Black Immigrant Daily News

LONDON (AP) — British food prices rose at the fastest pace since 1980 last month, driving inflation back to a 40-year high and heaping pressure on the embattled government to balance the books without gutting help for the nation’s poorest residents.

Food prices jumped 14.6 per cent in the year through September, led by the soaring cost of staples such as meat, bread, milk and eggs, the Office for National Statistics said Wednesday. That pushed consumer price inflation back to 10.1 per cent, the highest since early 1982 and equal to the level last reached in July.

The figures immediately fuelled demands that the government do more to help families and retirees as it struggles to regain credibility after an ill-fated package of tax cuts roiled financial markets. Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt ditched the package after he took office last week, but he has warned that this will be a difficult winter and spending reductions also will be needed.

Glenn Sanderson, head teacher at St. Aidan’s Catholic Academy in Sunderland, said schools across the country are finding it difficult to feed needy children, with many diverting money from textbooks and classroom teaching to subsidize meal programs. The suggestion of government budget cuts in this environment is “appalling,” he said.

“Parents … are having to make difficult decisions — do they pay the bus fare to send their child to education or do they use that money to feed their child?” Sanderson told the BBC. “In today’s society, I find that completely unacceptable.”

Hunt this week told the House of Commons that the government would “prioritize help for the most vulnerable while delivering wider economic stability.”

Prime Minister Liz Truss reinforced that point during the weekly prime minister’s questions session Wednesday, repeating a previous commitment to increase pensions in line with inflation. She didn’t make a similar promise on benefits but hinted they would.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has boosted food and energy prices worldwide, with shipments of natural gas, grains and cooking oil disrupted. That added to price rises that began last year as the global economy started to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the jump in food costs took the biggest bite out of household budgets in Britain last month, prices are rising across the board. Transportation costs jumped 10.9 per cent, furniture and households goods rose 10.8 per cent, and clothing was up 8.4 per cent. Housing costs rose 9.3 per cent, driven by the rising price of energy.

The government has sought to shield consumers from the impact of rising energy prices by capping the cost of electricity and natural gas. But Hunt has now limited the price cap to six months, instead of the two years originally promised.

That means inflation is likely to stay higher for longer than previously forecast, said Jack Leslie, senior economist at the Resolution Foundation, a think tank that focuses on improving living standards for low- and middle-income people.

“This bleak outlook means that family incomes will continue to fall sharply again next year, especially as support with energy bills is withdrawn,” Leslie said in a statement. “That is the context of debates within government about whether previous commitments to uprate benefits or pensions in line with prices should be the next U-turn to be announced.”

Faster inflation also fuels expectations that the Bank of England will raise interest rates further and faster as it struggles to return inflation to its 2 per cent target.

The central bank is trying to slow inflation without tipping Britain into recession. The British economy shrank an estimated 0.3 per cent in August after growing just 0.1 per cent in July, according to ONS figures.

“Today’s hotter-than-anticipated inflation reading paves the way for another aggressive interest rate increase from the Bank of England at its next meeting in early November,” said Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor. “However, the central bank is between a rock and a hard place as it looks to curb price pressures without inadvertently adding to the risk of recession.”

It’s the same calculation going on in other countries, but the U.S. Federal Reserve has signalled it will continue its rapid rate hikes to combat inflation that is at a decades-high 8.3 per cent.

The European Central Bank at its meeting next week is expected to make another big increase to curtail record inflation in the 19 countries that use the euro currency. The EU’s statistics agency, Eurostat, on Wednesday, adjusted eurozone inflation for September down slightly to 9.9 per cent.

By DANICA KIRKA and JILL LAWLESS Associated Press

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Black Immigrant Daily News

The Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the events of the March 2, 2020 General and Regional elections will commence its work on November 3.

The terms of reference have been completed and published in the official gazette. The inquiry is expected to be completed within seven months.

The President acting in accordance with Section Two of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, Chapter 19:03, established Commission of Inquiry as follows:

I)  To inquire into and report upon the relevant circumstances and events leading up to, and the procedures following, the Regional and General Elections.

II)  The Commission is to inquire into the counting, ascertaining and tabulation of votes polled and the public declaration of those results by the Returning Officer of Electoral District No.4, and other election officers, as prescribed by the Representation of the People Act, chap 1:03 (ROPA) and to establish what attempts, if any, were made to obstruct, frustrate, subvert, and prevent the counting ascertainment and tabulation of votes polled and a declaration of the true results of Electoral District No.4 as prescribed by the said act.

(III) The Commission will also investigate what attempts, if any, were made to obstruct, frustrate, subvert, and prevent a decision of the Guyana Elections Commission made on the 14th day of March 2020, to conduct a national recount of the votes polled at the General and Regional Elections from being executed and implemented.

IV)The conduct of the Chief Election Officer, other Elections Officers, and others in respect of the discharge and execution of the statutory duties of the Chief Election Officer prescribed by the ROPA Act.

V) The commission is to make such recommendations as the Commission deems fit and necessary to permit the Guyana Elections Commission to discharge its statutory functions as prescribed by ROPA… in a manner which is impartial, fair, and compliant with the Constitution and relevant legislation and to make any other recommendations which the Commission deems appropriate having regard to the law and to any evidence which may be presented.

At the swearing-in of the CoI in September, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall, S.C, told the media that the CoI will in no way influence election petition proceedings before Guyana’s Apex Court, the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) because the CCJ has already heard one election petition appeal.

“They [CoI] are not connected, [with] those matters [because they] are already in the court, they were filed two years prior to the commission and there is absolutely no nexus between the two.”

The Commissioners that make up the COI are Chairperson, Attorney-General, High Court Judge and acting Justice of Appeal in the Eastern Caribbean, Godfrey P. Smith, S.C., Retired Justice of Appeal, Stanley John, and former Chancellor of the Judiciary (ag), Carl Singh.

The Commission will be assisted in its work by Dr Afari Jayan and Dr Nasim Zaidi as resource personnel.

Any person wishing to give evidence on matters relating to the Commission’s Terms of Reference may contact the Secretary of the Commission of Inquiry at 95 Middle Street, South Cummingsburg, or on Telephone numbers: 592-231-9820 and 592-231-9828.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

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Ambassador Sonia M. Johnny, Sr. Legal Advisor in the Office of the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), received The United States President Joseph R. Biden Lifetime Achievement Award on Thursday, September 29th at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

Honored for her exceptional work over the years in addressing the development and foreign policy concerns of her native country of Saint Lucia, the prestigious award was given to her and other global leaders during the African and Caribbean International Leadership Awards Gala – held in collaboration with the 51st United States Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference.

“It is quite an honor to be recognized along with so many great people who have accomplished so much,” Ambassador Johnny said. “I also think it is so important for people of this caliber to be brought together under one roof, to share experiences and learn from each other. This event is not simply a gala, but a learning and sharing process between people who have devoted their whole lives to serving.”

Ambassador Johnny made history when she became Saint Lucia’s first-ever female ambassador to the OAS and the United States in 1997, a role in which she served for a decade.

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In 2007 she served as Chief of the Tourism Section within the Department of Trade, Tourism and Competitiveness at the OAS before leaving to become the Deputy Director of the Summits Secretariat.

There, she provided her expertise to the Department as it prepared for the first ever Summits of the Americas to be held in the Anglophone Caribbean in 2009 (Trinidad and Tobago).

Always one to shatter glass ceilings, Ambassador Johnny’s life is one littered with accomplishments. An alumnus of two of the world’s most prestigious universities; Georgetown University and Johns Hopkins school of Advanced International Studies, as well as the University of the West Indies from which she graduated with honors, her education and work ethic primed her for a long and successful career in foreign affairs and diplomacy.

 Known as “the ambassador who was open to all,” Ambassador Johnny has been responsible for helping a number of Saint Lucian students obtain scholarships, and get paid internships at hotels in Florida, as well as providing needed support to the Saint Lucian diaspora.

She was also the only ambassador to invite and accompany members of the United States Congressional Black Caucus to Saint Lucia for discussions with the Prime Minister regarding the country’s economic concerns – particularly the then challenges within the banana industry, Saint Lucia’s biggest industry at the time.

Ambassador Johnny was known to roam the corridors of Capitol Hill to discuss her country’s concerns and garner support for the Caribbean’s interests.

Her life has been marked by a dedication to the welfare and elevation of others. Not only Saint Lucians, but many other members of the Caribbean Diaspora can attest to this, as she remains a household name in the community where she has accepted leadership roles in every group with which she is affiliated.

“I have always believed in serving rather than being served, so I never wait for things to fall into my lap. Instead, I aggressively go out to pursue things and make things happen…not only for me, but also for others,” she said. “You see, when my glass breaks, I do not sit and mourn, but I STOOP and pick up the pieces, and using that experience, I help others in picking up their pieces.”

Ambassador Johnny is the recipient of three other awards: The Queen’s Golden Jubilee Award, the Howard University Leadership Award, and the Women Empowered to Achieve the Impossible (Wetati) Award.

SOURCE: Intrigue Media Group

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Black Immigrant Daily News

St. Lucia won the Under-13 Boys Team Title at the Caribbean Table Tennis Championships in Guyana last Sunday to become the first OECS country to do so.

En route to the title, St. Lucia Under-13 Boys defeated top seed Trinidad and Tobago A 3-2, and Guyana B 3-0. They received a bye in the quarter-finals after they topped their group.

In the Semi-finals, the St. Lucian Under-13 Boys defeated Trinidad and Tobago B 3-0, then defeated Guyana Under-13 Boys 3-2 in the Final.

St Lucian, Leshon Francis played unbeaten winning his two matches. His team-mate, Manie Eleuthere lost one of his matches, but under pressure, he played with passion and a great deal of national pride to win the deciding match 3-0 to take his team the Title for the first time in Regional Table Tennis history.

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