwall Police said.

    Supt Jo Arundale said “had the officers still been serving, they would have been dismissed without notice”.

    ‘Undermined trust’

    Supt Arundale, the force’s head of professional standards, said: “On this occasion the behaviour of the officers fell below the standards expected within policing.

    “Through their actions, the officers undermined the public’s trust and confidence in the police force and did not fulfil their duties and responsibilities.”

    The hearing concluded on 9 March and both officers will now be submitted to the College of Policing barred list.

    The panel heard Mr Athawes had been working on the night of 30 May 2021, when he dropped his crew mate back at a police station.

    Following the two-day public hearing, the panel concluded that the allegations were proven

    He then went in a police riot van to collect Ms Krolewicz who had been on a night out in Exeter with friends.

    They then drove to a secluded car park and church yard.

    The panel heard how on 17 June, Ms Krolewicz had told a colleague they had not had sex but that they had done “everything else”.

    She also referred to having “done stuff in a vehicle” and disclosed that Mr Athawes’ “radio was operating so frequently they were unable to have sex”, the panel heard.

    The panel upheld allegations that Mr Athawes had breached the standards appropriate to the conduct of a police officer in respect of honesty and integrity, discreditable conduct, authority, respect and courtesy and duties and responsibilities.

    It was found he had knowingly planned to collect Ms Krolewicz, who was off-duty, without a policing purpose, and then engaged in sexual encounters in a marked police vehicle with her whilst he was on duty.

    He also falsely told his supervisor and crew mate he was on a medication run at the time, and so unavailable for response calls, the panel found.

    Ms Krolewicz was found to have breached the standards appropriate to the conduct of a police officer in respect of discreditable conduct.

    Following the two-day public hearing, the panel concluded both had breached the expected standards of professional behaviour.

    The panel determined that had the officers still been serving, they would have been dismissed without notice.

  • Barclays bank announces 14 more brunch closures, leaving customers in panic

    Barclays bank announces 14 more brunch closures, leaving customers in panic

    Barclays has revealed plans to shut down 14 more branches across England and Wales in June.

    These closures will be in addition to the 55 branches the bank already planned to shut this year, meaning at least 69 Barclays branches will shut in 2023. 

    Its decision follows that of other major banks, which have axed branches as more people move to online banking. 

    Lloyds, Barclays, NatWest, HSBC and Santander have all shut down more than half of their branches since 2015. 

    Barclays will close a further 14 bank branches across England and Wales in June, meaning at least 69 branches will close in 2023

    The decision by Barclays to close at least 69 branches before the end of 2023 comes after the bank had already shut 67 per cent of their sites in the UK since 2015.  

    The move from Barclays means their customers will now need to rely on pop-up sites and ‘banking pods’ if they require in-person support.

    These ‘banking pods’ are semi-permanent sites that can be moved across different towns and cities to satisfy demand. 

    Currently, Barclays has 200 pop-up sites and ten ‘banking pods’, with plans to add another 70 pop-up sites in the near future. 

    In addition, the bank runs an educational and support van service to provide financial advice to their customers. 

    A Barclays spokesperson said: ‘As visits to branches continue to fall, we need to adapt to provide the best service for all our customers. 

    ‘Where there is no longer enough demand to support a branch, we maintain an in-person presence though our Barclays Local network, live in over 200 locations, based in libraries, town halls, mobile vans and our new banking pods.

    ‘We also support access to cash with our cashback without purchase service, 24-hour deposit-taking ATMs and by working alongside the Post Office and Cash Access UK.’ 

    The full list of 14 Barclays branches which will close in June

    • 46 Rhosmaen Street, Llandeilo, Wales, SA19 6HF – June 23, 2023 
    • 38/42 High St, Mold, Wales, CH7 1BB – June 30, 2023
    • 12 Station Street, Saltburn-by-the-Sea, England, TS12 1AB – June 30, 2023
    • 24 Fore Street, Tiverton, England, EX16 6LE – June 28, 2023
    • 106 High Street, Honiton, England, EX14 1JW – June 23, 2023
    • 10 The Square, Caterham, England, CR3 6XH – June 23, 2023
    • 112 Woodcote Road, Wallington, England, SM6 0LY – June 28, 2023
    • 65/67 Sandgate Road, Folkestone, England, CT20 1RY – June 23, 2023
    • 66 Market Place, Chippenham, England, SN15 3JA- June 23, 2023
    • 1 The Square, Holmes Chapel, England, CW4 7AF- June 27, 2023
    • 13/15 Victoria Square, Holmfirth, England, HD9 2DW – June 23, 2023
    • 337/339 Stanley Road, Bootle, England, L20 3EB – June 30, 2023
    • 207 High Road, Loughton, England, IG10 1AZ – June 22, 2023
    • 28 Chesterton Road, Cambridge, England, CB4 3AZ – June 28, 2023
  • Ugandan govt tells the US to ”stop wasting humanity” over anti-LGBTQ+ law

    Ugandan govt tells the US to ”stop wasting humanity” over anti-LGBTQ+ law

    The government of Uganda has responded to the government of the United States after a threat of economic repercussion over a recently passed law that discriminates against same-sex relationships and the LGBTQ+ community.

    President Yoweri Museveni was quoted in the statement that was shared on the social media site Twitter as strongly opposing same-sex relationships in Uganda.

    The response posted on social media platform, Twitter, comprised quotes by president Yoweri Museveni stating the country’s strict opposition to same-sex relations.

    The government’s official Twitter handle posted a quote from Museveni’s recent response on the issue when he appeared before Parliament to deliver an address.

    “The western countries should stop wasting the time of humanity by trying to impose their practices on other peoples. Europeans and other groups marry cousins and near relatives.

    “Here, to marry within the clan, is taboo (Omuziro). Should we impose sanctions on them for marrying relatives?” a follow-up tweet read.

    In another response, the handle specifically quoted a tweet by Anthony Blinken, the US Secretary of State with a quotation by Museveni in a 2014 interview with CNN.

    The quote read: “If the West doesn’t want to work with us because of homosexuals, then we have enough space here to live by ourselves and do business with other people.” (CNN, 2014).

    QUOTE

    “If the West doesn’t want to work with us because of homosexuals, then we have enough space here to live by ourselves and do business with other people” (CNN, 2014).-@KagutaMuseveni https://t.co/VOxRE5UPg3

    — Government of Uganda (@GovUganda) March 23, 2023

    White House warns of potential ‘repercussions’ if LGBTQ law takes effect

    The United States on Wednesday, March 22, warned of sanctions if Uganda’s anti-Lesbians, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer legislation is signed into law.

    “We would have a look at whether or not there might be repercussions that we would have to take, perhaps in an economic way, should this law actually get passed,” John Kirby, spokesperson for the National Security Council said in a media briefing at the White House.

    Lawmakers in the East African country had by a majority voted to pass the legislation a day earlier to much uproar by activists and rights groups.

    Elements of the bill include:

    – A person who is convicted of grooming or trafficking children to engage them in homosexual activities faces life in prison.

    – Individuals and institutions which support or fund LGBT rights activities also face prosecution.

    Local news channels also reported a proposed 20-year jail term for ‘any entity that funds or promotes any form of homosexuality’.

    Uganda is a deeply traditional and religiously conservative country. The president is known to have harsh words for homosexuals and LGBTQ persons have routinely been raided.

    The final leg of making the bill into law is the signature of president Yoweri Museveni.

  • UK to block TikTok from ‘all parliamentary devices’ over cyber security concerns

    UK to block TikTok from ‘all parliamentary devices’ over cyber security concerns

    The Chinese-owned social media app TikTok will be blocked from devices and networks in the latest ban imposed on it.

    The House of Commons and House of Lords commissions have announced that they will follow the government’s lead on official devices, citing the importance of cyber security.

    TikTok, according to a parliament spokesman, “will be blocked from all parliamentary devices and the wider parliamentary network.”

    “Cyber security is a top priority for parliament, however we do not comment on specific details of our cyber or physical security controls, policies or incidents.” they said.

    A similar decision has also been taken in Scotland, with TikTok banned from government phones and other devices.

    It comes as the TikTok chief faces questions on security at the US Congress.

    And last week the app was banned from UK government phones.

  • Theologian sacked by Bible College for tweeting homosexuality is ‘invading the church’

    Theologian sacked by Bible College for tweeting homosexuality is ‘invading the church’

    Christian theologian Mr. Aaron Edwards was allegedly fired by a Methodist Bible institution in the United Kingdom due to his anti-homosexuality tweets.

    It was discovered that the college also implied that it will label Dr. Aaron, a theology professor at Cliff College in Derbyshire, England, as a terrorist.

    Fox News reports that he was dismissed from the school after being accused of “bringing the college into disrepute” on social media last month, when he tweeted, “Homosexuality is invading the church,” on February 19.

    “Evangelicals no longer see the severity of this [because] they’re busy apologizing for their apparently barbaric homophobia, whether or not it’s true.

    “This *is* a ‘Gospel issue,’ by the way. If sin is no longer sin, we no longer need a Savior,” Edwards added.

    According to the report, Edwards’ tweet went viral and prompted blowback, to which Edwards responded: “That *is* the conservative view. The acceptance of homosexuality as ‘not sinful’ *is* an invasion upon the Church, doctrinally.

    “This is not controversial. The acceptance is controversial. Most of the global Church would agree. It is not homophobic to declare homosexuality sinful.

    “I expressed the conservative view as a doctrinal issue, re. the implications for sin/the Gospel. It was not an attack on individuals, it was addressed to evangelicals. It seems that holding the view that homosexuality is sinful is only welcome if it remains ‘unexpressed,’” he added.

    Edwards’ tweets reportedly caused “distress” among members of the Methodist Church in Britain, with one senior staff member saying they “could be extremely damaging” and “impact the college’s core work” and “business plan,” according to Edwards’ legal counsel at the London-based Christian Legal Centre.

    During a disciplinary hearing on March 8, the college disclosed that it was considering submitting Edwards to Prevent, which oversees claims of terrorism in the United Kingdom. Edwards was suspended from the school pending an investigation.

    Edwards claims that he was tricked into endorsing “conversion therapy” at the hearing when he was asked what he would do if a student requested him to pray with them about their same-sex attraction. The U.K. Parliament has discussed making conversion therapy a crime.

    “The reaction to my tweet and the unjust treatment I have experienced by Cliff College and the Methodist Church in Britain completely illustrates the problem my tweet addressed,” Edwards said in a statement provided to Fox News Digital.

    “The tweet was not defamatory; it was not an attack on any colleague or individual; it was not abusive; and it was not an extremist religious view. It was addressed to evangelicals as a point of doctrine, and it has been misunderstood by many who wish to cause personal and institutional trouble for those who express that view,” he continued.

    Edwards added that traditional Christian beliefs about sexuality are being “silenced and stamped out” in the Methodist Church.

  • Bloomberg: Banks in Ghana plan for $427 million of losses amid debt restructuring

    Bloomberg: Banks in Ghana plan for $427 million of losses amid debt restructuring

    Ghana’s move to restructure its local currency and overseas debt is weighing on banks from Africa to the UK.

    Four of Africa’s biggest lenders — Standard Bank Group Ltd., FirstRand Ltd., Absa Group Ltd., and Nedbank Group Ltd. — collectively set aside 4.87 billion rand ($267 million) to account for the losses, impairing as much as 57% of local and onshore dollar-denominated debt holdings. Meanwhile, Standard Chartered Plc set aside $160 million.

    A rare move to restructure local debt — bondholders exchanged 87.8 billion cedis ($7.1 billion) of notes that paid an average of 19%, with bonds returning as little as 8.35% — have resulted in losses for financial institutions. Ghana is restructuring most of its public debt, estimated at 576 billion cedis, to finalize a $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund.

    “We dealt with the risk, because as we see it, while there’s a potential for a better outcome, there’s also potential for a worse outcome,” Absa Chief Financial Officer Jason Quinn said in an interview. “So that’s why we took a position to impair those extensively.”

    Absa’s unit in Ghana, its third-largest lender by assets, booked 2.7 billion rand as impairment, including 2.2 billion rand for sovereign bonds, and another 500 million rand to cater for other government-related exposures. The lender maintains that its unit remains well capitalized.

    Standard Bank, which runs the fourth-biggest lender in Ghana by assets, said it’s ready to re-capitalize the business should they need to, even though the Ghanaian unit’s balance sheet is a “fortress.” The lender holds as much as 2.6 billion rand in Ghanaian bonds.

    “It is unfortunate where they find themselves,” FirstRand CEO Alan Pullinger said in an interview earlier this month. “The debt sustainability just wasn’t there and when you are over-geared, you eventually run out of cash and you have to call a default.”

    President Nana Akufo-Addo’s government plans to start “substantive” discussions with international bondholders and their advisers in coming weeks, Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta said on Feb. 16. The nation targets cutting its liabilities from an estimated 105% of gross domestic product in 2022 to 55% by 2028.

    The costs to local lenders will only be known later given the stock exchange allowed them to delay releasing financials.

  • Nigerian music manager stabbed to death in UK

    Nigerian music manager stabbed to death in UK

    A music manager born in Nigeria has been stabbed to death after receiving a designer watch worth up to £300,000 for his birthday, a London court heard.

    On May 1, 2022, three thieves attacked Emmanuel Odunlami, 32, after he left the Haz restaurant in the City of London close to St. Paul’s Cathedral. The incident was reported to the Old Bailey.

    They were allegedly informed by a security operator, Kavindu Hettiarachchi that Odunlami was wearing a Patek Philippe Nautilus watch worth between £90,000 and £300,000 if genuine.

    Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC stated that Hettiarachchi was a vital member of the security team hired by the event’s organizer, Playhxuse, for the private ticketed brunch and afterparty with DJ.

    “It was part of his role to protect the safety of those, like Odunlami, who were attending the event. In fact, he did the opposite,” the court was told.

    The victim, known to friends as Jay, had driven to the city in his grey hatchback Mercedes on the day of his death to celebrate his birthday with friends, having purchased tickets for a £1,400 table.

    As the event came to an end around 11 p.m., Hettiarachchi was caught on camera filming outside the venue and calling Louis Vandrose, according to Dailymail.

    The court heard that Vandrose and Jordell Menzies were then driven by Quincy Ffrench in a white Mercedes with altered number plates from north west London.

    The Prosecutor said: “The evidence shows that Vandrose, Menzies and Ffrench were setting off in a car with a disguised registration in order to carry out a robbery, and their target was at the Haz restaurant where Hettiarachchi was working, and to which by phone he had summoned them.’’

  • UK to lend France £500,000,000 to address the migrant crisis

    UK to lend France £500,000,000 to address the migrant crisis

    In order to increase attempts to stop tiny boats from crossing the Channel, Britain will grant France about half a billion pounds over the next three years.

    Rishi Sunak has promised to transfer Paris £541 million, or £478 million, to pay for the new package.

    Many French law enforcement officials will be hired as part of it, and a new detention facility will be built there.

    Following his meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron at the UK-France summit on Friday at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Mr. Sunak made the announcement about the package.

    French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak attend a joint news conference as part of the Franco-British Summit held at Elysee Palace in Paris, France March 10, 2023. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/Pool
    The leaders spoke of a ‘special bond’ between the United Kingdom and France (Picture: Reuters)
    French President Emmanuel Macron and Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pose with ministers during a French-British summit at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Friday, March 10, 2023. French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak meet for a summit aimed at mending relations following post-Brexit tensions, as well as improving military and business ties and toughening efforts against Channel migrant crossings. Kin Cheung/Pool via REUTERS
    Emmanuel Macron and Rishi Sunak pose with ministers during a French-British summit at the Elysee Palace in Paris (Picture: Reuters)

    But there was no sign of the returns agreement with France that the Government desires as Mr Sunak makes ‘stopping the boats’ one of his top priorities.

    Mr Sunak was speaking in Paris following the announcement of the Illegal Migration Bill, which has already faced backlash from various charities.

    It will stop those arriving from claiming asylum, seeking citizenship or returning to the UK in the future.

    The Bill will push ‘the boundaries of international law’, Home Secretary Suella Braverman had told reporters.

    The legislation is likely to get a rough ride in the Lords, as the upper chamber considers whether to amend the legislation.

    If the Government does not accept the changes, then a lengthy back and forth could delay the implementation.

    In the House of Commons, Ms Braverman had said: ‘The need for reform is obvious and urgent.’

    She added: ‘They will not stop coming here until the world knows that if you enter Britain illegally you will be detained and swiftly removed.’

    File photo dated 9/12/2022 of a group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dungeness, Kent, after being rescued by the RNLI following a small boat incident in the Channel. A total of 45,756 migrants crossed the Channel to the UK in 2022, Government figures show. The last crossings of the year took place on Christmas Day, when 90 people made the journey from France in two boats. Issue date: Sunday January 1, 2023.
    A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dungeness, Kent, after being rescued by the RNLI following a small boat incident in the Channel (Picture: PA)
    Protesters putside a Holiday Inn, Rotherham, are met with a counter protest and a heavy police presence. February 18 2023. Police are making preparations for protests which are due to be staged outside a hotel housing dozens of asylum seekers in Yorkshire. Members of anti-immigration groups Patriotic Alternative and English Constitution Party are planning to take part in a protest outside Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, Rotherham, on Saturday afternoon. A counter-protest has also been planned by Stand Up To Racism, Rotherham Trades Council and Unite Against Fascism. In a joint statement, the groups said it will be ???a peaceful protest??? against groups ???who are targeting refugees???. Members of anti-immigration groups are planning to take part in a protest outside Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, Rotherham, on Saturday afternoon. Members of anti-immigration groups are planning to take part in a protest outside Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, Rotherham, on Saturday afternoon. ???We need to send a message to them that refugees are welcome in our town,??? they added. It comes after 15 people, including a 13-year-old boy, were arrested when a demonstration turned violent outside the Suites Hotel in Knowsley, which houses asylum seekers, on Friday night.
    Huge protests have been held in response to the migrant crisis (Picture: Tom Maddick / SWNS)

    The plans have been criticised by refugee groups, who say they are unworkable and will only make the system more costly and chaotic.

    Patrick Ryan, Chief Executive of leading modern slavery charity Hestia, said today: ‘We need to be tougher on the organised criminals who are exploiting vulnerable people, not on the victims.’

    The UK has already committed more than £300 million to France in the last decade to help tackle unauthorised migration.

    More than 3,000 people have already made the perilous sea journey this year, with almost 46,000 arriving by unofficial routes in 2022.

    That is despite Mr Sunak and Ms Braverman announcing a £63 million package to increase patrol officers by 40% four months ago.

    That package followed a £55 million deal in 2021.

  • Meet Ghanaian scholar who failed WASSCE to attaining PhD from a UK university

    Meet Ghanaian scholar who failed WASSCE to attaining PhD from a UK university

    There are many inspirational tales, but few are as amazing as this one. George Asiamah’s entire world fell apart in 2003. His results from the West African Secondary School Certificate Examination, if he had any, would not even make his opponents proud.

    Mathematics F, Integrated Science E, Social Studies E, English Language F, Economics F, Geography F, and Government E are the grades he received.

    According to George himself, there were two reasons for these terrible outcomes. His truancy was the first, and possibly a self-inflicted one.

    In a post he made in 2018 detailing his experience in Secondary School (now High School), George Asiamah, who was a student of the Atwimaman Secondary School, identified a disinterest in the General Art course he was ‘forced’ to pursue and truancy as the two issues that stood between him and academic excellence.

    “Now, getting to the end of the first year, we were told that the school did not have the capacity for the business program, so it would be abolished in the following year. To that effect, all business students were to search for schools during the vacation for us to be transferred in the following academic year.

    “The next academic year began, and here I come, the only business student who didn’t get a new school. I actually didn’t get the communication proper, I thought my school was to look for the new school for us. So coming to second year, I was forced to join the General Arts class. Oh boy! I didn’t take delight in that development. That was when my old (truant) character re-manifested.

    “Here, it was an advanced stage of truancy – I no longer stay home for weeks, but in months. One could practically count the number of days I will be in school in a term. Funnily, any day my friends see me coming to class, they will be shouting “Ebon! Ebon!!” (teasing me with the name of my village). Others will ask jokingly, “enti school no wo ka ho?” (Are you part of the School?),” he said in the post.

    But like as has been said, life is not how many times you fall down but how many times you get up, so, faced with this academic adversity, George Asiamah picked himself up and set out to right the many wrongs in his life.

    With renewed mindset and verve, George navigated the academically demanding job of being a student at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Technology.

    He then furthered at Queen’s University, Belfast before moving on to The University of Sheffield where he pursued PhD.

    As published by a Facebook user, Shadrack Dare, George earlier in the week successfully defended his thesis which was on Brexit, Scientific Evidence and Agri-food Regulatory governance.

    With his thesis defense out of the way, George Asiamah has gone from a ‘tiwuii’ in 2003 to a PhD holder who will now respond to the title ‘Doc Doc’.

  • UK: Junior doctors three-day strike scheduled for March 13

    UK: Junior doctors three-day strike scheduled for March 13

    The increasingly bitter pay dispute will lead to a three-day strike by junior doctors in England next month.

    After voting overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action earlier this month, the British Medical Association (BMA) declared that the doctors had “no option” but to go on strike beginning March 13.

    The BMA stated that junior doctors have requested an urgent meeting with health secretary Steve Barclay twice in the past week, but added that no time has been set.

    The BMA reported that a meeting with Department of Health employees earlier this week had produced no appreciable advancement and that the minister had declined to attend.

    The co-chairs of the BMA junior doctors’ committee, Dr Rob Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, said patients and the public alike need to know the blame for the strike action “lies squarely at the government’s door.”

    They said: “Make no mistake, this strike was absolutely in the government’s gift to avert; they know it, we know it and our patients also need to know it.

    “We have tried, since last summer, to get each health secretary we have had around the negotiating table. We have written many times, and, even as late as yesterday, we were hopeful Steve Barclay would recognise the need to meet with us to find a workable solution that could have averted this strike.

    “We have not been told why we have not been offered intensive negotiations or what we need to do for the government to begin negotiations with us. We are left with no option but to proceed with this action.

    “The fact that so many junior doctors in England have voted yes for strike action should leave Ministers in absolutely no doubt about what we have known for a long time and have been trying to tell them: we are demoralised, angry, and no longer willing to work for wages that have seen a real terms decline of over 26% in the past 15 years.

    “This, together with the stress and exhaustion of working in an NHS in crisis, has brought us to this moment, brought us to a 72-hour walk out.

    “How, in all conscience, can the Health Secretary continue to put his head in the sand and hope that by not meeting with us, this crisis of his government’s making, will somehow just disappear?

    “It won’t, and patients and the public will continue to feel the brunt of his inaction, until he starts to negotiate with us and we agree a deal that truly values junior doctors and pays us what we are worth.”

    The British Dental Association announced that dentists working in hospitals employed under the junior contract will join the 72-hour walkout after voting for industrial action.

    British Dental Association chairman Eddie Crouch said: “This small but important group of dentists are working to the same contracts as their medical colleagues, and like them are not worth a penny less than they were 15 years ago.

    “Our members will down drills until the government comes back to the table with a serious offer.”

  • Ghana, UK renew commitment to biodiversity protection

    Ghana, UK renew commitment to biodiversity protection

    Ghana and the UK have reaffirmed their dedication to preserving and protecting biodiversity.

    This was revealed at the Nature Action – Private Sector Mobilisation Event, which was held in London on Friday, February 17, 2023.

    The event was organised by the Government of the United Kingdom to catalyse and show the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

    Speaking at the event, Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel Abu Jinapor, said the Government of Ghana is fully committed to biodiversity protection and preservation for a healthy planet.

    This, he said is because biodiversity provides many benefits, including food, medicine, energy, clean air and water, security from natural disasters, as well as recreation and cultural inspiration.

    According to Mr. Jinapor, the loss of biodiversity is equivalent to the loss of forests and wildlife, which together make up a vast ecosystem with a variety of flora and fauna.

    He noted that Ghana endorses the ten-point Plan of the Global Biodiversity Framework, and is committed to working with other governments and partners to protect and conserve biodiversity.

    The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework is a landmark international agreement adopted by the fifteenth (15th) session of the Conference of Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP15.2), held in Montreal, Canada.

    The Framework seeks to galvanize urgent and transformative action by governments, subnational and local governments, and with the involvement of all of society, to halt and reverse biodiversity loss, and contribute to the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity and its Protocols.

    Mr Abu Jinapor, therefore, called on the developed countries to work with developing countries to protect the world’s forests and biodiversity. 

    “The duty to protect biodiversity is a collective one, and we must all work together to ensure a safe and healthy planet for current and future generations,” the Minister said.

    To empower developing countries to continue with their work on biodiversity protection, Mr. Jinapor said developed countries should not adopt policies that will continuously impoverish developing countries.

    He stated that although the value of the chocolate industry is over US$130 billion, Ghana and Ivory Coast, which produce over 60% of the cocoa used in the chocolate industry, get less than 5% of the value of the chocolate market. 

    The world’s biodiversity is deteriorating at unprecedented rates, thereby posing a serious threat to the survival of the human race.

    To tackle this, the Nature Action – Private Sector Mobilisation Event, therefore, brought together governments, indigenous peoples, private sector and civil society to support the delivery of the Framework’s ten-point Plan for financing biodiversity and shift towards a nature and climate-positive economy.

    The event held at the Lancaster House in London followed a working reception hosted by the British Monarch, King Charles III, at the Buckingham Palace.

  • Wake up to China threat, says ex-MI6 chief Sir Alex Younger

    Wake up to China threat, says ex-MI6 chief Sir Alex Younger

    A former head of MI6 says the UK needs to “wake up” to the threat posed by China’s threats to international security.

    Western nations are “under the full press of Chinese espionage,” according to Sir Alex Younger, who oversaw the UK Intelligence Service from 2014 to 2020.

    In the past week, the US military has shot down four objects, including a balloon believed to be a Chinese spy.

    According to Sir Alex, the UK must impose restrictions on the nations it will tolerate because they “behave in an unacceptable way.”

    A Chinese spy balloon was shot down by the US military on February 4 after flying over important military locations in North America. The object, according to China, was a weather balloon that went astray.

    Since then, the three other “unidentified objects” have been downed across North America.

    Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Sir Alex said “this balloon scenario demonstrates there is no trust” between China and western nations.

    “This is a gross and really visibly transgression of the sovereignty of many nations.”

    The UK must recognise “we’re in a competition” with China, Sir Alex said.

    He said: “We need to wake up to this.”

    “We need to double down on the strengths that we possess to face this systemic competition that’s going on.”

    Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said the government will do “whatever it takes” to keep the UK safe from spy balloons.

    On Monday, the prime minister said a “quick reaction alert force” of RAF Typhoon jets was on standby 24/7 to police UK airspace.

  • Somalia reopens UK embassy after 32 years

    Somalia reopens UK embassy after 32 years

    Somalia has reopened its embassy in the UK after 32 years, in a ceremony attended by ambassador Abdulkadir Ahmed Kheyr, Olympic champion Mo Farah and Somali-Canadian model Sabrina Dhowre, among others.

    The embassy in London is expected to provide consular services to the nearly 500,000-strong diaspora community in the UK who are eligible for Somali citizenship, and other services including travel documentation and marriage certificates.

    It will also host cultural and other informative events.

    Ambassador Kheyr said that reopening the embassy was a positive step in strengthening UK-Somali relations.

    The Somali embassy in London was officially closed in 1991 following the collapse of the central government. However, diplomatic relations have strengthened in recent years.

    Britain reopened its embassy in Mogadishu in 2013 after a 22-year absence.

  • Turkey-Syria earthquake: Family trapped in disaster after attending a funeral

    Turkey-Syria earthquake: Family trapped in disaster after attending a funeral

    After being caught up in the Turkey earthquake, a heartbroken family travelling from the UK for a funeral found themselves in the midst of a catastrophe.

    After her father passed away on Tuesday, January 31, Eylem Yildiz and three relatives travelled to Besni for the ceremony on Wednesday.

    Busra Yildiz, the daughter who resides in Cardiff, remained in the UK to take care of her sisters.

    The mother, aunt, uncle, and 1-year-old cousin of Busra were scheduled to arrive last week.

    But bad weather meant their journey home was delayed.

    When two earthquakes struck on Monday, the apartment block they were staying in was reduced to rubble.

    Eylem has yet to be found, while Busra’s grandmother, Saadet Onder, and three other family members from Turkey are also missing.

    Her aunt Emine Onder-Nizan, her uncle Engin Onder-Nizan and her cousin Mete Onder-Nizan, who all travelled from the UK, have been found.

    Image caption,
    Busra’s boyfriend Sam Thomas dubbed the disaster “carnage”

    The death toll from the disaster is now approaching 24,000.


    The carnage unfolded when a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck near Gaziantep, and was followed by multiple aftershocks.

    One, almost as large as the first, measured 7.5 magnitudes.

    Busra, who was born in Besni and brought up in Swindon, travelled to Turkey on Monday to help.


    The magnitude of the earthquake was classified as “major” on the official magnitude scale
    Mr Thomas, from Bridgend, said: “On Tuesday, there were signs of life; they think they heard their grandmother because there were noises coming from the building.

    “They were able to speak to the aunt on Wednesday. Then everything went quiet.

    The 24-year-old said signs of life had been detected with heat-sensitive cameras.

    A lack of machinery meant people were digging through rubble by hand.

    He called the situation “complete carnage.”


    Image caption,
    Sam Thomas describes his girlfriend Busra as “so brave”


    Mr Thomas, a web designer, said: “It’s just heartbreaking to know they can hear people in there.

    “This week, Busra witnessed childhood friends and family being dragged out dead.

    “She has seen dead children. I cannot imagine what she is feeling like.”

    The UK’s Disasters Emergency Committee’s raised £32.9 million on its first day, including $5 million matched by the UK government, for Turkey and Syria.

    Busra, 24, has been sleeping in a “fabricated pod”. Her boyfriend said: “She is so strong, I don’t know how she does it.”

    He praised his girlfriend for being “so brave”.

    “I am praying they are all alive and hoping they will all come out,” Mr Thomas said.

    “I really want my loved ones out of that building.

    “I believe in my heart of hearts they are going to be found and they are going to be okay.

    “They are all religious people and strong women. It is breaking my heart they are being put through this.”

    Brazil and Switzerland have called for the UN Security Council to meet next week to discuss its response to the situation in Syria, which was also affected.

    Mr Thomas said he was feeling “pretty horrendous”, and he is being supported by friends and family.

    “This has been the worst five days of my life, it feels like one big day,” he said.

    “It’s not my blood family, and I can’t imagine what it would be like to have my mom trapped there in a building.”

  • After 32 years Somalia has reopened its UK embassy

    After 32 years Somalia has reopened its UK embassy

    After 32 years, Somalia’s embassy in the UK reopened in a ceremony featuring ambassador Abdulkadir Ahmed Kheyr, Olympic champion Mo Farah, and Somali-Canadian model Sabrina Dhowre.

    The embassy in London is expected to provide consular services to the nearly 500,000-strong diaspora community in the UK who are eligible for Somali citizenship, and other services including travel documentation and marriage certificates.

    It will also host cultural and other informative events.

    Ambassador Kheyr said that reopening the embassy was a positive step in strengthening UK-Somali relations.

    The Somali embassy in London was officially closed in 1991 following the collapse of the central government. However, diplomatic relations have strengthened in recent years.

    Britain reopened its embassy in Mogadishu in 2013 after a 22-year absence.

  • UK economy narrowly missed recession in 2022

    UK economy narrowly missed recession in 2022

    According to recent data, the UK narrowly avoided entering a recession in 2022 despite the economy growing nothing between October and December.

    Despite a steep 0.5% decline in economic output in December, which was partially caused by strikes in the health, transportation, and postal services, this is still the case.

    Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said the figures show “underlying resilience” but said “we are not out of the woods”.

    The Bank of England still expects the UK to enter recession this year.

    But it will be shorter and less severe than previously thought.

    Mr Hunt said that high inflation remains a problem and continues to cause “pain for families up and down the country”.

    Inflation – or the rate at which prices are rising – is slowing but at 10.5% remains close to a 40-year high.

    The Office for National Statistics, which released the data, claimed that the last three months of 2022 saw no economic growth.

    Additionally, it updated its data for July and September to show that the GDP contracted by 0.2% rather than the 0.3% previously predicted.

    When the economy shrinks for two consecutive three-month periods, it is considered to be in a recession.

    But December’s numbers came in worse than anticipated.

    Darren Morgan from the ONS said there was a fall in health services with fewer operations and GP visits. He also said that sporting activities, particularly football, were impacted because of the World Cup.

    He people were not “able to enjoy top flight football due to the absence of Premier League football until Boxing Day, as the World Cup continued”.

    “And finally rail and postal industries had a poor month. We certainly saw the impact of strikes as both fell heavily in December,” he said.

    Strike action on trains caused disruption on the railways and on the roads in December. Postal workers also went on strike on a series of days in the run-up to Christmas.

    Over 2022, gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 4% – the biggest increase of all G7 nations for last year.

    However that compares to 7.6% growth in the previous year and the UK economy is still 0.8% smaller than it was before the Covid pandemic.

    Rachel Reeves, Labour’s shadow chancellor, said the latest figures show the economy “is stuck in the slow lane”.

    She added: “We must bring in urgent measures to prevent yet more harm from the cost of living crisis, using a proper windfall tax on oil and gas giants to stop the energy price cap going up in April so that people have more money in their pockets.”

    Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Olney, said: “Britain is dangling on over the edge of a recession after months of economic vandalism and chaos in Government.

    “The blame for these gloomy figures lies squarely with the government, who have botched budgets, failed to tackle inflation and have no plan for growth.”

  • McDonald’s signs legal agreement to better safeguard employees in the UK from sexual harassment

    McDonald’s signs legal agreement to better safeguard employees in the UK from sexual harassment

    The firm says that its top priorities are the safety and wellbeing of its employees, but a union has complained that this claim is not taken seriously enough.

    A legal agreement between McDonald’s and the equality watchdog has been signed in response to complaints about the company’s handling of sexual harassment claims made by UK employees.

    In 2019, a union that represents some workers alleged that more than 1000 complaints had been filed.

    In the wake of strikes that affected restaurants in several US cities in 2018 over the same issue, the Bakers, Food, and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) claimed a “toxic culture” at UK locations.

    The legally binding agreement with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) commits the group to a number of measures to better protect workers in the UK.

    They include communicating a “zero tolerance” approach to sexual harassment, to provide anti-harassment training and to improve policies to better respond to complaints.

    Alistair Macrow, chief executive of McDonald’s in the UK stressed that harassment and abuse “have no place in our society or at McDonald’s”.

    He responded: “As one of the UK’s leading employers, the safety and wellbeing of our people is our absolute priority.

    “It is hugely important to me that everyone in our organisation feels safe, respected and included at all times – this is core to the values of our business.

    “We already have a strong track record in this area and I now welcome the opportunity to work with the EHRC to further strengthen this.”

    The group had committed, in 2021, to anti-harassment training for its global workforce after it emerged that at least 50 employees worldwide had filed charges against the chain over the previous five years.

    Ian Hodson, national president of the BFAWU, said: “It’s shameful that one of the richest corporations on the planet doesn’t take sexual harassment seriously until we raise it.

    “I pay tribute to all our members who have spoken out on this issue and encourage McDonald’s to work with us in ending sexual harassment.”

    EHRC chairwoman Baroness Kishwer Falkner said: “We are pleased that McDonald’s has signed this agreement to signal their intent to make their restaurants safe places to work.

    “The improvements they put in place can set an example for others to follow, whether in the hospitality industry or elsewhere.”

  • President Zelenskyy arrives in UK, expected to have discussions with PM, King

    President Zelenskyy arrives in UK, expected to have discussions with PM, King

    Since Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago, this is the second time Volodymyr Zelenskyy has travelled to the UK .

    During this visit, the UK will provide additional support by way of training, equipment, and Russian sanctions.

    Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, has travelled to the UK to meet with Rishi Sunak, the King, and Ukrainian troops.

    He arrived in an RAF plane just before 10.30am on Wednesday for his first trip to the UK since Russia invaded Ukraine in February of last year, and the prime minister met him at Stansted Airport.

    Since then, Mr. Zelenskyy has only taken one other trip outside of Ukraine: just before Christmas, he travelled to the United States and then stopped in Poland on the way back.

    The Ukrainian leader will meet King Charles at Buckingham Palace this afternoon.

    Before that, he and Mr Sunak will discuss the UK’s support for Ukraine, starting with an “immediate surge” of military equipment being sent to the country by the UK and the prime minister will reinforce his long-term support.

    Shortly after Mr Zelenskyy landed, the UK announced further Russian sanctions, including against six entities providing military equipment, such as drones, to Russia, and eight individuals and one entity connected to “nefarious financial networks” helping maintain “wealth and power amongst Kremlin elites”, the government said.

    Both Mr Sunak and Mr Zelenskyy will visit Ukrainian troops training in the UK later on Wednesday.

    In December, Mr Sunak travelled to Kyiv for the first time since becoming prime minister in October where he pledged a £50 million package to boost Ukrainian air defence.

    His predecessor, Boris Johnson, had a very close relationship with Mr Zelenskyy and was one of Ukraine’s most vocal backers.

    Volodymyr Zelenskyy
    Image:Mr Zelenskyy arrived in London on an RAF plane on Wednesday morning

    Fighter jet pilot training

    There are expectations the Ukrainian leader might also make his first visit to European Union institutions since the war began, as leaders gather for a summit in Brussels on Thursday. However, this has not been confirmed.

    On Wednesday, Mr Sunak will offer to bolster the UK’s training for Ukrainian troops, including to fighter jet pilots so they can fly NATO-standard fighter jets, Number 10 said.

    He will also offer to begin an immediate training programme for marines.

    Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Britain's new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak visit at an exhibition displaying destroyed Russian military vehicles, amid Russia's invasion, in central Kyiv
    Image:Rishi Sunak visited Ukraine in November

    The UK has already trained 10,000 Ukrainian troops over the past six months and is planning to train 20,000 more this year as part of an international effort to scale up training of Ukrainian troops.

    Downing Street said Mr Sunak will also offer to provide Ukraine with longer-range capabilities to “disrupt Russia’s ability to continually target Ukraine’s civilian and critical national infrastructure”.

    Defence Secretary Ben Wallace visits UK troops training Ukraine citizens to be soldiers. The UK is significantly expanding a training programme to turn potentially tens of thousands of Ukrainian recruits into frontline soldiers to fight Russia. Pic: Ministry of Defence
    Image:Defence Secretary Ben Wallace visiting Ukrainian troops being trained in the UK last year

    Mr Sunak said: “President Zelenskyy’s visit to the UK is a testament to his country’s courage, determination and fight, and a testament to the unbreakable friendship between our two countries.

    “Since 2014, the UK has provided vital training to Ukrainian forces, allowing them to defend their country, protect their sovereignty and fight for their territory.

    “I am proud that today we will expand that training from soldiers to marines and fighter jet pilots, ensuring Ukraine has a military able to defend its interests well into the future.

    “It also underlines our commitment to not just provide military equipment for the short term, but a long-term pledge to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Ukraine for years to come.”

    ‘
  • Man pleads guilty to treason over Queen’s crossbow threat

    Man pleads guilty to treason over Queen’s crossbow threat

    A man who came to Windsor Castle carrying a crossbow and claiming to be there to “kill the Queen” has admitted guilt to a charge of treason.

    Due to the Covid pandemic, Jaswant Singh Chail, a resident of Hampshire, was detained on Christmas Day 2021 while the late monarch was residing at Windsor.

    Chail, 21, earlier entered a guilty plea to three charges at the Old Bailey.

    He is the first person to be found guilty of treason in the UK since 1981.

    Chail, from North Baddesley, near Southampton, also admitted making threats to kill and possessing the loaded weapon in the castle.

    The Queen
    Image caption,The Queen had been staying at Windsor, rather than spending Christmas as usual on her Sandringham estate

    He was spotted by a royal protection officer in a private section of the castle grounds just after 08:10 GMT on 25 December 2021.

    The officer was at a gate, leading to the monarch’s private apartments.

    Chail had climbed into the grounds using a nylon rope ladder, and had already been there for about two hours.

    He was wearing a hood and a mask, and was described as “like something out of a vigilante movie”.

    The officer took out his Taser, and asked him: “Morning, can I help, mate?” Chail replied: “I am here to kill the Queen.”

    The protection officer immediately told Chail to drop the crossbow, get on his knees, and put his hands on his head. Chail complied and then said again: “I am here to kill the Queen.”

    Windsor Castle
    Image caption,Jaswant Singh Chail climbed into the grounds using a nylon rope ladder

    The crossbow was found to be loaded with a bolt and the safety catch was off.

    Chail was also carrying a handwritten note, which read: “Please don’t remove my clothes, shoes and gloves, masks etc, don’t want post-mortem, don’t want embalming, thank you and I’m sorry.”

    In a video posted on Snapchat minutes before he entered the castle, Chail said: “I’m sorry, I’m sorry for what I’ve done and what I will do. I will attempt to assassinate Elizabeth, Queen of the Royal Family.

    “This is revenge for those who have died in the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre. It is also revenge for those who have been killed, humiliated and discriminated on because of their race.”

    Chail is currently in Broadmoor Hospital, where he appeared in court via a remote video link.

  • Qatar Airways, Airbus reach settlement in A350 legal case

    Qatar Airways, Airbus reach settlement in A350 legal case

    An “amicable settlement” ends a potentially damaging United Kingdom court trial and puts an end to a $2 billion dispute over the safety of Europe’s top long-haul jet.

    A long-running legal battle between Qatar Airways and Airbus over the safety of the A350 aircraft has been resolved.

    The settlement was “amicable and mutually agreeable,” according to a statement released jointly by the companies on Wednesday.

    The companies said in a statement, “A repair project is now underway and both parties look forward to getting these aircraft safely back in the air,’’ 

    The “amicable settlement” ends a $2bn row over the safety of Europe’s premier long-haul jet – an unprecedented public rift that led Airbus to revoke dozens of other jet orders from Qatar ahead of a scheduled June court trial.

    Qatar Airways grounded Airbus A350s over what it described as fuselages “degrading at an accelerated rate” in the long-range aircraft.

    The airline had raised questions about the A350s’ carbon composite fuselage, designed to make the twin-aisle aircraft lighter and cheaper to operate by burning less jet fuel.

    In December 2021, Qatar’s national carrier announced it was suing Airbus in London over what it described as the “accelerated surface degradation” of the wide-body A350.

    Cracks in the painted surface exposed gaps in a sublayer of A350 lightning protection, prompting its regulator to ground 29 of the jets. Airbus, based in Toulouse, France, has acknowledged quality flaws but insisted the jets are safe.

    The next month, Airbus terminated a multibillion-dollar order by Qatar Airways for 50 of its smaller single-aisle in-demand A321neo jets.

    The termination of the Airbus contract for its A321neos followed Qatar Airways’ refusal to take any more A350s until the problem was fixed.

    The details of the settlement are confidential. The companies said the deal was not an admission of liability by either party, both of which would drop their legal claims and “move forward and work together as partners”.

    French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire welcomed the settlement.

    The planemaker also said it would reinstate all orders it revoked as part of the dispute, but the first of 50 A321neos would now be delivered in 2026, three years later than the airline said this was scheduled.

    The first of 23 undelivered A350s will be delivered this year, a spokesperson added.

  • Shell reports record high profits in over a century

    Shell reports record high profits in over a century

    After energy prices soared last year as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, oil and gas giant Shell has announced record annual profits.

    In its 115-year history, the company’s 2022 adjusted earnings of $39.9 billion (£32.2 billion) were the highest ever.

    Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, oil and gas prices increased, which resulted in energy companies making record profits.

    Given that households are struggling with inflation, the profits have increased pressure on businesses to pay windfall taxes.

    Last year, the UK government introduced a windfall tax – called the Energy Profits Levy – on the profits of firms to help fund its scheme to lower gas and electricity bills.

    Oil and gas prices had begun to rise after the end of Covid lockdowns but rose sharply after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, resulting in bumper profits for energy companies.

    The price of Brent crude oil climbed above $120 a barrel in March 2022, but has fallen back since. Oil prices are now below the level seen before the invasion of Ukraine.

    Gas prices remain elevated but have been capped for consumers by the government.

    Shell chief executive Wael Sawan said the firm’s results “demonstrate the strength of Shell’s differentiated portfolio, as well as our capacity to deliver vital energy to our customers in a volatile world”.

    “We believe that Shell is well positioned to be the trusted partner through the energy transition.“

  • Tesco: More than 2,000 jobs set to go due to store changes

    Tesco: More than 2,000 jobs set to go due to store changes

    A shop worker

    More than 2,000 roles are at risk at Tesco as it announces more changes to the way it runs its supermarkets.

    The grocer said it was planning to cut 1,750 team manager posts across hundreds of its larger stores, while closing roles elsewhere.

    A new tier of 1,800 lower paid shift leader positions will take over running its shop floors.

    Tesco also announced it will close its counters and hot delis, with staff offered alternative jobs elsewhere.

    Britain’s largest supermarket said the axing of its counter and delis from 26 February were due to lack of demand from customers. It is also closing eight pharmacies, moving overnight roles to daytime in 12 stores and reducing hours within some post offices.

    The company said team managers who take new shift leader positions will have their pay protected for two years.

    Similar changes have already happened at Tesco’s smaller stores, but the grocer is now implementing them at its larger superstores and Tesco Extra shops.

    Daniel Adams, national officer of the Usdaw union, which represents Tesco workers, said the announcement would be “especially difficult” for staff in the midst of the rising cost of living.

    “We will be doing all we can to support members throughout the process with a view to protecting jobs and, where this is not possible, securing the best possible deal for those affected,” he said.

    Jason Tarry, Tesco’s UK and Ireland boss, said the decisions were “difficult”, but added they were “necessary to ensure we remain focused on delivering value for our customers wherever we can, as well as ensuring our store offer reflects what our customers value the most”.

    “Our priority is to support those colleagues impacted and help find alternative roles within our business from the vacancies and newly created roles we have available,” he said.

    Alongside the planned team manager cuts, a further 350 jobs are at risk in a series of other changes at the company.

    It is also cutting some jobs at its head office as well as closing its Maintenance National Operating Centre in Milton Keynes.

    Tesco said it was now entering a consultation period with the Usdaw union on the proposals and pointed out that it currently has about 2,000 vacancies across the business.

    Bigger supermarkets are having to become more efficient and make savings as they face competition from discounters Aldi and Lidl.

    Last week, Asda, Britain’s third largest grocer, said it planned to remove 211 night shift managers and change the hours of 4,137 workers.

    It followed similar changes to night time working at Sainsbury’s and Tesco.

    Source: BBC

  • HSBC staff get a uniform of jumpsuits and jeans

    HSBC staff get a uniform of jumpsuits and jeans

    HSBC has become the latest big company to announce a shift to more casual uniforms for 4,000 branch staff.

    The new range includes jumpsuits and “menopause-friendly” garments for women, ethnic-wear, including tunics and hijabs, and chinos and jeans.

    Last month, British Airways unveiled its first new uniform for 20 years, including a jumpsuit for female ground staff and cabin crew.

    HSBC is to close 114 more UK branches from April, with about 100 jobs going.

    The bank said the uniform re-design mirrored the “more casual new look of the banks’ branches”.

    HSBC UK’s director of distribution, Jackie Uhi, said the days of “bowler-hatted bankers and intimidating bank branches with rows of screens” was over.

    “The modern day banker is still smart and professional but much more casual and approachable,” she said.

    “Our branch colleagues are the public face of the bank, so what they wear does not only need to reflect the brand, it needs to look good, be practical, comfortable and hard-wearing, while taking into account specific human needs like those who are pregnant or going through the menopause.”

    ‘Maximum comfort’

    The bank said the fit, style and material of the new outfits had been designed to provide “maximum comfort” when people were experiencing menopause symptoms.

    They include a fit-and-flare shape jersey dress, V-neck tunic, tailored jumpsuit, jersey tees and a chino knee-length skirt.

    British Airways jumpsuit
    Image caption, BA’s new jumpsuit

    It comes after Virgin Atlantic announced last year that it was taking a “fluid approach” to uniforms which allowed staff to choose their clothing “no matter their gender”. The airline will allow male pilots and crew to wear skirts and female colleagues to choose trousers.

    Meanwhile BA plans to roll out its revamped uniforms, designed by Ozwald Boateng, for 30,000 staff this spring.

    Initially its jumpsuit will be for female ground staff but is set to be made available to cabin crew after further trials. The suit also includes a tunic and hijab option.

    HSBC’s said its new uniforms, which took two years to develop, were its “most sustainable” yet. They are made from recycled polyester, dissolving plastic, ocean recovered plastic and sustainable cotton.

    The unveiling comes months before HSBC begins another round of bank branch closures in the UK, shutting 114 sites. It will leave the lender with 327 outlets.

    The bank has previously said banking remotely was becoming the norm for “the vast majority of us” and the number of people using banks was at an “all-time low”.

    It has said it would try to redeploy affected staff, but about 100 would still lose their jobs.

    Source: BBC

  • House prices fall for fifth month in a row

    House prices fall for fifth month in a row

    Pregnant woman and son walking past a for sale sign

    House prices in the UK fell for the fifth month in a row in January, according to Nationwide Building Society.

    The price of the average property last month was £258,297, down by 0.6% on December.

    Annual house price growth slowed to 1.1%, down from 2.8% in December.

    The country’s biggest building society said it would be “hard for the market to regain much momentum in the near term.”

    Robert Gardner, chief economist at Nationwide, said “economic headwinds are set to remain strong, with real earnings likely to fall further and the labour market widely projected to weaken as the economy shrinks”.

    He added that the affordability of mortgages would “remain challenging” in the short term due to higher interest rates, while saving for a deposit was “proving a struggle for many given the rising cost of living”.

    Mortgage approvals fall

    On Tuesday, the Bank of England reported lenders had approved fewer mortgages than expected in December, about 35,000 compared with more than 46,000 in November.

    That is the lowest number since January 2009, excluding the pandemic lockdowns.

    Andrew Harvey, senior economist at Nationwide, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The decline [in approvals] wasn’t unexpected, given we have seen a big slowdown in mortgage applications following the mini-budget.”

    However, he said there were signs mortgage rates were slowly starting to improve.

    These latest figures suggest mortgages are less affordable in all regions compared with 2021, with the cost of servicing the typical mortgage as a share of take-home pay at or above the long-run average.

    London and the south of England face the biggest “affordability pressures”, with Scotland and the North remaining the most affordable regions, but mortgage payments there as a share of take-home pay are still at their highest level for more than a decade.

    Source: BBC

  • “Surprisingly resilient”: IMF raises its predictions for global growth

    “Surprisingly resilient”: IMF raises its predictions for global growth

    The IMF that only the UK is experiencing a recession and that demand in the US and Europe has been stronger than anticipated.

    Due to “surprisingly resilient” demand in the United States and Europe as well as the reopening of the Chinese economy after Beijing abandoned its strict zero-COVID strategy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has slightly increased its outlook for global growth in 2023.

    However, the IMF’s most recent World Economic Outlook forecasts represent an improvement over an October prediction of 2.7 percent growth this year, with warnings that the world could easily tip into recession. The IMF predicted that global growth would still fall to 2.9 percent in 2023 from 3.4 percent in 2022.

    For 2024, the IMF said global growth would accelerate slightly to 3.1 percent, but interest rate hikes by central banks around the world would slow demand.

    IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas said recession risks had subsided and central banks were making progress in controlling inflation, but more work was needed to curb prices, and new disruptions could come from further escalation of the war in Ukraine and China’s battle against COVID-19.

    “We have to sort of be prepared to expect the unexpected, but it could well represent a turning point, with growth bottoming out and then inflation declining,” Gourinchas told reporters of the 2023 outlook.

    Strong demand

    In its 2023 gross domestic product (GDP) forecasts, the IMF said it now expected GDP growth in the US of 1.4 percent, up from the 1.0 percent predicted in October and following 2.0 percent growth in 2022.

    The fund cited stronger-than-expected consumption and investment in the third quarter of 2022, a robust labour market and strong consumer balance sheets.

    It said the eurozone had made similar gains, with 2023 growth for the bloc now forecast at 0.7 percent, compared with 0.5 percent in the October outlook, following 3.5 percent growth in 2022. The IMF said Europe had adapted to higher energy costs more quickly than expected, and an easing of energy prices had helped the region.

    The United Kingdom was the only major advanced economy the IMF predicted to be in recession this year.

    It forecast the British economy to shrink 0.6 percent this year, compared with a previous expectation for growth of 0.3 percent. People are struggling with higher interest rates, and government moves to further tighten spending are also squeezing growth, it said.

    “These figures confirm we are not immune to the pressures hitting nearly all advanced economies,’’ Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt said in response to the IMF forecast. “Short-term challenges should not obscure our long-term prospects — the UK outperformed many forecasts last year, and if we stick to our plan to halve inflation, the UK is still predicted to grow faster than Germany and Japan over the coming years.”

    China reopens

    The IMF revised China’s growth outlook sharply higher for 2023, to 5.2 percent from 4.4 percent in the October forecast after its ‘zero-COVID’ strategy held back the economy. China’s growth rate was 3.0 percent in 2022, below the global average for the first time in more than 40 years.

    Still, the fund added that China’s growth will “fall to 4.5 percent in 2024 before settling at below 4 percent over the medium term amid declining business dynamism and slow progress on structural reforms”.

    At the same time, it maintained India’s outlook for a dip in 2023 growth to 6.1 percent but a rebound to 6.8 percent in 2024, matching its 2022 performance.

    Gourinchas said together, the two Asian powerhouse economies will contribute more than 50 percent of global growth in 2023.

    He acknowledged that China’s reopening would put some upward pressure on commodity prices, but “on balance, I think we view the reopening of China as a benefit to the global economy” as it will help ease production bottlenecks that have worsened inflation and by creating more demand from Chinese households.

    Even with China’s reopening, the IMF is predicting that oil prices will fall in both 2023 and 2024 due to lower global growth compared with 2022.

    Risks

    The IMF said there were both upside and downside risks to the outlook, with built-up savings creating the possibility of sustained demand growth, particularly for tourism, and an easing of labour market pressures in some advanced economies helping to cool inflation, lessening the need for aggressive rate hikes.

    But it detailed more and larger downside risks, including more widespread COVID-19 outbreaks in China and a worsening of the country’s property turmoil.

    An escalation of the war in Ukraine could lead to a further spike in energy and food prices, as would a cold northern winter next year as Europe struggles to refill gas storage and competes with China for liquefied natural gas supplies, the fund said.

    Gourinchas said central banks need to stay vigilant and be more certain that inflation is on a downward path, particularly in countries where real interest rates remain low, such as in Europe.

    “So we’re just saying, look, bring monetary policy slightly above neutral at the very least and hold it there. And then assess what’s going on with price dynamics and how the economy is responding, and there will be plenty of time to adjust course, so that we avoid having overtightening,” Gourinchas said.

  • UK only major economy to shrink in 2023 – IMF

    UK only major economy to shrink in 2023 – IMF

    International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said the UK economy will contract and perform worse than other advanced economies as household costs of living continue to rise.

    The economy will shrink by 0.6% in 2023, not slightly grow as previously predicted, according to the IMF.

    The IMF did add, however, that it believes the UK economy is now “on the right track” as a result of the Autumn Statement.

    The UK outperformed many predictions last year, according to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt.

    But shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said the figures showed the UK “lagging behind our peers.”

    In its World Economic Outlook update, the IMF, which works to stabilize economic growth, said the UK’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would shrink rather than grow by 0.3% this year.

    GDP is a measure for how well, or badly, an economy is doing and in a growing economy, each quarterly GDP figure will be slightly bigger than the quarter before.

    If a country’s GDP falls for two quarters in a row, it means it is in recession and its economy is doing badly. Typically, this means companies make less money and the number of unemployed people rises.

    The IMF predicted the UK would be the only country—across the world’s advanced and emerging economies—to suffer a year of declining GDP. Even sanctions-hit Russia is now forecast to grow this year.

    The IMF said its new forecast reflected the UK’s high energy prices and financial conditions, such as high inflation.

    IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas told the BBC that for 2022, the UK had had “fairly robust” growth at 4.1%, which he said was “one of the strongest growth numbers in Europe”.

    “But it is true that we are forecasting a sharp slowdown in 2023, with growth that would turn even negative for the year.”

    He said the revision reflected the “fact that we have a very challenging environment in the United Kingdom”, which he said was caused by high energy prices as well as “high dependence on liquid natural gas”.

    Woman by radiator
    Image caption, High energy prices are driving up UK inflation

    The Bank of England has put up interest rates nine times since December 2021 in an attempt to reduce inflation – the rate at which prices rise. Mr Gourinchas said these rate rises fed “quickly into mortgages, because a lot of mortgages are adjustable rates”.

    “So a lot of homeowners with mortgages are seeing an increase in their mortgage payments.”

    Mr Gourinchas said another factor in the UK’s forecast was that employment was still below pre-pandemic levels.

    He said the plans outlined by the Treasury in the months since the Autumn Statement showed the UK was “certainly trying to carefully navigate these different challenges and we think that they are on the right track”.

    And the IMF said in 2024 it expected the UK economy to grow by 0.9%, up from a previous forecast of 0.6%.

    ‘Heading for recession’

    Sophie Lund Yates, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, told the BBC’s Today programme the UK was not the only major economy struggling and there was a chance it could “squeak out a little more positivity” than the IMF had predicted.

    “The Bank of England’s own predictions are slightly brighter than [the IMF’s’ have been],” she added.

    “But overall, we are heading for recession, and the big question is how deep that’s going to be.”

    Against the backdrop of growing expectations of a milder recession across the world, the IMF’s forecasts for the UK stand out, downgraded by just under a full percentage point since the autumn, and now expected to shrink by 0.6% this year.

    The IMF attributes this to rapid interest rate rises, tax rises, higher borrowing costs for businesses, and still high domestic energy prices. The fund said the UK was having to navigate a very complex environment, and that since the Autumn Statement, British policy was now “on the right track.”

    But if over the coming year this forecast proves to be correct, it raises questions as to why the UK will have missed out on a better global economic backdrop. The UK is now the only shrinking economy out of 15 published in this report.

    The Bank of England will publish its new forecast for the UK economy later this week, alongside an expected further rise in interest rates.

    The IMF’s bleak picture for the UK comes after Mr Hunt warned it was “unlikely” that there would be room for any “significant” tax cuts in the spring budget.

    The chancellor, who has been under pressure from some in his party to cut taxes to stimulate the economy, has said that lowering inflation “is the best tax cut right now”.

    Inflation hit 10.5% in the 12 months to December, close to a 40-year high.

    Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has pledged to halve inflation by the end of the year, although some economists have said price rises will slow without government policies, due to commodity prices and shipping costs decreasing.

    Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, has also said inflation is likely to fall rapidly this year but has warned a UK recession is still on the cards.

    While the IMF predicts the UK economy will contract, it forecasts economic growth of 1.4% in the US, 0.1% in Germany and 0.7% in France.

    Mr Hunt said the IMF’s figures “confirm we are not immune to the pressures hitting nearly all advanced economies”.

    “Short-term challenges should not obscure our long-term prospects – the UK outperformed many forecasts last year, and if we stick to our plan to halve inflation, the UK is still predicted to grow faster than Germany and Japan over the coming years,” he added.

    Economic forecasters are not always 100% right when it comes to predicting the future. The IMF has said its forecasts for growth the following year in most advanced economies like the UK’s have more often than not been within about 1.5 percentage points of what actually happens.

    The IMF said the trend of central banks putting up interest rates to try to curb inflation and the war in Ukraine continued to “weigh on economic activity” across the world.

    But it said China’s reopening its economy from Covid restrictions “paved the way for a faster-than-expected recovery” globally.

    Overall, the IMF estimated global inflation had passed its peak and would fall from 8.8% last year to 6.6% in 2023 and 4.3% in 2024.

  • Nadhim Zahawi’s case: Sunak defends his actions, says he dealt with case decisively

    Nadhim Zahawi’s case: Sunak defends his actions, says he dealt with case decisively

    The Tory Party chairman, Nadhim Zahawi, was fired on Sunday, and Rishi Sunak has defended his handling of the situation by asserting that he followed “the right process.”

    The PM’s ethics adviser conducted an investigation and found that Mr. Zahawi had violated the ministerial code seven times while concealing the fact that HMRC was looking into his tax affairs.

    As soon as the investigation was over, Mr. Sunak claimed he “acted pretty decisively.”

    According to Labour, Mr. Zahawi should have been fired by the prime minister “long ago.”

    Deputy leader Angela Rayner called Mr Sunak a “hopelessly weak” prime minister who had “been dragged kicking and screaming into doing what he should have done long ago”.

    “Rishi Sunak shouldn’t have needed an ethics adviser to tell him that Nadhim Zahawi’s position was untenable,” she said.

    Ms Rayner and Labour Party chair Anneliese Dodds have now written to the prime minister asking him to “come clean” about when he was made aware of the HMRC investigation into Mr Zahawi.

    But speaking in County Durham, the prime minister defended his handling of the situation and stressed his commitment to “integrity”.

    “What I have done is follow a process, which is the right process,” he said.

    “As soon as I knew about the situation, I appointed somebody independent, looked at it, got the advice and acted pretty decisively to move on.

    “The things that happened before I was prime minister, I can’t do anything about. What I think you can hold me to account for is how I deal with the things that arise on my watch.”

    Mr. Sunak also stated that he will “take whatever steps are necessary to restore the integrity of politics.”

    Asked if Mr Sunak had ever asked Mr Zahawi about press reports about his tax affairs, his spokesman declined to comment, saying he wouldn’t discuss private conversations.

    Speaking to reporters on Monday, the spokesman added that the PM had been advised there were were no outstanding issues involving HMRC when he appointed Mr Zahawi in October.

    Britain's Minister without portfolio Nadhim Zahawi arrives for a Cabinet meeting at Downing Street in London, Britain, 17 January 2023
    Image caption,Nadhim Zahawi had served as Conservative Party chairman and minister without portfolio in Rishi Sunak’s government

    The BBC understands that Mr Zahawi had paid around £5m in total, including a penalty. At the time he was responsible for the UK’s tax system as chancellor under Boris Johnson.

    Mr Zahawi has previously insisted that he acted properly, and that his tax error was “careless and not deliberate”.

    Supporters of Mr Zahawi have raised concerns about the ethics probe with the BBC, saying he had only one meeting with the prime minister’s independent ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus.

    They questioned whether due process had been followed and suggested Mr Zahawi had not been allowed to make sufficient representations.

    ‘Omissions’

    Mr Sunak’s spokesman rejected suggestions the probe was rushed, insisting Sir Laurie had been given enough time to establish the facts.

    Sir Laurie found Mr Zahawi’s “omissions” of information constituted a “serious failure to meet the standards set out in the ministerial code”.

    He was also critical of the MP for describing news stories about his tax affairs as “smears” in July 2022, and failing to correct the record until earlier this month.

    “I consider that this delay in correcting an untrue public statement is inconsistent with the requirement for openness,” he said.

    After receiving the findings on Sunday, Mr Sunak wrote to Mr Zahawi to say he had decided to remove him from government.

    Mr Zahawi thanked the prime minister and said he took pride in his role in the vaccine rollout and the Queen’s funeral – but did not offer an apology or mention his tax affairs.

    He promised to support the prime minister “from the backbenches in the coming years.”

    Timeline

    April 2021: HMRC starts having interactions with Mr Zahawi, including a meeting with him and his advisers. Mr Zahawi – who was vaccines minister at the time – told Sir Laurie he believed he was “merely being asked certain queries” rather than being investigated. Sir Laurie says Mr Zahawi should have understood this was “a serious matter” and included it in his declaration of interests

    15 September 2021: Mr Zahawi is made education secretary by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Sir Laurie says Mr Zahawi again failed to declare his interest

    5 July 2022: He is promoted to chancellor. He completes a declaration of interest for his new role but makes no reference to an investigation by HMRC

    10 July 2022: Mr Zahawi describes reports he is being investigated by HMRC as “smears”

    15 July 2022: He receives a letter from HMRC and subsequently updates his declaration of interests to acknowledge an investigation was under way.

    August 2022: Mr Zahawi reaches an agreement with HMRC for failing to take “reasonable care”. The BBC has been told the total amount paid was about £5m

    September 2022: A final settlement is agreed with HMRC but Mr Zahawi does not update his declaration of interest form with the new information

    September and October 2022: Mr Zahawi becomes a levelling up minister under Liz Truss’s short-lived premiership and Tory Party chair under Rishi Sunak. Again, Mr Zahawi does not update his declaration of interest form

    21 January 2023: Mr Zahawi issues a statement acknowledging he reached a settlement with HMRC following an investigation

    23 January 2023: The prime minister asks his ethics adviser Sir Laurie to look into the disclosures made about the tax affairs of Mr Zahawi

    29 January 2023: The PM receives Sir Laurie’s report, which found there had been a “serious breach of the ministerial code”, and Mr Zahawi is sacked.

  • Flybe: Regional airline suspends operations and cancels all scheduled flights

    Flybe: Regional airline suspends operations and cancels all scheduled flights

    Flybe has cancelled all flights to and from the United Kingdom as a result of going into administration.

    The airline “ceased trading,” according to a statement on its website, and advised any passengers expecting to fly with it not to go to the airport.

    It added that it would not be able to assist travellers in finding substitute flights.

    The affected parties will receive guidance and information, according to the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

    The business, which was only relaunched in April of last year, has been taken over by administrators.

    In March 2020, it announced it would cease trading, citing the coronavirus pandemic as a contributory factor.

    The company was rescued after being bought by Thyme Opco, a firm linked to US hedge fund Cyrus Capital and subsequently renamed Flybe Limited.

    The airline resumed operations in April 2022, with a plan to operate up to 530 flights per week across 23 routes.

    Until the most recent collapse, Flybe operated flights on 21 routes from Belfast City, Birmingham, and Heathrow to airports across the UK as well as to Amsterdam and Geneva.

    A statement published on the Flybe website early Saturday said the High Court had appointed joint administrators for Flybe Limited.

    “Flybe has now ceased trading, and all flights from and to the UK operated by Flybe have been cancelled and will not be rescheduled,” it read.

    “If you are due to fly with Flybe today [Saturday] or in the future, please do not travel to the airport unless you have arranged an alternative flight with another airline.”

    It added that anyone who had booked a flight with the airline via an intermediary should contact that intermediary directly.

    One passenger who was due to take a Flybe service this morning was Chris Donnelly, who was scheduled to fly from Belfast City to Heathrow at 07:25 GMT.

    At 03:07 he received an email from Flybe which stated his flight had been cancelled and the company had gone into administration, advising passengers not to travel to the airport.

    Mr Donnelly, a school principal and political commentator, was on his way to the airport when he saw the email.

    Chris Donnelly - head of St John the Baptist Primary School in Belfast
    Image caption,Chris Donnelly was on the way to the airport when he read an email about his cancelled Flybe flight

    He was able to book an alternative flight from Belfast to Gatwick, but doing so at short notice was inconvenient.

    He added that he had booked train tickets from Heathrow into central London costing £50, which were of no use to him now.

    Matthew Hall, chief executive of Belfast City Airport, which has the highest number of Flybe staff in the UK, with 138 employees, said his thoughts were “with Flybe employees and passengers”.

    He said anyone booked onto Flybe flights should not travel to the airport, and eight of its 10 Flybe routes were covered by other providers.

    ‘How are they making a profit?’

    The airline also flew from Cornwall, with routes from Newquay to London Gatwick and Manchester.

    Louis Gardner, economy leader for Cornwall Council, said the news had come as a “real shock” and efforts would be made to find other providers for the routes.

    Seamus McCoy, who used Flybe regularly to travel between Newquay and London, told BBC Radio Cornwall: “Every time I’ve flown, I’ve always thought: ‘How are they making a profit?’ because the planes have never been more than 50% full.”

    CAA consumer director Paul Smith said: “It is always sad to see an airline enter administration and we know that Flybe’s decision to stop trading will be distressing for all of its employees and customers.

    “For the latest advice, Flybe customers should visit the Civil Aviation Authority’s website or our Twitter feed for more information.”

    The government said its “immediate priority” would be to support anyone trying to get home and Flybe staff who have lost their jobs.

    “This remains a challenging environment for airlines, both old and new, as they recover from the pandemic, and we understand the impact this will have on Flybe’s passengers and staff,” it said.

    It said most destinations served by Flybe in the UK were accessible through alternative means of transportation.

    Customers should “almost certainly” get their money back from their card issuer or travel agent, the Independent’s travel correspondent Simon Calder said.

    He told BBC Radio 4’s Today: “Of course finding alternative flights is going to be a problem, and they are going to be more expensive than the ones they originally bought with Flybe.”

    He said while there had been a recent surge in demand for air travel, Flybe had “fairly thin pickings” of travel routes when it returned to operation, and had struggled with passenger loads on its flights.

  • India students agitated after block of BBC Modi documentary screening

    India students agitated after block of BBC Modi documentary screening

    Anger erupted when a BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his role in the 2002 Gujarat riots was shown at one of India’s most prestigious universities.


    Students at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) claimed administrators stopped the screening on Tuesday night by turning off the electricity and internet.

    Officials from the university have not yet responded to the allegation.

    According to India, the BBC documentary is “propaganda” and lacks objectivity.

    It has invoked emergency laws to block the documentary on YouTube and Twitter.

    The JNU administration had earlier asked the students’ union not to hold the screening, as it could “disturb the peace and harmony of the university campus”.

    Although the power cut prevented the public screening, student leaders distributed QR codes to people and asked them to stream the video on their laptops and phones.

    There was a heavy police presence on campus. A BBC Hindi reporter who was there said while students were watching the documentary, stones were thrown at them by “a group of 20-30 people”. Students say they have filed a police complaint.

    The first episode of India: The Modi Question – a two-part series – aired in the UK on 17 January. The second part was broadcast on Tuesday.

    India’s foreign ministry has criticised the documentary, calling it “a propaganda piece designed to push a particular discredited narrative”.

    The BBC said the series examines “the tensions between India’s Hindu majority and Muslim minority and explores the politics of Mr Modi in relation to those tensions”. In a statement it added that the Indian government was offered a right to reply, but had declined.

    The riots began after a fire on a passenger train in Godhra town killed 60 Hindu pilgrims
    Image caption,The 2002 riots began after a fire on a passenger train in Godhra town killed 60 Hindu pilgrims

    The first episode of the documentary tracked Mr Modi’s first steps into politics, from his rise through the ranks of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to his appointment as chief minister of the western state of Gujarat.

    It highlighted a previously unpublished report, obtained by the BBC from the British Foreign Office, which raises questions about Mr Modi’s actions during the religious riots that broke out in Gujarat in 2002 after a train carrying Hindu pilgrims was set on fire, killing dozens. More than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, died in the violence, one of the worst since Independence.

    The report claims that Mr Modi was “directly responsible” for the “climate of impunity” that enabled the violence.

    Mr Modi has long rejected accusations that he had any responsibility for the violence and has not apologised for the riots. In 2013, a Supreme Court panel ruled there was insufficient evidence to prosecute him.

    Although the documentary was not aired in India, several opposition leaders and government critics shared links to it on social media.

    An adviser to India’s government said it had ordered Twitter to block tweets linking to the documentary, while YouTube had been instructed to block uploads of the video.

    Twitter confirmed to the BBC that it had blocked 50 tweets based on a request by India’s ministry of information and broadcasting on 20 January under the country’s information technology law.

    A YouTube spokesperson said the video had been “blocked from appearing by the BBC due to a copyright claim”. A BBC spokesperson said: “As is standard practice, we follow procedure to have illegal uploads of any BBC content removed.”

    The JNU students’ union has said it will hold another screening of the documentary. Several other organisations have also held screenings or announced plans to do so.

  • UK still supports deal that would provide Ukraine with German-made tanks

    UK still supports deal that would provide Ukraine with German-made tanks

    The UK still supports an international deal that would provide Ukraine with German-made tanks, the foreign minister has said this morning.

    Western allies pledged billions of dollars in weapons for Ukraine last week, although they failed to persuade Germany to lift a veto on providing Leopard battle tanks, which are held by an array of NATO nations but whose supply to Ukraine would require Berlin’s approval.

    “Of course, I would like to see the Ukrainians equipped with things like the Leopard 2 as well as the artillery systems that have been provided by us and by others,” Cleverly said in an interview with Sky News this morning. 

    “I will keep having those conversations with our NATO allies and friends, to facilitate the donation of the best military equipment to Ukraine to help them defend themselves against this brutal invasion.”

    Asked whether Germany was doing enough to help Ukraine, Cleverly said he wanted to see “everybody going as far as they can, but each country will support Ukraine in a way that is most

    appropriate to them.” 

    U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin urged allies at a meeting on Friday to do more to support Ukraine. But no decision on supplying Leopards was reached, officials said, although pledges were given for large amounts of other weapons.

    German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrat party is traditionally sceptical of military involvements and wary of further escalation in the conflict in Ukraine.

    Source: SkyNews

  • Rishi Sunak apologises for unbuckling seatbelt to record a video

    Rishi Sunak apologises for unbuckling seatbelt to record a video

    In order to record a video for social media, Rishi Sunak disengaged his seatbelt while a passenger in the back seat of a moving car.

    The PM’s spokesman claimed that he made a “error of judgement” by momentarily unbuckling his seatbelt during a trip to the north of England.

    Mr. Sunak posted the video to his Instagram page to promote the most recent round of “leveling up” purchases.

    The PM “believes everyone should wear a seatbelt,” the spokesman continued.

    Mr. Sunak can be seen speaking to the camera for about a minute as the car moves along and police motorcycles briefly appear in the background.

    Passengers caught failing to wear a seatbelt when one is available, unless covered by a valid exemption, can be given an on-the-spot £100 fine.

    The fine can increase to £500 if the case goes to court.

    ‘Painful viewing’

    Exemptions include having a doctor’s certificate for a medical reason, or being in a vehicle used for a police, fire and rescue service.

    Labour said Mr Sunak’s video added to “endless painful viewing” after he was seen struggling to make a contactless payment with his card last year.

    “Rishi Sunak doesn’t know how to manage a seatbelt, his debit card, a train service, the economy, this country,” a spokeswoman said.

    “This list is growing every day, and it’s making for endless painful viewing.”

    The incident followed criticism of the prime minister for travelling in an RAF jet for a series of official visits on Thursday.

    Mr Sunak made the 230-mile journey to Blackpool from London in the plane, before later flying 120 miles to Darlington.

    Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: “It seems like the PM is getting too used to flying around in private jets that he’s forgotten to wear a seatbelt in a car.”

  • UK ambulance strikes: GMB union declares six further dates for action

    UK ambulance strikes: GMB union declares six further dates for action

    Following a vote by members to reject a 4% pay offer because they believed it represented a “massive real terms pay cut,” GMB union bosses claimed that the government’s “cold dead hands” were preventing the creation of a proper pay offer.

    Six additional strike dates have been set by ambulance workers as their ongoing dispute over pay, jobs, and working conditions.

    On February 6 and 20, as well as March 6 and 20, more than 10,000 GMB union members who work as paramedics, emergency care assistants, call handlers, and other ambulance staff at eight NHS trusts are planning to strike.

    Workers at West Midlands ambulance service will also strike on 23 January and North West Ambulance Service will walk out on 24 January.

    The dates have been announced after talks with the government broke down, with the union saying their members are “angry” and “are done”.

    GMB union members voted against the government’s 4% pay rise, saying it was “another massive real terms pay cut”.

    Rachel Harrison, GMB national secretary, said: “Our message to the government is clear – talk pay now.

    “Ministers have made things worse by demonising the ambulance workers who provided life and limb cover on strike days – playing political games with their scaremongering.

    “The only way to solve this dispute is a proper pay offer. But it seems the cold, dead hands of Number 10 and 11 Downing Street are stopping this from happening.

    “In the face of government inaction, we are left with no choice but industrial action.

    “GMB ambulance workers are determined, they’re not going to back down. It’s up to this government to get serious on pay. We are waiting.”

    The ambulance services that workers will be walking out in February and March from are: South West, South East, North West, South Central, North East, East Midlands, Welsh, and Yorkshire.

    The Unite union is also set to announce further ambulance strikes as it accused the government of refusing to negotiate.

    Unite, which represents 100,000 NHS workers, said its ambulance committee is meeting later on Wednesday to set new strike dates that will then be put to members to confirm.

    Source: Skynews.com
  • Rwanda’s deportation scheme: High Court rules that scheme can be appealed

    Rwanda’s deportation scheme: High Court rules that scheme can be appealed

    Campaigners will now have another chance to argue their case after the court last month affirmed the legality of the government’s plan to deport asylum seekers back to their home country.

    The government’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda was found to be legal by the High Court last month, but it has now allowed an appeal against that decision.

    The contentious policy was implemented by Boris Johnson, but his successors have continued to advance it as part of their plans to address small boat crossings in the English Channel.

    Campaigners have argued in court that sending people to the country is “a cruel policy that will result in significant human suffering.”

    But Home Secretary Suella Braverman said the government was “proud of the ground-breaking agreement”.

    In December, Care4Calais, the Public and Commercial Services Union, Detention Action, and eight asylum seekers brought their case to the High Court, along with a second case from Asylum Aid.

    Their lawyers argued the plans were unlawful and that Rwanda “tortures and murders those it considers to be its opponents”.

    But representatives from the Home Office argued the agreement between the UK and the country provided assurances that everyone sent there would have a “safe and effective” refugee status determination procedure.

    Lord Justice Lewis ruled the first people who were set to be sent to Rwanda had not had their circumstances “properly considered” by the then-home secretary Priti Patel.

    As a result, their cases would be referred back to the current minister, Ms Braverman, “for her to consider afresh”.

    However, while he said the home secretary should look at people’s “particular circumstances” before deporting them, he ruled the overall scheme was “consistent with the refugee convention” and therefore lawful.

    After today’s ruling by Judges Clive Lewis and Jonathan Swift, the groups and asylum seekers will be able to take their cases to the Court of Appeal.

    The Home Secretary defends the government's plan to send migrants to Rwanda to be processed.2:16

    https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.551.0_en.html#goog_2054728585Play Video – Braverman defends Rwanda policySuella Braverman has stood by the Rwanda policy, brought in by her predecessor Priti Patel and then PM Boris Johnson.

    The Rwanda scheme was announced by Mr Johnson last April, with the first flight set to take off two months later.

    But the deportation was blocked by a last-minute ruling from the European Court of Human Rights, which imposed an injunction preventing any further flights until the conclusion of legal action.

    Ms Braverman praised the initial ruling on the policy as lawful, saying the plan was a “humane” and “practical alternative” for those who come to the UK through “dangerous, illegal and unnecessary routes”.

    But opposition parties deemed it “unworkable”, “unethical”, and “extremely expensive”.

    Asked if the appeal was a setback for the government’s plans, Ms Braverman told reporters: “The government is clear that we support and are proud of the ground-breaking agreement and partnership that we have struck with Rwanda so that we can deliver our plans to swiftly detain and remove those people who come here illegally to our country.”

    Source: SkyNews.com

  • Alireza Akbari: Iran executes British-Iranian dual national

    Alireza Akbari: Iran executes British-Iranian dual national

    British-Iranian dual national Alireza Akbari, who was sentenced to death in Iran, has been executed.

    Mr Akbari’s family had been asked to go to his prison for a “final visit” on Wednesday and his wife said he had been moved to solitary confinement.

    The ex-deputy Iranian defence minister was arrested in 2019 and convicted of spying for the UK, which he denied.

    UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the execution was a “callous and cowardly act, carried out by a barbaric regime”.

    Iran’s rulers had “no respect for the human rights of their own people” Mr Sunak said, adding that his thoughts were “with Alireza’s friends and family”.

    UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said the execution would “not stand unchallenged”.

    The Iranian judiciary’s official news outlet Mizan reported on Saturday that Alireza Akbari had been hanged, without specifying the date when the execution took place.

    The news came after Iran posted a video of Mr Akbari earlier this week showing what appeared to be forced confessions, and after the country’s intelligence ministry had described the British-Iranian as “one of the most important agents of the British intelligence service in Iran”.

    However BBC Persian broadcast an audio message on Wednesday from Mr Akbari in which he said he had been tortured and forced to confess on camera to crimes he did not commit.

    The United States had also joined calls for Iran not to execute Mr Akbari. US diplomat Vedant Patel said “his execution would be unconscionable” and condemned the charges against him as “politically motivated”.

    The UK Foreign Office has ben supporting Mr Akbari’s family and had repeatedly raised his case with Iranian authorities. It had requested urgent consular access, but Iran’s government does not recognise dual nationality for Iranians.

  • Rishi Sunak: Economy, health and immigration among issues to be addressed by Prime Minister

    Rishi Sunak: Economy, health and immigration among issues to be addressed by Prime Minister

    In his first speech of the year, Rishi Sunak pledged to boost the economy, reduce hospital waiting lists, and end migrant crossings across the Channel.

    In Stratford, the prime minister outlined his priorities for 2023 and asked the public to judge his premiership on five promises.

    These pledges are:

    • to halve inflation

    • to grow the economy

    • to reduce debt

    • to cut hospital waiting lists

    • to stop migrant crossings

    Mr Sunak promised to work “night and day” to deliver on the above five challenges during this parliament and to create “a future that restores optimism, hope and pride in Britain”.

    “So I want to make five promises to you today. Five pledges to deliver peace of mind. Five foundations, on which to build a better future for our children and grandchildren,” the PM said.

    “First, we will halve inflation this year to ease the cost of living and give people financial security.

    “Second, we will grow the economy, creating better-paid jobs and opportunity right across the country.

    “Third, we will make sure our national debt is falling so that we can secure the future of public services.

    “Fourth, NHS waiting lists will fall and people will get the care they need more quickly.

    “Fifth, we will pass new laws to stop small boats, making sure that if you come to this country illegally, you are detained and swiftly removed.

    “So, five promises – we will: Halve inflation, grow the economy, reduce debt, cut waiting lists, and stop the boats.

    “Those are the people’s priorities. They are your government’s priorities. And we will either have achieved them or not.

    “No tricks, no ambiguity, we’re either delivering for you or we’re not. We will rebuild trust in politics through action, or not at all. So, I ask you to judge us on the effort we put in and the results we achieve.”

    Mr Sunak continued: “People don’t want politicians who promise the earth and then fail to deliver. They want government to focus less on politics and more on the things they care about.

    “The cost of living, too high. Waiting times in the NHS, too long. Illegal migration, far too much.

    “I think people do accept that many of these challenges are at least in part, the legacy of COVID and impacted by the war in Ukraine. But that’s not an excuse. We need to address these problems, not just talk about them.”

    He added: “I will only promise what I can deliver, and I will deliver what I promise.”

    Mr Sunak’s speech comes as the UK is facing a wave of strikes, a cost of living crisis and huge pressures on the NHS.

    Earlier today, a leading medical organisation said the PM must recall parliament “immediately” so MPs can discuss the “NHS crisis”.

    The PM said his government is “taking urgent action” to increase hospital bed capacity by 7,000, adding: “And the NHS is working urgently on future plans for A&E and ambulances.”

    He acknowledged that, at present, “patients aren’t receiving the care they deserve” and said “something has to change”.

    On the continuing industrial action, Mr Sunak called for a “reasonable dialogue” with the unions and promised an update on the government’s next steps.

    Saying ministers “hugely value public sector workers like nurses”, the PM said his government’s actions will “reflect the people’s priorities”.

    Yesterday, the PM’s new mission to combat high rates of innumeracy in England was unveiled through a pledge to ensure all pupils in the country study some form of the subject until the age of 18.

    Addressing this ambition, Mr Sunak said: “Just imagine what greater numeracy will unlock for – people the skills to feel confident with your finances, to find the best mortgage deal.

    “The ability to do your job better and get paid more and greater self-confidence to navigate a changing world.”

    Source: Skynews.com
  • Rail strikes: Scotland and Wales suffer a knock-on effect

    Rail strikes: Scotland and Wales suffer a knock-on effect

    Rail workers are continuing their strike action this week in a dispute over pay, jobs, and conditions, and passengers in Scotland and Wales have been warned to expect significant disruption.

    The RMT union has declared that on January 3, 4, 6, and 7, employees at Network Rail will go on strike.

    Transport for Wales and ScotRail, who are not parties to the dispute, have both issued warnings that the walkouts in England will have a negative impact on their services.

    According to ScotRail, this is due to the fact that many of the Network Rail employees protesting in safety-sensitive positions.

    David Simpson, ScotRail service delivery director, said: “It’s really disappointing to see more widespread disruption across the whole Great Britain rail network as a result of the dispute between Network Rail and the RMT at a time when we need to be encouraging more people back to the railway.

    “For ScotRail, it’s going to mean that we won’t be able to operate the vast majority of our services between 3 and 7 January, which we know will be really frustrating for our customers.”

    Meanwhile, Transport for Wales told the BBC that as Network Rail owns and operates the track, stations, and signaling in Britain, the strikes mean only a limited number of trains can run.

    It said, “The industrial action resulting from the dispute between the unions and Network Rail means we’ll be unable to operate rail services on Network Rail infrastructure.”

    Source: BBC.com

  • It’s unlawful: Brexit scheme that makes EU citizens reapply for right to live – UK High Court

    EU citizens with pre-settled status are required by the EU Settlement Scheme to reapply every five years or risk losing their ability to live, work, receive healthcare and education, and apply for housing and benefits.

    The High Court has ruled that the government’s Brexit plan, which requires EU citizens to reapply for the right to live and work in the UK, is illegal.

    All EU citizens who desired to stay in the UK after the Brexit transition period ended on December 31, 2020, had to submit an application for residency by June 2021 under the EU Settlement Scheme, which opened in March 2019.

    If they had lived in the UK for a continuous five-year period at the time, they were given settled status but those who had been in the UK for less time were given pre-settled status.

    EU citizens with pre-settled status have to reapply for settled status on reaching five years’ continuous residence in the UK or risk losing their residence rights, meaning they could not work, receive healthcare and education and apply for housing and benefits.

    The Independent Monitoring Authority (IMA), a body set up to oversee citizens’ rights, took legal action against the Home Office in December as it argued the government is breaching the withdrawal agreement it made with the EU.

    On Wednesday, Lord Justice Lane ruled the scheme is unlawful.

    The Home Office is intending to appeal the decision and said the status of EU citizens remains the same while that is taking place.

    No EU citizen is currently affected as the five years they will have had to be in the UK before having to reapply for settled status does not expire until August 2023.

    Those already with settled status do not have to reapply anyway so are not affected.

    Home Office minister Lord Murray said: “EU citizens are our friends and neighbours, and we take our obligations to securing their rights in the UK very seriously.

    “The EU Settlement Scheme goes above and beyond our obligations under the Withdrawal Agreement, protecting EU citizens’ rights and giving them a route to settlement in the UK.

    “We are disappointed by this judgment, which we intend to appeal.”

    Dr Kathryn Chamberlain, IMA chief executive said: “I am pleased that the judge has recognised the significant impact this issue could have had on the lives and livelihoods of citizens with pre-settled status in the UK.

    “When we brought this judicial review, our intention was to provide clarity for citizens with pre-settled status, of which there were over 2.4 million when we filed this case in December 2021.

    This judgment that the current system is unlawful provides that clarity. We will now liaise with the Home Office on the next steps.”

    Source: SkyNews.com 

     

  • Rwanda welcomes UK judges decision approving deportation plan

    The British courts’ approval of the deportation of migrants who entered the UK unlawfully to Rwanda has been welcomed by the central African nation’s authorities.

    The Rwandan government spokesman Alain Mukuralinda called the ruling a “positive step” towards solving the global migration crisis.

    “And it is also a satisfying decision because we can find new solutions. New ways of doing things because today we have always hidden ourselves from international conventions, international law, to keep the status quo, but today we will evolve and implement distinct solutions, such as trying to solve this deadly migration problem.” Alain Mukuralinda, spokesman for the Rwandan government.

    After hosting student survivors of the 1994 genocide for nearly three decades, the Hope Hostel is one of the major properties that will be the first home for migrants deported from the United Kingdom in Rwanda.The renovated 50-room facility in Kigali’s Kagugu neighborhood has a new coat of paint, fresh bedding, and new security cameras. This is just one of the ways Rwanda has prepared for this.

    “There are Rwandans who study, there are Rwandans who have businesses, there are migrants who study here, we forget. There are refugees who have been living here for 10/15/20 years. And it’s not just 10,000/15,000/20,000, there are over 100,000 refugees. Why not use this experiment to solve this problem. So Rwanda, no matter what people think, is ready to try new ways of doing things and attract that human capital. Why not. ” Mukuralinda says.

    Judges in London on Monday ruled that the UK government’s controversial plan was lawful, after a legal challenge by migrants and campaigners.

    In July trade unions in the UK held demonstrations in a StopRwanda campaign, to protest the move.

    Source: Africa News

  • Poachers now on a hippos giant teeth hunt in place of ivory

    Wildlife activists are warning that tighter controls on the trade in ivory have increased the demand for hippopotamus teeth, which could have negative consequences for a species that is already considered “vulnerable to extinction.”

    An animal welfare organisation looked into what transpired in three popular online marketplaces after the UK announced a nearly complete ban on the trade in elephant ivory in June of last year.

    “We found the increase in hippo ivory trade in the UK within a month after the near total-ban of elephant ivory was introduced,” says Frankie Osuch, lead author of a report released by Born Free in September.

    This was “deeply concerning evidence of increased demand for ivory from hippos, whose numbers in the wild are under threat” the report said.

    Researchers say this pattern was clear as far back as 1989, when a worldwide ban on trade in ivory was first agreed, and has only intensified as governments have brought in new measures to tighten the ban.

    Like ivory, hippo teeth and tusks are often used for decorative carvings, but they are cheaper and easier to obtain.

    Hippo body parts can still be traded under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), though all international sales require an export permit.

    It’s been calculated that between 1975, when CITES records began, and 2017, 770,000kg of hippo teeth were legally traded. But there is also an illegal trade.

    In 2020 hippo teeth were among the mammal body parts most often seized in the EU, according to a European Commission report.

    “There are increasing cases of sniffer dogs detecting hippo teeth at different airports in Africa these days, and the detection does not mean all of them are caught, perhaps only half of them are,” says Philip Muruthy, vice-president of the Africa Wildlife Foundation.

    A study by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2016 estimated that the worldwide population of the common hippo was between 115,000 and 130,000 – a drop of 30% since 1994.

    Ten countries in West and Central Africa say there has continued to be a sharp decline in numbers, due to poaching and land degradation.

    They proposed a complete ban on trade in the run-up to a CITES meeting in Panama last month, but this would only have been possible under CITES rules if there had been more than 50% drop in the population in the last 10 years, and an IUCN analysis did not support this conclusion.

    The 10 West and Central African countries then suggested a move called “annotation” that would have resulted in a zero-quota for wild specimens traded for commercial purposes. But this proposal was not supported by the EU or by East and South African countries, who say hippo populations remain at a healthy level.

    Some of the East and South African countries – Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe – are also the source of three-quarters of the estimated 13,909 hippos whose parts and products were traded between 2009 and 2018.

    An ivory salesman in Goma, D R Congo, with carvings made of elephant and hippo ivory in 2006
    IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES Image caption, Hippo tusks are used like elephant ivory for carved decorations

    Joanna Swabe, senior director of public affairs with Humane Society International, points out that little work has been done since 2016 to establish hippo numbers.

    “There has been very little scientific research on the actual population of hippos in all of these range countries,” she says. “While at the same time, range countries know what is going on with their hippos within their territories, so they should not be ignored.”

    Hippos have a low birth rate, producing only one offspring every other year, so a reduction in population size can have a long-term impact.

    Hippo facts

    • All hippos live in Africa – there are two types, the common hippo (population estimated at 115,000 to 130,000 in 2016) and the pygmy hippo (2,000-3,000)
    • The common hippo was classified as “vulnerable to extinction” on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list in 2016
    • The parts and products of an estimated 13,909 hippos were legally traded between 2009 and 2018 – three-quarters of them originated in Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe
    • 770,000kg of hippo teeth were legally traded between 1975 and 2017 – the size of the illegal trade is unknown

    Wildlife experts also say that the legal and illegal trade in hippo teeth needs to be closely monitored.

    The common hippo is listed in Appendix II of CITES meaning that it could be threatened with extinction unless trade is closely controlled.

    The 10 countries seeking a worldwide ban on trade note argue that there is strong evidence of the “co-mingling of legal and illegal hippo ivory”, suggesting that poached ivory is “laundered into the legal market”.

    Without stronger controls, campaigners warn, hippos may share the fate of elephants, which have become endangered – or critically endangered in the case of the African forest elephant – because so many were killed by poachers for their tusks.

     

     

  • Trees store “twice as much carbon” as previously thought

    Researchers discovered that UK forests store twice as much carbon as previously thought by weighing individual trees using a 3D scanning technique.

    Lasers were used to map nearly 1,000 trees in Oxfordshire’s Wytham Wood.

    “We’ve found significantly more carbon stored here,” said Dr Kim Calders, from Ghent University.

    The research also reveals that mature trees, in particular, play a critical role in fighting climate change.

    Image created from laser scan of a group of trees in Wytham Wood, Oxfordshire
    IMAGE SOURCE,MARKKU AKERBLOM Image caption, Laser scans created a 3D map of each tree

    An accurate calculation of the amount of carbon trapped in UK woodland could help inform decisions about how to manage it – in addition to highlighting the cost to the environment of losing that woodland.

    Before 3D scanning techniques were available, weighing a tree would mean cutting it down.

    The latest research, published in the journal Ecological Solutions and Evidence, produced laser-scanned maps of each tree and converted those into a model.

    That gave a measure of each tree’s volume which the scientists used to calculate the amount of carbon captured in each tree’s trunk and branches. It showed that a patch of UK forest weighs about twice as much as previous calculations suggested.

    “When you know the density of the wood, you can convert volume into mass,” explains Prof Mat Disney, from UCL. “About half of that mass will be carbon, half is water.”

    Wytham Wood, one of the most scientifically studied forests in the world, is typical of UK deciduous woodland, meaning the area weighed by scientists affords an accurate estimate of the carbon value of forests across the UK.

    ‘Incalculable’ value

    As well as being important ecosystems, healthy forests remove planet-warming carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

    Prof Disney says the new findings show that, for every square kilometre of woodland lost, “we potentially lose almost twice the carbon sink capacity we thought”.

    “This has serious implications for our understanding of the benefits of protecting trees in terms of climate change,” he explains.

    He adds that the complex structure of mature trees means they play a role that is very difficult to replace by simply planting more trees.

    “The value you have in large mature trees is almost incalculable, and so you should avoid losing that at any cost – regardless of how many trees you think about planting,” said Prof Disney.

    “Those large trees are incredibly important.”

    Source: BBC.com 

     

     

  • It is now legal :Judges say Rwanda asylum bid now legitimate

    The controversial UK government plan to send asylum seekers on a one-way trip to Rwanda is legal, according to judges.

    Two High Court judges have ruled that the UK government’s plan to send asylum seekers on a one-way trip to Rwanda is legal, winning a victory for proponents of the divisive policy.

    However, the judges also stated on Monday that the government did not take into account the unique circumstances of those it attempted to deport, indicating that additional legal disputes will arise.

    The case has a court hearing scheduled for the following month, and appeals are most likely.

    Several asylum seekers, aid groups and a border officials’ union filed lawsuits to stop the Conservative government from acting on a deportation agreement with Rwanda that would see refugees who arrive in the UK by boat sent to the East African country.

    The asylum seekers would then have to present their asylum claims in Rwanda. Those not granted asylum in Rwanda would, under the plan, be able to apply to stay on other grounds or to try to get resettled in a third country.

    “The court has concluded that it is lawful for the government to make arrangements for relocating asylum seekers to Rwanda and for their asylum claims to be determined in Rwanda rather than in the United Kingdom,” Judge Clive Lewis said.

    But he added that the government “must decide if there is anything about each person’s particular circumstances which means that his asylum claim should be determined in the United Kingdom or whether there are other reasons why he should not be relocated to Rwanda”.

    “The Home Secretary has not properly considered the circumstances of the eight individual claimants whose cases we have considered,” the judge said.

    ‘Very disappointed’

    Ever Solomon, head of the charity Refugee Council, said the group was “very disappointed” by the ruling.

    “Treating people who are in search of safety like human cargo and shipping them off to another country is a cruel policy that will cause great human suffering,” he said.

    Al Jazeera’s Harry Fawcett, reporting from the Royal Courts of Justice in London, said the verdict, “a major decision made by the court in favour of the government”, could be appealed.

    “If the road runs out in the UK, there is also the possibility that it could go to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasburg as well,” he said.

    “And that’s where this potentially becomes even more controversial as the European Court of Human Rights has the power to rule government policy unlawful.”

    A protestor holds a placard while demonstrating outside the High Court
    A protestor holds a placard while demonstrating outside the High Court in London [Peter Nicholls/Reuters]

    More than 44,000 people who crossed the Channel in small boats have arrived in Britain this year, and several have died in the attempt, including four last week when a boat capsized in freezing weather.

    Human rights groups say the government’s deal with Rwanda is illegal and unworkable, and that it is inhumane to send people thousands of miles to a country they don’t want to live in.

    They also cite Rwanda’s poor human rights record, including allegations of torture and killings of government opponents.

    Britain has paid Rwanda 120 million pounds ($146m) under the deal struck in April, but no one has yet been sent to the country.

    The UK was forced to cancel the first deportation flight at the last minute in June after the European Court of Human Rights ruled the plan carried “a real risk of irreversible harm”.

    The British government is determined to press on with the policy, arguing that it will deter people-trafficking gangs who ferry migrants on hazardous journeys across the Channel’s busy shipping lanes.

    Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who has called the Channel crossings an “invasion of our southern coast”, told the Times of London it would be “unforgivable” if the government did not stop the journeys.

    Rwanda’s reaction

    Rwandan government spokeswoman Yolande Makolo welcomed the British court’s decision.

    “This is a positive step in our quest to contribute innovative, long-term solutions to the global migration crisis,” she said.

    The UK government has argued that while Rwanda was the site of a genocide that killed more than 800,000 people in 1994, the country has since built a reputation for stability and economic progress. Critics say that stability comes at the cost of political repression.

    The UK receives fewer asylum seekers than many European nations, including France, Germany and Italy, but thousands of refugees from around the world travel to northern France each year in hopes of crossing the Channel.

    Some want to reach the UK because they have friends or family there, others because they speak English or because it’s perceived to be easy to find work.

    The government wants to deport all people who arrive by irregular routes and aims to strike Rwanda-style deals with other countries.

    Critics point out there are few authorised routes for seeking asylum in the UK, other than those set up for people from Ukraine, Afghanistan and Hong Kong.

     

  • UK to soon announce $304m in new military aid for Ukraine

    ‘Hundreds of thousands of rounds of artillery ammunition’ will be included in the new package, according to Sunak’s office, for use against Russia.

    A new $304 million package of military aid for Ukraine to support its counteroffensive against Russia will be announced by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

    According to a statement from the prime minister’s office released on Monday, the package contains “hundreds of thousands of rounds of artillery” and is intended to guarantee “a constant flow of critical artillery ammunition to Ukraine throughout 2023.”

    Later on Monday, according to his office, Sunak will make the declaration at a Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) summit in Latvia.

    The JEF summit brings together leaders from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom, and was called to discuss the “ongoing efforts to counter Russian aggression in the Nordic and Baltic regions”, the statement said.

    At the meeting, Sunak will call on Nordic, Baltic and Dutch counterparts to maintain or exceed 2022 levels of support for Ukraine in 2023.

    “The UK is already Europe’s leading provider of defensive aid to Ukraine, including sending Multiple Launch Rocket Systems and recently, 125 anti-aircraft guns,” the statement added.

    “We have also provided more than 100,000 rounds of ammunition since February, with the deliveries directly linked to successful operations to retake territory in Ukraine.”

    Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, the UK has committed some $7.43bn in aid, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a Germany-based group that tracks support for Kyiv.

    The UK is the second-biggest donor nation to Ukraine after the United States, which has pledged some $51bn in humanitarian, financial and military aid, according to the Kiel Institute.

    Sunak’s office said the British leader had updated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the latest aid last week.

    The pair had met in person when Sunak visited Kyiv last month.

    Zelenskyy is meanwhile expected to address the JEF summit in the Latvian capital, Riga, via video link, according to Sunak’s office.

    The JEF meeting will also discuss further air defence support for Ukraine, which has been scrambling to fend off Russian missile attacks on its critical infrastructure, including its power grid, it said.

    Source: Aljazeera.com 

     

     

     

  • Boris Becker now out of jail, soon to be deported from UK

    PA news agency has reported that, former Wimbledon champion Boris Becker was just let out of jail and will now be removed from the UK.

    In order to avoid paying his debts when he declared bankruptcy, he concealed £2.5 million in assets and loans, serving just eight months of a two-and-a-half-year sentence.

    The German has been residing in the UK since 2012, but he is now in danger of being expelled.

    Given that Becker received a sentence of 12 months or more and is not believed to be a British citizen, he is believed to be eligible for automatic deportation.

    The 55-year-old spoke about the turmoil of the case in a clip released this week for an Apple TV+ documentary.

    Showing him before the sentencing in April, he says: “I’ve hit my (rock) bottom, I don’t know what to make of it.

    “I (will) face (my sentence), I’m not going to hide or run away. (I will) accept whatever sentence I’m going to get.

    “It’s Wednesday afternoon and (on) Friday I know the rest of my life.”

    His fall from grace is documented in the two-part programme that also looks at Becker’s turbulent personal life and his tennis career, which included three Wimbledon titles.

    Becker’s family as well as players past and present such as Novak Djokovic and John McEnroe, also appear.

     

  • For the first time in over a century, score of nurses strike today in first mass walkout over salary

    The action, which was a “difficult decision,” has led to picket lines being set up and Christmas Day-style service being implemented in many hospitals, but nurses say they are not enjoying it. The action, which was a “difficult decision,” has picket lines set up and Christmas Day-style service implemented in many hospitals, but nurses say they are not enjoying it.

    In England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, tens of thousands of nurses have walked out in protest for the first time in a century.

    The attempt to secure above-inflation pay increases has moved forward as a result of the failure of negotiations to avert it.

    Thousands of NHS appointments and operations have been cancelled, and picket lines are set up at numerous hospitals. The health system is currently operating like a bank holiday-style service in many areas.

    The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has said it will still staff chemotherapy, emergency cancer services, dialysis, critical care units, neonatal and paediatric intensive care.

    Some areas of mental health and learning disability and autism services are also exempt from the strike, while trusts have been told they can request staffing for specific clinical needs.

    When it comes to adult A&E and urgent care, nurses will work Christmas Day-style rotas.

    Saffron Cordery, interim chief executive of NHS Providers, said agency NHS trusts were “pulling out all the stops” to lessen the impact on patients.

    She said: “But it’s inevitable that some operations or appointments will have to be rescheduled, and trusts are pulling out all the stops to minimise disruption.

    Source: SkyNews.com 

  • Prince and Princess of Wales releases family photo for official Christmas card

    The UK may have been blanketed in snow this week, but the image on the Prince and Princess of Wales’ official Christmas card suggests otherwise.

    The photo, which was shared on the royal couple’s official social media accounts, shows them on a sunny family walk with their three bare-legged children: Prince George, 9, Princess Charlotte, 7, and Prince Louis, 4.

    Kensington Palace, the couple’s official home, tweeted the photo on Tuesday with a Christmas tree emoji and the message: “Sharing a new family photo for this year’s Christmas card!”

    Dressed in jeans and sneakers, the royal couple are pictured walking along a parkland path, hand-in-hand with their children.

    The casually color-coordinated image sees Prince George, who is second in line to the throne, dressed in a blue polo short and navy shorts, alongside Princess Charlotte in a short denim jumpsuit and Prince Louis in denim shorts and a striped, short-sleeved shirt.

    Shot earlier this year in Norfolk, eastern England by award-winning photographer Matt Porteous, the Waleses’ image was released less than 48 hours before the final three episodes of Prince Harry and the Duchess of Sussex’s docuseries hit the streaming service.

    Earlier this week, King Charles III issued the first official Christmas card of his reign.

    Chosen by the King and Camilla, Queen Consort, the photo was taken by Sam Hussein at the Braemar Games in Scotland on September 3, five days before Queen Elizabeth II died and when Charles was still the Prince of Wales.

    It features the couple looking at each other, with the King in profile wearing a beige suit and striped tie and Camilla in a green hat and jacket.

  • British Prime Minister announces new measures to combat illegal immigration

    British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, legislation will be introduced to prevent people from staying in the UK “illegally.”

    As he revealed new measures to reduce the number of individuals travelling to the UK in small boats across the English Channel, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised to process the backlog of asylum requests.

    Sunak also announced on Tuesday that he intended to introduce new legislation early next year to ensure people who arrive through ostensibly illegal means cannot remain in the country. Sunak has come under increasing pressure to reduce the growing number of people arriving by small boats.

    “If you enter the UK illegally you should not be able to remain here,” Sunak told parliament. “Instead, you will be detained and swiftly returned either to your home country or to a safe country where your asylum claim will be considered.”

    The number of migrants and refugees arriving in England across the Channel has more than doubled in the last two years, with government figures showing Albanians account for the highest number of those arriving by this route.

    Sunak announced a new five-point strategy for dealing with illegal immigration, including plans to fast track the return of Albanian asylum seekers, and clear the initial backlog of almost 150,000 asylum cases by the end of next year by doubling the number of caseworkers.

    Migrants and refugees arriving on small boats have become a major political issue for the Conservative government, particularly in working-class areas in north and central England, where they are blamed for making it harder to find work and stretching public services.

    Sunak said a new unit would be created to tackle crossings and that in the future, asylum seekers would be housed in disused holiday parks, former student accommodation and surplus military sites rather than hotels.

    UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman recently called the wave of arrivals an “invasion” and described many of them as “criminals”, leading to an angry response from Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.

    Concerns over the level of immigration were a driving force in the vote for Brexit in a 2016 referendum, with supporters calling for the UK to “take back control” of its borders.

    Sunak said the public are “right to be angry” and said the current system was unfair to those with a genuine case for asylum.

    “It is not cruel or unkind to want to break the stranglehold of criminal gangs who trade in human misery,” he said. “Enough is enough.”

    The announcement was strongly welcomed by most Conservative members of parliament, who fear they will face defeat at the next election if the government fails to resolve the issue.

     

    Opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer said the last time the government changed the immigration system they made it worse, while some charities said the problem would continue until the government allowed asylum claims outside the UK.

    Sunak’s remarks drew criticism from the UN refugee agency, which said in a statement the plans would “undermine the global refugee system at large” and violate international refugee law.

    Sunak’s approach “would close down access to asylum in the UK for all but a few,” the UNHCR’s assistant high commissioner for protection, Gillian Triggs, said. “This would likely result in refugees having no means to establish their status and place them at risk of forced return to unsafe countries, in breach of the Refugee Convention.”

  • Amid NHS crisis, England hospitals pay up to £5,200 for a single agency doctor shift

    According to figures obtained by Labour through Freedom of Information requests to NHS trusts across the country, the most expensive shift was £5,234, which covered agency fees, money spent at the doctor, and other costs.

    Hospitals in England have paid up to £5,200 for a single shift by an agency doctor, as the NHS is under increasing strain.

    According to figures obtained by Labour through Freedom of Information requests to NHS trusts across the country, the most expensive shift cost £5,234.

    The party asserted that it was paid for by a trust in the north of England.

    Labour contended that its investigation demonstrates the extent of the staffing crisis in English hospitals.

     

    One in three NHS trusts paid an agency more than £3,000 for a single doctor’s shift last year, while three quarters paid more than £2,000, the party said.

    It said “desperate hospitals” had no other choice and blamed the Conservatives, saying they had failed to train enough doctors and nurses.

    Wes Streeting, Labour’s shadow health secretary, said: “Desperate hospitals are forced to pay rip-off fees to agencies, because the Conservatives have failed to train enough doctors and nurses over the past 12 years.

    “It is infuriating that, while taxpayers are paying over the odds on agency doctors, the government has cut medical school places, turning away thousands of straight-A students in England.”

    The party has pledged to tackle NHS staff shortages by doubling the number of medical school places to train 15,000 doctors a year and training 10,000 new nurses and midwives every year, with plans also to double the number of qualifying district nurses.

    Earlier this year,MPs warned of “the greatest workforce crisis” in the history of the NHSwas putting patients and staff at “serious risk”.

    Put together by MPs from the cross-party Health and Social Care Committee, the report pulled no punches when addressing the government over the growing crisis.

    They said there was a shortage of 12,000 hospital doctors, and more than 50,000 nurses and midwives – and that the government had “no credible plan” for making the situation any better.

    Projections have suggested an extra 475,000 jobs will be needed in health and an extra 490,000 jobs in social care by the early part of the next decade in order to ease the strain.

    A Conservative source told Sky News: “We have recruited record numbers of doctors and nurses to support our NHS – with almost 4,000 more doctors and over 9,000 more nurses compared to September 2021.

    “Labour cannot be trusted to support our NHS – they have no plan to grip inflation, resolve strikes or boost the workforce. Instead, they waste time playing political games and defending their union paymasters.”

  • No cause to rejoice: UK economy returns to growth in October, but recession still lingers

    As the impact of the Queen’s funeral continues to play out in UK growth figures, there is no reason to rejoice.

    According to preliminary official figures, the economy returned to growth in October, which experts believe could be the last for some time.

    The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported 0.5% growth in October, following a 0.6% contraction in September, which was largely attributed to disruption to normal activity due to the Queen’s funeral bank holiday.

    The partial recovery in October, which was slightly stronger than expected, was largely explained by the return of normal working days rather than any real surge in output.

    The ONS charted the main boost coming from wholesale and retail activity – both significantly affected by closures as a mark of respect to the late Queen.

    As such, economists still expect a recession to be confirmed at the end of the year.

    That is because output is tipped to be negative during the current fourth quarter as a whole, following the 0.2% dip recorded for the third quarter to September.

    The Bank of England and Office for Budget Responsibility – which have both already declared their belief that the UK is in recession – expect the downturn to last throughout 2023 but remain shallow.

    Economic activity has slowed as a result of high inflation, mostly caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine, curbing appetite for spending.

    Interest rate rises from the Bank, aimed at curbing inflation, have raised borrowing costs to further dampen demand.

    Fixed rate mortgages, also, are yet to ease back to levels seen before the September mini-budget which saw financial markets baulk at the spending plans of the-then Liz Truss-led government.

    New chancellor Jeremy Hunt, who has since rowed back on the growth measures, said of the latest growth figures: “High inflation, exacerbated by Putin’s illegal war, is slowing growth across the world, with the IMF predicting a third of the world economy will be in recession this year or next.

    “While today’s figures show some growth, I want to be honest that there is a tough road ahead.

    “Like the rest of Europe, we are not immune from the aftershocks of Covid-19, Putin’s war and high global gas prices.

    “Our plan has restored economic stability and will help drive down inflation next year, but also lay the foundations for long-term growth through continued record investment in new infrastructure, science and innovation.”

    The Bank, which raised its rate by 0.75 percentage points last month, is widely expected to impose a further hike of 0.5 percentage points this week.

    It is anticipating an easing in energy-driven inflation ahead but forecast to maintain the pressure given that the rate of inflation is at a 41-year high of 11.1%.

    Figures for November, due on Wednesday, are expected to show an annual rate of 10.9% according to economists polled by the Reuters news agency.

     

  • Brexit: Trade deal progress is taking longer than expected

    The number of UK exporters has decreased by 15%, which means the government will fall short of its goal of negotiating post-Brexit trade agreements.

    By the end of this year, the Conservatives will have agreements covering 80% of UK trade, as pledged during the 2019 election.

    Recent data indicates that it will only be 63%.

    A government source claimed that while a trade agreement with the US had been essential to achieving the goal, the Biden administration was not giving it a top priority.

    The government also set a target this year to agree to a free trade deal with India by Diwali, on 12 November, which was missed.

    Deals have been signed with the EU and 71 countries including Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

    The Japanese deal was criticised earlier this year after government figures showed exports in UK goods and services had fallen to that country in the past year.

    Former Environment Secretary George Eustice also criticised the Australia deal, arguing it was “not actually a very good deal for the UK”.

    A Department for International Trade source said: “We’ve set our sights high but recognise to meet this ambition we need a deal with the US, and it is clear the Biden Administration are not prioritising negotiating trade deals with other countries.

    “We’re ready to progress talks when the US are, and in the meantime are working hard to secure trade wins for British firms such as removing barriers to American markets worth millions of dollars, resolving disputes like the steel and whisky tariff issues, and pursuing agreements with individual US states.”

    Separately, HM Revenue and Customs data shows the number of UK firms classed as exporters fell from 149,443 in 2020 to 126,812 in 2021.

    ‘Ceased all trade with Germany’

    David Overton
    IMAGE SOURCE, DAVID OVERTON

    David Overton runs SplashMaps, which produces fabric maps including OS and Michelin maps that are waterproof.

    They sell to consumers, but also to the military.

    Mr Overton said they have always sold to other countries – predominantly the US, but also to Europe.

    Their third biggest export destination was Germany, but Mr Overton says the company has ceased all trade with Germany now because of changes since Brexit, resulting in a 2-5% drop in turnover.

    He told the BBC he noticed all his exports to Germany were being “bounced back” to the UK.

    He realised this was due to an EU directive on plastics and waste in packaging, which Germany requires exporters to sign up for through a register called LUCID.

    “We didn’t know there was a registration process,” he said.

    “I think what the government could really do is pay for the expertise to get these messages out.”

    Exporters fell in every nation and region of the UK, but the decline was steepest in the South East of England (23%) and the North West of England (15%), with the lowest decline being in Northern Ireland (4%), the figures show.

    Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that has remained in the EU’s single market, which was agreed to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland but has led to checks on some goods travelling from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

    Tina McKenzie, of the Federation of Small Businesses, said firms were seeing a “sustained suppression of exports” since the UK’s trade deal with the EU came into force.

    Labour’s shadow international trade secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said the data highlighted a “worrying future trend” and showed the government had “failed to provide the support necessary for exporters”.

    He said Labour would remove barriers to trade with the EU, but ruled out seeking to re-join the single market or customs union – or return to freedom of movement.

    Instead, the party would seek a veterinary agreement to reduce barriers to agricultural exports, and “sort out” the Northern Ireland protocol that has increased checks between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, he told the BBC.

    Kemi Badenoch
    IMAGE SOURCE, STEFAN ROUSSEAU Image caption, Kemi Badenoch says the full impact of Brexit has yet to be seen

    Labour would also seek mutual recognition of professional qualifications to allow more service industries to trade with the EU, seek “equivalent” data protection rules to enable digital services to compete, and find “flexible labour mobility arrangements” for musicians and artists seeking short-term visas to tour in the EU.

    On Wednesday, International Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch said the UK “should be doing better” on trade, but was recovering from global factors such as Covid and the war in Ukraine.

    She told a Commons committee the UK had fully left the EU only at the beginning of 2020, and that “the full impact of what we’re going to see post-Brexit and all of the free trade agreements is yet to be seen”.

    Ms Badenoch’s department said exports were “bouncing back” after the pandemic and had reached £748bn in the last 12 months, an increase of £132bn.