The social media company said the group had repeatedly violated its community standards.

Earlier this month, Britain First’s leader and deputy leader, Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen, were jailed after being found guilty of religiously aggravated harassment.

More than two million people had liked the group’s Facebook page.

The pages of Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen also had large followings.

Facebook says the decision to remove the pages was made after Britain First had ignored a final warning about the posting of material that broke its community standards.

The group will not be allowed to set up a replacement page.

It is understood that Facebook judged the videos and photos to be designed to incite hatred against Muslims.

Prime Minister Theresa May told the House of Commons that she welcomed the move and hoped other tech companies would follow.

London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan has also issued a statement.

“Britain First is a vile and hate-fuelled group,” he said.

“Their sick intentions to incite hatred within our society via social media are reprehensible, and Facebook’s decision to remove their content is welcome.”
In a blog, Facebook said it was an open platform for all ideas but that political views should be expressed without hate.

“People can express robust and controversial opinions without needing to denigrate others on the basis of who they are.”

There has been pressure for some time on Facebook to act against Britain First.

The social media company says it removes hate speech against people based on their race, religion, gender and other characteristics.

Its community standards document states: “Organisations and people dedicated to promoting hatred against these protected groups are not allowed a presence on Facebook.”

Twitter suspended the accounts of Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen, after its new anti-abuse rules came into force last December.

US President Donald Trump had retweeted anti-Islamic videos posted by Fransen the previous month.

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Source: BBC

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Public Health England is targeting pizzas, ready meals, processed meat and takeaways, in a new obesity drive.

The government agency has also urged the food industry to start using healthier ingredients and encourage the public to opt for lower calorie foods.

It is all part of a drive to cut calorie consumption by 20% by 2024.

The target will apply to 13 different food groups, responsible for a fifth of the calorie intake of children.

It comes on top of:

• the sugar reduction programme, launched last year, which is targeting nine different food groups
• the sugar drinks levy, which comes into force next month

Combined, these three measures mean health officials are taking direct action to influence the consumption of foods responsible for half of children’s calories.

But PHE chief executive Duncan Selbie said the steps were as much about influencing the diets of adults.

“Britain needs to go on a diet. Children and adults routinely eat too many calories, and it’s why so many are overweight or obese.”

The popular foods being targeted

Food manufacturers, supermarkets, takeaways and fast-food outlets have been told to reduce the calories in the following foods:

• savoury biscuits and crackers
• speciality breads, such as ciabatta with olives
• cooking sauces and dressings
• crisps and savoury snacks
• egg products
• potato products
• meat products, such as pies, pastries, sausages and burgers
• pasta, rice and noodles
• ready meals and takeaways
• dips
• pizza
• food-to-go, such as sandwiches
• soups

If action is not taken, PHE said, it would be prepared to ask the government to legislate.

It would be strictly monitoring progress by looking at which products people were buying and would be prepared to “name and shame” individual companies not pulling their weight.

The agency is also launching a campaign encouraging adults to consume 400 calories at breakfast and 600 each at lunch and dinner.

It is being seen as a rough guide for consumers to follow when they buy meals away from home.

A quarter of food is now bought from cafes, restaurants, takeaways or as food-to-go from shops.

PHE said major groups such as McDonald’s, Subway and Greggs would be promoting foods that kept people within these guidelines.

Currently adults consume between 200 and 300 calories more than they should each day.

PHE chief nutritionist Dr Alison Tedstone said the 400-600-600 tip would make it easier for “people to make healthier choices” by being able to judge what they should be eating in each sitting.

“To get traction on this, the big-selling things need to change,” she said.

“A few healthy options on the end of a menu won’t help solve the nation’s obesity problem – we need the regular, everyday products to change.”

How many calories should we eat?

For children, it varies depending on age.

A four-year-old should consume no more than 1,300, while for males aged 17 and 18 it is about 3,000, but overweight and obese children are consuming up to 500 calories more than that.

The move has been backed by experts.

Prof Russell Viner, of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said it was a “bold and necessary” move.

He said over the past 40 years there had been a “creep” in portion sizes, with pizzas and hamburgers “simply much bigger than they were in our parents’ time”.

“The availability of fast food at pocket money prices and the advertising of unhealthy food and drinks to children add to the problem,” he added.

Food and Drink Federation (FDF) boss Ian Wright said it was the right approach and industry was fully supportive.

“The FDF and its members take their responsibility in tackling obesity seriously,” he said.

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Source: BBC

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The donation comes as nearly 200 female British and Irish stars have signed an open letter calling for an end to sexual harassment at work.

Emma Thompson, Keira Knightley and Emma Watson are among the actors to sign the letter, published in the Observer.

Women attending the Bafta Awards in London on Sunday night say they will wear black on the red carpet.

The move is a show of solidarity with the Hollywood-based movement Time’s Up, launched in the wake of sexual abuse allegations by high-profile actresses against film producer Harvey Weinstein.

Watson is one of the first donors to the UK Justice and Equality Fund, which has launched a crowdfunding campaign to pay for a new advice network.

The fund has been set up by the 190 women who have signed the letter, along with a group of 160 people – including academics, activists and charity workers – to help victims “access support and justice”.

Keira Knightley and Tom Hiddleston have each given £10,000.

‘Uncomfortable joke’

The letter said the Bafta awards ceremony was a time to “celebrate this tremendous moment of solidarity and unity across borders by coming together and making this movement international”.

It states: “This movement is bigger than just a change in our industry alone.

“This movement is intersectional, with conversations across race, class, community, ability and work environment, to talk about the imbalance of power.”

Other signatories include:

• Gemma Arterton
• Carey Mulligan
• Sophie Okonedo
• Florence Pugh
• Gugu Mbatha Raw
• Saoirse Ronan
• Andrea Riseborough
• Gemma Chan
• Noma Dumezweni
• Naomie Harris

The letter reads: “In the very near past, we lived in a world where sexual harassment was an uncomfortable joke; an unavoidable awkward part of being a girl or a woman.

“It was certainly not to be discussed, let alone addressed. In 2018, we seem to have woken up in a world ripe for change.

“If we truly embrace this moment, a line in the sand will turn to stone.”

The decision to wear black at the Baftas follows a similar demonstration of support at Hollywood’s Golden Globe Awards earlier this year.

Some of Britain’s biggest stars will be joined on the red carpet ahead of the Baftas by activists, including Laura Bates who founded the award-winning Everyday Sexism project.

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Source: BBC

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Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson told the Daily Telegraph Moscow was spying on energy supplies which, if cut, could cause “total chaos” in the country.

But Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Mr Williamson had “lost his grasp on reason”.

The comments were worthy of a Monty Python sketch, Mr Konashenkov added.

He accused Mr Williamson of trying to scare the British public in an effort to get more money for the armed forces.

The UK has four undersea energy connections for electricity linked to mainland Europe and a further four for gas.

Mr Williamson, who became defence secretary last November, said Russia had been researching these types of connections and would be willing to take action “any other nation would see as completely unacceptable”.

He told the paper: “The plan for the Russians won’t be for landing craft to appear in the South Bay in Scarborough, and off Brighton Beach.

“They are going to be thinking: ‘How can we just cause so much pain to Britain?’

“Damage its economy, rip its infrastructure apart, actually cause thousands and thousands and thousands of deaths, but actually have an element of creating total chaos within the country.”

It is a “real threat”, he added.

Responding to the comments, Mr Konashenkov said Mr Williamson’s “morbid fear” of Russian activities belonged in a children’s comic book or an episode of Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

“It would seem that in his fiery fight for banknotes in the defence budget, the British defence chief has lost an understanding of the boundaries of common sense,” he said.

“For the minister’s information, all data regarding the location of British power stations and pipelines is as secret as, for instance, photographs and the location of Westminster Abbey or Big Ben.”

The warning comes after the chief of the National Cyber Security Centre, Ciaran Martin, said earlier this week that Russia had already staged attacks against Britain’s media, telecommunications and energy sectors over the past year.

And head of the British army, Sir Nick Carter, has warned the UK is struggling to keep up with Russian capabilities.

The Ministry of Defence is under pressure to avoid cuts that could be coming from the Treasury.

Mr Williamson has already been told there could be a Tory revolt over reductions to army numbers and naval capability, and suggested he will be asking the chancellor for more money.

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Source: BBC

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The 34-year-old, who is switching to road racing in 2018, came home in seven minutes 38.64 seconds.

“This is it. All I dreamed of as a youngster was running for Britain,” said the double Olympic champion.

Elsewhere, Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith came fifth in a 100m race won by Olympic champion Elaine Thompson.

Farah took his sixth World Championship gold in London earlier this month – to go with two silvers – and also has four Olympic titles.

Neither his narrow failure to complete another 5,000m and 10,000m world title double in London nor the leak of an interim report from an anti-doping investigation into his American coach Alberto Salazar had dampened the Birmingham crowd’s enthusiasm for this send-off.

Farah – who has won more world-level track gold medals than any other British athlete in history – was roared to victory by a raucous crowd, who had to be reminded to save their cheers as the athletes prepared for the gun.

He said on Friday that his UK track farewell would be more “celebratory” than the frenzied and, at times, physical contests from which he took 10,000m gold and 5,000m silver in London and so it proved.

Adel Mechaal, who finished just off a podium place in the world 1500m final 10 days ago, pushed to overtake Farah down the back straight in Birmingham. But just as at the Diamond League meeting in London earlier this year, the Spaniard was left trailing by Farah’s formidable kick for home.

The Briton’s time was well short of the 7:32.76 he clocked at the same event last year to break Dave Moorcroft’s national record.

Farah for Tokyo 2020?

After a lap of honour in the rain, Farah denied newspaper reports that he had split with coach Barry Fudge, who has overseen his training programme since he distanced himself from Salazar.

“Where did you get that from? Barry is still my right-hand man,” he said when asked about his relationship with British Athletics’ head of endurance.

Farah went on to add there was a slim chance that he might yet represent Britain at Tokyo 2020.

“If I’m the best in the marathon and can compete… it depends,” he said. “I think it is going to take at least two or three marathons to get it right to learn from it. It is not easy.”

Farah will race for the final time on the track at the Zurich Diamond League meeting on Thursday, 24 August and finish his season at September’s Great North Run.

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Source: BBC

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The National Audit Office (NAO) said on Wednesday that the sellers involved are often based in China and that consumer regulator Trading Standards had found that U.S. companies Amazon and eBay had failed to remove sellers that were flouting VAT rules, even after being informed of the sellers’ non-compliance.

“The size of the VAT losses due to online VAT fraud or error on transactions taking place on Amazon’s and eBay’s online platforms could be up to 1 billion pounds a year,” the NAO said, citing latest figures from the Trading Standards Institute.

All retailers selling to customers in Britain must collect VAT of 20 percent of the value of goods sold and pay this to the government. Most western countries operate similar VAT systems.

EBay said it is committed to making its platform, where sellers advertise their goods for sale, a fair place to buy and sell.

“We will continue to work closely with (British tax authority) HMRC to ensure that all sellers on our platform comply with the law,” eBay said in an emailed statement.

Amazon, which has also been criticised by British lawmakers for using complex corporate structures to avoid paying tax on the profits it makes from UK customers, said it worked closely with HMRC on the matter.

“We promptly remove any seller that they inform us is not VAT compliant,” the company said in a statement.

New rules aimed at making operators of marketplaces liable for VAT not paid by a seller identified to the operator as non-compliant would help to tackle the problem, the NAO said.

The auditor said that eBay and Amazon supported this measure but that Amazon had opposed another rule due to come into force next year, under which such businesses must perform due diligence checks on their overseas customers.

Amazon felt this was “disproportionate and ineffective”, the NAO said.

In addition to offering a marketplace to sellers, Amazon has a business that acts as a dispatcher for goods sold by third-party sellers.

($1 = 0.7785 pounds)

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Source: Reuters

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Tuesday’s decision, which affirms an earlier High Court ruling, is a setback for Prime Minister Theresa May, who intends to invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty to leave the bloc by the end of March this year.

The UK’s 11 most senior judges voted by eight to three to reject the government’s appeal against the earlier ruling.

The judgement will not give MPs an opportunity to stop Brexit from happening but will give them more influence on the negotiations, according the University of Surrey’s Simon Usherwood, a specialist on movements that oppose the EU.

“Losing in the Supreme Court isn’t going to change the complexity, but it might change the outcome,” he told Al Jazeera.

“Despite the broad support for EU membership among MPs, I don’t think that will translate into any particular protection of single-market membership since many MPs will fear that their constituents will see that as trying to get around the referendum result.”

Regional opposition

The court also ruled that the government need not consult devolved parliaments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

In Scotland, the ruling Scottish National Party had coupled its concerns over Brexit with threats to hold a second referendum to secede from the UK.

In Northern Ireland, tensions centre on the region’s future relationship with the Republic of Ireland, and the potential introduction of a border between the two, a move opposed by most politicians across the sectarian divide.

Uncertain future

The British government has struggled to outline its terms for negotiating its exit from the EU after the unexpected vote to leave in June last year.

In opting for a so-called hard Brexit, May’s government faces the prospect of hammering out countless agreements on freedom of movement, trade, and the status of EU and British citizens living in each other’s territory.

Earlier this month, the British ambassador to the EU, Ivan Rodgers, resigned in opposition to the government’s handling of Brexit, warning it may take up to 10 years to complete.

Once the decision to leave the EU is formally invoked, negotiations between the UK and the EU must conclude within two years.

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Source: Aljazeera

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The Powerlist profiles the top 100 most influential black people in Britain, selected by an independent panel of judges and chosen because of their ability to “positively alter events and change lives as demonstrated over a protracted period of time.”

London Mayor Sadiq Khan delivered a keynote address at this year’s 10th anniversary event in London honoring the individuals who made it onto the Powerlist.

Siaw joins influential public figures such as UK Secretary General of the Commonwealth Baroness Scotland of Asthal, Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam, Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton, actor Idris Elba and philanthropist Damon Buffini, all of whom have been featured on the prestigious nationwide list.

Siaw, who was also profiled in last year’s Powerlist, said he felt honored to be among the top 100.

“It is such a privilege to be named alongside such immensely talented individuals and role models.”

Siaw is a partner in White & Case’s Global Banking Practice and Director of the Firm’s Africa practice.

He advises corporations, governments, banks and other financial institutions on cross-border deals in Africa. He has been named by Forbes as “one of Africa’s most influential young business leaders” and was recently identified as one of Africa’s “Rising Stars” in Euromoney’s list of individuals and power brokers who are transforming the financial, investment and business landscape in Africa.

In addition, Siaw was also named a “Young Business Leader of the Year” by the African Union, and leading Africa-focused business publication The Africa Report also recognized Siaw as “one of three individuals shaping Africa’s economic future.”

He was listed in Marquis Who’s Who in the World 2016, which features the most accomplished men and women from around the globe.

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Source: Whitecase.com

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