Black judges make up just over one percent of the total in England and Wales, barely changed from 2014, according to a Law Society report last year…reports Asian Lite News
Veteran lawyer Sue Carr was named Thursday as the first woman to serve as the most senior judge for England and Wales in the role of lord chief justice, which dates back to the 13th century.
Carr, 58, was appointed to succeed current Lord Chief Justice Ian Burnett, who is retiring at the end of September.
The title-holder oversees the judiciary in England and Wales — Scotland has a separate legal system — although its pre-eminence was diluted by the creation of the UK Supreme Court in 2009.
Carr qualified as a barrister — arguing cases in court — in 1987 and her roles have included work with the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
She became a criminal judge in 2009, and has served on the appeals court since 2020. Married with three children, the Cambridge graduate is a keen musician who sings in a lawyers’ choir and plays the piano.
The new Lord Chief Justice of England & Wales, Dame Sue Carr, has been appointed today. This marks a historic moment as she becomes the first woman to the hold the position. https://t.co/bSJaOfSZaI
Carr’s appointment comes as the UK government seeks to improve the gender mix in senior legal roles — although men account for two-thirds of judges, and ethnic minorities are under-represented.
Black judges make up just over one percent of the total in England and Wales, barely changed from 2014, according to a Law Society report last year.
“At that rate of progress, it would take until 2149 for the proportion of the judiciary who are black to match the current estimate for the general population — 3.5 percent,” it said.
Not just Ukraine, a looming oil disaster in Red Sea is keeping Washington on tenterhooks.(photo:IN)
All of those who had been rescued were said to be well. The Hurricane is one of several operated by the Tornado Marine Fleet…reports Asian Lite News
Three British tourists have been missing after a fire broke out on a dive boat in the Egyptian Red Sea, the media reported on Sunday.
An official said that 26 other people, including 12 Britons, were rescued from the boat, called Hurricane, which was off the coast of Marsa Alam, the BBC reported.
The boat had been on a dive cruise and had left Port Ghalib on June 6, and was due to return on Sunday. The boat’s operator, Tornado Marine Fleet, said 15 British passengers had been on board along with 12 crew members and two guides — a different figure to that given earlier by the local authority, the Red Sea Governorate, the BBC reported.
The local authority said initial examinations had found an electrical short circuit in the engine room, while the public prosecution office had begun an investigation.
All of those who had been rescued were said to be well. The Hurricane is one of several operated by the Tornado Marine Fleet.
A spokesperson said the fire broke out while the crew were doing the diving briefing at Elphinstone Reef — a diving destination known for its wealth of marine life including colourful corals and sharks.
Scuba Travel, which chartered the boat, said the group on board had been on a seven-day tour and the company was working with the local authorities and specialist advisers.
“Our first priority is the safety of our guests,” a spokesperson said. The Red Sea is a popular resort for diving trips.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Office said it was supporting British nationals involved. “We are in contact with local authorities following an incident aboard a dive boat near Marsa Alam, and are supporting British nationals involved,” a spokesman said.
The British government has said it was aware of about 100 such stations around the world…reports Asian Lite News
The government has ordered China to shut down secret police stations operating on British soil, Security Minister Tom Tugendhat says in a written statement to parliament.
Britain has previously said reports of undeclared police stations in the country were “extremely concerning” and that any intimidation on British soil of foreign nationals by China or other states was unacceptable.
British police have investigated claims made by the non-governmental human rights organisation Safeguard Defenders that such police stations were operating at three British sites, Tugendhat said on Tuesday.
“I can confirm that they have not, to date, identified any evidence of illegal activity on behalf of the Chinese state across these sites,” he said.
“We assess that police and public scrutiny have had a suppressive impact on any administrative functions these sites may have had.”
US federal agents arrested two New York residents in April for allegedly operating a secret Chinese police station in the Chinatown district of Manhattan. China has said it firmly opposed what it called US “slanders and smears”.
The British government has said it was aware of about 100 such stations around the world. The Chinese government has previously said there are centres outside China run by local volunteers, not Chinese police officers, that aim to help Chinese citizens renew documents and offer other services.
“The Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office have told the Chinese Embassy that any functions related to such ‘police service stations’ in the UK are unacceptable and that they must not operate in any form,” Tugendhat said.
“The Chinese Embassy have subsequently responded that all such stations have closed permanently. Any further allegations will be swiftly investigated in line with UK law,” he said.
The Chinese government has previously said there are centres outside China run by local volunteers, not Chinese police officers, that aim to help Chinese citizens renew documents and offer other services.
China has closed unofficial ‘police stations’ in Britain, UK minister says https://t.co/YuUzBl0d02
U.S. federal agents arrested two New York residents in April for allegedly operating a Chinese “secret police station” in the Chinatown district of Manhattan. China had said it firmly opposed what it called “the US’s slanders and smears”.
The British government has said it was aware of about 100 such stations around the world.
Asked about Tugendhat’s statement, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in London said in a statement translated from Mandarin by Reuters:
“There is simply no existence of so-called ‘overseas police posts.’ The facts have proven that the so-called ‘overseas police posts’ is a complete political lie, and politicians who speculate on this topic are purely in political manipulations.
“The Chinese government urges the UK government to stop spreading false information, to stop generating hype and slandering China.”
Report reveals that public services capacity was damaged by “steep cuts” to almost every part of the public sector…reports Asian Lite News
Years of austerity left the UK hugely unprepared for the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report.
The Trades Union Congress said funding cuts left health and social care “dangerously understaffed” and reduced its capacity to respond to the COVID-19 crisis.
Multiple years of pay caps and pay freezes undermined safe staffing levels in health and social care, which impeded recruitment and increased staff turnover, the report said.
Public services capacity was damaged by “steep cuts” to almost every part of the public sector, it added.
When the pandemic began in 2020, spending per capita was lower than in 2010 in social care, transport, housing, childcare, schools, higher education, police, fire services, and environmental protection, according to the TUC, the federation of trade unions.
It claimed this limited the ability of public services to contribute effectively to civil contingencies and to continue essential activities effectively, such as children’s education.
The report added that during the pandemic, when workplace risks multiplied, workplace inspections and enforcement notices fell to an all-time low.
Funding for the Health and Safety Executive was 43% lower in 2021/22 than in 2009/10 in real terms, with staff numbers cut, it claimed.
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said: “To learn lessons and save future lives, we must take an unflinching look at the choices made by our leaders in the years before the pandemic.
“In the NHS and social care, funding cuts put staff levels in the danger zone. Cuts to social security pushed many more people below the poverty line, leaving them more vulnerable to infection, and cuts to health and safety left workers exposed to rogue employers who cut corners and put their lives at risk. Austerity cost the nation dearly. It left us hugely unprepared for the pandemic, and it left far too many workers unprotected. The consequences were painful and tragic. The inquiry is our chance to learn the lessons – and to understand why we have to rebuild our public services so that they are strong enough to protect us in a future crisis.”
The report was published ahead of a joint press conference with the COVID-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group on Monday about the lessons they believe must be learned through the UK COVID-19 inquiry.
David Cameron and George Osborne, prime minister and chancellor during the austerity years, have been called to provide evidence to the inquiry.
The British Medical Association has described austerity previously as “Covid’s little helper”. Prof Sir Michael Marmot, a health inequalities expert who will provide evidence to the inquiry, said in late 2020: “We were in a very bad state – and then came the pandemic.”
At 325 deaths per 100,000 people, Britain’s Covid fatality rate was lower than that of the US and several eastern European countries. However, the rate was higher than in France, Germany and Spain, according to research by Johns Hopkins University. It places the UK 20th out of 204 countries for the highest number of Covid deaths per 100,000 population, although data gathering methods and reliability vary.
The TUC said: “Safe staffing levels in health and social care were undermined by multiple years of pay caps and pay freezes, which impeded recruitment and increased staff turnover. This left both health and social care dangerously understaffed when the pandemic began.”
In care homes, where tens of thousands of people died from Covid, the turnover rate for staff in England increased from 22% in 2012-13 to 31.8% in 2019-20, the TUC said.
The Covid inquiry’s examination of the UK’s preparedness will focus on pandemic planning exercises and how lessons were learned from those, but could also offer an early opportunity to learn lessons for social care. The main module looking into what happened in care homes will not start taking evidence until at least spring 2025.
The response of Britain’s healthcare systems will be examined in a module taking evidence from autumn 2024.
The TUC said: “In 2019, capital investment in the UK health sector was 10% below 2010 levels. This forced NHS providers to close hospitals and delay equipment upgrades.”
The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group, which represents thousands of families, said: “Austerity should be front and centre of the inquiry.” But the group added that it would wait to see what the evidence showed before reaching a judgment.
The TUC’s lobbying for a focus on austerity is an early sign of political battles to come over the inquiry’s emphasis as it progresses through modules tackling everything from Downing Street’s lockdown decisions, to the handling of science and the performance of the NHS.
New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and the UK's Rishi Sunak.(Pic credit:Instagram)
Minister for Trade and Export Growth Damien O’Connor said the wine industry is New Zealand’s biggest export to Britain and will see at least NZ$25 million in tariffs disappear overnight…reports Asian Lite News
New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins on Wednesday announced that Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between his country and the UK has come into force.
In a statement, Hipkins said that the benefits which will begin flowing from the FTA will provide a further big boost to New Zealand’s economy and will bring an up to NZ$1 billion ($600 million) increase to the country’s annual GDP.
“The economy is through the worst, with inflation having peaked and returning to the target range next year, good growth, and more workers coming in to help with skill shortages,” Hipkins said.
The #NewZealand-Britain Free Trade Agreement has entered into force from Wednesday to provide a further boost to New Zealand's economy, its prime minister said in a statement.https://t.co/Tw3zqpWXez
New Zealand businesses will immediately save around NZ$37 million from Wednesday, with the instant elimination of tariffs and new duty-free quotas covering 99.5 percent of current exports, he said.
Minister for Trade and Export Growth Damien O’Connor said the wine industry is New Zealand’s biggest export to Britain and will see at least NZ$25 million in tariffs disappear overnight.
Honey producers will no longer face a 16-per cent duty, and the dairy and red meat sectors will transition to duty- and quota-free access for the first time in 50 years.
The proportion of New Zealand export goods covered by an FTA has expanded from 52.5 per cent to 73.5 per cent since 2017 and shows the importance of these agreements to growing exports, O’Connor said.
A man shops in a supermarket in Manchester, Britain, on April 13, 2022. (Photo by Jon Super/Xinhua/IANS)
Photos circulating on social media have shown the range of anti-shoplifting measures being taken at different supermarkets…reports Asian Lite News
Amidst an increase in the number of shoplifting cases in the UK, supermarkets are fitting steak and cheese with security tags and replacing coffee with dummy jars as these are the most targeted items, the media reported.
In March, police forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland recorded nearly 33,000 incidents of shoplifting, according to data analysed by the BBC.
This was a significant 30.9 per cent increase compared with March last year.
According to the data, shoplifting offences have now returned to pre-pandemic levels as the cost of living is on the rise.
The spikes come as food prices are rising at the fastest rate in nearly 45 years.
Grocery prices increased by 19.1 per cent in the year to April, which was down slightly from March but still close to record highs. Staples like sugar, milk and pasta were all up sharply, the BBC reported citing the latest official figures.
Photos circulating on social media have shown the range of anti-shoplifting measures being taken at different supermarkets.
One user posted a picture of steaks enclosed in security devices at a store. “They’re packaging steaks like they’re gold bars,” the user wrote.
Another user posted a picture of “dummy” coffee jars on a shelf at Co-op, with customers told to ask at the counter if they want to buy the real thing.
“Cost of living reaching new heights, my local Co-op is now a grocery show room,” she wrote.
A Co-op spokesperson told the BBC that these are not nationwide policies at their stores.
“Protecting the safety of our colleagues is a priority and we know shoplifting can be a flashpoint for violence against shop workers so whilst this is not a nationwide policy, a decision to implement product security measures at a local level can be made, if a store is experiencing a particular issue.”
Pictures have also emerged of shelves at M&S with only three steaks on them, while cheese at an Aldi store was fitted with security tags.
According to police data, certain regions witnessed even more pronounced spikes in shoplifting in March.
Gwent Police — responsible for overseeing Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Monmouthshire, Newport and Torfaen in Wales — reported the sharpest rise, with instances of shoplifting surging to 961 between January and March, up from 552 in the same period last year.
Meanwhile forces in Northumbria, Staffordshire and Hampshire saw shoplifting rates soar by more than 50 per cent.
Guam: This photo provided by U.S. Pacific Air Forces on Oct. 10, 2017, shows a B-1B Lancer supersonic bomber taking off from an air base in Guam. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said two B-1B Lancers staged simulated air-to-ground missile firing drills with two F-15K fighters over the East Sea and the Yellow Sea the same day in a show of force amid the standoff over North Korea's weapons program. (Yonhap/IANS)
The Saudi-led coalition that first intervened in the war in Yemen in 2015 is accused of repeatedly bombing, killing and injuring civilians, using aircraft and guided missiles supplied by countries including the UK…reports Asian Lite News
British arms exports doubled during 2022 to a record £8.5bn according to the only publicly available official figures, reflecting escalating geopolitical uncertainties and fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The largest destination for UK-made weaponry was Qatar, which bought £2.7bn-worth, and 54% went to countries designated as “not free” by the human rights group Freedom House. These include Saudi Arabia and Turkey, as well as Qatar.
The £8.5bn recorded in 2022 is comfortably a record since the UK began publishing export data in 2008, and is more than double the £4.1bn recorded in 2021. The previous high was £6.9bn in 2015, a time when Syria had collapsed into civil war.
“The latest export licence figures for 2022 show that the UK arms industry is working overtime to arm some of the world’s most authoritarian regimes,” said Sam Perlo-Freeman, a researcher at Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), “as well as countries engaged in armed conflict, with the UK government’s full approval.”
The two largest arms buyers were in the Gulf. Qatar bought £2.4bn worth of Eurofighter Typhoons and related equipment from BAE Systems during 2022, the first of which was delivered last August, a few months before the winter World Cup.
Saudi Arabia, traditionally the UK’s most significant customer, bought £1.1bn of UK arms, including £964m of missiles and related components, arms of the type used previously by its air force to conduct bombing missions in Yemen.
Arms sales to Saudi of weapons that could have been used in Yemen were briefly halted by the UK after a successful legal challenge brought by CAAT. The decision to resume is being challenged in the courts by the campaign group.
The Saudi-led coalition that first intervened in the war in Yemen in 2015 is accused of repeatedly bombing, killing and injuring civilians, using aircraft and guided missiles supplied by countries including the UK.
At least 87 civilians were killed by airstrikes from the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen using weapons supplied by the UK and US between January 2021 and February 2022, according to an analysis by Oxfam. Air raids, however, halted in March 2022.
Ukraine itself received £401m-worth of exports, although most of the £2.3bn of weapons the UK supplied to Kyiv in 2022 were from stocks held by the British military, and so did not require an export licence.
Export figures are based on an analysis of official data released by the Department of Business and Trade produced by CAAT. The other two leading destinations for arms were the US (£860m) and Turkey (£424m).
Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor of the exchequer, said it was “encouraging” that the unemployment rate remained low at 3.9%, despite the 0.1-point rise in the three months to March…reports Asian Lite News
The number of workers on UK employers’ payrolls dropped for the first time in two years last month amid signs that the flatlining economy has started to take a toll of Britain’s labour market.
Fresh figures from the Office for National Statistics showed a 136,000 fall in employees between March and April – the first reduction since February 2021.
Although the ONS said the data was provisional, the numbers on payrolls provide the most timely guide to the state of the jobs market and will be seen as evidence of a cooling in demand for labour. Despite April’s fall, payrolls are more than 800,000 higher than they were in February 2020, the month before the UK went into its first Covid-19 lockdown.
The official figures showed employment and unemployment up in the first three months of 2023. With the cost of living crisis hitting household budgets, there was a record flow of people out of inactivity and into work. The unemployment rate rose unexpectedly to 3.9% from 3.8%.
Job vacancies fell by 55,000 to just over 1m in the three months ending in April, the 10th consecutive quarterly drop. The number of people inactive as a result of long-term sickness reached a fresh record of 2.55 million.
The ONS director of economic statistics, Darren Morgan, said: “Employment and unemployment both rose again in the first three months of 2023, driven in particular by men. This means the number of those neither working nor looking for work continues to fall, although the number of people not working due to long-term sickness rose again, to a new record.”
Despite the highest pay growth in the public sector for two decades, the ONS said workers in public and private sectors were becoming worse off because prices were rising faster than wages. Average regular pay growth for the private sector was 7.0% and for the public sector was 5.6% in January to March, but the cost of living rose by 10.1% in the year to March.
Meanwhile, the number of days lost through strikes rose from 332,000 in February to 556,000 in March, with 80% of the total the result of action in the health and education sectors.
Kitty Ussher, the chief economist at the Institute of Directors, said: “A combination of high costs and cash-strapped consumers is now causing some businesses to hesitate before hiring, uncertain as to what the future holds.”
Chris Thomas, the head of the Commission on Health and Prosperity at the Institute for Public Policy Research thinktank, said: “More people are now out of work due to ill-health than any other time since records began. This is a damning indictment of this government’s record on our health. Long-term sickness is fatally undermining our economy and holding back people’s ability to live long, happy and prosperous lives.”
Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor of the exchequer, said it was “encouraging” that the unemployment rate remained low at 3.9%, despite the 0.1-point rise in the three months to March.
British High Commissioner to Singapore affirmed that the UK has developed a supply chain resilience framework that sets out five areas of priority…reports Asian Lite News
The British government fully supports the priorities that have been put out by India under its G20 Presidency, British High Commissioner to Singapore Kars Owen said on Thursday.
Private sector support and inputs are absolutely critical for G20 proposals to make any real impact. Openness to trade and investment is critical for our long-term prosperity, Owen said at the International Outreach Forum of B20 India organised here on “Resilient Supply Chains for Trade and Connectivity”.
She affirmed that the UK has developed a supply chain resilience framework that sets out five areas of priority — diversification, stockpiling and surge capacity, onshoring, demand management, and international partnerships.
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) as the B20 India Secretariat organised the Forum which deliberated on the next steps for resilient supply chains and discussed how multilateral platforms such as B20 can help to reorganise supply chains with economic efficiency.
Eduardo Pedrosa, Secretary General of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) International Secretariat said: Digitising supply chain management is the most important measure to make supply chain resilience. But even though private investment in the same has doubled, there still exists some resistance.
Dr Amitendu Palit, Member of the B20 India Task Force on Inclusive GVCs for Resilient Global Trade and Investment and Senior Research Fellow and Research Lead (Trade and Economics) at the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore said that one of the key priority areas of B20 India is on Inclusive GVCs for Resilient Global Trade and Investment.
Under this priority area, the engagement is focusing on four themes namely, Building Resilient and Sustainable Global Value Chains; Technology and Trade; Advancing Services Trade and finally, Inclusive Trade,” stated Dr Palit.
Sumanta Chaudhuri, Principal Adviser — International Trade Policy, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), noted: Building resilient and sustainable global value chains has never been more important. The lost GDP due to supply chain disruptions is alarming and global coordination is vital for crisis mitigation.
An interactive workshop was held coinciding with this initiative under the aegis of CII and Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore (ISAS-NUS) Trade Connectivity project launched under FCDO’s Asia Regional Trade Connectivity programme.
The project was designed to identify and understand supply chains for many critical industries in the Asia Pacific region. The project also closely studied the key issues relating to trade and connectivity, including the geopolitical and geo-economic aspects of regional connectivity, through supply chain dynamics.
The workshop included presentations on the completed reports pertaining to supply chains, connectivity, and institutions in the context of Asia Pacific in partnership with ISAS, Athena Infonomics, Koan Advisory, and IIM Nagpur.
As India holds the Presidency of G20 for 2023, it will host the eighteenth G20 Summit.
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) as the B20 India Secretariat will coordinate the B20 Summit in August 2023 and is organising about 100 business events with global businesses across the country and the world during the year with the theme of R.A.I.S.E. – Responsible, Accelerated, Innovative, Sustainable and Equitable Businesses’.
Rishi Sunak, Britain’s first Prime Minister of Indian heritage and a practising Hindu, reading from a biblical book will resonate with the multi-faith theme being struck for the Christian ceremony.
Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak read from the biblical book of Colossians at the coronation of King Charles III in keeping with the tradition of British Prime Ministers giving readings at state occasions.
Sunak, Britain’s first Prime Minister of Indian heritage and a practising Hindu, reading from a biblical book will resonate with the multi-faith theme being struck for the Christian ceremony.
Sunak described the coronation as “a proud expression of our history, culture and traditions”.
The service has been designed to reflect the changes in the UK since King Charles’ mother Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953, the character of Britain as it is today, and the Church of England’s role in contemporary society.
As one of the newer elements, the 74-year-old monarch also prayed aloud using words specially written for the occasion that reflect the “duty and privilege of the Sovereign to serve all communities”.
Thousands have congregated at the Abbey today and millions are watching the live telecast on screens.
But even before King Charles and Queen Camilla, 75, left Buckingham Palace aboard the Diamond Jubilee State Coach for a rainy procession to the Abbey, police arrested dozens of protesters using new powers rushed onto the statute book to crack down on direct action groups.
The coronation is the first since 1953 and the first of a king since 1937. It is only the second to be televised and the first in colour and streamed online.
Much of the two-hour Anglican service, led by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, would be recognisable to the 39 other monarchs crowned at Westminster Abbey since 1066.
