A British coroner criticised security at the UK’s parliament at the conclusion of inquests into the terrorist murders of five people during an attack on the heart of government in London last year.
Chief coroner Mark Lucraft said “shortcomings” in the security system at the Houses of Parliament meant an unarmed policeman was isolated and stabbed to death by an extremist.
Khalid Masood, 52, stabbed Keith Palmer to death after mowing down pedestrians on nearby Westminster Bridge killing four. Masood was shot dead by police after he fatally wounded the officer in March last year.
The inquest heard that two armed officers should have been posted close to the main gates into the parliament precinct. "Had they been stationed there it is possible that they may have been able to prevent PC Palmer suffering fatal injuries," said the coroner.
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The dead officer’s wife, Michelle, criticised London’s police force for the security failures and accused senior offices of closing ranks to avoid blame.
"How could Keith have been left alone, unarmed, guarding an open gate at one of the most iconic buildings in the world and one of the country's top terrorist targets?” she said in a statement.
The force said it accepted the findings of the coroner and said that security arrangements had been substantially changed in the wake of the killings.
"For the loss of that possibility to protect him from Khalid Masood, we are deeply sorry," said Neil Basu, a senior counter-terrorism officer.
The coroner’s findings four weeks of hearings that revealed the killer’s association with extremists dating back 14 years but security services concluded he did not pose a major threat.
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
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“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
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