Blog

Preparing for two ‘no deal’ scenarios

Image copyright AFP

A lot of hassle and potential cost for a lot of people.

The government’s spent the afternoon giving details of what might need to happen, if there was no deal with the EU.

There’s no guarantee you’d be able to avoid big phone bills if you use your mobile abroad, although ministers say they’d cap any data charges at £45 a month and some of the firms say they won’t change prices.

If you want to go on the road on the continent, you might need an International Driving Permit.

Free phone roaming ‘not guaranteed’ UK driving licences ‘may not be valid’

If you want to jump on a cheap flight for a last-minute weekend, better check you have six months left on your passport, or you might be turned back.

Image copyright AFP

In that situation, the government would be walking away without being able to tell MPs or the public how much we would still have to stump up.

Ministers’ belief, however, is that the chances of there being no agreement are now relatively small.

They are hopeful that next week EU leaders will give helpful hints at a special meeting in Salzburg.

Yet there is a long way to go until Dominic Raab, or anyone in government, can be sure. And don’t doubt that many Tory MPs are adamant they simply won’t vote for the kind of proposal Theresa May has put on the table.

One senior MP told me: “If people in Number 10 haven’t made clear to her that ‘Chequers minus minus’ isn’t going to get through the Commons, then she is getting the wrong advice.”

After all, there are two kinds of “no deal” – one seems very unlikely, where the EU and the UK simply can’t agree. The prime minister comes back to Parliament and says: “I’m sorry, I tried, but it just won’t wash.”

But the other is that Theresa May comes back with a deal but her party, and Parliament, chucks it out.

The political climate would be different in those two cases.

But in the potential chaos of either, the hassle outlined on Thursday might just be the start.

September 13, 2018
Cliff collapse on Greece’s ‘shipwreck beach’ injures tourists

Image copyright Reuters Image caption “Shipwreck beach” on Zakynthos, or Zante, is one of the Ionian island’s main attractions

At least seven people were injured when part of a cliff face broke away at the popular Navagio beach on the Greek island of Zakynthos, officials say.

“We haven’t found any trapped people but we will continue searching,” a spokesperson for the fire brigade said.

None of the injuries sustained in the incident on Thursday afternoon are believed to be life-threatening.

The beach, also known as “shipwreck beach”, is popular with tourists and can be reached only by boat.

“There was a noise and a small piece of rock fell, then a second bigger and finally a third big piece of rock that during the fall created a sea whirlpool that overturned the boats,” one eyewitness said.

Image Copyright @WendyThorpeUK @WendyThorpeUK

Greek authorities said they had received no reports of missing people but that search and rescue teams were continuing to operate by air and sea into the late afternoon as a precaution.

Among those injured was a 34-year-old woman from the Czech Republic, who suffered a fractured vertebra. Her husband and two children were also treated for minor injuries by hospital staff, according to the Greek news website Kathimerini.

Three others were also hurt in the incident.

Footage posted on social media showed people running in panic as a large section of the cliff peeled off and crashed down close to several bathers.

The port of Zakynthos, which is also known as Zante in Western Europe, was evacuated as a precaution.

It is one of the Ionian island’s main attractions, in part because of the shipwreck on the shore and also because of its surrounding steep cliffs.

September 13, 2018
Algerian War: Macron in rare torture admission

Image copyright AFP

France has admitted responsibility for the torture and killing of a communist activist in Algeria over 60 years ago.

Maurice Audin, 25, was working as a mathematician at the University of Algiers when he was arrested in 1957.

In a rare admission on Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron said Audin had either been tortured to death or tortured and executed during French colonial rule.

Algeria gained independence from France in 1962 after a bloody seven-year war.

Audin was one of the few Europeans in the country to support Algerian calls for independence when he disappeared during the Battle of Algiers. He was married with three children.

President Macron is due to pay a formal visit to Audin’s widow on Thursday, as well as to open the archives “on the subject of disappeared civilians and soldiers, both French and Algerian”.

Long shadow

In a visit to Algeria in February 2017 while still a presidential candidate, Mr Macron described colonialism as “a crime against humanity”. Later the same year, however, he ruled out reparations for any crimes committed under colonial rule.

The Algerian war has left a long shadow in both France and Algeria. Over 1.5 million Algerians are thought to have died and it is only in recent years that Paris has begun to acknowledge some instances of abuse from the conflict.

In September 2016, then President François Hollande admitted France’s role in the suffering of tens of thousands of Algerian soldiers who fought for France, known as harkis, and who were left without protection at the end of the war. Many of those who remained were brutally killed in reprisal attacks.

He specifically mentioned the “responsibility of French governments in the abandonment of the harkis, the massacres of those who remained in Algeria and the inhumane reception of those transferred to France”.

Eleven years earlier, France’s ambassador to Algeria apologised for the Sétif and Guelma massacre in 1945, when French police killed at least 1,000 Algerians after deadly attacks on settlers in the area. It is seen by some historians as a key moment leading to the war that broke out nine years later.

September 13, 2018
‘A single piece of plastic’ can kill sea turtles, says study Ask a question

Image copyright Google

A new study suggests that ingesting even a single piece of plastic can be deadly for sea turtles.

Researchers found there was a one in five chance of death for a turtle who consumed just one item – rising to 50% for 14 pieces.

The team found that younger turtles are at a higher risk of dying from exposure to plastic than adults.

The authors say their research raises concerns over the long term survival of some turtle species.

The never ending surge of plastic into the world’s oceans is taking an increasing toll on iconic marine species.

Image copyright BBC Sport

From that information they were able to deduce the role of plastic in causing death – if an animal had ingested more than 200 pieces of plastic, death was inevitable.

Fourteen pieces meant a 50% chance of dying – while one piece gave a 22% chance of mortality.

“Because of their digestive tract, they don’t regurgitate anything,” lead author Dr Britta Denise Hardesty from Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), told BBC News.

“If it ends up in the wrong place, even one little thin, filmy piece of plastic can block that canal and mean that nothing can pass and ultimately the blockage can result in death.”

As well as causing blockages, harder pieces caused internal injuries which often lead to death as well.

The research team also found that younger turtles were taking in far more plastic than adults. Around 23% of juveniles and 54% of post-hatchling turtles had ingested plastic compared to 16% of adults. The scientists say that this greater susceptibility is down to where they live and how they feed.

Image copyright Kathy Townsend

“Young small turtles actually drift and float with the ocean currents as does much of the buoyant, small lightweight plastic,” said Dr Hardesty.

“We think that small turtles are less selective in what they eat than large adults who eat sea grass and crustaceans, the young turtles are out in the oceanic area offshore and the older animals are feeding in closer to shore.”

While sea turtles can live until they are about 80 and reproduce for decades, researchers are concerned for the longer term impact of so many juveniles consuming so much plastic.

“We know that disproportionately finding it more in younger animals who won’t make it to the reproductive state will have long term consequences for the survival of the species,” said Dr Hardesty.

“It’s very concerning.”

Other experts in this field say the new study is an important step towards quantifying the scale of the threat that plastic poses to the lives of sea turtles.

Image copyright Brazil Photo Press Image caption Turtles face external and internal dangers from plastic – this one was found wrapped in plastic, washed ashore in Brazil

“The authors offer a very defensible framework for allowing us to measure the mortality risk resultant from plastic ingestion,” said Prof Brendan Godley, from the University of Exeter, who wasn’t involved with the study.

“It also points to the likelihood that plastic may be a key threat to the smallest life stages. This is of particular concern as pieces of plastics and baby turtles are both likely to be aggregated together in similar areas.”

The authors of the new study want to raise awareness among consumers and political leaders about the threat from plastic and to encourage creative solutions to the issue. One option may well be a plastic tax or deposit scheme.

“Let’s rethink our relationship with plastic,” said Dr Hardesty.

“Let’s put a true cost on plastic so they have a similar value to aluminium cans which we don’t find lost in the environment, they get picked up and they don’t get mismanaged and find their way out into the ocean,” she added.

The study has been published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Ask a question

Share this chatbot.

September 13, 2018
Hurricane Florence: Prisons in hurricane’s path not evacuated

Image copyright NASA Image caption Hurricane Florence gains strength in the Atlantic Ocean as it moves west, seen from the International Space Station on Monday

“Storm of a lifetime” hurricane Florence is predicted to bring deadly disaster to large parts of the eastern US coast when it makes landfall on Thursday.

But as millions are under order to flee, some are being told they have to stay put.

On Monday, South Carolina officials announced they would not remove inmates from at least two prisons inside mandatory evacuation zones.

“In the past, it’s been safer to leave them there,” a spokesman for the South Carolina Department of Corrections said.

One of those facilities is no longer in those zones but remains in Florence’s path.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Flooding in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina in 2005

New Orleans was particularly badly hit but prisoners locked in cells in the city’s jail were not moved to another facility. A third of the inmates had been awaiting trial – not convicted of any crime.

Power cuts and broken generators caused ventilation and lights to fail and electric cell doors to remain shut. One guard reported that officials had fled as the waters had risen.

Prisoners were abandoned in cells without food or water for days as [toxic] floodwaters rose towards the ceiling, according to reports by the ACLU and Human Rights Watch based on more than 1000 eyewitness accounts.

Prisoners of Katrina

Orleans Parish Prison was eventually evacuated four days after the storm hit. Some inmates say they saw dead bodies and Human Rights Watch claimed that 517 prisoners had gone missing.

In 2006, Sheriff Marlin Gusman maintained no prisoners had died and none had escaped. Later, it emerged that arrest warrants had been issued for 14 escaped inmates.

Why are prisons not evacuated?

South Carolina has not evacuated prisons in response to hurricanes since 1999, according to local media.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Houston residents are rescued after flooding caused by heavy rain during hurricane Harvey in 2017

In Texas, four county jails were evacuated before hurricane Harvey made landfall last year. Built to withstand the most severe hurricanes, they were evacuated as a precaution and sustained some structural damage.

But in Houston, which was severely flooded, inmates left in prisons and jails reported minimal drinking water and food and poor access to medicine, as well as stifling heat.

In 1992, hurricane Andrew slammed Florida, causing huge damage to one prison in Miami, after which about 4,000 prisoners were moved out.

By Georgina Rannard, UGC and social news

(more…)

September 13, 2018
Turkey raises interest rates to 24% in new bid to boost lira

Image copyright Getty Images

The lira has risen against the dollar after Turkey’s central bank hiked interest rates to 24% on Thursday – the biggest increase in President Tayyip Erdogan’s 15-year rule.

The hefty 6.25 percentage point rise is the bank’s latest attempt to stem the currency’s collapse.

The lira is down 38% against the dollar this year despite Thursday’s slim gain.

The move came despite Mr Erdogan repeating his opposition to high interest rates earlier in the day.

He has repeatedly blamed the central bank for high inflation, which hit almost 18% last month, its highest level since 2003.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption President Erdogan has blamed Turkey’s central bank for high inflation

Phoenix Kalen at Societe Generale said the market was both pleased and confused by the bank’s move.

“It almost seems like it’s a game of ‘good cop, bad cop’ being played out between the Turkish authorities – with President Erdogan on the one hand still making statements regarding his dislike of interest rates and… a very sizeable reaction from the central bank in response to the recent inflationary and geopolitical developments,” she said.

Brett Diment at Aberdeen Standard Investments said raising rates would put “Turkey on the slow road to recovering some monetary policy credibility, and that is critical”.

Piotr Matys at Rabobank said Turkey also needed to resolve its trade dispute with the US and rebalance the economy away from big infrastructure projects and consumer spending.

The central bank surprised investors by not raising rates when it last met in July.

That decision sent the lira tumbling by a quarter and prompted Turkish authorities to impose a series of measures intended to support the currency.

On Thursday Turkey banned the use of foreign currencies in the country’s property market.

September 13, 2018
Brexit: Dominic Raab on UK plan for no-deal with EU

Video Raab: Cabinet ‘plan of action’

(more…)

September 13, 2018
Manchester City break £500m revenue barrier in Premier League-winning season

Sport Man City break £500m revenue barrier

September 13, 2018
Diane Abbott unveils Labour’s new immigration policy

A Labour government would bring in a simplified visa system for foreign workers with “bona fide skills”, Diane Abbott has said.

The shadow home secretary said the party would also scrap the government’s “bogus” net migration target.

She set out plans for a “flexible work visa” to end the “idiocy” of medical staff not being able to take up jobs.

Migrants from outside the EU should be treated with the same “fairness” as EU migrants after Brexit, she added.

Do we really know how many people come to the UK? Migration from EU to UK continues to fall Windrush compensation ‘could be capped’ Diane Abbott: Labour would close two immigration detention centres

The Conservatives said Labour’s new policy would “tear up the rules for people coming from outside the EU which would allow more low-skilled immigration”.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Labour wants to “simplify” the immigration system

Ms Abbott vowed to scrap the government’s target of reducing net migration – the difference between those arriving in the UK and leaving – to below 100,000 a year.

“The target had never been met and never will be met,” she told the BBC, and called for “a new conversation about migration that is not fixated on numbers”.

She vowed to scrap the minimum income requirement for non-EU migrants and to give people “more rights of family reunion”.

What the party’s policy towards migrants from the EU would be after Brexit would depend on what the current government agreed in Brussels, she told the BBC, but she wanted to see “fairness” between the two categories.

“We want an immigration system which is fair, and which is managed, in the interests of the economy and the community as a whole,” she added.

The shadow home secretary is also pledging that Labour will abolish the Immigration Act 2014 and end the “hostile environment” policy deployed by the government, which she said had led to the Windrush scandal.

But she insisted Labour would act against illegal immigration and “make the system of deportation of overseas criminals much easier and smoother”.

“If a judge issues a recommendation for deportation for serious criminals post-sentence, that should be carried out as a matter of routine. From the prison to the airport,” she said in her speech.

Immigration minister Caroline Nokes said Labour had “no interest in getting control of our borders as we leave the EU”.

“Only the Conservatives will end free movement and build a fair and controlled immigration system,” she added.

September 13, 2018
Edward Snowden surveillance powers ruled unlawful

Image copyright European Photopress Agency

The UK’s bulk interception powers, exposed by the whistleblower Edward Snowden, have been found to be illegal by the European Court of Human Rights.

In a landmark judgement, the court ruled agencies had violated rights as there were no proper safeguards.

The court crucially said bulk interception was legitimate and it had seen no evidence it had been abused.

Parliament reformed surveillance powers in 2016 and introduced a new watchdog. Critics say the system is still flawed.

What were the powers being challenged in court?

In 2013, Edward Snowden revealed that GCHQ – the UK’s eavesdropping agency – had been secretly collecting communications sent over the internet on an industrial scale.

Image copyright AFP/Getty Images Image caption The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg

The court also criticised powers to ask internet companies to hand over “communications data” – the basic technical facts of how people have exchanged information.

It said: “The content of an electronic communication might be encrypted and, even if it were decrypted, might not reveal anything of note about the sender or recipient.

“The related communications data, on the other hand, could reveal the identities and geographic location of the sender and recipient and the equipment through which the communication was transmitted.

“In bulk, the degree of intrusion is magnified, since the patterns that will emerge could be capable of painting an intimate picture of a person through the mapping of social networks, location tracking, internet browsing tracking, mapping of communication patterns, and insight into who a person interacted with.”

Is this system still in force?

In 2016, Parliament passed the Investigatory Powers Act in a massive overhaul of surveillance law.

A government spokeswoman said it would give “careful consideration” to the judgement – but added that new safeguards were already in place.

“The Investigatory Powers Act 2016 replaced large parts of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) which was the subject of this challenge,” she said.

“This includes the introduction of a ‘double lock’ which requires warrants for the use of these powers to be authorised by a secretary of state and approved by a judge.

“An Investigatory Powers Commissioner has also been created to ensure robust independent oversight of how these powers are used.”

UK surveillance powers explained

But Jim Killock of Open Rights Group – one of the bodies behind the challenge – said: “Viewers of the BBC drama, Bodyguard, may be shocked to know that the UK actually has the most extreme surveillance powers in a democracy.

“Since we brought this case in 2013, the UK has actually increased its powers to indiscriminately surveil our communications whether or not we are suspected of any criminal activity.

“In light of today’s judgment, it is even clearer that these powers do not meet the criteria for proportionate surveillance and that the UK government is continuing to breach our right to privacy.”

Silkie Carlo, of Big Brother Watch, added: “This landmark judgment confirming that the UK’s mass spying breached fundamental rights vindicates Mr Snowden’s courageous whistleblowing.”

Lord David Anderson QC, the former independent terror laws watchdog, said that judgement was “enormously important” because the court had backed the use of bulk interception powers that had so worried Edward Snowden.

“That should come as a relief – not only to the agencies who do this work, but the rest of us who they are trying to keep safe,” he told BBC Radio 4’s The World At One.

“I have looked pretty carefully at this over a number of years and there is no doubt in my mind that these powers are very useful – not just in counter-terrorism, but in cyber defence and at a much more everyday level they are useful for the police in fighting online sex crime, county lines and in a missing persons investigation.

“What they [the judges] are doing are holding the feet of our new super regulator to the fire, and saying if you are going to give government these powers, then you have to look really closely at how they are authorised, how they are used and what happens to the data after it’s been collected.”

September 13, 2018