GENEVA: Racism is “structural, institutional and systemic” in Britain, a group of United Nations experts concluded on Friday, warning that people of African descent were witnessing the “erosion of their fundamental rights”.Public spending cuts have exacerbated racial discrimination and intolerance, the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent said following an official […]
UK
UK under fire over retreat from Windrush scandal reforms
LONDON: Britain’s government came under withering criticism Friday after retreating from reforms it had promised to prevent a repeat of the “Windrush” scandal affecting black immigrants. Right-wing interior minister Suella Braverman said Thursday that three of the changes previously promised were unnecessary. Baroness Floella Benjamin, a former TV presenter who chairs the government’s Windrush Commemoration […]
Man arrested in UK over uranium cargo package
LONDON: A man has been arrested as part of an investigation linked to the discovery of traces of deadly uranium within a cargo package at Heathrow airport which was flown to the UK on a passenger plane from Oman but originated in Pakistan.Officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command were contacted by Border Force colleagues […]
UK home secretary orders Sanjay Bhandari extradited to India
LONDON: UK home secretary Suella Braverman has ordered the extradition of defence middleman Sanjay Bhandari to India.Braverman ordered Bhandari’s extradition on January 12 this year. Bhandari has 14 days from January 12 to put in an application seeking permission to appeal both the decision of the judge and of the home secretary in the administrative […]
No extra student visas for India in trade deal, says UK international trade secretary
LONDON: UK international trade secretary Kemi Badenoch, who is at the helm of negotiating the UK-India free trade deal, says that the UK has no plan to “offer more student visas” nor specific visas for the under-35s to India as part of the UK-India free trade deal as Britain left the EU because it “does […]
British tradition of tea and biscuits dying out as samosa takes over
LONDON: Britain has been a nation of tea-lovers since the days of the British Empire, which thrived because of tea, among other things, but that British tradition of dunking a custard cream, Rich Tea or bourbon biscuit into a cuppa is now running out of steam as a new survey shows that young people in […]
Who created chicken tikka masala? History of UK’s national dish
Asma Khan has a vivid memory of the first time she encountered chicken tikka masala, the bastard child of Indian cooking and British taste. It was in 1992, and she was newly arrived in the great English university town of Cambridge, where her husband was studying law. A professor invited the young couple to dinner […]
FTA negotiations with India ‘well advanced’, next round set to commence very soon: UK minister
LONDON: Negotiations between Britain and India for an ambitious Free Trade Agreement (FTA) are “well advanced”, with the next round of talks set to commence very soon, a UK Foreign Office minister told peers in a debate in Parliament here, asserting that a strong deal could boost the country’s economy.Lord Tariq Ahmad, the UK Foreign […]
UK PM Sunak apologises for not wearing a seatbelt: Spokesperson
LONDON: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has apologised for an error of judgment after he rode in a car without wearing his seatbelt in order to film a clip for social media, a Downing Street spokesperson said on Thursday.The clip, where Sunak discusses the government’s latest round of funding to “level up” communities around the […]
UK police ‘looking into’ video of Sunak sans seatbelt
LONDON: British police will be “looking into” a video in which Prime Minister Rishi Sunak can be seen riding in a car without a seatbelt — an “error of judgment” for which he has apologised, according to Downing Street.In Thursday’s video, produced for distribution on Sunak’s social media channels, the seatbeltless Conservative leader speaks from […]