Axiom Ince was shut down in 2023 after an investigation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority
She started the programme in an upbeat temper, quoting tailored traces from Les Miserables’ One Day Extra, telling listeners: “One other day, one other future, one last present from me, ZB… solely joking, I’m not going to sing, let’s have some Daft Punk.”
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Snow blanketed Santiago, the Chilean capital, in Could 2024 — a uncommon and gorgeous sight that marked the coldest month within the metropolis in over 70 years.
The weird climate occasion stood in stark distinction to the extreme drought that gripped the Amazon rainforest only a few months later, cracking the basins of the Negro River within the Brazilian port of Manaus and permitting folks to stroll alongside some components of the Amazon River in Santa Sofia, Colombia.
The Related Press, delicate to the influence of pure phenomena and disasters, captured the uncooked energy of nature because it ravaged Latin America in 2024, a yr marked by excessive climate occasions and local weather change.
Excessive temperatures and drought fueled wildfires throughout Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador.
The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season hit Caribbean islands, stirred the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico and devastated land within the southern United States, in a yr with 11 tropical storms — above the same old common of seven — that left loss of life and destruction of their wake.
Beryl set a brand new document as the primary Class 4 hurricane to kind in June, impacting Carriacou, Grenada. Subsequent storms, Helene and Milton, exacerbated the area’s moist season, delivering triple the common September-October rainfall.
In the meantime, the area underwent historic political change as Mexico elected its first feminine president, Claudia Sheinbaum, and Venezuela’s chief Nicolás Maduro gained his third reelection in polls questioned for his or her lack of transparency.
Two extra presidents accomplished their first yr in workplace going through turmoil within the streets.
Javier Milei confronted demonstrations throughout Argentina over cuts that suffocated segments of the inhabitants that have been already overwhelmed by excessive inflation and the lack of buying energy. And Daniel Noboa, who’s looking for reelection in February, concludes 2024 amidst a extreme vitality disaster, with energy outages lasting as much as 14 hours.
Violence continued to grip Haiti and Mexico, with grisly scenes of corpses in Port-au-Prince and Culiacan.
Nonetheless, 2024 additionally introduced moments of celebration, curiosity and hope to Latin America. A younger lady discovered pleasure skipping rope at a faculty for refugees in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince; a whole bunch gathered in Puerto San Julián, Argentina to witness the annular photo voltaic eclipse and Indigenous ladies in conventional skirts invented a brand new ball sport within the Ecuadorian Andes.
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From reproductive rights to local weather change to Huge Tech, The Unbiased is on the bottom when the story is growing. Whether or not it is investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our newest documentary, ‘The A Phrase’, which shines a light-weight on the American ladies preventing for reproductive rights, we all know how essential it’s to parse out the info from the messaging.
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The Unbiased is trusted by People throughout your complete political spectrum. And in contrast to many different high quality information shops, we select to not lock People out of our reporting and evaluation with paywalls. We imagine high quality journalism ought to be accessible to everybody, paid for by those that can afford it.
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South Western Railway’s providers would be the first to switch into public possession subsequent yr, adopted by c2c and Higher Anglia, however the transfer just isn’t anticipated to carry down practice fares for passengers.
The transition of the three operators is a part of Labour’s plans to carry contracts with present rail operators into public possession as they expire so taxpayers wouldn’t have to foot the invoice to pay compensation to coach corporations.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander mentioned she expects the transfer to cut back cancellations and late trains on these traces, however rail fares are nonetheless anticipated to go up.
She informed BBC Breakfast: “The first purpose of that is to enhance reliability and clamp down on the delays, the cancellation, the waste and the inefficiency that we’ve seen over the past 30 years.
“We’ve had personal practice working corporations working practice providers on this nation over the previous few a long time, and it clearly hasn’t labored.”
She mentioned bringing the operators into public possession is a “first step” to a “extra built-in and unified railway”, and pointed to the influence seen by bringing LNER and Southeastern into public possession.
She mentioned punctuality and cancellation charges had improved for LNER and Southeastern because the Division for Transport took over working them.
The Authorities mentioned the transition to a publicly-owned railway will enhance reliability and assist its primary precedence of boosting financial progress by encouraging extra individuals to make use of the railway.
Rail fares are attributable to rise by 4.6% from March as set out within the Price range, a determine that the Transport Secretary repeated when requested if tickets will get cheaper with public possession.
“The business realities of the railways are very difficult in the mean time,” she mentioned.
“Even below public possession we’ve obtained to guarantee that we’ve obtained sufficient cash to supply the providers that individuals need.
It is a important step ahead for passengers, rail staff, and people who need to see an environment friendly rail system run for the general public good, fairly than personal revenue
Mick Lynch, RMT
“As a result of in any other case you may enter into just a little little bit of a dying spiral, actually, in case you begin reducing providers and folks can’t get to the place they need to get to once they need to get there – they’ll search for different choices.”
The Authorities mentioned the change will save as much as £150 million a yr in charges alone by making certain cash is spent on providers fairly than personal shareholders.
Ms Alexander couldn’t verify how a lot the set-up price can be however informed LBC it might be a “fraction” of the administration charges presently paid.
Requested why Avanti is not going to be among the many first operators to be introduced into public possession, the Transport Secretary mentioned the choice was based mostly on when contracts expire.
South Western’s franchise contract is because of expire in Might of subsequent yr, and c2c’s in July.
Higher Anglia has reached a stage in its contract that enables the Authorities to problem an expiry discover and provides a date for the transition, which can happen in autumn 2025.
“We determined to proceed in that manner as a result of which means we don’t should pay compensation to the practice working firm,” the minister mentioned.
She added that having a “mature” relationship with unions is important to supply environment friendly rail providers.
“We’re going to should work collectively to get to a extremely environment friendly railway that gives good worth for cash for each the farepayers and the taxpayers. We’re solely going to try this if the Transport Secretary has a mature relationship with the commerce unions,” Ms Alexander informed Instances Radio.
Rail unions welcomed the transfer, with Aslef common secretary Mick Whelan saying the choice to privatise British Rail in 1994 was “silly, ideologically-driven, and doomed to fail”.
He added: “The privateers have taken a whole bunch of thousands and thousands of kilos from our railways and successive Conservative governments have pursued a coverage of managed decline which has bought taxpayers, passengers, and employees quick.”
Rail, Maritime and Transport union common secretary Mick Lynch mentioned: “It is a important step ahead for passengers, rail staff, and people who need to see an environment friendly rail system run for the general public good, fairly than personal revenue.
We’re involved that the Authorities’s plans are merely an ideological enterprise that doesn’t put passengers first
Gareth Bacon, shadow transport secretary
“Bringing infrastructure and passenger providers below one employer in public possession means correct funding in operations, harmonising circumstances for workers, and prioritising the wants of passengers.”
Transport Salaried Staffs’ Affiliation common secretary Maryam Eslamdoust mentioned: “The transfer will imply higher worth for taxpayers and higher providers for rail passengers. It recognises that railways ought to be run as a public service fairly than as a money cow for shareholders.
“We welcome the Labour Authorities’s recognition of the experience and expertise that railway employees – our members – possess are essential to the adjustments they need to see within the sector.”
However Gareth Bacon, the Conservative shadow transport secretary, mentioned: “We’re involved that the Authorities’s plans are merely an ideological enterprise that doesn’t put passengers first.
“Keir Starmer’s newest Transport Secretary has a worrying document of failure in terms of delivering tasks on time that enhance passenger providers. We’ll intently monitor the influence of those plans.”
Rail Companions, an trade group of passenger practice and freight corporations, mentioned: “Merely altering who runs the trains gained’t ship extra dependable and inexpensive providers for passengers, scale back subsidy for taxpayers, or develop rail freight.
“The important thing to each bettering efficiency and holding down fares is restoring the railway to monetary sustainability.
“It’s counter-intuitive to start out eradicating personal sector operators from the system, with their monitor document of delivering progress to cut back subsidy, when the query of what is going to exchange them long-term gained’t be answered till additional rail laws is launched.”
From reproductive rights to local weather change to Massive Tech, The Impartial is on the bottom when the story is growing. Whether or not it is investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our newest documentary, ‘The A Phrase’, which shines a light-weight on the American girls preventing for reproductive rights, we all know how essential it’s to parse out the details from the messaging.
At such a vital second in US historical past, we want reporters on the bottom. Your donation permits us to maintain sending journalists to talk to each side of the story.
The Impartial is trusted by People throughout the complete political spectrum. And in contrast to many different high quality information shops, we select to not lock People out of our reporting and evaluation with paywalls. We consider high quality journalism ought to be obtainable to everybody, paid for by those that can afford it.
Your assist makes all of the distinction.
South Western Railway’s companies would be the first to switch into public possession subsequent yr, adopted by c2c and Larger Anglia.
The transition of the three operators is a part of Labour’s plans to convey contracts with current rail operators into public possession as they expire so taxpayers wouldn’t have to foot the invoice to pay compensation to coach companies.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander stated she expects the transfer to scale back cancellations and late trains on these traces, however rail fares are nonetheless anticipated to go up.
She advised BBC Breakfast: “The first intention of that is to enhance reliability and clamp down on the delays, the cancellation, the waste and the inefficiency that we’ve seen during the last 30 years.
“We’ve had non-public prepare working firms working prepare companies on this nation over the previous few many years, and it clearly hasn’t labored.”
She stated bringing the operators into public possession is a “first step” to a “extra built-in and unified railway”, and pointed to the impression seen by bringing LNER and Southeastern into public possession.
She stated punctuality and cancellation charges had improved for LNER and Southeastern because the Division for Transport took over working them.
The Authorities stated the transition to a publicly-owned railway will enhance reliability and assist its primary precedence of boosting financial progress by encouraging extra folks to make use of the railway.
Rail fares are because of rise by 4.6% from March as set out within the Price range, a determine that the Transport Secretary repeated when requested if tickets will get cheaper with public possession.
“The industrial realities of the railways are very difficult in the meanwhile,” she stated.
“Even underneath public possession we’ve acquired to guarantee that we’ve acquired sufficient cash to supply the companies that folks need.
This can be a vital step ahead for passengers, rail employees, and those that wish to see an environment friendly rail system run for the general public good, moderately than non-public revenue
Mick Lynch, RMT
“As a result of in any other case you possibly can enter into slightly little bit of a dying spiral, actually, should you begin slicing companies and folks can’t get to the place they wish to get to after they wish to get there – they’ll search for different choices.
“The Authorities stated the change will save as much as £150 million a yr in charges alone by guaranteeing cash is spent on companies moderately than non-public shareholders.
Ms Alexander couldn’t affirm how a lot the set-up value can be however advised LBC it will be a “fraction” of the administration charges at present paid.
Requested why Avanti is not going to be among the many first operators to be introduced into public possession, the Transport Secretary stated the choice was primarily based on when contracts expire.
South Western’s franchise contract is because of expire in Might of subsequent yr, and c2c’s in July.
Larger Anglia has reached a stage in its contract that enables the Authorities to concern an expiry discover and provides a date for the transition, which can happen in autumn 2025.
“We determined to proceed in that approach as a result of which means we don’t should pay compensation to the prepare working firm,” the minister stated.
She added that having a “mature” relationship with unions is important to supply environment friendly rail companies.
“We’re going to should work collectively to get to a extremely environment friendly railway that gives good worth for cash for each the farepayers and the taxpayers. We’re solely going to do this if the Transport Secretary has a mature relationship with the commerce unions,” Ms Alexander advised Occasions Radio.
Rail unions welcomed the transfer, with Aslef common secretary Mick Whelan saying the choice to privatise British Rail in 1994 was “silly, ideologically-driven, and doomed to fail”.
He added: “The privateers have taken a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of kilos from our railways and successive Conservative governments have pursued a coverage of managed decline which has offered taxpayers, passengers, and workers brief.”
Rail, Maritime and Transport union common secretary Mick Lynch stated: “This can be a vital step ahead for passengers, rail employees, and those that wish to see an environment friendly rail system run for the general public good, moderately than non-public revenue.
We’re involved that the Authorities’s plans are merely an ideological endeavor that doesn’t put passengers first
Gareth Bacon, shadow transport secretary
“Bringing infrastructure and passenger companies underneath one employer in public possession means correct funding in operations, harmonising circumstances for workers, and prioritising the wants of passengers.”
Transport Salaried Staffs’ Affiliation common secretary Maryam Eslamdoust stated: “The transfer will imply higher worth for taxpayers and higher companies for rail passengers. It recognises that railways ought to be run as a public service moderately than as a money cow for shareholders.
“We welcome the Labour Authorities’s recognition of the experience and expertise that railway workers – our members – possess are essential to the adjustments they wish to see within the sector.”
However Gareth Bacon, the Conservative shadow transport secretary, stated: “We’re involved that the Authorities’s plans are merely an ideological endeavor that doesn’t put passengers first.
“Keir Starmer’s newest Transport Secretary has a worrying report of failure in relation to delivering tasks on time that enhance passenger companies. We are going to carefully monitor the impression of those plans.”
