UK economy picks up as lockdown restrictions ease
LONDON - The UK economy shrank by 1.5 percent in the first three months of 2021, but gathered speed in March as lockdown restrictions began to ease, official figures show.
The reopening of schools and strong retail spending helped the economy grow 2.1 percent in March, its fastest monthly growth since last August.
But the economy is still 8.7 percent smaller than it was before the pandemic.
However, March marked a possible turning point, economists suggested.
Tej Parikh, chief economist at the Institute of Directors, predicted the UK economy was now on course for a bumper bounce- back this year.
"The first quarter should mark the low point for the economy in 2021," said Parikh. "The lockdown, and added costs of navigating new trading terms with the EU, limited many businesses' trading activities at the start of the year."
What happened in the first three months of the year?
The UK economy suffered a record annual slump in 2020 as coronavirus restrictions hit output and 2021 started off equally downbeat.
The reintroduction of restrictions in January led to a fall in business investment and household consumption expenditure, according to the ONS.
However, schools reopening on March 8 triggered an uplift in retail sales and sectors such as construction and manufacturing remained resilient, growing strongly in March.
Businesses also continued to adapt and make themselves Covid secure.
The vaccine rollout, the extension of support measures at the Budget, and the roadmap to reopen the economy have led to expectations that the UK economy will rebound strongly this year. – BBC.
NAIROBI - Kenya is among countries in Africa to benefit from United Kingdom’s Sh3.3 billion cyberwar chest.
The money announced on Monday targets supporting national cyber response units, advising on consumer safety awareness online and setting up a joint Interpol cyber hub that will help nations mount joint operation on cybercriminals.
The move comes at a time when cyber-crime cases in many countries, including Kenya are on the increase.
According to the Communications Authority
JOHANNESBURG - Petra Diamonds, the company which operates the Cullinan mine, has reached a £4.3 million (around R85 million) settlement with a group of claimants who accused it of human rights abuses at its Williamson operation in Tanzania.
The company, however, states that it has no liability in the matter - despite the settlement.
Petra was sued by 71 anonymous claimants who held the miner liable for human rights violations at the mine south of Mwanza in the Shinyanga province of Tanzania.
They claimed to have been of Kenya’s sector statistics report for the fourth quarter of 2020, cyber threats rose by over 50 percent to 56.2 million from 35.1 million threats reported in the previous quarter.
Of note, malware and application attacks continued to rank highly among the factors that have contributed to the surge in cyber-security challenges. The United Kingdom (UK) through its Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab noted with concern the rising number of criminals that target online consumers and disrupting mistreated and suffered injuries at the hands of the mine's security personnel and that there were casualties reported. The mine is operated jointly by Petra and an entity controlled by the government of Tanzania, with the London Stock Exchange-listed company being the majority owner
The reported cases involved the Williamson mine's third-party security provider, Zenith Security, as well as the Tanzanian police force, the company said in a statement, adding that its investigation showed no evidence that Williamson personnel were directly involved in the alleged abuses. "The agreement ease of doing business in the modern world. As part of the new approach to bring down cybercriminals, the UK jointly with INTERPOL, is setting up a new cyber operations hub in Africa working across Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Rwanda to support joint operations against cyber-crime. Speaking at the National Cyber Security Centre’s CYBERUK conference, Raab outlined UK’s vision of being a leading responsible cyber power, working with partners to shape reached with the claimants, combined with the other actions put in place, are aimed at providing redress and preventing the possibility of future incidents," said Peter Hill, the company's non-executive chairperson.
The company maintained that while it was not directly involved in operations at the mine, and had no direct involvement in the events, it cyberspace values.
“We are working with like-minded partners, to make sure that the international order that governs cyber is fit for purpose,” he said.
The Sh3.3 billion investment in cyber capacity building will target countries in Africa, the Commonwealth and Indo-Pacific, transforming their resilience by helping build national emergency response teams and promoting future leadership by funding new Chevening scholarships. according to her believes that "the agreed settlement balances the interests of its stakeholders with those of the local community" and avoids contesting protracted and expensive litigation.
The cases of right abuses surfaced in September 2020, and Petra had previously disclosed that there had been ongoing illegal artisanal mining taking place at the Williamson mine over a period of time. – FIN24.