The UK government made a stunning revelation that 80 prison officers did not show up for work in HMP Wandsworth on the day terror suspect Daniel Abed Khalife famously escaped from the prison. 
 
Around four in 10 of the staff employed in the prison failed to turn up as was expected, admitted a Tory minister despite the insistence of the government that staff shortages were not a reason for the security breach. 
 
Khalife on Monday (September 11) was charged with breaking HMP Wandsworth prison on September 6 by strapping himself underneath a food delivery lorry. The former soldier, who is 21 years old, was arrested by a plain-clothes counter-terrorism officer on a canal towpath in west London on Saturday.

ALSO READ |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/who-is-daniel-khalife-escaped-terror-suspect-and-ex-british-army-soldier-who-was-arrested-later-634549">Who is Daniel Khalife? Escaped terror suspect and ex-British army soldier who was arrested later</a>

Answering a Labour question about the issue of staffing on the day of the incident, Prisons Minister Damian Hinds said that only 61 per cent of the officers appointed at Wandsworth attended their shift. 
 
However, the minister added, “All staff in both the kitchen and the gatehouse were on duty on 6 September. An initial investigation into Daniel Khalife’s escape did not find the staffing level to be a contributing factor.” 
 
The government under Sunak has remained reluctant to accept shortage of staff or multiple absences are the reason behind the apparent security breach. 
 
However, an independent investigation headed by ex-National Crime Agency's Keith Bristow is now looking at the wider shortcomings at Wandsworth – as security and staffing levels are set to be scrutinised.

<h2>'Too many prisoners compared to the amount of staff'</h2>

Chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor has insisted that “there are too many prisoners in Wandsworth for the amount of staff”, further stating that the issue of staff shortage has been raised over the years. 
 
“The lack of staffing which has dogged the prison. I think when we last inspected at the end of 2021. They were 30% short of staff,” said the inspector, while speaking to the BBC after the Khalife fleeing incident.

WATCH |&nbsp;Nurse Lucy Letby gets life in prison for killing seven newborns | UK News | WION Dispatch

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Hinds said that staffing levels present at Wandsworth on the day the security was breached “were above the minimum staffing level required”. Around 125 prison officers attended their shifts at the prison, however, 80 officers were absent. 
 
MP for Wandsworth Rosena Allin-Khan, who raised the question about the arrangements on the day of the alleged escape, stated that she had raised concerns about “significant staff shortages” at the prison months ago. 
 
“When I visited Wandsworth prison a few months ago, the biggest issue they were facing was staff shortages. This is why I raised concerns about staffing levels – which showed just six officers turned up for a shift one night in December. The government chose to ignore my concerns,” said Allin-Khan, while speaking to The Independent.

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The UK government made a stunning revelation that 80 prison officers did not show up for work in HMP Wandsworth on the day terror suspect Daniel Abed Khalife famously escaped from the prison.

The UK government made a stunning revelation that 80 prison officers did not show up for work in HMP Wandsworth on the day terror suspect Daniel Abed Khalife famously escaped from the prison. Around four in 10 of the staff employed in the prison failed to turn up as was expected, admitted a Tory minister despite the insistence of the government that staff shortages were not a reason for the security breach. Khalife on Monday (September 11) was charged with breaking HMP Wandsworth prison on September 6 by strapping himself underneath a food delivery lorry. The former soldier, who is 21 years old, was arrested by a plain-clothes counter-terrorism officer on a canal towpath in west London on Saturday. ALSO READ | Who is Daniel Khalife? Escaped terror suspect and ex-British army soldier who was arrested later Answering a Labour question about the issue of staffing on the day of the incident, Prisons Minister Damian Hinds said that only 61 per cent of the officers appointed at Wandsworth attended their shift. However, the minister added, “All staff in both the kitchen and the gatehouse were on duty on 6 September. An initial investigation into Daniel Khalife’s escape did not find the staffing level to be a contributing factor.” The government under Sunak has remained reluctant to accept shortage of staff or multiple absences are the reason behind the apparent security breach. However, an independent investigation headed by ex-National Crime Agency's Keith Bristow is now looking at the wider shortcomings at Wandsworth – as security and staffing levels are set to be scrutinised. 'Too many prisoners compared to the amount of staff' Chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor has insisted that “there are too many prisoners in Wandsworth for the amount of staff”, further stating that the issue of staff shortage has been raised over the years. “The lack of staffing which has dogged the prison. I think when we last inspected at the end of 2021. They were 30% short of staff,” said the inspector, while speaking to the BBC after the Khalife fleeing incident. WATCH | Nurse Lucy Letby gets life in prison for killing seven newborns | UK News | WION Dispatch Hinds said that staffing levels present at Wandsworth on the day the security was breached “were above the minimum staffing level required”. Around 125 prison officers attended their shifts at the prison, however, 80 officers were absent. MP for Wandsworth Rosena Allin-Khan, who raised the question about the arrangements on the day of the alleged escape, stated that she had raised concerns about “significant staff shortages” at the prison months ago. “When I visited Wandsworth prison a few months ago, the biggest issue they were facing was staff shortages. This is why I raised concerns about staffing levels – which showed just six officers turned up for a shift one night in December. The government chose to ignore my concerns,” said Allin-Khan, while speaking to The Independent. You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.

UK: 80 officers were absent the day terror suspect Daniel Khalife ‘escaped’ from prison

The 51-year-old business tycoon, Elon Musk, has not tweeted in about 10 days and it can’t go unnoticed. Musk, the world’s richest person has 100 million followers on the microblogging site, which he is planning to buy.

His continued absence is unusual as the tech billionaire is known to be highly vocal on social media. Since April, he has been making headlines for the $44 billion deal and his comments and concerns about the presence of a large number of fake accounts on Twitter. Amid the business deal, he had also been making remarks on the ‘imminent’ population crisis the planet is set to face.

Despite the absence, Musk has been facing criticism from some quarters. “@ElonMusk claims to be a moderate/centrist, but he exposed himself as the fraud he is this week. Every day he tweets&nbsp; 
attacks on moderate Democrats, but in a week where Republican extremists go full Gilead — no tweets in 4 days. Convenient. Cc: media, stop buying his lies. (sic)" tweeted Kaivan Shroff, a Democratic commentator and US-based non-profit advisor.

Meanwhile, Matthew Greeley, founder and CEO of software firm Brightidea, suggested Musk’s hectic schedule must be keeping him busy. “Where is @elonmusk? No tweets in seven days? Signing papers?” he wrote.

Also Read:<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/iskon-temple-in-northern-island-becomes-sanctuary-for-devotees-fleeing-ukraine-493532">&nbsp;ISKCON temple in Northern Ireland becomes sanctuary for devotees fleeing Ukraine</a>

Another user wrote: “And just like that @elonmusk stopped tweeting”.

His last post was on June 22 - a response to an article on SpaceX. He is reported to have taken social media hiatus in the past - in 2020 and in 2019.

Meanwhile, Musk's SpaceX has won permission from US regulators to offer its Starlink broadband-from-space service to users in vehicles, vessels and aircraft, news agency Reuters reported.

Musk has been inching closer to owning Twitter at a time when his firm, Tesla, is grappling with production glitches in China and slow output growth at new factories in Texas and Berlin, as per the Reuters report.

(with inputs from agencies)

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The 51-year-old business tycoon, Elon Musk, has not tweeted in about 10 days and it can’t go unnoticed. Musk, the world’s richest person has 100 million followers on the microblogging site, which he is planning to buy.

The 51-year-old business tycoon, Elon Musk, has not tweeted in about 10 days and it can’t go unnoticed. Musk, the world’s richest person has 100 million followers on the microblogging site, which he is planning to buy. His continued absence is unusual as the tech billionaire is known to be highly vocal on social media. Since April, he has been making headlines for the $44 billion deal and his comments and concerns about the presence of a large number of fake accounts on Twitter. Amid the business deal, he had also been making remarks on the ‘imminent’ population crisis the planet is set to face. Despite the absence, Musk has been facing criticism from some quarters. “@ElonMusk claims to be a moderate/centrist, but he exposed himself as the fraud he is this week. Every day he tweets attacks on moderate Democrats, but in a week where Republican extremists go full Gilead — no tweets in 4 days. Convenient. Cc: media, stop buying his lies. (sic)" tweeted Kaivan Shroff, a Democratic commentator and US-based non-profit advisor. Meanwhile, Matthew Greeley, founder and CEO of software firm Brightidea, suggested Musk’s hectic schedule must be keeping him busy. “Where is @elonmusk? No tweets in seven days? Signing papers?” he wrote. Also Read: ISKCON temple in Northern Ireland becomes sanctuary for devotees fleeing Ukraine Another user wrote: “And just like that @elonmusk stopped tweeting”. His last post was on June 22 - a response to an article on SpaceX. He is reported to have taken social media hiatus in the past - in 2020 and in 2019. Meanwhile, Musk's SpaceX has won permission from US regulators to offer its Starlink broadband-from-space service to users in vehicles, vessels and aircraft, news agency Reuters reported. Musk has been inching closer to owning Twitter at a time when his firm, Tesla, is grappling with production glitches in China and slow output growth at new factories in Texas and Berlin, as per the Reuters report. (with inputs from agencies) WATCH WION LIVE HERE You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.

Twitterati react to Elon Musk's absence on Twitter

To curb COVID-19 outbreaks in schools, the UK government should be on 'high alert' as more than 100,000 children went absent from school last week, due to confirmed or suspected infections, said headteachers of the country. &nbsp;&nbsp;

On September 16, less than 92% pupils were present in classrooms, the Department for Education’s figures showed. Around 59,000 were absent with confirmed cases of COVID-19 and at least 45,000 could not make it to school as they were suspected of having Covid disease.

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For Covid, 122,000 kids were absent last week from state schools in total. These included 16,000, who were marked off as isolating and another 2,000 “due to attendance restrictions being in place to manage an outbreak,” said DfE. &nbsp;

Paul Whiteman, general secretary, National Association of Head Teachers, said, “These national figures mask some significant issues arising at a local level, and we already know of schools that are struggling to keep classes open due to outbreaks occurring.” &nbsp;

Also Read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/india-news/india-running-worlds-largest-vaccination-campaign-indian-pm-narendra-modi-at-the-covid-19-summit-414998" hreflang="en">India running world's largest vaccination campaign: Indian PM Narendra Modi at the COVID-19 Summit</a>

“It is crucial that both central and local government are now on high alert and are ready to react quickly if and when cases rise rapidly or outbreaks occur. The next few weeks will be crucial,” added Whiteman. &nbsp;

Geoff Barton, general secretary, Association of School and College Leaders, said he was aware of schools where “significant numbers” of students were absent.

Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/biden-pledges-to-donate-500-million-vaccines-to-other-nations-414999" hreflang="en">Biden pledges to donate 500 million vaccines to other nations</a>&nbsp;

“We are hopeful that the vaccination programme for 12- to 15-year-olds will help to reduce this level of disruption. However, the government must also take more action to support schools and colleges,” Barton said. &nbsp;

(With inputs from agencies)&nbsp;

To curb COVID-19 outbreaks in schools, the UK government should be on 'high alert' as more than 100,000 children went absent from school last week, due to confirmed or suspected infections, said headteachers of the country.

To curb COVID-19 outbreaks in schools, the UK government should be on 'high alert' as more than 100,000 children went absent from school last week, due to confirmed or suspected infections, said headteachers of the country. On September 16, less than 92% pupils were present in classrooms, the Department for Education’s figures showed. Around 59,000 were absent with confirmed cases of COVID-19 and at least 45,000 could not make it to school as they were suspected of having Covid disease. Watch: × For Covid, 122,000 kids were absent last week from state schools in total. These included 16,000, who were marked off as isolating and another 2,000 “due to attendance restrictions being in place to manage an outbreak,” said DfE. Paul Whiteman, general secretary, National Association of Head Teachers, said, “These national figures mask some significant issues arising at a local level, and we already know of schools that are struggling to keep classes open due to outbreaks occurring.” Also Read | India running world's largest vaccination campaign: Indian PM Narendra Modi at the COVID-19 Summit “It is crucial that both central and local government are now on high alert and are ready to react quickly if and when cases rise rapidly or outbreaks occur. The next few weeks will be crucial,” added Whiteman. Geoff Barton, general secretary, Association of School and College Leaders, said he was aware of schools where “significant numbers” of students were absent. Also Read: Biden pledges to donate 500 million vaccines to other nations “We are hopeful that the vaccination programme for 12- to 15-year-olds will help to reduce this level of disruption. However, the government must also take more action to support schools and colleges,” Barton said. (With inputs from agencies)

Put UK on Covid 'high alert' as over 100,000 kids go absent from school, warn headteachers

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