OP’s News

The Brexit cabinet committee is to sketch out what the future relationship between the UK and EU might look like.

It will focus on Northern Ireland and immigration, and on trade on Thursday.

It comes as a leaked document suggests the EU wants to be able to restrict UK access to the single market if there is a dispute after Brexit.

Meanwhile, businesses are warning that “patience is wearing thin” with “continued division”.

The EU’s chief negotiator said this week there is “not a moment to lose” in finding a deal.

Negotiations are already taking place ahead of the UK’s scheduled departure from the European Union in March 2019.

But there are believed to be divisions within the cabinet on how closely bound the UK and EU will be in years to come.

The tensions within the Conservative Party were underlined on Monday when pro-EU former minister Anna Soubry told the BBC Mrs May should “sling out” arch Brexiteers, and threatened to quit the party.

Eurosceptics have been calling for a “clean” separation with the EU so the UK has the freedom to strike new trade deals, while pro-EU MPs say the UK should retain the closest possible access to the single market.

The government says it wants a “bespoke” deal, maintaining “frictionless” trade, avoiding a hard border with Ireland and securing the power to strike free deals with other countries.

The 11-member European Union Exit and Trade (Strategy and Negotiations) sub-committee is a key part of the government’s decision-making process.

Its members include Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Environment Secretary Michael Gove, who were at the forefront of the Leave campaign in the EU referendum, and Chancellor Philip Hammond and Home Secretary Amber Rudd, who campaigned for Remain.

Among those calling for more clarity on the UK’s position is the British Chambers of Commerce, which has written to Mrs May asking for a “clear, unequivocal statement of intent”.

“The perception amongst businesses on the ground, large and small alike, is one of continued division,” it said.

“Even amongst the many optimistic, future-oriented firms – those who see opportunity in change – patience is wearing thin.

“Directly affected companies are poised to activate contingency plans. Many others, worryingly, have simply disengaged.

“Clear UK negotiating objectives are crucial to both business and public confidence.”

The government said Mrs May had set out a “clear ambition for a deep and special partnership with the European Union” and was confident a temporary implementation period, planned for immediately after the UK leaves, would provide businesses with certainty.

Thousands of women who work in Tesco stores could receive back pay totalling £20,000 if the legal challenge demanding parity with men who work in the company’s warehouses is successful.

Lawyers say hourly-paid female store staff earn less than men even though the value of the work is comparable.

Tesco said it worked hard to ensure all staff were paid “fairly and equally”.

Paula Lee, of Leigh Day solicitors, the firm acting for up to 1,000 women who are likely to take test cases, told the OP’S NEWS  it was time for Tesco to tackle the problem of equal pay for work of equal worth.

The most common rate for women is £8 an hour whereas for men the hourly rate can be as high as £11 an hour, she added.

She said it was a problem that had been “hiding in plain sight” for years.

“We believe an inherent bias has allowed store workers to be underpaid over many years,” she said.

“In terms of equal worth to the company there really should be no argument that workers in stores, compared to those working in the depots, contribute at least equal value to the vast profits made by Tesco.

“The law has been there since 1984 – you can compare with a different job.

“That’s 34 years to put your house in order; that’s 34 years of having the advantage of paying unequally, 34 years of you making pay decisions and making financial decisions and 34 years hiding what is in open sight.”

Leigh Day said that up to 200,000 supermarket workers could be affected, the majority of them women.

Initial claims have been lodged with the conciliation service, ACAS – the first stage in what is likely to be a lengthy legal process through the employment tribunal system which could last several years.

If even a small proportion of the women are successful, the bill for Tesco would be significant.

Birmingham City Council is now liable for over £1bn pounds in payments after settling an equal pay claim from women employed as cleaners, cooks and carers.

Their pay was below men in comparable jobs such as bin collectors and road workers.

Tesco said that all their staff could progress equally and were paid fairly, whatever their gender or background.

“We are unable to comment on a claim that we have not received,” a spokeswoman said.

“Tesco has always been a place for people to get on in their career, regardless of their gender, background or education, and we work hard to make sure all our colleagues are paid fairly and equally for the jobs they do.”

Two workers for Tesco told the BBC they wanted fair treatment, arguing that their jobs in the stores were as demanding as warehouse jobs.

Pam Jenkins has been working for Tesco for 26 years.

“I think that we should be brought up to their [the men’s] level,” she told me.

“Obviously the jobs are slightly different but to put it bluntly they are of equal value.

“We deal with customers, they [the men] don’t have to. We load, we take the stock and we load the stock, they take it off the lorry and we load it onto the shelves.

“Women have been fighting for equal rights and their voice to be heard for 100 years, we are not just doing it for us, there are many people out there.

“We are just trying to put things right and it’s a shame we are still having to fight in this day and age.”

Kim Element has been working for Tesco for 23 years.

“Although we think we have equal rights, there are times where there are discrepancies and you can’t explain them,” she said.

“And I think Tesco’s are one of many companies that aren’t addressing the fact that women seem to still be paid less.”

Ms Lee said that Tesco was a good employer, signing up to a number of gender equality projects over a number of years.

But she said the company – along with many others – was still failing to reward people equally.

The man, known as Nick, claimed a paedophile ring was responsible for murdering three children.

He also said he was systematically abused and tortured by senior politicians and members of the armed forces during the 1970s and 80s.

The claims triggered the abandoned Met Police investigation Operation Midland.

Those he accused included former Conservative politicians Lord Brittan and Harvey Proctor, and Field Marshall Lord Bramall.

After the Met launched Operation Midland in 2014 they held a press conference where a senior detective described Nick’s allegations as “credible and true”.

In 2015, the Met carried out a series of high-profile dawn raids on the homes of those Nick had accused.

All of them denied his allegations and no evidence whatsoever was found to support Nick’s claims.

After the £2.5m investigation was closed, without any charges, the Met apologised for the way they had conducted the inquiry and paid compensation.

A report into Operation Midland, carried out by a retired High Court judge, said the Met had made a series of errors in the investigation and made 25 recommendations on how police should handle similar allegations in the future.

Nick’s real identity cannot be reported for legal reasons.

The offences he was charged with last year relate to indecent images of children of varying levels of seriousness, including the most serious.

Some of the offences are alleged to have happened during the same period he was talking to Operation Midland detectives.

Nick is also being investigated for perverting the course of justice and fraud – a file of evidence for those offences has been sent to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Australian artist Harvey Sutherland said his track, Bamboo, accompanied an advert posted on Instagram on Monday.

When initially asked about the song by other Instagram users, H&M replied that it was “specifically produced for us” and “does not have a name”.

But it later removed the advert after being challenged by the musician.

“We apologise and have now removed content featuring the music from all of our social media accounts,” a statement from the company said.

Harvey Sutherland, real name Mike Katz, had commented several times on H&M’s descriptions about the post.

In another reply, he said “DM [direct message] me and let’s make a deal”.

According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the musician has also worked as a lawyer for a firm that specialises in intellectual property.

Other Instagram users also pointed out the discrepancy, some using the hashtag #payharvey.

H&M said in its statement on Wednesday that it had contacted the musician, but did not comment further. Mr Katz did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last month, H&M was widely criticised and accused of racism after it used a black child to model a “coolest monkey in the jungle” hoodie.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index climbed 3.2% after falling nearly 7% in the previous session.

The recovery follows choppy trading in the US which ended with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 2.3%.

Analysts said investors hunting for bargains in the wake of heavy sell-offs on world marketshelped drive gains.

Elsewhere in Asia on Wednesday, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed 2.8%, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.3%, and South Korea Kospi index held steady.

The rebound in Asia tracked a strong lead from Wall Street. The Nasdaq closed up 2.1% and the S&P 500 rose 1.7%.

That brought relief to markets after a global sell-off began last week.

Investors dumped stocks after a solid US jobs report fuelled expectations that the economy’s strength would prompt the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates faster than expected.

The report came amid other shifts, including new tax cuts, trade tensions, and a sinking dollar, that analysts say could lead inflation to rise faster than expected.

On Monday, the Dow plunged by nearly 1,200 points or 4.6%, triggering follow-on losses in Asia and Europe.

The decline was the largest in percentage terms for the Dow since August 2011, when markets dropped in the aftermath of “Black Monday” – the day Standard & Poor’s downgraded its credit rating of the US.

Stock markets in Asia and the US have been sitting at record levels and analysts have said for months a correction was due.

“Many view the [recent] downturn as a necessity to the runaway equity markets and see it as an opportunity for investors to reinvest at more manageable levels,” CMC Markets analyst Oriano Lizza said.

Analysts say that in the short term, investors should be prepared for choppier stock markets, but doubt whether there will be a prolonged period of selling.

“What we have to remember is stock markets have had a very smooth ride upwards and we’ve not had a fall of more than 3% for 15 months. There’s been a real lack of volatility, which is very unusual,” said Jane Sydenham, investment director at the stockbrokers Rathbones.

She added that bear markets – when shares go into a long period of decline – tend to happen ahead of a recession and at the moment growth forecasts were being upgraded.

El Paso County Sheriff deputy Micah Flick, 34, an 11-year veteran of the force, was investigating a report of a stolen car when he was shot.

Three other officers and a civilian were injured in the shootout in Colorado Springs.

The suspect, Manuel Zetina, a 19-year-old resident of the city, also died.

Governor John Hickenlooper pleaded for an end to violence in a statement.

“With the recent loss of now three deputies and many others injured, there’s no denying the grave impact this sequence of shootings is having on our state,” he said.

He also asked citizens to pray for Mr Flick’s family and those who were injured, adding: “We must also come together to say enough is enough.”

Officers were responding to a report of motor vehicle theft when they encountered a suspect and a struggle ensued, Colorado Springs Police Chief Pete Carey told a news conference.

Police say gunfire broke out around 16:00 local time in a residential area of Colorado Springs, about 70 miles (110km) south of Denver.

Three other officers were treated in hospital for non-life threatening injuries.

A man who was passing by was also shot and was undergoing hospital treatment.

Mr Flick, who leaves behind a wife and seven-year-old twins, is the third on-duty officer in only five weeks to be killed in Colorado.

Civilians and officers stood in the freezing cold on Monday night along South Nevada Avenue in Colorado Springs to pay their respects as a procession carried the slain officer to the coroner’s office.

The El Paso County Sheriff’s officer tweeted a picture of the slain deputy with the caption: “Our Brother Deputy Flick. End of Watch, February 5, 2018”.

“Our hearts are broken,” the department wrote in another post.

A total of seven officers have been shot in the line of duty in those incidents, according to the Denver Post newspaper.

On 24 January Adams County sheriff’s Deputy Heath Gumm, 31 was shot while chasing a suspect.

Douglas County Sheriff’s Deputy Zackari Parrish, 29, was fatally shot in an “ambush-style” attack on New Year’s Eve, according to investigators.

Rescuers are at the scene, and there are no initial reports of injuries.

However, there are concerns for those who used the space underneath for trading and for parking.

City Governor Rodrigo Rollemberg told local press that maintenance work had not been carried out on this stretch.

“Brasilia is a city that is aging. It’s a city made of concrete,” Mr Rollemberg said, according to local news site Veja.

He said that since his government took over in 2015 it had carried out reinforcement work on some stretches of the city’s main roads, but this was not one of them.

The collapse happened around 11:30 local time (13:30 GMT).

Globo TV said four cars were crushed underneath. One driver – who was not in his vehicle at the time – told the news network that it all happened in under five minutes.

The space is used by a steak restaurant, Churrascaria Floresta, and Globo TV said some of its tables had been buried.

The area is also sometimes used for parties.

David Benioff and DB Weiss will begin work on Star Wars when Game of Thrones ends in 2019, Lucasfilm announced.

Little is known about the project.

But it will develop a story separate from the current series, and also from a trilogy planned by director Rian Johnson, who was behind 2017’s The Last Jedi.

“In the summer of 1977 we travelled to a galaxy far, far away, and we’ve been dreaming of it ever since,” Benioff and Weiss said in a joint statement.

Game of Thrones, known for its violence and nudity, is markedly different from the more family-friendly Star Wars films.

But Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm, said the pair “are some of the best storytellers working today”.

Some have criticised the announcement, pointing to a lack of diversity among key figures in the Star Wars franchise.

Since Disney purchased Lucasfilm, and the accompanying rights to Star Wars, it has ramped up production of new additions to the series.

This year sees the release of spin-off film Solo, the final part of the recent trilogy is due next year, while there are other TV projects planned.

It is not the first tie-up between Game of Thrones and Star Wars.

Gwendoline Christie – who plays Brienne of Tarth in the TV franchise – took on the role of Captain Phasma in both The Force Awakens and its sequel, The Last Jedi.

Her Game of Thrones co-star Emilia Clarke will also play a leading role in Solo.

One mother said her girl was missing eyebrow hair and had reddened skin when she picked her up last week.

“I saw she was missing her patch of hair because she has a unibrow and she was born like that,” Alyssa Salgado told WLTX News.

The state’s Department of Early Learning visited the centre on Monday.

The Boys And Girls Club, which oversees the facility, said in a statement that they “take these these allegations seriously and will work to support the investigation process”.

Ms Salgado said she dropped off her two-year-old daughter, Lilayiah, at the Columbia Basin Community College nursery last Thursday morning.

But when she picked her up, “she had a couple of tears in her eyes” and irritated skin on her forehead.

“It looked like somebody waxed her,” Ms Salgado told KNDO News.

Another mother, Glenda Maria Cruz, who said her two-year old boy’s eyebrows were also waxed.

She said when she picked up her son he refused to let her touch his face, saying “no, no, stop, it hurts”.

Ms Cruz said when she and Ms Salgado confronted the nursery director “she started laughing in our faces”.

Officials at the Washington State Department of Early Learning say their investigation could take 30 days to complete.

The advert for Tourism Australia also features Danny McBride and premiered during the coveted commercial break at the Super Bowl.

But the new ad left fans wanting more than a holiday – as talk soon began of possible remake of the film.

Speaking to Newsbeat, Chris said: “If we could find the right story and script we might do it.”

Viewed more than two million times, fans have been saying it looks more Hollywood box office than travel advert.

“The response has been pretty incredible,” the Thor actor said.

“I had a lot of anxiety beforehand. The Super Bowl commercial scene is a pretty critical environment so I’m just thankful people loved it,” he told us.

The prized slot has previously featured mega ads from brands like Pepsi, Amazon and Marvel and companies pay millions of pounds for a place there.

Although he was shocked by the initial reaction to the advert, he told us he can’t pretend doing a remake didn’t cross his mind.

“While shooting, Danny McBride and I spoke about if it could be a movie.

“We started to get worried that if this commercial is as good as we hoped it’s going to be, people are going to be disappointed, we’re going to have to make a movie.

“But I had so much fun making this commercial, I’d definitely be open to discussions about it,” he said.

He told us how the original 1986 movie was a big part of his childhood.

In the film, character Mick Dundee swaps the Australian outback for the jungle of New York after meeting an American reporter who eventually falls in love with him.

“I’d seen it multiple times growing up and I think, like most people, I loved the sense of humour and sense of adventure that it embodied.

The advert also features a short cameo from the original Crocodile Dundee Paul Hogan.

But Chris says they shot on separate days so didn’t get to meet.

“I met him a few years ago, I bought a house in LA which ended up being his house.

“I had no idea when I was going through looking at the kitchen and he walked out and was like ‘G’day mate’,” he said.

There is another Australian who could be a contender for a new Crocodile Dundee, actress Rebel Wilson.

She claims she asked about the rights for the film last year and was told the role couldn’t be played by a woman.

But Chris doesn’t agree.

“She’d be a better one than I’d be, she can sing too so we could do a musical version,” he said.

“My little brother just worked with her recently and said she was fantastic.”