By current government proposals, contract workers may be permitted to replace striking employees.
It follows three days of huge rail strikes that have badly affected the travel plans of millions, with Thursday and Saturday due to bring additional cancellations.
It follows three days of significant train strikes, with further cancellations expected on Thursday and Saturday.
Current trade union statutes prohibit employment agencies from providing temporary agency workers to cover for strikes.
According to the government, the legislation will eliminate “burdensome legislative constraints” to permit firms to engage temporary agency workers on short notice to cover key duties during the duration of the strike.
It provided examples of skilled temporary employees filling vacant positions, such as train dispatchers.
The amendments are made through a statutory instrument, are subject to parliamentary approval, and are scheduled to take effect in the coming weeks. They will apply to England, Scotland, and Wales.
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: “Once again, trade unions are holding the nation hostage by paralyzing essential public services and enterprises. The current state cannot be maintained.
“Repealing these restrictions from the 1970s will provide businesses the ability to acquire fully skilled workers quickly while allowing people to continue their lives unimpeded to keep the economy humming.”
Grant Shapps, secretary of transport, stated: “Due to more people being able to work from home, this week’s strikes did not have the expected effect, despite the attempts of militant union leaders to put the country to a standstill. However, a disproportionate number of hardworking families and companies were negatively impacted by the union’s failure to modernize.
“Important reforms, such as this legislation, will ensure that future strikes create even less interruption and allow adaptable, flexible, fully-qualified employees to continue working throughout.”
The government also said it will increase from £250,000 to £1,000,000 the maximum amount of damages a court may award a union for unlawful strike action.
It was revealed on Thursday that US Representative Ilhan Omar has submitted a resolution in the House of Representatives condemning breaches of human rights and religious freedom in India and urging Secretary of State Antony Blinken to identify India as a “country of special concern.”
The resolution, sponsored by Rashida Talib and Juan Vargas, was submitted on Tuesday, according to the website of the United States Congress. It based its arguments to designate India as a country of special concern on a report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).
The language of the resolution, which is available on the website of the US Congress, emphasized that the USCIRF had requested that India be designated as a country of particular concern for three consecutive years.
Citing the annual report of the USCIRF for 2022, the resolution stated that in 2021, “the Indian government escalated its promotion and enforcement of policies — including those promoting a Hindu-nationalist agenda — that negatively affect Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Dalits, and other religious minorities.”
According to the resolution, the report also stated, “The government continued to systematize its ideological vision of a Hindu state at both the national and state levels through the deployment of both existing and new legislation as well as hostile structural changes against the country’s religious minorities.”
In addition, the resolution stated that the study detailed the use of legislation such as the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and the Sedition Law in India as a tool “to create an ever-increasing climate of intimidation and fear in an attempt to silence anyone who speaks out against the government.”
The report also cited instances of the Indian government’s “repression of religious minority leaders and voices for religious pluralism in India, including the Jesuit human rights defender Father Stan Swamy and the Muslim human rights advocate Khurram Parvez,” the resolution stated, adding that the report included numerous instances of the Indian government “criminalizing, harassing, and repressing interfaith couples and converts to Hinduism, Christianity, or Islam.”
In this context, the report also underlined the “serious hazards of the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Registry of Citizens for Indian Muslims, including the potential for millions to become stateless or susceptible to indefinite incarceration.”
The report, according to the resolution, stated: “In 2021, religious minorities, primarily Muslims and Christians, as well as their neighborhoods, businesses, residences, and places of worship, were the target of numerous attacks.
Many of these episodes were violent, unprovoked, and/or incited by government officials.
In addition, the USCIRF study claimed, “In 2021, huge protests against farm legislation established in September 2020 continued.” Despite the widespread and diversified character of the protests, efforts were made to smear the protestors, particularly Sikh protesters, as terrorists and religiously motivated separatists, notably by government officials.
According to the resolution, the report also noted a 2021 Oxfam India study which revealed that a third of Indian Muslims experienced discrimination at hospitals during the Covid outbreak in India.
“As of June 2022, USCIRF’s list of Freedom of Religion or Belief Victims includes 45 Indian nationals, all of whom were designated for their detention,” the resolution states, adding that 35 of these 45 prisoners of conscience remain in custody.
The resolution also referenced the State Department’s 2021 report, which was released on June 2, 2022.
The resolution stated that the ‘Report on International Religious Freedom’ detailed several instances of violence and threats of violence against religious minorities, mainly Muslims and Christians, in India throughout 2021.
Blinken, who launched the report at a press conference, was quoted as saying, “In India, the world’s largest democracy and home to a huge range of faiths, attacks on people and houses of worship have increased.”
And at the same press conference, Rashad Hussain, Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, stated, “We are worried about the targeting of a variety of religious minorities in India, including Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindu Dalits, and indigenous communities as well.”
The resolution stated that, for these reasons, the House denounced human rights atrocities and violations of international religious freedom in India, particularly those targeting Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Dalits, Adivasis, and other religious and cultural minorities.
The House also voiced deep concern over the “deteriorating treatment” of religious minorities in India and urged Blinken to identify India as a “country of special concern” under the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act.
The resolution has been referred to the Foreign Affairs Committee.
US media indicate that media mogul Rupert Murdoch and actress Jerry Hall are divorcing.
The divorce would be Mr. Murdoch’s fourth. Ms. Hall, 65, was once married to Mick Jagger, the lead singer of the Rolling Stones.
Representatives of Mr. Murdoch and Ms. Hall, who wed in a central London mansion in 2016, have not yet commented.
According to the New York Times, individuals close to the family are surprised by their divorce.
This publication and the Washington Post both cited unidentified sources familiar with the separation.
Mr. Murdoch, whose News Corporation empire encompasses major outlets such as Fox News and the Wall Street Journal in the United States, as well as The Sun and The Times in the United Kingdom, was rumored to be dedicating more time to his new wife.
At the time of his wedding, the billionaire said on Twitter that he was “the luckiest AND happiest guy in the world” and that he would no longer post to the platform.
His eldest son Lachlan was appointed his successor in 2018. Additionally, Mr. Murdoch sold the majority of 21st Century Fox to the Walt Disney Company.
Additionally, the couple had been spotted together in public on other occasions.
According to the New York Times, Ms. Hall was observed “doting on” her partner at his 90th birthday party last year.
She was previously in a long-term relationship with Mr. Jagger, with whom she had four children. In 1990, the couple tied the knot in a Hindu ceremony in Bali, Indonesia. The marriage was invalidated by the High Court of Justice in London less than a decade later.
Mr. Murdoch was previously married to flight attendant Patricia Booker from 1956 to 1967, writer Anna Mann from 1967 to 1999, and entrepreneur Wendi Deng from 1999 to 2014.
The couple has a total of 10 children from various marriages.
NEW DELHI: India is providing safety certification for dozens of ships managed by a subsidiary of the leading Russian shipping group Sovcomflot, according to official data, enabling oil exports to India and other countries after Western certifiers withdrew their services in response to global sanctions against Russia.
Certification by the Indian Register of Shipping (IRClass), one of the world’s leading classification organizations, is the final link in the paperwork chain required to keep Sovcomflot’s tanker fleet afloat and shipping Russian crude oil overseas.
India provides protection for Russian oil tankers via a Dubai business.
According to information obtained from the IRClass website, it has certified more than eighty ships managed by SCF Management Services Ltd, a Dubai-based business featured on Sovcomflot’s website.
According to an Indian shipping source with knowledge of the certification procedure, the majority of Sovcomflot’s boats have now converted to IRClass via the Dubai branch.
Classification societies certify that ships are seaworthy and safe, which is necessary for obtaining insurance and port access.
As a result of harsh sanctions imposed in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the country’s crude oil industry has been compelled to seek consumers outside of the West while relying on Russian transporters and insurers to handle its exports.
In recent months, India has significantly increased its crude oil purchases from Russia.
Andrea and Jay never expected to be in this position: praying for their infant daughter’s heart to quit beating before Andrea contracts a fatal virus.
The American couple was on vacation in Malta when Andrea Prudente, who is 16 weeks pregnant, began leaking blood. Doctors informed her that her pregnancy was no longer viable because her placenta had partially detached.
However, the baby’s heart was still beating; in Malta, this implies that doctors are prohibited by law from terminating the pregnancy.
The pair has been waiting in a hospital room for the past week.
“We believe that if she goes into labor, the hospital will become involved. If the infant’s heart stops beating, they will assist. Jay Weeldreyer informs me over the phone, “other than that, they will do nothing.”
His voice is weary and agitated. He fears Andrea’s condition could rapidly deteriorate at any moment.
“Because of the bleeding, the separation of the placenta from the uterus, the entirely ruptured membrane, and the baby’s umbilical cord protruding through Andrea’s cervix, she faces a very significant risk of infection, which could have been avoided,” he says.
“The infant cannot survive, and nothing can be done to change it. We desired her, we continue to desire her, we love her, and we hope she could survive, but she will perish. “Not only are we losing a daughter we desired, but the hospital is also prolonging Andrea’s exposure to danger,” he continues.
Their only hope is a medical evacuation to the United Kingdom, which is covered by their travel insurance.
In 2017, a second tourist had to be airlifted to France for a medical emergency. However, Maltese women do not have this option.
“Women rarely speak out here,” The island has some of the harshest abortion laws in Europe: termination of pregnancy is strictly prohibited, even when the fetus has no chance of survival.
Dr. Lara Dimitrijevic, a Maltese attorney and chair of the Women’s Rights Foundation, has fought against this law for years.
“Women rarely speak out here,” she informs me.
In general, doctors either let the body remove the fetus on its own or if the patient becomes extremely ill and develops sepsis, they intervene to save the mother’s life.
“On average, two or three cases like this occur each year, but when Andrea shared her story publicly on social media, we began to see many more women coming forward and sharing their experience.”
Ms. Dimitrijevic asserts that the law must be altered because this practice poses not only a health risk to women but also a psychological trauma to their families.
Jay tells me that he and his wife are fatigued after six days of waiting for one of two dreadful things to occur.
This treatment could have been completed in two hours without endangering Andrea, enabling us to grieve,” he argues.
“Instead, it’s this drawn-out affair that leaves you with gloomy thoughts, wondering how this could ever finish.”
Cottingham also led investigators to assume he was guilty of the death by supplying facts about the case, such as claiming he was near the crime site at the time of the murder.
On New York’s Long Island, the so-called “Torso Killer” has been linked to the death of a lady discovered in the parking lot of a shopping mall fifty years ago.
Richard Cottingham, who is thought to be one of the most prolific serial killers in the United States, was arraigned Wednesday on a second-degree murder charge in connection with the 1968 murder of Diane Cusick.
Cottingham pleaded not guilty from a hospital bed in New Jersey, where he is already serving a life sentence for other murders.
Authorities think that Ms. Cusick, age 23, left her employment at a children’s dancing school and then stopped at the Green Acres Mall in Nassau County to purchase a pair of shoes when Mr. Cottingham followed her out.
The suspect is believed to have impersonated a security guard or police officer, accused the victim of theft, and then overpowered her, according to Nassau County Police Detective Captain Stephen Fitzpatrick.
He further stated that she was “brutally beaten, raped, and murdered in that vehicle.”
She had defensive wounds on her hands, and DNA evidence was collected at the scene.
However, there was no DNA testing at the time, and the case finally fell cold.
At the time of Ms. Cusick’s death, Cottingham was a computer programmer for a health insurance business in New York.
In the 1980s, he was convicted of murder in both New York and New Jersey, but the law did not require him to produce a DNA sample, as it does now.
In 2016, when he pled guilty to another murder in New Jersey, his DNA was extracted and submitted into a national database.
47 years ago, Cottingham pled guilty to the murders of Mary Ann Pryor, age 17, and Lorraine Marie Kelly, age 16.
In 2021, authorities in Nassau County, located east of New York City, got information that a man believed to be responsible for deaths in the county was in custody in New Jersey.
They recommenced DNA testing on cold cases and discovered a match with Cottingham.
Cottingham allegedly led investigators to assume he was responsible for the homicide by supplying facts about the case, including that he was near a drive-in theatre that was adjacent to the mall at the time of the murder.
However, he refrained from directly confessing to the murder of Ms. Cusick.
He was not always an elderly man with frailty.
This week, Cottingham requested to be arraigned by video stream from a hospital in New Jersey due to his bad health and bedridden condition.
Anne Donnelly, the district attorney of Nassau County, stated, “He is a dangerous predator, and despite his current appearance in a hospital bed, he was not always a frail elderly man.”
“At the time he murdered Ms. Cusick, he was only 22 years old. He was powerful, even stronger than these women, and violent.”
Cottingham, who was dubbed The Torso Killer and The Times Square Killer, previously claimed responsibility for up to one hundred deaths.
Officially, New York and New Jersey authorities have only tied him to a dozen murders, including that of Ms. Cusick.
Since 1980, when he was arrested after a motel maid heard a woman crying in his room, he has been incarcerated.
Aung San Suu Kyi, the ousted pro-democracy leader of Myanmar, has been transferred from house arrest to solitary imprisonment in a Nay Pyi Taw prison.
The 77-year-old Nobel winner was detained in February 2021, after the military overthrew her elected administration.
She has been held at an unidentified location in the capital for the past year.
Ms. Suu Kyi has been condemned to 11 years in prison and faces a multitude of other accusations. She denies all allegations made against her.
It is expected that she will attend trial proceedings from a special court established within the prison.
According to a brief statement issued by the military government, the action was consistent with Myanmar’s criminal laws.
Human rights organizations have denounced the trials as fraud. The public and media have been excluded from the closed-door proceedings, and Ms. Suu Kyi’s attorneys are prohibited from engaging with the media.
Ms. Suu Kyi continues to have widespread support in Myanmar, often known as Burma. According to some estimates, if convicted of all counts, she would face a total prison term of more than 190 years.
In February of last year, the military violently seized control, months after Ms. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) won general elections by a landslide.
Independent election observers stated that the vote was mainly free and fair, notwithstanding the military’s accusations of voting fraud.
Myanmar’s military retaliated against pro-democracy protestors, activists, and journalists in response to the widespread protests sparked by the coup.
Ms. Suu Kyi, as well as several members of her party, are among the more than 14,000 people jailed by the military since they seized control.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, around 2,000 individuals have been slain by the military’s crackdown on the opposition (Burma).
There is significant opposition to the military junta, and several regions of the country are currently embroiled in armed warfare.
US prosecutors have stated in advance of a sentencing hearing that Ghislaine Maxwell should serve a minimum of 30 years in jail for her role in the sexual abuse of underage females.
From 1994 through 2004, the 60-year-old was convicted of soliciting adolescent females for US millionaire Jeffrey Epstein to sexually assault.
In recent court documents, the British socialite’s behavior was described as “shockingly predatory” and her offenses as “monstrous.”
US prosecutors have stated in advance of a sentencing hearing that Ghislaine Maxwell should serve a minimum of 30 years in jail for her role in the sexual abuse of underage females.
Maxwell was found guilty in December of recruiting underage girls for US financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually assault between 1994 and 2004; the 60-year-old will be sentenced on Tuesday.
Before her arrest in July 2020, her attorneys suggested she should serve no more than four or five years in prison and that she had been subjected to harsh and punishing prison circumstances.
Maxwell, according to her attorneys, has received death threats while incarcerated, and her harsh surroundings have caused her to lose hair and weight.
Prosecutors, however, stated in their recommendations to the judge that bad confinement conditions were not grounds for a lower sentence, adding that she had “enjoyed extraordinary benefits as a high-profile detainee.”
They remarked, “The transition from being served on hand and foot to jail is surprising and unpleasant.”
According to federal sentencing standards, Maxwell should serve between thirty and fifty-five years in prison.
Prosecutors wrote: “As part of a terrible partnership with Jeffrey Epstein, Maxwell identified, groomed, and assaulted several victims, all while enjoying an unparalleled life of wealth and privilege.
“Maxwell left her victims with permanent emotional and psychological trauma in her wake.” This damage cannot be undone, but it can be taken into consideration when determining an appropriate punishment for Maxwell’s actions.”
In addition, the judge was advised to consider her “complete lack of remorse,” and the paper stated, “Instead of demonstrating even a hint of acceptance of guilt, the defendant desperately tries to place the blame elsewhere.”
Maxwell’s attorneys contended that she was being used as a scapegoat for Epstein’s misdeeds, but prosecutors dismissed this as “absurd and offensive.”
Responding that she was an adult who made her own decisions, they replied, “She chose to sexually exploit several minors.” She chose to collaborate with Epstein for years, acting as criminal partners and causing catastrophic harm to vulnerable people.”
Epstein committed suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 at the age of 66 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking allegations.
Four women testified that the socialite was a pivotal character in Epstein’s years of abuse in testimony that was often forceful and explicit. The trial was largely viewed as the reckoning Epstein never received.
Doctors, nurses, and a psychologist who cared for Argentine football great Diego Maradona will be charged with murder, according to a judgment issued following an examination into his cardiac arrest-related death.
Doctors, nurses, and a psychologist who cared for Argentine football great Diego Maradona will be charged with murder.
The document seen by Reuters adds that the presiding judge questioned “the behaviors – active or by omission – of each of the defendants that led to and contributed to the realization of the negative consequence.”
The court ruled that the eight employees who were caring for Maradona at the time of his death are guilty of “simple homicide.”
According to Argentina’s penal law, this offense is normally punishable by eight to twenty-five years in jail. There is currently no definite date for the trial.
The accused have denied guilt for Maradona’s death, and several of their attorneys have requested the dismissal of the lawsuit.
Maradona, one of the greatest football players in history, died of a heart attack at age 60 in Buenos Aires in November 2020. He had been recuperating at home since undergoing surgery for a blood clot in the brain earlier that month.
Following his death, prosecutors searched the property of Maradona’s physician and began investigating other individuals engaged in his treatment.
A panel of experts convened to investigate his death concluded that the football player’s medical staff operated in an “inappropriate, inadequate, and reckless” manner.
At the club level, Maradona was best known throughout Europe for his two Serie A championships with Napoli. In addition, he was a club legend with Boca Juniors in his home Argentina, where he played for two separate stints. Maradona will forever be known for his ‘Hand of God’ goal against England in the quarterfinals of the 1986 World Cup, which he scored by leaping over England goalkeeper Peter Shilton and punching the ball into the net. Argentina went on to win 2-1.
Wednesday in Budapest, Anita Alvarez’s teammates became worried as they saw her dive to the bottom of the pool during the women’s solo free event.
A professional synchronized swimmer from the United States fainted mid-routine at the World Championships and had to be rescued by her coach after plummeting to the pool’s bottom.
Wednesday in Budapest, Anita Alvarez, age 25, lost consciousness while competing in the final of the women’s solo free event.
Her instructor, Andrea Fuentes, dove into the water and, with the assistance of a man, pulled her to the surface.
Alvarez recovered consciousness shortly after exiting the water and receiving immediate medical attention.
In an Instagram post, Ms. Fuentes stated, “I’m well, and the doctors agree with me,” as well.
She added, “Anita’s solo was also excellent; it was her best performance ever; she just pushed herself to her boundaries and found them.”
We are all aware that it occurs in other sports, such as cycling, the marathon, and track and field… Some participants don’t make it to the finish line, while others finish crawling or passing out.
“Our sport is also quite difficult. Now is the time for rest and recuperation.”
Ms. Fuentes stated on US Artistic Swimming’s Instagram page that Alvarez will be evaluated by doctors on Thursday before a decision was made on her participation in Friday’s team competition.
A swimmer fainted mid-routine before a competition.
It is not the first time that the swimmer for Team USA has fainted in the water.
Last year, Alvarez lost consciousness during a qualifying event for the Olympics in Barcelona. Ms. Fuentes assisted her and she ultimately placed eighth.
Following Wednesday’s incident in Budapest, the coach informed reporters that it was a “major fright” since Alvarez appeared to have stopped breathing.
She declared on Spanish radio: “It felt like an hour had passed. I stated that something was wrong and yelled at the lifeguards to enter the water, but they either did not hear me or did not comprehend.
“She had stopped breathing. I ran as fast as I could, as though it were the Olympic final.”
Her teammates became noticeably disturbed as they observed the unfolding of the tragedy.
After a 6.1 magnitude earthquake rocked a rural, hilly region and destroyed stone and mud-brick dwellings, at least 1,000 people were killed and more than 1,500 were injured.
A quake survivor in eastern Afghanistan has recounted the loss of 26 members of his family as rescuers resort to hand-dug excavations in villages elevated off the ground.
It follows uncertainty about an official request for assistance. The Taliban government claims it has requested international assistance, but the United States has not received an official request.
The European Union was fast to offer aid, donating €1 million in humanitarian money, and issued a warning that “an estimated 270 thousand residents of the impacted districts may require immediate support.”
On Twitter, Narendra Modi, the prime minister of India, expressed his sorrow and offered humanitarian relief. Other nations, such as Pakistan, South Korea, and Japan, have also shown their support.
Since seizing power in the summer of last year, the country’s hardline Islamist government has been shut off from a significant amount of international aid, which poses a significant challenge for its rescue operations. There have already been inadequate responses to aid appeals despite the drought and economic catastrophe.
At least 1,000 people were killed and more than 1,500 were injured after a 6.1 magnitude earthquake rocked a rural, hilly region on Wednesday, destroying stone and mud-brick dwellings.
The majority of casualties occurred in the province of Paktika, where the district of Gayan, located near the epicenter of the magnitude 6.1 earthquake, had extensive building damage.
As rescue crews and locals resumed the hunt for survivors by hand-digging through the wreckage on Thursday, the chairman of the information and culture department in Paktika, Mohammad Amin Huzaifa, stated: “People are digging grave after grave.”
One patient at the Paktika Provincial Hospital stated that he had lost dozens of family members, including his children.
“I was at home when the earthquake struck at 1.30 a.m. local time. Everything collapsed on us, and I had no idea what was occurring at the time,” said Gulak.
“I have lost 26 members of my family, including cousins and close relatives, as well as my children.”
Amir Gul stated that seven of his family members were killed and another six were injured.
“It was a really powerful earthquake… all the homes have been completely demolished. The province of Paktika is large, yet it lacks food, tents, and other facilities.
“The populace is now beneath an open sky. We need assistance… many individuals are harmed,” he continued.
The calamity occurs amid an economic and humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power in August 2021 and the withdrawal of Western forces led by the United States.
Its economy, which was already frail and heavily reliant on foreign aid, has been hammered by Western sanctions on its banking sector and aid cuts.
