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Queen's estate faces legal battle over Libyan 'Elgin Marbles' - The Telegraph

The Crown Estate faces a lawsuit over the Libyan “Elgin Marbles” in Windsor Great Park.

Lawyers acting for Libya have said that “nothing is off the table” in the attempt to have 2000-year-old columns returned from Windsor to the ancient site of Leptis Magna, near Tripoli.

Libya could sue the Queen's own estate in an effort to have the ruin repatriated, it has emerged, as lawyers argue that “like the Elgin Marbles” the artefacts were taken illegally by British imperial officials in the 19th century.

The Crown Estate, which oversees Windsor Great Park on behalf of the monarch, has been officially asked by representatives of the Libyan state to either return the artefacts or provide proof that they were not stolen.

“We say that these were stolen and they should be returned as a matter of moral obligation”, Mohamed Shaban, the lawyer acting for Libya, told The Telegraph.

“British values are about doing the right thing, and I think the right thing would be to return these artefacts.

“We have shown great respect so far, and we have perhaps not had the respect that we deserve. For us, now, nothing is off the table.”

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Libya's newly approved gov't holds first meeting - Xinhua

TRIPOLI, April 22 (Xinhua) -- The Libyan government recently approved by the House of Representatives held its first meeting on Thursday in the southern city of Sabha.

"We have decided to start working as a legitimate government approved by the legislative authority in a democratic and fair manner. We will look after the interests of our country and our people," Prime Minister-designate Fathi Bashagha said during the meeting.

The meeting discussed government programs, the public budget, and the reasons for the recent closures of Libyan oilfields and ports, according to the government's information office.

Bashagha also said that his government would soon assume office in capital Tripoli, where the current Government of National Unity headed by Prime Minister Abdul-Hamed Dbeibah is based.

However, Dbeibah refuses to hand over office to Bashagha's government, saying that his government would continue working and only hand over office to an elected government.

Libya has been suffering political instability and chaos ever since Muammar Gaddafi's fall in 2011. ■

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Queen's estate faces legal battle over Libyan 'Elgin Marbles'

The Crown Estate faces a lawsuit over the Libyan “Elgin Marbles” in Windsor Great Park.

Lawyers acting for Libya have said that “nothing is off the table” in the attempt to have 2000-year-old columns returned from Windsor to the ancient site of Leptis Magna, near Tripoli.

Libya could sue the Queen's own estate in an effort to have the ruin repatriated, it has emerged, as lawyers argue that “like the Elgin Marbles” the artefacts were taken illegally by British imperial officials in the 19th century.

The Crown Estate, which oversees Windsor Great Park on behalf of the monarch, has been officially asked by representatives of the Libyan state to either return the artefacts or provide proof that they were not stolen.

“We say that these were stolen and they should be returned as a matter of moral obligation”, Mohamed Shaban, the lawyer acting for Libya, told The Telegraph.

“British values are about doing the right thing, and I think the right thing would be to return these artefacts.

“We have shown great respect so far, and we have perhaps not had the respect that we deserve. For us, now, nothing is off the table.”

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Insulate Britain protest 'delayed ambulance by nearly an hour'

Insulate Britain protests caused an ambulance to be delayed by nearly an hour, a court has heard.

Climate protesters repeatedly brought the M25 to a standstill last September, and the impact of their actions emerged on Friday as three people admitted causing a public nuisance.

On September 15, the protestors blocked the motorway at Junction 25 between 08:11 and 11:46 and caused a blockage of 43,952 vehicles with a loss of 5,644 vehicle hours at a financial cost of £83,452.

Prosecutor David Earl told Stratford magistrates' court that an ambulance was 55 minutes late to a chest pain emergency callout and a funeral director was 30 minutes late to a funeral.

Referring to the first protest on September 13 at Junction 14 of the M25, Mr Earl said: "The duration was between 08:43 and 11:41. It is estimated that 42,970 vehicles were affected with 1,449 vehicle hours lost and it is calculated that the financial impact was £62,669.

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‘Living with Covid’ should not mean letting people go to hospital alone, says NHS chief

No patient should have to attend a hospital appointment alone, England’s chief nurse has said in response to ongoing Covid-19 restrictions against visitors.

Over the past two years, hospitals have enforced strict visiting rules in response to the pandemic.

However, despite the easing of restrictions across the country earlier this year, some hospitals have kept their doors shut to loved ones.

Ruth May, the chief nursing officer for NHS England, issued a reminder to hospitals on Friday that they must follow national guidance and facilitate visits.

On March 8, NHS England told hospitals “visiting should be accommodated for at least one hour per day and ideally for longer”.

“This includes when a patient wishes or needs to be accompanied by someone at outpatient/diagnostic appointments, and in the emergency department, they must be allowed to do so,” Ms May said.

“No patient should have to attend on their own unless it is their personal choice to do so.”

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A speeding Q, a sick shark and smallpox: the bizarre setbacks on Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me

Q is forever warning 007 to “take great care of this equipment”, but it was the quartermaster’s own speeding tickets that almost put the brakes on an iconic James Bond car scene.

Actor Desmond Llewelyn played cautious gadget expert Q in 17 films, but documents reveal he was almost barred from enjoying his only driving scene in the franchise because he had been “pinched” for speeding.

Production diaries from The Spy Who Loved Me have revealed that anxious insurers were “worried about Desmond Llewelyn” getting near the film’s iconic white Lotus Esprit.

The script demanded that Q drive the sports car off a ferry to present to Bond, but to ensure the scene went ahead EON Productions had to provide a driving history and a record from the actor’s car hire history to prove that he could manage the vehicle.

One typewritten document from the EON staff archive states: “Desmond has never driven a Lotus before. Only fast cars were pre-war Bentleys.

“Has been pinched for minor speed offences over past four years.”

The note adds that he nevertheless held a full licence for 45 years, and the scene ultimately went ahead, although it would be the only one featuring Llewelyn behind the wheel. The star later died in a car accident in 1999.

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Friday evening news briefing: Vladimir Putin expands war goals

Meanwhile, it also emerged that Slovenia will give tanks to the Ukrainians after Germany agreed in turn to pay for the country's new armoured vehicles. See a graphic showing the battle tank losses so far. 

Olaf Scholz, the German Chancellor, warned today that everything possible must be done to avoid a direct confrontation between Nato and Russia that could lead to nuclear war. 

In other developments today:

'One minute from death'

After being trapped for 56 days in besieged Mariupol, the Grinchuk family had two hours to make their way from the ruined building in which they were sheltering to the evacuation point. It would take yet another 24 hours to reach safety, navigating a gauntlet of a dozen Russian checkpoints along a "green corridor". They were among 79 people on the first evacuation convoy. Ms Grinchuk described surviving "apocalyptic" conditions in basements and ruined buildings as fighting raged over the crucial port city, whose capture would offer the Russians a land bridge. "The whole time I felt one minute away from death," she said. "Helplessness in the face of danger was the hardest thing to bear." Read our correspondent Campbell MacDiarmid's latest dispatch.

Tools of propaganda

The parading on Russian state television of two British men, Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin, captured while fighting for Ukraine has raised questions about the fate of modern prisoners of war (POWs). It is a far cry from romanticised escape narratives of gentleman POWs, such as The Colditz Story, about a legendary breakout from the apparently impenetrable Saxony castle. So is treatment becoming more brutal – or does it reflect a longer history of using POWs for propaganda? Heather Jones examines how they became the ultimate tools of propaganda.

Comment and analysis

Around the world: Last-ditch French election bids

Emmanuel Macron admitted his rival Marine Le Pen has seized upon anger felt in the country he had failed to quell. The French president said Ms Le Pen, who is seeking to oust him in Sunday's election, had used the dissatisfaction of the French public to succeed in her campaign. Mr Macron has been campaigning heavily to win re-election after admitting that nothing was certain following the first round of voting, which saw the far-Right candidate gain ground. See the latest opinion polls.

Friday long-read: The death of beauty – and why women are going back to basics

The pandemic saw many women embrace a more natural look and ditch expensive cosmetics. Laura Craik says the trend is not going anywhere. Read the feature.

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Pictured: Judi Dench and Kenneth Branagh herd sheep in Shakespeare's hometown

Dame Judi Dench and Sir Kenneth Branagh have been spotted herding sheep along a Stratford-upon-Avon street. 

The two stars of British film and theatre were in the writer's home town to unveil a restored 18th century statue of William Shakespeare.

The two actors have featured in numerous stage and screen adaptation's of the writer's work, with Dame Dench performing in productions including Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet. 

Oscar winner Sir Kenneth is considered a Shakespearean actor, having graced the screen in Much Ado About Nothing and Othello among other films. 

The statue, donated to the town by Garrick in the 18th century, had been taken away to London for lengthy and much-needed restoration work. 

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Black Libyan minister Mabroukah Toughi says arrest was ‘racism’ - Al Jazeera English

When Mabroukah Toughi, Libya’s culture and knowledge development minister, filed a complaint against her deputy at the public prosecutor’s office on December 29, she did not expect to find herself arrested.

Toughi, Libya’s first Black female minister, was accused of corruption and taken to a prison in Tripoli, where she spent six days locked up along with other female prisoners.

Speaking from the temporary accommodation she is living in after her home in Tripoli was confiscated by the government, Toughi told Al Jazeera she was shocked by her arrest.

“Even if I was accused of killing people, there should be procedures that they should have taken with people like myself who have immunity [from prosecution], such as withdrawing the immunity, or preventing me from travelling,” Toughi said.

Toughi said her initial complaint against her under-secretary, Mumar al-Dawai, came after she was threatened by him for pushing back against corruption she alleges he committed.

The minister was eventually found not guilty after a government investigation, which reported that there was no reason for her to not resume her work. However, she is still unable to as Salama el-Geual, who was temporarily appointed as her replacement, has not stepped down, and the government has not officially commented on her case.

El-Geual’s refusal to leave office echoed the events of Toughi’s initial appointment to the position in March last year, when the previous minister refused to hand over the ministership. As a result, Toughi was the final minister to start her job.

“It’s racism, they can’t imagine a Black woman from the south being in a leading position in this country,” said Toughi. “They also put similar pressure on the previous minister appointed from my community.”

Al-Dawai, el-Geual, and the office of the public prosecutor did not respond to requests for comment from Al Jazeera.

Anti-Tebu discrimination

Toughi belongs to the Tebu community, a Black minority ethnic group who mainly live in southern Libya, as well as Chad, Sudan and Niger.

They have long been discriminated against and excluded from public life, and before the 2011 revolution, many Tebu had their citizenship revoked by the regime of former President Muammar Gaddafi.

“Gaddafi’s attempts at installing an Arab political system in [neighbouring] Chad in the 1970s and early 1980s failed, because of the Chadian Tebu who fought fiercely against that political project,” Khalid Wahli, a former member of Libya’s constitutional committee representing the Tebu, told Al Jazeera.

According to Wahli, who is also the founder of al-Aman, an anti-racism and anti-discrimination group in Libya, this led to Gaddafi considering all Tebus as enemies.

It was, therefore, not surprising that the Tebu people were among the first to revolt against Gaddafi in 2011.

Their role in the revolution led to the community having a more prominent role in Libyan national politics in the years that followed.

But that did not last long.

In 2015, for example, a number of Tebu families in Libya’s southern al-Kufra district were forced to relocate because a university was moved from a Tebu-majority area to an Arab-majority area, leaving students unable to attend.

A deadlier event was an August 2019 air attack committed by military commander Khalifa Haftar’s forces, which hit a Tebu wedding in the southwestern city of Murzuq, and killed more than 45 people.

“Toughi’s story is a clearly racist case, it’s part of the wider racism that the Tebu people face,” Wahli said. “The prime minister himself does not want to do anything to allow her back to her position.”

“Less of a citizen”

Toughi was the subject of racist abuse on social media, and even on mainstream media, following her suspension.

“They called me a slave, and on a national television channel they called me Nigerien and Chadian, in an attempt to make me a less of a citizen,” said Toughi.

NGOs report that Tebu face racism and discrimination because of their generally darker skin colour.

The discrimination against Toughi and the Tebu is part of a wider trend of anti-Black discrimination in Libya.

Africans from sub-Saharan countries, many of whom were trying to cross the Mediterranean into Europe, have been sold at auctions across Libya.

For Toughi, the lack of sympathy was particularly shocking, as she said that her children had been threatened as well.

“I was worried about my children following his [al-Dawai’s] threats,” said Toughi. “Former ministers could not bear that amount of pressure, but I stayed and resisted so they put me in jail.”

Toughi is now unable to travel to Istanbul to see her sick husband and children, or to travel to Sabha, in southern Libya, to visit her siblings and to observe Ramadan with them, after the public prosecutor confiscated her passport.

That is despite backing from Libya’s justice minister.

“Her arrest was unlawful, there was supposed to be a procedure before stopping any constitutional person [a member of the national committee that worked on the Libyan constitution], for example withdrawing her immunity and preventing her from travel” said Halima al-Bousifi, in a televised meeting of the cabinet a few days after Toughi’s arrest.

Libya’s southern tribes have also backed Toughi, with a group representing them issuing a statement condemning her arrest and suspension, labelling the events as evidence of racism in the Libyan government.

“I believe an injustice has been committed by not letting her resume her work after the investigative committee found her not guilty,” Sami El-Atrash, a Tripoli-based human rights lawyer, told Al Jazeera.

“They handed over their report to the prime minister who hasn’t released an official statement, it’s now a political decision, there’s no case against her.”

Now, with rival administrations vying over control of Libya, Toughi warns that the racism she experienced has pushed many Tebu away from the government she represents, towards rival forces based in Libya’s east.

“What has happened to me has made many people in my community in the south change their loyalties,” said Toughi. “[They may now support] the government in the east.”

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Africa: ICRC Activities in Libya 2021 - AllAfrica - Top Africa News

While large-scale hostilities in Libya have subsided since 2020, the repercussions of a decade of armed conflicts still reverberate across the country. Peace remains fragile as the political landscape remains in flux, with any deterioration of the security situation bound to have an overall impact on all sectors and segments of life in Libya. The most affected would be the civilians and those displaced due to fighting.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) continues its response to meet Libya's significant humanitarian needs in 2022.

The ICRC in Libya delivers assistance in the realms of healthcare, economic security and water, and sanitation. We support hospitals, primary health care clinics and physical rehabilitation centers with equipment and consumable materials. We implement water and sanitation projects in support of public institutions to ensure water and sanitation services are provided to the communities. We distribute food and non-food items (such as blankets and kitchen material) to internally displaced communities including returnees, and also provide cash grants and other support to help them build their livelihoods.

Through our protection programme, we visit detention centers, restore family links by tracing individuals who have lost contact with their families as a result of armed conflict or migration, run a forensic program to ensure that Libyan institutions have sufficient technical knowledge for dignified management of the dead and deliver training sessions on international humanitarian law. Together with our partner, the Libyan Red Crescent Society (LRCS), the ICRC has scaled up its response through four offices in Libya - Tripoli, Benghazi, Misrata and Sabha - supported by an office in Tunis. We share with you some highlights of our humanitarian activities carried out in 2021.

221

contacts and more established between family members separated by conflict, violence and migration, including detainees, unaccompanied minors and vulnerable adults.

1,000,000

consultations, including 118,000 hospital admissions, and 70,000 vaccinations were carried out in ICRC supported health facilities

1,000,000

people in 35 towns and cities benefitted from an improved access and availability of clean water and better sanitation, through numerous ICRC interventions of supplying essential materials and technical advice.

256,800

people including those internally displaced, returnees and vulnerable families and female-headed households, received various forms of assistance including food parcels and multi-purpose cash grants/

3,500

persons with disabilities received various services in 3 physical rehabilitation centers in Tripoli and Misrata

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'Seven in 10' people in England have had Covid since early in pandemic

Around seven in 10 people in England are likely to have had coronavirus since the early months of the pandemic, new data suggests.

Figures compiled by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show an estimated 38.5 million people in private households - or 70.7% of the population - have had at least one infection since the end of April 2020.

The figures don't include those in hospitals, care homes or other communal establishments. 

The survey began in England on April 27, 2020, which means the estimates do not cover most of the initial wave of the virus that began in early March.

It marks the first time an attempt has been made to calculate the cumulative number of people who have had Covid-19 over much of the pandemic.

The ONS figures run up to February 11, 2022, so do not include people who have been infected for the first time in recent weeks.

Separate estimates have been published for the other three UK nations, each of which covers a different time period according to when the infection survey began.

In Wales, 1.7 million people – or 56.0% of the population – are likely to have had Covid-19 between June 30, 2020 and February 11, 2022.

In Scotland, 2.7 million people (51.5% of the population) had the virus between September 22, 2020 and February 11 this year.

And in Northern Ireland, 1.3 million people, the equivalent of 72.2% of the population, are estimated to have had Covid-19 between July 27, 2020 and February 11, 2022.

Longest-known Covid infection

A separate study by researchers from King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust found a Covid-19 patient tested positive for 505 days before their death, making it the longest known coronavirus infection.

The previous longest infection is thought to have lasted 335 days.

Most people who contract the virus are able to clear the infection naturally, but the patient in question had a severely weakened immune system and multiple other medical conditions. 

They first started showing symptoms and tested positive in early 2020, and tested positive many times until dying in 2021.

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IOM: 4000 migrants returned to Libya so far this year - InfoMigrants

More than 4,000 migrants have been returned to Libya since the beginning of the year, according to the latest IOM numbers. The report comes after two boats in the past ten days have capsized off the Libyan coast, resulting in 53 presumed deaths.

A total of 4,013 people in small boats were intercepted off the coast of Libya and brought back to the northern African country so far in 2022, according to figures recently released by the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Of those returned, 122 were minors, IOM said.

It added that so far this year, 95 people are confirmed to have drowned in the central Mediterranean while 381 are still officially missing.

In 2021, a total of 32,425 migrants were intercepted and returned to Libya, according to IOM.

More dead at sea

Crossing the Central Mediterranean Sea -- from northcentral Africa (Libya as well as Tunisia) to southcentral Europe (mostly Italy) -- in small, usually unseaworthy boats can be incredibly dangerous.

Last week, a small wooden boat carrying around 35 migrants capsized off the Libyan coast. All passengers are presumed to have died; six bodies have been recovered. It is not yet know what caused the boat to capsize.

This was the second tragedy involving migrants departing from Libya to Europe in less than a week. Just days earlier, a wooden boat carrying at least 20 migrants capsized. At least 18 people are assumed to have died in that incident, only two migrants were rescued. Six bodies have been retrieved thus far.

The IOM says that more needs to be to prevent such tragedies from happening in the Mediterranean: "Dedicated search and rescue capacity and a safe disembarkation mechanism are urgently needed to prevent further deaths and suffering," it said in a statement last week.

Read more: How the EU spent billions to halt migration from Africa

The lifeless body of a migrant after a rubber boat capsized off the coast of Libya | Photo: EPA/Flavio Gasperini/SOS MEDITERRANEE

Torture in Libya

Many migrant boats are intercepted before they can ever get close to reaching Italy or Malta, often by Libya's coast guard which receives support from the EU and Italy. Migrants intercepted and returned to Libya — including women and children — are held in dirty detention centers, some of which might be run by breakaway mercenary groupings.

There, they can suffer from abuse, including torture, rape, extortion and murder according to numerous rights groups and media reports.

Read more: Germany to end training of Libyan coast guard over 'unacceptable' behavior towards migrants

with IOM, AP

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The evidence linking Christian Brueckner to Madeleine McCann's disappearance

Last night Portuguese authorities confirmed that Christian Brueckner had been declared a "formal suspect" in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. 

The move potentially paves the way for Brueckner to be flown from Germany, where he is currently imprisoned on rape and drug charges, to the Algarve for formal questioning.

Brueckner has repeatedly denied any involvement in the three-year-old's disappearance and has declined to talk to police. So what is the evidence against the 44-year-old German?

Brueckner was living near Praia da Luz in 2007

Brueckner, a convicted paedophile, was living in a camper van near to the Praia da Luz holiday resort in Portugal when Madeleine disappeared in 2007. 

He drove a Jaguar and was noted for keeping up a showy lifestyle and always dressing in a shirt and jacket. 

In 2005, he had broken into the home of a 72-year-old woman living in Praia da Luz and subjected her to a sadistic rape. 

On the run afterwards, he became a drifter, residing in a camper van, a distinctive VW with a white body and yellow skirting. 

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Prince Harry's 2022 Invictus Games: where are they being held and how to watch on TV

The Invictus Games, which has seen more than 500 competitors from 20 nations compete in a series of adaptive sports, will come to an end later today.

The fifth installment of the event began earlier this month, after being postponed first from 2020 to 2021, and then again to 2022 because of the pandemic.

Prince Harry, who remains a private patron of the Invictus Games, landed in the Netherlands alongside The Duchess of Sussex ahead of the opening ceremony. The couple have been accompanied by a film crew to capture every moment for a Netflix series. 

Here is everything you need to know.

What are the Invictus Games?

The Invictus Games are an international Paralympic-style multi-sport event created by Prince Harry in 2014 "to demonstrate the power of sports to inspire recovery, support rehabilitation and to demonstrate life beyond disability".

Wounded, injured, or sick armed services personnel take part in ten sports across the event: athletics, weightlifting, hand archery, indoor rowing, a Land Rover driving challenge, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby, cycling, sitting volleyball and swimming.

What does the word 'Invictus' mean?

Invictus is the Latin for "unconquered, undefeated".

Prince Harry said the Games shine a spotlight on the "unconquerable" character of servicemen and women, their families and their "Invictus" spirit. 

William Ernest Henley's 1875 poem 'Invictus' has often been recited during times of adversity, and organisers say it captures the spirit of the event.

An amputee himself, Henley's 16 line poem reflects his long battle with illness.

Why did Prince Harry launch the event?

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Libya's rival officials conclude election talks without deal - SF Gate

CAIRO (AP) — Rival Libyan officials wrapped up weeklong talks in the Egyptian capital without an agreement on constitutional arrangements for elections, the United Nations said Tuesday.

Twelve lawmakers from Libya’s east-based parliament and 12 from the High Council of State, an advisory body in the capital of Tripoli in western Libya, took part in the U.N.-brokered talks that concluded Monday in Cairo.

The U.N. special adviser on Libya, Stephanie Williams, said the officials agreed to reconvene next month after the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan.

Williams said the U.N. was working to build on a consensus reached earlier this year by the two chambers with the aim of reaching an agreement on a constitutional and legislative framework for parliamentary and presidential elections.

The talks came as Libya has been pulled apart with rival governments claiming power after tentative steps toward unity in the past year that followed a decade of civil war.

In February, the country’s east-based House of Representatives named a new prime minister, former interior minister Fathi Bashagha, to lead a new interim government.

The lawmakers there claimed the mandate of interim Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, who is based in Tripoli, expired after the election failed to take place as planned in December.

Dbeibah, however, stood defiant against efforts to replace his government. He said he will hand over power only to an elected government.

With the two leaders sticking to their positions, turmoil soared, and heavily armed militias mobilized in the western region, including the capital, where they occasionally blocked roads.

Tribal leaders and protesters in the southern region also shut down oil facilities including Libya’s largest oil field, demanding Dbeibah step down. The region is controlled by forces of east-based commander Khalifa Hifter.

The developments have raised fears that fighting could return to Libya after a period of relative calm since warring parties signed a U.N.-brokered cease-fire late in 2020.

The oil-rich North African country has been wrecked by conflict since the NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.

The country spent much of the past decade split between rival administrations in the east and west, each supported by different militias and foreign governments.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International called for Hifter’s forces to immediately release at least 10 people and a local journalist who were detained last month in the city of Sirte after a protest. The protesters were calling for compensation for victims of NATO airstrikes during the 2011 civil war, the London-based group said.

A spokesman for Hifter’s forces was not immediately available for comment.

Gadhafi’s regime violently cracked down on antigovernment protesters. NATO, with U.N.-backing, then conducted a campaign of airstrikes against the regime between March and October of 2011. NATO warplanes conducted more than 9,600 strike missions. Estimates for how many civilians were killed during the NATO campaign range from under 100 to just over 400.

Those detained were taken to an undisclosed location. They were from the Gadhadfa tribe, from which Gadhafi hailed, Amnesty International said. Ali al-Refawi, a reporter with the Libyan 218 TV channel, was also arrested on March 26 after he covered the protest, the rights group said.

Hifter’s forces “have tightened their grip over territory under their control. In the past few years, suspected opponents and critics have either been gunned down in the street, forcibly disappeared or are languishing in jail,” said Diana Eltahawy, deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.

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Summer holidays under threat as British Airways cancels popular routes

Families face a new threat to their summer holidays after British Airways (BA) axed dozens of flights in a cull that will last for four months.

The flagship carrier has cancelled flights to Miami, Hong Kong and Tokyo throughout the summer and plans to reinstate them in September, raising fears that services to other popular holiday destinations could be cut amid ongoing staff shortages.

It came as BA was forced to cancel 112 flights to European and Mediterranean destinations on Wednesday, disrupting or wrecking the travel plans of 10,000 passengers, on top of 96 flights that were axed on Tuesday.

The news follows recent transport chaos across Easter when hundreds of flights to destinations into Europe and the US were cancelled by BA and easyJet as they were hit by Covid absences, lack of staff and a surge in demand for travel fuelled by the lifting of all restrictions.

Prospective summer holidaymakers have now been told that flights from Heathrow to Miami – one of the most popular destinations for UK families – will be cut from two to one a day from June 4 until at least September 7, affecting thousands of passengers over the summer.

BA said the cancelled daily flights to Miami would be picked up by United Airlines. Hong Kong had been removed due to the ongoing entry restrictions caused by the Covid pandemic.

One regular BA flyer was shocked to receive an alert this week saying that their scheduled flight for June 17 from Miami to London Heathrow had been “cancelled”, with the offer of an alternative flight.

Passengers whose flights have been axed are entitled to new tickets, but can only get cash compensation if the reason is due to staff sickness or if the cancellation was announced less than two weeks in advance.

BA has also extended the cancellation of flights between Heathrow and Hong Kong from May 29 to September 1 and suspended London to Tokyo flights for the rest of the summer 2022 season.

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Earth Day 2022: How an oil spill in the 1960s led to a global movement to protect the environment

Earth Day is observed annually to celebrate the planet and encourage people to be more environmentally friendly. Every year more than one billion people get involved, making it the largest civic observance in the world.

Activities associated with the day often include planting trees, raising awareness about recycling, volunteering for green projects, and reducing the amount of energy people consume. 

In the past, Earth Day has also been supported by a host of celebrities, including Leonardo Di Caprio, Emma Watson, Miley Cyrus and Matt Damon. 

If you are thinking about getting involved this year, this is what you need to know.

When is Earth Day?

Earth Day is held on April 22 every year. In 2022, this will fall on a Friday.

What is the history of Earth Day?

Earth Day was founded by Gaylord Nelson, then a US Senator from Wisconsin, in 1970 after he witnessed the ravages of the 1969 oil spill in Santa Barbara, California.

Inspired by the student anti-war movement, he realised that if he could combine that energy with the emerging public consciousness about the environment, then it could be propelled into the national political agenda. April 22 was picked as the date for Earth Day as it fell between spring break and final exams.

The first celebration involved 20 million Americans and shortly afterwards the passage of the landmark Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act and many other groundbreaking environmental laws followed.

By the nineties, Earth Day had gone global with 200 million people in 141 countries on board, lifting environmental issues onto the world stage.

It is now an annual event in over 190 countries and is widely regarded as the beginning of the modern environmental movement. 

Best quotes about the environment to use on Earth Day

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