UK services sector felt the chill from the Beast from the East

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The slowdown in services could lead to a dip in GDP growth, IHS Markit said
New data has revealed activity in the UK services sector fell to its lowest level since the Brexit vote in March, due in large part to bad weather conditions.
The latest IHS Markit purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for services business activity dropped from 54.5 in February to 51.7 last month, the weakest service sector performance since July 2016.
Read more Construction suffers biggest drop in activity since Brexit vote The pound dropped against the dollar when the numbers were released, tumbling by around 0.3 per cent to $1.404, before recovering to hover around $1.406.
According to the research, survey respondents “noted that snow disruption and unusually bad weather conditions in March had been a key factor holding back business activity growth”. The UK was brought to a near-standstill several times throughout the month as the Beast from the East brought strong winds, icy temperatures and heavy sno..

Pentagon Wades Deeper Into Detainee Operations in Syria

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Pentagon Wades Deeper Into Detainee Operations in Syria Photo A Bahraini man suspected of aiding ISIS was detained by Kurdish forces in Syria in February. Several thousand detainees are being held in camps in northern Syria, American and Kurdish officials said. Credit Delil Souleiman/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images WASHINGTON — The United States military is spending about $1 million to help detain thousands of Islamic State fighters and their family members in makeshift camps run by Kurdish militias in northern Syria, pulling the Pentagon deeper into the war zone detention operations it has sought to avoid.
The dilemma is unfolding even as President Trump has pledged to withdraw the 2,000 remaining United States troops in Syria, many of whom are vetting the most dangerous detainees, and suspend more than $200 million in State Department recovery funds for the country.
Defense Department and Kurdish officials said several thousand detainees — including at least 400 fighters from mor..

Women Say Richard Meier’s Conduct Was Widely Known Yet Went Unchecked

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Supported by Art & Design Women Say Richard Meier’s Conduct Was Widely Known Yet Went Unchecked Not long after she joined Richard Meier’s architecture firm in 1989, Karin Bruckner was working at the office one Sunday, she said, when Mr. Meier came up beside her at a copy machine and started rubbing his body up and down against hers.
“I just stood there and froze,” Ms. Bruckner said. “‘This is not happening’ — that’s the first thing you think about — ‘He’s not doing this right now, I’m sure he’s not doing this.’”
She later confided to John Eisler, a senior associate, about what had occurred, and Mr. Eisler was sympathetic.
“It’s not something that was a secret,” he said in a recent interview about Mr. Meier’s conduct. But Mr. Eisler, who spent 20 years at the firm, said he did not confront Mr. Meier after hearing from Ms. Bruckner.
“I am sorry,” he said, “that I did not.”
After a report last month by The New York Times detailing a pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Meier, more wom..

An Expert’s View: Sir Ken Robinson

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Supported by Learning An Expert’s View: Sir Ken Robinson Photo Sir Ken Robinson is a best-selling author and longtime advocate of transforming education. Credit Ying Ang for The New York Times Our new Learning sections will feature a question-and-answer segment with an education expert. For our first installment, we’ve chosen Sir Ken Robinson, a best-selling author and longtime advocate of transforming education. His latest book, “You, Your Child, and School,” was published in March by Viking. The following interview was edited and condensed.
Your new book offers wide-ranging advice for parents as they try to manage their children’s education. If you had to choose one takeaway, what would it be?
Parents have more power and more choices than they may realize in educating their children. Many parents are worried about how the world is changing and the uncertain futures their children face. Parents are especially anxious about education. They worry that there’s too much testing and c..

Gender pay gap deadline: 78% of UK companies pay men more than women, figures reveal

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Around 1,500 organisations failed to report figures before the deadline of midnight on Wednesday
Almost eight in 10 large UK companies and public sector bodies pay men more than women, the latest gender pay gap reporting has revealed.
After the deadline to publish passed at midnight on Wednesday, around 1,500 organisations with over 250 employees had yet to report.
More than 10,015 companies met the deadline, with 78 per cent of those revealing that they pay men more than women, on average.
Read more Gender pay gap latest: 1,500 firms fail to meet reporting deadline Of the remaining employers, 8 per cent claimed that they have no gender pay gap and 14 per cent reported one in favour of women.
More than 15 per cent of employers left it to the last minute, sending their information between Tuesday at 4pm and the cut-off point. A further 10 companies had submitted their figures after the deadline by 8am on Thursday.
Companies that fail to publish their mean and median gender pa..