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Free Malaysia Today
01-06-2025
- Business
- Free Malaysia Today
UK varsities offer 10-20% discounts for Mara students
Mara chairman Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki meeting Mara-sponsored students in London. (Facebook pic) LONDON : Three British universities have offered tuition fee discounts of 10-20% for students sponsored by Mara, the agency's chairman, Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki, said here. He said the discounts could amount to savings of more than RM100,000 per student per year. The discounts were offered by Warwick University and Birmingham University (20%) and the University of Edinburgh (10%). Asyraf said the Warwick discount of up to £6,000 a year would amount to RM100,000 for a typical three-year undergraduate course. He said there are currently 1,508 Mara-sponsored students pursuing their studies in the UK. Asyraf is in the UK for meetings with senior leadership and senior academics at the University of Cambridge, as well as several other universities. He said the Cambridge University Trust has expressed interest in collaborating with Mara through a co-funding arrangement for postgraduate research students at the master's and PhD levels. Cambridge has also agreed to send a delegation to Malaysia for discussions on a joint programme for the International General Certificate of Secondary Education at Mara junior science colleges.
Metro
22-05-2025
- Metro
Can this grainy 70s photo help police solve a missing person case?
Back in the summer of 2023, PC Shaun Reeve cracked open a cold case of a young woman who went missing nearly 50 years ago. With fresh eyes, he poured through the file looking for new clues in the hope he might be able to discover what happened to her all those decades ago. The case belonged to 20 year-old Sarjit Kaur Mann, an 'outstanding student' who had moved to Birmingham from India with her family and was studying maths at Birmingham University. In the Autumn of 1976, she went on a road trip to France with her brother and sister-in-law – but never returned home. Four days into their trip, on September 22, the trio visited a beach in the south of France, where Sarjit reportedly made friends with three European, white females. While her brother and sister in law headed back to England two days later on 24 September, the 'reserved and sensible' Sarjit chose to delay her return until 27 September to continue sightseeing. That was the last time any of her family would see her. Going through the notes, PC Reeve tells Metro: 'On 27 September, an unknown female who used the name Jane called the family home and told them Sarjit had drowned on a beach. The origin of this call was never traced. Unfortunately, we've been unable to track 'Jane' down.' When he started work on the case in 2023, the police constable for West Midlands Police explored 'everything'. He made fresh inquiries with a different perspective on the case – trying to establish whether she was alive by making appeals on social media for the public to get in touch with information, and checking GP appointments, whether she has been known to police, if she'd been in contact with family, possible hospital admissions, and phone book inquiries. His team has liaised with the national Crime Agency and put out missing person reports abroad. 'Anything that anyone could think of in terms of proof of life, we covered,' he says. 'We have made hundreds of inquiries with the hope that she's alive – that she started a new life elsewhere. Inquiries have taken us to countries around the world. We know she hasn't contacted family since. If she has passed away, we are very much relying on DNA – relying on the body to be recovered, but that hasn't been done yet.' When he initially started on her case, the only photo of Sarjit was a black and white, blurred photocopy. 'It was terrible quality,' remembers PC Reeve. 'It was really grainy, and looked nothing like her. But it was the image we had and there was little we could do to retrieve new photos as this was going back to the 70s.' Photos of missing people can play a vital role in finding a missing person. Only recently, PC Reeve located a person that disappeared in 1972 after enlarging a microfiche photo of her. 'It went out in the media and within 24 hours, we found them,' he says. However, a photo is only one part of the puzzle. When a missing report is phoned in to 999, the call handler asks a series of 12 questions to determine if the person is missing and what risk level they are, such as do they pose a threat to themselves or others, do they have any medical issues? The response officers then carry out basic, initial inquiries such as knocking on the doors of neighbours, talking to family members, and checking hospital admissions. 'If they are classed as missing, they go onto a specific system,' PC Reeve explains. 'We can have anywhere from 20-90 missing people a day that have recently been reported.' Investigations can go on for months, but the officer says 'most' are found during this stage. If they aren't, and all 'lines of inquiries' are exhausted, the missing person case is then transferred to PC Reeve's cold case missing person team, officially known as the Review Team of the Missing Person Investigation Team. 'We never stop looking for them,' he says. 'They are forever on the system as open.' Someone is reported missing every 90 seconds in the UK. That means life is lonely, scary and uncertain for 170,000 families every year. Missing People is the only UK charity dedicated to reconnecting them and their loved ones and that's why this year Metro is proudly supporting them for our 2025 Lifeline campaign. As well as raising awareness through articles and sharing stories of those impacted, we are also taking on a 52-106km hike on the beautiful Isle of Wight to help raise vital funds for the charity. Just £12 buys one hour of helpline support at Missing People, which could help save someone in crisis. To make a donation, please click here. When Reeve begins work on a cold case, he starts from the very beginning. 'Even inquiries that have been done, I'll redo,' he says. 'Initially you're looking for proof of life inquiries. One inquiry could lead to 20. Then before you know it, you're looking at hundreds of different inquiries from one missing person.' He admits he has become 'a bit obsessed' with some cases. 'If I think of anything, it's going to be explored and investigated until there is literally nothing else,' he explains . 'I make a list – could be 100 things– and then just tick them off as I go along.' Some cases' complexity snowball as PC Reeve 'leaves no stone unturned.' 'One simple line of enquiry can lead to dozens of other lines of investigation. We have had missing person cases where on the face of it, there is nothing 'unusual' about the circumstances of them leaving home, but more than 20 years after, there is still no trace or proof of life for them. 'This is why we explore every possible theory and line of enquiry, no matter how unlikely they seem.' But some can be 'quite simple,' he adds. 'The other week, I found someone who went missing in 1975. He didn't even know he had been reported missing. I did a Department of Work and Pensions check (something we do to see if the missing person has accessed government services and may be living and working in another part of the country) and managed to get a phone number for him. I called on the off chance it was him – and it was. We found it really funny.' When West Midlands Police put together a specialist team of three officers to investigate cold cases in 2022, there were 300 unresolved cases. Now, there are only 100. Approaching families who thought their loved one had been forgotten by the police can be very moving, says PC Reeve. 'To touch base with them after years or even decades is kind of emotional,' he explains. 'It makes it more than a job.' Recently, he spoke with a mother whose son went missing years ago. 'It's someone who we think probably went overboard between France and England,' he says. 'She gave me a hug and said she didn't think police were still looking. I told her we never forget.' Some families, especially those who have very recently had a loved one go missing, want contact daily. Others only want to be contacted occasionally with very pertinent information. Even though he can't always give a definitive answer as to what happened to the loved one, PC Reeve says it can bring 'closure' when a family knows police have done everything to find them. He adds that when someone goes missing there are four categories that person could fall into: leaving on their own accord (which could include suicide), medical reasons or accidents, third party involvement, and getting lost. However, it isn't always clear cut as to what category the person falls in, so Reeve explores each, ruling out which reason wouldn't apply. It means that even though he may not be taking heaps of paperwork home each night, PC Reeve's brain is always ticking over, wondering what he can do the next day to find people – what he might have missed. 'This is my dream job,' he says, adding that after nine years of looking for missing people, he's yet to discover a stereotypical type person who goes missing 'Every case is different.' However, despite PC Reeve's very best efforts, Sarjit's disappearance has yet to be explained. In December 2024, he finally able to get a clearer photo of Sarjit from her nephew, who had been six at the time of Sarjit's disappearance, to assist his search. More Trending 'By putting this enhanced photo out, we are hoping someone who recognises Sarjit will trigger old memories in people who knew her,' he says. Reeves recently met with Sarjit's two brothers 'who are still looking for closure and miss their sister enormously.' 'Sarjit's case has remained unsolved for nearly 50 years and one of my main goals is to make as many people aware of it as possible,' he concludes. 'This is one of West Midlands Police's longest unsolved cases and, while we don't know what happened to Sarjit, she deserves to have people looking for her. My aim is to bring that closure to her remaining family.' MORE: My teenage son felt a lump – he was gone by 20 MORE: Missing British student Lewis Jack's body found on Australia's Gold Coast MORE: A deadly moment etched in history forever – did George Floyd's murder change anything?
Times
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Times
‘I was scared and alone': the victims of university antisemitism
Naomi Brookarsh entered Freshers Week at the University of Manchester under no illusions that her five years studying medicine would be untouched by the scourge of antisemitism. Years earlier her brother had encountered the age-old hatred at Birmingham University, an institution with a vibrant Jewish community. It was only when Manchester returned to life after the removal of coronavirus restrictions that she saw antisemitism on campus for herself. 'When the conflict broke out [between Israel and Hamas] in [May] 2021, there was a spike in antisemitism on campus. I was quite shocked because suddenly loads of people were posting on social media about what was happening, and I remember feeling a bit isolated,' Brookarsh, 24, said. 'At that point, I didn't realise that it was
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Bishop of Penrith named as new Bishop of Carlisle
The current Bishop of Penrith, the Rt Rev Rob Saner-Haigh, has been announced by Downing Street as the 68th Bishop of Carlisle. In May 2022, Bishop Rob was appointed the Bishop of Penrith and has been the Acting Bishop of Carlisle since September 2023. Having served his curacy in the county from 2005, he has ministered for all but two years in Cumbria. Bishop Rob served his curacy in Appleby Deanery before moving to the parishes of Dalston with Cumdivock, Raughtonhead and Wreay. He was Bishop's Chaplain for three years and Director of Ordinands for two. From 2010 he was the Vicar of Holy Trinity Kendal and assistant Rural Dean for seven years prior to his move to the Diocese of Newcastle in 2020 to take up the position of Residentiary Canon Director of Mission and Ministry. He returned to Cumbria in 2022 following his appointment as Bishop of Penrith. He was born and raised in Birkenhead on Merseyside and attended Birmingham University to study Ancient History and Archaeology, later completing his MPhil research in Archaeology. After working as an archaeologist, he worked for a church in Birmingham and then as a project manager in an IT firm before training for ordination at Wycliffe Hall in Oxford. He is married to Emma. The couple have three children: Ollie (23), Jemima (21) and Hal (19). Bishop Rob, 52, said: 'It is such an honour to have been nominated as the next Bishop of Carlisle and to be able to continue to serve this county that I love. 'This will be a time of both continuity and change for the Diocese of Carlisle. I'm a local vicar at heart and love the local church. 'It's where we learn together about who God is and what that means for our lives and the place where we can best serve our local communities. 'There is a rich variety of churches across the county, from those which have stood as a sign of God's love at the heart of their communities for a thousand years, to those starting new today in village halls or on fellsides. 'I will do all I can to help each flourish as, together, we seek to share the good news of Jesus. As Bishop of Carlisle, I will also seek to highlight this wonderful county and to do all I can for the people of Cumbria.' Bishop Rob and his wife Emma have been touring the county on Friday, starting at Carlisle Cathedral before visiting Ivegill CE Primary School, where their children were once pupils. READ MORE: Weekend weather forecast for Carlisle as heatwave hits | News and Star They will later meet staff and ecumenical leaders at the Diocesan offices, Church House, in Penrith before visiting a social action programme at St Mary's Westfield. From there they will meet members of the farming community in Rampside in the South Lakes as well as members of the South Lakes Poverty Truth Commission before attending St Lawrence's Appleby for Evening Prayer. Bishop Rob succeeds the Rt Rev James Newcome as Bishop of Carlisle, following his retirement in August 2023. A service of installation and welcome will take place at Carlisle Cathedral on a date to be confirmed.
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Warning that Adolescence may 'do more harm than good' if Stephen Graham Netflix show is shown to children
Showing the hit television Netflix series Adolescence in schools may backfire, an expert on masculinity and misogyny has warned. Using the drama as a classroom tool could lead boys to think that they are all perceived as potential threats and push them into toxic spaces rather than discouraging it, said Birmingham University associate professor Sophie King-Hill. The Netflix drama about a 13 year-old boy, accused of the murdering a female classmate, examines online misogyny, toxic influencers and incel hate. After watching Adolescence with his son and daughter Prime Minister Keir Starmer called for it to be screened in schools. Now Netflix has made the series available to be shown for free in classrooms through the charity Into Film+, which has also produced a guide for teachers. Resources for teachers and parents will also be available from relationships charity Tender. For the latest TV and showbiz gossip sign up to our newsletter. READ MORE: A Welsh church is finally getting a toilet after more than 700 years READ MORE: Green light given for 91-homes estate - more than 40 per cent are affordable As a father, watching Adolescence with my teenage son and daughter hit home all need to be having these conversations more.I've backed Netflix's plan to show the series for free in schools across the country, so as many young people as possible can see it. — Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) March 31, 2025 But the plan may have unintended consequences, warns Sophie King-Hill from the health services management centre at Birmingham University. She said: "Showing the series as a teaching tool risks framing boyhood as monolithic, with one particular – and problematic – way of being a boy." And she points out that good though the drama is, it was not created as an educational resource or with the robust research, evaluation and consultation to be used as such in schools. The series gives an extreme and fictional portrait of one teenager drawn into the world of the manosphere, but Ms King-Hill stresses that not all boys will see themselves reflected in the Netflix portrayal. "As a researcher working on masculinity and misogyny, my concern is that showing the series in schools may lead boys to think that they are all perceived as potential threats," she said. "Showing the series as a teaching tool risks framing boyhood as monolithic, with one particular – and problematic – way of being a boy. Already, a broad-brush, blame-heavy approach is often taken to boys in response to issues relating to sexual harassment and violence." Keir Starmer himself seemed to take a broadbrush view commenting: 'We may have a problem with boys and young men that we need to address." But Ms King-Hill, who talked to adolescent boys aged 13 to 19 as part of research for a forthcoming book on boys and masculinity, said that blaming all for the misogyny of some could stop dialogue. If adolescent boys are sent the message that they are all to blame this could shute down conversations and unintentionally push them into toxic spaces. Writing in The Conversation Ms King-Hill said: "I worked with young men and boys aged 13 to 19. One 15 year-old boy said that 'I am always told that I am part of the problem but never allowed to be part of the solution'. "I also found that this broad blame culture leads to feelings of worthlessness in young men and boys, which shuts down vital dialogue and also may lead them to resort to looking for direction from negative spaces such as the manosphere. It is evident from reports and evidence that young men and boys do carry out a large amount of reported sexual harassment and harms against young women and girls. "This can be seen in the 2021 Ofsted report into sexual harassment in schools in England, for example. The 2025 2000 Women report states that, in the UK, a woman is killed by a man every three days. There is evidently a serious, endemic and complex problem. The misogyny that can be popularised by toxic influencers online also needs urgently addressing. "But a 'one-size-fits-all' approach to tackle 'boys' issues' may result in making things worse, not better, due to the lack of recognition of the intersectionality of boyhood. Other aspects of identity, such as race, age, class, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, sexuality and physical and mental health will have implications for the approaches that need to be taken." And she adds: Adolescence is a drama and deserves the praise it has attracted. But it wasn't developed as an educational resource, the kind that is produced in consultation with young people and schools and should be underpinned by robust research and well planned evaluations."
