Friday, September 4

Featured

Uber wins court appeal over TfL ban
Featured, United Kingdom

Uber wins court appeal over TfL ban

    Uber has won its appeal of TfL’s decision to revoke its London operating licence last year. Westminster Magistrates Court found that the company is fit and proper to hold the licence, and granted the firm’s appeal after it agreed to an audit. Uber requested, and was granted, a probationary 15-month licence as opposed to the five year licence it previously sought. It has also agreed to pay TfL’s costs of £425,500. The ride-hailing app was stripped of its licence in September 2017, with TfL citing “public security and safety implications” following numerous complaints the company was failing to properly screen the backgrounds of its drivers. Uber immediately announced plans to appeal the decision, and the firm was permitted to continue operating as usual throughout ...
Britain’s health service performs worse than average
Featured, United Kingdom

Britain’s health service performs worse than average

    A study finds Britain's health service performs worse than average in treating eight out of the 12 most common causes of death. The NHS is below average at saving the lives of patients with many of the most common and lethal illnesses, a major study has found. A report by four leading think tanks revealed Britain's health service performs worse than average in treating eight out of the 12 most common causes of death. They include deaths within 30 days of having a heart attack and within five years of being diagnosed with breast cancer, rectal cancer, colon cancer, pancreatic cancer and lung cancer. The UK also has high rates of child mortality around birth, according to the report by the Nuffield Trust, the Health Foundation, the Institute for Fiscal Studies and T...
UK’s extreme hot weather set to cause travel disruption
Featured, United Kingdom

UK’s extreme hot weather set to cause travel disruption

    Commuters have been warned to expect travel disruption as the UK's extreme heat continues following the hottest day of the year. Temperatures reached 30.1C (86F) in parts of the country on Monday, with forecasters predicting the mercury will rise even further in the next few days. Speed restrictions are being introduced on some of Britain's railways amid concerns that tracks will buckle in the sweltering conditions. Divers recovered the man's body from a lake in Nutfield, Surrey on Monday evening after reports he had been struggling in the water. A major search operation is resuming for the missing child who got into difficulty in Westport Lake in Staffordshire. The force said: Bodies of water may look safe, but can hide dangers such as hidden currents, hazardous...
Italy is closing ports to refugee ships
Europe, Featured

Italy is closing ports to refugee ships

    Italy’s new far-right interior minister has suggested setting up migrant processing centres in North Africa with the aim of regulating the number of people travelling to Europe. Matteo Salvini on Monday visited Libya after telling voracious foreign non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to leave search and operations to Libya’s coastguard. Mr Salvini met Libyan interior minister Abdulsalam Ashour and deputy prime minister Ahmed Maiteeq in Tripoli for talks about the refugee crisis. “Reception and identification centres should be set up in the south of Libya,” he told reporters after the meeting, suggesting there could be a way of processing EU asylum applications outside the bloc’s territory. The proposal is expected to be considered by the European Council at a su...
Heathrow third runway project as Boris Johnson faces criticism
Featured, United Kingdom

Heathrow third runway project as Boris Johnson faces criticism

    Boris Johnson has faced sharp criticism from fellow Conservative MPs over his decision to miss Monday night’s crunch vote on Heathrow expansion by flying out of the country on an official visit to Afghanistan. The foreign secretary claimed that resigning over his opposition to the £14bn project, which the Commons backed on Monday night by 415 votes to 119 a majority of 296, would achieve “absolutely nothing” and that he would lobby against it privately instead. (The Guardian) Images of the foreign secretary meeting his counterpart in Kabul emerged on social media after hours of speculation about his whereabouts, as the government refused to disclose his location for security reasons. (Independent) A suspect has been arrested in Jamaica over the murder of a British W...
Britain join to EU military force for post-Brexit crisis
Europe, Featured

Britain join to EU military force for post-Brexit crisis

    Britain is to team up with France, Germany and other willing nations to launch a military crisis force operating outside the framework of the European Union after Brexit . In all nine nations, including Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Estonia, Spain and Portugal, are due to sign a letter of intent in Luxembourg on Monday to take part in the so-called European Intervention Initiative (EII) a coalition of willing states prepared to react to crises near Europe's borders without help from NATO or the United States. Speaking to Le Figaro newspaper on Sunday, Florence Parly, France's defence minister,  said: European defence needs a common strategic culture. The initiative involves joint planning work on crisis scenarios that could potentially threaten European securi...
Venezuela became the most dangerous country to live in the world
America, Featured

Venezuela became the most dangerous country to live in the world

    Take a look at the two lists below. Which one do you think represents the rankings of the most dangerous countries in the world? The lists come from Gallup’s latest Global Law and Order report which surveyed residents in 142 countries on two measures: Their perception of safety Their first-hand experience with crime The pollster inquired about residents’ perception of safety by asking whether they “feel safe walking alone at night.” Singaporeans felt the most secure, with 94% saying so. Venezuelans had the lowest sense of safety with only 17% responding positively. List A reflects the countries where the fewest residents feel secure. Focusing on residents’ experiences with crime, one question asked whether the respondent had been assaulted within the co...
Saudi Arabia’s First Women Taxi Drivers
Arab world, Featured

Saudi Arabia’s First Women Taxi Drivers

    Women across Saudi Arabia greeted the lifting on Sunday of a longstanding ban against women drivers in a variety of ways. Hundreds who already have their license took to the streets for their inaugural drives. One showered every intersection she passed with rose petals. Another took her dad for a ride to make up for all the times he had taken her somewhere. Ohoud Al Arifi logged into her Uber drivers app, and waited for a fare. Both the ride-hailing app and its main competitor in the Middle East, Careem, have embraced the opportunities opening up with the lifting of the ban. Uber has just opened a dedicated women’s “Greenlight Hub” in Riyadh to register, train and support new drivers, while Careem has already trained 2000 women in anticipation of them being able ...
Donald Trump has ordered to immediate return illegal immigrants
America, Featured

Donald Trump has ordered to immediate return illegal immigrants

    Donald Trump, the US president, stoked his political base by calling on Sunday for the immediate deportation of illegal immigrants without judicial process as the consequences of his zero-tolerance border policy continue to divide the nation. In a pair of tweets sent during the drive to his Virginia golf course, Mr Trump increased the rhetorical temperature, heaping pressure on Congressional Republicans ahead of an immigration vote expected this week. We cannot allow all of these people to invade our country, he wrote. When somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no judges or court cases, bring them back from where they came. Our system is a mockery to good immigration policy and law and order. Most children come without parents. At the same time, in a sign o...
Prince William arrives in Jordan for historic five day tour of Middle East
Arab world, Featured

Prince William arrives in Jordan for historic five day tour of Middle East

    The Duke of Cambridge arrived in Jordan for the start of his five day tour of the region. He was greeted by the Crown Prince of Jordan as he arrived in the country for the start of a historic trip to the Middle East. William was warmly welcomed by Al Hussein bin Abdullah II, heir to the Kingdom's throne, when his jet landed in the Jordanian capital Amman. Also waiting at the bottom of the plane's steps was Britain's ambassador to Jordan Edward Oakden who will host the duke when he attends a Queen's birthday party at the ambassador's residence later. Prince William has revealed that his wife, the Duchess of Cambridge, is very upset not to be with him on his five-day tour of the Middle East - particularly as she used to live in Jordan as a child and loved the time s...