Critics say scrapping of plans, which aimed to increase judge-alone trials to deliver swifter justice, leaves court system and victims vulnerable Ministers have scrapped plans that would have slashed the number of jury trials in England and Wales and replaced them with a judge sitting alone. The proposals had sparked a fierce backlash from lawyers , who have welcomed the U-turn. But the victims’ commissioner expressed concern about the abandonment of measures drawn up by the then justice secretary, David Lammy, under Keir Starmer’s government, to tackle the record backlog in the courts. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/ajrMJT4 via IFTTT
Ukrainian foreign ministry says deliberate strikes on civilian energy facilities violate international law as fears of a winter crisis grow. What we know on day 1,347 Ukraine’s foreign ministry has denounced what it described as Russian attacks on substations critical to supplying external power for Ukraine’s nuclear power stations. Russia has carried out “targeted strikes on such substations”, a ministry statement issued late on Friday said. “Deliberate strikes on civilian energy facilities that directly affect the safe operation of nuclear installations bear the hallmarks of nuclear terrorism and constitute a grave violation of international humanitarian law,” it added. The foreign ministry referred to a statement issued on Thursday by the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, reporting military activity “that has led to damage to substations critical to nuclear safety and security in Ukraine”. The IAEA statement reported incidents near two nuclear plants ...