Sabtu, 12 November 2022
Zelenskiy hails 'historic day' as Ukrainian forces enter Kherson - Guardian News
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2022-11-12 10:25:53Z
CCAiC0NqbGJpRTJnbWtjmAEB
Jumat, 11 November 2022
Just Stop Oil: M25 protests to be halted - BBC
Just Stop Oil activists will halt their protests on the M25 with immediate effect, the group has said.
Demonstrators from the environmental group have been blocking parts of the busy motorway for four days, leading to multiple arrests.
No protests would be held on Friday or in the "foreseeable future", a spokesman said. The pause would allow the government "to do the right thing".
The Met Police said 58 people had been charged over the four days of protests.
Police said the move to halt protests would help them "focus resources" on other crime.
Just Stop Oil has said it wants the government to halt new licences for the exploration of oil and other fossil fuels in the UK.
Despite ceasing any existing protests which may have been planned on the M25, the spokesperson said they did not rule out returning to the motorway in the future.
"We're not saying we're going back to the motorway, but we're not saying we won't go back either. But we've stopped this for the moment," they said.
The Home Office said it was giving police strengthened powers to "match the rise in guerrilla protest tactics".
A spokesperson said: "Not only is the serious disruption we have experienced recently extremely dangerous for all involved, it costs the taxpayer millions and is draining police resources."
Activists earlier this week climbed on overhead gantries in multiple locations of the M25 causing the motorway to be closed.
A police officer was injured during Wednesday's protests.
Essex Police said there was a collision involving the police motorcyclist and two lorries during a rolling roadblock.
Chief Constable BJ Harrington warned it is "only a matter of time" before someone is killed during a protest.
Surrey Police has welcomed the demonstrations being halted, and said it would allow the force to "focus resources on tackling other crime within our communities.
"However, we are not being complacent and have resources in place to deal with any further disruption if required," a spokesperson added.
'No let-up'
The protests were staged as the COP27 climate summit was being held in Egypt.
The Just Stop Oil spokesperson told Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to "consider his statement at Cop27, where he spoke of the catastrophic threat posed by the ravages of global heating, the 33 million people displaced by floods in Pakistan, and the moral and economic imperative to honour our pledges".
The environmental activist group was founded after Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain, with organisers from both at the helm.
Rory Kennedy, co-founder of the US-based Climate Emergency Fund, which funds Just Stop Oil, told The World Tonight on BBC Radio 4 that there would be no let-up in the group's activities in the UK.
Ms Kennedy said protests would continue until government commitments over fossil fuels are changed. She said protesters would stay in "emergency mode" in order to "stave off the worst climate emergency we've ever faced".
Suella Braverman said the "disruption is a threat to our way of life", during a speech on Wednesday.
The Metropolitan Police said eleven people are appearing in courts across the country following this week's protests.
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2022-11-11 17:02:43Z
CBMiMmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jb20vbmV3cy91ay1lbmdsYW5kLWVzc2V4LTYzNTk0NjQx0gE2aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmJjLmNvbS9uZXdzL3VrLWVuZ2xhbmQtZXNzZXgtNjM1OTQ2NDEuYW1w
UK economy shrinks at start of feared long recession - Reuters UK
LONDON, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Britain's economy shrank in the three months to September at the start of what is likely to be a lengthy recession, underscoring the challenge for finance minister Jeremy Hunt as he prepares to raise taxes and cut spending next week.
Economic output shrank by 0.2% in the third quarter, less than the 0.5% contraction analysts had forecast in a Reuters poll, Friday's official data showed.
But it was the first fall in gross domestic product since the start of 2021, when Britain was still under tight coronavirus restrictions, as households and businesses struggle with a severe cost-of-living crisis.
Britain's economy is now further below its pre-pandemic size - it is the only Group of Seven economy yet to recover fully from the COVID slump - and is smaller than it was three years ago on a calendar-quarter basis.
The Resolution Foundation think tank said that although the fall was smaller than investors had feared, it left Britain on course for its fastest return to recession since the mid-1970s.
Its research director James Smith said the figures provided a sobering backdrop for Hunt's Nov. 17 budget announcement, when he will try to convince investors that Britain can fix its public finances - and its credibility on economic policy - after Liz Truss's brief spell as prime minister.
"The Chancellor will need to strike a balance between putting the public finances on a sustainable footing, without making the cost-of-living crisis even worse, or hitting already stretched public services," Smith said.
Responding to the data, Hunt repeated his warnings that tough decisions on tax and spending would be needed.
"I am under no illusion that there is a tough road ahead - one which will require extremely difficult decisions to restore confidence and economic stability," Hunt said in a statement.
"But to achieve long-term, sustainable growth, we need to grip inflation, balance the books and get debt falling," he added. "There is no other way."
RECESSION REALITY
The Bank of England said last week that Britain's economy was set to go into a recession that would last two years if interest rates were to rise as much as investors had been pricing.
Even without further rate hikes, the economy would shrink in five of the six quarters until the end of 2023, it said.
"Fears of a recession are turning into reality," Suren Thiru, economics director for the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, said.
"This fall in output is the start of a punishing period as higher inflation, energy bills and interest rates clobber incomes, pushing us into a technical recession from the end of this year."
In September alone, when the funeral of Queen Elizabeth was marked with a one-off public holiday that shut many businesses, Britain's economy shrank by 0.6%, the Office for National Statistics said. That was a bigger monthly fall than a median forecast for a 0.4% contraction in the Reuters poll and the largest since January 2021, when there was a COVID-19 lockdown.
But gross domestic product data for August was revised to show a marginal 0.1% contraction compared with an original reading of a 0.3% shrinkage, and GDP in July was now seen as having grown by 0.3%, up from a previous estimate of 0.1%.
The upward revisions to July and August's GDP data mostly reflected new, quarterly figures on health and education output, alongside some stronger readings from the professional and scientific and wholesale and retail sectors, the ONS said.
Reporting by William Schomberg and David Milliken; Editing by Kate Holton and Catherine Evans
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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2022-11-11 12:24:00Z
CBMiZmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnJldXRlcnMuY29tL3dvcmxkL3VrL3VrLWVjb25vbXktc2hyaW5rcy1ieS0wMi1xMy1zdGFydC1leHBlY3RlZC1sb25nLXJlY2Vzc2lvbi0yMDIyLTExLTExL9IBAA
Just Stop Oil activists halt M25 protests after days of widespread disruption - Sky News
Just Stop Oil has said it is halting its protests on the M25 after causing days of widespread disruption on the major motorway circling London.
Its supporters have been climbing overhead gantries in several locations, forcing the police to close vast sections of the road for safety while officers remove activists.
"From today, Just Stop Oil will halt its campaign of civil resistance on the M25. We are giving time to those in government who are in touch with reality to consider their responsibilities to this country at this time," the group said today.
"We ask that the prime minister consider his statement at COP27, where he spoke of the catastrophic threat posed by the ravages of global heating, the 33 million people displaced by floods in Pakistan, and the moral and economic imperative to honour our pledges.
"You don't get to recycle words and promises - you owe it to the British people to act.
"Today is Remembrance Day, we call on you to honour all those who served and loved their country. Take the necessary first step to ensure a liveable future and halt new oil and gas."
The group did not say whether campaigners would resume action on the M25 if their demands are not met.
The demonstrations began on Monday as the latest COP27 international climate change summit in Egypt got under way.
Dozens of people took part in the protests and were detained - despite the Metropolitan Police "proactively" arresting campaigners suspected of planning the action.
Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist said the action was "criminality", not protest.
"This was a very significant and co-ordinated effort to cause massive disruption to the entirety of the M25," he said.
Essex Police made several arrests across a stretch of the M25 during the course of the group's four-day campaign.
It's chief constable, BJ Harrington, told Sky News the group's actions were "unlawful" and "dangerous", warning protesters were not only risking their own lives, but that of motorists and police officers too.
One police officer was injured in a crash with two lorries while responding to protests on the motorway on Wednesday.
Campaigner Indigo Rumbelow, told Sky News' Mark Austin on Thursday the climate crisis is set to get "worse and worse and worse unless we act".
She accepted the disruption is "not pleasant", adding: "We feel empathy for all those people out there", but insisted the action was necessary to get the government to listen.
National Highways has said dealing with the Just Stop Oil protests is costing it "a lot of money".
It has secured a High Court injunction to prevent protesters disrupting England's busiest motorway.
The court has granted a further injunction which aims to stop unlawful demonstrations on the M25, which encircles Greater London, in an attempt to end disruption to the busy road by the environmental group.
It means that anyone entering the motorway and fixing themselves to any object or structure on it, and anyone assisting in such an act, can be held in contempt of court.
They could face imprisonment, an unlimited fine, and the seizure of assets.
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2022-11-11 07:41:15Z
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Kamis, 10 November 2022
Jacqueline Kirk murderer given life sentence for fire attack - BBC
A man has been given a life sentence for murdering his ex-partner, who died 21 years after he set her alight.
Jacqueline Kirk was badly disfigured after Steven Craig re-enacted a torture scene from the film Reservoir Dogs at home in Weston-super-Mare in 1998.
Craig was found guilty of grievous bodily harm at the time and served almost 19 years in jail.
Ms Kirk died in 2019 from complications relating to the injuries she suffered, so Craig was then charged with murder.
In a landmark case, he must now spend a minimum of 15 years in prison on top of the 18 years and 11 months he has already served.
Craig, of Brailsford Crescent, York, had admitted the attack on Ms Kirk but denied being responsible for her death.
Sentencing the 59-year-old at Bristol Crown Court earlier, Mrs Justice Stacey said Craig "repeatedly" replayed the torture scene from the film - where a police officer is covered in petrol - "with a permanent grin" .
There was no doubt you planned a "gratuitous" and "deliberate" attack on the mother-of-two, she added.
"She was always in pain and suffered from depression and nightmares, and was suicidal at times."
The judge said there was a history of violence by Craig towards Ms Kirk.
He was drunk at the time of the attack and had behaved "cowardly" afterwards - ordering her to stay away from him while she was on fire, and did not help her to extinguish the flames.
The judge highlighted the "level of sadism and extreme nature of the attack", describing it as "just so callous and so brutal".
Ms Kirk suffered "physical and mental suffering and terrible scarring" for the 21 years she lived, being reminded of the attack every time she looked in the mirror, the judge said.
Ahead of sentencing, prosecutor Richard Smith KC read out statements from Ms Kirk which she gave to police at her trial in 2000.
She said that "nothing or no amount of counselling could prepare me or did prepare me" for the attack.
"I am now a very timid, shy and even embarrassed person," she added.
"Why me? What I have I ever done to deserve this sentence on my life?"
"Life today is a constant struggle."
Her son Shane said his mother was a "strong-minded person" when he was growing up but there were occasions when she had made some poor life choices.
She began to change after she started a relationship with Craig, he said.
Great dignity
She met him by chance and gave Craig shelter because he was homeless, but his influence led her to drug and drink problems that she had previously conquered, he said.
The court heard Ms Kirk was so disfigured that her daughter Sonna only recognised her by her feet when she first saw her in hospital.
In a statement Sonna said she "spent 21 years of feeling grateful and thankful for every extra day that I got to spend with my mum".
"From the very beginning, when I was told that she would likely die, she managed to surprise everyone and came through so much.
"She was able to see me grow up into an adult, where I got married and then went on to have children, and so she became nanny Jackie.
"It has been three years since my mum died and during that time part of my life has been on hold because I haven't had complete closure.
"I have also had to deal with the emotional trauma of going through a second trial, only this time my mum is no longer with me."
Senior investigating officer Mark Almond said Ms Kirk "overcame numerous challenges with an incredible determination and fought with great dignity to rediscover the life she had before she was attacked".
The Avon and Somerset Police Det Ch Insp added that Craig was "undoubtedly responsible for Jackie's death and like all murderers, deserves to be severely punished".
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2022-11-10 15:39:10Z
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Train drivers from 12 companies to go on strike again later this month - Sky News
Train drivers across England have declared a fresh strike in their long-running dispute over pay and conditions.
Members of the Aslef union will walk out on Saturday 26 November, causing more disruption for passengers after months of walkouts by various groups.
The 12 companies involved are Avanti West Coast; Chiltern Railways; CrossCountry; East Midlands Railway; Great Western Railway; Greater Anglia; London North Eastern Railway; London Overground; Northern Trains; Southeastern; Transpennine Express, and West Midlands Trains.
The rail network has been crippled by strikes as workers fight for inflation-busting pay rises amid the cost of living crisis.
Strikes on 5, 7 and 9 November were called off, but at too short notice to reinstate services, leaving Bonfire Night travellers stuck.
Today, members of Unite and the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union have walked out over jobs and pensions.
It means no services on large parts of the London Underground.
Only the Central, Northern, District, Elizabeth, Overground and DLR lines are running, but with reduced services.
Train companies with big profits should make 'proper pay offer'
Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said of the latest industrial action: "We don't want to be taking this action.
"We have come to the table, as we always will, in good faith but while the industry continues to make no offer - due to the dodgy deal they signed with the Department for Transport - we have no choice but to take strike action again.
"They want drivers to take a real terms pay cut.
"With inflation now well into double figures, train drivers who kept Britain moving through the pandemic are now being expected to work just as hard this year as last year but for less. Most of these drivers have not had an increase in salary since 2019.
"We want the companies - which are making huge profits - to make a proper pay offer so that our members can keep up with the cost of living."
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2022-11-10 13:39:00Z
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Steven Craig jailed for further 15 years for murdering girlfriend who died 21 years after he set her on fire - Sky News
A man has been sentenced to a further 15 years in prison - in addition to the 18 he has already served - for setting his partner on fire and causing her death 21 years later.
Steven Craig, 58, covered Jacqueline Kirk in petrol and set her alight in a car park in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset in April 1998.
He served more than 18 years in prison for the attack but following her death in August 2019 he was arrested again and charged with her murder. He was found guilty of that charge by a jury at Bristol Crown Court last month.
At sentencing on Thursday, Judge Mrs Justice Stacey described Craig's conduct as "sadistic" and the attack as "planned and premeditated", handing him a total minimum term of 34 years.
"Your conduct was sadistic - deliberately setting her head and chest on fire the way you did," she told him.
"Anyone who uses petrol must be aware of the level of seriousness of their actions. It was just so callous and so brutal."
She added: "You had no intention to kill Jacquie. But in your case this has reduced significance almost to vanishing point, because the risk of her dying from what you did to her was so obvious."
Craig's trial heard that the 1998 attack resulted in 35% burns to Ms Kirk's body and left her needing 14 operations, including skin grafts and a tracheotomy.
She lived to the age of 61 and was able to see both of her children get married and become a grandmother.
But she died the day after she was admitted to the Royal Bath Hospital in 2019, with doctors refusing to operate on her due to her frailty.
Victim was 'remarkable and impressive woman'
Mrs Justice Stacey paid tribute to Ms Kirk, who was only expected to live for 10 years due to her injuries, but "against the odds survived for more than twice of that".
"With the help of her family, she was determined to lead as full a life as she could," she said. "What a remarkable and impressive woman she must have been."
But due to the extent of her injuries, it was a "demi-life", that left her suicidal at times, she said.
"She was always in pain and suffered from depression and nightmares.
"Her injuries and disfigurement were horrific. Breathing was difficult, eating and drinking were hard.
"She suffered abuse in the street because of the extent of her facial scarring."
Enjoyed watching torture scene in Reservoir Dogs
Detailing the run-up to the 1998 attack, the judge said Ms Kirk had taken Craig into her home when he was homeless and struggling with drink and drugs.
After the pair entered into a relationship he was often violent, "cracking her cheekbone" on one occasion, and "frequently threatening to kill her".
Three days before the petrol attack, he had locked her in a railway station toilet, leaving her trapped for hours before a cleaner let her go.
Craig often watched a torture scene from the film Reservoir Dogs, the judge said, adding: "You enjoyed acting like the characters in the film."
The couple were travelling from Bath to Plymouth when they stopped in Weston-super-Mare, the court heard.
During the car journey, Craig tortured Ms Kirk with a fake story that a hired assassin called "Charlie" from York was coming to kill her.
"She was very scared, because she knew your capacity for violence," Mrs Stacey said.
"There is no doubt that you planned to engage in a monstrous attack on that road trip with whatever means at your disposal."
After stopping at a petrol station to fill a coke bottle with fuel, Craig punched Ms Kirk in the face and poured the petrol over her head.
She got out of the car, believing it would be safer, and he taunted her by asking if she wanted a cigarette.
Ms Kirk was set alight by a lighter and dropped to the ground, the court heard.
When police became involved Craig "lied" to them, the judge said, and was more concerned for his own safety than his victim's.
Previous convictions, including rape and GBH of another partner
After spending seven months in hospital and hearing he had committed rape and grievous bodily harm against another woman he was in a relationship with, Ms Kirk told police what happened, the court heard.
Craig, who will have to serve a minimum of 15 years before being considered for release by the parole board, had a string of previous convictions.
His trial was told he was addicted to drugs by the time he was 21 and despite expressing a "desire to practice abstinence" while in prison, had often blamed alcohol and sometimes his victims for his crimes.
Prosecutor Richard Smith KC had told the jury they did not need to find Ms Kirk's injuries were the main cause of her death - just that the contribution made by them was "more than minimal".
Craig admitted responsibility for the attack - but not her death.
If he is ever released he will be on licence for the rest of his life.
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2022-11-10 12:27:22Z
1649474784
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