Muslim health professionals urge community to get vaccinated even whilst observing Ramadan
The Canary UK

Muslim health professionals urge community to get vaccinated even whilst observing Ramadan

Mosques are preparing for Ramadan after the holy month had to be observed during coronavirus (Covid-19) restrictions last year without the usual community prayer gatherings. Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, begins with the first sighting of the new moon. It’s expected on 13 April this year in the UK, although this may change. Vaccinations Many Muslims abstain from all eating and drinking during daylight hours. But Muslim medical professionals have urged those fasting to still get vaccinated against coronavirus. Salman Waqar, from the British Islamic Medical Association (BIMA), spoke to the PA news agency. He said Muslim scholars across the world have said vaccinations do…

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11 April 2021
Teenager among five killed by Indian soldiers in Kashmir
The Canary UK

Teenager among five killed by Indian soldiers in Kashmir

Government forces killed five suspected rebels, including a teenager, in gun fights in Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said on 11 April. Rebellion The back-to-back clashes began late on 10 April. This was after troops cordoned off two villages in southern Kashmir’s Shopian and Bijbehara areas, based on intelligence that anti-India militants were hiding there, police said. Three militants were killed and two soldiers wounded in Shopian, inspector general Vijay Kumar told reporters. One of the dead militants was a teenage boy who, according to officials, had joined rebel ranks few days earlier. Kumar said several attempts were made to seek the trapped militants’ surrender but they refused. Indian forces…

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11 April 2021
Ten months on from his death, Noah Donohoe’s mum says he’s ‘not getting justice’
The Canary UK

Ten months on from his death, Noah Donohoe’s mum says he’s ‘not getting justice’

On 21 June 2020, 14-year-old Noah Donohoe cycled from his Belfast home to study with friends. Tragically, however, Noah couldn’t complete his journey. And following a search for the young teen, rescue workers found his body in a storm drain six days later. Almost ten months since his body was found, the circumstances surrounding his death and disappearance remain unclear. So Noah’s mother Fiona has had to undertake a campaign to get justice for her son. As she told The Canary, she fears what happened to Noah has “been swept under the carpet”. Aftermath of Noah’s disappearance Following Noah’s disappearance, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said…

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11 April 2021
Marr ducks truth bombs over the BBC’s dire prince Philip coverage
The Canary UK

Marr ducks truth bombs over the BBC’s dire prince Philip coverage

Just over a minute of truth appeared on the Andrew Marr Show on Sunday 11 April. It involved the BBC‘s contentious coverage of the death of Philip Windsor (the duke of Edinburgh). And it came from an unlikely source. Because a corporate, centrist journalist called out the state broadcaster’s “syrupy” and “clichéd” coverage. Wall-to-wall Windsor As The Canary previously reported, the BBC went onto an almost wartime footing when Windsor died. Tom Coburg wrote: On the evening of Friday 9 April, the BBC went wall-to-wall in its coverage of the death of Philip… BBC 1 and BBC 2 provided the same content for the entire evening, and all BBC4 programmes were cancelled. Subsequently, the…

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11 April 2021
David Cameron’s lobbying scandal gets even murkier
The Canary UK

David Cameron’s lobbying scandal gets even murkier

It’s been reported that David Cameron took scandal-hit Australian financier Lex Greensill for a “private drink” with health secretary Matt Hancock. This was to discuss a payment scheme later rolled out in the NHS. The developments are the latest in a lobbying controversy that has dogged the Conservative former prime minister in recent weeks. Questions were mounting over his efforts to secure access for the finance company Greensill Capital, which later collapsed. Cronyism The Sunday Times also reported that Cameron messaged a senior adviser to Boris Johnson to lobby for Greensill. Following this, the Treasury reconsidered Greensill’s application for an emergency coronavirus (Covid-19) loan. Cameron was said to…

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11 April 2021
40 years on from the Brixton riots, the Police Bill could spark a summer of urban unrest
The Canary UK

40 years on from the Brixton riots, the Police Bill could spark a summer of urban unrest

On 10 April 1981, young Brixton residents rose up in response to police oppression, entrenched inequality, and marginalisation. The unrest soon spread to urban centres across the UK. The Scarman Report went some way to identifying the root causes of the rebellions. But successive governments have failed to deal with these issues, and have exacerbated them in many cases. 40 years of cuts and privatisation, an increasingly fascist state, and a devastating pandemic have resulted in a frustrated, volatile population with little to lose. If plans for the proposed Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill go ahead, we could see history repeat itself. The battle for Brixton In 1981, the New…

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10 April 2021
The news that’s getting buried as mainstream media obsesses over Prince Philip’s death
The Canary UK

The news that’s getting buried as mainstream media obsesses over Prince Philip’s death

On the evening of Friday 9 April, the BBC went wall-to-wall in its coverage of the death of Philip Windsor (aka, the duke of Edinburgh). BBC 1 and BBC 2 provided the same content for the entire evening, and all BBC 4 programmes were cancelled. Subsequently, the state broadcaster was forced to publish a complaints page on its coverage (but it has since been removed).   But with spectacles like this, it’s a good time for the government and its friends in the media to ignore other matters. For example, as reported by The Canary: There are the ongoing protests against the draconian Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts…

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10 April 2021
‘Intersecting forms of disadvantage’ explain varying coronavirus health outcomes
The Canary UK

‘Intersecting forms of disadvantage’ explain varying coronavirus health outcomes

Varying coronavirus (Covid-19) health outcomes are the result of “intersecting forms of disadvantage”, including structural inequalities faced by certain communities, experts have said. Intersections A combination of political, economic, and social factors can have “exponential impacts” on certain groups. That’s according to a paper from the ethnicity subgroup of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage). A Sage meeting on 25 March considered the paper. It was published on 9 April. It follows the government-commissioned ‘Sewell Report’ on racial disparities which was published last week. Many experts criticised the report for failing to recognise the impact of institutional racism in British society. The ethnicity sub-group of Sage noted…

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10 April 2021
People are blaming Boris Johnson for the Belfast riots
The Canary UK

People are blaming Boris Johnson for the Belfast riots

The riots raging in Belfast are being blamed on Boris Johnson. For days local people, many of them teenagers from loyalist communities, have being fighting running battles with the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). Police have also used Water cannons and plastic bullets during the unrest. The underlying causes are complex. They include anger over an IRA funeral that Sinn Fein politicians attended in 2020 and what the Irish Protocol means for the Good Friday Agreement. Many loyalists also believe the construction of a post-Brexit sea border has diminished their British identity. But many are also blaming PM Boris Johnson personally over his reaction to the spiraling…

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10 April 2021
Thanks to protesters, Boris Johnson’s Cornwall trip didn’t quite go to plan
The Canary UK

Thanks to protesters, Boris Johnson’s Cornwall trip didn’t quite go to plan

A campaign group has claimed Boris Johnson “bottled it” over a part of his visit to Cornwall. The reason for the PM’s scarpering could be the protesters waiting for him. Of course, Downing Street denies this. But who would you believe? Group of Seven crooks The Resist G7 Coalition is a campaign group which formed for the upcoming Group of Seven (G7) meeting in Cornwall. The government calls the G7 the “world’s leading democracies”. In reality, it’s the world’s leading corporate capitalist crooks and imperialists. So, Resist G7 will be carrying out action around the summit. But ahead of this, Johnson was in Cornwall. He had a non-socially…

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10 April 2021