Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

BP Angola commits £4.72m for landmine clearing charity  

BP ANGOLA has announced it has increased its financial grant to $6.1 million (£4.72m) over four years to support the work in Angola of British landmine clearance charity HALO Trust.

An additional $4.9m of funding has been agreed to bolster the $1.2m grant announced last year, as the pair widen their ambitions for the region.


The new funding will support HALO’s 100 Women in Demining project.

The initiative was launched in 2017 in recognition that rural women in Angola suffer disproportionately from poverty, unemployment and lack of opportunities.

The project clears minefields safety while empowering women through jobs, skills and training.

The new funding will support the employment of 130 staff, including at least 85 women in the western Angolan province of Benguela.

In total, the project aims to return 338 acres of land equivalent to 191 football pitches to local people for safe use and help remove the threat of landmines from the province by 2023.

The women in the project are recruited from communities affected by mines. In addition to providing the training, skills and support necessary for safely clearing land, the initiative will also train women to be medics and mechanics and provide skills development in logistics, finance and IT, giving them flexibility for future employment and career development within HALO.

Over the past 15 years, BP Angola has invested $100m in local communities and social initiatives.

Angola’s 27-year civil war ended in 2002, leaving behind one of the most-mined countries in the world.

Today, minefields cover 23,000 acres of land in Angola that could be used for farming or to build homes, schools and clinics.

Since 1994, HALO has cleared more than 880 minefields and 97,000 landmines in the country. Almost 1,200 suspected minefields remain to be cleared.

James Cowan, chief executive of the HALO Trust, said: “Together, HALO and BP have expanded their ambitions and now plan to clear 53 per cent of the remaining minefields in Benguela Province. The $6.1m grant is one of the largest corporate donations to humanitarian mine clearance ever made.”

The project will support the Angolan government’s goal to be mine-impact free by 2025, in line with its obligations to the Ottawa Landmine Treaty.

More For You

Octopus Energy Unveils Smart Home EV Charger to Slash Charging Costs

It follows a broader strategy by Octopus Energy to offer home energy hardware

Getty Images

Octopus Energy unveils first smart home EV charger to cut charging costs

Octopus Energy, the UK’s largest electricity supplier, has launched its first home electric vehicle (EV) charger, named Octopus Charge. The charger is designed to integrate with the company’s smart energy system to enable cost-effective and environmentally friendly charging.

Smart charging through Kraken platform

The new Octopus Charge device connects to the energy supplier’s proprietary Kraken platform, which automatically adjusts charging to coincide with times when electricity is cheapest and greenest. This enables EV owners to take advantage of lower rates and reduce their carbon footprint.

Keep ReadingShow less
Record-breaking data breach

The data is spread across 30 different datasets

iStock

Record-breaking data breach exposes 16 billion credentials, raising global cybersecurity concerns

A massive new cybersecurity report has revealed what experts are calling the largest data breach in history, involving over 16 billion login credentials. The records, uncovered by researchers at Cybernews, appear to come from a variety of sources and have raised alarm bells across the tech and cybersecurity industries.

Unprecedented scale of exposure

The data is spread across 30 different datasets, with individual troves containing between tens of millions and more than 3.5 billion credentials each. In total, the exposed records add up to 16 billion, a staggering number that equates to more than two credentials for every person on Earth.

Keep ReadingShow less
leaders discussed the new Defence Cooperation Accord between the UK and Bahrain,

The leaders discussed the new Defence Cooperation Accord between the UK and Bahrain, aimed at deepening joint military training and naval ties.

Crown Prince of Bahrain's website

UK and Bahrain strengthen defence and investment ties

PRIME MINISTER Keir Starmer met Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, prime minister of Bahrain, at Downing Street on Thursday.

A Downing Street spokesperson said the leaders discussed the UK-Bahrain relationship and welcomed the UK becoming a full member of the Comprehensive Security Integration and Prosperity Agreement (C-SIPA), a trilateral pact with Bahrain and the United States focused on regional security.

Keep ReadingShow less
Swiss banks

Funds held in customer accounts by Indian clients rose by 11 per cent in the year to 346 million Swiss francs (£3.14m) and accounted for about one-tenth of overall funds.

iStock

Indian funds in Swiss banks triple to £3.1bn in 2024

INDIAN money in Swiss banks more than trebled in 2024 to 3.5 billion Swiss francs (£3.1bn), attributed to a rise in funds held through local branches and other financial institutions, annual data released by Switzerland's central bank showed on Thursday (19).

However, funds held in customer accounts by Indian clients rose by 11 per cent in the year to 346 million Swiss francs (£3.14m) and accounted for about one-tenth of overall funds, the report showed.

Keep ReadingShow less
Bank of England

In a statement, the central bank pointed to a recent rise in energy prices, citing the 'escalation of the conflict in the Middle East' as a factor.

Getty Images

Bank of England holds interest rate at 4.25 per cent

THE BANK OF ENGLAND (BoE) kept its key interest rate at 4.25 per cent on Thursday, citing persistent inflation and rising risks from US tariffs and the conflict between Israel and Iran.

The decision, which was widely expected, came a day after the US Federal Reserve also left its interest rates unchanged, pointing to continued inflation and slowing growth in the United States.

Keep ReadingShow less