Starmer thanks Christians for community work in Easter message
In his Easter message, Starmer said the story of Easter is central to the Christian faith. He acknowledged Christians facing hardship, persecution or conflict globally who cannot celebrate freely.
Starmer thanked Christians for their community work, including support through night shelters, youth clubs, toddler groups, family services, elderly care and chaplaincy. (Photo: Getty Images)
PRIME MINISTER Keir Starmer extended Easter wishes to Christians across the UK, marking the end of Lent and the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
In his Easter message, Starmer said the story of Easter is central to the Christian faith. He acknowledged Christians facing hardship, persecution or conflict globally who cannot celebrate freely.
Starmer thanked Christians for their community work, including support through night shelters, youth clubs, toddler groups, family services, elderly care and chaplaincy.
He said the Easter message can inspire people to work together for the renewal of the country.
NAGA MUNCHETTY is reportedly preparing to leave BBC Breakfast, with her representatives in talks with LBC for potential new opportunities, according to reports.
The development comes a day after Munchetty was named the fourth highest-paid woman at the BBC. The broadcaster’s annual pay disclosure showed her salary in the £355,000 to £359,000 range, which includes her work on Radio 5, reported Express Online.
Reports suggest Munchetty is considering leaving following a bullying probe involving BBC Breakfast. While show director Richard Frediani was investigated for his “draconian” management style and alleged misconduct, the fallout also brought attention to Munchetty’s conduct.
A source told The Sun: “The fallout of Frediani’s investigation created a stark ‘him or her’ narrative on Breakfast with Naga flung to the front line. The fact is she loves the BBC and her job but there’s only so much external noise anyone is prepared to take.”
The source added that Munchetty’s team recently resumed discussions with LBC: “LBC would suit her well as the focus remains on news-led broadcasting... Her team last week renewed historic talks with the Global radio station.”
Frediani has returned to work following a period of leave. The BBC told Express.co.uk: “While we do not comment on individual cases, we take all complaints about conduct at work extremely seriously.”
Munchetty currently co-hosts three days a week with Charlie, who is reportedly on £190,000, while Sally Nugent earns £200,000 and Jon Kay £240,000.
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Southport murder suspect Axel Rudakubana appears via video link at the Westminster Magistrates' Court in London, Britain, October 30, 2024, in this courtroom sketch. Courtesy of Julia Quenzler/Handout via REUTERS.
BRITAIN's counter-radicalisation scheme Prevent needs to rapidly adapt to avoid mistakes which saw two men who had been referred to the programme go on to commit deadly knife attacks, a review concluded on Wednesday (16).
Prevent has been a key strand of Britain’s security apparatus since the September 11 attacks on the US in 2001, with the aim of stopping radicalisation and preventing people from going on to commit acts of violence.
But since its inception it has faced criticism from some Muslims who argue it has been used to spy on their communities, while some referrals have gone on to commit acts of terrorism.
The government commissioned a report into the scheme after it emerged that teenager Axel Rudakubana, who murdered three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event in Southport last year, had previously been referred by his school, but concerns about his violent tendencies were not acted upon.
David Anderson, the Interim Independent Prevent Commissioner, looked at the case of Ali Harbi Ali, who was inspired by the Daesh (Islamic State group) to stab to death veteran lawmaker David Amess in 2021.
Ali too had previously been referred to Prevent by his school, and Anderson said both cases involved a long string of mistakes and poor judgments.
He concluded that the scheme, while it worked sometimes, had to improve and adapt, applying to those who were simply obsessed with violence, such as Rudakubana. In the longer term, it should become part of a broader safeguarding and violence protection system, he said.
"More needs to be done," Anderson said. "Prevent needs to up its game in the online world, where most radicalisation now takes place."
Home secretary Yvette Cooper said the government would immediately act on his findings.
The most recent figures showed in the year to the end of March 2024, 6,922 people had been referred to Prevent, an increase of 1.5 per cent on the previous 12 months.
Of those, 36 per cent were related to vulnerable individuals with no clear ideology or counter terrorism risk, 19 per cent over extreme right-wing concerns, and 13 per cent regarding Islamist radicalisation.
Only two years ago, another independent review concluded that Prevent should refocus its efforts more on the threat posed by militant Islamism after becoming too concerned with extreme right-wing ideologies.
(Reuters)
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Singh did not possess a birth certificate, but his family said he was born on April 1, 1911. (Photo: Getty Images)
A CANADA-based man accused of fatally hitting 114-year-old marathoner Fauja Singh with an SUV in Punjab has been arrested and sent to judicial custody. Officials said the accused had returned to India just three weeks ago.
Jalandhar rural senior superintendent of police (SSP) Harvinder Singh told a press conference that 26-year-old Amritpal Singh Dhillon was arrested on Tuesday night and his vehicle was seized. He said police treated the case as a challenge and solved it within 30 hours.
Later, Dhillon was produced before a court in Jalandhar and remanded to judicial custody for two weeks.
Dhillon, a native of Kartarpur, had gone to Canada on a tourist visa and later received a work permit valid till 2027. He returned to India late last month and was arrested from his home in Kartarpur.
During preliminary questioning, Dhillon told police he was in a hurry and driving at high speed when the accident happened. “At that time, he was not aware of the identity of the man hit by the car. He told us that he got scared (after the accident) and that is why he did not stop his vehicle there,” the SSP said.
He added that Dhillon was headed towards Jalandhar but returned home through nearby villages after the accident. Dhillon also said he had one of the car’s tyres changed that same day.
The SSP said it was Dhillon’s responsibility to stop the vehicle and take Fauja Singh to a hospital.
Fauja Singh was walking down the Jalandhar-Pathankot highway in his native village Bias when he was hit while crossing the road. He succumbed to his injuries on Monday evening. Villagers said the impact threw Singh five to seven feet into the air.
His son Harvinder Singh told reporters in Jalandhar on Wednesday that Dhillon could have taken his father to hospital immediately. “Maybe that could have saved his life. Had he not fled, we were anyway not going to have taken any action against him (the erring driver),” he said.
The SSP said Dhillon had no previous criminal record. He added that it was possible Dhillon was not accustomed to Indian driving conditions. “It is possible that since in India there is left-hand drive (rule) while in Canada it is right-hand, one could not get a grip on the driving (conditions) here,” he said. Dhillon was alone in the car at the time of the incident.
The police said Dhillon is on a work permit in Canada and works as a labourer. His mother and three sisters also live in Canada.
The vehicle, a Punjab-registered Toyota Fortuner, was identified using CCTV footage, headlight fragments and other parts recovered from the spot. “In one of the CCTV footage, the registration number of the vehicle was readable, and we tracked that. The vehicle's owners changed more than once (due to resale),” SSP Singh said.
On the timeline of events, the SSP said Fauja Singh had gone out for a walk after lunch. “Around 3.08 pm, when he reached the main road, the vehicle hit him. Some passers-by and some of his family members took him to a hospital in Jalandhar, where he succumbed to injuries.”
Expressing grief over Singh’s death, the SSP said he should not have died in this manner. “Fauja Singh earned his name worldwide, and we all are very proud of it.”
Political leaders across parties expressed condolences. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Singh was extraordinary for his unique persona and for inspiring Indian youth on fitness.
Fauja Singh began his marathon career at 89 and gained worldwide recognition for his endurance and achievements, earning the nickname 'Turbaned Tornado'. Born in 1911 into a farming family, he was the youngest of four siblings and became the first centenarian to complete a marathon. He ran in events in London, New York, and Hong Kong.
In 2011, at the age of 100, he took part in an invitational meet in Toronto named in his honour, where he broke several world records for his age group. Singh returned to India around three years ago after spending much of his running career in Britain. Last year, he joined Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria in a walkathon to raise awareness against drug abuse.
(With inputs from agencies)
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The criminals used sophisticated tactics to disguise their identity
THE National Crime Agency (NCA) has revealed details of a “groundbreaking collaboration” with India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and American teams to bust a fraud call centre scam operating from Noida in north India that targeted British victims.
The international investigation began early last year after NCA officers in the US received information from Microsoft, which was compared with City of London Police’s Action Fraud Reports. The NCA and FBI Attaché in Delhi shared intelligence with the CBI, leading to “urgent action” and the arrest of two people.
UK victims alone are believed to have lost over £390,000 in the scam. More than 100 British victims were contacted by frauds offering to fix their computers for a fee, following screen pop-ups suggesting their devices were infected or hacked.
“In reality, the fraudsters were posing as employees of Microsoft, offering software solutions to an attack that had never taken place,” the NCA said.
The criminals used sophisticated tactics to disguise their identity, including spoofed phone numbers and Voice Over Internet Protocol to route calls through multiple servers across several countries. After identifying that the same call centre was targeting US citizens, a partnership was agreed to share intelligence.
Nick Sharp, deputy director of the National Economic Crime Centre, said, “This case demonstrates the success we can have when we harness expertise from across the public and private sectors, and work hand in hand with partners abroad to target fraudsters, wherever they are.”
The collaboration involved 18 months of work between the CBI, NCA, FBI and Microsoft to identify the group, analyse data and target IT infrastructure used by fraudsters.
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Lord David Cameron presenting shield to Sir Anwar Pervez with Bestway Group Board Members
FORMER prime minister Lord David Cameron led an emotional and heartfelt tribute to Sir Anwar Pervez at a glittering event at the Royal Albert Hall, marking the business titan’s 90th birthday alongside the 50th anniversary of the Bestway Group.
The grand celebration brought together around 800 guests, including senior politicians, diplomats and leading figures from the grocery, pharmacy and finance sectors – industries where Bestway holds a dominant presence – to honour the extraordinary life and achievements of the self-made entrepreneur whose journey from rural Pakistan to British business royalty has inspired generations.
“Only in Britain could someone go from being a bus conductor to a billionaire businessman purely through their own blood, toil, tears and sweat. That was Sir Anwar’s way – the hard way, the long way, the best way,” Lord Cameron said in his keynote speech.
The Royal Albert Hall event marked the culmination of several weeks of tributes to Sir Anwar, including a reception in the Churchill Room of the House of Commons and tea in the Royal Box at Royal Ascot with Their Majesties King Charles and Queen Camilla.
Praising Sir Anwar’s “extraordinary record in promoting healthcare and education both in the UK and in Pakistan,” Cameron described him as the “real king of convenience” and “ambassador of shopkeepers.” He lauded Bestway as a business that had grown big while supporting the small – empowering thousands of independent retailers in the UK and overseas.
“Yours is a business that isn’t just entrepreneurial, it enables other entrepreneurs,” he said. “Every small shop run by families like yours, working around the clock like you, that is who you help. And you don’t just give them a good price. You give them a profile, a voice. Your status confers upon them a status of their own.”
Cameron’s speech touched on the core values that have defined Sir Anwar’s life – enterprise, family, and community.
Sir Anwar Pervez
“When we think of that generation who answered the call for workers, we tend to discuss and focus on how little they arrived with. Tonight, I want to focus on how much they brought with them, the values that drove them, that sustained them, the values with which they helped to rebuild this country, the values that Sir Anwar embodies,” he said.
“Sir Anwar proves what most entrepreneurs know. There is no such thing as overnight success, just night after night of hard work, late shifts, early starts, long hours, grit and grind.”
Cameron also drew a parallel between Sir Anwar and the late Margaret Thatcher, noting that both understood the power of family-run enterprise. “You have created the paragon of the family firm,” he said. “Family members are the reason you do it, that very deep desire of humans to look after our own, to care for families, to pass something on to future generations.”
The evening, hosted by TV and radio presenter Dermot O’Leary, featured performances by mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins, organist Anna Lapwood, and Qawwali maestro Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, bringing together musical talent from both the UK and Pakistan. But it was the legacy of the businessman at the centre of the celebration that took centre stage.
Lord Zameer Choudrey, chairman of Bestway Group and Sir Anwar’s nephew, paid personal tribute to the man he called their “guide, inspiration, and father figure.”
“It is solely because of Sir Anwar that I was afforded the opportunity of moving across to the UK at the age of 12, from which point I witnessed firsthand the incredible journey Sir Anwar and Bestway has been on,” Lord Choudrey said.
“It has been a journey that has been underpinned by determination, hard work and vision. He could easily have paused the journey at any moment, but his vision and pursuit of growth needs to be recognised and applauded.”
Founded in 1976, Bestway Group began as a single convenience store in west London and has grown into one of the UK’s most successful family-owned conglomerates, with an annual turnover of more than £5 billion. Today it is the UK’s largest independent cash and carry operator through Bestway Wholesale, and the second-largest retail pharmacy chain in the country through Well Pharmacy. In Pakistan, the group is a dominant player through Bestway Cement, the country’s second-largest cement producer, and United Bank, the largest private bank and third-largest bank overall.
Employing over 47,000 people and serving more than 12 million customers across the UK, Pakistan and the Middle East, the group is also the largest overseas investor in Pakistan.
“The business that he has founded or has acquired has led to the creation of thousands of jobs and supported communities across the UK and Pakistan. More importantly, the businesses are reflection of his values and ethics,” said Lord Choudrey. “He has embedded in each the Bestway culture of resilience and forward progress. These values will endure.”
Lord Zameer Choudrey, Sir Anwar Pervez and Lord David CameronBestway
Equally impressive is the charitable impact. The Bestway Foundation, established under Sir Anwar’s guidance, has donated over £50 million to causes in health, education, and social mobility. Each year, it supports over 3,000 university students and provides free healthcare to 35,000 people. “He has never forgotten those who have helped him and never takes anyone for granted. He has always felt responsible for the community he has operated in. I know he reflects his great pride in the achievements of Bestway Foundation,” said Choudrey.
The evening brought together business and political figures – including London mayor Sadiq Khan, former chancellor Sajid Javid, exminister Tariq Ahmad, and Baroness Warsi – along with friends and family from Bestway’s five-decade journey.
As Cameron concluded in his tribute: “When I look at your life, the values you’ve lived by, and I think of the difficulties we face as a nation today, it is so clear that we need more of what you brought and what you have lived your life by – enterprise, family, community.”