Tag: loss

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-Top News UK News

Sunak faces devastating losses of 1,000 seats in local elections

Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, was buoyed up by winning more than 500 seats, with the party believing its projected vote share puts it on course to take power in 2024 for the first time in 14 years…reports Asian Lite News

The UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak faced devastating losses of more than 1,000 Tory seats in the local elections, while Labour has said the party is on track to win power at the next general election, media reported.

The Prime Minister conceded the English Council results were “disappointing”, but faced a scathing verdict from some of his MPs and the first rumblings of a threat to his leadership from allies of Boris Johnson, The Guardian reported.

Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, was buoyed up by winning more than 500 seats, with the party believing its projected vote share puts it on course to take power in 2024 for the first time in 14 years.

The BBC’s projected national share of the vote put Labour on 35 per cent, the Conservatives on 26 per cent and the Liberal Democrats on 20 per cent, while other parties were on 19 per cent — with estimates extrapolated from the England-only local results.

On Friday night, Labour was expecting this to be its best local election results since 1997, with an equivalent vote share lead of eight-nine per cent over the Tories. Labour sources said this could result in a majority Starmer government if repeated in a Westminster contest, The Guardian reported.

Labour made significant gains from the Conservatives in the North of England and the Midlands, as well as taking Southern Councils such as Plymouth, Swindon, Dover and Medway. They celebrated becoming the largest party in local government, which has not happened since the days of Tony Blair in 2002.

The party had made surprising successes in Hertsmere, in Hertfordshire, the seat of the Deputy Prime Minister, Oliver Dowden, where the Tories lost overall control of the Council.

With the dire results rolling in through the course of Friday, the Tories had lost more than 1,000 Council seats by the evening, with several Councils still to declare, The Guardian reported.

“Make no mistake, we are on course for a Labour majority at the next general election,” Starmer said, having previously urged caution within his shadow team against any complacency about winning.

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Business Environment India News

India loses 259 billion labour hours annually due to heat

With 3.3 billion workers globally, it works out around 205 lost hours per person per year…reports Asian Lite News

Some countries are especially badly hit by heat-related labour losses. For example, India currently loses around 259 billion hours annually due to the impacts of humidity and heat on labour, more than double previous estimates of 110 billion hours, says a study by Duke University.

Published in the journal Environmental Research Letters on Thursday, the study says that humidity and heat currently causes 677 billion hours of lost labour worth $2.1 trillion annually, and human-caused climate change is worsening these losses.

With 3.3 billion workers globally, it works out around 205 lost hours per person per year.

Heat, especially when combined with humidity, can slow people down when they’re performing heavy work such as in agriculture or construction. As the climate heats up further due to greenhouse gas emissions, every fraction of a degree of warming is causing more work time to be lost for heat-related reasons.

Over the last four decades, heat-related labour losses have increased by at least nine per cent (>60 billion hours annually) as global average temperatures rose about 0.4 degree Celsius because of human activities.

This new estimate of work lost to heat and humidity is about 400 billion hours greater than other widely-used estimates — roughly the same as the amount of work lost during the Covid-19 pandemic — due to the inclusion of more up-to-date data on how heat and humidity affect humans doing heavy work.

The new data found that labour productivity can be slowed down at lower heat and humidity levels than previously assumed.

India currently loses around 259 billion hours annually due to the impacts of humid heat on labour and worth an estimated Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) $624 billion.

The US loses PPP $98 billion of labour per year. Without rapid emissions cuts, climate change is set to further increase losses in already hot countries, and historically cooler countries will start to see more significant labour losses.

It is followed by China which loses 72 billion hours, up from an estimate of 24 billion; Bangladesh loses 32 billion hours, up from an estimated 15 billion; Indonesia loses 36 billion, whereas the previous estimate was 11 billion, and Vietnam loses 19 billion, up from an estimate of 8 billion.

In terms of changes, in the first 20 years of this century, India lost 25 billion more hours annually compared to the previous 20 years, China lost four billion extra hours per year, Bangladesh three billion, Indonesia two billion and Vietnam two billion.

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-Top News Europe Sports

Southgate takes full responsibility for England loss

The England manager opined that his team allowed Italy to make a comeback in the second half through ball possession…reports Asian Lite News.

England manager Gareth Southgate took the full blame for England’s agonising loss in the Euro final against Italy, leaving the whole of England heartbroken.

Having taken a second-minute lead courtesy of Luke Shaw, England were forced into extra time followed by a nervy penalty shootout as Leonardo Bonucci levelled on Sunday.

Harry Kane and Harry Maguire scored England’s first two penalties. But Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho failed to convert. Bukayo Saka’s decisive spot-kick was saved by Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, giving Italy the title at Wembley Stadium.

“They’ve been tight throughout and that’s how it is today. In the end we weren’t quite able to see the game through in the normal, regulation time. Italy showed what an absolutely outstanding side they are. But our players have done themselves proud. Every one of them has been exceptional. We’re obviously unbelievably disappointed not to go that one step further,” said Southgate to media after the match.

He took complete responsibility in giving the penalty kicks to Rashford, Sancho and Saka, all of which failed. “That is my responsibility. I chose the guys to take the kicks. I told the players that nobody is on their own in that situation. We win and lose together as a team. They have been tight throughout and that’s how it needs to stay.”

Southgate defended his decision to give penalty strikes to the three youngsters. “It is my decision to give (Saka) that penalty. That is totally my responsibility. It is not him or Marcus or Jadon. We worked through them in training. That is the order we came to. Marcus and Jadon have been by far the best in the lead-in. It was a gamble (to bring them on), but if we gamble earlier, we maybe could have lost the game in extra time.”

The England manager opined that his team allowed Italy to make a comeback in the second half through ball possession. “We did start well. Our system worked really well against theirs. They were bound to have a spell where they came into the game. We didn’t keep the ball well enough in that initial period in the second half. It was our lack of composure in possession that turned the game.”

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