Tag Archives: News

Meghan And Harry Back Racial Justice Movement And Mental Health Charity

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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Archewell Foundation has named new causes it would be supporting, including an online racial justice movement and mental health charity Mind.

It made the announcement on Friday, less than a week after their televised two-hour tell-all primetime show with Oprah Winfrey was broadcast.

During the programme, Meghan told the chat show host she had been suicidal while in the royal family and claimed she received no help after telling staff about her suffering.

She and Harry also made explosive allegations of racist comments about their one-year-old son, Archie.

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The British royal family has been left reeling by allegations of racism by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Meghan and Harry, pictured here during their tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey

In an update from the foundation, it said it would be providing support to Colour of Change, Mind, The PressPad Charitable Foundation and URL Media.

UK-based charity Mind was among those who supported Meghan’s openness about her mental health struggles during the interview.

They tweeted: “We applaud Meghan Markle for speaking out about her experiences of suicidal thoughts. We know that opening up in this way can be really difficult, but when high-profile people talk about these experiences, it helps to break down the stigma around mental health issues.”

Colour of Change describes itself as the US’s “largest online racial justice organisation” and works across criminal justice, voting freedom and economic justice, adding: “We cannot end racism in one area without tackling it in all areas.”

The PressPad Charitable Foundation works to improve diversity within the media by “lowering the financial barrier for young people who want to become journalists”.

Social enterprise PressPad wrote on Twitter: “We are delighted to announce that we have just registered a sister charity, The PressPad Charitable Foundation, and are thrilled that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their Archewell Foundation will be among our first donors.

“We’re excited by such positive action after difficult yet important moments of reckoning for the UK media.

“We’re proud to say our values of action, compassion & community align with the #archewellfoundation. Thanks to everyone who spoke their truth.”

URL Media describes itself as a “multi-platform network of high-performing Black and Brown media organisations” and was launched in January.

On their website, they said: “As the US enters a new chapter, we offer an alternative to business as usual.”

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From Plastic Use To Carbon Offsetting, The Truth About Four Common Climate Myths

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LIFE

Climate activists Pattie Gonia, Aneesa Khan, Anita Okunde and Isaias Hernandez debunk some of the common climate myths currently in debate. The campaigners set the record straight If you’ve ever heard: ‘plastic use is harmless’, ‘the environment can’t be racist’, ‘carbon offsetting will save us’ or ‘it’s your fault’.

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Human Remains Found In Kent Woodland Confirmed As Sarah Everard

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Human remains found in an area of Kent woodland have been identified as belonging to Sarah Everard, Scotland Yard has said.

The 33-year-old vanished while walking home from a friend’s flat in south London on Wednesday March 3.

The marketing executive is thought to have walked through Clapham Common towards her house in Brixton – a journey which should have taken around 50 minutes.

She was last captured on a doorbell camera walking along the A205 Poynders Road towards Tulse Hill at around 9.30pm on March 3.

A serving police officer in the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command had earlier been arrested on suspicion of Everard’s kidnap and murder.

Met Commissioner Cressida Dick sought to reassure the public in the wake of Wednesday’s developments, saying “it is thankfully incredibly rare for a woman to be abducted from our streets”.

She added: “But I completely understand that despite this, women in London and the wider public – particularly those in the area where Sarah went missing – will be worried and may well be feeling scared.”

The Met said the arrested officer’s main job was uniformed patrol of diplomatic premises, but would not specify where he had worked. He was not on duty at the time of Everard’s disappearance.

The diplomatic protection squad is responsible for guarding the Parliamentary estate including Downing Street and the Palace of Westminster, as well as embassies in London.

The officer, in his 40s, was also arrested over a separate allegation of indecent exposure, the Met said.

A woman in her 30s has been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.

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Charlene White Quits As Host Of Press Awards Over Society Of Editors’ Racism Statement

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Ian West/PA Photos

Charlene White, pictured here attending the ITV Palooza held at the Royal Festival Hall in 2018. 

Award-winning journalist and Loose Women panellist Charlene White has pulled out of hosting the Society of Editors’ National Press Awards following the Society’s widely ridiculed claim that the UK media is “not racist”.

In a statement sent to the SoE’s executive director Ian Murray, seen by HuffPost UK, White cited the much-criticised statement, released on Monday in the wake of Harry and Meghan’s interview with Oprah Winfrey. 

“Perhaps it’s best for you to look elsewhere for a host for your awards this year,” she said. 

“Perhaps someone whose views align with yours: that the UK press is the one institution in the entire country who has a perfect record on race.”

The first Black woman to present the ITV News At Ten, White worked in several senior broadcasting roles at the BBC before joining ITN in 2008. 

In 2020 she made her debut appearance as a guest presenter on Loose Women, and it was announced in January that she would become a regular in the wake of Andrea McLean’s exit from the show.

The National Press Awards, organised by the SoE, are set to take place on March 31, recognising outstanding coverage by journalists in the UK across 2020. Among the shortlisted candidates is HuffPost UK’s own Aasma Day, for her work on “reporting diversity”.

White, who has been involved in the awards as a judge for several years, called out the SoE’s inconsistent approach to racism and representation in the media, writing: “Your organisation approached me to become a judge for its awards and to work alongside you because at that time it was hugely lacking in terms [of] being a fair reflection of the UK population. In other words, the nominations and winners list involved very few non-white journalists.

“This is not an unusual scenario, unfortunately. Over the years several organisations have been held to account for eradicating and ignoring the work of ethnic minority professionals – and women.

“So, you told me you wanted that to change. In fact, we spoke at length about it.

“But here’s the thing. I only work with organisations who practise what they preach. My time is precious, so I’d rather not waste it.”

Murray, in a statement published on Monday, sparked a backlash against the organisation when he claimed: “The UK media has never shied away from holding a spotlight up to those in positions of power, celebrity or influence.

“If sometimes the questions asked are awkward and embarrassing, then so be it, but the press is most certainly not racist.”

His assertion, which he went on to defend in a heated interview with Victoria Derbyshire on Tuesday, was fiercely criticised – not least by members of the SoE’s own board, who said they were “deeply angry” about the way they had been represented. 

The SoE represents almost 400 members in senior positions across the UK media, several of whom have now publicly declared their opposition to Murray’s statement.

More than 168 journalists, writers and broadcasters from Black and Asian backgrounds across the media on Tuesday signed an open letter describing the SoE’s position as “laughable” proof of “an institution and an industry in denial”.

In her statement, White said: “Since the Black Lives Matter movement really took hold in the UK last year, every single institution in this country has had to finally look at its failings and its position in terms of how they treat ethnic minorities both inside and outside of its walls.

“But for some unknown reason, you feel as though the UK press is exempt in that discussion. I could list the many many studies that have been done on this, or I could quote facts and figures regarding the correlation between the lack of diversity in newsrooms and the way stories are covered.

“But I’m not your personal Google.

“What I am is a Black woman who has consistently stood up for what she believes in, irrespective of the impact it would have on my career.” 

The SoE has since added a clarification to its original statement, rowing back only slightly on Murray’s claim that the UK press is “not bigoted”. 

The addition reads: “The Society of Editors has a proud history of campaigning for freedom of speech and the vital work that journalists do in a democracy to hold power to account.

“Our statement on Meghan and Harry was made in that spirit but did not reflect what we all know: that there is a lot of work to be done in the media to improve diversity and inclusion.

“We will reflect on the reaction our statement prompted and work towards being part of the solution.”

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Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe Has Been Released After Being Detained In Iran For 5 Years

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British-Iranian dual national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been released after serving a five-year sentence, her lawyer has said.

Speaking to Iranian website Emtedad on Sunday, Hojjat Kermani said: “She was pardoned by Iran’s Supreme Leader last year, but spent the last year of her term under house arrest with electronic shackles tied to her feet. Now they’re cast off.

“She has been freed.” Kermani said a hearing for Nazanin’s second case has been scheduled for Monday March 8.

The mother-of-one is “genuinely happy” after having her ankle tag removed, her husband Richard Ratcliffe said, but he added: “We very clearly remain in the middle of this government game of chess.”

Change.org

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with husband Richard and Gabriella as a baby

Of the upcoming court date, Kermani said: “In this case, she is accused of propaganda against the Islamic Republic’s system for participating in a rally in front of the Iranian Embassy in London in 2009 and giving interview to the BBC Persian TV channel at the same time.”

But he hoped that “this case will be closed at this stage, considering the previous investigation”.

However, Labour MP Tulip Siddiq later said although she was no longer under house arrest, Nazanin “has been summoned once again to court next Sunday”. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy with the dates.

Nor is it clear whether Nazanin is allowed to leave Iran, though Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said she should be allowed to return to the UK as soon as possible and described Iran’s treatment of her as “intolerable.” 

Iran’s judiciary was not immediately available to comment on the release. 

Jeremy Hunt, foreign secretary between July 2018 and July 2019, said on Twitter: “Beyond cruel to toy with an innocent mother & six year old child in this way.”

He tagged the Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif saying: “Let her come home.”

Nazanin’s sister-in-law Rebecca Ratcliffe said she and Nazanin’s husband Richard had a video call with her on Sunday morning and she was “lit up with joy about having the ankle tag taken off”.

She told Sky News: “It was lovely seeing her face this morning. She’s very relieved to be able to leave the flat finally … but there’s still this threat of the second court case hanging over her, so we wait to see what’s going to happen.

“We don’t really know how to interpret what’s going to happen later this week.

“Is it they’re going to just finish off the paperwork and release her and give her her passport back, or is it that they are going to whack her with that second sentence?

“We don’t know and I think there’s a few more sleepless nights ahead.

“Until we know that the second court case has been quashed and she’s on that plane back home, we can’t celebrate.”

She said her brother Richard was “OK” and that “today is a day for processing and having a bit of a rest with his family”.

The news could be a significant development in the ordeal for Richard and the couple’s daughter Gabriella, who is now six. Richard has campaigned passionately for his wife’s release since she was jailed in Tehran in 2016.

Nazanin, a charity worker, was arrested at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport while travelling to introduce her then baby daughter to her parents.

The 42-year-old has been detained in Tehran since 2016, when she was sentenced over allegations, which she has steadfastly denied, of plotting to overthrow the Iranian government.

She has been out of prison since last spring due to the coronavirus crisis, and has been under house arrest at her parents’ home in Tehran.

Reuters

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with her daughter Gabriella

While the mother-of-one’s original sentence ended on Sunday, there had been fears her detention would continue after she appeared in court in November on charges of spreading propaganda against the regime. Her husband termed the charges “spurious”, saying the case presented the same evidence used when she was convicted in 2016.

Speaking to HuffPost UK in the days ahead of her release, Richard said he had hardly dared believe she would be released after a number of “false dawns”, including the invocation of rarely-used diplomatic protection for his wife in 2019 – to no avail.

He said: “Nazanin just wants to come home and have a cup of tea on the sofa. But I don’t think I will feel safe to imagine a reunion at the airport or the beginning of a new life until she’s out of Iranian airspace.”

Speaking after her release on Sunday, Kate Allen, director at Amnesty International UK, said: “This is such bittersweet news.

“After all Nazanin’s been through this feels like yet another example of the calculated cruelty of the Iranian authorities.

“The Iranian authorities have an appalling record of playing cruel games – not just with Nazanin, but also with other UK nationals and numerous people held in the country on politically-motivated grounds.

“Nazanin was convicted after a deeply unfair trial the first time around and this spurious new charge and possible trial is clearly designed to delay her release and exert yet more pressure on Nazanin and her family.

“This won’t be over until Nazanin has her passport and is on a flight heading home to the UK.

“The UK government must not take this lying down. All the past talk of not leaving any stone unturned to secure Nazanin’s release must now be translated into very serious diplomatic action.”

It has been claimed Nazanin was being held to force the UK into settling a multi-million-pound dispute with Iran. The debt dates back to the 1970s when the then-Shah of Iran paid the UK £400m for 1,500 Chieftain tanks.

After he was toppled in 1979, Britain refused to deliver the tanks to the new Islamic Republic and kept the money, despite British courts accepting it should be repaid.

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Inaugural Poet Amanda Gorman Says Security Guard Followed Her Home For Looking ‘Suspicious’

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Poet Amanda Gorman was racially profiled outside her own apartment, she revealed on social media Friday.

“A security guard tailed me on my walk home tonight,” wrote the Los Angeles-based 22-year-old. “He demanded if I lived there because ‘you look suspicious.’ I showed my keys & buzzed myself into my building. He left, no apology.”

“This is the reality of black girls: One day you’re called an icon, the next day, a threat,” added Gorman, who earned rave reviews with her recital of her original poem “The Hill We Climb” at president Joe Biden’s inauguration in January.

She later performed at the 2021 Super Bowl.

Gorman, the first national youth poet laureate, said that “in a sense, he was right.”

“I AM A THREAT: a threat to injustice, to inequality, to ignorance,” she said. “Anyone who speaks the truth and walks with hope is an obvious and fatal danger to the powers that be.”

“A threat and proud,” Gorman concluded.

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People Aged 56 And Over Can Now Book A Covid-19 Vaccine

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People aged between 56 and 59 years old can now book their Covid-19 jab online. 

While the rollout to a new age bracket has not yet been formally announced by the government, the NHS booking site now allows people over 56 to pick an appointment for their first and second doses of the vaccine. 

https://www.nhs.uk

A screenshot of the NHS Covid-19 vaccine booking page.

Over 56′s fall into category eight of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI’s) vaccine priority groups though this category also includes those aged 55, who are not currently eligible to book a jab according to the site. 

Those age 56-and-over can now book alongside people who are deemed both  extremely clinically vulnerable and clinically vulnerable to Covid-19, frontline health and social care workers, people with a learning disability and people who act as a main carer to someone at high risk from Covid-19.

While the expansion of the roll out hasn’t been formally announced, it appears that a number of newly-eligible people have already booked online after seeing the change reported on social media sites such as Twitter. 

It emerged on Friday that more than a million people in England had now had their second dose of the Covid-19 jab, completing the course of immunisation. 

A total of 1,034,068 second doses had been given by March 4, according to the latest figures from health agencies in the four nations.

Of those, 729,265 were given to people in England, along with 154,819 in Wales, 108,197 in Scotland and 41,787 in Northern Ireland.

Margaret Keenan became the first person in the world outside of a clinical trial to be vaccinated at Coventry Hospital on December 8. 

Public Health England said on Friday that 21,358,815 people have now received at least one dose.

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Donald Trump Finds It ‘Kind Of Freeing’ Being Off Twitter, His Former Press Secretary Claims

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Former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany claims ex-president Donald Trump is now actually “doing just fine” without social media.

Trump railed against and desperately tried to circumvent his bans from multiple social media platforms — which for years he used to spread conspiracy theories, amplify lies, sow division and attack enemies ― after he was booted for inciting the deadly US Capitol riot on January 6.

But McEnany, a newly-minted contributor for Fox News, on Friday told Fox Business’ Stuart Varney that Trump now finds it “kind of freeing.”

“He said it was kind of freeing not to have Twitter. He had a lot of time on his hands. So I think he’s doing just fine without social media,” she said.

Social media users were skeptical about McEnany’s claim, given her history of lying on behalf of Trump and the ex-president’s well-documented love for Twitter in particular.

Twitter permanently banned Trump from his favourite platform in the wake of the insurrection. Facebook’s oversight board is due soon to rule on the possible reinstatement of Trump’s account. YouTube said Thursday it will lift Trump’s suspension once the risk of offline violence has diminished.

McEnany, in an apparent contradiction to her earlier comments, then pivoted to the right-wing talking point of so-called “cancel culture.”

“What a travesty, this cancel culture, this root someone out of the public square,” she told Varney, saying the bans weren’t about stopping violence but “about stopping Trump.”

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NHS Medics Slam 1% Pay Rise: ‘It’s A Real Insult, I’m Absolutely Fuming’

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A staff nurse who held a phone to the ear of a dying patient on a Covid ward so he could say goodbye to his family has blasted the government for its “pitiful” 1% pay increase.

Alex Oldham told HuffPost UK that the NHS has had the “year from hell” and that he backed proposals for strike action in response to the gesture.

Oldham, who works in Bristol, said: “We’ve been working through a year-long pandemic where at times we’ve had nurses wearing binbags for PPE, there’s been 850 NHS workers who have died of Covid.

“Yes, we’ve had nice things like Clap for Carers on Thursdays, and when ministers have given praise and kind words, but we now know those words are hollow and not worth anything.”

The main nurses’ union is to set up a £35m industrial action fund in response to the government’s recommendation.

The council of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) made the decision amid growing anger over the pay of health staff who have been under unprecedented pressure during the coronavirus crisis.

Dozens of healthcare workers have also been tweeting their disgust at the proposal.

Unite, which represents tens of thousands of NHS workers, is also warning of industrial action. Some of the hardships endured by NHS workers have seen using foodbanks, moving out of family homes to live closer to the hospitals and cover staff sick leave and living in complete isolation in order to protect their families.

A survey of RCN members last year revealed that more than one in three were thinking of leaving the profession, with many citing pay as the main reason.

Oldham said: “Strike action, in whatever form that may be might have to be the only option, obviously with patient safety carefully considered.”

When asked if he was tempted to leave, Oldham replied: “It does make me consider. There are other avenues to earning more money – like being an agency nurse, but that just doesn’t sing with my values. I like the ethos of the NHS, I like how it all works and the goodwill of it. But we can’t keep running on empty.”

Downing Street has defended the figure, saying it was what was “affordable” and Health Minister Nadine Dorries has said she was “pleasantly surprised” at the proposal.

Oldham said he was reminded of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s vow to lead a government of substance, not gestures, adding: “Here we are, really not seeing any substance. Even as a gesture it’s pretty pitiful.

“The government also have a pledge for wanting to put an extra 50,000 nurses on the wards by the end of their term in government, but how are they going to achieve that when they are offering, in terms of retention and appealing to people, a £3.50 a week pay rise?

“That’s an extra cup of coffee. That’s what that equates to, that’s the reality. And we also have to think about the human cost of the nurses on the frontline. I’ve held a phone to the ear of a dying patient, to their relatives who are crying on the phone because they can’t come in and see them.

“This pandemic will ripple for years to come because of the PTSD that nurses and many other NHS workers will suffer. It’s a real insult, I’m absolutely fuming.

 “This request for a pay rise is not driven by greed. This is driven by the fact we are exhausted. We are on our knees and we are fed up of being treated like this. We want a substantial pay rise to put food on the table, pay the mortgage and pay for childcare.”

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Trump Returns To Political Stage And Hints At 2024 Presidential Run

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NEWS & POLITICS

Former President Donald Trump took to the stage on February 28, for the first time since leaving office, with a typically fiery speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Trump called for Republican Party unity as he continued to stoke divisions across America with misinformation about the 2020 election.

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