COUNCIL leaders have urged faith communities to follow lockdown guidelines during Diwali, as a top police officer confirmed the service would investigate reports of rule-breaking during major religious celebrations.
David Jamieson, the West Midlands police and crime commissioner, warned officers would intervene if large groups gathered during festivities. “If there’s flagrant breaking of the rules, then the police would have to enforce,” Jamieson told The Telegraph last week.
Jane Kennedy, the police and crime commissioner for Merseyside, also said officers would investigate instances of rule-breaking during the holidays.
In London boroughs with high Asian populations, such as Newham, Ealing and Brent, council leaders have reiterated efforts to communicate with religious groups on the latest restrictions. The government announced a four-week lockdown would come into effect in England from Thursday (5).
Rokhsana Fiaz, mayor of Newham, east London, expressed confidence that the local community understood the rules and would not engage in mass gatherings. She said the council spent “a huge amount of time, effort, relationship building and engagement” with faith communities in the borough. “I’m not worried (about mass gatherings) because we have established strong solid relationships, and we engage with (faith communities) continuously about the changing situation in Newham,” Fiaz told Eastern Eye. “That’s been the case since the outset of the pandemic during the first wave and initial lockdown period. There’s a deep understanding of the risks and threats.”
Adeola Agbebiyi, public health consultant for Newham Council, said places of worship had been provided with sufficient advice throughout the pandemic. The council held a series of webinars for faith communities and regularly produced updated info-graphics and multi-language posters. “We’re constantly looking to boost and strengthen what we’re doing,” Agbebiyi told Eastern Eye.
Councillors from Brent, north London, also asserted they had held virtual meetings with faith leaders to convey appropriate messaging and guidelines in the run up to Diwali. They released translations of essential information and offered targeted extra support to the communities most affected by the virus.
Despite efforts, Krupesh Hirani, the Brent Labour councillor for Dudden Hill Ward, revealed the council’s director of public health had confirmed cases were rising locally. There appeared to be more infections among older residents, Hirani told Eastern Eye last week.
Brent’s council leader Muhammed Butt said it had been “vital” to regularly reach out to communities throughout the pandemic. “From the outset, community, faith organisations and mutual aid groups have worked closely with the council and incredibly hard to share timely advice with their communities on how to stay safe,” he told Eastern Eye.
With the rise in coronavirus cases, Butt said the council undertook a “tremendous amount” of work alongside local temples to encourage families to enjoy safe Diwali celebrations. “With the unprecedented year we have had, I am grateful that there are so many ways to mark important occasions like Diwali in alternative ways,” he said. “Ultimately, councils and faith groups cannot prevent the spread of the deadly virus themselves. We have to trust in all our communities to act upon the rules that are in place to keep families safe.”
Julian Bell, leader of Ealing Council in west London, said they had advised residents about staying safe during Diwali. They have been regularly updating social media channels, he said, and sending out a
weekly newsletter to more than 100,000 residents in the borough. “I wish everyone a happy Diwali, but ask them to make that sacrifice and celebrate virtually so we can keep our loved ones safe,” he told Eastern Eye. “That is what Diwali is about – celebration and keeping loved ones safe, by following the rules.”
Labour MP for Ealing Virendra Sharma also voiced his support, calling for individuals to celebrate virtually. “I urge people to call, use Zoom and Skype to wish friends and family, especially those at risk of being alone,” the Labour MP told Eastern Eye. “Our community will show its strength by following the rules for everyone’s good and celebrating all the more forcefully.”
The Metropolitan Police did not respond to a request from Eastern Eye, relating to the number of fines issued during religious celebrations for Navratri and Durga Puja last month.
Elsewhere in the UK, councils have been working to communicate with ethnic communities on the latest guidelines. In Bradford, council leader Susan Hinchcliffe said they had been encouraging all residents and businesses to abide by government advice and Covid-19 legislation.
Although she said the majority of residents had been following the rules, the council had taken action with some rule-breakers. “Where people are wilfully putting people in the Bradford district at risk, we have taken action to safeguard the public which has including serving community protect notices on where the rules have not been followed, including a venue that has hosted weddings,” she told Eastern Eye.
On Monday (2), it was reported Birmingham Council had spent nearly £1 million on employing 46 new Covid enforcement officers. According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, 24 Covid marshals will cover the city, while 12 environmental health enforcement officers and eight officers are dedicated to parks and open spaces.
Council leader Ian Ward expressed hope it will help convey the appropriate messaging through to the city’s communities. “Working with the communities of Birmingham to keep people safe has never
been more important and these measures will strengthen our collective response as we head into the winter, by focusing on specific areas where the new resources will have the greatest impact,” he said.
Leicester City mayor, Sir Peter Soulsby, has also urged people to celebrate safely. He said, “Diwali is one of the biggest events on the city’s festival calendar and a highlight of our year. Sadly, this year we can’t mark it as a city with the wonderful events we usually hold. I know that for many thousands of people across the city it is a hugely important time, and I hope that families will still be able to make their celebrations special, even if they are not with all of their loved ones or wider family members in the way they usually would be.”
During the previous lockdown in Leicester, two city councillors were forced to apologise after breaking rules. Ruma Ali was found to have held a barbecue in her garden in August, while fellow Labour councillor, Rashmi Joshi, went to a religious event.
Feature image credit: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
Zarah Sultana with Jeremy Corbyn during a protest outside Downing Street demanding the UK government to stop all arms sales to Israel. (Photo: X/@zarahsultana)
FORMER Labour MP Zarah Sultana has announced her resignation from the party and plans to launch a new political party alongside ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and other independent MPs and activists.
Sultana, who represents Coventry South, lost the Labour whip last year for supporting the removal of the two-child benefit cap.
She stated on social media that the new party would aim to challenge what she called a "broken" Westminster system. In her post, she said the government was "an active participant in genocide" in Gaza and criticised Labour's response to the crisis. “Labour has completely failed to improve people’s lives,” she said.
Today, after 14 years, I’m resigning from the Labour Party.
Jeremy Corbyn and I will co-lead the founding of a new party, with other Independent MPs, campaigners and activists across the country.
Israel has strongly denied allegations of genocide in Gaza. Prime minister Keir Starmer has described the situation as “appalling and intolerable,” while calling for a ceasefire and the release of hostages. The International Court of Justice is currently examining the genocide claims.
Responding to Sultana’s comments, a Labour spokesperson cited government achievements including wage increases, NHS appointments, and trade deals.
Home secretary Yvette Cooper said Sultana had “always taken a very different view” and defended the government’s actions.
Sultana, elected in 2024, was one of eight MPs suspended for opposing the two-child cap. While four have rejoined Labour, Sultana and John McDonnell remain independents. McDonnell said he was “dreadfully sorry” to see her leave. The BBC reported he will not be part of the new party.
Corbyn and four other independent MPs previously formed an alliance, winning in constituencies with large Muslim populations on a pro-Palestinian platform. He told ITV’s Peston there was “a thirst for an alternative” and said, “There will be an alternative... based on peace rather than war.”
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The certificate was presented to Shah at the Welsh parliament by Anita Bailey, Home Office Director Windrush Unit.
A prominent Asian doctor has been recognised for his services to the community. Prof Hasmukh Shah has received a certificate of appreciation for his contribution and services to the United Kingdom.
The certificate was issued by Seema Malhotra MP, UK Minister for Migration and Citizenship, as part of the Windrush Cymru Elders and Race Council Cymru’s Windrush work in Wales.
It was presented to Shah at the Welsh parliament by Anita Bailey, Home Office Director Windrush Unit.
Shah is the Secretary of the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) in Wales.
In June 2018, he received the British Empire Medal (BEM) from Queen Elizabeth in her Birthday Honours List.
In 2024, the Welsh Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Jeremy Miles, presented Shah with a Lifetime Service Award for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at the international Girmit conference in Cardiff.
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Dalai Lama looks on as offerings presented by Buddhist followers are laid on a table during a Long Life Prayer offering ceremony at the Main Tibetan Temple in McLeod Ganj, near Dharamsala, India, on June 30, 2025.(Photo: Getty Images)
A SENIOR Indian minister has said that only the Dalai Lama and the organisation he has established have the authority to decide his successor as the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism. The comment runs contrary to China’s long-standing position on the matter.
The Dalai Lama, who fled to India in 1959 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule, said on Wednesday that after his death he would be reincarnated as the next spiritual leader, and that only the Gaden Phodrang Trust would be able to identify his successor. He had earlier said that the next Dalai Lama would be born outside China.
China has maintained that it has the right to approve the next Dalai Lama, citing a legacy from imperial times.
Rijiju: Only Dalai Lama or his institution can decide
India’s minister of parliamentary and minority affairs, Kiren Rijiju, made a rare comment on the issue on Thursday. He was speaking ahead of a planned visit to the Dalai Lama’s base in Dharamshala, where the spiritual leader will celebrate his 90th birthday on Sunday.
“No one has the right to interfere or decide who the successor of His Holiness the Dalai Lama will be,” Indian media quoted Rijiju as saying.
“Only he or his institution has the authority to make that decision. His followers believe that deeply. It’s important for disciples across the world that he decides his succession.”
China warns India over remarks
Following Rijiju’s comments, China’s foreign ministry on Friday warned India against interfering in its internal affairs and urged it to act with caution.
“We hope the Indian side will fully understand the highly sensitive nature of Tibet-related issues, recognise the anti-China separatist nature of the 14th Dalai Lama,” spokesperson Mao Ning said at a regular press conference.
India’s foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the Dalai Lama’s succession plan.
Rijiju, who is a practising Buddhist, is expected to be joined by other Indian officials for the birthday celebrations in Dharamshala.
India is home to tens of thousands of Tibetan Buddhists, who are allowed to live, study and work freely. The Dalai Lama remains a respected figure in India, and foreign policy analysts say his presence gives India some diplomatic leverage in its relations with China.
Ties between the two countries deteriorated sharply after a deadly border clash in 2020 but are now slowly improving.
(With inputs from agencies)
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FILE PHOTO: Foreign tourists and their guides trek down from Nanga Parbat base camp. (Photo by AMELIE HERENSTEIN/AFP via Getty Images)
A CZECH mountaineer fell to her death on the world's ninth-highest peak, Pakistan officials said Friday (4), becoming the first casualty of the summer climbing season in the country.
Klara Kolouchova, 46, the first Czech woman to summit the world's two highest mountains, died on Thursday (3) after falling on the lower slopes of Nanga Parbat.
The 8,125-metre (26,656-foot) mountain is one of the world's most dangerous climbs with a reported one-in-five fatality rate.
"Her feet slipped from a slope and she fell into a ravine," Nizam-ud-Din, a senior local government official in Diamer district, told AFP, adding that one of her team members reported the death.
"The exact location of her body will first be traced. Once confirmed, appropriate rescue operations will be initiated to retrieve the body by using a helicopter service."
Five of the globe's 14 mountains above 8,000 metres are in Pakistan, including the world's second highest mountain, K2.
Himalayan peak Nanga Parbat earned the nickname "killer mountain" after more than 30 people died trying to climb it before the first successful summit in 1953.
The Alpine Club of Pakistan also confirmed Kolouchova's death.
"She was an inspirational climber and a source of motivation for women mountaineers," said Karrar Haidri, the vice president of the Alpine Club of Pakistan.
"Her death leaves a void in the climbing fraternity," he added.
Her last post on Instagram on June 14 from Islamabad was a photo and video of her unsuccessful bid to climb the same mountain in 2024.
"Last year, the Naked Mountain laid me bare. Stripped me to silence, to stillness, to soul," the caption read.
"This time, we aim higher. This time, we summit," she added.
The incident is the first casualty of the summer season, according to the Alpine Club, which monitors climbing expeditions in the country.
The summer climbing season starts in early June and runs until late August.
(AFP)
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Zohran Mamdani addresses supporters in Queens, New York City
INDIAN AMERICAN lawmaker Zohran Kwame Mamdani last week clinched the Democratic nomination for mayor of New York City, defeating former governor Andrew Cuomo in what is being described as one of the most unexpected results in recent city political history.
Mamdani, 33, a state assemblyman representing Queens and a self-declared democratic socialist, stands on the brink of becoming New York’s first Muslim and Indian American mayor.
His win was announced last Tuesday (24) , triggering widespread reactions and placing his progressive agenda in the national spotlight.
“In the words of Nelson Mandela: it always seems impossible until it’s done,” Mamdani wrote on social media after the result. “My friends, it is done. And you are the ones who did it.”
Born in Kampala, Uganda, on October 18, 1991, Mamdani moved to New York at seven with his parents, acclaimed Indian filmmaker Mira Nair and Ugandan academic Mahmood Mamdani, who is of Indian descent.
Mamdani’s social and political awareness was shaped by the cultural and intellectual legacy of his parents, and would later influence his entry into grassroots activism and state politics, reports said.
Mamdani is married to Syrian American artist Rama Duwaji and the couple live in Brooklyn.
His strategy combined grassroots mobilisation with radical ideas aimed at transforming the economic structure of New York City. His message, focused on affordability, public infrastructure and working-class empowerment, gained traction with a diverse base across boroughs.
“We have won from Harlem to Bay Ridge,” he declared at a crowded victory party in Queens. “This is your victory.”
Among his most eyecatching proposals are a citywide rent freeze for stabilised tenants, fare-free public buses, universal childcare from six weeks to five years, and the establishment of city-owned grocery stores to counter food inflation.
In a city where a three-bedroom apartment can easily cost $6,000 (£4375) a month, his message struck a chord.
Voter Eamon Harkin, 48, said prices were his “number one issue.”
“What’s at stake is primarily the affordability of New York,” he said.
A revenue plan outlined by Mamdani’s campaign would increase taxes on corporations to match New Jersey’s 11.5 per cent rate and introduce a two per cent flat tax on New Yorkers earning over $1 million (£790,000) annually. Additional revenue would be generated through procurement reform, enhanced tax audits and enforcement against corrupt landlords – potentially raising $6 billion (£4.74bn) in new funds.
“New York is too expensive,” reads a central line from his campaign website. “Zohran will lower costs and make life easier.” Mamdani’s legislative record backs up his activist credentials. He previously joined hunger strikes with taxi drivers to secure $450 million (£356m) in debt relief, helped secure more than $100m (£79m) for improved subway services, and piloted fare-free bus initiatives.
He defended his democratic socialism last Sunday (29) and argued that his focus on economic issues should serve as a model for the party, even though some top Democrats have been reluctant to embrace him.
In an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press, Mamdani said his agenda of raising taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers and on corporations to pay for ambitious policies such as free buses, a $30 minimum hourly wage and a rent freeze was not only realistic, but tailored to meet the needs of the city’s working residents.
“It’s the wealthiest city in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, and yet one in four New Yorkers are living in poverty, and the rest are seemingly trapped in a state of anxiety,” he told NBC’s Kristen Welker.
Zohran Kwame Mamdani with his parents, Mira Nair and Mahmood Mamdani , and his wife, Rama Duwaji
Democrats have struggled to find a coherent message after their resounding loss in the November elections that saw president Donald Trump return to the White House and his Republicans win control of both chambers of Congress.
Mamdani’s campaign, which drew plaudits for its cheery tone and clever viral videos, could help energise young voters, a demographic that Democrats are desperate to reach in 2026 and beyond. His rise from a virtual unknown was fueled by a relentless focus on affordability, an issue Democrats struggled to address during last year’s presidential race.
“Cost of living is the issue of our time,” Neera Tanden, the chief executive of Democratic think tank Center for American Progress wrote on X in response to Mamdani’s win. “It’s the through line animating all politics. Smart political leaders respond to it.”
His history-making candidacy could also drive engagement among Asian and especially Muslim voters, some of whom soured on the Democrats after former president Joe Biden administration’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza.
“These elections aren’t about left, right or center, they’re about whether you’re a change to the status quo. People don’t want more of the same, they want someone who plays a different game,” said Democratic strategist Jesse Ferguson.
Few expected Mamdani, a relatively young assemblyman, to unseat former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, a veteran political heavyweight attempting a comeback.
Senator Bernie Sanders congratulated Mamdani publicly, calling the result a triumph over “the political, economic and media establishment.”
But not all reactions were celebratory. The city’s current mayor, Eric Adams, launched his independent re-election campaign, framing Mamdani’s ideas as unrealistic and irresponsible.
Adams did not name Mamdani during an event held on the steps of New York City Hall last Thursday (26), but he alluded to some of the self-described Democratic socialist’s positions and background.
“This election is a choice between a candidate with a blue collar and one with a silver spoon,” Adams said. “A choice between someone who delivered lower crime, the most jobs in history and the most houses built in decades and an assembly member who did not pass a bill.”
Adams won as a Democrat in his first mayoral bid in 2021, but saw his popularity plummet following his indictment on corruption charges and the subsequent decision by president Donald Trump’s Justice Department to drop the case.
In April, he announced that he would run for election as an independent, avoiding the Democratic primary that included Mamdani and Cuomo.
Mamdani’s victory in the primary and potential win in the general election has prompted strong reactions from progressives, who have cheered his campaign’s upbeat tone and focus on economic issues, as well as conservatives and some in the business community, who criticised his democratic socialist policies.
Polling now shows Mamdani ahead of Adams and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa for the November general election, though former governor Cuomo is rumoured to be considering an independent run, which could split the Democratic vote. Political analysts predict his November challenge will be formidable.
Besides Adams, Sliwa, and Cuomo, independent candidates including lawyer Jim Walden will crowd the ballot.
But with registered Democrats outnumbering Republicans nearly three to one in the city, his base, if energised, could prove decisive.
Mamdani's supporters celebrate his nomination
Earlier last Sunday, Democratic House Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, who represents part of the city, told ABC’s This Week that he wasn’t ready to endorse Mamdani yet, saying that he needed to hear more about Mamdani’s vision.
Other prominent New York Democrats, including New York governor Kathy Hochul and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, have also thus far declined to endorse Mamdani.
Trump, himself a native New Yorker, told Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo that if Mamdani wins the mayoral race, “he’d better do the right thing” or Trump would withhold federal funds from the city.
“He’s a communist. I think it’s very bad for New York,” Trump said.
Asked about Trump’s claim that he is a communist, Mamdani told NBC it was not true and accused the president of attempting to distract from the fact that “I’m fighting for the very working people that he ran a campaign to empower that he has since then betrayed.”
He also voiced no concern that Jeffries and other Democrats have not yet endorsed his candidacy.
“I think that people are catching up to this election,” he said. “What we’re showing is that by putting working people first, by returning to the roots of the Democratic Party, we actually have a path out of this moment where we’re facing authoritarianism in Washington, DC.”
Basil Smikle, a political analyst and professor at Columbia University’s School of Professional Studies, said heavy-handed attacks on Mamdani could backfire by energising “a lot of the Democratic voters to want to push more against Trump.”
“I don’t think it hurts Democrats in the long run,” he said. “I actually think it helps them.”
For his part, Mamdani seemed ready to embrace his role as a party leader, telling supporters in his victory speech that he would govern the city “as a model for the Democratic Party – a party where we fight for working people with no apology.” He vowed to use his mayoral power to “reject Donald Trump’s fascism.”
Democratic voters say they want a new generation of leaders and a party that concentrates on economic issues, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll in June. The mayoral election is scheduled to take place on November 4.