UK PM Starmer supports tougher outdoor smoking rules to ease pressure on health service

A woman smokes outside a pub in Covent Garden, London, Britain, August 29, 2024. (Reuters)
A woman smokes outside a pub in Covent Garden, London, Britain, August 29, 2024. (Reuters)
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Updated 29 August 2024
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UK PM Starmer supports tougher outdoor smoking rules to ease pressure on health service

A woman smokes outside a pub in Covent Garden, London, Britain, August 29, 2024. (Reuters)
  • UK government is considering a smoking ban in pub and restaurant gardens, outdoor sports stadiums, children’s parks and pavements near hospitals and universities

LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Thursday he supported the idea of banning smoking in some outdoor spaces, including pub gardens, as a way of reducing the pressure on the state-run National Health Service and the cost to taxpayers.
While precise details would be worked out later, Starmer said 80,000 people die each year from smoking and he wanted to reduce deaths from preventable diseases.
Asked if he supported a ban on smoking in some public places, including pub gardens, Starmer told Channel 4 News: “I want us to move to a smoke-free environment, want to reduce those preventable deaths. I want to reduce the burden on the NHS, desperately needed ... and obviously I want to reduce the burden on the taxpayer. So, yes, I am supportive.”
The government is considering a smoking ban in pub and restaurant gardens and ­terraces, outdoor sports stadiums, children’s parks and pavements near hospitals and universities, according to documents seen by The Sun newspaper.
Britain’s center-left Labour Party, which won a general election last month, said in its campaign manifesto it planned to introduce some of the world’s strictest anti-smoking rules by banning younger people from smoking.
The previous Conservative government had announced similar measures but the plan failed to become law before the election was called.
Britain banned smoking in almost all enclosed public spaces, including bars and workplaces, in 2007. Cancer Research UK said this led to an estimated 1.9 million fewer smokers, and research in the British Medical Journal estimated there were 1,200 fewer hospital admissions for heart attacks in the year following.
Britain’s hospitality industry warned a stricter smoking ban could force some businesses to close.
“A ban on smoking in outdoor spaces comes with the prospect of serious economic harm to hospitality venues,” said Kate Nicholls, the chief executive of trade body UKHospitality.
“This ban would not only affect pubs and nightclubs, but hotels, cafes and restaurants.”
About 6.4 million people in Britain were smokers in 2022, the Office for National Statistics has estimated, around 13 percent of the adult population.
That is much lower than other European countries such as Italy, Germany and France, where between 18 percent-23 percent of adults smoke, according to OECD figures.
The government estimates smoking costs Britain’s health services 17 billion pounds ($22.37 billion) a year and there is strong support for greater restrictions on smokers from medical and health care experts.


Nepalese grapple with loss after deadly floods

Nepalese grapple with loss after deadly floods
Updated 30 sec ago
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Nepalese grapple with loss after deadly floods

Nepalese grapple with loss after deadly floods

KATHMANDU: Bishworaj Khadka, a cook in Lalitpur, could hear the Nakhu River becoming louder and louder as he sat with his wife and daughter- in-law in their house situated at the river’s edge. It hadn’t stopped raining for about 12 hours and the swollen river was getting dangerously close.

When they felt the first reverberations through the living room floor, the family rushed out the door. The rest is a blur in Bishow- raj’s mind. He had only managed to stuff some money into his pocket. Barely 15 minutes later, the house caved in before their eyes.

Bishowraj took his family to his brother’s place, farther up from the river’s edge.

It was the morning of Saturday, Sept. 28, and the rain would continue for another day, causing landslides and floods in areas surrounding Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital. More than 200 people were dead in the worst flooding to hit the region in five decades. Over 10 inches of rainfall fell in the Kathmandu Valley in two days, nearly 20 percent of the monthly average.

The Bagmati River in Kathmandu inundated low-lying areas, damaging temporary shelters and forcing daily wage squatters to seek safety away from the raging waters. Some of the urban dwellings were covered foot deep in mud and and debris of broken tree limbs and damaged buildings.

By Monday, the sun was out and Bishowraj and his wife Sharmila went back to what remained of their home to try and salvage whatever they could. The damage was extensive and Sharmila tried hard to find some cooking utensils that were intact.


Israel bars UN secretary-general Guterres from entering country

Israel bars UN secretary-general Guterres from entering country
Updated 02 October 2024
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Israel bars UN secretary-general Guterres from entering country

Israel bars UN secretary-general Guterres from entering country
  • Iran fired more than 180 ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday

NEW YORK CITY: Israel’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that he was barring UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres from entering the country because he had not “unequivocally” condemned Iran’s missile attack on Israel.
Iran fired more than 180 ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday amid an escalation in fighting between Israel and its proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah. Many were intercepted in flight but some penetrated missile defenses.
Guterres on Tuesday issued a brief statement after the missile attack condemning “the broadening of the Middle East conflict, with escalation after escalation.” Earlier on Tuesday, Israel had sent troops into southern Lebanon.
Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz said Guterres’ failure to call out Iran made him persona non grata in Israel.
“Anyone who cannot unequivocally condemn Iran’s heinous attack on Israel, as nearly all the countries of the world have done, does not deserve to set foot on Israeli soil,” Katz said.
“Israel will continue to defend its citizens and uphold its national dignity, with or without Antonio Guterres.”
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric described the announcement as political and “just one one more attack, so to speak, on UN staff that we’ve seen from the government of Israel.” He said the UN traditionally does not recognize the concept of persona non grata as applying to UN staff.
During a Security Council meeting on Wednesday Guterres said: “As I did in relation to the Iranian attack in April — and as should have been obvious yesterday in the context of the condemnation I expressed — I again strongly condemn yesterday’s massive missile attack by Iran on Israel.”


Firefighters battle deadly Greece wildfire for fourth day

Firefighters battle deadly Greece wildfire for fourth day
Updated 02 October 2024
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Firefighters battle deadly Greece wildfire for fourth day

Firefighters battle deadly Greece wildfire for fourth day
  • Nearly 600 firefighters with 160 fire engines and 24 aircraft were deployed in the mountains above the Gulf of Corinth
  • Three water bombers from Italy and Croatia have been sent to help

ATHENS: Hundreds of Greek firefighters battled for the fourth day Wednesday to control a wildfire in the Peloponnese region that has killed two people and burned huge swathes of forest.
Nearly 600 firefighters with 160 fire engines and 24 aircraft were deployed in the mountains above the Gulf of Corinth, where the fire broke out Sunday.
A dozen villages have been evacuated and two men who were helping firefighters became trapped and died in the flames. Three firefighters were also hurt.
Three water bombers from Italy and Croatia have been sent to help.
Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis told an Athens radio station it was “a difficult fire” but authorities aimed “to have a full de-escalation in the disparate pockets (of fire) still burning today.”
The Athens national observatory said that according to the European Union’s Copernicus climate observatory, the fire has burned 6,500 hectares (16,000 acres) of forest and farmland.
A preliminary investigation suggested it may have been caused by a beekeeper smoking honey bees, officials said.
Another fire on Wednesday broke out nearby, in Kalavryta, but had been partially controlled, the fire department said. It added that more than 40 rural fires had been reported in 24 hours.


Russia rules out nuclear talks with US given its stance on NATO expansion

Russia rules out nuclear talks with US given its stance on NATO expansion
Updated 02 October 2024
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Russia rules out nuclear talks with US given its stance on NATO expansion

Russia rules out nuclear talks with US given its stance on NATO expansion
  • “We see no point in dialogue with Washington without respect for Russia’s fundamental interests,” Zakharova said

MOSCOW: Russia has dismissed the possibility of nuclear talks with the United States citing Washington’s stance on NATO expansion, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.
“We see no point in dialogue with Washington without respect for Russia’s fundamental interests. First of all, this is the problem of NATO’s expansion into the post-soviet space, which poses threats to common security,” Zakharova said.
On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia will not discuss signing a new treaty with the United States to replace an agreement limiting each side’s strategic nuclear weapons that expires in 2026 as it needs to be broadened and expanded to cover other states.


Ukraine probes allegations Russia killed 16 POWs

Ukraine probes allegations Russia killed 16 POWs
Updated 02 October 2024
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Ukraine probes allegations Russia killed 16 POWs

Ukraine probes allegations Russia killed 16 POWs
  • “This is the largest known case of the execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war on the front line,” Ukrainian prosecutor general Andriy Kostin said
  • The probe — into allegations of the “violation of laws and customs of war” and “premeditated murder” — was launched based on videos shared on social media

KYIV: Ukraine is probing allegations the Russian army shot dead 16 prisoners of war near the eastern city of Pokrovsk, Kyiv’s prosecutor general said Tuesday.
Russia and Ukraine have repeatedly accused each other of killing POWs since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“This is the largest known case of the execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war on the front line,” Ukrainian prosecutor general Andriy Kostin said in a statement.
Kostin said the alleged incident showed that the “killing and torture of prisoners is not an accident but a deliberate policy of the Russian military and political leadership.”
The probe — into allegations of the “violation of laws and customs of war” and “premeditated murder” — was launched based on videos shared on social media that appeared to show the execution of Ukrainian soldiers, Kostin said.
Video images captured by a drone showed captured Ukrainian troops, under Russian control, coming out from a wooded area and lining up, Ukraine’s prosecutors said.
The Russians then “deliberately opened fire with deadly force,” Kyiv said.
Those still showing “signs of life” were then “finished off at close range with automatic fire.”
AFP could not independently verify the reports.
The Ukrainian prosecutor’s office said Tuesday that “measures are currently being taken to verify the published material.”
The alleged incident was reported to have taken place close to the villages of Sukhiyi Yar and Mykolayivka near Pokrovsk, a strategic hub that Russia is trying to capture.
It is the latest allegation of POWs being killed during the conflict.
In March 2023 a video showing an imprisoned Ukrainian soldier shouting “Glory to Ukraine!” moments before being executed by shooting squad, went viral.
The UN has documented “numerous violations of international humanitarian law against prisoners of war, including cases of summary execution of both Russian and Ukrainian POWs,” a spokeswoman for the UN Human Rights Office told AFP last year.