Aug72017

Labour’s plan to improve Scotland’s railways

Scottish Labour

Labour would invest in a modern, integrated, accessible transport system that is reliable and affordable.

 

Our transport systems illustrate the abject failure of Tory policies; relentless deregulation, privatisation and fragmentation. In Scotland, ten years of the SNP has also left people desperate for transformative change.

This week, we revealed that ScotRail trains are failing to match the national punctuality target at nearly 60 per cent of stations where trains terminate. There has been an improvement in performance in recent months following an outcry from passengers. However, ScotRail is still falling short of its contractual target.

That’s why we have unveiled a blueprint to improve Scotland’s railways, with a publicly-owned network as the backbone.

 

Here is our plan:

• Bring ScotRail and the Caledonian Sleeper into public ownership when the franchises expire – a demand first made by Scottish Labour when the First ScotRail franchise ended, which was ignored by the SNP.
• Automatic refunds to passengers for tickets purchased by card if their train is delayed.
• Fairer fares for passengers – the SNP refused Labour’s demands for a price freeze this year, but Scottish Labour will press for a fair deal in 2018.
• Free WiFi across the entire network under a UK Labour government.
• End the expansion of driver-only operations.
• Introduce legal duties to improve accessibility for people with disabilities.
• Retain Network Rail in whole, rather than letting the Tories strip it of powers.
• Support the completion of the HS2 high-speed rail line to Glasgow and Edinburgh.
• Encourage public and private sector bodies to take part in ‘active travel’ schemes to persuade workers to commute by train.


Delayed trains are still a major problem on the ScotRail network, despite improvements in recent months.
Passengers have always been entitled to compensation for significant delays, but many are unaware of their rights. Scottish Labour has repeatedly called on the Scottish Government to run an awareness campaign.
Now we are going further and demanding that automatic compensation is introduced for passengers paying by card if their train is 30 minutes or more late.

 

Scottish Labour will continue to keep up the pressure on ScotRail and the SNP Government to meet the expectations and needs of Scotland’s passengers in the months ahead. This week, our summer campaign – For The Many – is focusing on making Scotland a greener country. Read more about our campaign by clicking on the image below:

 

Aug72017

News story: Armed Forces celebrate Raksha Bandhan with the Hindu Community

HM Government

In the run up to today’s festival, the Armed Forces Hindu Network organised Raksha Bandhan celebrations across the country, including at the Ministry of Defence in London, marking the strong bonds of protection between the community and the Armed Forces. The network has also hosted in recent weeks a Raksha Bandhan tour across a number of temples in Newcastle, Swindon, Liverpool, and London.

Raksha Bandhan, colloquially known as Rakhi, is an age-old Hindu festival that celebrates brotherhood and love. For the Hindus serving in the Armed Forces, the festival holds special significance as it symbolises the duty of the Armed Forces in protecting their society.

At an event at MOD Main Building in London recently, serving personnel from the Armed Forces and MOD civil servants had a Rakhi (a knot of protection) tied to their wrist. Defence Minister Earl Howe participated in the event and later gave a speech to everyone gathered at the event.

Highlighting the ties and values shared between the Hindu community and the Armed Forces, Defence Minister Earl Howe said:

As we exchange our multi-coloured bands, it’s a unique opportunity to remind ourselves of the multifaceted ties that bind our great Hindu community and our Armed Forces together.

To defend ourselves we must unite: speaking up for those beliefs of tolerance, fairness and dignity, that make us who we are.

Embracing the importance of diverse communities, the Minister also added:

Knowing what our diverse communities bring, only makes us ambitious for more. Indeed, this Government is committed to recruiting 10 per cent of personnel from minority communities, by 2020.

Members of community forums, including the Hindu Council UK and the Hindu Forum of Britain, came together to celebrate the occasion, along with the Chief of Defence People, Lieutenant General Richard Nugee, and the Director of Submarine Capability, Rear Admiral Tim Hodgson.

Hindus have time and again contributed to the defence of the UK. During the First World War, 1,750,000 Hindus deployed overseas. In the second World War, over 1.25 million Hindus played a pivotal role in the allied victory.

Last week the Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon and senior Defence leaders paid their respects to those who fell during the First World War, at the commemorations of the centenary of the Battle of Passchendaele.

A ceremony was held at the Menin Gate in Ypres which bears the names of hundreds of Indian troops whose graves are unknown. Located nearby to Menin Gate is The Indian Forces Memorial which is dedicated to the 130,000 troops of the Indian Forces who served in Flanders.

Aug72017

News story: Armed Forces celebrate Raksha Bandhan with the Hindu Community

MOD

In the run up to today’s festival, the Armed Forces Hindu Network organised Raksha Bandhan celebrations across the country, including at the Ministry of Defence in London, marking the strong bonds of protection between the community and the Armed Forces. The network has also hosted in recent weeks a Raksha Bandhan tour across a number of temples in Newcastle, Swindon, Liverpool, and London.

Raksha Bandhan, colloquially known as Rakhi, is an age-old Hindu festival that celebrates brotherhood and love. For the Hindus serving in the Armed Forces, the festival holds special significance as it symbolises the duty of the Armed Forces in protecting their society.

At an event at MOD Main Building in London recently, serving personnel from the Armed Forces and MOD civil servants had a Rakhi (a knot of protection) tied to their wrist. Defence Minister Earl Howe participated in the event and later gave a speech to everyone gathered at the event.

Highlighting the ties and values shared between the Hindu community and the Armed Forces, Defence Minister Earl Howe said:

As we exchange our multi-coloured bands, it’s a unique opportunity to remind ourselves of the multifaceted ties that bind our great Hindu community and our Armed Forces together.

To defend ourselves we must unite: speaking up for those beliefs of tolerance, fairness and dignity, that make us who we are.

Embracing the importance of diverse communities, the Minister also added:

Knowing what our diverse communities bring, only makes us ambitious for more. Indeed, this Government is committed to recruiting 10 per cent of personnel from minority communities, by 2020.

Members of community forums, including the Hindu Council UK and the Hindu Forum of Britain, came together to celebrate the occasion, along with the Chief of Defence People, Lieutenant General Richard Nugee, and the Director of Submarine Capability, Rear Admiral Tim Hodgson.

Hindus have time and again contributed to the defence of the UK. During the First World War, 1,750,000 Hindus deployed overseas. In the second World War, over 1.25 million Hindus played a pivotal role in the allied victory.

Last week the Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon and senior Defence leaders paid their respects to those who fell during the First World War, at the commemorations of the centenary of the Battle of Passchendaele.

A ceremony was held at the Menin Gate in Ypres which bears the names of hundreds of Indian troops whose graves are unknown. Located nearby to Menin Gate is The Indian Forces Memorial which is dedicated to the 130,000 troops of the Indian Forces who served in Flanders.

Aug72017

Daily News 07 / 08 / 2017

EU

EU mobilises planes to fight forest fires in Italy 

The European Commission has helped mobilise 3 aircraft (2 Canadair and a reconnaissance plane) through the EU’s Civil Protection Mechanism’s voluntary pool of assets, following a request for assistance from Italy to battle forest fires in the country. In addition, the EU’s emergency Copernicus Satellite mapping system is also helping the Italian civil protection authorities. “The EU has provided immediate assistance to Italy, following a request for help. 3 planes from France will operate in Italy today. This support is through the EU’s Civil Protection Mechanism and shows the value of having a European response to natural disasters. The planes will work alongside the Italian civil protection putting EU solidarity into action,” said Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos Stylianides. This is the second time this summer that Italy has activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism for forest fires. The Commission’s 24/7 Emergency Response Coordination Centre is closely monitoring the situation in Italy and the forest fire risk across Europe. Photos and video stockshots of the Emergency Centre are available, as well as a MEMO ‘Fighting forest fires in Europe – how it works’. (For more information: Carlos Martin Ruiz De Gordejuela – Tel.: +32 229 65322; Daniel Puglisi – Tel.: +32 229 69140)

State aid: Commission approves aid scheme of up to €10 million for new air routes to the region of Limburg in the Netherlands

The European Commission has found that a Dutch scheme to grant start-up aid to airlines launching new routes to and from the airport of Maastricht/Aachen is in line with EU State aid rules. The Commission has concluded that the project will improve the connectivity of the region with other regions across Europe, in line with EU objectives, without distorting competition in the Single Market. The scheme will last until 31 December 2019, with a total budget of up to €10 million. There will be no overlap between any of the routes operated as part of the scheme and routes operated by other airports in the same catchment area. In particular, the Commission found that the scheme is in line with EU State aid rules, in particular the Commission’s Aviation Guidelines. These rules enable Member States to grant start-up aid to airlines, subject to certain criteria, to give them the necessary incentive to create new routes from regional airports. This increases the mobility of EU citizens by establishing access points for intra-EU flights and stimulates regional development. More information will be available on the Commission’s competition website, in the public case register under the case number SA. 47746. (For more information: Ricardo Cardoso – Tel.: + 32 229 80100; Maria Sarantopoulou – Tel.: +32 229 13740)

Upcoming events of the European Commission (ex-Top News)

Aug72017

Trafficking for sexual exploitation: Bulgarian OCG dismantled

EU

07 August 2017

​An organised crime group (OCG) operating in the Sliven region of Bulgaria was dismantled following Eurojust’s coordination of five investigations of trafficking of human beings (THB) for the purpose of sexual exploitation of Bulgarian women to the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as money laundering.

These five investigations resulted in two separate international operations, Operation Palma and Operation Leerdam, and respectively the establishment of two joint investigation teams (JITs), which were set up and coordinated as well as financially supported by Eurojust.

OPERATION PALMA

Operation Palma was initiated by the Dutch authorities in 2013, investigating criminal activity of trafficking of human beings that took place between 2003 and 2010. Following the first coordination meeting at Eurojust in November 2015, the authorities of Bulgaria and the Netherlands set up a JIT in January 2016 to coordinate their investigative efforts. Within the framework of this JIT, between 4 and 11 October 2016, coordinated operations were carried out in Sliven, Bulgaria, and Utrecht and Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Two suspects were detained in Bulgaria, one of them on the basis of an European Arrest Warrant (EAW) issued by Prosecutors Office Utrecht and the other one for money laundering offences of large scale. At the same time in the Netherlands another suspect was arrested. During these coordinated operations a great number of witnesses were questioned in the Netherlands, Belgium and in Bulgaria (in Bulgaria by mixed Bulgarian/Dutch police-teams).

Searches and seizures were conducted in two different towns in Bulgaria. Photos and documents were seized, and the Bulgarian court imposed freezing orders on real estate and vehicle. The Dutch police is preparing a financial report concerning the illegally obtained profits by the main suspect in the Dutch case.

OPERATION LEERDAM

In November 2015, the Bulgarian authorities requested the support of Eurojust in another ongoing Dutch investigation, called Operation Leerdam, for trafficking of Bulgarian women to The Netherlands and Belgium.

Eurojust was instrumental in detecting links between the investigations carried out by the Bulgarian and Dutch authorities within the framework of Operation Palma and Operation Leerdam, and another ongoing investigation in Belgium on sexual exploitation in Antwerp and Brussels of victims of Bulgarian nationality.

In February 2016, Eurojust organised a joint coordination meeting during which prosecutors, investigators and police officers from Belgium, Bulgaria and the Netherlands in charge of the 5 linked investigations gathered for the first time to discuss and agree on a coordinated approach to dismantle the OCG. The meeting was attended by twenty-five participants, including Europol officials. As a result of the coordination meeting, Belgium, Bulgaria, and the Netherlands set up a new JIT in Operation Leerdam to define and execute a common case strategy to ensure that the actions in one case would not interfere with the investigations in the other case.

In the framework of an international specialized operation, on 27 September 2016, the leader and two members of the OCG were arrested in Amsterdam. In Bulgaria, six other members of the OCG were arrested pursuant to EAWs and subsequently surrendered to the Belgian and Dutch authorities. One person was arrested in Germany based on a EAW issued by the Netherlands. Ten simultaneous searches were carried out in four different towns in Bulgaria. Evidence and documents related to the OCG were found and seized, as well as cash and drugs. Witnesses were questioned in Belgium, Bulgaria and the Netherlands. During all the investigative actions that took place in Bulgaria, members of the JIT from the Netherlands, including the prosecutor supervising the investigation in Utrecht, were present.

Eurojust supported the activities of the national authorities participating in these two separate JITs, including providing both investigation teams with significant logistical and financial assistance, which in the end amounted to approximately EUR 90 000.

Dimitar Hadzhiyski, Assistant to the National Member for Bulgaria at Eurojust, said: ‘For the first time Eurojust facilitated the coordination between two separate JITs. Due to the active involvement of Eurojust, the links between all five national investigations carried out in Bulgaria, the Netherlands and Belgium were established, proper planning of the investigative activities was performed, which resulted in a very successful coordinated operation, dismantling the activities of the OCG. ’