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Rishi Sunak has pledged to slash taxes by 20% by the end of the decade in a last-gasp pitch to Conservative members with the first ballots set to drop in the leadership race.But in one of his strongest attacks yet on the frontrunner, Liz Truss, Sunak warned party members against an “act of self-sabotage” that could cost the party the election and to be wary of major spending pledges and tax cuts which he has previously dismissed as fantasy economics.“I would urge them to treat with caution any vision that doesn’t involve any difficult trade offs and remember that if something sounds good to be true – then it probably is,” he said.Simon Clarke, the chief secretary to the Treasury who worked under Sunak, said households could not afford to wait seven years. Clarke, a key ally of Truss, said: “Liz will cut taxes in seven weeks, not seven years … People are facing the biggest cost of living crisis in decades and the tax burden is at its highest level in 70 years.”The former chancellor made the pledge having faced internal criticism from backers for his narrative of restraint versus Truss’ tax-cutting ambitions.In the announcement on the day party members will begin receiving their ballots, Sunak said he would cut the basic rate of income tax to 16p by the end of the next parliament, which he said would represent the largest cut to income tax in 30 years.Truss has said she will cut taxes “on day one” of becoming prime ministers, pledging to reverse the national insurance rise pushed through by Sunak in the Treasury as well as halting the planned corporation tax rise next year, another Sunak proposal.Sunak has said he will cut income tax by 1% from 2024 – a pledge made as chancellor – but said his number one priority is to tackle inflation and getting borrowing under control.But on Monday he said he would go further should the Conservatives win re-election in 2024, and cut income tax down to 16p – costing around £6bn a year.Sunak called the pledge “the biggest income tax cut since Margaret Thatcher’s government” and said it was a realistic promise in the current economic climate.“I will never get taxes down in a way that just puts inflation up,” he said, promising to “always be honest about the challenges we face.”In a coded attack on Truss, Sunak said the party’s future in power was in peril. “Winning this leadership contest without levelling with people about what lies ahead would not only be dishonest – it would be an act of self-sabotage that condemns our party to defeat at the next general election and consigns us to a long period in opposition.“I would urge them to treat with caution any vision that doesn’t involve any difficult trade-offs and remember that if something sounds too good to be true – then it probably is.”Sunak’s campaign said the 1p cuts would be paid for by increased Treasury receipts via projected economic growth forecasted by the Office for Budgetary Responsibility. But the UK is still projected to experience the lowest growth in the G20 – apart from Russia – and have the worst growth in the G7 at around 0.5%.A Truss campaign source called the pledge “another U-turn” following Sunak’s previous pledge to cut VAT on energy bills – a policy he rejected in office.“He has also made it conditional on getting growth first – knowing full well that his corporation tax rises are contractionary,” the source said. “The public and Conservative party members can see through these flip-flops and U-turns.” Sunak’s campaign hit back saying it was “not a u-turn” and consistent with his pledge to “grip inflation, grow the economy and then cut taxes”.Truss will spend today in the south-west with a pledge to remove further regulation on farming – without giving further specifics – but promising also a short-term expansion to the seasonal workers scheme.MPs backing Sunak have privately voiced fears that he will not have time to regain public momentum before members begin voting in the coming days. Though the contest is set to run until September, the majority of members are likely to cast their ballots in the coming days immediately after they are received.MPs who have canvassed constituents say they believe the race is much closer than the public polling picture has suggested so far – polls by YouGov of Tory members put Truss more than 20 points ahead of her rival.But backers of Sunak pointed to a poll of Tory councillors by Savanta ComRes which put Truss on 31% and Sunak on 29%. Around 32% were still undecided.Sign up to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every weekday morning at 7am BSTOne MP in a south-eastern seat said the councillor polling was “a much better indication of things” and there was a significant amount to play for. “In my constituency Rishi is 60/40 ahead. And they love him in home counties, that is where the huge bulk of members are, in [the] north there are barely any members.”One senior MP backing Sunak who had contacted over half of their members said they were struck by the numbers of undecideds. “The Truss vote is soft and quite easily persuadable,” they said, saying MPs needed to do more “old fashioned, one-to-one lobbying” if Sunak was to have a chance.Another who had polled their members said the vote was “neck-and-neck – and very soft.” The MP said: “The YouGov polls are normally accurate – I think Liz will win but I don’t think it’s all over.”Labour said the final pledges from the candidates were emblematic of a culture “favouring headlines, stunts and division, over practical policy plans”. A spokesman said: “As the ballots drop Conservative members will make their choice but the sooner the whole country gets one, the better. Britain needs a fresh start with Labour.” | United Kingdom Politics |
Joe Biden will make his first trip to the Middle East next month with visits to Israel, the occupied West Bank and Saudi Arabia, the White House announced on Tuesday.The decision to pay a call to Saudi leaders during the four-day trip beginning 13 July comes after Biden as a Democratic presidential candidate labeled the kingdom a “pariah” because of its human rights record and pledged to recalibrate the US-Saudi relationship. Biden plans to meet with the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of the kingdom, according to a senior administration official who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity.US intelligence officials determined Prince Mohammed probably ordered the brutal 2018 killing of US-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi. After Biden took office, his administration made clear the president would avoid direct engagement with Prince Mohammed and instead focus his engagements with King Salman.Human rights advocates and some Democratic allies cautioned Biden about visiting the oil-rich kingdom, saying such a visit without first getting human rights commitments would send a message to Saudi leaders that there are no consequences for egregious rights violations. The Saudis have been accused of using mass arrests, executions and violence to squelch dissent.But at a time of rising prices at the gas pump, growing worries about Iran’s nuclear program and perpetual concern that China is expanding its global footprint, Biden and his national security team have determined that freezing out the Saudis, particularly Prince Mohammed, is simply not in the US interest.The Saudi embassy in Washington said Biden would meet with both King Salman and Prince Mohammed and described the visit as coming at King Salman’s invitation “to strengthen the historical bilateral relations and the distinguished strategic partnership between” the two countries.“The kingdom of Saudi Arabia looks forward to welcoming President Biden and defining the next chapters of our partnership,” the Saudi embassy said in a statement. “At a time of global challenges related to the global economy, health, climate and international conflict, the partnership between our two countries is as critical as ever to the promotion of peace, prosperity and stability around the world.”The White House announced the trip after Saudi Arabia this month helped nudge Opec+ to ramp up oil production by 648,000 barrels a day in July and August, and the kingdom agreed to extend a United Nations-mediated ceasefire in its seven-year war with Yemen. Biden called the Saudi ceasefire decision “courageous”. Prince Mohammed played a “critical role” in brokering an extension of the ceasefire, according to the administration official.The White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, in a statement announcing the Middle East trip said King Salman invited Biden to visit the kingdom during a gathering in the port city of Jeddah of the six Gulf Cooperation Council nations – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – as well as Egypt, Iraq and Jordan.“While in Saudi Arabia, the president will also discuss a range of bilateral, regional and global issues with his counterparts. These include support to the UN-mediated truce in Yemen, which has led to the most peaceful period there since war began seven years ago,” Jean-Pierre said. “He will also discuss means for expanding regional economic and security cooperation, including new and promising infrastructure and climate initiatives, as well as deterring threats from Iran, advancing human rights and ensuring global energy and food security.”Biden’s first stop during the Middle East swing will be in Israel for a long-planned visit with the Israeli prime minister, Naftali Bennett, in Jerusalem. He will then meet with Palestinian Authority leaders, including Mahmoud Abbas, in the West Bank. Biden will cap the whirlwind trip with the visit to Jeddah for the meeting of GCC leaders and talks with King Salman, Prince Mohammed and other Saudi officials.The trip to Israel comes at a fraught time for Bennett’s fragile coalition, as he tries to avert another election and the potential return to power of former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and as Iran’s nuclear program continues advancing.Biden’s time in Israel coincides with the Maccabiah Games, a sporting competition that brings together thousands of Jewish and Israeli athletes from around the globe. Biden, who visited Israel for the first time as a young senator nearly 50 years ago, is also expected to meet with athletes taking part in the games.Israeli officials in their engagement with the Biden administration have pressed their point of view that US relations with Arab capitals, including Riyadh, are critical to Israel’s security and overall stability in the region. The visit could also provide an opportunity to kick off talks for what the administration sees as a longer-term project of normalizing Israeli-Saudi relations.Facing questions earlier this month about a potential visit to Saudi Arabia, Biden stressed that the relationship had multiple facets that impact US and Middle East security.“Look, I’m not going to change my view on human rights,” Biden said. “But as president of the United States, my job is to bring peace if I can, peace if I can. And that’s what I’m going to try to do.” | Middle East Politics |
South African business groups are pushing the government to make strong diplomatic efforts to ensure the country is not stripped of its duty-free access to the U.S. market.
A group of U.S. senators recently questioned South Africa's status under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, citing Pretoria's ties with Moscow. South Africa has invited Russia President Vladimir Putin to an August summit despite his invasion of Ukraine and his being wanted by the International Criminal Court.
Relations between Pretoria and Washington have so deteriorated in recent months that South African business groups are now scrambling to try and make sure the country isn’t kicked out of an important U.S. tariff-free program.
The war in Ukraine has divided the two countries after South Africa refused to condemn Russia’s invasion, even going so far as hosting Russian warships for joint military exercises earlier this year. In May, the U.S. ambassador to South Africa alleged the country had secretly supplied arms to Moscow — something Pretoria denies.
It is unclear whether Russian President Vladimir Putin will be attending the summit of the BRICS group of emerging economies in Johannesburg in August. His visit would place South Africa in a quandary. As a signatory to the International Criminal Court, it is obliged to arrest him should he set foot in the country.
The U.S. Congress is beginning to review the renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, known as AGOA, with a decision expected by the end of the year. Some U.S. senators recently wrote a letter saying South Africa should no longer host an AGOA forum set for later this year. They also raised the prospect that the country could lose access to its trade benefits entirely.
Busisiwe Mavuso, CEO of Business Leadership South Africa, an independent association of some of South Africa’s largest businesses, said she was preparing a submission urging the U.S. to renew South Africa’s participation in AGOA.
“There’d be dire financial consequences if we were to lose this,” Mavuso said. “And loss of this trade relationship would mean billions of rand of economic activity as well as tens of thousands of jobs, which depend on those exports, would be lost. It would be devastating for employment, especially in a country where we’re currently sitting with 70 percent youth unemployment.”
Mavuso said South Africa is the largest single beneficiary country under AGOA, with 25% of the country’s exports going to the U.S. and nearly a billion dollars' worth of exports to the U.S. in the first three months of this year alone.
Wandile Sihlobo, chief economist of the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa, said being removed from AGOA would have far-reaching implications, not just on the tariff side but in terms of investor sentiment.
“The AGOA benefits, there are certain industries that really enjoy those,” Sihlobo said. “In the absence of them there could be economic consequences, particularly in the automobile industry and of course the agricultural sector, specifically wine as well as the fruit sector.”
South Africa’s opposition Democratic Alliance, which has expressed strong support of Ukraine, is also worried the country could lose access to AGOA, said the party’s shadow finance minister Dion George.
“If the view is that South Africa is in fact not acting in the interests of the United States and may well be a threat to the national security of the U.S., then yes, of course that will become an issue and may very well be a factor in carving South Africa out of AGOA next year,” George said.
Spokespeople for the presidency and South Africa’s ministry of international relations did not reply to requests for comment. However, they have previously said there’s no evidence South Africa is going to lose access to AGOA, after President Cyril Ramaphosa recently sent a delegation to lobby U.S. officials. | Africa politics |
A group of 309 cyber security experts, researchers and scientists hailing from 31 countries around the world has called on the European Union (EU) to rethink proposals to reform the electronic identification, authentication and trust services (eIDAS) Regulations, saying that “as proposed in its current form, this legislation will not result in adequate technological safeguards for citizens and businesses, as intended. In fact, it will very likely result in less security for all”.
The eIDAS regulations first came into force in September 2018, a little over five years ago, to promote and improve trust, security and convenience for EU citizens through a single, union-wide set of rules governing electronic identification and trust services, such as electronic signatures, seals, time stamps, delivery services and website authentication.
Among its provisions is the possibility for any company or private individual to use their own national e-identities (eIDs) when they work or live in another EU state, meaning that all organisations delivering public digital services in an EU member state must recognise and support the eIDs of all the others.
Steven Murdoch, professor of security engineering at University College London (UCL) – who is among the signatories – said the scope of eIDAS, and its predecessors, had largely related to digital identity and the legal aspects of digital signatures, but that these areas had evolved massively in the past few years, triggering impetus for reform.
“The Covid pandemic triggered a lot of interest because it allowed many things that previously had to happen with pen and paper to move online [and] that was a good thing,” he told Computer Weekly. “What eIDAS is trying to do is make this smoother, more secure, and have greater uniformity between member states and third countries.”
The group’s concerns over the amendments largely centre on Article 45 of the reformed eIDAS, where it says the text “radically expands the ability of governments to surveil both their own citizens and residents across the EU by providing them with the technical means to intercept encrypted web traffic, as well as undermining the existing oversight mechanisms relied on by European citizens”.
“This clause came as a surprise because it wasn’t about governing identities and legally binding contracts, it was about web browsers, and that was what triggered our concern,” explained Murdoch. “You can perhaps see why it might belong here, but once you go into the details, you can see why it doesn’t. It’s out of place; it should be actively resisted.”
All websites today are authenticated by root certificates controlled by certificate authorities, which assure the user that the cryptographic keys used to authenticate the website content belong to the website. The certificate owner can intercept a user’s web traffic by replacing these cryptographic keys with ones they control, even if the website has chosen to use a different certificate authority with a different certificate. There are multiple cases of this mechanism having been abused in reality, and legislation to govern certificate authorities does exist and, by and large, has worked well.
The proposed Article 45 now gives EU member states the ability to insert new root certificates at will, which supposedly improves security for website users by giving them a new way to obtain authentic information about who operates a website. However, the group believes that in practice this will have the opposite effect.
For example, if one member state – or a recognised third-party state – adds a new authority to the EU Trusted List, its certificate will legally have to be added to all browsers and distributed across the entire EU as a trusted certificate. At this point, if the government were to use the outlined substitution technique, it would gain the ability to intercept the web traffic of not only its own citizens, but everybody in the EU, and harvest confidential data such as financial information, medical records and so on.
To make matters worse, if one member state were to abuse the system in this way, Article 45 contains no provision that enables the rogue certificate to be rescinded without that country’s authority – and there is no opt-out mechanism for citizens when it comes to Article 45, observed the group.
In essence, said the group, the EU is undermining website authentication and thus undermining communications security. “We ask that you urgently reconsider this text and make clear that Article 45 will not interfere with trust decisions around the cryptographic keys and certificates used to secure web traffic,” the group said.
The issues with Article 45 do not stop there, for it also bans security checks on EU web certificates unless permitted by regulation when establishing encrypted connections. As opposed to specifying a baseline of minimum security measures, it specifies an upper bound on them, which cannot be improved upon without explicit permission from ETSI. According to the group, this goes against every established norm when new security technologies are rolled out, and effectively limits the security measures that can be taken to secure the web in the EU.
“We ask that you reverse this clause, not limiting, but encouraging the development of new security measures in response to fast-evolving threats,” the group said.
Murdoch said the EU’s proposals may have emerged from a desire to curb the power that the large browser operators, chiefly Google and Microsoft, have over root certificates.
“This clause could be interpreted as a way of taking power away from big tech and handing it to governments,” he said. “[However], this is the wrong mechanism for that.”
He explained that the tech giants have, in general, recognised that users are rightly concerned about them holding the ultimate power over root certificates and their issuers, so they have agreed to transparent governance processes, which have been used against negligent certificate authorities in the past. It is debatable, said Murdoch, how effective those processes are, but they do not seem to be being abused.
“Even if they were [abusing the processes], eIDAS would not be the right tool. It’s a competition problem, it should be addressed through competition law,” he said.
Digital Identity Wallets not up to scratch
A third major objection raised by the collective covers the European Digital Identity Wallet. The current eIDAS text sets out the need for this functionality to protect privacy, minimise data collected, and prevent profiling, yet Article 6a((7)(a) of the proposed updates allow governments and tech services providers to link together and gain full knowledge about how credentials are being used through eIDAS.
The group argued this was unnecessary and, given the broad intended uses of eIDAS, would compromise citizen privacy. Group members are calling on the EU to prevent this information from being obtained without a user’s explicit consent by having the article “mandate” rather than “enable” that interactions can’t be linked if it is not mandatory to identify the user, and to harmonise this across the EU to prevent tech organisations from shopping around for more lenient jurisdictions.
“Without these necessary amendments, the eIDAS regulation risks becoming a gift to Google and other big tech actors,” said the group. “A European solution to the central question of handling sensitive identity information needs to protect citizens against surveillance capitalism through strong technical mechanisms and be resilient against attempts to exploit the regulatory system through jurisdiction shopping.”
Brexit questions
An amended form of the EU eIDAS was transposed into UK law following Brexit, although while the UK’s regulations allow the legal effect of EU eIDAS qualified services to be recognised and used in the UK, no reciprocal agreement exists and the UK’s regulations are not automatically recognised and accepted on the European mainland.
But with the UK having a similarly service-driven economy that is increasingly digitising, observed Murdoch, “it would be a surprise if the UK was not to adopt it”.
Additionally, the UK is not a large enough market alone for private sector organisations to consider policy carve-outs or special product versions compared to the EU. Therefore, if something is compliant with EU law and not actively forbidden in the UK, it will likely be adopted here – a similar situation having been seen with Apple’s EU-mandated switch to USB-C charging ports for iPhones. | Europe Politics |
The business minister Kevin Hollinrake had exciting news for British businesses on Tuesday. The government was, he said, “tackling red tape, cutting burdens for business and creating certainty for firms”.
It sounded like just the kind of benefit Brexit was meant to bring in its wake.
Yet the particular tangle of “red tape” Hollinrake was promising to snip away was one of the government’s own making: a new UK standards system for consumer products, from toys to fireworks.
The idea was that instead of complying with the long-familiar CE mark, showing that a product conforms to the EU’s safety rules, businesses selling into the UK market alone could instead apply for a homegrown red, white and blue equivalent – the UKCA.
Ministers had already repeatedly postponed the date at which UKCA was meant to replace CE in the British market. Now it has been delayed indefinitely.
Firms that want to switch to the UKCA for products sold into the domestic market alone will still be able to do so – but the CE mark will also remain valid here.
The move has delighted business groups, which had been lobbying hard against the prospect of firms that sell into the much larger EU market having to carry out two separate sets of safety tests, with two separate regulatory bodies.
A survey by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) in 2021 found that just 8% of businesses were in favour of scrapping the CE mark by the start of this year, as was then the plan. One firm told the BCC this week it had spent a six-figure sum preparing to comply with the UKCA – but was still relieved it could now revert to the CE system.
Having belatedly conceded the point, the government announced – apparently without irony – that by allowing businesses to continue following rules made in Brussels, it was cutting their costs and freeing them up to boost economic growth.
That wasn’t quite the message pushed by the Brexiters during the referendum campaign, when they frequently cited Brussels bureaucracy as a drag on British businesses’ dynamism.
“Divergence” – the ability of the UK government to devise its own light-touch regulations – lay at the heart of the ideological struggle that split the Conservatives over Brexit and delivered Boris Johnson the premiership.
Theresa May’s ill-fated Chequers plan of 2018 included a joint EU-UK “rulebook” for key products, including manufactured goods. Johnson used a barnstorming party conference speech that year to warn that this approach would trap British businesses in “the tractor beam of Brussels”.
Yet given the size of the EU market, and its geographical proximity to the UK (a point memorably only grasped by Brexiter Dominic Raab two years after the vote), the power of that tractor beam over many of Britain’s exporters was always likely to remain significant.
Of course, the EU is not the only game in town – there are many faster-growing markets, and the government is keen to persuade exporters to look further afield. And in some areas, such as farming subsidies, Brexit has freed the UK to go its own way.
But with goods in particular, which still need to be physically transported to the end customer, geography really does matter – and many exporters are keen to continue selling into the vast market of the EU.
For now, the new UKCA regime replicates the CE mark anyway, rather than introducing less onerous post-Brexit standards. Indeed, the “level playing field” commitments that formed part of the trade and cooperation agreement should prevent any deregulatory free-for-all.
But while both remain valid that leaves exporters with little incentive to dump the CE mark and switch to the UKCA.
In practice, that is likely to leave many businesses complying with EU rules both at home and abroad – albeit out of choice – instead of the glorious “divergence” that Johnson and his pals believed they had won.
And over the years ahead, as EU regulations evolve and change, that may well revive an old question, in a new form: why are we complying with all these rules that we now don’t have any say in? | United Kingdom Politics |
- Ukrainians have quickly learned how to counter Russian information attacks since Russia’s invasion in the country, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar wrote on her official Telegram channel Saturday.
- Since last July, the U.K. has trained 18,000 Ukrainian volunteer infantrymen under the Operation Interflex training program, the Defense Ministry said Saturday. Ukrainian soldiers have been trained to "survive and be lethal in their fight against the illegal invasion of their homeland" it said.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin could be arrested if he attends the BRICS summit scheduled in South Africa because of an arrest warrant issued against him last March by the International Criminal Court, which accused him of the war crime of deporting Ukrainian children to Russia.
Russia’s security apparatus experienced “a period of confusion and negotiations,” following the Wagner Group's mutiny last month, the British Defense Ministry said Sunday in its daily intelligence update about Russian’s invasion of Ukraine. Now, however, an interim arrangement for the mercenary group’s future is shaping up, according to the report posted on Twitter.
Meanwhile, some social media groups associated with Wagner restarted their postings, focusing on Wagner’s activities in Africa. The ministry said recent announcements from Russian officials indicate that Russia is “likely prepared” to accept “Wagner’s aspirations to maintain its extensive presence on the continent.”
Both Ukraine and Poland Saturday confirmed the arrival of Wagner forces in Belarus, one day after Minsk said the mercenaries were training its troops.
"There may be several hundred of them at the moment," Stanislaw Zaryn, Poland's deputy minister coordinator of special services, said on Twitter.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner chief, has not been spotted in Belarus – he has not been seen in public since June 24.
Black Sea Grain Initiative
Russian President Vladimir Putin is remaining silent about a possible extension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative that is set to expire Monday.
In a phone call Saturday with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Putin discussed "the need for a permanent and sustainable solution to the movement of grain from Russia and Ukraine to the international markets," according to the South African president’s office. No further details were provided.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has asked Putin to extend the Black Sea deal in return for connecting a subsidiary of Russia's Agricultural Bank, Rosselkhozbank, to the SWIFT international payment system, but he has not received a reply, according to a U.N. spokesperson Friday.
“Discussions are being had, WhatsApp messages are being sent, Signal messages are being sent and exchanged. We're also waiting for a response to the letter," U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters when asked about the negotiations.
Russia has said it would agree to extend the deal only if its conditions are met regarding implementation.
Ukraine-South Korea
In a display of support for Ukraine, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol made a surprise visit to Saturday to Kyiv, announcing that Seoul will increase aid to Ukraine to $150 million this year, following an $100 million aid package last year. Yoon also said that Seoul will cooperate with Kyiv on infrastructure projects in Ukraine.
In a press conference Saturday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Yoon said South Korea aims to provide "a larger scale of military supplies" to Ukraine this year, after last year supplying nonlethal military inventory, such as body armor and helmets. He did not provide details. Zelenskyy thanked the South Korean president for his country’s support.
Earlier this month, Yoon told The Associated Press that supplies of de-mining equipment, ambulances, and other nonmilitary materials “are in the works” after a request from Ukraine, adding that South Korea already provided support to rebuild the Kakhovka Dam, destroyed last month.
South Korea, a key U.S. ally in Asia, has joined in the international sanctions against Russia and has provided Ukraine with humanitarian and financial support. So far, it has not provided weapons, in line with its long-standing policy of not supplying arms to countries actively engaged in conflict.
Yoon’s visit to Ukraine, his first, comes on the heels of NATO’s two-day summit in Lithuania this week.
Yoon and his wife toured Bucha and Irpin, two small cities near Kyiv where mass graves were discovered after Russian troops retreated last year. He laid flowers at a monument to the country's war dead.
In his address Saturday, Zelenskyy called Yoon’s visit to Ukraine very important and “a very important direction of our international work.” He also thanked several countries, leaders and organizations for supporting Ukraine against Russian aggression.
Zaporizhzhia shelling
Russia and Ukraine traded blame Saturday for shelling that injured three civilians in a village the Zaporizhzhia region. The region is one of four Moscow said it annexed last year, but it does not control it.
Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine's presidential administration, said Russian forces shelled the village of Stepnohirske, where the three people were injured. The city of Zaporizhzhia was also targeted and 16 buildings were damaged, said Anatoliy Kurtiev, secretary of the city council. Both men spoke via the Telegram messaging app.
Meanwhile, the Moscow-installed official who oversees the parts of Zaporizhzhia Russia controls said Ukrainian forces destroyed a school in the village of Stulneve, while air defense intercepted a drone over the city of Tokmak.
Reuters could not independently verify either report.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters. | Europe Politics |
© Provided by The Financial Express President Cyril Ramaphosa during a recent trip to Saudi Arabia. (Photo: Royal Court of Saudi Arabia) Amidst the growing tension between the US and Saudi Arabia over the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war, the Gulf nation has conveyed its interest to join the BRICS Bloc. Last week, President Cyril Ramposa of South Africa during his visit to Riyadh announced that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman expressed the kingdom’s desire to join the BRICS. There are other countries like Turkey, Egypt among others who have expressed their interest to join the grouping, he told the media persons in that country. The issue of expansion of the bloc of emerging economies will be on the agenda of the BRICS Summit scheduled to take place in South Africa under its presidency in 2023. “The case of Saudi Arabia, however, is both curious and interesting. Saudi Arabia has traditionally been a close ally of the US in West Asia. But in the last few months, the relationship has undergone a roller-coaster ride. During his electoral campaign, President Biden projected Saudi Arabia as a pariah states due to Prince Salman’s alleged involvement in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist. After coming to power, however, he changed his course and visited Saudi Arabia. This visit was intended to ensure the low price of oil to punish Russia,” opines Prof Rajan Kumar, School of International Studies, JNU. As reported earlier, South American nation Argentina’s President Alberto Fernandez had asked Chinese President Xi Jinping about joining the group. Iran too has sent in its request to join. Both countries have already applied for the membership of the bloc earlier this year in June. The other countries including Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt are set to formally apply for the membership of BRICS. BRICS represents more than 40 percent of the global population and nearly a quarter of the world’s GDP and if it is expanded it will help in bolstering the BRICS bloc’s global influence. At the BRICS summit this year, according to reports quoting Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, many countries have expressed their interest to join the bloc of emerging markets. And stated that China actively supports the member countries to start the expansion process for BRICS Plus Cooperation. At the 14th summit this year the members talked about the procedure and the standards for the expansion. Talks between South Africa & Saudi Arabia The talks between the two countries took place amid the row between Riyadh and Washington over OPEC’s decision to cut production quotas by 2 million barrels a day. According to reports, while accusing the longtime ally of being close to Russia during the Ukraine crisis, the US President Joe Biden had threatened Saudi Arabia with unspecified “consequences”. The lawmakers of the US have called for halting arms sales and/or withdrawing military support to Saudi Arabia. Saudis have refused to toe Washington’s line According to Prof Rajan, “In a recent development, the OPEC-Plus, which includes Saudi Arabia and Russia as key players, has decided to cut down the production of oil in order to maintain a high price in the international market. Washington sees it as defiance, and a clear attempt to benefit Russia. This has irked Washington and President Biden warned Saudi Arabia of consequences. What would be the consequences, and whether the US has the capability to punish Saudi Arabia in today’s world remains to be seen. The weakness of the American strategic influence is yet again exposed.” “Against this backdrop, Saudi Arabia’s interests in joining BRICS could be an attempt to diversify its foreign policy. It may well be a ploy to send a message to Washington that it has other options available if the push comes to shove,” he states. BRICS Membership But BRICS is yet to decide on expanding its membership. It does not have a clear policy on expansion. In the past, such attempts were rejected by some of the members. Russia and China would be keen to include Saudi Arabia in BRICS, but other members may not share the same enthusiasm. According to Prof Rajan, “India has close ties with Saudi Arabia. However, it may not be open to the idea of expanding the bloc at this moment. India, Brazil and South Africa fear that such demands may come from other countries too. BRICS constitutes of states which are regional leaders and they are wary of rival states becoming members in the organisation.” Sharing her views with Financial Express Online, Karin Costa Vazquez, Executive Director of the Center for African, Latin American and Caribbean Studies says: “OPEC countries and oil producing countries, including Russia and in some of the largest consumers, like China and India, want to stand together against like, interference from the US in lowering prices in these kinds of things. We have recently seen political motivations, mainly sanctions on Russia, and so on. This could be one of the reasons Saudi Arabia reached out for membership of BRICS. Second reason could be some of these countries willing to have a more prominent role in international affairs. And you see many of these countries raising their foreign assistance, engaging in Global Dialogue and more.” “The membership has to be approved by consensus. Saudi Arabia is much closer with India not only geographically but also has more political and economic interests behind right, including oil. So, so I guess it’s easier for India to take a position on Saudi Arabia compared to Argentina, for example, that that has weaker ties with India, politically and economically,” she opines. | Global Organizations |
Why do leaders and parties reinvent themselves? Here’s one obvious answer to that question: because they have to.
Rishi Sunak’s updated political approach, expounded this week before his party faithful, might simply be explained in terms of the Conservatives’ enduring electoral travails. With his party languishing behind the Labour in the polls, a refreshed approach is probably the reflex response. The voters aren’t happy, No 10 notes, so Sunak must signal a new departure: electoral necessity thus proves the mother of political invention.
But, step back from Sunak’s political predicament, and the factors that inform a political change in direction are typically rather more complex. Indeed, when commentators consider the Conservative party’s recent capacity for reinvention and renewal, political change is viewed in far broader, probably less calculated, terms.
As Conservative leader in the 2005-2010 period, David Cameron first won the argument against the status quo within his own party (personified by David Davis in the 2005 leadership election), before parading as the “change” candidate in the general. In 2016, Theresa May’s emphasis on “seven burning injustices” on the steps of No 10 was interpreted as her abjuring, rhetorically at least, on the platform of her predecessor. In 2019, Boris Johnson first dispatched Jeremy Hunt (termed Theresa-In-Trousers), before unveiling a restyled, Brexit-soaked Conservative party — with one-nationeers largely expunged — to the electorate that same year. Liz Truss, of course, repudiated decades of “economic orthodoxy” in her pitch as Conservative leader. And Rishi Sunak was swept into No 10 by his colleagues in October last year because he was roundly viewed as the antidote to Trussonomics.
In this way, the cycle of Conservative invention and reinvention has followed a familiar pattern since 2010: with a new political approach preceded at every stage by the coronation of a new leader. Consequently, it has become standard practice for that leader to then define themself in opposition to their ancien régime(s).
It is significant, therefore, that Sunak hailed a radical new departure on Wednesday, while midway through his period as prime minister (if 2024 does, in fact, prove to be his political terminus).
Thus the transition from Rishi 1.0, that pledge-propounding champion of stability, to Rishi 2.0, our PM’s latest status quo-smashing variant, is not informed by some totemic new “mandate” — that rhetorical crutch often leaned on by Sunak’s forebears. As UnHerd political editor Tom McTague explained acidly this week: “The man from Goldman Sachs looked at the books and made a decision — and we are all supposed to accept that this is how we are governed”.
Rather, this week’s Sunakian renaissance is founded on the prime minister’s self-declared analytical clarity. The centre of Sunak’s audacious new argument is that he has, in his first year as prime minister, located a “30-year political status quo” ripe for renewal: “Politics doesn’t work the way it should”, he explained on Wednesday, “We’ve had thirty years of a political system that incentivises the easy decision, not the right one.
“Thirty years of vested interests standing in the way of change. Thirty years of rhetorical ambition which achieves little more than a short-term headline”.
Then came the headline pitch: “I will lead in a different way. Because that is the only way to create the sort of change in our politics and in our country that we all desperately want to see”. Britain is broken, Sunak now insists — and only he, and he alone, can fix it.
This is a perfectly fine message on paper — perhaps, given the electoral stakes, it is the only message — but the strategy can only work if it is underpinned by genuinely transformative policy. So what is Sunak offering?
Having watered down key net zero targets last month, HS2 was the latest policy area to feel the force of the prime minister’s “long-termism” this week. He labelled the project the “ultimate example of the old consensus” as he detailed how the funding would be redirected to a new “Network North” program. “This is the right way to drive growth and spread opportunity across our country — to level up”, he said.
On top of this, Sunak said he would also replace A-levels and T-levels with an “Advanced British Standard”; and start a creeping ban on smoking for people born after 1 January 2009. That noise you hear — that’s the sound of a “30-year status quo” crashing to the ground.
But the truth is: the dissonance between Sunak’s stated objective and policy prescription seems vast.
Both Cameron and Johnson told bracing stories about their version of change as Conservative party chiefs — first corralling consensus in a leadership campaign before driving through their respective reforms. They knew, and could explain explicitly, where they were taking their party from and to — as well as how they would marshal support, stare down the naysayers and take their party to the pinpointed destination.
Sunak, having already been prime minister for almost a year now, does not have that luxury: he, and his mode of politics, is the “from”. And as for the to and the how, Sunak proffers merely a new policy platform. Step back and this was not some grand vision of “change” informed by some fresh political methodology — there is nothing especially virtuous about what the PM is doing. Governments make policy announcements and U-turns all the time.
What is more, even though 17 of those 30 wasted years Sunak now righteously rubbishes have been overseen by Conservative premiers, the PM still refuses to call out his predecessors by name. In fact, Sunak said he didn’t want to “waste time” going over the past and the “difficult circumstances” in which he came into office on Wednesday. The only individual Sunak associated with this period in his speech was Labour leader and MP since 2015 Keir Starmer, who is apparently “the walking definition of the 30-year political status quo I am here to end”.
That Sunak still refuses to directly and overtly repudiate his predecessors is significant. For by taking aim at Liz Truss, the prime minister could probably muster a far better narrative about the motives behind his swift transition from Rishi 1.0 to Rishi 2.0. If he was so bold, Sunak could insist that his dire inheritance — defined by post-Trussonomics politics — imposed upon him tyrannical structural constraints upon taking office. That was why he debuted five pretty apolitical pledges in January, and focussed unerringly on stable governance. But now, having reestablished economic credibility over the succeeding months, the “real Rishi” can take to the floor.
In this way, it is Sunak’s enduring party management problems that currently make a more vigorous political reinvention impossible. As we saw repeatedly at conference, Sunak does not have the authority to impose himself on his party and stare down his critics; nor does have a clear faction behind him which might help drive intellectual energy to the fore. He simply does not have the capital, like Cameron and Johnson, to lead the Conservative party — much less the country — on a journey of true “change”.
This fact notwithstanding, there is within the Conservative Party a clear hankering for a change in direction. But the problem for the PM is that, among his own MPs, this desire for a new departure has no clear organising principle. In the Conservative party, as we have seen over the past week, different factions are openly challenging each other for control over its direction.
Sunak’s party hence suffers no shortage of intellectual energy, it’s just that no leading backbench MP seeks to channel it to his cause. Likewise, the PM shows little interest in adopting the policy platform of the “New Conservatives” and Truss’ “Conservative Growth Group” of Tory MPs — not least of all because their visions appear, on key measures, entirely opposed.
“More!”, Conservative activists shouted during Sunak’s speech on Wednesday. It was viewed as a light-hearted show of encouragement by the ostensibly obliging prime minister — not what it really was: a demand, an order, a challenge. But while this call for “vision” from the PM could not have been clearer, as for the details, the Conservative Party has long ceased to speak with one voice.
As far as further structural limitations on Rishi Sunak’s power go, here are some things that have not changed over the last week: the Conservative party is still deeply divided on the European Court of Human Rights, the Rwanda plan still faces a showdown in the Supreme Court, the tax burden is still at a post-war high, Liz Truss exists, and — most importantly — the Conservative party still languishes in the polls.
Indeed, a survey of voting intention, carried out for The Times by YouGov, found that Labour maintained its 21-point lead over the Conservatives this week. It means Sunak has not won a “conference bounce” for his party.
But here is one very significant thing that has changed over the past week: Labour’s electoral standing in Scotland. The party’s victory in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West, with a swing of no less than 20.4 per cent, means Starmer will be more and more presumed as the next PM. As far as Sunak is concerned, this begs an important question: how can one pitch for the future when prevailing wisdom suggests you will soon be history?
On Wednesday, Sunak tried his best to answer this question — but he may have merely exposed how isolated he is among the competing factions that now comprise his Conservative party.
Josh Self is Editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on Twitter here.
Politics.co.uk is the UK’s leading digital-only political website, providing comprehensive coverage of UK politics. Subscribe to our daily newsletter here. | United Kingdom Politics |
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden, former U.S. presidents, members of Congress and officials expressed shock and offered their condolences Friday after the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe. In a statement Friday morning, Biden said he was "stunned, outraged, and deeply saddened" by Abe's death, calling it a tragedy for Japan. Biden and Abe worked closely together during the Obama administration, meeting in both Tokyo and Washington. "He was a champion of the Alliance between our nations and the friendship between our people," Biden said in a statement. "The longest serving Japanese Prime Minister, his vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific will endure. Above all, he cared deeply about the Japanese people and dedicated his life to their service. Even at the moment he was attacked, he was engaged in the work of democracy."Biden said there are "many details that we do not yet know, we know that violent attacks are never acceptable and that gun violence always leaves a deep scar on the communities that are affected by it. The United States stands with Japan in this moment of grief."After news spread that Abe was shot, Trump wrote on his Truth Social website that the Japanese leader was a "true friend of mine" and that it was a "tremendous blow to the wonderful people of Japan.""Few people know what a great man and leader Shinzo Abe was, but history will teach them and be kind," Trump wrote. "He was a unifier like no other, but above all, he was a man who loved and cherished his magnificent country, Japan. Shinzo Abe will be greatly missed. There will never be another like him!"Former President Barack Obama posted a series of tweets saying he was "shocked and saddened" by the assassination of his friend. "Former Prime Minister Abe was devoted to both the country he served and the extraordinary alliance between the United States and Japan," he said. "I will always remember the work we did to strengthen our alliance, the moving experience of traveling to Hiroshima and Pearl Harbor together, and the grace he and his wife Akie Abe showed to me and Michelle."Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in remarks during the G20 Ministerial meeting in Bali, Indonesia, that the assassination was "profoundly disturbing" and that Abe "was a leader with great vision" and "was doing remarkable work even after being prime minister."U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said in a statement that Abe "was a leader ahead of his time. The public recognized that, which is why he was the longest-serving prime minister in modern Japanese history. A Japanese statesman. A world leader. A friend of America. The clarity of his voice will be truly missed. The United States has lost a trusted partner and an outspoken advocate for our shared ideals."Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, tweeted that Abe "was a remarkable leader for the people of Japan, a strong partner for the United States, and a global champion of democracy."His House counterpart, Rep. Adam Smith, D-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said on Twitter that Abe led Japan "during a critical period for our two countries’ relationship — our thoughts are with his family and the Japanese people during this time of grief."Several lawmakers shared photos of their prior in-person meetings with Abe. Several lawmakers shared photos of their prior in-person meetings with Abe. "Tragic loss of one of Japan’s leading statesmen," Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, wrote on Twitter along with a photo. "He was a great leader for his country and a good partner to the US," Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Tenn., wrote on Twitter along with a photo of herself with Abe . Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said in a statement that was outraged. "His senseless assassination has shocked the world and stolen from freedom-loving people everywhere a great and true champion for democracy," he said in a statement. "Prime Minister Abe was an unapologetic believer in the power of democracy and one of the strongest voices in support of freedom across the Info-Pacific. He was particularly a champion for peace through strength, and stood up for Taiwan against Communist China’s aggression."Rebecca Shabad is a politics reporter for NBC News based in Washington. | Asia Politics |
Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe lies on the ground after apparent shooting during an election campaign for the July 10, 2022 Upper House election, in Nara, western Japan July 8, 2022. in this photo taken by Kyodo. Mandatory credit Kyodo via REUTERS Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comNARA, Japan, July 8 (Reuters) - Shinzo Abe, Japan's longest-serving prime minister, was shot on Friday while campaigning for a parliamentary election, with public broadcaster NHK saying a man armed with an apparently homemade gun opened fired at him from behind.Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Abe, 67, was in grave condition. He condemned the shooting in the western city of Nara during the campaign for Sunday's upper house election as an unacceptable attack on the foundation of Japan's democracy.Earlier, a hospital official said Abe appeared to be in a state of cardiac arrest when airlifted to hospital, after having initially been conscious and responsive.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comPolice said a 41-year-old man suspected of carrying out the shooting had been arrested. NHK quoted the suspect, Tetsuya Yamagami, as telling police he was dissatisfied with Abe and wanted to kill him."Such an act of barbarity cannot be tolerated," Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters, adding that Abe had been shot at about 11:30 a.m. (0230 GMT).NHK showed video of Abe making a campaign speech outside a train station when two shots rang out, after which the view was briefly obscured and then security officials were seen tackling a man in a grey T-shirt and beige trousers. A puff of smoke behind Abe could be seen in another video shown in NHK.Kyodo published a photograph showing Abe lying face-up on the street by a guardrail, blood on his white shirt. People were crowded around him, one administering heart massage.TBS Television reported that Abe had been shot on the left side of his chest and apparently also in the neck.Political violence is rare in Japan, a country with strict gun regulations.In 2007 the major of Nagasaki was shot and killed by a yakuza gangster. The head of the Japan Socialist Party was assassinated during a speech in 1960 by a right-wing youth with a samurai short sword."I thought it was firecrackers at first," one bystander told NHK.Airo Hino, political science professor at Waseda University, said such a shooting was unprecedented in Japan."There has never been anything like this," he said.Police said the suspected shooter was a resident of Nara. Media said he had served in Japan's military.Abe served two terms as prime minister, stepping down in 2020 citing ill health. But he has remained a dominant presence over the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), controlling one of its major factions.Kishida, Abe's protege, had been hoping to use the election to emerge from Abe's shadow and define his premiership, analysts have said. Kishida suspended his election campaign after Abe's shooting.'VERY SAD'U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed deep concern over Abe's condition."Our thoughts, our prayers are with him, with his family, with the people of Japan," Blinken said on the sidelines of a G20 meeting on the Indonesian island of Bali. "This is a very, very sad moment. And we're awaiting news from Japan."The United States is Japan's most important ally.The yen rose and Japan's Nikkei index (.N225) fell on news of the shooting, partially driven by a knee-jerk flight to safety.Abe is best known for his “Abenomics” policy of aggressive monetary easing and fiscal spending. read more He also bolstered defence spending after years of declines and expanded the military’s ability to project power abroad.In a historic shift in 2014, his government reinterpreted the postwar, pacifist constitution to allow troops to fight overseas for the first time since World War Two.The following year, legislation ended a ban on exercising the right of collective self-defence, or defending a friendly country under attack.Abe, however, did not achieve his long-held goal of revising the U.S.-drafted constitution by writing the Self-Defense Forces, as Japan’s military in known, into the pacifist Article 9.He was instrumental in winning the 2020 Olympics for Tokyo, cherishing a wish to preside over the Games, which were postponed by a year to 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.Abe first took office in 2006 as Japan’s youngest prime minister since World War Two. After a year plagued by political scandals, voter outrage at lost pension records, and an election drubbing for his ruling party, Abe quit citing ill health.He became prime minister again in 2012.Abe hails from a wealthy political family that included a foreign minister father and a grandfather who served as premier.First elected to parliament in 1993 after his father's death, Abe rose to national fame by adopting a tough stance toward unpredictable neighbour North Korea in a feud over Japanese citizens kidnapped by Pyongyang decades ago.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Chang-Ran Kim; Writng by Robert Birsel; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and William MallardOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Asia Politics |
Russian cruise missiles rained down on Kyiv this morning, hitting an apartment block while families slept.The city’s mayor warned that the Ukrainian capital was under attack as an act of intimidation before critical G7 and Nato summits.Large explosions rang out across the city hours after President Zelensky made a renewed plea for air defence systems from Ukraine’s allies as they meet to decide on further military support. He warned that the war was entering a “morally and emotionally difficult stage”.The attacks by Russian forces targeted residential buildings in KyivREUTERSThe missile strikes were the first to hit Kyiv in three weeks and only the second in the past two months, shattering a fragile sense of calm after many residents had returned to the city for the first time since the invasion began. | Europe Politics |
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Various G7 leaders joined U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson in mocking Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of a meeting on Sunday.Johnson made the quip while gathered around a table with U.S. President Joe Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and others. The leaders are meeting for the G7 summit in Bavaria throughout this week."Jackets on? Jackets off? Shall we take our clothes off?" Johnson said, referencing the reportedly intense temperature of the room.Trudeau suggested they keep the jackets on long enough to take pictures.RUSSIAN SOLDIER ON TRIAL FOR WAR CRIMES BEGS FOR 'FORGIVENESS' President Joe Biden attends a working lunch with other G7 leaders, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, left, French President Emmanuel Macron, right, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, front, in Elmau, Germany, Sunday, June 26, 2022. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times via AP, Pool) BIDEN SAYS G-7 WILL BAN RUSSIAN GOLD IMPORTS OVER WAR IN UKRAINE"We have to show that we're tougher than Putin," Johnson quipped."We're going to get the bare-chested horseback riding display," Trudeau added.Johnson ribbed, "We've got to show them our pecs," while Von der Leyen interjected, "Horseback riding is the best."Biden did not weigh in on the jokes. Russian President Vladimir Putin rides a horse during his vacation outside the town of Kyzyl in Southern Siberia on Aug. 3, 2009. (Alexey Druzhinin/AFP via Getty Images)In public photos, Putin has long sought to portray himself as a skilled athlete and outdoorsman.The exchange came hours after the Biden administration accused Russia of using torture and electrocution in its invasion of Ukraine on Sunday. Biden has repeatedly called for Putin to face a war crimes trial.A White House statement marked the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. "Any instance of torture is one too many, and yet every year countless victims suffer this brutal violation of their human rights and dignity," Biden wrote. "This year we have been shocked by the horrific acts committed by Russian forces in Ukraine, including multiple, credible reports of torture such as beatings, electric shocks, and mock executions."CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP"In Mali and Burkina Faso, terrorist groups have been documented to have massacred and tortured local populations, while in Mali and Central African Republic, Kremlin-aligned Wagner mercenaries have reportedly employed similar cruel and unlawful tactics," he added.Ukrainian authorities are prosecuting roughly 16,000 cases of alleged war crimes by Russian forces. | Global Organizations |
Joe Biden will visit Israel, the occupied West Bank and Saudi Arabia next month, the White House announced on Tuesday.The announcement immediately put the administration on the defensive, given the president’s previous stance that the Saudi regime was a “pariah” because of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi and other human rights abuses.The White House press secretary, Karin Jean-Pierre, said: “It’s important to … emphasise that while we recalibrate relationships, we are not looking to rupture relationships. But human rights issues [and] human rights conversations [are] something that the president brings up with many leaders and plans to do so.”Biden will visit Saudi Arabia at the end of the four-day trip, which will begin on 13 July. He plans to meet the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler who US intelligence says probably ordered the killing, dismemberment and disposal of Khashoggi, a US-based columnist for the Washington Post, in Turkey in 2018.As a candidate for the White House, Biden labeled Saudi Arabia a “pariah” and pledged to recalibrate the US-Saudi relationship. After Biden took office, his administration made clear the president would avoid direct engagement with Prince Mohammed and instead focus on King Salman.Human rights advocates and some Democrats have cautioned Biden about visiting the oil-rich kingdom, saying such a visit without getting human rights commitments would send a message to Saudi leaders that there are no consequences for egregious rights violations. The Saudis have been accused of using mass arrests, executions and violence to quash dissent.Prince Mohammed was also close to the Trump administration, particularly to Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law and chief adviser. An investment deal struck by Kushner and a Saudi fund is now the subject of an investigation by House Democrats.But at a time of rising gas prices, growing worries about Iran’s nuclear program and perpetual concern about Chinese global expansion, Biden and his national security team have determined that freezing out the Saudis is not in the US interest.The Saudi embassy in Washington said Biden would meet King Salman and Prince Mohammed and described the visit as coming at King Salman’s invitation “to strengthen the historical bilateral relations and the distinguished strategic partnership between” the US and Saudi.The White House announced the trip after Saudi Arabia this month helped nudge Opec+ to ramp up oil production by 648,000 barrels a day in July and August, and the kingdom agreed to extend a United Nations-mediated ceasefire in its seven-year war with Yemen. Biden called the ceasefire decision “courageous”. Prince Mohammed played a “critical role” in brokering an extension of the ceasefire, according to a Biden administration official who spoke to reporters.Jean-Pierre said King Salman invited Biden to visit the kingdom during a gathering in the port city of Jeddah of the six Gulf Cooperation Council nations – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – as well as Egypt, Iraq and Jordan.“While in Saudi Arabia, the president will also discuss a range of bilateral, regional and global issues with his counterparts. These include support to the UN-mediated truce in Yemen, which has led to the most peaceful period there since war began seven years ago,” Jean-Pierre said.“He will also discuss means for expanding regional economic and security cooperation, including new and promising infrastructure and climate initiatives, as well as deterring threats from Iran, advancing human rights and ensuring global energy and food security.”Biden’s first stop will be to meet the Israeli prime minister, Naftali Bennett, in Jerusalem. He will then meet Palestinian Authority leaders, including Mahmoud Abbas, in the West Bank. Biden will cap the trip in Jeddah.Bennett is preparing to host Biden while trying to avert another election and the potential return of former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and as Iran continues developing its nuclear program.Biden is also expected to meet athletes taking part in the Maccabiah Games, a competition that brings together Jewish and Israeli athletes from around the globe.Israeli officials argue that their security as well as regional stability depend on US relations with Riyadh and other Arab capitals. The administration is also hoping that such visits normalize Israel’s Saudi relations.Facing questions earlier this month about a potential visit to Saudi Arabia, Biden stressed that the relationship had multiple facets that impact US and Middle East security.On Tuesday, in a brief exchange with reporters before going to Philadelphia for a labor convention, Biden bristled when asked about his visit to Jeddah, noting that his team had laid out in a statement “everything I’m doing in the Middle East”.The Associated Press contributed to this report | Middle East Politics |
There’s a growing understanding in Britain that the country’s vote to quit the European Union, a decisive moment in the international rise of reactionary populism, was a grave error.
Just as critics predicted, Brexit has led to inflation, labor shortages, business closures and travel snafus. It has created supply chain problems that put the future of British car manufacturing in danger. Brexit has, in many cases, turned travel between Europe and the U.K. into a punishing ordeal, as I learned recently, spending hours in a chaotic passport control line when taking the train from Paris to London. British musicians are finding it hard to tour in Europe because of the costs and red tape associated with moving both people and equipment across borders, which Elton John called “crucifying.”
According to the U.K.’s Office for Budget and Responsibility, leaving the EU has shaved 4% off Britain’s gross domestic product. The damage to Britain’s economy, the OBR’s chair has said, is of the same “magnitude” as that from the COVID pandemic.
All this pain and hassle has created an anti-Brexit majority in Britain. According to a YouGov poll released this month, 57% of Britons say the country was wrong to vote to leave the EU, and a slight majority wants to rejoin it. Even Nigel Farage, the former leader of the far-right U.K. Independence Party sometimes known as “Mr. Brexit,” told the BBC in May, “Brexit has failed.”
This mess was, of course, both predictable and predicted. That’s why I’ve been struck, visiting the U.K. this summer, by the curious political taboo against discussing how badly Brexit has gone, even among many who voted against it. Seven years ago, Brexit was an early augur of the revolt against cosmopolitanism that swept Donald Trump into power. (Trump even borrowed the “Mr. Brexit” moniker for himself.) Both enterprises — Britain’s divorce from the EU and Trump’s reign in the U.S. — turned out catastrophically. Both left their countries fatigued and depleted. But while America can’t stop talking about Trump, many in the U.K. can scarcely stand to think about Brexit.
“It’s so toxic,” Tobias Ellwood, a Tory lawmaker who has called on his colleagues to admit that Brexit was a mistake, told me. “People have invested so much time and pain and agony on this.” It’s like a “wound,” he said, that people want to avoid picking at. The London mayor, Sadiq Khan, one of the few Labour Party leaders eager to discuss the consequences of leaving the EU, described an “omertà,” or vow of silence, around it. “It’s the elephant in the room,” he told me. “I’m frustrated that no one’s talking about it.”
Part of the reason that no one — or almost no one — is talking about Brexit’s consequences lies with the demographics of the Labour Party. Somewhere between a quarter and a third of Labour voters supported Brexit, and those voters are concentrated in the so-called Red Wall — working-class areas in the Midlands and northern England that once solidly supported Labour but swung right in the 2019 election. “Those voters do not want to have a conversation about Brexit,” said Joshua Simons, the director of Labour Together, a think tank close to Labour leadership.
Sheer exhaustion also contributes to making Brexit talk unwelcome: Between the vote to leave the EU in 2016 and the final agreement in 2020, the issue consumed British politics, and many people just want to move on. Simons argues there’s also a third factor: a sense that the results of a democratic referendum must be honored. He cites a point that a mentor of his, political philosopher Danielle Allen, made after the 2016 vote. “In the end, in democracy, sometimes you all do crazy things together,” Simons said. “And what becomes more important is not whether the crazy thing was a good or bad thing to do. It’s that you’re doing it together.”
As someone from a far more polarized country, I found this idea somewhat foreign. If the Trumpist electorate had imposed such a costly and ultimately unpopular policy on the country, I suspect there would be a rush among Democrats to reverse it. But in the U.K., referendums — which are rare and held only to address major issues — have a political gravity that it’s hard for an outsider like me to understand.
“You’ve got to respect the referendum,” Khan said. “What you can’t have is never-endums, referendum after referendum after referendum. That disrespects the electorate.”
Still, he argues that without facing the harm that Brexit has caused, the country can’t move forward: “Unless you can diagnose what the problem is, how can there be a prognosis?” Britain is not, at least in the near term, going to rejoin the EU. But both Khan and Ellwood argue that it can still forge closer trade and immigration ties than it has now, and perhaps eventually return to the European single market, the trade agreement encompassing the EU countries, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
“After the next election, I can see all parties embracing the idea of rejoining the single market,” said Ellwood, adding, “I put money on it that it happens in the next five years.”
One silver lining to Brexit is that it offers a cautionary tale for the rest of Europe. After Britain voted to leave the EU in 2016, there’s been fear, among some who care about the European project, that France or Italy could be next. But as The Guardian reported, as of January, support for leaving the EU has declined in every member state for which data is available. As governments across the continent move rightward, the EU itself is moving in a more conservative direction, but it’s not coming apart.
“I don’t think you’re going to see other countries in the EU leaving the EU if for no other reason than because they’ve seen the impact on us,” Khan said. But there’s a larger lesson, one most Western countries seemingly have to continually relearn. Right-wing nationalist projects begin with loud, flamboyant swagger. They tend to end unspeakably.
Michelle Goldberg writes a column for the New York Times. | United Kingdom Politics |
A historic proposal by the Austrian Ministry of Justice sees €33m set aside to compensate those who were wrongly convicted - but critics say the amount on offer is not enough.
The Austrian government is set to pay tens of millions of euros in compensation to gay people who were persecuted or convicted of consensual homosexual acts.
The new legislation would apply to anyone convicted under specific sections of Austria's legal code that were put in place after homosexuality was decriminalised in 1971.
These special paragraphs convicted gay people of acts that would have been legal if they were straight. The last of these provisions was only repealed by the Constitutional Court in 2002.
"The prosecution of homosexual people was a dark chapter of the Second Republic (government post-1945) and a great injustice,” Austria's Justice Minister Alma Zadić posted on X, formerly Twitter.
"On behalf of the entire judiciary, I apologised for this injustice to all people who were prosecuted because of their sexual orientation.”
How were gay men targeted by the legal provisions?
After the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1971, four new criminal provisions were added to Austria's criminal code, each specifically directed at the prosecution of gay men by targeting an aspect of sexuality that was not the same for heterosexual people or lesbians.
A special age limit for gay relationships was established at 18, compared with 14 for heterosexuals and lesbians, while gay prostitution was criminalised, unlike lesbian and heterosexual prostitution. Also criminalised was the approval, or advertisement of fornication with the same-sex, and the founding or membership of LGBTQ+ associations.
Whilst the last of these provisions was appealed in 2002, the criminal record and sentences were not, and some people who were convicted spent time in institutions branded as 'mentally abnormal criminals."
Compensation and reparation
Austria's Rehabilitation and Compensation Act, which is part of the national budget in 2024, will see compensation payment of €3,000 for each overturned judgment, €1500 for each year spent in jail or €500 for each investigation initiated under the relevant criminal paragraphs.
A flat rate of €1,500 is also intended to compensate people who have suffered from professional, economic or health disadvantages.
The Ministry of Justice expects around 11,000 applications for criminal rehabilitation and compensation. The costs for this are estimated at €10.8 million in the coming year and €3 million in each of the following years with €33 million marked for the compensation fund altogether.
All sentences which were passed on the basis of these specific provisions will also be repealed.
Spain, Germany, UK and Scotland address historic injustices
Austria is not the only European country to address its past shortcomings in the treatment of LGBT people.
In 2017 Germany also wiped convictions and financially compensated those who had been persecuted under discriminatory anti-homosexual laws during the Nazi and Cold War era, some lasting until 1994.
In 2001 Spain wiped the criminal records of gay and bisexual men and women who were imprisoned during dictator Francisco Franco’s rule from 1939 until his death in 1975. A budget allocation of €2 million was allocated to fund compensation for those persecuted, although this ended in 2013.
In the UK, anyone who has a conviction for same-sex sexual activity under an offence which has since been repealed or abolished, can apply to have their conviction disregarded and pardoned.
And in Scotland in 2020, the government issued an automatic pardon to all men with convictions for same-sex sexual activity that is now legal. The pardon applied to the living and to people who have since died.
"The pardon is symbolic," the Scottish government said at the time. "It means that the Government accepts these convictions were discriminatory and should never have happened."
Good, but good enough?
Although the compensation marks a landmark victory for LGBTQ+ and human rights groups in Austria, some still see the compensation as just one remedy for a community that has been dealing with discrimination for decades.
“People were unjustly imprisoned here and were unable to work during this time. It is therefore essential that the periods of imprisonment are credited towards the pensions.” Ann-Sophie Otte, chairwoman of the Homosexual Initiative in Vienna told Euronews.
"The fines imposed must also be repaid with interest. We very much hope that the rehabilitation and compensation will also be followed by an apology from the National Council, because after all, it was the National Council that passed these laws in the first place," she said.
LGBTQ+ rights organisation Rechtskomitee, who were instrumental in repealing the criminal codes up until 2002, also celebrated the compensation, but pointed out how the amount of compensation the Austrian government is offering falls far short of the numbers calculated by the European Court of Human Rights. | Europe Politics |
I identify as pansexual. I grew up very straight, but around the age of 40, my attraction to people changed: I stopped being attracted to someone through their gender and became attracted to people through who they are and their energy. I never had an official coming-out announcement, but it’s different for everyone. I really feel for people who go through that torment or live under threat. When my girlfriend [Stacey Griffith] came out, she was a gay teen in high school in the ’80s and it was horrible—people would write “dyke” on her car in soap and pick fights with her.When I look at pictures of myself from my 20s and 30s, I have a good laugh—I look like such a straight mom. Now I just feel more natural and comfortable with myself. Realizing that I’m pansexual definitely changed my design aesthetic and the way I approached collections. It feels old-fashioned even to define clothing by a certain gender—I want all genders to feel welcome in my clothes. Stacey and I are launching a genderless athletic collection, Love & Sports, in spring 2023 and when I’m casting I look for nonbinary and trans models. It’s important; everyone has a place in fashion.It’s an upsetting, worrisome time for human rights and gay rights. We’ve moved a few steps back, especially with Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill. There was so much progress made under the Obama administration, and I feel like a lot of it is rolling back. It’s time to speak out and stand up for our rights. We have to use our voices and our platforms—be yourself and be proud. It’s also really important to support gay youth. They’re most at risk and the most vulnerable. Maybe I’m in a microcosm because I’m in New York City, but with my children’s identities and friendships, they’re very comfortable in their own skin. There’s no sense of shame around queerness. | Human Rights |
Let’s start with three interconnected multipolar-driven facts.
First: One of the key take aways from the World Economic Forum annual shindig in Davos, Switzerland is when Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan, on a panel on “Saudi Arabia’s Transformation,” made it clear that Riyadh “will consider trading in currencies other than the US dollar.”
So is the petroyuan finally at hand? Possibly, but Al-Jadaan wisely opted for careful hedging: “We enjoy a very strategic relationship with China and we enjoy that same strategic relationship with other nations including the US and we want to develop that with Europe and other countries.”
Second: The Central Banks of Iran and Russia are studying the adoption of a “stable coin” for foreign trade settlements, replacing the US dollar, the ruble and the rial. The crypto crowd is already up in arms, mulling the pros and cons of a gold-backed central bank digital currency (CBDC) for trade that will be in fact impervious to the weaponized US dollar.
A gold-backed digital currency
The really attractive issue here is that this gold-backed digital currency would be particularly effective in the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) of Astrakhan, in the Caspian Sea.
Astrakhan is the key Russian port participating in the International North South Transportation Corridor (INTSC), with Russia processing cargo travelling across Iran in merchant ships all the way to West Asia, Africa, the Indian Ocean and South Asia.
The success of the INSTC – progressively tied to a gold-backed CBDC – will largely hinge on whether scores of Asian, West Asian and African nations refuse to apply US-dictated sanctions on both Russia and Iran.
As it stands, exports are mostly energy and agricultural products; Iranian companies are the third largest importer of Russian grain. Next will be turbines, polymers, medical equipment, and car parts. Only the Russia-Iran section of the INSTC represents a $25 billion business.
And then there’s the crucial energy angle of INSTC – whose main players are the Russia-Iran-India triad.
India’s purchases of Russian crude have increased year-by-year by a whopping factor of 33. India is the world’s third largest importer of oil; in December, it received 1.2 million barrels from Russia, which for several months now is positioned ahead of Iraq and Saudi Arabia as Delhi’s top supplier.
‘A fairer payment system’
Third: South Africa holds this year’s rotating BRICS presidency. And this year will mark the start of BRICS+ expansion, with candidates ranging from Algeria, Iran and Argentina to Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor has just confirmed that the BRICS do want to find a way to bypass the US dollar and thus create “a fairer payment system not skewed toward wealthier countries.”
For years now, Yaroslav Lissovolik, head of the analytical department of Russian Sberbank’s corporate and investment business has been a proponent of closer BRICS integration and the adoption of a BRICS reserve currency.
Lissovolik reminds us that the first proposal “to create a new reserve currency based on a basket of currencies of BRICS countries was formulated by the Valdai Club back in 2018.”
Are you ready for the R5?
The original idea revolved around a currency basket similar to the Special Drawing Rights (SDR) model, composed of the national currencies of BRICS members – and then, further on down the road, other currencies of the expanded BRICS+ circle.
Lissovolik explains that choosing BRICS national currencies made sense because “these were among the most liquid currencies across emerging markets. The name for the new reserve currency — R5 or R5+ — was based on the first letters of the BRICS currencies all of which begin with the letter R (real, ruble, rupee, renminbi, rand).”
So BRICS already have a platform for their in-depth deliberations in 2023. As Lissovolik notes, “in the longer run, the R5 BRICS currency could start to perform the role of settlements/payments as well as the store of value/reserves for the central banks of emerging market economies.”
It is virtually certain that the Chinese yuan will be prominent right from the start, taking advantage of its “already advanced reserve status.”
Potential candidates that could become part of the R5+ currency basket include the Singapore dollar and the UAE’s dirham.
Quite diplomatically, Lissovolik maintains that, “the R5 project can thus become one of the most important contributions of emerging markets to building a more secure international financial system.”
The R5, or R5+ project does intersect with what is being designed at the Eurasia Economic Union (EAEU), led by the Macro-Economics Minister of the Eurasia Economic Commission, Sergey Glazyev.
A new gold standard
In Golden Ruble 3.0 , his most recent paper, Glazyev makes a direct reference to two by now notorious reports by Credit Suisse strategist Zoltan Pozsar, formerly of the IMF, US Department of Treasury, and New York Federal Reserve: War and Commodity Encumbrance (December 27) and War and Currency Statecraft (December 29).
Pozsar is a staunch supporter of a Bretton Woods III – an idea that has been getting enormous traction among the Fed-skeptical crowd.
What’s quite intriguing is that the American Pozsar now directly quotes Russia’s Glazyev, and vice-versa, implying a fascinating convergence of their ideas.
Let’s start with Glazyev’s emphasis on the importance of gold. He notes the current accumulation of multibillion-dollar cash balances on the accounts of Russian exporters in “soft” currencies in the banks of Russia’s main foreign economic partners: EAEU nations, China, India, Iran, Turkey, and the UAE.
He then proceeds to explain how gold can be a unique tool to fight western sanctions if prices of oil and gas, food and fertilizers, metals and solid minerals are recalculated:
“Fixing the price of oil in gold at the level of 2 barrels per 1g will give a second increase in the price of gold in dollars, calculated Credit Suisse strategist Zoltan Pozsar. This would be an adequate response to the ‘price ceilings’ introduced by the west – a kind of ‘floor,’ a solid foundation. And India and China can take the place of global commodity traders instead of Glencore or Trafigura.”
So here we see Glazyev and Pozsar converging. Quite a few major players in New York will be amazed.
Glazyev then lays down the road toward Gold Ruble 3.0. The first gold standard was lobbied by the Rothschilds in the 19th century, which “gave them the opportunity to subordinate continental Europe to the British financial system through gold loans.” Golden Ruble 1.0, writes Glazyev, “provided the process of capitalist accumulation.”
Golden Ruble 2.0, after Bretton Woods, “ensured a rapid economic recovery after the war.” But then the “reformer Khrushchev canceled the peg of the ruble to gold, carrying out monetary reform in 1961 with the actual devaluation of the ruble by 2.5 times, forming conditions for the subsequent transformation of the country [Russia] into a “raw material appendage of the Western financial system.”
What Glazyev proposes now is for Russia to boost gold mining to as much as 3 percent of GDP: the basis for fast growth of the entire commodity sector (30 percent of Russian GDP). With the country becoming a world leader in gold production, it gets “a strong ruble, a strong budget and a strong economy.”
All Global South eggs in one basket
Meanwhile, at the heart of the EAEU discussions, Glazyev seems to be designing a new currency not only based on gold, but partly based on the oil and natural gas reserves of participating countries.
Pozsar seems to consider this potentially inflationary: it could be if it results in some excesses, considering the new currency would be linked to such a large base.
Off the record, New York banking sources admit the US dollar would be “wiped out, since it is a valueless fiat currency, should Sergey Glazyev link the new currency to gold. The reason is that the Bretton Woods system no longer has a gold base and has no intrinsic value, like the FTX crypto currency. Sergey’s plan also linking the currency to oil and natural gas seems to be a winner.”
So in fact Glazyev may be creating the whole currency structure for what Pozsar called, half in jest, the “G7 of the East”: the current 5 BRICS plus the next 2 which will be the first new members of BRICS+.
Both Glazyev and Pozsar know better than anyone that when Bretton Woods was created the US possessed most of Central Bank gold and controlled half the world’s GDP. This was the basis for the US to take over the whole global financial system.
Now vast swathes of the non-western world are paying close attention to Glazyev and the drive towards a new non-US dollar currency, complete with a new gold standard which would in time totally replace the US dollar.
Pozsar completely understood how Glazyev is pursuing a formula featuring a basket of currencies (as Lissovolik suggested). As much as he understood the groundbreaking drive towards the petroyuan. He describes the industrial ramifications thus:
“Since as we have just said Russia, Iran, and Venezuela account for about 40 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves, and each of them are currently selling oil to China for renminbi at a steep discount, we find BASF’s decision to permanently downsize its operations at its main plant in Ludwigshafen and instead shift its chemical operations to China was motivated by the fact that China is securing energy at discounts, not markups like Europe.”
The race to replace the dollar
One key takeaway is that energy-intensive major industries are going to be moving to China. Beijing has become a big exporter of Russian liquified natural gas (LNG) to Europe, while India has become a big exporter of Russian oil and refined products such as diesel – also to Europe. Both China and India – BRICS members – buy below market price from fellow BRICS member Russia and resell to Europe with a hefty profit. Sanctions? What sanctions?
Meanwhile, the race to constitute the new currency basket for a new monetary unit is on. This long-distance dialogue between Glazyev and Pozsar will become even more fascinating, as Glazyev will be trying to find a solution to what Pozsar has stated: tapping of natural resources for the creation of the new currency could be inflationary if money supply is increased too quickly.
All that is happening as Ukraine – a huge chasm at a critical junction of the New Silk Road blocking off Europe from Russia/China – slowly but surely disappears into a black void. The Empire may have gobbled up Europe for now, but what really matters geoeconomically, is how the absolute majority of the Global South is deciding to commit to the Russia/China-led block.
Economic dominance of BRICS+ may be no more than 7 years away – whatever toxicities may be concocted by that large, dysfunctional nuclear rogue state on the other side of the Atlantic. But first, let’s get that new currency going. | Global Organizations |
Boris Johnson has become the number one most donated to MP this parliament after receiving a single donation of one million pounds. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer had previously been the most donated to MP with £740,00 in multiple donations, Sky News' Westminster Accounts tool showed.
But the money from crypto investor Christopher Harborne beat that in a single donation, and suggests the former prime minister has no intention of stepping down from politics any time soon.Money from political donations is used to fund things like campaigning, staff, and office costs.The Register of Members' Financial Interests is where all MPs must declare any donations, wages or gifts.
Mr Johnson also earned £303,880 in speeches in December, according to updates to the register published on Thursday night.He earned £50,000 from property development company the Ballymore Group for a seven-hour speaking engagement in London, and over a quarter of a million - £253,880,90 - from software company ParallelChain Lab for a nine-hour event in Singapore. More on Boris Johnson Boris Johnson 'joked he was at most unsocially distanced party in UK' during No 10 lockdown party 'Borismania' is back: Was this the start of his comeback tour? Boris Johnson edited out of photo posted on Twitter by Business Secretary Grant Shapps This comes on top of the £1m Mr Johnson has already declared in outside earnings for a handful of speeches since officially stepping down as prime minister in September.Since then, the former PM has also lived rent free in the home of JCB chairman and Conservative donor Lord Bramford, the register of interest shows. Search for your MP using the Westminster Accounts toolThe updates follow the launch this week of Westminster Accounts, a joint project between Sky News and Tortoise media which aims to shine a light on money in politics.The new database brings together MPs' second jobs and donations - the first time they have all been collated in one place.According to our latest analysis of the donations, Boris Johnson now tops the leader board of the most donated to MP, followed by Sir Keir Starmer and Mr Johnson's short-lived successor Liz Truss.Prime Minister Rishi Sunak comes fourth, followed by Labour MP Rebecca Long Bailey, Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Housing Secretary Michael Gove.Outside earnings The database has led to calls for greater transparency of where MPs get their political donations from, after our investigation struggled to uncover basic details about who is behind major donations.It has also thrust the issue of MPs second jobs back into the spotlight.There have been calls for the rules to be tightened on outside earnings since the Owen Patterson lobbying scandal, which saw Tory MPs attempt to save a colleague who broke lobbing rules from punishment.All MPs are paid a base salary of £84,144, while prime ministers get an additional £79,936 for a total of £164,080.However, MPs are allowed to earn extra money through second jobs.While the vast majority of top earners are Tory MPs, David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary has also made thousands through speeches and media appearances.The updated register shows in the last two months he made over £30,000 this way.Some changes into what second jobs MPs can have are due to come into effect later this year, with MPs to be banned from taking on work as political or parliamentary consultants from March.One source involved in drafting the new rules suggested this could impact the second jobs of around 30 MPs.But they will not prevent others from earning significant amounts for speeches, TV appearances and legal work.Read more:Boris Johnson's large extra earnings criticised at PMQsWestminster Accounts: 14 MPs given over £250,000 each in campaign donations since the last electionRishi Sunak says 'transparency really important' as focus turns to MPs' second jobsMr Johnson's predecessor Theresa May, who stepped down in 2019, has a lengthy list of speaking engagements, including £408,200 for six talks in California, as well as flights and accommodation for her and a member of staff.A speech she gave to the World Travel and Tourism Council in November 2022 earnt her £107,600.Her entry in the register of members' interests makes no mention of the fact this £107,600 speech was delivered in Saudi Arabia - a country she blocked ministers and officials from visiting for a period while she was prime minister following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.Mrs May has said the money she earns goes into a company called the Office of Theresa May Limited, from which she pays herself £85,000 a year and the rest goes to support her charitable work and her staff. | United Kingdom Politics |
The participants discussed the efforts the governments of India and Russia are taking to overcome transport and logistics problems, prospects of setting up a joint banking and financial structure to support the bilateral trade potential, and high-priority areas of cooperation between India and Russia.
"Last year was the 75th year since the establishment of Russian-Indian diplomatic relations. Today, they have the status of a privileged strategic partnership. This is confirmed by the strong friendship between the leaders of the two states, between our countries and peoples," said Ksenia Komissarova, editor-in-chief of the TV BRICS Media Network
"I can say that we always get very good and interesting content from them which we adapt to Russian viewers. We also make our own contribution to the development of bilateral relations," she added.
The first speaker was Ved Prakash Singh, First Secretary and Head of Economic and Commercial Department of the Embassy of India in Moscow. He said that the Russian and Indian leaders in 2021 had decided to reach a bilateral trade volume of US$30 billion by 2025, but that there was potential to increase this figure.
Hello from what the Western Media and tells you is politically and Economically "Isolated" #Russia
"This year, we have an opportunity to surpass that figure. In 2023, our goal is to reach a bilateral trade volume of US$50 billion. This is historically high and a huge achievement," he said.
Ved Prakash Singh also pointed out that the two countries have the potential to develop in sectors like pharmaceuticals, chemicals and agriculture. Thus, it is possible to increase exports from India to Russia.
"Trade and economic cooperation between India and Russia has been growing at a rapid pace in recent years... The two countries are striving to strengthen partnerships in the energy sector, trade. A large number of agreements and contracts between the parties have been signed in recent years, laying the foundation for further deepening of our relations," said Sammy Kotwani, president of the Indian Business Alliance (IBA).
He noted that India has a favourable business environment, "As an association (IBA), we provide a certain set of measures to support entrepreneurs. We provide assistance in company registration, allow entrepreneurs to get various permits and licences to do business in the country."
Pavel Kalmychek, director of the bilateral cooperation development department of the Russian Ministry of Economic Development, highlighted the main tool that will solve a lot of structural and systemic problems in the cooperation between the countries in the economy.
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"This tool is a free trade agreement... We signal this to our Indian partners. We work very closely on the platform of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) and we understand that this is the number one task in order to come to some mutually acceptable solutions," he stressed.
The speaker also spoke about the potential of the two countries in the tourism sector. "We understand that our country can offer a huge number of tourist locations. And I am sure that St. Petersburg will be popular with the citizens of India. And here too, we are ready to offer system mechanisms and tools in terms of visa facilitation", said Pavel Kalmychek.
The SPIEF is a unique event in the world of economy and business. Over the years, the forum has become the world's leading meeting place for representatives of the business community and the discussion of key economic issues facing Russia, emerging markets and the world as a whole. The SPIEF 2023 will last until June 17. | India Politics |
Labour faces two huge strategic challenges: first how to win power, and second how to use it to change our country for the better. The polls – for now at least – suggest it will clear the first hurdle, but what of the second?
The country is in a mess. We desperately need a bold and reforming Labour-led government to rebuild our economy and crumbling public services, restore trust in our democracy whilst tackling the climate crisis head-on. But our party’s capacity to effectively, democratically challenge the existing social and economic order depends on the degree to which it embraces pluralism.
Pluralism is the recognition that no single issue, internal faction or political party can usher in a Good Society alone. The Labour Party, of course, will need to play a central role if we are to transform our country. But why exclude those from other progressive traditions who can deepen and enrich such a project, just as Keynes and Beveridge did for Labour in 1945?
Yet the Labour leadership appears to have rejected this approach in pursuit of internal factional dominance of the party. The leadership has subcontracted control of the party to Labour First, the most orthodox, hardline, Labour faction, to determine candidates and decide who and who is not a member. Such a monoculture is unprecedented in Labour history. This approach might work in opposition, but will come with a significant downside in government; an inability to create alliances and tap into wider sources of energy to bolster the when in power.
The leadership needs to change track. Modern politics demands a diversity of views and solutions that one small section of one party simply can’t deliver. If we go into office with this narrow governing mentality the fear is we simply won’t have the bandwidth to cope with the complexity of issues thrown at us.
Last week, staff at cross-party campaigns group Compass, an organisation of which I am a board member, handed in a petition to Labour HQ to warn the party against taking its current exclusionary approach into government. 12,000 people signed the petition calling for the party to embrace a pluralist culture for the sake of our country and highlighting that a better future will only be negotiated by all of us, not imposed from the top-down. Compass, which turns 20 this year, has been defending this tradition since its inception.
Respect, tolerance and pluralism represent our party’s core values. This reality was understood by Tony Blair. Every leader before Keir Starmer has accepted a broad cohabitation of traditions – it’s what we call Labour’s ‘broad church’. The suppression of certain traditions such as those advanced by Compass, simply narrows the congregation so that it becomes unwelcoming or actively hostile to any who don’t fit the dominant ideological mould.
Of course, factions have always existed and competed for power within the Labour, and they will no doubt continue to – such is the nature of politics. But Labour has always maintained a basic understanding that other views are relevant, are historically rooted and provide necessary balance.
The threatened expulsion of Neal Lawson is just one recent example of this leadership’s excesses. But this egregious overreach extends far beyond one case – many others have now been thrown out of the party, banned from standing as candidates or driven out by a culture of intolerance. Membership of our party has dropped dramatically over the last few years.
Labour’s proud history of pluralism is in danger of being threatened just when our party and the country needs it most.
Politics.co.uk is the UK’s leading digital-only political website, providing comprehensive coverage of UK politics. Subscribe to our daily newsletter here. | United Kingdom Politics |
Lula's visit is a big boost for trade and diplomatic relations with China
Imran Khalid
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Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva waves as he arrives for a ministerial meeting to review the first 100 days of his government at Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, April 10, 2023. /Xinhua
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva waves as he arrives for a ministerial meeting to review the first 100 days of his government at Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, April 10, 2023. /Xinhua
Editor's note: Imran Khalid is a freelance columnist on international affairs. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva â affectionately known as Lula â has started his much-awaited trip to China, which is expected to significantly propel bilateral relations to a new echelon by fostering a more all-encompassing partnership in areas beyond conventional domains like trade and investment. This will likely include collaboration in cutting-edge arenas like finance, anti-poverty measures, cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and joint mediation to address the globally pressing issue of the Ukraine crisis.
For various reasons, this is considered to be a historic visit. In South America, Brazil stands out as China's foremost economic and political partner, and a significant member of the BRICS bloc. Since China began extending its foreign direct investment to other countries, Brazil emerged as a significant destination for its capital. Initially, these investments were predominantly focused on the commodities sector, but they soon expanded to include a broader range of infrastructure projects. By 2017, over half of China's investments in South America were being directed towards Brazil.
While Brazil has not been formally included in the BRI, it is clear that China's overseas investment programs impact Brazil's global interests and export markets, particularly as they tend to shift the world's economic center of gravity away from the United States, which is another major trading partner for Brazil. In 2021, Brazil emerged as the top recipient of Chinese foreign investment, accounting for almost 13.6 percent of China's total foreign direct investment. The majority of this investment was directed towards bolstering Brazil's electricity grid and oil extraction projects.
The partnership between China and Brazil is firmly anchored in a broad trade and investment association. China started to engage in significant trade activities with South America after 2000, mainly targeting commodities to fuel its burgeoning industrial sector and satisfy its population's needs. Brazil is among the world's most productive agricultural exporters, competing with the United States in this domain, in addition to being a notable exporter of mineral products, thereby consolidating its position as a vital economic partner for China.
The Brazil exhibition booth during the 2021 China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing, capital of China, September 5, 2021. /Xinhua
The Brazil exhibition booth during the 2021 China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing, capital of China, September 5, 2021. /Xinhua
As global trade prospects become increasingly dismal and tensions with the United States continue to escalate, China is seeking to expand its network of economic and trade partners. Brazil, the biggest economy in South America, is also eager to enhance its exports of iron ore, farm produce and oil, whilst simultaneously revitalizing its manufacturing sector, thus making itself an attractive trade and economic partner for China. China has maintained its position as Brazil's primary trading partner for over a decade. The two countries saw their trade volume surge by 4.9 percent to reach a record $171.5 billion in 2022. Brazil is the largest provider of soybeans, poultry and sugar to China. The country also exports significant quantities of corn and beef.
The large delegation accompanying President Lula, which includes over 240 business and agriculture representatives, is a testimony to the ever-flourishing business ties between the two nations. The ongoing visit is poised to be a momentous occasion, highlighting the growing importance of the relationship between China and Brazil and underscoring their commitment to expanding cooperation and collaboration that will undoubtedly shape the global economy in the years to come.
China has emerged as Brazil's top source of manufactured goods, benefiting from the vast market of the country's 215 million people. Among the key exports from China to Brazil are mobile phones, steel, and increasingly, Chinese cars.
But there is much more beyond trade and business that will be expected to be discussed between Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Lula.
In contrast to his far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro, President Lula has taken a more cordial stance towards China. The Workers' Party, which Lula represents, has been known to have a congenial attitude towards the Asian country. President Lula also wants to abandon the isolationist foreign policy of his predecessor. That is why he is quite active in the global arena after taking charge.
(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at [email protected]. Follow @thouse_opinionsâon Twitter to discover the latest commentaries in the CGTN Opinion Section.) | Latin America Politics |
Demonstrators hold signs during a protest march, ahead of the G7 leaders summit, which will take place in the Bavarian alpine resort of Elmau Castle, in Munich, Germany, June 25, 2022. REUTERS/Wolfgang RattayRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comBERLIN, June 25 (Reuters) - Some 4,000 people marched in Munich on Saturday calling on leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized countries to take action to fight poverty, climate change and world hunger and end dependence on Russian fossil fuels.Leaders of the United States, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Canada and Japan will meet on Sunday at the start of a three-day summit at Schloss Elmau in the Bavarian mountains, aiming to increase pressure on Russia whose actions in Ukraine have created food and energy shortages across the globe.Protesters carried banners reading "Stop The War Russia And USA/NATO Hands Off Ukraine" and "Imperialism Starts Here", and demanded the G7 allocate more funds for crisis prevention, civil conflict management and economic development.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com"Today, we are at the G7 again because we realised that nothing has improved ... it's been going on for so long, that we are destroying ourselves," said Lisa Munz, a protestor wearing a hat topped with a stuffed chicken.Saturday's protests in sunny Munich, where the leaders' flights landed before they headed to Elmau, were sponsored by more than 15 organizations including WWF Germany, Oxfam Deutschland, Greenpeace and Bread for the World.Officers in riot gear shoved protesters in a brief physical confrontation and police said several officers were physically attacked and nine people detained during the day, but the demonstration remained largely peaceful overall, a Reuters witness said.Some 3,000 officers were on duty across the city, Munich police said.The G7 typically attracts protests by dozens of campaign groups that want to court publicity for their causes and send a message to the Western political elite.This year, however, protesters may struggle to make their presence visible to the leaders given the especially secluded summit venue, though that could change if protesters attempt to traverse the terrain to get closer to the summit itself, as some have said they plan to do."The colourful demonstration is a clear sign of how strong the desire of many people is for a fundamentally different policy in the G7 countries," Oxfam Deutschland said in a statement.G7 leaders are set to discuss setting up a climate club to better coordinate carbon pricing and other schemes for reducing emissions. Nearly 20,000 police officers have been deployed to ensure security at the summit.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Sarah Marsh, Riham Alkousaa and Reuters TV; Editing by David HolmesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Global Organizations |
Russia turned down a request by South Africa not to send President Vladimir Putin to next month’s BRICS summit in Johannesburg, South Africa’s deputy president told local media Friday.
Earlier, Russian officials told The Moscow Times that Putin’s attendance remained uncertain in the face of an International Criminal Court (ICC) indictment over the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children and the fallout from the Wagner mercenary group’s mutiny.
South Africa is required to arrest Putin if he travels there as a signatory of the Rome Statute that governs the ICC.
“We understand we are bound by the Rome Statute but we can’t invite someone and then you arrest them. You can understand our dilemma,” South African Deputy President Paul Mashatile told Mail & Guardian.
“We would be happy if he [Putin] doesn’t come,” he said.
South Africa’s rejected proposal was for Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to lead Russia’s delegation at the BRICS summit in Johannesburg on Aug. 22-24 instead of Putin.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has vowed to hold an in-person summit despite the ICC warrant against Putin.
Mashatile said that Brazil, India, China and South Africa opposed holding the BRICS summit virtually, while India and Brazil rejected moving the 2023 summit to China.
A Kremlin-linked official told The Moscow Times that South Africa provided “security guarantees” for Putin during Ramaphosa’s visit to St. Petersburg in June.
Moscow said Friday the format of the upcoming BRICS summit was still being worked out.
South Africa has not condemned Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, saying it remains impartial and prefers dialogue as it spearheads an African initiative to resolve the conflict. | Global Organizations |
Nigel Farage has accused the Conservatives of copying the rhetoric of Reform UK, "but not the actions".
Mr Farage - who founded Reform from the ashes of the Brexit Party - was the star turn at its annual conference.
He said the Tories had become a "social democrat party in all but name" with "big-state, high-tax" policies.
Mr Farage and current Reform UK leader Richard Tice both argue the government has failed to properly deliver Brexit or to control immigration.
Mr Farage also used his speech to Reform conference in central London to repeat his insistence that he would not rejoin the Conservative Party under its current leadership.
His appearance at the Tory conference in Manchester - the first time he had attended such an event in decades - and the welcome he received from many senior Conservatives prompted speculation that he might consider returning to the Tory fold.
'Gap in the market'
In Manchester, he ruled out joining the party "as it currently is", but added: "Never say never."
Asked about Mr Farage earlier this week, Rishi Sunak told GB News: "Look, the Tory party is a broad church. I welcome lots of people who want to subscribe to our ideals, to our values."
At Reform UK's conference in London, Mr Farage responded by saying: "It's very sweet of you prime minister, but I'm really sorry, the answer is no, I will not."
He said he would focus his efforts on backing Reform UK, saying there was a "gap in the political market" for the party to fill, although he has ruled out standing as a candidate for the party at the next election.
Comparing its position to that of UKIP in 2012, Mr Farage said: "This party has been bubbling away quietly just under the radar."
Reform UK has never had any MPs. It performed poorly in May's local elections, failing to gain any seats despite fielding nearly 500 candidates, and losing half its councillors, retaining eight.
But the party -which campaigns for zero net migration, tax cuts for those on lower incomes and against net zero climate targets - has consistently been in fourth place in opinion polls at around 6%, just ahead of the Green Party.
It restored the word, "Brexit", to its party logo for its conference, saying it intended to reclaim the word from the Conservatives in the run-up to a general election expected next year.
'Net zero on migration'
In his speech to the conference, Mr Tice set out his Reform's plan to end illegal immigration.
Appearing to refer to people who arrive in the UK having crossed the Channel in small boats, he said: "Let's pick up, let's take back to France, and then show the EU leaders this is what they need to do in the Mediterranean.
"Only then will this crisis, this hurricane of migration that Suella Braverman talked about, only then will it be stopped."
Mr Tice was alluding to the home secretary's speech at the Tory conference, in which she said a "hurricane" of mass migration was coming, causing unease among some senior Conservatives.
He said the government offered "warm words", but had no "idea how to stop the boats".
"We are mass immigration Britain. The numbers are so big, it's hard to calculate," said Mr Tice.
Saying the Conservatives had "broken Britain", Mr Tice also turned his fire on Labour, arguing it would "bankrupt Britain".
Reform UK would scrap net-zero targets, tackle immigration and cut NHS waiting lists, he said. The party's conference carried the slogan, Let's Save Britain.
The party plans to field 630 candidates across England, Scotland and Wales in the next general election.
It has ruled out standing aside to allow the Conservatives to gain more seats, as it did in more than 300 seats under its Brexit Party name in 2019 to avoid splitting the Leave vote. | United Kingdom Politics |
With news this morning that the UK’s GDP had contracted by 0.5 per cent in July you might have expected Keir Starmer, who as Labour leader has insisted the UK needs “growth, growth, growth”, to focus his PMQs questions on Britain’s perennial economic foibles.
But the Labour leader opted to place his flagship “mission” to one side, as he weaved a web of bad news stories, focussing variously on Daniel Khaliffe’s prison escape, China, small boat crossings and Raac in schools.
Often majoring on a myriad of talking points at PMQs is derided as “scattergun” and unfocussed. How can six disparate lines of questioning seize the news agenda? But in so far as Labour’s messaging around “broken Britain goes”, it made for a compelling performance. And Starmer’s trademark analytic antipathy culminated in a glossy new nickname: “inaction man” (unavailable in all good retail stores).
We have experienced a steady stream of PMQs nicknames in recent years. On this, Boris Johnson was a master of the craft: he blasted Starmer as a “human bollard” and “captain hindsight” (Sunak revived this latter moniker last week). The “political nickname” is in some senses a singularly Trumpian tactic (see “crooked Hillary” or “sleepy Joe”), as a politician seeks to make an opponent’s trait stick in the collective consciousness of the public.
But the art of the political nickname, of course, presages the former President. John Smith memorably blasted John Major as the man with the “man with the non-Midas touch” in the 1990s; and Dennis Skinner caused quite the parliamentary ruckus when he declared Cameron “dodgy Dave” in 2016. As for Theresa May, she was the “Maybot”.
When it comes to curating a good political nickname, there are a few pointers worth keeping in mind: alliteration helps, humour is essentially obligatory; but what a nickname has to do, above all else, is ring true.
When Smith labelled Major the “man with the non-Midas touch” it pulled on a common thread, resurgent today, that everything was going wrong for the then-PM. Trump’s “crooked Hillary” tapped into a general view of Washington corruption. And dodgy Dave seized on Cameron’s perceived cronyistic tendencies. “Maybot” spoke for itself.
So how does “inaction man” fare compared to its punny predecessors?
In his first PMQ, Starmer queried Sunak on the escape of Daniel Khaliffe, and the particular point about why the terror suspect was not held in category A prison. It prompted a stock answer from Sunak: he said the government has commissioned investigations to make sure lessons are learned from the case so “that it never happens again”. No immediate action was promised.
The Labour leader used his second question to lean into a more political point. “It beggars belief we are here again”, he said, referring to probation failures that led to the death of Zara Aleena, adding that the chief inspector of prisons said conditions in Wandsworth were so bad it should be shut down. He accused Sunak of presiding over “mayhem” in the criminal justice.
Sunak then decided that lecturing the former Director of the Public Prosecutions on criminal justice was a good idea. He said Starmer “should know better” and that staffing at Wandsworth prison is up by 25% in the past six years.
Starmer pivoted to China. He asked whether the foreign secretary had raised the case of the alleged “spy” parliamentary researcher when he visited China. Sunak tried to give the impression he did — albeit without deploying that most difficult of words: “yes”.
“Will he finally commit to a full audit of UK-China relations?”, Starmer asks next. It goes unanswered as the prime minister explains how Sir Keir was “100 per cent” behind Jeremy Corbyn who wanted to “abolish the army”. Again, no immediate action promised.
It was on these terms that Starmer saw fit to label Sunak “inaction man”, accusing him of failing to heed warnings and blaming others for the consequences of his actions. (Sunak, ironically, did not respond to Starmer’s “inaction man” jibe. But Rishi Sunak’s official spokesperson told journalists in the post-PMQs huddle that Sunak is, in fact, “a man of action”).
Starmer then pointed out that in the past year 40,000 people have crossed the channel in small boats. He says the PM has failed to stop terrorists strolling out of prison, failed to protect Britain against hostile states and failed to stop the boats. “How can anyone trust him to run the country?”, he says.
What is troubling for the prime minister is that this increasingly prevailing view runs directly counter to the one he sought to engender in January. At the start of 2023, Rishi Sunak began his year with a round of ruthlessly pragmatic oath swearing. Promising to halve inflation, grow the economy, reduce debt, cut NHS waiting lists and “stop the boats”, the prime minister claimed he was pronouncing the “people’s priorities”.
The pledges were the essential Sunakian pitch. The PM planned to bore Britain with a record of delivery so undeniable, so straightforward that the public would be forced to reward his party with an unprecedented fifth term.
But what we see now is arguably this strategy’s logical antithesis: a zombie government (to use Nadine Dorries’ phrase), careering aimlessly from one uncomfortable news day to the next. Boris Johnson once called the Labour leader a “permanent spectator” — this is, in essence, the same charge Starmer levies at his successor-but-one.
Sunak finished by defending his government, which he says in the past week has announced a landmark deal for British scientists and attracted £500m for the auto industry. He also accuses Starmer of being “locked away with Labour’s union paymasters” while the Conservatives are working for the “hardworking British public”. It won’t cut through like “inaction man” will.
PMQs Verdict: Starmer 5, Sunak 1. | United Kingdom Politics |
The ousting of Boris Johnson has unleashed the 'hounds of hell' and has sparked a bitter leadership race that will see Tories 'shredding each other to pieces', Nadine Dorries has warned as hopefuls gear up to replace him.The culture secretary - one of the Prime Minister's most stringent supporters - warned colleagues that they have to 'keep the cabinet sailing steadily and keep the government running smoothly', The Times reports. Her plea for stability came amid fears that the race to replace Johnson will turn into a 'Grand National' or become akin to eleven businesses competing for the same contract.'People will shred each other to pieces in the media. It's going to be a bloodbath,' she said. One leadership hopeful, Liz Truss, will pitch herself as the female Boris Johnson in the Tory leadership race – a candidate who can win seats both in the South and the Red Wall, supporters said last night.The Foreign Secretary is among more than a dozen MPs preparing to launch bids to be the next Prime Minister within days.Others in the running include Rishi Sunak, Sajid Javid, Ben Wallace, Nadhim Zahawi, Penny Mordaunt and Tom Tugendhat.While the events of this week appear to have cemented the Prime Minister's demise, the race to replace him has effectively been going on for months. 'Blue on blue' attacks have already begun, with Rishi Sunak being blasted by one rival who said it is 'not obvious that he's got an economic plan or is a tax cutter from his record'. And one Conservative MP said that if Suella Braverman and Steve Baker were allowed to stand 'we're just going to look like the wacky races', adding: 'As for Sajid [Javid], his resignation speech told you everything you needed to know: we all started wishing him well but within minutes he completely lost the room.' The MP also blasted Liz Truss as 'bad, mad and frankly dangerous to know.' Boris Johnson chairs a Cabinet meeting on Thursday after delivering his statement resigning as the leader of the Tories Liz Truss (left) will pitch herself as the female Boris Johnson in the Tory leadership race – a candidate who can win seats both in the South and the Red Wall. Pictured: The Foreign Secretary was attending a G20 foreign ministers summit as Boris Johnson resigned yesterdayNadine Dorries, right, next to Carrie Johnson and her daughter Romy outside 10 Downing Street on July 7. The culture secretary - one of the Prime Minister's most stringent supporters - warned colleagues that they have to 'keep the cabinet sailing steadily and keep the government running smoothly' Defence Secretary Ben Wallace (pictured) is the frontrunner to replace Boris Johnson, according to the bookies Liz Truss will land in Britain this afternoon after she cut short a trip to a G20 foreign ministers summit in Indonesia yesterday Suella Braverman (pictured), the Brexit-backing Attorney General, has thrown her hat in the ring for the Tory leadership contest - although she has been given slim odds Around 20 MPs were outside No 10, clapping and cheering as Boris Johnson finished his speech that said admitted 'no-one is indispensable' - less than three years after he won a landslide general election victory SO WHO WILL BE NEXT TO MOVE INTO No10? LIZ TRUSS, 46Foreign Secretary who has also been international trade secretary, justice secretary, chief secretary to the Treasury and Lord Chancellor.Strengths: Popular with Tory grassroots for championing low taxes and free trade.Weaknesses: Backed Remain but now claims to regret decision.BEN WALLACE, 52Former Army officer who has been Defence Secretary since 2019.Strengths: Popular with grassroots Tories, particularly over the handling of the Ukraine war.Weaknesses: Opposed Brexit and is not believed to be sure about running for leader.RISHI SUNAK, 42Ex-banker who was Chancellor until this week.Strengths: Long-standing Brexit supporter who kept economy afloat during the pandemic.Weaknesses: Questions about his personal wealth, behind recent tax rises.SAJID JAVID, 52Triggered this week's wave of resignations by quitting as health secretary.Strengths: Has served as Chancellor and home secretary.Weaknesses: Backed EU membership and is seen as a wooden speaker.SUELLA BRAVERMAN, 42The second ever female Attorney General who became the first Cabinet minister to receive paid maternity leave last year.Strengths: Strong pro-Brexit views and has vowed to wage war on woke.Weaknesses: Surprised many when she launched her leadership bid before Boris Johnson had quit.PENNY MORDAUNT, 49First female defence secretary who is currently a junior trade minister.Strengths: Was a key figure in the Leave campaign and popular within the party.Weaknesses: Has told MPs controversial mantra that 'trans women are women'.NADHIM ZAHAWI, 55Dramatically promoted to Chancellor from education secretary this week.Strengths: Successfully delivered the vaccine rollout.Weaknesses: Accepted promotion then told Boris to quit.STEVE BAKER, 51Former RAF engineer and junior Brexit minister.Strengths: Chaired pro-Brexit ERG and challenged lockdown restrictions.Weaknesses: Potentially alienating libertarian views.TOM TUGENDHAT, 49Served in Iraq and Afghanistan, currently chairs the foreign affairs select committee.Strengths: Already won support of several MPs.Weaknesses: Voted Remain, has no ministerial experience.JAKE BERRY, 43Currently chairs the Northern Research Group of MPs.Strengths: Popular among Red Wall MPs and keen on levelling up agenda.Weaknesses: Admitted he was wrong to oppose Brexit. It comes as: Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said he was 'saddened' by the departure of Mr Johnson, who he hailed as a 'hero';Foreign Secretary Liz Truss cut short a trip to Indonesia to fly back to the UK, where she is expected to launch a leadership bid pitching herself as a low-tax Tory who can hold Mr Johnson's electoral coalition together;Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi faced a backlash from some Tory MPs after revealing he had privately told the PM to quit just 12 hours after publicly calling for him to stay;In the first of what could be many blue-on-blue attacks this summer, Jacob Rees-Mogg savaged Rishi Sunak, saying he was 'not a successful chancellor, he was a high-tax chancellor';Defence Secretary Ben Wallace was consulting his family about a leadership challenge after polls named him as the favourite among Tory activists;Former Army officer Tom Tugendhat will run and was emerging as the leading candidate of the Tory Remainers;A poll found that Mr Sunak was best placed to beat Labour, as he prepared to launch his own party leadership bid;Labour threatened to hold a formal vote of no confidence next week which could trigger a quick general election;A smirking Sir Keir was spotted at Wimbledon as Labour officials celebrated the Tories' self-destructive removal of the man who repeatedly beat them at the polls;Vladimir Putin celebrated the departure of an implacable opponent, with the Kremlin saying Mr Johnson had been 'hit by a boomerang launched by himself';Attorney general Suella Braverman stayed in her Cabinet job despite calling on the PM to quit and announcing her leadership bid before he resigned;Sir John Major launched a bitter attack on the PM, calling on Tory MPs to kick him out of Downing Street immediately;Senior Tories were finalising the rules for a formal Tory leadership contest, which is expected to start next week and produce a new leader by the start of September.Yesterday's cabinet meeting is said to have concluded with ministers banging tables in tribute to Johnson. Tories have been speculating that whoever eventually come out on top would have to cope with Johnson causing trouble for them. One said: 'He is a hugely charismatic person. He is a rock star and a big figure on the world stage. He is not going to fade away in the background.' One of Johnson's allies who was with him on Wednesday night said: 'I'm angry with him, he could have done everything with an 80-seat majority but he's blown it.' Miss Truss will land in Britain this afternoon after she cut short a trip to a G20 foreign ministers summit in Indonesia yesterday.The minister, who is finalising plans for her campaign, will argue she can keep together the coalition of voters who backed Mr Johnson at the 2019 general election when he won a thumping majority.A close ally said last night: 'She is popular in both the Red Wall and the Lib Dem-facing marginals we need to keep hold of.'In a swipe at former Chancellor Rishi Sunak who raised national insurance, Miss Truss will declare that she is a 'low-tax' Tory who will 'get the economy moving again'. The ally added: 'She is vastly experienced and knows how to drive difficult policy through Whitehall... She is tough and delivers and gets things done.'Defence Secretary Mr Wallace is also planning to run for the top job after discussing a leadership bid with his family.The former Army officer, 52, is expected to confirm his intentions in the coming days. He has emerged as a front-runner after a survey of Conservative Party members.The father-of-three, who is separated from his wife, topped a YouGov poll with 13 per cent support, just ahead of Miss Mordaunt on 12 per cent, Mr Sunak on 10 per cent and Miss Truss on 8 per cent.Former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who was beaten by Mr Johnson in the 2019 Tory leadership contest, trailed in on 5 per cent – the same as new Chancellor Mr Zahawi. Bookies installed Mr Wallace as favourite following the poll.The MP for Wyre and Preston North has gained plaudits across the political spectrum for his handling of the war in Ukraine. Miss Mordaunt, who was the first female Defence Secretary before being fired by Mr Johnson, already has a campaign team in place. The resignations of Mr Sunak and Mr Javid from Cabinet on Tuesday triggered the mass exodus which ultimately crippled Mr Johnson's leadership. Penny Mordaunt, Minister of State for Trade Policy, is among the bookies' favourites to replace Mr Johnson, as the field of candidates begins to take shape Rishi Sunak, who stepped down as Chancellor of the Exchequer on Tuesday at the very start of the coup against Mr Johnson, has emerged as an early favourite for the Tory crown Sajid Javid, who stepped down as health secretary within minutes of Mr Sunak's resignation, has 7/1 odds of taking his party's reigns Mr Sunak was regarded as a front-runner for the Tory crown before his stock took a tumble following disclosures earlier this year that his wife had non-dom status for tax purposes. Last night it was reported he has set up a temporary campaign base in a Westminster hotel.It is understood that former Health Secretary Mr Javid and Transport Secretary Grant Shapps are seriously considering running.Rivals last night gloated that Mr Zahawi's campaign was 'falling apart' after he took the job of Chancellor only to call for Mr Johnson to go 24 hours later.But his allies said he would pitch himself as a successful former businessman who had delivered Britain's Covid vaccine rollout.Former Territorial Army officer Mr Tugendhat, a backbench MP who heads the Commons foreign affairs committee, has already won the backing of several top Tories, including Theresa May's ex-deputy Damian Green.Last night it emerged that Kemi Badenoch, who quit as a Levelling Up Minister on Wednesday, was 'actively considering running'.A source close to the 42-year-old, who was first elected to Parliament in 2017, said: 'Some MPs are urging Kemi to run and she has started the process of taking soundings.'She is speaking to MPs to find out what they are looking for in a new leader to see if she has it. A poll last night showed Mr Sunak is the only one of the main candidates who can beat Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer in a head-to-head contest. His closest rival in the JL Partners poll was Mr Javid, who was three points behind Sir Keir. WE still love you, daddy! Sweet moment Boris is welcomed back into the arms of his son Wilf, two, inside Downing Street after finally facing the music and resigningBy Adam Solomons for MailOnline Boris Johnson was pictured embracing his son Wilf before hugging wife Carrie and nine-month old daughter Romy after announcing his intention to resign at lunchtime yesterday.The prime minister smirked at Wilf, two, after returning to Number Ten from the short speech given after 12.30pm.Aides and ministerial colleagues applauded the doomed PM, with some reportedly crying at the news.Images released by Downing Street overnight also showed Mr Johnson speaking with Ukrainian president Zelensky on the phone yesterday afternoon.In another image, the prime minister is pictured looking down at his resignation speech solemnly.After giving the address, Johnson returned to his study to plot his latest - and final - Cabinet.Number Ten took the rare decision to release the images taken by photographer Andrew Parsons, which showed the prime minister in the immediate aftermath of his momentous speech.Their official caption described Johnson's family 'comforting' him following the statement. Boris Johnson holds son Wilf, two, who already appears the spitting image of his father. The PM resigned at lunchtime yesterdayMr Johnson embraced wife Carrie and baby daughter Romy, who was held in a carrier as she attended his resignation speech Special relationship: Wilf was born just days after his father survived a life-threatening bout of Covid at St Thomas's Hospital After making his speech, Mr Johnson was applauded by aides and ministerial colleagues including Johnny Mercer (centre left), who was now been re-appointed to the Cabinet as Minister for Veterans' Affairs. The PM smirks at Wilf (below) as wife Carrie (right, in red) beams. Downing Street aide Ross Kempsell (furthest left) also applauds Mr Johnson By yesterday afternoon, Jacob Rees-Mogg (centre) and Nadine Dorries (right of Mr Johnson) were among the only Cabinet ministers still in support of the PM's continued tenure. Johnson is pictured conferring with colleagues after making his speech yesterday Boris Johnson was pictured yesterday afternoon in conversation with President Zelensky, perhaps his last as prime minister Downing Street photographer Andrew Parsons captured the moment Johnson strode out of Downing Street to give the speech In another pensive image, Johnson goes through his statement in the minutes before stepping out in front of Number TenAdmirers: standing in front of the podium and watched by close aides and Carrie with baby Romy (pictured, centre right), Mr Johnson pointed to his achievements since winning the 2019 general election. Staff reportedly cried before and afterwards Mrs Johnson kisses nine-month-old Romy who was with her to hear the resignation speech yesterday. Ms Dorries is also presentJacob Rees-Mogg, Nadine Dorries and Alister Jack, his most loyal trio of Cabinet lieutenants, feature prominently. From a rocky start to political power couple: A timeline of Boris and Carrie Johnson's relationship2009: Carrie Symonds, then 21, joins the Conservative Party as press officer. Her association with Mr Johnson dates back to the early years, having worked on his successful re-election bid at City Hall in 2012.February 2018: Boris, then still married to wife Maria Wheeler, is spotted with Carrie outside the Conservative party Black and White Ball at the Natural History Museum. It is thought to be the first time the pair were photographed together. September 2018: News breaks that Boris has been kicked out of the marital home by his wife of 25 years amid reports he was seeing another woman. First photo: Boris, then still married to Maria Wheeler, is spotted with Carrie outside a Conservative party fundraiserJune 2019: By now Boris and Carrie are living together in her flat in Camberwell, South East London. Reports emerge that police were called to the property after neighbours heard a loud altercation involving screaming, shouting and banging. Symonds could allegedly be heard telling Johnson to 'get off me' and 'get out of my flat'.Police initially said they had no record of a domestic incident at the address, but later issued a statement saying: 'At 00:24hrs on Friday, 21 June, police responded to a call from a local resident in [south London]. The caller was concerned for the welfare of a female neighbour.'Police attended and spoke to all occupants of the address, who were all safe and well. There were no offences or concerns apparent to the officers and there was no cause for police action.'Neither Boris nor Carrie have spoken publicly about the incident. Front and centre: Boris Johnson is elected as the leader of the Conservative party. Carrie is pictured alongside his family as he arrives at Downing StreetJune 2019: A few days later the couple were pictured holding hands in the countryside. July 2019: The couple buy a £1.3million house in Camberwell after Boris sells the £3.7million mansion he shared with wife Marina.23 July 2019: Boris Johnson is elected as the leader of the Conservative party and Prime Minister. Carrie is pictured alongside his family as he arrives at Downing Street.29 July 2019: Spokesperson confirms Carrie Symonds will move into Downing Street. They are the first unmarried couple to officially live at the address. September 2019: Couple adopt a rescue dog, Dilyn. December 2019: Boris Johnson wins the general election and the couple flies to St Lucia and Mustique to celebrateFebruary 2020: Boris Johnson's divorce from Marina Wheeler is approved to proceed29 February 2020: Boris and Carrie announce they are engaged and expecting a baby. A spokesperson for the couple said: 'The prime minister and Miss Symonds are very pleased to announce their engagement and that they are expecting a baby in the early summer.'27 March 2020: Boris Johnson tests positive for Covid-19 and is subsequently hospitalised.29 April 2020: Couple welcome their son Wilfred. Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas Johnson in full – was named after Mr and Mrs Johnson's grandfathers and partly in tribute to two doctors, Nick Hart and Nick Price, who helped save Mr Johnson's life when he was in hospital with Covid in 2020. Family life: Couple welcome their son Wilfred. Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas Johnson in full – was named after Mr and Mrs Johnson's grandfathers and partly in tribute to two doctors, Nick Hart and Nick Price, who helped save Mr Johnson's life 26 May 2020: Boris and Carrie Johnson wed at Westminster Cathedral with a small garden party the following day. News was made public a few days later. 31 July 2020: Couple announce they are expecting a second child and reveal they suffered a miscarriage earlier in the year.June 2021: Carrie joins Boris at the G7 summit and introduces son Wilfred to President Biden and his wife Jill 9 December 2021: Carrie and Boris announce birth of a baby girl16 December 2021: The couple announced they have named their daughter Romy Iris Charlotte Johnson. Baby girl: Carrie and Boris announce birth of a baby girl. The couple later revealed they had named their daughter Romy Iris Charlotte Johnson (pictured with brother Wilf)Mrs Johnson explained the choice of name: 'Romy after my aunt, Rosemary. Iris from the Greek, meaning rainbow. Charlotte [after] Boris's late mum whom we miss so much.'June 2022: Carrie joins Boris at a series of high profile events including the Platinum Jubilee, a Commonwealth visit to Rwanda and the G7 summit. Daughter Romy joins her parents on the latter two.7 July 2022: Boris Johnson announces he will resign following a slew of ministerial resignations.Also present were Tory MPs Johnny Mercer, Sarah Dines, James Duddridge, and Downing Street staffers Andrew Griffith, Ross Kempsell and Charlotte Owen.Front-row guests outside Downing Street yesterday included culture secretary Nadine Dorries and supportive backbencher Andrea Jenkyns.After trying to weather the storm brought by Conservative MPs and numerous Cabinet ministers since Tuesday evening, Mr Johnson finally decided at 6am yesterday that he would step down.A Downing Street official phoned BBC political editor Chris Mason while he was appearing on a bumper special episode of the Today programme, which ran from 6.30 till 9.45am.Mr Johnson then wrote his resignation speech alone before delivering it at lunchtime.Unusually somber in tone, Johnson nevertheless sniped Cabinet rivals and backbench rebels, claiming it was 'herd instincts' in Westminster that did him in.Mr Johnson said: 'In the last few days I have tried to persuade my colleagues it would be eccentric to change governments when we are delivering so much.'And when we have such a vast mandate, and when we're actually only a handful of points behind in the polls, even in mid-term after quite a few months of pretty relentless sledging.'Of course it's painful not to be able to see through so many ideas and projects myself.'But, as we've seen at Westminster, the herd instinct is powerful and when the herd moves, it moves.'In politics, no one is remotely indispensable. Our brilliant and Darwinian system will produce another leader equally committed to taking this country forward through tough times.'After delivering the speech, Johnson returned to his office, where he set about re-appointing the Cabinet after a slew of resignations over the past 48 hours.Consensus-driven Commons committee chair Greg Clark was named the new Levelling Up Secretary, replacing sacked Michael Gove.James Cleverly became Education Secretary after Nadim Zahawi was made Chancellor and his replacement, Michelle Donelan, stepped down after mere hours in the job. Robert Buckland returned to the Cabinet as Welsh Secretary and Shailesh Vara took over as Northern Ireland Secretary.Kit Malthouse was named the new Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, a title also held by Mr Gove.The PM's resignation announcement effectively fires the starting gun on what looks set to be a chaotic leadership battle. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss - expected to be a candidate - will cut short a visit to Indonesia to return to the UK.It was revealed tonight that the ensuing Conservative leadership election will conclude by early September.Proposals presented to the backbench 1922 Committee are set to be approved on Monday, the FT reported.A spate of resignations sparked by Sajid Javid's decision to step down on Tuesday evening virtually decapitated Johnson's government - and threatened to deprive numerous Whitehall departments of any ministers at all. George Freeman, who announced he was resigning as science minister this morning, said Mr Johnson must apologise to the Queen. He also advised her to call for a caretaker prime minister, which would be an unprecedented step in modern constitutional history.'Boris Johnson needs to hand in the seals of office, apologise to Her Majesty and advise her to call for a caretaker prime minister,' he said. 'To take over today so that ministers can get back to work and we can choose a new Conservative leader to try and repair the damage and rebuild trust.'One ex-minister told MailOnline: 'We need to be rid of the Johnson poison as quickly as possible.'Ex-No10 strategy chief Dominic Cummings wrote on Twitter: 'Evict TODAY or he'll cause CARNAGE, even now he's playing for time & will try to stay.'No 'dignity', no 'interim while leadership contest'.'Raab shd be interim PM by evening.'Another former minister, Nick Gibb, said: 'As well as resigning as Party leader the PM must resign his office.'After losing so many ministers, he has lost the trust and authority required to continue.'We need an acting PM who is not a candidate for leader to stabilise the government while a new leader is elected.'The most serious blow perhaps came from Mr Zahawi, who just hours after reportedly threatening to resign if he wasn't handed the keys to No 11, publicly called on the PM to quit.He tweeted a resignation letter, signed on Treasury headed paper, and wrote: 'Prime Minister: this is not sustainable and it will only get worse: for you, for the Conservative Party and most important of all the country.'You must do the right thing and go now.'A council of Cabinet ministers reportedly visited Johnson and urged him to go yesterday afternoon.They included Home Secretary Priti Patel, Welsh Secretary Simon Hart, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps and Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, the BBC reported.After Johnson refused, Mr Hart quit.It appears the only Cabinet ministers who truly wished for Mr Johnson to stay were Ms Dorries and Brexit opportunities secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg.Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: 'It is good news for the country that Boris Johnson has resigned as Prime Minister.'But it should have happened long ago. He was always unfit for office. He has been responsible for lies, scandal and fraud on an industrial scale.'And all those who have been complicit should be utterly ashamed.'The Tory party have inflicted chaos upon the country during the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades. And they cannot now pretend they are the ones to sort it out.'They have been in power for 12 years. The damage they have done is profound.'In a sensational twist late last night, Mr Johnson summarily sacked Michael Gove with No10 sources branding the Levelling Up Secretary a 'snake' who had tried to tell the premier that the 'the game was up'.Constitutional experts have branded the 'nuclear option' of asking the Queen for a dissolution 'deluded madness' which would spark a crisis as the monarch would be obliged to turned down his request.In his resignation letter, Mr Lewis - a former party chairman who has been Northern Ireland Secretary since early 2020 - warned divided Conservatives cannot win elections.He said: 'A decision to leave Government is never taken lightly, particularly at such a critical time for Northern Ireland. I have taken a lot of time to consider this decision, having outlined my position to you at length last night.Mr Lewis told the Prime Minister that in recent months, the Conservative Party has been 'relentlessly on the defensive, consumed by introspection and in-fighting'.'A divided Party cannot win elections. It cannot deliver for those who trusted us with their votes for the first time in 2019.'Mr Lewis told Mr Johnson he had 'given you, and those around you, the benefit of the doubt'.Mrs Johnson, a former Conservative Party communications chief, re-wore a £325 red L.K. Bennett for the occasion and held her daughter Romy in a baby carrier The couple tied the knot in a secret ceremony at Westminster Cathedral in front of just a handful of guests in May 2021 but according to sources have planned a second event at Chequers at the end of July 'I have gone out and defended this Government both publicly and privately,' the Northern Ireland Secretary told Boris Johnson in his resignation letter.'We are, however, now past the point of no return. I cannot sacrifice my personal integrity to defend things as they stand now. 'It is clear that our Party, parliamentary colleagues, volunteers and the whole country, deserve better.'Ms Whately, MP for Faversham and Mid Kent and another loyalist, said: 'I have argued that you should continue as Prime Minister many times in recent months, but there are only so many times you can apologise and move on. That point has been reached.' Johnson re-enters Downing Street after delivering the statement in which he announced his intention to resign as PM The PM's resignation announcement effectively fires the starting gun on what looks set to be a chaotic leadership battle The PM is understood to have been 'mainly alone' as he wrote the resignation statement, which came at 12.30pm yesterday Yesterday afternoon Mr Johnson thanked the public for letting him serve them as PM, describing it as 'the best job in the world' | United Kingdom Politics |
Key events22m agoGood morning!22m agoJohn Farnham undergoing surgery for cancerShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this featurePaul KarpThere needs to be consequences for Morrison, whatever the legal outcome, Marles saysEarlier, the deputy PM Richard Marles told ABC News Breakfast:Whatever the legal outcome here is, what is really clear is that Scott Morrison treated firstly the Australian people with complete contempt, by not making transparent the decisions he was taking in respect of who was running Australia at that point in time, but he’s treated his own colleagues with contempt. Importantly here, he has treated the cabinet process with contempt. That’s at the heart of the Westminster system. As we go forward, whatever the legal advice, there needs to be some political consequence for a person who has flouted the, really, the Westminster cabinet system so completely.Consequences for Morrison’s actions are a question for the Liberal Party – MarlesThe deputy prime minister and minister for defence Richard Marles is speaking to ABC Radio now.The first question gets straight to the big news of the day – the fallout of Scott Morrison’s secret ministries saga ahead of the public release of the solicitor general’s legal advice.Marles has previously said he thinks the consequences for Morrison’s actions should be severe, but when asked what that looks like he said:That is a question for the Liberal party and I want to see what Peter Dutton thinks should be done here. For someone who has so completely flouted our own system of government, there has to be some political consequence.NSW pushes to reconsider Covid-19 iso periodA push has been revived for Australia’s leaders to consider cutting the isolation period for Covid-19 cases as the nation’s latest Omicron wave winds down, AAP reports.NSW premier Dominic Perrottet has flagged putting Covid-19 isolation back on the agenda when national cabinet is next due to meet on 31 August.He previously raised shortening isolation from seven days to five, and wants the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, as well as his state and territory colleagues to look at it again as spring approaches.He told reporters yesterday:Given where we are we should have a national approach … that’s more beneficial than states going their own way.The push comes as the latest research published in the journal Nature shows that more than a quarter of people with Covid may still be infectious after seven days “irrespective of the variant type or how many vaccine doses people had received”.Amy RemeikisKaty Gallagher heading to Bali to attend G20 conference for women’s empowermentKaty Gallagher is on her way to Bali for the G20 ministerial conference for women’s empowerment.It’s the first time an Australian minister has attended this conference in person. That’s because it was established in 2021 (during Covid) and was held in a hybrid format (in-person and virtually).This meeting will allow Gallagher some bilateral meetings with her Indonesian, EU, UK, Indian and Fijian counterparts and what’s discussed at this conference will form some of us taken to the G20 (also in Bali) later this year.Gallagher is the third Australian minister to visit Indonesia since Labor won government, following the prime minister and foreign affairs minister Penny Wong.Minister for finance, Katy Gallagher. Photograph: Dean Martin/AAPSarah Martin‘We need to have an honest conversation’: health minister to tell workforce roundtableAhead of next week’s jobs and skills summit, the health minister, Mark Butler, will hold a health workforce round table on Tuesday.He will tell peak medical bodies, unions and Indigenous health groups that he wants an “honest conversation” about what more can be done to address chronic skills shortages in the sector, listing workforce challenges as a priority in his portfolio.Butler will say, according to draft excerpts of his speech:My message to the frontline health workers in this room, is that you walk the wards every day, you know the system and you know where we can do better. The fact is that if you don’t support skilled workers to deliver healthcare to the community, the health system fails.Butler said he would be holding a series of meetings over the next two months to “understand what governments can do better” as he forged ahead with a new health workforce taskforce set up with the states and territories. The challenges ahead of us are not insurmountable, rather many of these challenges present opportunities for us to improve and future-proof our health workforce. We must get the distribution of the health workforce on track to strengthen the role of primary care and make sure people, no matter where they live, can access the care they need, when they need it.Butler said while international skilled migration would always be necessary, this was “only one strategy” and more needed to be done to ensure the training and career pathways for the health workforce were set correctly.We need to have an honest conversation about what else we need to do, to ensure we have the health workers we need in regional, rural and remote areas – tackling the difficulties are complex. Specifically, providing adequate health worker accommodation and ensuring access to childcare and essential services are key. There are no easy answers, but we need to take on these difficult issues if we’re to have the workforce we need for our growing and ageing population.”John Farnham undergoing surgery for cancerMusic legend John Farnham has been diagnosed with cancer.Farnham’s family has released a statement to say he has been admitted to hospital for surgery and treatment.John Farnham performing in Sydney in 2019. Photograph: Hanna Lassen/WireImageThe statement also includes words from Farnham himself, taking comfort in the fact that “countless others have walked this path before me” and the excellence of Victoria’s healthcare professionals.Music legend John Farnham has revealed he’s been diagnosed with cancer and has this morning been admitted to hospital for surgery and treatment. pic.twitter.com/NChs45cGYv— Monique Hore (@moniquehore) August 22, 2022
Good morning!The legal advice from the solicitor general of former prime minister Scott Morrison’s secret appointment to five additional ministries will be made public today.The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, will brief cabinet about the advice before making it public.Samantha Maiden from News.com is reporting the advice will be “scathing”:News.com.au has confirmed with senior government sources that are familiar with its contents that the legal advice is sharply critical of the conduct of the former prime minister and will lay the groundwork for a formal investigation into Scott Morrison’s ‘ministry of secrets’.ABC Radio is reporting Albanese has flagged another investigation is under way by the department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.The Sydney Morning Herald has reported the results of an exclusive survey showing the Albanese government is enjoying an extended “honeymoon” of post-election support, while the new findings show voters have cut their primary vote support for the Coalition from 36% to 28% since the election.Ahead of next week’s jobs and skills summit, the health minister, Mark Butler, will hold a health workforce round table today.Let’s kick off! | Australia Politics |
India's Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar attends a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Nusa Dua on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on July 8, 2022. Stefani Reynolds/Pool via REUTERSRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comBEIJING/NEW DELHI, July 29 (Reuters) - China said on Friday it hoped "relevant parties" would refrain from interfering with its legitimate maritime activities, after New Delhi voiced concern over a Chinese military ship's planned visit to a port in India's southern neighbour Sri Lanka.India worries that the Chinese-built and leased port of Hambantota will be used by China as a military base in India's backyard. The $1.5 billion port is near the main shipping route from Asia to Europe.Shipping data from Refinitiv Eikon showed Chinese research and survey vessel Yuan Wang 5 was en route to Hambantota and due to arrive on Aug. 11, at a time when Sri Lanka is facing its worst economic crisis in seven decades. India has provided Sri Lanka with nearly $4 billion in support this year alone.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comDuring a weekly briefing late on Thursday, an Indian foreign ministry spokesman said the government was monitoring the planned visit of the Chinese ship, adding that New Delhi would protect its security and economic interests. read more India has already lodged a verbal protest with the Sri Lankan government against the ship's visit, Reuters reported on Thursday.In response to questions from Reuters, China's foreign ministry said Beijing had always exercised freedom of the high seas lawfully."China hopes that the relevant parties will view and report on China's marine scientific research activities correctly and refrain from interfering with normal and legitimate maritime activities," the ministry said in a statement.Relations between India and China have been strained since armed clashes on their border two years ago killed at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers and led to a massive build-up of troops on both sides.Foreign security analysts describe the Yuan Wang 5 as one of China’s latest generation space-tracking ships, used to monitor satellite, rocket and intercontinental ballistic missile launches.The Pentagon’s annual report on China’s military modernisation says the Yuan Wang ships are operated by the Strategic Support Force of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).A Sri Lankan consulting firm, the Belt & Road Initiative Sri Lanka, said on its website that the Yuan Wang 5 would be in Hambantota for a week and "conduct space tracking, satellite control and research tracking in the northwestern part of the Indian Ocean region through August and September".Sri Lanka formally handed over commercial activities at its main southern port to a Chinese company in 2017 on a 99-year lease after struggling to repay its debt.China is one of Sri Lanka's biggest lenders and has also funded airports, roads and railways, unnerving India, which is now trying to claw back lost ground.Sri Lanka angered India in 2014 when it allowed a Chinese submarine and a warship to dock in Colombo.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Krishna N. Das in New Delhi, Yew Lun Tian in Beijing and Greg Torode in Hong Kong; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Mark HeinrichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Asia Politics |
Saudi Arabia just said they are now 'open' to the idea of trading in currencies besides the US dollar — does this spell doom for the greenback? 3 reasons not to worryThe 2023 World Economic Forum has been going on for just a few days and we’re already getting a glimpse of the future the global elites envision for us all.Saudi Arabia’s Finance Minister, Mohammed Al-Jadaan, stunned reporters in Davos when he expressed that the oil-rich nation was open to trading in currencies beside the U.S. dollar for the first time in 48 years.“There are no issues with discussing how we settle our trade arrangements, whether it’s in the U.S. dollar, the euro, or the Saudi riyal,” Al-Jadaan said.His comments are the latest signal that powerful nations across the world are plotting a “de-dollarization” of the global economy.Here’s why replacing the dollar is gaining popularity and why dethroning the greenback is easier said than done.Don't miss'Hold onto your money': Jeff Bezos says you might want to rethink buying a 'new automobile, refrigerator, or whatever' — here are 3 better recession-proof buysBetter than NFTs: You don't have to be ultra-rich to own a piece of a Pablo Picasso. Here's how to enter the fine art marketAmericans are paying nearly 40% more on home insurance compared to 12 years ago — here's how to spend less on peace of mindRebellion against the dollarThe dollar’s dominance of global trade and capital flows dates back at least 80 years. Over the last eight decades, the U.S. has been the world’s largest economy, most influential political entity and most powerful military force.However, economists from other countries are increasingly worried that the country has “weaponized” this position of power in recent years, according to the CBC. The U.S. implements sanctions to punish countries in conflict, threatens to devalue its own currency to win trade wars and leverages it to support its own economy at the expense of the rest of the world.Unsurprisingly, these moves have inspired a backlash from China, Russia and other prominent countries.At the 14th BRICS Summit last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced measures to create a new “international currency standard.” Meanwhile, China has been urging oil producers and major exporters to accept yuan for payments.This rebellion against the U.S. dollar could erode some of its influence, but there are reasons to believe the greenback’s dominance will be sustained.Replacing the dollar would be hardThe U.S. dollar’s dominance is underappreciated. As of late-2022, the greenback accounts for 59.79% of total foreign reserves. In comparison, the Euro accounts for 19.66%, while the Chinese renminbi accounts for just 2.76% of global reserves.China could expand its market share by twenty-fold and still lag the U.S. dollar by a wide margin.Put simply, replacing the U.S. dollar in foreign reserves is easier said than done.READ MORE: 4 simple ways to protect your money against white-hot inflation (without being a stock market genius)Other countries have a lot of catching upReserve currency status is closely correlated with the size of the issuing country’s economy. In other words, the largest economy usually has the reserve currency status.During the 19th century, the British pound was the world’s reserve currency because the British Empire’s colonies needed it for trade and commerce. For the past century, the U.S. dollar has dominated because the American economy is the largest by far.China’s growth has slowed down in recent years and some believe it will never overtake the U.S. Meanwhile, Russia was the 11th largest economy before it invaded Ukraine, despite being economically smaller in size than California or Texas alone.And India is growing rapidly, but it would need to grow 628% to match the U.S.’s GDP today. That could take 25 years.America’s economic lead is simply insurmountable.The U.S. will still be OKThe final reason Americans shouldn’t be worried about the dollar losing influence is that the worst-case scenario isn’t so bad. Some analysts believe that the future could be more multilateral.The U.S. may lose influence in some segments of the global economy but not lose dominance everywhere. For instance, the Chinese yuan could become more important for trade and cross-border payments, but the dollar could remain the preferred reserve currency for central banks of developed nations.That’s far from an economic nightmare for Americans.What to read nextYou could be the landlord of Walmart, Whole Foods and CVS (and collect fat grocery store-anchored income on a quarterly basis)Here's the golden secret to making your retirement fund as secure as Fort Knox60% of working Americans don’t feel confident they’ll have enough money to retire — here’s how to protect your assets heading into a recessionThis article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind. | Middle East Politics |
Britain’s prison system is collapsing and Britain’s penal policy with it. This is good news. Both are lost in the back alleys of social policy. This is not the result of soaring crime but of mindless populism, which equates more prisons with more votes.
Britain’s prison population is now approaching capacity at 88,016. This has tripled since 1960 and is at an all-time record. This week the prisons minister, Alex Chalk, is talking of beds in police stations and portable buildings in prison yards – and even of setting prisoners free. He wants to deport foreign criminals, who make up 12% of the prison population. He wants to slash remands in custody and end short sentences for non-violent crimes. He believes in more early releases and hopes a wide variety of non-custodial punishments – such as cleaning graffiti – could be introduced. Necessity has bred a raging liberal. I fear for his future.
These proposals have been caused not by an advent of reformism but by a U-turn sparked by panic, one largely induced by the government’s own measures. Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have both tried introducing tough-on-crime changes in a frantic bid for votes – sadly supported by Labour. They hired more police officers to “charge more people … reduce crime and have more people in jail”, making good on a 2019 manifesto promise. They pushed back parole eligibility for offenders with a sentence of more than seven years, and suggested harsher imprisonment for offences such as dangerous driving, knife carrying and damage to memorials (up to 10 years in jail).
When a rare sensible prisons minister, David Gauke, said that short sentences of six months or less were pointless if not counterproductive, he was sacked. Judges got the message and imprisoned people for longer. In August, Sunak called for “automatic” prison sentences for repeat shoplifting. In 2021, he announced the government was to build 500 new cells for women. Of the 3,600 women who are now in prison, virtually none of them are a danger to society or to anyone but themselves. Their imprisonment – and that of many non-violent men – is state cruelty.
Nothing in the current crisis is a mystery, since it has been forecast every year for a decade. With one voice ministers cry for more prisoners, and with another they cry that there is no room. Each time the government announces a prison building programme, currently of about £4bn over the next three years.
There is as yet no sign of its implementation, though it is less than Sunak still means to spend every year for 10 years on a railway from Birmingham to a London suburb that nobody wants.
Prison reform is one of the most thankless areas of social science, because it runs slap into the brick wall of politics. Britain is not a more criminal country than elsewhere in western Europe, its politicians just choose to imprison far more of their population. Chalk could have pointed out that regimes that are the opposite of Britain’s, such as in Norway, have pursued similar policies to those he is proposing and have seen greatly improved rates of rehabilitation and non-reoffending. Norway’s prison population is now proportionately one-third of Britain’s. If there is now to be a genuine slashing of the prison population – more bail, more early release, more community sentencing, less imprisonment and more probation – there must be research into the results. Let’s see if it works.
The hope must be that prison hysteria can die down. Politicians must see British prisons as they are, academies of repeat crime and dens of violence, mental illness and drug addiction, their inmates now locked up 23 hours a day. Short sentences are a misnomer. In most cases they are life sentences. At very least this is the moment to abolish them.
Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist | United Kingdom Politics |
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaks during a joint news conference with Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, in Tehran, Iran June 23, 2022. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comJune 28 (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will attend a meeting of his counterparts of the Group of 20 biggest economies (G20) in Bali next week, a Russian embassy official in Indonesia said on Tuesday.Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which it calls a "special operation," has overshadowed G20 proceedings this year, with several Western countries threatening to boycott a leaders' summit if Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends.Though there has been no indication from Moscow that Lavrov would not attend, Russia's participation at G20 events has been a source of tension, including a walkout by U.S., British and Canadian officials at a G20 finance meeting in April.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comG20 chair Indonesia has tried to unite the group and has invited both Russian and Ukrainian leaders to the November summit.Denis Tetiushin, a spokesperson at the Russian embassy in Jakarta, confirmed to Reuters that Lavrov would join the July 7-8 meeting on the island of Bali. An Indonesian foreign ministry spokesperson was not able to immediately confirm that.Indonesian President Joko Widodo is set to meet his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts during visits to Kyiv and Moscow this week on a peace-building mission, where which he hopes also to discuss freeing-up grain exports. read more Jokowi, as the Indonesian president is better known, was in Poland on Tuesday and would travel by train to reach Kyiv, his office said in a statement.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Kate Lamb in Sydney; Additional reporting by Stanley Widianto; Editing by Martin PettyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Global Organizations |
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was rushed to a hospital after being shot while giving a speech on a street in Nara in western Japan Friday.Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida gave an emotional press conference where he said Abe, 67, is in "severe condition" and he hopes he will survive. Abe was taken from the scene of the shooting unconscious and in cardiac arrest with no vital sings, Japanese media outlets Kyodo News and NHK reported. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks to reporters at his official residence in Tokyo Monday, Aug. 24, 2020. (Kyodo News via AP) At the time Abe collapsed, a sound like a gunshot was heard. He appeared to have been shot from behind. Abe was making a campaign speech ahead of Sunday’s election for the parliament's upper house at the time of the shooting.JAPANESE PM ABE SAYS HE'S RESIGNING OVER RESURFACING OF CHRONIC HEALTH ISSUE Kishida, who belongs to the same political party as Abe, returned to Tokyo from a campaign trip after the shooting. Kishida spoke to reporters at the prime minister’s office, saying Abe was receiving utmost medical treatment. "I’m praying for former prime minister Abe’s survival from the bottom of my heart," he said.WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGE Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, center, falls on the ground in Nara, western Japan Friday, July 8, 2022. Abe was in heart failure after apparently being shot during a campaign speech Friday in western Japan, NHK public television said Friday. (Kyodo News via AP)Kishida called the attack "dastardly and barbaric" and that the crime during the election campaign, which is the foundation of democracy, is absolutely unforgivable.U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said in a statement: "We are all saddened and shocked by the shooting of former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo. Abe-san has been an outstanding leader of Japan and unwavering ally of the U.S. The U.S. Government and American people are praying for the well-being of Abe-san, his family, & people of Japan." U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was in Bali, Indonesia for a G20 meeting, said he was "deeply saddened about the shooting" and "Our thoughts, prayers are with him, his family, and people of Japan. Very sad moment."AFTER ALLEGED PLOT TO KILL KAVANAUGH, REPUBLICANS TARGETED IN 2017 SHOOTING FEAR MORE ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS This aerial photo shows the scene of gunshots in Nara, western Japan Friday, July 8, 2022. Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was in heart failure after apparently being shot during a campaign speech Friday in western Japan, NHK public television said Friday. (Kyodo News via AP)(Kyodo News via AP) Former president Donald Trump reacted to Abe's shooting on his social media platform Truth Social, writing: "Absolutely devastating news that former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, a truly great man and leader, has been shot, and is in very serious condition. He was a true friend of mine and, much more importantly, America. This is a tremendous blow to the wonderful people of Japan, who loved and admired him so much. We are all praying for Shinzo and his beautiful family!"Former Vice President Mike Pence took to Twitter early Friday morning to say he and his wife Karen are "deeply troubled to learn of the shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe."Pence continued, "Abe-san was a remarkable leader of Japan and an unshakeable ally of the U.S. We join millions praying for this truly good man and his family. God bless Shinzo Abe." He shared the tweet along with a picture of himself with Abe.President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have yet to release any statements. JAPAN LODGES PROTEST AFTER CHINESE, RUSSIAN WARSHIPS SPOTTED NEAR DISPUTED ISLANDS: A ‘GRAVE CONCERN’ A male suspect was detained at the scene and a gun was confiscated. NHK identified the suspect as Yamagami Tetsuya, 41. People react after gunshots in Nara, western Japan Friday, July 8, 2022. Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was in heart failure after apparently being shot during a campaign speech Friday in western Japan, NHK public television said Friday. (Kyodo News via AP)According to NHK, several of the country's Ministry of Defense officials said Yamagami had been working for the Maritime Self-Defense Force for three years until around 2005. He reportedly told police that he was dissatisfied with former Prime Minister Abe and wanted to kill him.Abe is Japan's longest-serving prime minister. He served from 2006 to 2007 and again in 2012 until he resigned in 2020 after his ulcerative colitis, a chronic condition, resurfaced, calling his decision at the time "gut-wrenching."WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGE VIDEODuring his term, he focused on the economy, rebuilding Japan's military and being a larger player in international affairs. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPThis is a breaking story. The Associated Press contributed to this report. | Asia Politics |
Human remains have been exhumed at the location where authorities were searching for British journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous expert Bruno Pereira, Brazil's Justice Minister Anderson Torres said on Wednesday.'I have just been informed by the federal police that ''human remains were found at the site where excavations were being carried out''. They will undergo forensic analysis. Later today, those responsible for the investigations will hold a press conference in Manaus,' Torres said on Twitter.It comes hours after the brothers accused of killing and dismembering Phillips and his Brazilian guide were pictured in handcuffs as police led them to the area where the bodies were thought to have been left.Federal police were seen taking a hooded man they called a suspect out on the river where the pair had disappeared. They did not comment on any confession, but local broadcaster Band News earlier reported both men had admitted to the killings. Both suspects were later formally identified as fisherman Amarildo da Costa, known as 'Pelado,' who was arrested last week on weapons charges, and his brother Oseney da Costa, 41, or 'Dos Santos,' who was taken into custody on Tuesday night. Heavily armed federal officers yesterday led fisherman 'Pelado' onto a boat and towards a remote river Atalaia do Norte where Phillips and indigenous expert Periera went missing earlier this month.President Jair Bolsonaro said on Wednesday afternoon he expected the case to be wrapped up 'in the coming hours'. Amarildo, 41, a fisherman, nicknamed 'Pelado', was seen by witnesses in a boat following Phillips and Pereira at high speed before their disappearance.Local police found traces of blood on his boat which are being analysed, and personal effects of the two missing men near the home of 'Pelado,' who was arrested on June 7 and has denied any involvement.They also seized firearm cartridges and an oar but did not say if they were found in the same place or where the latest suspect was arrested. Oseney da Costa, 41, or 'Dos Santos,' is pictured leaving a courthouse in Atalia do Norte, Brazil on Wednesday June 15 after he was detained by military and civil officers the previous night Suspects in the disappearance of British journalist Dom Phillips and his Brazilian guide Bruno Pereira have confessed to killing and dismembering the men. Pictured: Police with a man believed to be one of the suspects in Brazil's Amazonas state of Atalaia do Norte Heavily armed federal officers led the suspect onto a boat and towards the river where missing British journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous expert Bruno Periera went missing The families of veteran correspondent Dom Phillips (pictured), 57, and Pereira, 41, have endured an anguished wait for news since the pair disappeared a week ago Sunday Bruno Araújo Pereira, an expert on the indigenous peoples of the Amazon, also went missing with his health ID card and clothes found alongside Mr Phillips' backpack Federal Policemen carry seized material, pictured Tuesday, including an oar during a search operation for British journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous expert Bruno Pereira Federal Police officers seen Tuesday conducting a search operation for British journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous expert Bruno Pereira Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro (pictured speaking in Florida, USA on Saturday) said he expected the case to be wrapped up 'in the coming hours' Local police found traces of blood on Pelado's boat which are being analysed, and personal effects of the two missing men. Pictured: Federal police officers carrying boxes at the pier after searching for Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira and freelance British journalist Dom Phillips in Atalaia do NorteThe families of Phillips, 57, and Pereira, 41, have endured an anguished wait for news since the pair disappeared a week ago Sunday. It is believed they were on a trip to Brazil's Javari Valley, a remote jungle region rife with illegal fishing, logging, mining and drug trafficking.The search for the pair was nearing an end on Tuesday, as the area left to search grew smaller, a spokesman for indigenous group Univaja said.In a statement police said Oliveira also known as 'Dos Santos' did not resist arrest for 'alleged aggravated murder' at his home in Atalaia do Norte, the Guardian was told. Brazil's president Jair Bolsonaro announced on Monday that human remains had been found in the search, saying 'something wicked' had been done to them. 'The indications are that something wicked was done to them,' Bolsonaro said, claiming that 'human innards were found floating in the river, which are now undergoing DNA testing.'But the Brazilian ambassador to the UK, Fred Arruda, has since apologised to Philips' family.He went on to say the embassy had been 'misled' by information it had received from 'investigating officials'. Flavia Farias (R), a relative of Dom Philips, cries with her friend Luis Fabiano (L) during a protest against their disappearances The Javari region is an area notorious for illegal mining and drug trafficking, and the pair had reportedly faced threats before their disappearanceMr Arruda wrote to the journalist's family: 'We are deeply sorry the embassy passed on to the family yesterday information that did not prove correct, 'On reflection, there was precipitation on the part of the multi-agency team, for which I wholeheartedly apologise,' Arruda added, 'The search operation will go on, with no efforts being spared.'Our thoughts remain with Dom, Bruno, yourselves and the other members of both families.'On Tuesday, police said they had found personal items belonging to the two men, including Pereira's health card, trousers and boots, as well as Phillips's backpack and clothing.Bolsonaro, whose government has faced accusations of failing to act urgently enough in the case, said hope was fading with each passing day.'Because of the time that's passed - eight days now, approaching the ninth - it's going to be very difficult to find them alive,' the president told CBN Recife radio on Monday. 'I pray to God for that to happen, but the information and evidence we're getting suggest the opposite.' Amariledo 'Pelado' da Costa was taken into custody by authorities in Amazonas, Brazil. His family claim he has been waterboarded by police in an effort to extract a confession The Amazon hunt for missing British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira was set to continue today. Pictured: Indigenous people in the Amazon rainforest take part in the search for the missing men in in Vale do Javari on Monday Pictured: Boats belonging to members of the Union of Indigenous Peoples of the Javari Valley (UNIVAJA) are seen in this aerial photograph during the search for the two missing men Veteran correspondent Dom Phillips and respected indigenous specialist Bruno Pereira, are believed to have gone missing in Vale do Javari, municipality of Atalaia do Norte, state of Amazonas, on MondayBolsonaro's comments confirmed those by the families of the missing men that remains had been discovered, although the circumstances appeared to differ. Police officials later denied what the families were saying.Mr Phillips' brother-in-law Paul Sherwood told The Guardian on Monday: '[The ambassador] said he wanted us to know that… they had found two bodies.'He didn't describe the location and just said it was in the rainforest and he said they were tied to a tree and they hadn't been identified yet. He said that when it was light, or when it was possible they would do an identification.'Mr Phillips' wife Alessandra Sampaio also confirmed the discovery of the two bodies and niece Dominique Davies told AFP via text message that 'two bodies have been found' in the search.Maria Sampaio, Mr Phillips' mother-in-law, said afterwards she believed the two men 'are no longer with us' and had 'given their lives in defence of the rainforest.'Alessandra Sampaio, who had earlier made a tearful appeal for her husband's return, reposted the sentiment and said she agreed. Brazil's president Jair Bolsonaro (pictured last week) announced yesterday that human remains had been found in the search, saying 'something wicked' had been done to them Pictured: An indigenous member of the Union of Indigenous Peoples of the Javari Valley trecks through the rainforest during the search for Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira Pictured: Indigenous members of the Union of Indigenous Peoples of the Javari Valley search for clues as to the whereabouts of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira Pictured: Indigenous members of the Union of Indigenous Peoples of the Javari Valley search for clues as to the whereabouts of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira Pictured: Boats belonging to indigenous members of the Union of Indigenous Peoples of the Javari Valley as they search for clues as to the whereabouts of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira'They are no longer with us,' Maria wrote on Instagram on Monday. 'Mother nature has snatched them away with a grateful embrace. The material has been undone and incorporated into the earth they so loved and respected.'Their souls have joined those of so many others who gave their lives in defence of the rainforest and Indigenous peoples.'Today they form part of an immense and pulsating vital energy that emanates from this immense greenery that is the heart of Brazil.'Dominique Davies told AFP news agency via text message that authorities had informed the family two bodies had been found.'We are waiting on confirmation from the federal police (in Brazil) as to whether they are Dom and Bruno. We all remain upset and distressed at this time,' she said.However, federal police later said in a statement that reports that Phillips and Pereira's bodies had been found were incorrect. The Union of Indigenous Peoples of the Javari Valley (UNIVAJA), which is taking part in the search, also denied two bodies had been found.The police have confirmed they are analysing a blood sample and suspected human remains found during the search to determine whether they are from the missing men. They said the results of these analyses are expected 'during this week.' Indigenous people march to protest against the disappearance of Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira and freelance British journalist Dom Phillips, in Atalaia do Norte, Vale do Javari, Amazonas state, Brazil, Monday, June 13, 202 Dozens of indigenous protesters marched Monday (pictured) in Atalaia do Norte, the small city Phillips and Pereira had been headed to, demanding answers on their whereabouts Pictured: Indigenous people protest over the disappearance of Phillips and Pereira on Monday People hold signs during a vigil following the disappearance of British journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous expert Bruno Pereira in front of the headquarters of Brazil's National Indian Foundation (FUNAI), in Brasilia, Brazil June 13, 2022 A woman cries during a demonstration to protest the disappearance, in the Amazon, of British journalist Dom Phillips and expert on indigenous affairs Bruno Araujo Pereira, in Copacabana beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sunday, June 12, 2022The first suspect - Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira - was arrested after finding traces of blood on his fishing boat along with illegal ammunition.Samples of the blood are on their way from the western Vale do Javri region of the Amazon, a vast area the size of Ireland and Wales combined, to government laboratories in the jungle capital of Manaus for analysis.In the meantime, a judge has granted police permission to continue holding Mr Oliveira - known as 'Pelado' - for further questioning.He has pleaded innocence, saying he is a fisherman and the ammunition he was carrying was used for his trade. Alessandra Sampaio, Mr Phillips' wife, said bodies have been found in the AmazonEarlier, Elizeu Mayaruna, who works for indigenous agency Funai, told Reuters that, while searching the forest along the Itacoai river on Saturday, he found clothes, a tarp and a bottle of motor oil.Mayaruna and two other members of an indigenous search team acquainted with Pereira, a former Funai official, said they recognised a shirt and pants that belonged to him.Witnesses said they saw Pereira and Phillips, a freelance reporter who has written for the Guardian and the Washington Post, travelling down that river last Sunday.The two men were on a reporting trip in the remote jungle area near the border with Peru and Colombia that is home to the world's largest number of uncontacted indigenous people. The wild and lawless region has lured cocaine-smuggling gangs, along with illegal loggers, miners and hunters.News of the pair's disappearance resonated globally, with Brazilian icons from soccer great Pele to singer Caetano Veloso joining politicians, environmentalists and human rights activists in urging President Jair Bolsonaro to step up the search.Reuters witnesses saw the stretch of riverbank were Mayaruna discovered the clothing cordoned off by police on Sunday morning as investigators scoured the area, with a half dozen boats ferrying police, soldiers and firefighters back and forth. Federal police officers arrive at the pier with items found during a search for Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira and freelance British journalist Dom Phillips in Atalaia do Norte, Amazonas state, Brazil, Sunday, June 12 Police officers and rescue team members sit on a boat during the search operation for British journalist Dom Phillips and indigenous expert Bruno Pereira on Sunday Phillips talks to two indigenous men while visiting a community in Roraima, Brazil, on November 16, 2019Bolsonaro, who last year faced tough questioning from Phillips at news conferences about weakening environmental law enforcement in Brazil, said last week that the two men 'were on an adventure that is not recommended' and suggested that they could have been executed.State police detectives involved in the investigation have told Reuters they are focusing on poachers and illegal fisherman in the area, who clashed often with Pereira as he organised indigenous patrols of the local reservation.Some 150 soldiers had been deployed via riverboats to hunt for the missing men and interview locals, joining indigenous search teams who have been looking for the pair for a week. Meanwhile, Brazil's government faces pressure from international media organizations, rights groups and high-profile figures over the case - fueling criticism of Bolsonaro's policies on the Amazon, where illegal deforestation and other environmental crimes have surged since he took office in 2019.Dozens of indigenous protesters marched Monday in Atalaia do Norte, the small city Phillips and Pereira had been headed to, demanding answers on their whereabouts.'It's been a week... and every day brings conflicting reports,' Natalie Southwick, Latin America coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), said in a statement.'CPJ remains deeply concerned about the government's insufficient response and lack of transparency. Brazilian authorities must stop dragging their feet.'Irish rock band U2 became the latest to rally to the cause, joining Brazilian football legend Pele and iconic singer Caetano Veloso.'We are waiting to find out what has happened to these courageous men,' the band tweeted, along with a red-and-black drawing of the pair by artist Cristiano Siqueira that has gone viral.'Where are Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira?' it reads. Bruno Pereira takes part in an Indigenous protest in Brasilia, Brazil, 2019 in this picture obtained by Reuters on June 10, 202A GoFundMe page to aid the efforts to help Phillips and Pereira's family has also been set up, raising $37,139 (£30,765).Friends of the pair said: 'At this tragic moment, when these families have so much to worry about, money should not be another concern. 'Dom, Bruno, Alê, Beatriz, and their children need our help not only to pay the bills, but also to cover new costs that emerge as they continue the search. Even the smallest donation is valuable. 'Together we can show that these brave souls are not alone and that we are united behind them.' | Latin America Politics |
Boris Johnson has spoken to Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the Conservative 1922 Committee, to inform him of his decision to resign as leader though he will remain Prime Minister until a successor is appointedVideo LoadingVideo UnavailableWatch Live: Boris Johnson resign as Conservative leaderBoris Johnson has resigned after a chaotic 24 hours which saw more than 50 Tories quit the Government. The PM has been hit with a flurry of resignations this morning as the new Education Secretary quits and the Chancellor tells him to do the right thing as the desperate PM clings to power. The disgraced leader informed the Queen of his decision this morning and will remain at Number 10 until a successor is in place, expected to be by the time of the Conservative Party conference in October. The PM has been hit with a flurry of resignations this morning - as the new Education Secretary quit and his Chancellor told him to do the right thing. More than 50 Tories have quit the government - ranging from from Cabinet ministers to aides and moderates to Red Wallers - but with hours to go until his resignation statement the PM has begun a desperate Cabinet reshuffle. Yesterday, the Prime Minister shamelessly refused to resign, sacking Michael Gove who told him to quit and sparking another flurry of desertions. The revelation the PM knew about claims against “grope” accused MP Chris Pincher, then promoted him, then “forgot” he’d been told, was the last straw for many Tories. Follow the latest updates today in our live blog12:40Dan BloomDidn't want to goMr Johnson touched on how he tried to tell party colleagues he didn't want to give up his job.He said: "In the last few days I’ve tried to persuade my colleagues that it would be eccentric to change governments when we’re delivering so much, when we have such a vast mandate and when we’re actually only a handful of points behind in the polls, even in mid-term after quite a few months of pretty relentless sledging and when the economic scene is so difficult domestically and internationally."He added: "I regret not to be successful in those arguments and of course, it’s painful not to be able to see through so many ideas and projects myself.”12:39Lizzy Buchan'Nobody is remotely indispensable'Crowds were heard booing as he carried on with this statement.He continued: “Of course, it’s painful not to be able to see through so many ideas and projects”."We’ve seen in Westminster there is a herd instinct. When the herd moves it moves and in politics, nobody is remotely indispensable."Boris Johnson during his speech this afternoon (Image:Sky News)12:37Aletha AduThe PM speaks to the people of UkraineMr Johnson then addressed the people of Ukraine.He said: "Message to the people of Ukraine - Let me say now to the people of Ukraine, I know we in the UK will continue to back your fight for freedom for as long as it takes."12:36Dan BloomPM says he fought 'so hard'Addressing Tory voters directly, the bullish PM hailed his mandate in 2019 and said he fought “so hard” to stay because “I wanted to do so” and felt “it was my job, my duty, my obligation to you, to continue to do what we promised in 2019.”12:35Dan Bloom'The process for a new leader will begin now'Mr Johnson said the people have now decided “the process of choosing that new leader should begin now.”He added: "The timetable will be announced next week and I’ve today appointed a Cabinet to serve as I will until a new leader is in place.”12:34Lizzy BuchanBoris Johnson has resignedBoris Johnson announced his resignation just after lunchtime today.Standing outside Downing Street, he said: "It is clearly now the will of the Parliamentary Conservative party that there should be a new leader of that party and therefore a new prime minister.”It comes in the wake of the scores of ministers resigning over the handling of the Chris Pincher scandal.Mr Johnson suffered serious blows this week as his once closest allies had told him to throw in the towel.This morning resignations continued as Mr Johnson announced new cabinet appointments.Now that he has resigned, there is growing anger over Mr Johnson over whether he stays on as a caretaker until October or he leaves office immediately.Read more here12:30Alahna KindredBoris Johnson's statement imminent The lectern has been set upWorkers set the podium outside 10 Downing Street, where British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to make a statement (Image:REUTERS)12:29Alahna KindredNew Minister announcedAndrew Stephenson has been appointed Minister without Portfolio12:26Dave BurkeFortune teller who predicts future using asparagus predicts Boris Johnson's successorA fortune teller dubbed "Mystic Veg" as she predicts the future using asparagus believes that Ben Wallace will be the UK's next Prime Minister. Jemima Packington, 66, previously foresaw Brexit, Boris Johnson becoming PM four years before he took office, Prince Philip's death and Harry and Meghan stepping back from the Royal Family. She makes her predictions by tossing spears into the air and interpreting how they land on the ground.Now Jemima says the spears are pointing towards Defence Secretary Ben Wallace to take over as leader once Mr Johnson resigns. She also believes 100/1 outsider Nadine Dorries could also be in with a shout of taking over as PM - and is a more likely candidate than Rishi Sunak or Penny Mordaunt.Click here for the full story12:24Dave Burke'Boris Johnson will always be the man who let bodies pile high and partied'Families who lost loved ones to coronavirus and were "ripped apart" by Boris Johnson's actions will not be able to move on following his resignation, a campaign group said.The Covid-19 Bereaved Families For Justice group said Mr Johnson will be remembered as a prime minister who failed to act when coronavirus first started spreading through the country, allowed hospitals to be overwhelmed, and left care homes defenceless.On Thursday, the PM finally announced he would step down following dozens of resignations - a mass exodus triggered by the departures of Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid from the Cabinet.It follows a series of political scandals, including months of lockdown breach accusations, with bereaved families repeatedly calling for Mr Johnson to quit.The final report by senior civil servant Sue Gray into partygate blamed "failures of leadership and judgment" for allowing alcohol-fuelled gatherings in Downing Street when millions of people across the country were unable to see friends and family or say their goodbyes.Lobby Akinnola, whose father Olufemi Akinnola died with coronavirus in April 2020 aged 60, said Mr Johnson's reign may be ending shortly but "his devastating impact on families like mine will not".A spokesman for the bereaved families group said: "Whilst Johnson will move on to a life of writing newspaper columns and being paid eye-watering amounts to give after-dinner speeches, there will be no moving on for the families like mine that have been ripped apart by his actions."For us, Johnson will always be the man that wanted to 'let the bodies pile high' whilst our loved ones desperately fought for their lives and that partied whilst we had to say goodbye to our loved ones over a screen."Lobby Akinnola (second from left) holding a picture of his father, alongside the families of other Covid victims (Image:Jonathan Buckmaster)12:17Dave BurkeNew Northern Ireland secretary announced as PM tries to plug gaps in governmentAnother appointment as Boris Johnson desperately tries to plug the gaps after a spate of resignation.Downing Street has now announced that Shailesh Vara has been appointed Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.Shailesh Vara MP @ShaileshVara has been appointed Secretary of State for Northern Ireland @NIOgov. pic.twitter.com/s0SR4Z8COd— UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) July 7, 2022 11:59Aletha AduNew Secretary of State for WalesSir Robert Buckland has been appointed Secretary of State for Wales. It comes as desperate Boris Johnson has kicked off appointing new ministers to his Cabinet as he strives to cling on as a caretaker Prime Minister.Mr Johnson is literally fighting for his political life as a striking 59 ministers have dramatically quit - expressing their lack of confidence in his leadership.Read more here11:55Rachel WearmouthKeir Starmer threatens no confidence vote in Boris Johnson if the PM tries to 'cling on'Keir Starmer has threatened to table a motion of no confidence in Boris Johnson if the Prime Minister tries to "cling on" to power for months to come.Westminster is braced for the PM to announce he will quit after a flood of resignations drained his premiership of all authority this week.But rumour is rife that beleaguered Mr Johnson will want to stay on as caretaker PM while a Tory leadership contest takes place to decide his replacement.The Labour leader told Sky News that the PM not be allowed to linger in office and must be removed immediately.He threatened to use a Commons vote of no confidence procedure to attempt to oust the Prime Minister unless he hands over the reins to another premier.“He needs to go completely. None of this nonsense about clinging on for a few months,"he said.“He’s inflicted lies, fraud and chaos in the country.“We’re stuck with a government which isn’t functioning in the middle of a cost of living crisis.“And all of those that have been propping him up should be utterly ashamed of themselves.”Read more hereKeir Starmer said Boris Johnson 'inflicted lies, fraud and chaos in the country' (Image:Sky News)11:53Alahna KindredNew Education SecretaryJames Cleverly has been announced as Secretary of State for Education following Michelle Donelan's resignation this morning.Mr Cleverly was spotted entering Downing Street through the back and carrying a box of doughnuts.Ms Donelan resigned about 36 hours after she was appointed by Boris Johnson following Nadhim Zahawi's appointment to Chancellor.She told Mr Johnson "I can see no way that you can continue in post" but without a formal mechanism to remove him the Cabinet must "force your hand".11:48Dave BurkeMr Johnson's former mistress 'feels sorry' for himBoris Johnson's former mistress says she "feels sorry" for the outgoing Prime Minister - just days after she likened him to Vladimir Putin.Petronella Wyatt tweeted today that politics is a "nasty game" after Mr Johnson finally accepted that the game is up.The journalist, who he had an affair with between 2000 and 2004, wrote: "Politics is a very nasty game. I can’t help but feel sorry for Boris now."She had previously written off any chances of Mr Johnson walking out from his job, saying it was "as likely as Putin withdrawing (from) Ukraine saying it had all been a terrible mistake"Read more herePetronella Wyatt, pictured with Boris Johnson in 2006, this week likened the PM to Vladimir Putin (Image:Alan Davidson/REX/Shutterstock)11:46Alahna KindredBoris Johnson v No10 staffIt appears there is a stand-off between the Prime Minister and his staff over his resignation statement.It is understood he will deliver the statement in less than two hours.11:35KEY EVENTFirst ministerial appointments announcedGreg Clark, the former Business Secretary under Theresa May, will become the new Levelling Up Cabinet minister.He replaces Michael Gove, who was sacked last night by Boris Johnson. Mr Johnson is expected to resign today.He has still appointed a new cabinet ahead after a series of gaping holes have been left by the scores of ministers that have jumped ship over his leadership.Downing Street has appointed Kit Malthouse as Chancellor for the Duchy of Lancaster, the most senior minister in the Cabinet Office after the Prime Minister.11:28Lizzy BuchanBoris Johnson's legacy Lobby Akinnola, spokesperson for the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice campaign said: "Boris Johnson’s legacy is the deaths of nearly 200,000 British people on his watch. "He will be remembered as the Prime Minister who failed to act when Covid-19 began ripping through the country, who allowed our hospitals to become overwhelmed, left our Care Homes defenceless, and had to put the country in lockdown for nearly a year to salvage the situation."Whilst Johnson will move on to a life of writing newspaper columns and being paid eye-watering amounts to give after-dinner speeches, there will be no moving on for the families like mine that have been ripped apart by his actions. "For us, Johnson will always be the man that wanted to ‘let the bodies pile high’ whilst our loved ones desperately fought for their lives and that partied whilst we had to say goodbye to our loved ones over a screen."Although his reign will shortly be coming to an end, his devastating impact on families like mine will not. We can only hope that the Covid inquiry will bring some closure for us, teaching us the lessons that will save lives in the future and meaning that no one will be able to repeat Johnson’s terrible mistakes and get away with it."11:23William MorganShould there be a snap election? Have your say as Boris Johnson resignsPrime Minister Boris Johnson announced today that he is resigning as leader of his party and stepping down as PM. It comes just two and a half years after winning a massive 80-seat majority in parliament, and 14 million votes from the British public, making Johnson one of the most popular but shortest-lived PMs in political history.Whoever is chosen to succeed Mr Johnson will face one major question as soon as they are picked by Conservative members - what is their electoral mandate to enact the sweeping changes necessary to fix the spiralling cost of living, transition to a green economy, and respond to Russia's continued invasion of Ukraine?The next general election isn't until December 2024.However, with the country facing a personal and public financial crisis, the ongoing pressure on the NHS from coronavirus, and lots of Brexit issues still to be resolved, could there be a worse time for the instability and division that comes with a general election? With Labour beating the Tories in the polls for the last few months, many Conservative MPs will fear the outcome.Let us know your thoughts here11:20Dave BurkeSummer of carnage as Boris Johnson could stay for 3 more monthsThe Prime Minister is poised to announce his resignation today after finally conceding that the game is up.But that doesn't necessarily mean there will be a new incumbent in the lavishly-wallpapered Downing Street flat straight away - as the PM is reportedly determined to stay on as caretaker.A No 10 source said Mr Johnson spoke to Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the Conservative 1922 Committee, to inform him of his decision."The Prime Minister has spoken to Graham Brady and agreed to stand down in time for a new leader to be in place by the conference in October," a No 10 source said.If he gets his way, he'll preside over a chaotic summer as a Tory leadership contest unfolds.Read more here11:17Alahna KindredMinutes away from ministerial appointments Our Political Editor has said Boris Johnson is planning to appoint new ministers to fill the massive gaps in his team following scores of resignations11:16Alahna KindredMadame Tussauds in London updates its 10 Downing Street displayThe display has a 'VACANCY' sign in anticipation of Boris Johnson’s impending resignation today.The museum also confirmed Boris Johnson's figure will be removed from the Baker Street attraction, at the point he is officially no longer Prime Minister.11:14Lizzy BuchanDominic Cummings doesn't shy away from how he feelsDominic Cummings called on police to "escort him from the building" today.Embittered ex-aide Mr Cummings said letting Mr Johnson stay on as caretaker would cause "carnage" and told the Cabinet to order him to leave today.He tweeted: "Cabinet ministers shd talk to Brady this a.m, agree Raab as interim PM, then speak to Cabinet Secretary and get him to fix with Palace..."Tell [PM] you either resign and leave today or the Queen will dismiss, appoint Raab, & cops escort you from building. [PM] will fold Game over."Read more here11:09Alahna KindredYouGov polls say Ben Wallace could be next leaderA YouGov poll among Tory members has put Defence Secretary Ben Wallace on top in a leadership competition.He beats (at 48%) all the main contenders including Liz Truss (29%).11:06Alahna KindredWho could put their name in to run?Following Boris Johnson's resignation, there is speculation about who will take over.Liz TrussThe foreign secretary is the darling of the ruling Conservative Party's grassroots and has regularly topped polls of party members carried out by the website Conservative Home.Jeremy HuntEarlier this year, he said his ambition to become prime minister "hasn't completely vanished". Hunt said he voted to oust Johnson in a confidence vote last month that the prime minister narrowly won.Ben WallaceDefence minister Ben Wallace, 52, has risen in recent monthsto be the most popular member of the government with Conservative Party members, according to Conservative Home, thanks to his handling of the Ukraine crisis.Rishi Sunak Rishi Sunak was until last year the favourite to succeed Johnson.Sajid JavidHe is a Thatcher admirer and finished fourth in the 2019 leadershipcontest to replace former Prime Minister Theresa May.Nadhim ZahawiZahawi said last week that it would be a "privilege" to be primeminister at some stage.Penny MordauntCurrently a junior trade minister, Mordaunt called the lockdown-breaking parties in government "shameful". She had previously expressed loyalty to Johnson.Tom TugendhatHe has been a regular critic of Johnson and would offer hisparty a clean break with previous governments.However, he is relatively untested because he has neverserved in cabinet.Suella Braverman A Brexit-backing Attorney General, Braverman has indicatedshe will run for the leadership. She was heavily criticised by lawyers during her tenure after the government sought to break international law over post-Brexit trade rules in Northern Ireland.10:49Alahna Kindred'We don't like him'The Kremlin said on Thursday that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson didn't like Russia and that Moscow didn't like him either.Speaking during a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "He doesn't like us, we don't like him either".Peskov said that reports that Johnson would shortly resign as prime minister were of little concern for the Kremlin.10:45Alahna Kindred'We don't have a functioning government'Angela Rayner, Labour Deputy Leader, said Boris Johnson was "always unfit for office".Speaking during today's Urgent Questions, she added that "we don't have a functioning government". She said it was "good news for the country" that Boris Johnson is expected to resign. Asking an urgent question on the functioning of Government in the Commons, Ms Rayner said: "I hate to break it to the minister but we don't have a functioning Government. "It will be good news for the country that the Prime Minister is to announce his resignation. He was always unfit for office. He has overseen scandal, fraud and waste on an industrial scale. "But the chaos of the last three days is more than just petty Tory infighting. These actions have serious consequences for the running of our country. "In the middle of the deepest cost-of-living crisis of a generation, with families unable to make ends meet, a dangerous war in Europe threatening our borders, and a possible trade crisis in Northern Ireland, Britain has no functioning Government."Angela Rayner in the Commons today (Image:Sky News)10:41Lizzy BuchanLiz Truss jetting back to the UKLiz Truss is cutting short her trip to Indonesia and racing back to the UK amid Boris Johnson's resignation announcement.The Foreign Secretary, who was attending a G20 Summit, is due to make a statement shortly, our Deputy Online Political Editor Lizzy Buchan tweeted today.✈️ Liz Truss cutting short her trip to Indonesia and due to make a statement shortlyWhat's a day of drama without a bit of flight radar??— Lizzy Buchan (@LizzyBuchan) July 7, 2022 10:36Liam BucklerThousands set to attend 'Boris Johnson's leaving party' Preparations for the possible departure of the Prime Minister are underway as a Facebook event for 7pm on Friday July has attracted over 2,800 confirmed guests and 12,500 interested party-goers.The public Facebook event, which has been set up by Howie Scarbrough, is asking guests to bring leaving drinks and cake - a tribute to the Partygate saga, one of the many scandals that has engulfed the PM during his leadership.The party, which kicks off at 7pm in central London, will be held outside the current home of Mr Johnson - Number 10 Downing Street - as guests are invited to join from all over the world.And guests have been quick to respond to the leaving event on Facebook as excited party-goers ready themselves for a party outside No 10 - if the PM goes.Read more hereThousands are set to attend 'Boris Johnson's leaving party' as the PM's future hangs in the balance (Image:Facebook)10:33Alahna KindredBoris Johnson and his relationship with the QueenBoris Johnson has been the 14th prime minister of the Queen's reign, and it has been an eventful time for the monarch with him at the helm.He has caused a certain amount of trouble for the nation's longest-reigning sovereign.He succeeded in drawing the Queen into a major constitutional row over the illegal proroguing of Parliament.He twice broke with convention and talked about their private audiences, and publicly apologised to the Queen and the country over events in Downing Street on the eve of the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral.The monarch is politically neutral and acts on the advice of her government in political matters.In 2019, Mr Johnson sparked a major constitutional row during the Queen's summer holidays in August 2019 amid Westminster's bitter Brexit battles after asking her to suspend Parliament for more than a month.The sovereign was duty-bound to hold a Privy Council meeting at Balmoral, her private Scottish estate, where, acting on the advice of the prime minister, she approved an order to temporarily close - or prorogue - Parliament for five weeks.In the end, the Supreme Court ruled that Mr Johnson's advice to the Queen to suspend Parliament was unlawful because it had the effect of frustrating Parliament.Mr Johnson apologised to the monarch. | United Kingdom Politics |
A deal has been reached between Russia and Ukraine to resume grain exports from Black Sea ports, the UN secretary general has said.Antonio Guterres called on Russia and Ukraine to fully implement the accord which opens the way to "significant volumes of commercial food exports" from three key Ukrainian ports - Odesa, Chornomorsk and Yuzhne.
The UN secretary general said the deal will benefit developing countries "on the edge of bankruptcy and the most vulnerable people on the edge of famine".The blockade by Russia's Black Sea fleet since it invaded its neighbour has cut off supplies to markets around the world and sent grain prices soaring.Many people in the world's poorest regions rely on shipments from the Black Sea for food and it's feared the spiralling cost is fuelling a hunger crisis. Moscow has denied responsibility for worsening the food crisis, instead blaming Western sanctions for slowing its own food and fertiliser exports and Ukraine for mining its Black Sea ports.
A UK Foreign Office spokesperson said Britain had "worked closely with the UN, Turkey, Ukraine and our G7 and G20 partners to unblock the grain that Putin has deliberately used to weaponise food".US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Washington DC would focus on holding Moscow accountable for carrying out the agreement. | Europe Politics |
Susan Hall today vowed to 'expose Sadiq Khan for who he really is' after she was chosen as the Tory candidate for London mayor to take on the Labour incumbent.
The London Assembly member and local councillor will attempt to prevent Mr Khan winning a third term as the capital's mayor in next May's election.
She beat rival Tory candidate Moz Hossain to win the Conservative nomination - with Ms Hall securing 57 per cent of the vote compared to Mr Hossain's 43 per cent.
Ms Hall's victory was announced at an event at the Battle of Britain Bunker at RAF Uxbridge this morning.
Conservative members in London had been voting over the past two weeks for their preferred candidate.
Ms Hall, 68, promised to 'work tirelessly' over the next 10 months to defeat Mr Khan - who she claimed 'only cares about himself' - and expose the London mayor 'for who he really is'.
Susan Hall, 68, is a member of the London Assembly and a local councillor in Harrow, where she lives. Ms Hall, a mother-of-two and a grandmother, started her working life at her father's garage where she had been taught how to strip down car engines. According to the Evening Standard, Ms Hall opened a salon with her hairdresser husband after they married, which employed up to 20 people at one stage. In 2006, she was elected as a Harrow borough councillor and has represented Hatch End ward on the London council ever since. Ms Hall was the council's leader between 2013 and 2014. She joined the London Assembly in 2017 when she replaced Kemi Badenoch, the now Business Secretary who was elected to Parliament at that year's general election. Ms Hall led the Tory group at City Hall from 2019 until May this year. She is a keen user of Twitter but her tweeting has previously drawn criticism from her political opponents. Ahead of the 2020 US presidential election, she tweeted her support for Donald Trump to 'wipe the smile' off Sadiq Khan's face. Ms Hall last year backed Home Secretary Suella Braverman's description of Channel migrant crossings as an 'invasion'.
Speaking after the result of the Tory contest was announced, Ms Hall said: 'It's a huge honour to be your candidate to be the mayor of London.
'It leaves me with an important responsibility; I will work tirelessly to defeat Sadiq Khan and offer Londoners the change they desperately need.
'We need a safer city where women and girls don't have to fear walking down the street at night.
'We need an inclusive city where you can afford to buy a home and raise a family.
'We need a kinder city where we can celebrate our cultural diversity and focus on what unites us and not what divides us.
'We need a cleaner city that is serious about tackling climate change and air pollution but without taxing the poorest.'
Ms Hall claimed Mr Khan has 'no interest in helping others' and 'only cares about himself'.
'That is why he is failing Londoners. He goes on trips to cannabis factories while young people are getting stabbed on our streets.
'He's more interested in selling his book than he is in helping Londoners with the cost of living.
'And when things go wrong, he hires an army of spin doctors to convince you that it's actually not his fault. Londoners deserve so much better.'
Ms Hall vowed to use the next 10 months to 'expose Sadiq Khan for who he really is'.
'It isn't about fame or glory for me... I'm not interested in the perks of the job, I am focused on the job itself,' she added.
'I want to sort things, not pass the buck, and there is a lot to do.'
Having based her campaign on a 'Safer With Susan' slogan, she promised to 'fix' the Metropolitan Police with a £200million investment to help crackdown on burglaries, robberies and thefts.
Ms Hall also set out her plans to build 'beautiful, high-density, low-rise family homes in London', to 'champion' the city's nightlife and end Transport for London funding for Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs).
'I pledge I will stop the ULEZ expansion on day one,' Ms Hall added to cheers, as she renewed her promise to scrap Mr Khan's controversial move to enforce the Ultra Low Emission Zone in all of the capital's boroughs.
Ms Hall and Mr Hossain were left as the final two remaining candidates after former Downing Street aide Daniel Korski withdrew from the contest last month.
He continued to 'categorically deny' an allegation by a TV producer that he groped her a decade ago, but cited 'pressure on my family' for his decision to drop out the race.
Ms Hall has served as a member of the London Assembly since 2017 and is also a local councillor in Harrow.
She led the Conservative group at City Hall from 2019 until May this year, and is also a former leader of Harrow Council.
Mr Hossain was born in Bangladesh and has spoken of how he did not own a pair of shoes until he was 16.
He moved to the UK at the age of 21 and studied law before, in 2019, becoming the first Bangladeshi-born criminal barrister ever to be appointed a Queen's Counsel.
Mr Korski congratulated Ms Hall this morning, posting on Twitter: 'London needs a new start.
'Susan has the tenacity and experience to beat Sadiq Khan and turn the city around.'
Conservative Party chairman Greg Hands said: 'Huge congratulations to Susan Hall, who will be the brilliant Conservative candidate for Mayor of London.
'I know she has the vision and vigour to take the fight to Sadiq Khan at the next Mayoral Election in May 2024.
'Both candidates ran excellent campaigns and I want to thank them for their hard work and dedication to the people of London.
'Now we unite behind Susan, working together to get this incredible city back on track.'
London Labour branded Ms Hall a 'hard-right politician' who does not 'stand up for women'.
'The Conservative candidate for mayor is a hard-right politician who couldn't be more out of touch with our city and its values,' a spokesperson said.
'She's an outspoken supporter of Donald Trump, Boris Johnson and a hard Brexit; she cheered Liz Truss's mini-budget, which sent mortgages and rents soaring.
'She doesn't stand up for women and she hates London's diversity.
'Londoners deserve better than a candidate who represents the worst of the Tory failure and incompetence over the last 13 years.
'The London election next year will be a two-horse race and the choice is clear – a Labour mayor with a positive vision who will continue to build a fairer, greener and safer London for everyone.
'Or the extreme Tory candidate, who stands for cuts to London's public services, inequality and division.' | United Kingdom Politics |
Any change of government will always result in a number of people suddenly finding themselves without a job. MPs leave the Commons at short notice, and so do their advisers and staff. Wonks may manage to swerve the unemployment queue altogether, but their roles can still change beyond recognition.
For the past 13 years, Conservative-leaning think-tanks have been able to bombard the Government with concrete policy proposals and blue-sky ideas, in order to hopefully make the country a better place. Well, in theory.
In practice, debates over Brexit sucked the oxygen out of Westminster for many years and, mere months after Britain finally left the EU, the pandemic hit. In that time, Prime Ministers May, Johnson and Truss failed to govern efficiently, due to a lack of a parliamentary majority, attention span, and time in office. Reports were published and conferences were organised, but relatively little was achieved.
This changed when Rishi Sunak reached No 10 just under a year ago. In the past 10 months, British politics has, for the most part, returned to normal. The national discourse is no longer dominated by a single issue, and endless intra-factional infighting has, for the most part, left the headlines.
“We’re not having constant leadership crises and we are having a bit more of a policy moment”, said one senior think-tanker. “People are debating policy and that is quite a good thing.”
Still, there is one issue; as things stand, it looks increasingly likely that the Conservatives will lose the next election.
Asked what they wanted to focus on between now and…well, some time between next spring and January 2025, several right-leaning think tankers said one thing: legacy. The Conservative party has now been in power for over a decade, but its report card remains quite patchy.
“It’s about how the centre right can build a legacy from the last 13, 14 years”, Bright Blue director Ryan Shorthouse said. “What are the things that have worked well? There are some positive stories on education, the environment, employment.”
Robert Colvile, who runs the Centre for Policy Studies, concurred. “A lot of people on the centre right side are starting to think about what the record has been over the past 13 years. What’s the state of conservatism? Where does it need to go in the future?”
This last point is an important one. There is little doubt among Conservative benches that, if they lose the next election, all hell will break loose. Because the party spent years cycling through Prime Ministers, it never got the time to catch its breath and decide what it truly wants to stand for. The result is both a chequered record in power and one hell of an identity crisis looming on the horizon.
Various factions have already begun battening down the hatches, with former chief secretary to the Treasury David Gauke and other prominent centrist figures releasing a collection of essays, The Case For The Centre Right, at the end of this month. Though any defeat is, by definition, unideal for the right, the ensuing battle of ideas will create a new sense of purpose for policy wonks.
“Assuming the Tories do lose, depending on the scale of the defeat, there will be lots of people trying to think about what happened, what comes next, what the Tories need to do and how we can solve the really big challenges that the country faces”, said Colvile. “[Our] role will be different, but I don’t think we’ll suddenly lose all meaning and purpose in our lives.”
Other think-tanks are more relaxed about it all. “We just keep buggering on no matter who’s in charge”, explained Christopher Snowdon, head of lifestyle economics at the Institute for Economic Affairs.
“It doesn’t matter a great deal to us who’s in government, up to a point. Most of what the people at the IEA do is opposing terrible ideas and explaining why they’re going to have negative consequences, and we can do that just as easily with a Labour government as we did with a Tory one.”
Still, he added, “we’d like to have more Labour MPs and shadow ministers expressing an interest in coming through the door, but we can understand why that hasn’t been happening.”
That doesn’t mean the opposition hasn’t been reaching out to other think tanks traditionally associated with the right. Sebastian Payne, who writes a column for i, mentioned that Onward, which he runs, has been holding meetings with shadow cabinet ministers, and he wasn’t the only one.
“We’re having bilateral meetings with advisers and MPs and shadow ministers, trying to showcase our ideas. A lot of Labour MPs have been open to new thinking”, Shorthouse said. “We’re already thinking about how you engage with a Labour government.”
What this means in practice is that Bright Blue is working with the Fabian Society on finding “a cross party approach to social security”, and will be attending Labour’s annual conference next month.
Other organisations, like the CPS, are sticking to their guns. “Obviously, we will continue arguing on individual policies, but I think it’d be foolish to expect us to be the first port of call for Labour ministers’ policy ideas”, Colvile said.
In any case, there is still some work to do until the election. “If you’re looking to influence the Government, you are probably now, just because of the legislative timetable, thinking about things which are for the manifesto, not least because many of the things you would want to do might have a price tag attached”, he added.
“There are two routes you can take. One is to say “there’s not really time or money, it’s a little bit depressing, let’s not do anything big and just wait and see what happens”. I think that’s a very bad idea. One of the advantages of the current space is that there might be more scope to do bigger, more imaginative work.”
Similarly, Payne seemed reasonably upbeat. “We’ve still likely got a year of governing”, he said. “The election campaign has de facto already started, but there’s still a fair amount of time to actually do stuff. We’re not giving up – we’re still very much cracking on.”
The only point of friction, however, is the direction Sunak ought to be travelling in. Though some of the people interviewed for this piece were more diplomatic than others, one theme kept cropping up. Many think tankers wish that No10 was doing more, and fear that the Prime Minister’s cautious approach will lead to a certain Tory defeat.
“What we’re trying to do is say, “look, you can do more, this is how you can do more, be more ambitious” and we are still pushing as hard as we can on that stuff”, said the think tanker who didn’t wish to be named.
According to Bright Blue’s Ryan Shorthouse, “At the end of the day, if you’ve got power for another year, you should be bold in that time. Rishi should be bold, not just because he’s got a time-limited period but also because really, if you’re going to turn things around, you have to be bold.”
Though at the helm of a proudly centre-right organisation, Shorthouse praised Sunak’s predecessor for her head-on approach. “In some ways, Liz Truss was right”, he said. “The methods she employed were mistaken but the overall aim of what she was trying to do, which was to be bold and do things which the Tory government hasn’t done for a long time, was probably right.”
Since the interviews for this piece were conducted, Sunak has broken cover and made a number of eye-catching and controversial announcements, on net zero and other issues. Will they be enough to turn back the tide? It is too early to tell, though opinion polls aren’t painting an especially optimistic picture.
Unless something drastic happens very soon, it is likely that right-leaning think tanks will soon end up stuck in the trenches of the upcoming Tory civil war, and, before that, helping to write a manifesto hoping to save the party from complete electoral oblivion. In short: it may not all be going brilliantly for the Conservative party, but their wonks still have some work to do. | United Kingdom Politics |
Down the stone steps in a tucked-away corner of Westminster Hall, the Conservative backbencher Miriam Cates can occasionally be found on a weekday lunchtime playing piano at a chapel service for Christian MPs.
But this week, she has been preaching to the converted, delivering a keynote address at the National Conservatism conference.
Cates was the first main speaker, tasked with firing up hundreds of activists at the event that pushed a socially conservative agenda and piled pressure on the Tory party to take a stricter stance on everything from immigration to family values.
While cabinet ministers stole the limelight, it was also the forum for backbenchers such as Cates – who supporters see as a rising star of the right – to put pressure on the government.
Despite having only been an MP since the last election, Cates was unabashed about what she identified as the most pressing policy issue of the generation: the UK’s birthrate. She rallied against falling reproduction, as well as what she described as the mass indoctrination of young minds and a lack of family-friendly tax policy.
It was a significant platform – but her speech went down like marmite among colleagues.
One of her closest political allies, the fellow 2019er Danny Kruger, called Cates “the darling of the party” and insisted: “She is the mainstream.” But a government frontbencher said she had “tried to drag the party back to the dark ages on morality issues” and done a “tremendous job” in uniting fellow MPs against her cause.
As one of the few new intake of MPs who has not taken an unpaid job as parliamentary private secretary – viewed as the first step on the ladder to becoming a minister – she is able to remain an outspoken backbencher.
“Miriam is one of the few people who’s willing to go over the top,” said a minister. “What she’s saying is what many of us believe.”
Cates, who is a former biology teacher, garnered interest and outrage for her opposition to extending rights to transgender people on the basis of self-identity, and backing moves to end a Covid-era law that allowed abortions pills to be sent to people at home.
Her work with the Common Sense Group, and co-founding the New Social Covenant Unit to promote family-friendly policies, have seen some label Cates an unashamed culture warrior.
She has amassed a tight-knit group of supporters, many of whom contacted the Guardian to offer their support after she was approached for an interview.
Kemi Badenoch, the equalities minister and trade secretary, said she was “particularly impressed” with a project spearheaded by Cates to review sex and relationships education in schools.
They credited Cates with having “convinced the PM that it needed serious reform” and running “a coordinated campaign … which shows her ability to muster people to her cause and the support she has across parliament”.
Andrea Leadsom, the former Commons leader, praised Cates’s “fantastic” work supporting children in early years education, while the veteran Brexiter Bill Cash called her “one of the most diligent MPs I have come across in my 39 years in the House”.
Cates has been held up as the poster-woman for would-be female Tory MPs – having been invited as the star speaker to a Women2Win event this week encouraging more women to stand for office.
She is fiercely protective of time spent with her family, ensuring she travels back home to her South Yorkshire seat of Penistone and Stocksbridge every Wednesday evening to do the school run for her three children twice a week.
“Miriam’s a mum first, a northerner second and politician third,” said an ally.
As well as being devoted to her role as a mother, Cates is also deeply religious.
“Faith was part of everything we lived and breathed,” she recalled of her upbringing, on a podcast hosted by the faith group Theos in August 2021. Cates met her husband at their church in Sheffield and sits on parliament’s ecclesiastical committee, which scrutinises the Church of England.
She has been likened to Kate Forbes – the SNP politician who ran for the party leadership but whose fervent religious views were viewed as out of date by most of her party.
When Forbes came under fire, Cates called her “incredibly brave”. The Tory MP also cited Tim Farron, the former Liberal Democrat leader who was criticised for suggesting gay sex was a sin, in an interview with the Christian Institute.
“I get so many emails from Christians and many others thanking me for taking a stand on these things and that does really keep you going,” she told the group last month.
As one of the “red wall” of northern Tories likely to be jittery about keeping their job at the next election given current polling, Cates is only likely to press harder for the Conservative party to embrace a socially conservative agenda in an attempt to save her seat.
But in doing so, she will alienate those colleagues already uncomfortable with her arguments. A senior Tory warned: “We don’t represent the values of modern people if we carry on down that route.”
Cates may discover it is dangerous to polarise colleagues so early in her career. | United Kingdom Politics |
Voting has closed for two crucial byelections, in Wakefield and in Tiverton and Honiton, the results of which could play a pivotal role in Boris Johnson’s political future.Defeat in both of what were previously Tory-held seats could reignite a challenge to the prime minister from disgruntled Conservative MPs, particularly if the Liberal Democrats overturn a 24,000-plus majority in Tiverton and Honiton.The Devon seat, which has been Tory-held in its various incarnations for more than a century, was represented by Neil Parish from 2010. Parish resigned after admitting he had watched pornography in the Commons.Results are expected from about 4am on Friday, with Wakefield likely to declare first, given the West Yorkshire constituency is more geographically concentrated.That vote also happened after the sitting Tory MP resigned in disgrace. Imran Ahmad Khan stepped down after being convicted of sexually assaulting a teenage boy.While Labour is widely predicted to triumph in Wakefield, a constituency it consistently held up to the 2019 election, a Tory defeat in Tiverton and Honiton would send significant jitters through the parliamentary Conservative party.If the Lib Dems win, it is believed this would be the largest numerical majority overturned in a byelection, although there have been bigger percentage swings in other seats.Both the Lib Dems and Tories have described the Devon race as too close to call. However, the sheer scale of the Lib Dems’ efforts on the ground – on Wednesday, party activists hand-delivered more than 40,000 leaflets – could tip the result in their favour.Johnson is in Rwanda for the Commonwealth heads of government summit, before travelling to the G7 and Nato summits in Germany and Spain, keeping him out of the country for the next week.But a double loss, particularly if there is a notably significant swing back to Labour in Wakefield, could push Tory backbenchers towards restarting efforts to oust Johnson in his absence.Sign up to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every weekday morning at 7am BSTAfter this month’s no-confidence vote, in which 41% of Tory MPs voted against him, under party rules he is safe from similar challenge for a year. However, these rules can be changed.The pressure on Johnson will be particularly intense if the Wakefield result indicates Labour under Keir Starmer is making significant inroads into such “red wall” seats, adding to the pressure from the resurgent Liberal Democrats.In December, the Lib Dems took another rural, Brexit-minded Tory stronghold, overturning a majority of nearly 23,000 to win the North Shropshire byelection, after the former incumbent Owen Paterson quit over a lobbying scandal.This followed a win for the Lib Dems last June in Chesham and Amersham, a commuter-belt constituency north-west of London, prompting worries among Tory MPs that dozens of similar “blue wall” seats could fall amid widespread dislike of Johnson among more liberal-minded Conservative voters.A sense that Johnson is no longer an electoral asset, coupled with the controversies over lockdown-breaking Downing Street parties, which prompted the initial confidence vote, could see Tory MPs turn decisively against the prime minister, although a new challenge is viewed as unlikely before autumn. | United Kingdom Politics |
The Times says ministers are facing demands to speed up inspections to uncover the full extent of dangerous concrete in school classrooms.
The Guardian says the row about the presence of the concrete known as RAAC, as well as a lack of clarity about the funding of repairs, is "threatening to engulf parliament" as MPs return from the summer recess.
The Daily Telegraph believes Rishi Sunak is set to "overturn" the ban on building new onshore wind farms, to avoid a Conservative rebellion.
The paper says final details of a compromise are being thrashed out, to avoid what it says would be a "bruising Commons defeat". It says ministers are poised to change planning rules, freeing councils to back proposed turbines where there is broad public support.
Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed in the Daily Mirror where he outlines a range of policy pledges, including a promise there'll be no income tax rises if Labour wins the next general election. He says his party will "do nothing" to increase the burden on working people.
The Irish government is reported to be seeking legal advice in an attempt to halt the UK's Northern Ireland legacy bill. The proposed legislation offers a conditional amnesty to those accused of killings during the Troubles.
Irish foreign minister Micheál Martin tells the Financial Times there are concerns the legislation is not compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights, and says it will not deliver for victims.
The paper says Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris recently told a conference he was aware the bill did not please everyone, but the prospect of convictions a quarter of a century after the Troubles had ended was slim, and called for co-operation from Dublin.
The Daily Mail leads on what it calls a "dramatic ten-fold rise" in the number of council employees given permission to work from overseas, including Spain, Egypt and Dubai. The paper says approvals have risen from 73 in the year 2020 to 2021, to more than 700 last year. The story is based on Freedom of Information requests submitted to local authorities by the thinktank the Taxpayers' Alliance.
Councils tell the paper flexible working is crucial for "recruiting and retaining the right staff".
Children's enjoyment of reading has fallen to a 20-year low, says the Telegraph. A survey, published by the National Literacy Trust, shows more than half of children aged eight to 18 do not like reading in their spare time. The charity says the figures should act as a "wake-up call" for all who support children and young people's reading for pleasure with the many "benefits it can bring".
And the Guardian has highlighted some of the more unusual designs submitted by UK inventors last year. The paper has been looking at patent applications made in 2022 which include a path that automatically washes away dog mess and a swimsuit made to look like a bikini, by using mesh to imitate a midriff. The paper says the list of patents also gives an insight into the UK's most innovative companies. Dyson is out in front with 234 patents registered. | United Kingdom Politics |
Exclusive:Scotland can be the ‘beating heart of a new Britain’, says Keir Starmer
Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to "fundamentally change" the relationship between Scotland, England and the Union and help make Scotland the “beating heart of a new Britain”, as he sets out his wider pitch to voters north of the border for the first time in today's Scotsman.
The UK Labour leader accused the SNP of a "gargantuan failure" when it comes to providing clean energy jobs and insisted his party's energy strategy will be "based in Scotland, bringing jobs to Scotland, delivering cheaper bills for Scotland".
He also promised to smash the "class ceiling" that holds working people back.
Sir Keir will visit Rutherglen and Hamilton West today to campaign in the constituency ahead of a key by-election. He will hold an “in conversation” event with Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar to discuss what a Labour government would mean for the people of Scotland.
Writing in today’s paper, he admitted the strength of the pro-Union argument had been undermined in recent years by the "chaos of Tory rule", but added: "Mark my words – this all changes with a Labour Government."
Elsewhere, he said a Labour Government “would manage the transition to clean energy responsibly”, reiterating: “We will not rip up existing oil and gas licenses or create new cliff edges.”
Sir Keir said the world was going through a period of change and tough decisions would come “thick and fast”, but there were “clear glimpses” of a new Scotland. “It’s a Scotland that is confident in itself, where devolution is respected and protected, and a Scotland that can also be the beating heart of a new Britain,” he added.
Mhairi Black, the SNP’s deputy Westminster leader, said Sir Keir “ought to be embarrassed campaigning for a so-called fresh start in Scotland”. She said: “The Labour leader has publicly signed up to a Tory manifesto for the status quo – more Westminster austerity, more economic carnage and more misery for Scottish households.
“During his trip to Scotland, Sir Keir must answer what a fresh start means for Scotland and for Rutherglen and Hamilton West – which has been hammered by Brexit to the tune of £156 million and where almost 1,500 households are affected by the two-child cap.”
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SummaryUkraine hoists flag on recaptured Black Sea islandUK PM and staunch Ukraine supporter Johnson resignsKramatorsk residents in Donetsk ready for Russian attackKYIV/KRAMATORSK, Ukraine, July 7 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused the West of decades of aggression towards Moscow and warned that if it wanted to attempt to beat Russia on the battlefield it was welcome to try, but this would bring tragedy for Ukraine.His remarks came as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov prepared for a closed-door foreign ministers' meeting at a G20 gathering in Indonesia on Friday - the first time Putin's top diplomat will come face-to-face with the most vocal opponents of the invasion of Ukraine since it began in February. read more Russian shells fell in eastern Ukraine ahead of an expected new offensive, while three were killed in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, authorities said.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com"We have heard many times that the West wants to fight us to the last Ukrainian. This is a tragedy for the Ukrainian people, but it seems that everything is heading towards this," Putin said in televised remarks to parliamentary leaders. read more The West had failed in its attempt to contain Russia, and its sanctions on Moscow had caused difficulties but "not on the scale intended," Putin added. Russia did not reject peace talks, but the further the conflict went, the harder it would be to reach agreement, he said.Ukraine's chief negotiator, Mykhailo Podolyak, dismissed Putin's comments."There is no 'collective West' plan," he said, blaming only the Russian army "which entered sovereign Ukraine, shelling cities and killing civilians".Earlier, Kyiv lost one of its main international supporters after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he would step down. Moscow did not conceal its delight at the political demise of a leader whom it has long criticised for arming Kyiv so energetically. read more In a phone call, Johnson told Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy "You're a hero, everybody loves you," a spokesman for Johnson said."Britain's support for Ukraine will not change whatever happens in the corridors of power in London. Boris and all our friends in the United Kingdom have assured us of that," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.Johnson's resignation comes at a time of domestic turmoil in some other European countries that support Kyiv and doubts about their staying power for what has become a protracted conflict.From the United States, support for Ukraine came from two senators - one Republican, one Democrat - who visited Kyiv on Thursday to discuss a bill they are seeking to pass that would designate Russia as a "state sponsor of terrorism". read more The day began with Ukraine's defiant raising of its blue-and-yellow flag on its recaptured Snake Island in the Black Sea, located about 140 km (90 miles) south of the Ukrainian port of Odesa.Moscow was quick to respond, with its warplanes striking the strategic island shortly afterwards and destroying part of the Ukrainian detachment there, it said.Russia abandoned the island at the end of June in what it said was a gesture of goodwill - a victory for Ukraine that Kyiv hoped could loosen Moscow's blockade of Ukrainian ports.Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with parliamentary leaders in Moscow, Russia July 7, 2022. Sputnik/Aleksey Nikolskyi/Kremlin via REUTERS "Let every Russian captain, aboard a ship or a plane, see the Ukrainian flag on Snake Island and let him know that our country will not be broken," said Zelenskiy.KHARKIV AND KRAMATORSKThe regional governor of the northeastern city of Kharkiv said late on Thursday that three people had been killed and another five wounded after Russian forces shelled the city.In the aftermath, bodies lying on the ground near a park bench were covered in sheets by emergency services. Two women who had gone out to feed cats in the area had been killed, said local resident Yurii Chernomorets.A man fell to his knees weeping as the bloodied corpse of his wife was placed in a body bag. He kissed her hand."Dad, she is dead, please get up," said a man who identified himself as their son.In eastern Ukraine, Russian forces kept up pressure on Ukrainian troops trying to hold the line along the northern borders of the Donetsk region.After effectively cementing their total control of the neighbouring Luhansk region, Moscow has made clear it is planning to capture the parts of Donetsk it has not yet seized. Kyiv still controls some large cities.The mayor of the Donetsk city of Kramatorsk said Russian forces had fired missiles at the city centre in an air strike on Thursday and that at least one person was killed and six wounded.Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the Donetsk region, said the missile had damaged six buildings including a hotel and an apartment bloc in the large industrial hub. read more Reuters could not independently verify those assertions.In Kramatorsk, mechanic-turned-soldier Artchk helped shore up defences against imminent Russian attack while, nearby, farmer Vasyl Avramenko lamented the loss of crops supplanted by mines."Of course we're already prepared. We're ready," Artchk, identifying himself by his nom-de-guerre, told Reuters."It's their (Russians') fantasy to occupy these cities, but they don't expect the level of resistance. It's not just the Ukrainian government, it's the people who refuse to accept them." read more Russia denies targeting civilians in what it calls a "special military operation" to demilitarise Ukraine, root out dangerous nationalists and protect Russian speakers.Ukraine and its allies say Russia launched an imperial-style land grab with February's invasion, starting the biggest conflict in Europe since World War Two which has killed thousands, displaced millions and flattened cities.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Andrew Osborn, Alexandra Hudson and Rosalba O'Brien; Editing by Angus MacSwan, Hugh Lawson and Deepa BabingtonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Europe Politics |
Evacuation from Azot plant in Sievierodonetsk now ‘impossible’, says governorHundreds of civilians sheltering at the Azot chemical plant in the embattled eastern Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk are no longer able to evacuate because of the sustained Russian artillery barrages, according to Luhansk governor, Serhiy Haidai.Speaking to CNN, Haidai said:It is impossible to get out of there now. I mean, it is physically possible, but it is very dangerous due to constant shelling and fighting.Some 568 people, including 38 children, are currently taking refuge in the Azot plant, according to Haidai. He said authorities had tried to convince the civilians to leave last month, before major bridges out of the city were destroyed, but that many “didn’t want to go” and were convinced that they would be safer to stay in place.There have been several cases of civilians who were killed or injured by incoming fire when trying to leave the shelter, for example to cook, he said.Earlier today, a pro-Russian separatist leader said Russian-backed forces will reopen a humanitarian corridor for civilians to leave the Azot chemical plant, the Interfax news agency reported.Leonid Pasechnik, head of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic, said separatist forces had entered the plant but had been unable to dislodge Ukrainian fighters from the factory, the Tass news agency reported.Haidai told CNN that an evacuation would be possible only if there were a complete ceasefire, but he was highly sceptical of any promises made by Russia.He said:I hear a lot of what they say, but 99% of it is just nonsense or a lie. If there is a complete ceasefire, then we can take people out. But I do not believe the Russians — as much as they lie, as much as they gave their word and did not keep it. There is a lot of such evidence.Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Kyiv, Ukraine. Photograph: Ludovic Marin/EPAUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy (L) and French President Emmanuel Macron shake hands after giving a press conference. Photograph: Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty ImagesEvacuation from Azot plant in Sievierodonetsk now ‘impossible’, says governorHundreds of civilians sheltering at the Azot chemical plant in the embattled eastern Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk are no longer able to evacuate because of the sustained Russian artillery barrages, according to Luhansk governor, Serhiy Haidai.Speaking to CNN, Haidai said:It is impossible to get out of there now. I mean, it is physically possible, but it is very dangerous due to constant shelling and fighting.Some 568 people, including 38 children, are currently taking refuge in the Azot plant, according to Haidai. He said authorities had tried to convince the civilians to leave last month, before major bridges out of the city were destroyed, but that many “didn’t want to go” and were convinced that they would be safer to stay in place.There have been several cases of civilians who were killed or injured by incoming fire when trying to leave the shelter, for example to cook, he said.Earlier today, a pro-Russian separatist leader said Russian-backed forces will reopen a humanitarian corridor for civilians to leave the Azot chemical plant, the Interfax news agency reported.Leonid Pasechnik, head of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic, said separatist forces had entered the plant but had been unable to dislodge Ukrainian fighters from the factory, the Tass news agency reported.Haidai told CNN that an evacuation would be possible only if there were a complete ceasefire, but he was highly sceptical of any promises made by Russia.He said:I hear a lot of what they say, but 99% of it is just nonsense or a lie. If there is a complete ceasefire, then we can take people out. But I do not believe the Russians — as much as they lie, as much as they gave their word and did not keep it. There is a lot of such evidence.Today so far...It’s 6pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand: Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, and Italy’s prime minister, Mario Draghi, have arrived in Kyiv on a symbolic joint trip to show their support for Ukraine. The three leaders, along with Romania’s president, Klaus Iohannis, met with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, for talks as Ukraine struggles to resist Russian advances in the east of the country. Following the talks in Kyiv, Macron said all four European Union leaders present supported the idea of granting an “immediate” EU candidate status to Ukraine. Draghi said his main message was that Italy wants to see Ukraine as a part of the EU. Scholz pledged that Germany would continue to support Kyiv financially and militarily as long as it needs. Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has reiterated the alliance’s commitment to providing equipment to maintain Ukraine’s right to self-defence, and announced that Nato will be making more troop deployments on its eastern flank. He condemned “a relentless war of attrition against Ukraine” being waged by Russia, and said Nato continued to offer “unprecedented support so it can defend itself against Moscow’s aggression”. At least three civilians were killed and seven injured by a Russian airstrike in the eastern city of Lysychansk, according to the Luhansk governor, Serhiy Haidai. The strike hit a building where civilians were sheltering, Haidai said. It has not been possible to independently verify this information. An overnight Russian air-launched rocket strike hit a suburb of the northern Ukrainian city of Sumy, killing four and wounding six, according to officials. Regional governor Dmytro Zhyvytskyi said another rocket strike hit the Dobropillia district, which lies next to the Russian border, at 5am on Thursday, followed by 26 mortar rounds fired from across the border. Thousands of civilians, including women, children and elderly people, are trapped in Sievierodonetsk with a diminishing supply of food, clean water, sanitation and electricity. An urgent situation is developing in the bunkers beneath the Azot chemical plant in the city, a UN spokesperson said. Russian troops control 80% of the embattled eastern city that has become a focal point of Russia’s advances in the east of the country. Russia’s strategic goal in the war is the complete destruction of Ukrainian statehood and the nation, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, Hanna Malyar, has said. She added that the situation remained difficult for Ukrainian forces and that Russia’s main focus now was on establishing full control over the Luhansk and Donetsk regions of eastern Ukraine. Children born in Ukraine’s Kherson region since 24 February will automatically receive Russian citizenship, according to a statement by an official. Yesterday Stremousov claimed that thousands of citizens in the occupied territory were applying for Russian citizenship. Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russia of abducting children from its territory and transferring them into Russia. A Russian spy tried and failed to secure an internship at the international criminal court (ICC) using the false identity as a Brazilian citizen that he had built up for as long as a decade, according to Dutch intelligence. Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov, 36, accused of being an agent of Russia’s GRU military intelligence, was detained when he arrived and sent back to Brazil the following day, having failed in his long-term deception. The UK announced a fresh wave of sanctions against Russia aimed at people involved with the “barbaric treatment of children in Ukraine”. Those targeted by sanctions include the Russian children’s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, the so-called mastermind behind the shadowy abduction programme. Other sanctioned individuals included military commanders and Vladimir Mikhailovich, Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox church. Russia’s foreign ministry announced new sanctions against 121 Australian citizens, including journalists and defence officials, citing what it calls a “Russophobic agenda” in the country. Among those newly sanctioned are journalists from Australia’s ABC News, Sydney Morning Herald and Sky News, as well as various defence officials, it said. Russia’s chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, said Moscow was ready to restart peace talks with Kyiv but claimed it had yet to receive a response to its latest proposals. According to Interfax news agency, Medinsky said Kyiv was to blame for the lack of progress. Two American volunteers in Ukraine have gone missing and are feared to have been taken prisoner by Russia, officials and family members said on Wednesday. Alexander Drueke, 39, and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, 27, are both US military veterans who had been living in Alabama and went to Ukraine to assist with war efforts. The pair haven’t been heard from in days, members of the state’s congressional delegation have said. Russia has warned that gas flows to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline could be suspended, blaming problems with turbine repairs. Russia’s ambassador to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov, told the state-owned news agency Ria that a complete halt in gas flows in the pipeline, which supplies gas from Russia to Europe under the Baltic Sea, would be a “catastrophe” for Germany. Western and Ukrainian rhetoric claiming Russia will be required to pay reparations for the damage caused by its invasion of Ukraine is not backed by a coherent roadmap based on international law to achieve justice for Ukraine’s victims, a new report has warned. The report says little progress has been made in setting up a global mechanism to require Russia to pay compensation and says the delays must end. Hello everyone, it’s Léonie Chao-Fong here with you today to bring you all the latest developments from the war in Ukraine. Feel free to drop me a message if you have anything to flag, you can reach me on Twitter or via email.EU leaders in Kyiv support immediate EU candidacy for Ukraine, says MacronFrance’s president, Emmanuel Macron, said all four European Union leaders present in Kyiv supported the idea of granting an “immediate” EU candidate status to Ukraine.Macron was speaking at a news conference after meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, alongside German chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian prime minister Mario Draghi, and Romanian president Klaus Iohannis .Macron said:We all four support the immediate EU candidate status.France would step up arms deliveries to the country at war with Russia, he added.At the news conference, Draghi said his main message during his visit to Kyiv was that Italy wants to see Ukraine as a part of the EU.Scholz pledged that Germany would continue to support Ukraine as long as it needs, describing Kyiv’s fight against the Russian invasion as “heroic”.Germany had taken in 800,000 Ukrainian refugees and was also supporting Ukraine financially and militarily, he said, adding:We will continue do this as long Ukraine needs our support.Zelenskiy said Russia’s invasion amounted to aggression against all of Europe.The more weapons Ukraine receives from the West, the faster it will be able to liberate its occupied land, he said, adding that he had discussed further sanctions against Russia and post-war reconstruction at talks with the EU leaders. Netherlands says it foiled Russian spy attempt to infiltrate the international criminal courtThe Dutch intelligence service said it had uncovered a Russian military agent attempting to use a false identity to infiltrate the international criminal court (ICC), which is investigating accusations of war crimes in Ukraine.Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov created an elaborate cover story dating back years to try and enter the Netherlands as a Brazilian national for an internship at the Hague-based ICC in April, the agency’s head told Reuters.“This was a long-term, multi-year GRU operation that cost a lot of time, energy and money,” said the Dutch intelligence agency chief, Erik Akerboom.The Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) said in a statement that the man, who went by the alias Viktor Muller Ferreira, was picked up at a Dutch airport. He was declared an undesirable alien and put on the next flight back to Brazil, where he faces court proceedings, it added.“It clearly shows us what the Russians are up to – trying to gain illegal access to information within the ICC. We classify this as a high-level threat,” Akerboom added, saying the ICC had accepted him for an internship.ICC spokesperson Sonia Robla said the court was grateful to Dutch authorities for the operation and the exposing of security risks. “The ICC takes these threats very seriously and will continue to work and cooperate with the Netherlands,” she said.There is yet to be any comment on the accusation by authorities in either Russia or Brazil.Russia’s strategic goal in the war is the complete destruction of Ukrainian statehood and the nation, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, Hanna Malyar, has said.Reuters reports she told a briefing “Russia’s main strategic, military-political and military-economic goals as regards our state remain the complete destruction of Ukrainian statehood and the nation, as well as the destruction of the military and economic foundations of our state.”She said Russia’s military goals also included the destruction of weapons and equipment sent to Ukraine by its foreign partners, and damaging transport infrastructure used to transport military and civilian goods.She added that the situation remained difficult for Ukrainian forces, and that Russia’s main focus now was on establishing full control over the Luhansk and Donetsk regions of eastern Ukraine.This week, Vladimir Putin’s long-term ally Dmitry Medvedev posted to Telegram scoffing at the prospect of Ukraine arranging deals where it would pay off debts in two years, saying: “Who said that in two years Ukraine will even exist on the world map?”Stoltenberg defends Nato against pope's accusation Ukraine war was ‘perhaps somehow provoked’Jens Stoltenberg has reiterated Nato’s commitment to providing equipment to maintain Ukraine’s right to self-defence, and announced that Nato will be making more troop deployments on its eastern flank.Speaking in Brussels, the secretary general of Nato condemned “a relentless war of attrition against Ukraine” being waged by Russia, and said Nato continued to offer “unprecedented support so it can defend itself against Moscow’s aggression”.Stoltenberg said “All countries have the right to choose their own path without outside interference” and that Nato was planning a comprehensive assistance package for Ukraine to improve interoperability and transition Ukraine from Soviet-era equipment to Nato-compatible weapons.In broader terms, Stoltenberg said “Russia’s aggression is a game-changer”, and that the Nato alliance would be deploying more air, sea and cyber defences as well as more forward-positioned troops. He suggested that in future groups of troops would be charged as planning to defend specific countries, rather than being on more general duty, which he said would make response times faster.Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg speaks during a media conference in Brussels. Photograph: Olivier Matthys/APAsked about recent comments by Pope Francis that the Ukraine war was “perhaps somehow provoked”, Stoltenberg laid the blame firmly at the door of Russian president Vladimir Putin, saying:Nato is a defensive alliance, and the war in Ukraine is President Putin’s war. What Nato has been doing for many years is to support an independent sovereign nation in Europe in Ukraine. This is not a threat to anyone. This is not a provocation. And that is what we continue to you. It is President Putin and Moscow which is responsible for this brutal aggression against Ukraine.Italian PM Mario Draghi, German chancellor Olaf Scholz, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, French president Emmanuel Macron and Romanian president Klaus Iohannis in Mariinsky Palace, in Kyiv. Photograph: Ludovic Marin/EPAPresident Zelenskiy speaks during a working session in Mariinsky Palace. Photograph: Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty ImagesAt least three civilians were killed and seven injured by a Russian airstrike in the eastern city of Lysychansk, according to the Luhansk governor, Serhiy Haidai.The strike hit a building where civilians were sheltering, Haidai said. Rescuers are clearing the rubble at the site, he added. In the Luhansk Oblast, the Russian troops struck at one of the buildings where people were hiding. At least three civilians were killed and seven were injured,announced the head of the Luhansk Regional State Administration Serhiy Hayday.— Hromadske Int. (@Hromadske) June 16, 2022
It has not been possible to independently verify this information. The Russian Orthodox Church has responded to British sanctions against its leader, Patriarch Kirill, describing the move as “absurd and counterproductive”.Church spokesperson, Vladimir Legoyda, said on Telegram:Attempts to intimidate the primate of the Russian Church with something or to force him to renounce his views are senseless, absurd and unpromising.He said the church was the “last bridge, a means of communication” that Britain was “trying to destroy” with the aim of “the escalation of conflict and the alienation of peace”.He added:There is no other way I can explain such absurd and counterproductive measures, which contribute to only one thing - breaking the already severely damaged communication between the European community and Russia.Here’s a bit more on Britain’s latest round of sanctions against Russia, which include Moscow’s children’s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, and the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill. The UK foreign office said it had sanctioned Lvova-Belova for the forced transfer and adoption of Ukrainian children, while Kirill was targeted for “his prominent support of Russian military aggression in Ukraine”.Four senior military officials from a unit “known to have killed, raped, and tortured civilians” in the Ukrainian town of Bucha were also sanctioned, it said in a statement.The government said the sanctions also targeted Putin’s allies, military commanders and Russian and Myanmar arms dealers.Patriarch Kirill of Moscow Photograph: Maxim Shemetov/ReutersScholz: Russia’s war of ‘unimaginable cruelty’ in Ukraine must endGermany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said Russia’s war of “unimaginable cruelty” and “senseless violence” in Ukraine must end during a visit to the town of Irpin in the Kyiv suburb with other European leaders.Like Bucha, Irpin has become a symbol of the “cruelty” of Russia’s war in Ukraine, Scholz tweeted. He wrote:Irpin, like Bucha, has long since become a symbol of the unimaginable cruelty of the Russian war, of senseless violence. The brutal destruction in this city is a memorial - this war must come to an end.#Irpin ist wie #Butscha längst ein Symbol für die unvorstellbare Grausamkeit des russischen Kriegs geworden, für sinnlose Gewalt. Die brutale Zerstörung in dieser Stadt ist ein Mahnmal - dieser Krieg muss zu Ende gehen. pic.twitter.com/DEPZUfh9OY— Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz (@Bundeskanzler) June 16, 2022
Scholz arrived in Kyiv today in an attempt to restore confidence among Germany’s allies over the repeated rows over weapons that he has promised Ukraine. He told German media on the way to the Ukrainian capital:We want to show not only solidarity, but also assure that the help that we’re organising - financial, humanitarian, but also, when it comes to weapons - will continue. And that we will continue it as long as it is necessary for Ukraine’s fight to defend itself against Moscow.Britain’s foreign secretary, Liz Truss, said the UK “wholeheartedly” supports the Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, amid reports that he was abruptly moved to a high-security prison camp.Speaking in parliament today, Truss said:We wholeheartedly support Navalny and we are very, very concerned about the reports we have heard and we urge Russia to release him as soon as possible.It comes after Navalny’s spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, announced yesterday that he had been transferred from the IK-6 penal colony to a maximum security jail in Melekhovo, 155 miles (250km) east of Moscow. Yarmysh tweeted: “IK-6 in Melekhovo is a monstrous place.” | Europe Politics |
The Labour party leadership is being criticised for the way MP selections are being run under Keir Starmer (Alamy) 9 min read31 December 2022 Record polling leads for Labour suggest they could soon be set to win their first general election since 2005, but ongoing internal rows over who will stand to be the party's MPs show no sign of abating in the new year. In the final selection for a Labour parliamentary candidate of 2022, the initial panel was disbanded after a row between local representatives and the national leadership, which could be seen as emblematic of a wider struggle for the soul of the party. Danny Beales, from the centre of the party and currently a councillor in Labour-led Camden where the party's leader Keir Starmer is an MP, was picked to stand against Boris Johnson in the seat of Uxbridge & South Ruislip at the next election. The decision was announced a fortnight after the London regional branch of the Labour Party stepped in over what it called a “clear breach” of procedural guidelines on campaigning for a candidate before shortlisting has been completed. They cited an email sent to local members by the Constituency Labour Party (CLP) secretary and procedural secretary on 26 November that allegedly featured “prominent coverage and photographs” of a candidate. The local party secretary said the email and Facebook post cited in the decision, related to the CLP’s annual Christmas food bank fundraiser, and was not seeking to influence members, but was simply thanking two activists for helping out. But as one of those named, Connor Liberty, was also standing to be the parliamentary candidate, it was deemed to be a breach and a new panel was set up to determine the outcome, with those on the left of the party crying foul and arguing it was really about boosting the chances of the central party’s preferred candidate. Labour’s leadership, formally known as Leader of the Opposition, or LOTO, deny this. It was the third selection panel to be disbanded in the capital this autumn, after the regional party stepped in over decisions in Kensington, where the former MP for the constituency Emma Dent-Coad was blocked from standing again, and in Camberwell and Peckham, the highly-prized South London seat which has been held since 1982 by party grandee Harriet Harman, who has said she does not wish to stand at the next election. In dozens of other seats, the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) – whose membership has shifted to be much more pro-Starmer after this summer's elections – has been involved in ways Momentum, the left-wing pressure group, say has breached their own rules, such as not long-listing candidates with major union backing, and applying rules on past statements and social media unequally. As NEC members sit on a panel alongside local representatives to interview potential candidates, they have become a target for criticism from the left if their preferred choice does not make it onto a shortlist, seeing it as part of a wider move by the current leadership to shut down the left wing of the party. Momentum has accused LOTO of a “stitch-up”, and Starmer himself of “betrayal”, after he promised more local control over candidate selection when he became leader. A source on Labour’s NEC told PoliticsHome they accept they have been very involved in the 70 selections made so far, but rejected any suggestion that this is being driven by ideology, and said it is instead about “quality control” of candidates. The message from the top of the party has always been about "not getting any Jared O’Maras or more Mike Hills" – both of whom were elected as MPs for the party and then forced to stand down in disgrace. “It’s about avoiding piss poor candidates who are only there as part of some insidery game of thrones between various groups,” a senior Labour source said. They said their aim is “really simple” when it comes to selecting people to stand in 2024, and is about making sure “the next intake is the best Labour has had in terms of potential future ministers”. Humbled to have been selected today by members as the @UKLabour candidate for Uxbridge & South Ruislip. As a homeless teenager in the area, I could never have imagined having a chance to represent the place that made me who I am today. Let's do this! 🌹 pic.twitter.com/M8sQVPKg7s
— Danny Beales 🇺🇦🇬🇧 (@DannyBeales) December 17, 2022 Momentum have highlighted that Christian Wakeford, who was elected as a Conservative MP in 2019 but crossed the floor to join the Labour benches at the start of 2022 in protest at Boris Johnson's handling of the partygate scandal, was waved through the re-selection process in Bury South and is now automatically the candidate for that seat at the next election. This means he has avoided the process known as “triggering”, where sitting MPs can have their selection for their seat re-contested, despite winning it for Labour at the last election, something that has been faced by left-wing MPs like Ian Byrne and Zarah Sultana They survived the challenge, but fellow member of the Socialist Campaign Group in the Commons Sam Tarry lost the battle in his Ilford South seat – and has gone from being a front-bench spokesperson to losing his seat in the space of a few months. The senior Labour source told PoliticsHome that changing the rules on selections last year, which allowed for NEC members to outnumber CLP reps on selection panels, “would remove the deathly grip” of groups like Momentum and big unions like Unite from the candidate process, adding that the fact they “are now complaining about it is just standard”. "When you try to remove factionalism from the Labour Party, those who benefit greatly from factionalism get very cross indeed," they added. The NEC source said it is also about allowing for a fuller process this time around after the snap elections in 2017 and 2019 meant that candidates had to be chosen very quickly and in many cases people were simply imposed on individual constituencies by LOTO, then under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership, without any local involvement. They worry the Conservatives have been better at doing due diligence and auditing potential Labour candidates than Labour have themselves, and the current process is about not leaving the party exposed to criticism in the way it has been in the last few elections. As well as O'Mara and Hill they also cited Fiona Onasanya, who won the seat of Peterborough in 2017 only to then be found guilty of perverting the course of justice and jailed for three months. “We want to pretty much avoid having anything like that again, especially if we're going to be a party of government as well,” the source added. “The last thing you want to be distracted by is other scandals. Quite frankly, for far too many years the Conservatives have spent a lot more money on vetting our candidates than we have ourselves, and I think it's really important that we as the NEC do a thorough quality check.” Keir Starmer's selections purge is taking a wrecking ball to the Labour Party - local parties, trade unions & members are paying the price. No to stitch-ups, yes to free & fair selections. pic.twitter.com/KKWxQnllWO
— Momentum 🌹 (@PeoplesMomentum) December 12, 2022 On the left’s argument that the NEC’s role has been to promote candidates from the right of the party, the NEC source said they “obviously challenge that narrative”, and point to Faiza Shaheen, a left-wing candidate who was elected to fight Chingford and Wood Green in North London, held by Conservative MP and former party leader Iain Duncan Smith since 1997, for a second time. Duncan Smith's majority was slashed to just 1,262 in the 2019 election, making the seat a key target for Labour. But the left point to Darren Rodwell, who they say is on the Labour right and who drew strong criticism after a video emerged of the white candidate saying at a Black History Month event that he has “the worst tan possible for a Black man”, and yet was still selected to fight Barking in East London for the party. He publicly apologised for the comments, and the NEC source defended the decision to make him the candidate. They said Rodwell “was a really good example of where actually someone showed contrition and understood what they did”, and that during the interview process for the seat he acknowledged what he said was wrong. However, LOTO has failed to quell internal dissatisfaction over the selection process so far, with criticism from unions like Usdaw that are normally aligned with the leadership, and centre-left pressure group Compass, now openly campaigning against it, after its director Neal Lawson sent a letter to Labour’s general secretary David Evans calling on the party’s central office to stop the “spurious and factional dismissal of talent and breadth” in its current round of candidate selections. The NEC source said it was unlikely they might change tack after left-wing groups like Momentum have raised concern and with several negative stories in the media. There is anger from the left at the way candidate selections have taken place under Keir Starmer (Alamy) “The process is really clear at the moment, I think we've gotten into a good rhythm of it”, they said, with hundreds more to be voted on in the coming months. “I think what I want to see is more diverse candidates, as well as more working class candidates. “But hopefully we're going to get into a position where by March time, we stop having fights with each other, and actually we're all getting behind our candidates. “But I can't see the process changing at the moment.” The source on the Labour left also did not anticipate a change of approach to candidate selection in the new year. “Nothing that has happened so far under Keir’s tenure and during the selection scandal, indicates that these people are embarrassed or can be shamed into action,” they said. But they remained optimistic that left wing candidates would still end up on the ballot come 2024. “I wouldn't say that it's hopeless from a left point of view, because there will be places where a left winger does get through to the shortlist; sometimes they'll win and sometimes they won't, but ultimately all we're asking for is a fair fight,” they explained. However they said “it is fundamentally a defensive struggle for us at the moment”, accusing LOTO of wanting to “purge” the left from the party. “I think the fundamental truth here is, they don't view us as legitimate actors, and they don't think that we should have any role in the Labour Party.” They believe the Labour leadership is “determined after the Corbyn years to make sure that we can never again ascend”. A LOTO source flatly rejected this claim. But the left-wing source said they have “lots of friends still in the party” who see their role and value. “But there is a small coterie right at the top who hold the reins of power and are intent on our destruction, and so on goes the fight.” PoliticsHome Newsletters PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe | United Kingdom Politics |
24 min agoRussian forces withdraw from Snake IslandFrom CNN's Olga Voitovych in Kyiv and Anna Chernova in DubaiRussian forces have left Snake Island in the Black Sea, the Ukrainian Armed Forces said Thursday, after they carried out what they said was a “successful” operation.On Monday, the Ukrainian military said it hit a second missile system on the island, as well as multiple Russian personnel in their efforts to keep them at bay.In a short post on Telegram the Operation Command South on Thursday, the Ukrainian Armed Forces said that “the enemy hastily evacuated the remnants of the garrison in two speedboats and probably left the island.”Andriy Yermak, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said in a Telegram post that Ukraine's armed forces had "conducted a remarkable operation."Early on Thursday Ukrainian Armed Forces said the results of an overnight operation were being assessed, but were viewed as a “success” as Russian forces were forced to evacuate using speedboats.However, Russia gave a slightly different narrative of the events on the island.Lieutenant General of the Russian Armed Forces, and spokesperson of the Russian army, Igor Konashenkov said at a briefing that Russian forces left the island "as a gesture of goodwill."He added that “the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation finished fulfilling the assigned tasks in Snake Island and withdrew the garrison that had been operating there.”Konashenkov intimated that the removal of Russian troops should allow an easing for the passage of grain, “this solution will prevent Kyiv from speculating on an impending grocery crisis citing the inability to export grain due to total control of the northwestern part of the Black Sea by Russia.”A satellite image shows an overview of Snake Island, Ukraine, on May 12. (Maxar Technologies/Reuters)Some context: Snake Island is a small but strategic island in the Black Sea. It was the scene of one of the opening salvos of the war in Ukraine, with demands from a Russian warship calling for the Ukrainian defenders to surrender, who boldly replied with “Russian warship go f*** yourself.”This post has been updated.1 hr 8 min agoHuman Rights Watch demands probe into Kremenchuk bombing as “potential war crime”From Ingrid Formanek in Kyiv and Seb Shukla in LondonA Russian missile approaches a shopping mall in Kremenchuk, Ukraine, in this still image taken from handout CCTV footage released on June 28. (zelenskiy_official/Instagram/Reuters)The bombing of the mall in Kremenchuk, central Ukraine, “should be investigated as a potential war crime,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Thursday.In a report published on Thursday, Yulia Gorbunova, a senior Ukraine researcher at HRW added that “if the Russian authorities don’t, the International Criminal Court and other investigative bodies should.”In a thorough report into the bombing, HRW spoke with 15 people to publish their report, including the injured, doctors, mall staff, other witnesses and local officials.Gorbunova added “the civilians of Kremenchuk who suffered such an intense loss from June 27 strike, deserve justice. There needs to be a thorough investigation, and those responsible should be held to account.”3 hr 11 min agoNervous Lithuanians are signing up for a border militiaFrom CNN's Nina dos Santos and Lindsay Isaac in Kybartai, LithuaniaHaving a neighbor like Russia at the end of the street means 59-year-old Vytas Grudzinskas doesn't get much rest. "I can see the soldiers best at night," he says, pointing to a patch of green behind his neighbor's garden."They have a shooting range they use over there behind that field. In the afternoon, you can hear the guns," he said.Grudzinskas has his own weapon, a machine gun, which he keeps locked in a cupboard, close at hand — although his guard dog, a Maltese terrier, might be less effective in battle.The small city of Kybartai where Grudzinska lives lies inside both NATO and the European Union but also along one of the world's hottest borders — the Suwalki corridor. This tract of land, about 60 miles wide, is sandwiched between Russia's heavily fortified, nuclear-armed, Baltic bolthole of Kaliningrad and its ally, Belarus. The pass — viewed by many analysts as a weak point within NATO — is caught in a pincer grip between Kremlin troops. The fear is that if Ukraine fell, Russia would advance through it next, possibly cutting off the Baltic states in days.The scars of Soviet occupation run deep in this part of Europe. Tens of thousands of Lithuanians were forcibly deported to gulags in Siberia and the far north by the Soviets in the 1940s and 1950s. Almost 30,000 Lithuanian prisoners perished in the forced labor camps."My father was sent to Sakhalin in Russia's far west for 15 years," said Grudzinskas. "He ate grass the first year to survive."So, when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, Grudzinskas joined Lithuania's century-old volunteer militia — the Riflemen — and took up arms in his own backyard.Read the full story here.4 hr 2 min agoIt's 9 a.m. in Kyiv. Here's what you need to knowRussian President Vladimir Putin issued a fresh warning over Finland and Sweden's bids to join NATO, saying while Russia was not bothered if the two countries joined the bloc, it would "respond symmetrically" to any military or infrastructure build up.Here are the latest headlines. NATO enlargement: NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg called the formal invitation from the alliance to Sweden and Finland to join the defense bloc "a historic decision." The invitation sparks a seven-step accession process. Meanwhile, Putin warned Russia would respond in kind to any "threats." Eastern flank bolstered: NATO's leaders also unveiled a significant strengthening of forces along the bloc's eastern edge, with President Joe Biden announcing the US would bolster its force posture in several European countries. Latvia's Prime Minister called the decision a "very, very clear signal to Moscow." Putin denies mall attack: The Russian President denied Moscow was behind a strike on a shopping center in central Ukraine that killed at least 18 people with dozens missing and wounded. "The Russian army does not attack any civilian site," he claimed. Russia's Defense Ministry previously said it hit military targets but video from the city of Kremenchuk shows the mall obliterated by a missile.Mykolaiv missile attacks: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said 10 Russian missiles hit "civilian targets" in the southern city on Wednesday, killing at least five people. The assault "proves for absolutely everyone in the world that the pressure on Russia is not enough," Zelensky said in his nightly address."Constant shelling" of Lysychansk: Russian forces attempting to storm the eastern Ukrainian city — where some 15,000 people remain — are maintaining "constant shelling," the head of the Luhansk region military administration said. "Now the density of fire is so strong. So much that we can only put 30 people on a bus," the military chief said.Widodo meets with Zelensky and Putin: Indonesian President Joko Widodo traveled to Kyiv on Wednesday, where he met with Zelensky and extended a personal invitation to the G20 summit in Bali in November. He is expected to travel to Moscow on Thursday to meet Putin and said he hoped to "build dialogue, stop war and build peace."3 hr 18 min ago10 Russian missiles hit "civilian targets" in Mykolaiv, Zelensky saysFrom CNN's Mohammed TawfeeqRescuers work at a residential building hit by a Russian military strike in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, on June 29. (State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Reuters)Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said 10 Russian missiles hit "civilian targets" in the southern city of Mykolaiv on Wednesday, killing at least five people.The assault "proves for absolutely everyone in the world that the pressure on Russia is not enough," Zelensky said in his nightly address."There were also strikes at Ochakiv, Dnipro, the Russian shelling of the Kharkiv region, Sumy region, Donbas."Zelensky also said the situation in Lysychansk, Avdiivka, and communities in the Bakhmut direction "remains extremely brutal, very difficult.""We are doing everything we can to provide our military with modern artillery systems to respond properly to the occupiers," he said.Some context: Mykolaiv mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych on Wednesday said there were "only 18 days" since the start of the invasion that the southern Ukrainian city was not fired upon with missiles or cluster shells. More than 114 residents had died due to Russian attacks in that time, he said. It was not clear if that number included all casualties cited by Zelensky later that day. 6 hr 46 min agoRussian military will take "years" to recover, raising nuclear risk, says US intelligence chiefFrom CNN's Katie Bo LillisThe US intelligence community assesses that it will take “years” for the Russian military to recover from the damage it has sustained in carrying out its war in Ukraine, according to the director for national intelligence Avril Haines.“Their ground forces have now been degraded so much that we expect it will take years for them to recover in many ways,” she told a conference in Washington, DC on Wednesday.That could push Russia to become more reliant on "asymmetric tools" such as cyberattacks, efforts to try to control energy, or even nuclear weapons in order to project "power and influence," she said.Grim assessment: Haines said Russia is beginning to turn its focus to the Donetsk region. The intelligence community believes Russia will struggle to overtake the eastern province — as it is close to achieving in neighboring Luhansk — but that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely believes time is on Moscow's side because he thinks the West will eventually tire of supporting Ukraine. “The consensus is that the war in Ukraine will go on for an extended period of time,” Haines said, acknowledging the US assessment of the situation is “grim.”Three scenarios: Haines said the intelligence community sees three likely scenarios that could come into focus in the coming weeks and months.“The most likely is that the conflict remains a grinding struggle in which the Russians make incremental gains, but no breakthrough,” she said. Under that scenario, the Russian military will have secured Luhansk and much of Donetsk by the fall, as well as solidifying control of southern Ukraine.The other scenarios are that Russia could achieve a breakthrough and refocus on Kyiv or Odesa; or, finally, that Ukraine could stabilize the front line and begin to make smaller gains, likely in Kherson or elsewhere in southern Ukraine.8 hr 6 min agoNATO bolstering eastern flank sends "very clear signal to Moscow," Latvian Prime Minister saysFrom CNN's Jennifer Hansler and Kylie AtwoodLatvian Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš hailed the decisions made by NATO leaders in Madrid to bolster its presence on the alliance's eastern flank, calling it a "very, very clear signal to Moscow." In an interview with CNN Wednesday, the Baltic state leader noted that "in a sense, everything that we've been arguing for has been clearly heard," saying the change in posture is "a change from a tripwire defense to a forward defense.""Until now, many NATO leaders have repeated and repeated that NATO will be defending and will defend every inch of NATO territory," Kariņš told CNN. "Now ... there's action behind those words."Kariņš said he would like to see support for Ukraine move even more quickly, because "the faster we in NATO can provide weapons, munitions and training, the sooner the war will come to an end.""I think a diplomatic solution will be reached once Russia realizes it is losing or has lost the war and then Russia will come to the table," he said.Some context: Speaking at the NATO summit in Madrid on Wednesday, President Joe Biden said the United States would establish a permanent headquarters for the Fifth Army Corps in Poland and enhance rotational deployments to the Baltic states. Latvia is one of the Baltic states, and shares land borders with both Russia and Belarus.7 hr 59 min agoRussia not bothered by Sweden and Finland joining NATO, Putin saysFrom CNN's Masha AngelovaRussia’s President Vladimir Putin says Russia is not bothered if Sweden and Finland join NATO but warns they will respond in kind to any “threats.”“There is nothing that could bother us about Sweden and Finland joining NATO. If they want to join, please. Only we must clearly and precisely understand — while there was no threat before, in the case of military contingents and military infrastructure being deployed there, we will have to respond symmetrically and raise the same threats in those territories from where threats have arisen for us,” Putin said at a news conference following the Caspian Summit in Turkmenistan on Wednesday. Putin added, however, that the NATO expansion would bring "tensions." "Everything was good with us, but now there’ll be some tensions — that's obvious; it's impossible to be without," he said.NATO expansion: Sweden and Finland are set formally to end decades of neutrality and join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), in a historic breakthrough for the alliance that deals a blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin.The last major hurdle to the two nations' entry to the bloc was removed when Turkey dropped its opposition on Tuesday. That breakthrough came during a NATO summit in Madrid that has already become one of the most consequential meetings in the history of the military alliance.3 hr 9 min agoPutin denies Russia was behind deadly attack on shopping center in central UkraineFrom CNN's Arnaud Siad and Olena MankovskaAn aerial view of debris removal works at a destroyed shopping mall targeted by a Russian missile strike in Kremenchuk, Ukraine, on June 29. (Metin Aktas/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday denied that Russia was behind a strike on a shopping center in Kremenchuk, central Ukraine, that left at least 18 dead and dozens missing and wounded. "The Russian army does not attack any civilian site. We don’t have the need for this. We have every capability to detect specific locations; and thanks to our high-precision long-range weapons we are achieving our goals,” Putin said, at a news conference following a meeting of the "Caspian five" leaders — Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan — in Ashgabat. More background: On its Telegram channel, the Russian Defense Ministry earlier said Russian "Aerospace Forces launched a strike with high-precision air-based weapons on hangars with weapons and ammunition received from the United States and European countries," hitting a plant of "road machines.""As a result of a high-precision strike, Western-made weapons and ammunition, concentrated in the storage area for further shipment to the Ukrainian group of troops in Donbas, were hit," the ministry said.The ministry blamed "the detonation of stored ammunition for Western weapons" for causing a fire in what it described as a "non-functioning" neighboring shopping mall.A view of the explosion at the Kremenchuk shopping mall, Ukraine, in this still image taken from handout CCTV footage released on June 28. (zelenskiy_official/Instagram/Reuters)Video from Kremenchuk shows that a shopping mall in the heart of the city was obliterated by one of the two missiles that were fired. Despite an air raid siren, dozens of people were still inside the mall when the missile struck.It's unclear what "road machine" plant the Russian Defense Ministry is referring to. | Europe Politics |
World leaders have condemned a “barbaric” attack on a shopping centre in Ukraine that killed at least 18 people as a war crime, saying that it has strengthened their resolve to resist Russian aggression.Boris Johnson said the “callous, cowardly and ultimately counterproductive” attack would strengthen support for Ukraine during a G7 summit in which Britain has been encouraged by a united front against Russia’s invasion.Rescuers were combing the remains of a shopping centre in Kremenchuk, central Ukraine, today in a desperate attempt to find survivors from what President Zelensky called a deliberate “calculated hit” by Russia on a non-military target.More than 1,000 people were inside when two Russian missiles struck, Zelenskiy added. At least 25 people required hospital attention, while about 36 | Europe Politics |
(Bloomberg) -- All around the world, a backlash is brewing against the hegemony of the US dollar.
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Brazil and China recently struck a deal to settle trade in their local currencies, seeking to bypass the greenback in the process. India and Malaysia in April signed an accord to ramp up usage of the rupee in cross-border business. Even perennial US ally France is starting to complete transactions in yuan.
Currency experts are leery of sounding like the Cassandras who have, embarrassingly, predicted the dollar’s imminent demise on any number of occasions over the past century. And yet in observing this sudden wave of agreements aimed at sidestepping the dollar, they detect the sort of meaningful action, however small and gradual, that was typically missing in the past.
For many global leaders, their rationales for taking these measures are strikingly similar. The greenback, they say, is being weaponized, used to push America’s foreign-policy priorities — and punish those that oppose them.
Nowhere has that been more evident than in Russia, where the US has brought unprecedented financial pain to bear on Vladimir Putin’s regime in response to the invasion of Ukraine. The Biden administration has imposed sanctions, frozen hundreds of billions of dollars of Moscow’s foreign reserves, and, in concert with Western allies, all but ousted the country from the global banking system. For much of the world, it’s been a stark reminder of their own dependency on the dollar, regardless of what they think of the war.
And that’s the dilemma Washington officials face: By increasingly relying on the greenback to fight their geopolitical battles, not only do they risk denting the dollar’s preeminent place in world markets, but they could ultimately undermine their ability to exert influence on the global stage. To ensure long-term efficacy, sanctions are often better left as a threat and not actually carried out, according to Daniel McDowell, author of Bucking the Buck: US Financial Sanctions and the International Backlash Against the Dollar.
“Now, a rational actor that knows it could potentially be in that situation in the future is going to prepare for that scenario, and it does make your coercive threats, your deterrent threats, less effective,” said McDowell, the director of undergraduate studies in the political science department at Syracuse University. “Maybe the change is marginal now, but even if it ultimately culminates in something that doesn’t dethrone the dollar,” it still matters in how it “can reduce American economic power.”
Undoubtedly, part of the shift away from the dollar is being orchestrated by China. President Xi Jinping is seeking to carve out a bigger role for the yuan in the global financial system, and his government has made expanding the currency’s use abroad a priority.
Read More: China Takes Yuan Global to Repel Increasingly Weaponized Dollar
Yet much of the push is happening without Beijing’s involvement.
India — hardly a strategic ally of China — and Malaysia in April announced a new mechanism to conduct bilateral trade in rupees. It’s part of a broader effort by the Narendra Modi administration — which hasn’t signed on to the US-led sanctions campaign against Russia — to bypass the dollar for at least some international transactions.
A month later, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations agreed to boost the use of member currencies for regional trade and investment.
And South Korea and Indonesia just weeks ago signed an accord to promote direct exchanges of the won and rupiah.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva lashed out at the dollar’s dominance while visiting Shanghai in April. Standing at a podium surrounded by the flags of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the so-called BRICS nations, he called on the world’s largest developing economies to come up with an alternative to replace the greenback in foreign trade, asking “who decided that the dollar was the (trade) currency after the end of gold parity?”
He was harkening back to the early 1970s, when the post-WWII accord — known as Bretton Woods — that had made the dollar the center of global finance was unraveling. The agreement’s collapse did little to blunt the dollar’s preeminent position. To this day, it serves as the world’s dominant reserve currency, which has juiced demand for US bonds and allowed the country to run massive trade and budget deficits
The currency’s centrality to the global payments system also allows America to wield unique influence over the economic destiny of other nations.
About 88% of all global foreign-exchange transactions, even those not involving the US or US companies, are in dollars, according to the most recent data from the Bank for International Settlements. Because banks handling cross-border dollar flows maintain accounts at the Federal Reserve, they’re susceptible to US sanctions.
While the campaign of financial punishments against Russia is the latest and most high-profile example, both Democrat and Republican administrations have used sanctions on countries including Libya, Syria, Iran and Venezuela in recent years.
The Biden administration has averaged 1,151 new designations per year to the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s list of specially designated nationals, according to a recent report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research. That’s up from an average of 975 during the Trump administration, and 544 during President Obama’s first four-year term.
Read More: America Is Unleashing Its Economic Arsenal Against China, Russia
“Countries have chafed for decades under US dollar dominance,” said Jonathan Wood, principal for global issues at consultancy Control Risks. “More aggressive and expansive use of US sanctions in recent years reinforces this discomfort – and coincides with demands by major emerging markets for a new distribution of global power.”
A representative for the Treasury referred Bloomberg to comments Secretary Janet Yellen made in a mid-April interview with CNN, in which she acknowledged that “there is risk when we use financial sanctions that are linked to the role of the dollar that over time it could undermine the hegemony of the dollar.”
But she noted that the greenback “is used as a global currency for reasons that are not easy for other countries to find an alternative with the same properties.”
Market watchers agree. Even as a more countries look to lessen their reliance on the dollar, few expect its preeminent position in global trade and finance to be threatened any time soon.
For one, there’s little sign any other currency could provide the same level of stability, liquidity and safety, they say. What’s more, the vast majority of the US’s advanced-economy allies, making up more than 50% of global gross domestic product, have shown little urgency in pivoting from the greenback.
In fact, the dollar has rallied versus the bulk of its major peers since the US stepped up its sanctions against Russia last year, a sign that any decline in its global status is likely to be a long, slow process.
“I cannot see any asset replacing the dollar as the dominant currency, not for the next generation,” said George Boubouras, a three-decade markets veteran and head of research at K2 Asset Management in Melbourne. “Nothing comes close to the might of the US economy. China has its issues with aging demographics, and the euro has struggled to truly gain ground. The dollar will not be de-throned for the foreseeable future.”
BRICS Backlash
Still, the drumbeat of de-dollarization is continuing unabated in the developing world.
Pakistan is looking to pay for Russian crude imports in yuan, the country’s power minister said last month, while earlier this year the United Arab Emirates said it was in early-stage discussions with India on ways to boost non-oil commerce in rupees.
Earlier this week foreign ministers from the BRICS group of nations discussed how the bloc can win greater global influence, including the feasibility of creating a shared currency.
“Without a doubt, de-dollarization is accelerating and will continue for years to come,” said Vishnu Varathan, head of economics and strategy at Mizuho Bank Ltd. in Singapore. “The US made a calculated decision to use the dollar to inflict pain, and there’s likely to be long-term consequences.”
--With assistance from Monique Vanek, Mbongeni Mguni, Paul Dobson, Paul Richardson, Daniel Flatley and Christopher Condon.
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Prime Minister’s Questions is usually a shouty, jeery affair — a merciless bear pit where any sign of weakness is greeted with a wall of noise from MPs sat directly opposite.
Before the House rose for recess, politicos foretold of even fierier clashes as Rishi Sunak transitioned into a more attack-ready, aggressive politician. We saw this new approach debuted throughout the recess period: first on net zero, and culminating in the PM’s conference set-piece when he came out swinging against a stale “30 year consensus”.
But thanks to events in the Middle East, this was a distinctly sombre PMQs — where the usual confrontational tone was replaced with serious reflection. Consensus, after all, was the order of the day.
“Sunak 2.0” will have to wait some time yet for his commons debut, it seems.
As for Keir Starmer, there was no mention of the PM’s decision to scrap the Manchester leg of HS2 in Manchester, no mocking of his imagined “meat tax”, no mention of two crucial by-elections in Mid Bedfordshire and Tamworth tomorrow. Bar a brief welcoming to the new Labour MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West, the party politics was parked. All six of Starmer’s questions concerned the Israel-Hamas conflict and its implications at home and abroad.
But for Starmer, who never seems to much enjoy the rowdy side of PMQs, this was far from unfamiliar territory. It was a through back to the start of the pandemic when the newly coronated Labour leader vowed to provide “constructive opposition”. This mode of politics returned today, and Starmer consciously exuded statesmanlike seriousness.
Yesterday, a constellation of Labour MPs signed an Early Day Motion calling for cessations of hostilities to protect citizens in Gaza. Signatories included Richard Burgon, John McDonnell as well as now-independent MPs Diane Abbott and Jeremy Corbyn. Still, Starmer cleaved closely to the script he had set himself on the Israel-Hamas conflict over the past few days — coming party management difficulties notwithstanding.
Indeed, the Labour leader did not use his questions to criticise the government. Rather, he raised concerns about hostages and hate crimes to “hear hears” across the commons floor. Starmer called on MPs to approach the conflict with a united voice and stressed the “disgusting rise” in antisemitism since the Hamas attack alongside an “appalling surge” in Islamophobia.
The prime minister could only agree. Conservative MPs nodded along.
Starmer did urge Israel to act within international law, but his fury was directed at Hamas, which he said had no regard for “the safety of Palestinian people”.
In his exchanges today, which of course were not limited to Starmer’s questions, the prime minister, likewise, had to come across a stately and serious. He outlined measures the UK government was taking to support those in Gaza, including speaking with the Emir of Qatar, telling MPs “we are working round the clock” with partners and allies to secure the freedom of the hostages taken by Hamas.
The cross-party consensus was strained slightly when SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn took to the fore — calling for Sunak to urge a ceasefire. “I hope we all share the same common humanity of protecting civilians and condemning any acts of collective punishment against the Palestinian people”, Flynn said.
The PM responded that he “believes Israel does have a right to defend itself, to protect its people and to act against terrorism”.
Away from the frontbench exchanges, Crispin Blunt, the former Conservative chair of the foreign affairs select committee, warned that the government could be complicit in war crimes in Gaza. Sunak shied away from calling for any restraint from Israel: “It’s worth repeating that Hamas is a terrorist organisation that embeds itself in civilian populations”, the PM said.
One interesting moment before PMQs got underway was when the Conservatives’ newest MP Lisa Cameron, who defected from the SNP last week, crossed the floor to take her seat. Former prime minister Theresa May escorted Cameron to the government benches where she sat alongside Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross through the questioning that followed.
Starmer and Sunak struck the same sombre tones at PMQs today. If the prime minister and the leader of the Labour Party can put the point-scoring aside, so can we dispose of our entirely arbitrary scoring system. PMQs verdict: N/A | United Kingdom Politics |
Everything we know about Keir Starmer tells us he is deeply, almost instinctively, opposed to taking political risks.
The Labour leader, the narrative runs, offers few commitments, projects but a small target and relies for his political victories on the prime minister of the day getting bogged down in some self-inflicted crisis.
Sometimes Starmer will stoke and exploit Conservative division, (such as Labour’s opposition day fracking vote which preceded Liz Truss’ resignation as prime minister). But it means, for all the accusation of U-turns and profligacy on principle, Starmer’s script is strict indeed: he trusts that self-contained managerialism will contrast reassuringly with the Conservative party’s perceived chaos.
It is a level of consistency, rigorously focus-grouped and shaped by a close-knit team of advisers, that will have been aided by the fact Starmer is a relative political novice. Only an MP since 2015, as LOTO, Sir Keir has been moulded as a politician to our exact moment, conditioned by the Labour Party’s collective memory of 13 years of failed forebears.
Moreover, Starmer’s strategical consistency has also been shaped a posteriori by its success. A huge poll lead, the striking endurance of which makes it more and more difficult to dismiss as soft, has been borne and nurtured not by exciting enthusiasm, but by depriving his opponents of “dividing lines”.
The downside, of course, has been that Starmer’s coarse criticisms — be they on “small boats”, Raac in schools or on Britain’s various economic travails — have not always come with solutions.
But still, the Conservatives have continued to desperately goad Starmer, testing his commitment to his core strategy: thus the attempts at laying political traps through recent “energy” and “small boats” “weeks”. Still, through the summer Sir Keir refused to bite as he tacked tightly to the government’s positions. Starmer’s sustained summer silence, we can say in hindsight, won the long recess for Labour.
Nonetheless, it is apparent that no LOTO, not even one with an 18-point poll advantage, can permanently duck producing policy all the way to an election. What is more, Starmer is running out of potential U-turns or policy sacrifices through which he might deliberately signal his seriousness. Such positioning, on the Green Prosperity Plan and the two-child benefit cap, for example, worked for while in capturing the media’s attention. But, in political strategist terms, there may be no barnacles left to be scrapped off Starmer’s ship.
Likewise, while the “missions” have been sold as central to Starmer’s to political pitch, they have been more about framing Labour as an effective alternative government, than setting up totemic, pre-election dividing lines. Likewise, “mission” speeches secured Starmer the media spotlight for a time, but the Labour leader may now need new ways of courting the attention of the press gallery.
This week, therefore, Starmer has appeared to bury his instinctive risk-averse ways in favour of pronouncing on key, salient policy areas. It may be a sign of what is to come from the Labour leader as we head into conference season and then an election year.
Take Angela Rayner’s speech at the Trades Union Congress conference in Liverpool, for example. Rayner, newly empowered by her deputy prime minister and shadow levelling up secretary titles, variously announced in Liverpool: a ban on zero-hour contracts; an end to fire and rehire; family-friendly working; strengthened sick pay, making it available to all workers, including the lowest earners; and a proper living wage “which people can actually live on”.
She said the party would publish plans for a New Deal for Working People blueprint within 100 days as a “cast-iron commitment” — also committing her party to repealing the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 within the first 100 days of a Starmer-fronted administration.
A lot of this stuff has been announced before, but there had been repeated rumours that Starmer could renege drastically on his offering to workers in a bid to woo big business. This, therefore, was the Labour leader essentially doubling down on his pitch to the small “l” labour movement, abandoning the path of least resistance and signalling some political intent.
But cue the Conservative attacks as spokespersons, including party chairman and deputy chairman double-act Greg Hands and Lee Anderson, accused Rayner and Labour of taking orders from her “trade union paymasters”. On this subject matter, Starmer surely would have expected such a timeless Tory riposte.
Elsewhere, on the environment, Starmer chose to take a stand on government plans to relax curbs on water pollution caused by housebuilding. With sewage overflows a hot topic among many voters, Starmer now intends to turn the this into a possible wedge issue of his own. Labour Lords were instructed, therefore, to vote down the amendment while new shadow environment secretary Steve Reed pressed the case in the media.
Again, the Conservatives undertook to weaponise the episode, this time as proof that Labour is not, as it claims, the party of housebuilders. Michael Gove was the fastest out of the blocks following Labour’s Lords triumph, accusing Starmer of ending “the dream of home ownership for thousands”.
But the biggest signal that Starmer is now willing to take a stand against the Conservatives on salient issues is his new pitch on illegal migration. Fleshing out his party’s proposals this week, the Labour leader has promised to ditch the use of barges, hotels and military sites to house asylum seekers; to recruit 1,000 caseworkers to end the asylum backlog; and, as his flagship pledge, to strike a deal with Brussels that would involve the UK taking a quota of asylum seekers who arrive in the EU in exchange for the ability to return people who cross the Channel.
With the government having piled such political energy into its “stop the boats” pledge, Starmer now eyes political advantage in exposing perceived failures by highlighting the policy path not taken by ministers.
Still, Suella Braverman lost no time in claiming that Starmer’s plan would make the UK a “dumping ground” for Europe’s migrants, while Lee Anderson tweeted that Labour plans to “legalise illegal migration”. Rishi Sunak likewise told reporters: “I think he [Starmer] spent most of last year voting against a previous bill which has since then led to almost 700 arrests related to organised immigration crime, so I don’t think it’s credible that he really wants to grip this problem.”
Starmer’s decision to widen his “small target” on small boats — as he confidently sets out his policy on illegal migration and other salient topics, has therefore given the Conservatives some reason for optimism.
But Starmer’s slow move to a more principled policy position need not necessarily play into the Conservatives’ messaging — something the Labour leader clearly understands. Indeed, Sir Keir’s decision to answer the “what would you do?” here, comes on an area Starmer wants to co-opt as a “wedge issue” for his own ends. Sir Keir has talked tough on illegal migration before — at times even matching the Conservatives’ muscular rhetoric — but now he has a clear policy platform from which to mount his attacks. (Certainly, it goes someway further than the party’s “five-point plan” on illegal migration, previously referred to when under strain at the despatch box or on the media round).
So Starmer, previously so single-minded about “scraping the barnacles” from the boat, is now applying a fresh lick of paint to his political operation. After his reshuffle reaffirmed the ideological foundations of the Starmerite project, the Labour leader has also ensured any new departures on policy from his party will be undertaken gradually and consistently — in line with his fiscal rules (his new illegal migration policy will be funded by scrapping the “gimmick” Rwanda plan, for example).
In the long view of British politics, therefore, perhaps this will be the week that is remembered as the time Starmer chose to enlarge his “small target” and, after a long period spent remaking his party in his own image, truly take the attack to the Conservatives.
Josh Self is Editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on Twitter here.
Politics.co.uk is the UK’s leading digital-only political website, providing comprehensive coverage of UK politics. Subscribe to our daily newsletter here.
Picture from Keir Starmer’ flickr account. | United Kingdom Politics |
The once lingering member for Mid Bedfordshire may have left parliament, but her presence is still very much felt in SW1.
Nadine Dorries’ latest book, entitled The Plot: The Political Assassination of Boris Johnson, was initially set to be published on 28th September, just three days before the beginning of Conservative Party Conference. But owing to “the required legal process needed to share [Dorries’] story”, it was delayed to a new date — but one of no less political sensitivity: 9th November 2023.
It means the book will hit shelves just two days after the King’s Speech is delivered tomorrow — in what has been trailed by ministers as an important staging post on the long road to a general election as Rishi Sunak outlines his new legislative agenda. But crucially, ahead of publication date, The Plot’s key revelations are now being drip-fed out via the Daily Mail, the newspaper that employs Dorries as a columnist and has been granted exclusive access to the fruits of her sleuthing.
The Plot, which purports to survey the recent history of the Conservative Party going back to the early 2000s, has been hyped by its author for some time. In her lengthy resignation broadside, in which the ex-culture secretary took aim at the PM for helming a “zombie parliament”, Dorries took solace in the “comfort” she would soon derive from explaining how the PM “achieved this undemocratic upheaval”.
Dorries’ thesis, rehearsed at length in the pages of the Daily Mail, is that Boris Johnson was brought down as prime minister by a secretive “cabal” of No 10 insiders — and that the same conclave masterminded the downfalls of Liz Truss, Theresa May, David Cameron and, even, Iain Duncan Smith in 2003.
Dorries names cabinet minister Michael Gove, former No 10 advisers Dominic Cummings and Dougie Smith, and “Dr No” as among the guilty parties. This “Dr No” figure, it is alleged, is an insider so brutish that he once butchered a rabbit dear to a former partner in revenge.
Trouble for Rishi Sunak?
Dorries suggests that, by 2019, this shadowy constellation of Downing Street movers and shakers had already decided that Rishi Sunak — then a mere under-secretary of state reporting to communities secretary Sajid Javid — should be prime minister.
In this way, the useful electoral asset that is Boris Johnson would serve as a mere conduit as Gove, Cummings and co. — manipulating and manoeuvring inside the walls of Whitehall — phased in Sunakian rule. How events have unfurled since then, through Johnson’s rolling political scandals and Liz Truss’ blunder ridden-premiership, have done so according to “The Movement’s” grand design.
Thus, in The Plot, Dorries weaves her present-day grievances at Sunak through the recent history of the Conservative Party; it is an analytical thread that somehow leads her to the defenestration of Iain Duncan-Smith as Conservative leader and perhaps beyond (could Robert Peel, ousted as prime minister in 1846, have been a potential victim of “The Movement’s” sly politicking — or some equally shadowy precursor cabal? Will the Mail on Sunday’s political editor Glen Owen ask Dominic Cummings his view of the Corn Laws?).
The former culture secretary’s narrative has, of course, prompted a series of splashes in the Mail, but much of Westminster will be uninterested in her hagiographic retelling of recent Conservative history. Dorries is one of increasingly few Johnson acolytes who are willing to publicly fight his corner; her broader spiel, sensational though it seems, suffers from the not insignificant drawbacks of being both questionable in veracity and politically impotent.
However, other shocking revelations flowing from Dorries’ pen, supplementary to The Plot’s overarching narrative, will undoubtedly trigger ructions in SW1. For example, the Mail has also run with the story that former chairman Jake Berry once wrote to police because he was concerned that allegations of rape against an MP had not been properly dealt with, and that one victim was getting support paid for by the Conservative Party.
Deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden, himself a former party chairman, was questioned on the topic yesterday. He told Sky News that there was a “limit” to what he could say, because the Mail on Sunday article “doesn’t contain any details of the persons involved”. But he added: “We take any allegations exceptionally seriously.
Asked about payments to an alleged victim on Times Radio, Dowden insisted it was not “something that crossed my desk as chairman of the Conservative Party”, although he acknowledged: “It may be the case. I’m not denying that it could be the case that those payments were made”.
Dowden also denied recognising claims in Dorries’ book that there are “30 bad” MPs “out there” at any given time.
And this morning, Rishi Sunak described the allegations as “very serious” as he urged anyone with evidence of criminal acts to talk to the police.
This story, of course, is deeply unhelpful for the prime minister, who intends to use this week to continue the hard reboot of his premiership first signalled at Conservative Party conference last month. New measures on boosting North Sea production with annual oil and gas licensing rounds, the introduction of a civil offence to fine charities found to have given tents to rough sleepers and a ban on smoking for future generations are among the proposals expected to line Sunak’s intensely political path to a general election.
But — beyond any division Dorries hopes to inspire with The Plot — her aforementioned account will contribute to the deep feeling of malaise which presently envelops the Conservative parliamentary party. It compounds recent revelations at the Covid inquiry and the slew of sleaze stories that have implicated Tory backbenchers.
Ultimately, it seems every time Sunak signals some grand new departure, seizing on ephemeral political momentum, the PM is instead reminded of how difficult his task really is.
Josh Self is Editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on Twitter here.
Politics.co.uk is the UK’s leading digital-only political website, providing comprehensive coverage of UK politics. Subscribe to our daily newsletter here. | United Kingdom Politics |
As a teenager in the British Somali diaspora, there were several things I heard repeated in connection with my own culture. In no particular order, there was: drought, Black Hawk Down, high foreheads, piracy, famine, the peculiarity of banana and rice, terrorism, and the “look at me, I am the Captain now” meme. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t always feel “cool” to be Somali.
When this feeling was coupled with the age-old question of who Somalis are, I found it hard to carve out my own sense of identity. Torn between the country’s physical location on the Horn of Africa, our ethnic homogeneity, and Somalia’s membership of the League of Arab States, it often felt as if I was being pulled in a million different directions. Was I Black, east African, Arab or simply … Somali? And how did my identity as a Muslim fit on to these racialised lines?
None of this was helped by the lack of authentic representation of Somalis in literature. As a child, I was a voracious reader. I devoured books by authors like Meg Cabot, Anthony Horowitz, and Jenny Nimmo. As I got a little older, I set my sights on Jane Austen, Cassandra Clare and John Green. With hindsight, I wonder why I never stumbled across books with a diverse cast of characters, and feel saddened that I never even stopped to question their absence.
My first memory of reading a book featuring a Black character was Malorie Blackman’s Noughts and Crosses. Years later, when I started my English literature AS-level course, the floodgates that I hadn’t known existed finally opened. I read Maya Angelou and Toni Morrison. I read Mohsin Hamid. I read it all and loved it.
Throughout those years and the ones that followed, I became acutely aware of what I read – of the words and the characters on the page – and the occasional feelings of dissociation in doing so. I have loved seeing fragments of myself reflected in print, through the various takes on the Black British experience or the experience of being Muslim told through the lens of a South Asian or Middle Eastern character. But it wasn’t until three or four years ago that I realised the experience still felt incomplete.
This became clear when I discovered and read Black Mamba Boy, by Booker prize-shortlisted author Nadifa Mohamed; clarified when I came across Warsan Shire’s brilliantly haunting poetry in her debut pamphlet, Teaching My Mother How To Give Birth. Here, finally, were the British-Somali voices I didn’t know existed. Here were the stories that I didn’t know I needed. I found my people in the heart-wrenching words of Shire’s Conversations About Home, giving voice to the anguish of Somali refugees, and in Mohamed’s exploration of a colonised 20th-century Somalia, told through the lens of a boy trying to find himself in an unforgiving world. The comfort these tales gave me, the joy in feeling seen – of being visible – was one of the greatest gifts I have ever received. And, in those moments, I felt that the void must have well and truly been filled with the magic I had found. What else could I possibly want or need?
The tragic story of Shukri Abdi stopped me in my tracks. Her death stayed with me, and for much of the UK Somali community, for a long time. The devastating circumstances of her death and the police handling of the incident left me dazed, contemplating her story time and time again. What must it have been like for a young Somali refugee to come to this country? To face ridicule for being different, while struggling to integrate into a society so foreign from the one they had known?
My debut Young Adult book, You Think You Know Me, was born of those thoughts, and I realised what had been missing was voices for children. Accessible narratives of drama, adventure, heartache, legend, joy, drama, myth, featuring Somali characters.
Teens and younger readers need to see themselves reflected on a page to counteract the negative perceptions that hound the Somali community. How else will they be able to clearly see themselves within their kaleidoscopic identity? My story has a cast of unapologetic Somali characters who value every aspect of who they are. They are refugees, Muslim, Black, and they are proud of it. They speak English, Somali and Arabic. They eat the food of their homeland and wear their traditional clothes. They use the proverbs of their people to guide themselves and each other. They have left home but they carry home with them, in everything that they do.
I am proud of You Think You Know Me adding to the growing discourse around cultural representation, and there are others paving the way too. Somali Sideways, an international platform dedicated to subverting negative perceptions through photographing and documenting the lives of Somalis, is doing exceptional work to this end. The annual Somali Week festival has also made huge progress in dismantling the dangerous “single story” of Somalis.
Here is what I am hoping the next generation of Somali children will hear and internalise: that we are many things, that we come from a beautiful but struggling homeland, that we are descendants of poets and nomads – but most importantly, that we can be anything we want to be.
Ayaan Mohamud is a British Somali author and medical student | United Kingdom Politics |
US, partners scurry to contain fighting in Sudan
The U.S. and international partners are scrambling to contain an outbreak of fierce fighting in Sudan, where a conflict between heavily armed military factions risks exploding into a civil war that threatens devastating consequences.
Intense diplomacy by the U.S., the U.K., the African Union, United Nations, Gulf countries and others succeeded in extending a cease-fire early Friday morning for at least 72 hours. It provides the U.S. and others a small and limited opening to try to rein in Sudan’s warring generals, who are fighting for power, money and impunity.
It’s a brief reprieve from nearly two weeks of fighting that has killed hundreds, wounded thousands and sent tens of thousands fleeing the country, under assault from airstrikes, heavy artillery and street fighting, as well as looting.
“It’s a huge, positive development,” said Dr. Yasir Elamin, president of the Sudanese American Physicians Association, of the cease-fire. “We’re very happy with it, but there is sporadic fighting, and there is also this lawlessness with gangs and thugs also taking over the streets.”
Elamin, who is based in Texas but serves as a spokesperson for Sudanese medical professionals on the ground, has documented that of the 500 civilians killed, 13 medical professionals have died — the most recent being a Sudanese-American doctor killed on Wednesday.
“I think what we need to do is just to try to, all of us, advocate to capitalize on this leverage, so this cease-fire translates into a peaceful resolution to the crisis in Sudan,” he said.
“The humanitarian toll is going to be significant if we allow this to escalate, and I don’t think it’s too late.”
A shift in ‘power dynamics’
The U.S. and partners are in intensive discussions to halt the fighting between Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, commander of Sudan’s Armed Forces (SAF), and Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo “Hemedti,” who controls a separate military faction called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The two generals united in a military coup in October 2021 to overthrow a transitional civilian-military government, but the outbreak of war between them on April 15 is believed to have come from a breakdown in international negotiations to integrate the rival forces and transition to civilian rule.
“What’s happened in the last 14 days has fundamentally shifted power dynamics and shows that the, sort of, rules of the game inside of the country have changed. And so the political process is also going to have to adapt to respond to that reality,” said Susan Stigant, director for the Africa program at the U.S. Institute of Peace.
“Blame can be cast all around,” said Ernst Jan Hogendoorn, who served until February as senior adviser to the U.S. special envoy to Sudan and South Sudan, during a panel discussion hosted by the Atlantic Council on Wednesday.
“Partners have been struggling with the rivalry between RSF and SAF over the last four years and worried about what would happen if anyone were to see one side gaining advantage over the other,” he continued.
“And essentially, what we believe happened, Gen. Hemedti, commander of RSF, his power was potentially going to wane over the next period. And thus, he decided to launch a coup against Gen. Burhan, the leader of the SAF, and that led to the fighting that we are now trying to stop.”
Mariam al-Mahdi, Sudan’s former civilian foreign minister and who is sheltering in place in Khartoum, told the BBC on Thursday that the chances for success of a cease-fire are “very meager.”
“The two fighting men, one of them is supposed to be the head of the sovereign council, the No. 1 ruler of Sudan, and the second one is his deputy, they are the only ones who are supposed to be responsible of the well-being, protection of the Sudanese people,” she said.
“They couldn’t, for the last 13 days, find a way to look at the Sudanese people as humans and to have a humanitarian cease-fire for only six hours, because now they got into personal vendetta against each other.”
Generals’ allies could help, hurt situation
The military commanders each have their own backers among African and Arab and Gulf leaders, who have the potential to calm the situation or risk devolving it further as they pursue their self-interests. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are considered to have the most influence on Burhan and Hemedti. Egypt is a strong military backer of the SAF.
Still, there is hope that these outside actors, along with the U.S., have the ability to pressure the generals to calm the situation.
“If we look to the evacuations of foreign nationals that have taken place and in a very complex environment, and I think in a risky environment, the relative success of those evacuations, I think, shows us that leverage can be exercised successfully,” said Stigant, of USIP.
“The question is who will lead, to make sure that all of those countries view the ending of violence as a pathway towards achieving their own interests.”
Massive impacts: humanitarian, economic, political
The descent into war between the two generals is exacerbating already large-scale humanitarian needs in the country, with at least 15 million people relying on humanitarian assistance even before this outbreak of fighting, according to the United Nations.
The unchecked violence risks destabilizing a fragile and strategic region of Africa. Sudan shares borders with seven countries, is considered a key crossroads between north and sub-Saharan Africa, and is a transit point for hundreds of millions of dollars of sea commerce on the Nile River and Red Sea.
Instability and fighting also leave a vacuum for terrorist groups to exploit and are a venue for the geopolitical battle between the U.S. and Russia.
The RSF reportedly has a military supply line through Libya provided by Russia’s private military group Wagner, whose forces are on the frontlines of Russia’s war in Ukraine but serves as a security-for-hire group in fragile African states, with atrocities against civilians a defining characteristic of their operations.
The violence is a devastating blow to the Sudanese people, whose hard-won, grassroots revolution in 2019 — which deposed a dictator, succeeded in removing the country from the U.S. list of State Sponsors of Terrorism and was working toward a transition to a civilian-led democracy — was reversed by Burhan and Hemedti’s military coup in 2021.
“Since the beginning, there was a clear dichotomy, I would say, between the logic of revolution, what I call the euphoria and the wishful thinking of the revolution, and the reality of governance in a country like Sudan,” Nureldin Satti, the former Sudanese ambassador to the U.S., said during the Atlantic Council panel.
“The balance of power is not in favor of the revolution of the civilians. … The idea is we need a dialogue, a really clear and frank dialogue between civilians and military on the future of the relations and how the military is accommodated within the Sudanese brand of democracy, a country that has suffered for decades of military predominance.”
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. | Africa politics |
China calls for ceasefire, UN peace conference to end Israel-Gaza conflict
- Beijing has released its first position paper on the war, which includes a broad-based forum aimed at achieving the two-state solution
- The paper’s release comes at the end of China’s presidency of the UN Security Council, during a humanitarian pause
The day marks November 29, 1947, when the General Assembly adopted the resolution that provided for the establishment of two states in Palestine. It is traditionally used to draw attention to the unresolved question of a Palestinian state.
Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory message to the UN in honour of the day and said China would continue to uphold “justice and righteousness” on the question of Palestine and actively promote peace and dialogue.
He also promised that China would continue to provide humanitarian and development assistance to the Palestinian people.
According to the position paper, titled Resolving the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict, the Security Council should play an “active and constructive role” on the question of Palestine.
The Security Council should also demand a comprehensive ceasefire and end to the fighting, as well as work for the de-escalation of the conflict and cool down the situation as soon as possible, it said.
The paper also urged the UN body to help restore the two-state solution, based on the 1967 border, which would create a state for the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip alongside Israel, with east Jerusalem as its capital.
In the position paper, China also called for a “broad-based, authoritative and effective” international peace conference, led and organised by the UN “as soon as possible”.
The conference should formulate a concrete timetable and road map for the implementation of the two-state solution and facilitate a comprehensive, just and lasting solution to the question of Palestine, it said.
China used its turn in the rotating council presidency to successfully push for the adoption of resolution 2712 on November 15, calling for “urgent and extended” humanitarian corridors throughout Gaza “to save and protect civilian lives”.
Foreign minister Wang Yi arrived in New York on Wednesday to chair a high-level Security Council meeting on the Israel-Gaza war, which he described as “the most pressing issue” facing the council.
Speaking after the meeting, Wang said it was held in response to the strong demands of the international community.
It was also endorsed by Arab and Muslim states in a sideline meeting with senior officials from Qatar, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, and United Arab Emirates, he said.
Wang said China’s stance on the war in Gaza was “clear and firm” while “highly aligned” with the Arab and Muslim world.
“We appreciate the temporary truce agreement that Qatar and Egypt facilitated … China will cooperate closely with all sides, encourage a more proactive and effective Security Council, and be more attentive to the calls from the Arab and Muslim countries,” he told his counterparts.
Israel and Hamas agreed on Thursday to extend their truce by at least one more day, minutes before it was due to expire.
The deadliest conflict between Israel and Hamas was sparked when the militant group attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking some 240 hostages, according to Israel.
Israel’s retaliatory actions in the Gaza Strip have killed more than 14,000 residents and over 100 UN workers, according to the Gaza health ministry. | Middle East Politics |
The U.S. and Philippines Friday concluded nearly three weeks of annual military drills known as Balikatan in the south Pacific Ocean near the island chain nation.
In a news release, the U.S. military said nearly 18,000 soldiers from both nations took part in the drills, making them the largest in the 38-year history of the military exercises.
Balikatan means “shoulder-to-shoulder” or “sharing the load together,” in Philippine Tagalog dialect, a term becoming more appropriate in the past year as relations between the two longtime allies have improved since the election of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
On Wednesday, Marcos watched the exercises in person from an observation tower in the northwestern Philippine coastal town of San Antonio. That day U.S. and Philippines forces, working together, targeted, engaged and sank a decommissioned Philippines battleship.
Marcos has sought to improve relations with the United States that soured under his predecessor, former president Rodrigo Duterte, at least in part because of increased tensions with China regarding the disputed waters in the region.
A Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson issued a statement Friday rebuking what she called China’s recent “highly dangerous maneuvers” earlier this week against the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) in the waters off Ayungin Shoal. The PCG was on a routine maritime patrol.
The Ayungin Shoal – also known as the Second Thomas Shoal – is a submerged reef in the Spratly Islands. The coast guard reported that two Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) vessels “intercepted” them in the vicinity of the shoal and exhibited “aggressive tactics,” coming within 46 meters of the ship.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry insisted the near miss was caused by the PCG, claiming it was the aggressor.
Reuters reports China has claimed sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, an area that stretches more than 1,500 kilometers off its mainland and cuts into the exclusive economic zones of Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia. An international arbitral ruling in 2016 dismissed that line as having no legal basis.
Tensions with China were mentioned during the closing ceremonies of the Balikatan exercises Friday. Philippines Armed Forces Chief of Staff Andres Centino noted the “strong results” of the exercises are more significant “given the current security environment and the real threats” that continue to evolve within the region.
President Marcos is scheduled to travel to Washington next week for meetings with U.S. President Joe Biden. Their defense alliance is expected to be high on the agenda.
Some information in this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence French-Presse. | Asia Politics |
ABUJA, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Nigeria's economy grew by 2.54% in the third quarter, largely steady from the 2.51% in the second quarter, data showed on Friday, as the oil sector contracted at a slower pace while the impact of government reforms aimed at boosting output were yet to take effect.
Central bank Governor Olayemi Cardoso, who outlined his policies at a meeting with bankers late on Friday, said that Africa's largest economy could grow by 3.9% in the fourth quarter as government reforms take effect.
President Bola Tinubu promised during his inauguration in May to expand the economy by at least 6% a year.
Cardoso said the economy could expand in size to $1 trillion over the next seven years.
Tinubu has vowed to lift barriers to investment, create jobs and tackle insecurity. He has embarked on Nigeria's boldest reforms in decades to try to boost output, which has been sluggish for about a decade. But they have yet to impact growth.
"The performance of the GDP in the third quarter of 2023 was driven mainly by the services sector, which recorded a growth of 3.99% and contributed 52.7% to the aggregate GDP," the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said.
The NBS said the agriculture and industrial sectors, which create jobs, contributed less to GDP in the third quarter, compared with the same quarter a year ago.
Nigeria's dominant oil sector, which accounts for the bulk of government revenue and 90% of foreign-exchange reserves, contracted 0.85% in the third quarter, a rise of 12.6% from the second quarter when the sector shrank by 13.43%.
Daily average oil output (NGOIL=ECI) stood at 1.45 million barrels per day (bpd) in the three months to September, up from the 1.20 million bpd in the same period last year.
Tinubu in May scrapped a costly but popular petrol subsidy and lifted currency controls, which he said was to save the country from going under.
But his actions have worsened inflation currently in double-digits, fuelling anger and frustration for a population grappling with a cost of living crisis. Tinubu has been under pressure from unions to offer relief to workers.
He has travelled to Asia, Europe, Middle East and the U.S. to promote investments to try to revive the economy rather than relying on borrowing.
Additional reporting by Elisha Bala-Gbogbo; Editing by Alex Richardson, Alexander Smith and Marguerita Choy
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Africa politics |
KYIV, May 23 (Reuters) - Russian forces pressed on with a "counter-terrorism operation" in a border district on Tuesday, a regional governor said, a day after what appeared to be one of the biggest cross-border incursions from Ukraine since the war began 15 months ago.
Russia said on Monday it was battling an incursion by Ukrainian saboteurs who crossed into the Belgorod region. A Ukrainian presidential adviser said on Twitter the Kyiv government was watching the situation but "has nothing to do with it".
The Ukrainian outlet Hromadske cited Ukrainian military intelligence as saying two armed Russian opposition groups, the Liberty of Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps, both consisting of Russian citizens, were responsible for the attack.
The Russian regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said on the Telegram messaging service a "counter-terrorism operation" was still going on.
"The cleaning of the territory by the Ministry of Defence together with law enforcement agencies continues," Gladkov said.
On Monday, Gladkov said at least eight people had been wounded, several buildings damaged and many residents had left. He said he had restricted movements and communications.
Gladkov said two buildings were attacked by drones overnight and people could not return to their homes.
"I now appeal to the residents of the Graivoron district, who ... temporarily left their homes, it is not possible to return yet," he said.
Gladkov said one woman died during the evacuation on Monday and there were reports of two people wounded. The "number one" task on Tuesday was to reach them, he said.
The Russia Volunteer Corps published video footage late on Monday showing what it said was a fighter inspecting a captured armoured vehicle. Another video showed what it said were fighters operating an armoured vehicle on a country road.
Other videos posted on Russian and Ukrainian social media channels showed pictures and video of what were described as captured Russian servicemen and their identity documents.
Reuters was not able to independently verify the situation.
GOVERNOR IMPOSES 'COUNTER-TERRORIST' MEASURES
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin had been informed and that work was under way to drive out the "saboteurs", the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported.
The Telegram channel Baza, which has links to Russia's security services, said there were indications of fighting in three settlements along the main road into Russia. The "Open Belgorod" Telegram channel said power and water had been cut off to several villages.
The Liberty of Russia Legion said on Twitter it had "completely liberated" the border town of Kozinka. It said forward units had reached the district centre of Graivoron, further east.
"Moving on. Russia will be free!" it wrote.
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year.
The Kremlin said the incursion by a "Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group" was aimed at distracting attention from the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, which Russian forces say they captured in its entirety after more than nine months of fighting.
Russia says capturing Bakhmut opens the way to further advances in the eastern industrial region known as the Donbas. Ukraine says its advance on the Russian forces' flanks is more meaningful than its withdrawal from Bakhmut itself, and Russia would have to weaken its lines elsewhere to send reinforcements to hold the shattered city.
There were more than 30 clashes in the main sectors of the frontline with the epicentre of fighting remaining Bakhmut and Maryinka further south, the Ukrainian military said early on Tuesday.
"Battles for the city of Bakhmut continue,” it said.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Europe Politics |
Italy's long-standing troubles with wild boars are far from over, despite previous efforts to curb their presence in the country's cities
A pack of wild boars was spotted making the rounds of several homes inthe southern region of Calabria, Italy's news agency ANSA reported.
That makes Catanzaro the latest city to face a particularly porcine problem.
The wild boars - around 20 in total - kept to the outskirts of the city and didn't actually go inside any buildings, although they were seen circling homes built next to the open countryside.
The city's environment councillor Giorgio Arcuri called on the region's authorities for "appropriate measures to stem this phenomenon" - which are likely to involve the culling of the animals.
For some time now, Italy has had a problem with wild boars taking over its towns and cities in what local media and Italy's nationwide farm group Coldiretti dubbed a "full-scale invasion."
Last year, wild boars were said to have taken over Rome, where they were filmed in clips shared on social media and international television getting close to people, eating food leftovers near trash bins, and overall looking seemingly unbothered by the busy, crowded streets of Italy's capital.
Authorities have raised concerns over the soaring numbers of wild boars in Italian cities, mentioning the risk of the animals spreading swine flu or attacking residents. But their firm approach to the problem - killing the boars - has divided society.
In December last year, Giorgia Meloni's government ordered a cull of the wild boars in Rome that was strongly contested by animal rights activists, allowing hunters to use bows and arrows to kill the boars and eat them. Hunting for the animals was exceptionally permitted even in areas where hunting is normally forbidden, like urban and protected areas.
The decision was condemned by politicians in the opposition, who accused Meloni of taking the chance to cosy up to the gun and hunting lobbies.
A similarly tough position has been taken by many local leaders, including Catanzaro's mayor Nicola Fiorita, who last month ordered the culling of 30 wild boars roaming into a park in the city. | Europe Politics |
By Liam Mannix
Australia will strive to build the first error-corrected quantum computer within the decade – a huge and expensive goal that, if achieved, would put the country at the forefront of the new technology.
The federal government is backing the ambition in its National Quantum Strategy, to be announced in Canberra on Wednesday, with up to $1 billion set aside from the National Reconstruction Fund for investing in critical technologies such as quantum.
“That is a very ambitious goal,” said Professor Stephen Bartlett, a leading quantum computing scientist at the University of Sydney.
“It’s very ambitious to say we might be the first to do that because that is in many ways the main game. Companies around the world, governments around the world, are trying to do that.”
Quantum computers use the properties of quantum physics to store data and perform computations, and are believed to be able to solve certain problems much quicker than a standard computer.
Several companies, including Google, have developed quantum computers that can string together multiple qubits, the basic unit of information in quantum computing.
But no one has developed a large quantum computer with error correction, which is Australia’s newly set goal. Current quantum computers struggle with errors, and as they get more powerful, more errors develop. An error-corrected quantum computer is the field’s holy grail.
“It is going to be able to solve the big computational problems with quantum computing,” said Bartlett. “But if we’re serious about that ambition, it’s going to take the whole nation getting behind it to realise it.”
Australia established an early lead in quantum computing but has seen it slip as other countries and companies have made investments in the space, hoping to get a technological and national security edge.
In March, the British government committed to spending £2.5 billion ($4.6 billion) on quantum research over the next 10 years.
Australia’s strategy does not come with a firm spending commitment, and funding would be key to realising the strategy, Bartlett said.
Federal Science Minister Ed Husic said: “I can’t emphasise this enough, quantum technologies will be truly transformative.
“Having a National Quantum Strategy paired with the National Reconstruction Fund will turn Australia into a global technology leader, building stronger industry and creating jobs for the future.”
Liam Mannix’s Examine newsletter explains and analyses science with a rigorous focus on the evidence. Sign up to get it each week. | Australia Politics |
When I first visited the Domesticanx exhibition at El Museo del Barrio in Harlem, I experienced something I don’t always feel at a museum. I was comfortable and at ease—how I feel when I’m at my tia’s house, or in the company of other close family members. That sort of kinship is part of the exhibition’s intention: Domesticanx brings together works from seven intergenerational artists in conversation about the home as a space for healing, spirituality, self-realization, and resistance.
The show, which runs through March 26 at the New York City museum, is based on the idea of domesticana, a concept created by the artist and scholar Amalia Mesa-Bains in the early 1990s. Domesticana expands upon the theory of rasquachismo, a concept within working-class Chicano communities that has to do with making the most with the least—it was first theorized by scholar and author Tomas Ybarra-Fausto. Domesticana confronts women’s suffering within patriarchal systems, and how women use the sphere of the domestic (decorative arts, healing traditions, home altar creations, and personal style) to break free from the domestic spaces to which they’re bound. The idea of cultural reclamation—revisiting the past to resurface values and rituals that might have been left behind—was a driving premise and radical political statement in the early Chicano Art Movement during the 1960s. At that time, however, the movement excluded most women and queer folks. It was also specific to the Mexican-American experience. Domesticanx opens the conversation up further to include people from various countries in Latin America.
Domesticana’s themes are still true today, but the way society defines womanhood has also evolved. Susanna Temkin, curator at El Museo, told me she aimed to interpret Mesa-Bain’s words in the context of present-day culture. “I happened upon a conversation between Amalia Mesa-Bains and Judy Baca. The conversation really stimulated me and I started to go back and read more of Amalia’s texts. When I got to ‘Domesticana,’ it stopped me in my tracks,” Temkin added. “Since the pandemic, I had been thinking about the experience of being in our homes, about taking care of ourselves, and valuing our families. I was thinking about women’s rights. I also felt like that conversation had expanded to include trans rights. So I wanted to bring in ideas of queerness to domesticana.”
Four of the artists featured in the show are making their museum debut with Domesticanx: Joel Gaitan, Cielo Félix-Hernández, Misla, and Amarise Carreras. Their work is placed alongside veteran artists including Nitza Tufiño, Maria Brito, and Mesa-Bains—a setup that reflects the nature of many Latin-American homes, where multiple generations live together.
“It’s crazy to be in dialogue with these artists who I’ve looked up to,” Félix-Hernández said (she’d just finished showing her work for the first time at the New Art Dealers Alliance Fair in Miami in December). She added that Tufiño, a Puerto Rican queer artist who was one of the first to donate works to El Museo, inspired how Félix-Hernández navigates the arts. “Domesticanx felt like being in a show with my own elders. It made me think about the conversations that we don’t get to have with our families,” she said. Her paintings in the show are influenced by her experience as a trans Puerto Rican woman—especially in terms of feeling othered in outside spaces and finding sanctuary within the home. (She illustrates the idea of safety by using architectural elements from her grandmother’s house in Puerto Rico.) Similarly, Gaitan uses breeze boxes like the ones in his grandmother’s house in Nicaragua to build a pyramid altar that holds eight ceramic sculptures. Misla combines memories of her family home with her living situation today—she and her partner have a place together—through large-scale multimedia paintings; Carreras’s photographs of carefully constructed altar-scapes pay homage to their past and queerness within their own family.
In order to fully understand the idea of domesticana, I met Mesa-Bains over Zoom in late November as she prepared for her retrospective, Archeology of Memory, opening February 4th at the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. She described how the Latino emphasis on family is the subtext of domesticana. “There is a sacred nature to the home place, a special quality in those domestic moments and in the objects,” she said. “That is where I think the art comes from: it’s the identification of objects and the repositioning of them within the domestic life that calls up domesticana—which is now domesticanx.” Mesa-Bains added that her own family’s narrative has been a way to interrogate her personal identity, history, and culture.
“The topics in Domesticanx revolve around what I consider the ‘x’ to be: gender, sexuality, and feminism,” she said. “These are things we didn’t get to take care of in my generation, that need to be dealt with now—so that you can still have your ancestors, your domestic space, your belonging, because that’s what the family and the home place is about. The power of this exhibition is that it says, whatever form you live in, whatever choices you make, you are still in this family.” | Latin America Politics |
Ukraine has started the forced evacuation of around 1,000 children from areas near to the front line as Russia intensifies attacks.
Parents have been told they must move their families to safety from 31 settlements in Kherson and Donetsk regions.
Anyone under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Ukrainian officials have ordered such evacuations before when fighting has intensified.
Officials say many children are living under near constant shelling and insist it's now far too dangerous for them to remain at home.
Accompanied by police officers - with the power to force families to flee - they're now going door to door to persuade parents to leave with their children.
Kyiv has promised families safe passage to safer parts of the country where they'll be given free accommodation and places at schools and nurseries.
Oleksandr Tolokonnikov, who is the spokesman for the Kherson regional administration, explained that some families were still reluctant to leave their homes, despite the increased danger and discomfort of living under near constant enemy attack.
"There are different cases," he said. "For example, when families barricade themselves inside. Of course the police don't break doors. They talk to people. They show videos to people of what happens if the shell hits, with killed and injured children. It is more psychological work".
Getting the families out is a difficult and dangerous task carried out by emergency workers and volunteers.
In the Donetsk region a special police unit known as the White Angels is responsible for getting people to safety.
Ukraine's deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, said the evacuation teams were risking their lives and appealed to parents to be ready: "If you're warned about evacuation, please don't delay, pack the most necessary things, your documents, and leave."
But she also acknowledged that the authorities in Kherson lack sufficient armoured vehicles to transport children to safety. It's estimated that around 800 children live in the affected areas and Ms Vereshchuk said she'd asked international organisations to help.
"800 children is a lot, and we need to take them out as soon as possible."
Ukraine says that Russian troops have launched major assaults on a few areas along the Eastern front in recent days and intensified shelling in the south.
It's feared that Moscow plans attacks on critical infrastructure as winter approaches.
The governor of Kharkiv region told national television that he too was considering a forced evacuation order in some villages close to the front line. | Europe Politics |
|Unification Minister Kwon Young-se speaks during a press conference at the government complex in Seoul, Tuesday. Newsis|
In rare move, unification minister criticizes North Korea's irresponsible attitude
By Jung Min-ho
Seoul on Tuesday condemned Pyongyang for refusing to answer regular inter-Korean liaison hotline calls over the past several days and using South Korean property without its consent, calling North Korea's behavior irresponsible.
Unification Minister Kwon Young-se's remarks come as the North remains unresponsive to inter-Korean communication channels for the fifth straight day without giving any reasons.
"The government expresses strong regret over its unilateral and irresponsible attitude. We sternly warn that North Korea is on the path to more serious trouble as it isolates itself [with such behavior]," Kwon said at the government complex in Seoul. "Moreover, North Korea has violated the property rights of our companies by using their equipment and facilities at the Kaesong Industrial Complex without their permission despite our government's requests and warnings."
He then said that the South Korean government would pursue all means necessary to hold North Korea accountable for its unlawful activities there, in cooperation with other countries.
Such strong and damning words are rarely expressed by the ministry, whose central role is promoting inter-Korean dialogue and exchanges for the aim of peaceful unification. The last time Seoul criticized Pyongyang with the ministry's statement to the regime was July 28, 2013, when then Minister Ryu Gil-jae called for North Korea to respect the agreement concerning the now-closed joint factory complex. Even then, the words were milder and less direct.
This suggests the perilous state of the inter-Korean relationship, which started to crumble in 2019 following Pyongyang's second fruitless summit with Washington in Hanoi.
The accusation against the regime of having violated South Korea's property rights was based on North Korea's media reports, which show South Korean buses operating in Pyongyang and Kaesong. The vehicles, manufactured and provided by Hyundai Motors, had been used to transport North Korean workers before the industrial complex was closed down in 2016.
A deal signed by the two Koreas over the joint project prohibits any party from nationalizing the property invested by the other. Yet it would be extremely difficult, if not entirely impossible, to receive an apology, let alone compensation, from the North.
Speaking to reporters after releasing the statement, Kwon acknowledged the limits to what the ministry can do, but he said he was thoroughly reviewing all possible scenarios.
|In this photo released Tuesday by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un points his finger over what appears to be the location of Camp Humphreys, a U.S. Army garrison in Pyeongtaek, at a meeting with top military officials in Pyongyang, North Korea, the previous day. Yonhap|
Just hours earlier, in yet another grim sign of the already tense inter-Korean relations, North Korea's state media reported that its leader Kim Jong-un called for expanding his country's "war deterrence capabilities" at a meeting with top military officials in Pyongyang.
Pointing his finger toward what appeared to be the location of Camp Humphreys, a U.S. military garrison in Pyeongtaek, on a map, Kim stressed the need to bolster the military with "increasing speed in a more practical and offensive" manner, according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency.
The broadcaster blamed South Korea for fueling tensions on the Korean Peninsula with joint military drills in recent months, justifying its weapons tests as necessary to "cope with the escalating moves of the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppet traitors to unleash a war of aggression."
Over the past two years, North Korea has carried out various military activities, testing what it has claimed to be nuclear-capable weapons including long-range missiles and underwater drones.
To respond to the North's evolving threats, South Korea's military said it will hold the first session of a senior-level trilateral defense dialogue in three years in Washington on Friday. | Asia Politics |
The far-right Alternative für Deutschland has won a district council election in Germany for the first time, in what is being referred to as a watershed moment in the country’s politics.
The eastern town of Sonneberg, in the state of Thuringia, elected Robert Sesselmann to the post of district administrator, the equivalent of a mayor, with 52.8% of the vote, ousting the Christian Democrats’ (CDU) Jurgen Köpper on 47.2%.
The Thuringia branch of the anti-immigrant party has been classed as rightwing extremist by intelligence services. It is led by Björn Höcke, who is considered to be part of the AfD’s far right or völkisch wing, which was officially disbanded but is still widely believed to exist.
Observers say the win, which AfD’s leadership said would give the party a much-needed boost in its efforts to expand its influence across Germany, could be a bellwether for upcoming votes, in particular in the east. State parliament elections are taking place next year in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg.
Established parties from the Social Democrats to the CDU as well as civil society organisations called the result a turning point to which defenders of democracy would be forced to find a way of responding.
The Central Council of Jews in Germany said it was devastated by the result. “To be clear, not everyone who voted for the AfD has a rightwing extremist mindset,” its president, Josef Schuster, told the Jüdische Allgemeine newspaper. “But the party whose candidate they have elected is, according to the regional intelligence service, rightwing extremist … This is the bursting of a dam, which the political powers in this country cannot simply take on the chin.”
Christoph Heubner, the executive vice-president of the International Auschwitz Committee, called it a “sad day” for Sonneberg, Germany and democracy. “A majority of voters have turned their backs on democracy and deliberately decided in favour of a rightwing extremist, Nazi-dominated party of destruction,” he said.
Sonneberg, which has about 57,000 inhabitants, is one of Germany’s smallest administrative regions, and voter participation was low at just 58%. However, the result’s significance goes far beyond the town itself, and this was being recognised across the country on Monday. Political scientists called it a warning to the established parties, which had joined forces and, along with other organisations such as trade unions, urged voters to abandon any existing party loyalties and back Köpper in an effort to squeeze Sesselmann out of the running, a move that appears to have backfired.
The AfD’s procurement of the most important political office in Sonneberg coincides with some of its strongest nationwide polling results recently, of between 18 and 20%.
Its rise in support has been at least in part put down to disgruntlement over infighting within the centre-left federal coalition government led by the Social Democrats, with the Greens and the pro-business Free Democratic party, as it tackles big restructuring projects in key areas, from energy procurement to military strength, migration policy to health reform.
Latest polls showed the AfD on 20%, more than double what its support was a year ago, and similar to the Social Democrats, with the Greens on 13% and the opposition CDU on 26%.
The AfD was founded in 2013 by a group of Eurosceptic academics and bankers. It later campaigned on an anti-immigration ticket, entering the national parliament for the first time in 2017. Its focus became what it called the over-Islamification of Germany, before, more recently, it turned its attention towards the government’s building energy law that is making its way through parliament, comparing the attempts to outlaw the installation of new gas heaters to the strictures of a dictatorship. It has also been critical of the government’s support for Ukraine.
As part of his campaign, Sesselmann called for the government of Olaf Scholz to strive for a peace agreement with Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, and opposed Germany’s military support to Kyiv. While locals voiced concerns on these issues, they more often cited dissatisfaction over living standards and low pay and pensions compared with their western German counterparts, as well as a feeling that their backgrounds, as citizens of the former communist east, were not taken seriously.
Bodo Ramelow, the state leader of Thuringia from the far-left Die Linke, called Sonneberg’s election result “a signal of dissatisfaction”. He called for a debate to “redefine the spirit of German unity, in which we take east Germans with us rather than triggering the feeling that they are being laughed at or merely being talked about”.
Tino Chrupalla, a co-leader of the AfD, tweeted: “That was just the beginning. We will convince the majority with our politics of showing an interest in the people. This is how we will turn the tide for the better.” | Europe Politics |
The Taliban have called on Western countries to stop evacuating and resettling educated and skilled Afghans abroad, saying the practice hurts Afghanistan.
Boasting about improved security in the war-ravaged country, Taliban leaders say all Afghans, including those who had worked for the previous Afghan government, are safe at home and can live and work freely.
"The world should also listen to this message that they should not open [immigration] cases for Afghans under the impression that their lives are at risk here," Amir Khan Muttaqi, Taliban acting foreign minister, said on Tuesday.
"They should not hurt Afghanistan's talents, Afghanistan's scientific cadres and Afghanistan's prides, and should not take them out of this country."
Tens of thousands of Afghans, mostly educated individuals who worked under the previous U.S.-backed government, have fled their country over the past two years fearing Taliban persecution.
The United Nations and other human rights groups have accused the Taliban of extrajudicial detention, torture and execution of some members of the former Afghan security personnel — charges the Taliban deny.
The United States, Canada and several European countries have admitted more than 150,000 Afghan refugees and asylum-seekers since the Taliban seized power in August 2021.
Last week, Khairullah Khairkhwa, Taliban acting minister for information and culture, alleged that Kabul University lecturers were receiving invitations from abroad to apply for migration.
The remarks were made in response to media reports that more than half of Kabul University lecturers, about 400 individuals, have migrated out of Afghanistan largely because of security concerns, Taliban restrictions, and other social and economic hardships.
Hundreds of media professionals have also left Afghanistan, leading to significant setbacks to free media, according to Reporters Without Borders.
Risky migration
Last week, the bodies of 18 Afghan emigrants, who died in February while being smuggled to Europe, were brought to Kabul.
It took several months to transfer the bodies from Bulgaria to Afghanistan, for which Taliban officials blame "unjust" Western sanctions.
The Taliban regime is not recognized by any country, and the United States has imposed terrorism-related economic and travel sanctions on Taliban leaders and institutions.
Dozens of Afghans, including women and children, reportedly perished in a shipwreck off the southern coast of Italy in February.
At least 1,645 Afghan migrants were reported missing or dead from 2014 to 2022, according to the International Organization for Migration.
Millions of Afghans are scattered around the world as refugees, asylum-seekers and emigrants, according to the U.N. Refugee Agency, which has ranked Afghanistan as the fourth-largest refugee exporting country in the world after Syria, Venezuela and Ukraine.
Insecurity, poverty, unemployment and expectations of better living conditions are considered the main drivers of migration from Afghanistan.
In public statements, Taliban officials offer immediate employment to Afghans with specific technical expertise.
"Send me anyone with a Ph.D. or master's degree in geodesy, exploration or probing of fuel, and I will employ him the next day," Shahabuddin Delawar, Taliban minister for mines, said last week.
The Islamist regime has defied widespread international calls to form an inclusive government.
The Taliban have strictly monopolized the government, refusing to share power with any group or non-Taliban individual. Women are particularly excluded for all political and senior positions.
Suspending the constitution, the Taliban have dissolved Afghanistan's national assembly, election bodies and the national human rights commission, and have centered all powers in the hands of their unseen supreme leader. | Asia Politics |
The first group of ethnic Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh have arrived in Armenia, days after the enclave was seized by Azerbaijan.
They entered shortly after local officials announced plans to move those made homeless by the fighting.
Azerbaijan captured the area inhabited by some 120,000 ethnic Armenians early this week and says it wants to re-integrate them as "equal citizens".
But Armenia has warned they may face ethnic cleansing.
Around 40 people were part of the first group to leave. Armenia says it will help anyone who leaves but has repeatedly said a mass exodus would be the fault of the Azerbaijani authorities.
Nagorno-Karabakh - a mountainous region in the South Caucasus - is recognised internationally as part of Azerbaijan, but has been controlled by ethnic Armenians for three decades.
The enclave has been supported by Armenia - but also by their ally, Russia, which has had hundreds of soldiers there for years.
Five were killed - alongside at least 200 ethnic Armenians - as Azerbaijan's army swept in earlier this week.
Despite Azerbaijan's public reassurances, there are ongoing fears about the residents of Nagorno-Karabakh, with only one aid delivery of 70 tonnes of food having been allowed through since separatists accepted a ceasefire and agreed to disarm.
Ethnic Armenian leaders say thousands are without food or shelter.
They have now announced plans to move some of the residents to Armenia.
"We would like to inform you that, accompanied by Russian peacekeepers, the families who were left homeless as a result of the recent military operations and expressed their desire to leave the republic will be transferred to Armenia.
"The government will issue information about the relocation of other population groups in the near future."
In a TV address on Sunday, Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashanyan said that many inside the enclave would "see expulsion from the homeland as the only way out" unless Azerbaijan provided "real living conditions" and "effective mechanisms of protection against ethnic cleansing."
He repeated that his government was prepared to "lovingly welcome our brothers and sisters".
Earlier, David Babayan, adviser to Nagorno-Karabakh's ethnic Armenian leader Samvel Shahramanyan, said that his people "do not want to live as part of Azerbaijan - 99.9% prefer to leave our historic lands".
"The fate of our poor people will go down in history as a disgrace and a shame for the Armenian people and for the whole civilised world. Those responsible for our fate will one day have to answer before God for their sins."
The Armenian prime minister also hinted Russia had not come to its defence in the conflict.
His comments echoed criticism that Moscow had handed Nagorno-Karabakh over to Azerbaijan - a charge Russia's foreign minister has described as "ludicrous".
"Yerevan and Baku actually did settle the situation," Sergei Lavrov told the UN General Assembly. "Time has come for mutual trust-building.
Armenia-Azerbaijan: Nagorno-Karabakh map | Europe Politics |
Un escrutinio de infarto, como no se recordaba en España en los últimos 30 años, deja a la izquierda al borde de reeditar la coalición y a Pedro Sánchez con opciones todavía de seguir cuatro años más en La Moncloa. Precisa los votos de la izquierda y de los partidos nacionalistas e independentistas, con un escollo a priori difícil de salvar: convencer al partido de Carles Puigdemont para que facilite un gobierno con su abstención. Durante las últimas semanas, Junts ha dicho que votará en contra de todas las opciones en la investidura. Las primeras palabras de su candidata, Miriam Nogueras, anoche, dan a entender que no piensan ponerlo fácil: “No haremos presidente a Pedro Sánchez a cambio de nada”.
Las conversaciones de las próximas semanas dirimirán si Junts se aviene a una abstención o el país se aboca al bloqueo y a unas nuevas elecciones en los próximos meses. Esa es la principal incógnita de una jornada, que a tenor del ruido ambiental, iba a enterrar a Sánchez y a lo que se ha bautizado como “Gobierno Frankenstein”.
En el segundo titular de la noche, el PP gana las elecciones, si por eso se entiende ser la lista más votada, pero se queda muy lejos de todos sus objetivos. Su líder, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, insistió durante toda la campaña en que su modelo era el de Juan Manuel Moreno Bonilla en Andalucía e Isabel Díaz Ayuso en Madrid. En otras palabras: la mayoría absoluta. Le faltan 40 diputados. Tampoco podrá poner en marcha su plan B, el pacto con Vox que implicaría meter a dirigentes de la extrema derecha en el Gobierno, como admitió el líder popular que haría hace dos semanas. Juntos suman 169 escaños. Con el diputado de UPN y la de Coalición Canaria, las derechas podrían alcanzar como máximo 171. El bloque de la izquierda llega a 172. El paseo triunfal hacia La Moncloa que anticipaban los populares y algunas encuestas desde hace dos meses, cuando se tiñó de azul el mapa municipal y autonómico, no lo va a ser.
Pese a que las cuentas no salen, Feijóo compareció al balcón de Génova 13 flanqueado por la presidenta de Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, el alcalde, José Luis Martínez-Almeida y otros miembros de su partido, para anunciar su intención de intentar formar gobierno.
“Me hago cargo para iniciar el diálogo para formar Gobierno de acuerdo con la voluntad mayoritaria de los españoles, que nadie tenga la tentación de volver a bloquear España. Es una petición legítima, y la anomalía de que en España no pudiese gobernar el partido más votado solo como tiene alternativa el bloqueo que en nada beneficia a España, al prestigio internacional y a la seguridad de nuestras inversiones. Le pido, pues, al partido que ha perdido las elecciones, porque ha sido superado por el PP, expresamente, que no bloqueen el Gobierno de España una vez más. Es lo que ha pasado siempre. Todos los candidatos más votados han gobernado: Suárez, Felipe González, Rodríguez Zapatero, Mariano Rajoy e incluso Pedro Sánchez”.
Lo que plantea Feijóo ni siquiera es una decisión que le competa, tiene que decidirlo el Rey tras una ronda de consultas y evaluar quién tiene más apoyos. También es lo contrario a lo que hizo el PP hace cuatro años con Sánchez, y choca también con la política de pactos recientes de su partido, tras las municipales y autonómicas, donde los populares desalojaron al PSOE en Canarias, Extremadura y algunas capitales como Toledo y Valladolid.
El alegato, para que el PSOE lo deje gobernar con 136 de 360 diputados y una amplia mayoría de la Cámara en contra, lo pronunció Feijóo tras su jornada electoral más amarga. El candidato que contaba sus campañas por mayorías absolutas gana y recupera tres millones de votos, si se compara con Casado en 2019, pero se queda a años luz del Gobierno e incluso ve cómo la distancia con el PSOE se recorta desde hace dos meses. Entonces el PP se hizo con todo el poder territorial y la distancia fue de 3,4 puntos, este 23J, cuando pedía el empujón definitivo para “desalojar el sanchismo”, la diferencia se reduce a 1,3 puntos y 300.000 papeletas.
Porque el PSOE de Pedro Sánchez, que convocó las elecciones al día siguiente del desastre electoral, no solo no se desploma sino que suma 800.000 votos al resultado de 2019 y dos escaños más. De ahí que su líder compareciese exultante, al borde de la medianoche subido a un pequeño andamio improvisado a las puertas de Ferraz. Entre gritos de “no pasarán” de los militantes, Sánchez se ha felicitado por la decisión de llamar a las urnas el pasado 29 de mayo: “Convoqué las elecciones porque creía como he creído siempre que teníamos que decidir qué rumbo tomar, uno de avance, o uno de retroceso como plantea el bloque involucionista de Partido Popular y Vox. España ha sido bien clara. Los ciudadanos han sido rotundamente claros, el bloque involucionista que planteaba la derogación total de todos los avances de estos últimos años ha fracasado. Somos más los que queremos que España avance y así seguirá siendo”.
La única buena noticia para Feijóo, tras año y medio al frente del partido, es que continúa la reunificación de las derechas: no solo recibe los diez diputados de Ciudadanos en 2019, la última vez que se presentó, se queda además 19 de Vox, que se estrella en las urnas (pasa de los 52 de hace cuatro años a 33) aunque logra mantenerse como tercera fuerza. Más allá de oponerse a una hipotética sesión de investidura de Sánchez, su papel se antoja irrelevante en la legislatura que arranca.
Con cara de funeral, sobre la medianoche, su líder felicitó, irónicamente, a Feijóo “por ganar las elecciones y no depender de Vox”. El líder de la extrema derecha preguntó a Feijóo sí mantendrá la oferta de pacto al PSOE, y le acusó de “vender la piel del oso antes de cazarlo” y hasta de “blanquear a los socialistas”.
Sumar, la coalición de 15 partidos a la izquierda del PSOE, que debutaba en estos comicios, se apunta 31 escaños, siete menos de los que sacaron Unidas Podemos, Más Madrid y Compromís en 2019. La izquierda a la izquierda del PSOE salva los muebles porque su principal objetivo era evitar la coalición de Feijóo y Abascal. Con la voz quebrada por tantos actos de campaña, Yolanda Díaz, se felicitó anoche: “La gente que estaba preocupada va a dormir más tranquila. La democracia hoy ha ganado, sale fortalecida, hemos ganado, hoy tenemos un país mejor. Les dijimos que empezaban la campaña con un relato que decía que iban a ganar las elecciones y el guion ha cambiado, hemos hecho posible mejorar la vida de la gente”.
El 23J deja otra letra pequeña para el PP: en Madrid, Feijóo saca 160.000 votos menos que Isabel Díaz Ayuso hace dos meses. En Andalucía empata el resultado que dio la mayoría absoluta a Moreno Bonilla. Son datos que muchos puertas adentro van a mirar con lupa a partir de ahora. En el lado de las buenas noticias, el PP tiene mayoría absoluta en el Senado, para hacer de contrapeso a un hipotético Gobierno de izquierdas si Sánchez logra otra investidura.
Vistos por el retrovisor los números que dejan estas generales apuntan a un cambio de ciclo. 15 años después de la crisis financiera, la eclosión del 15M y la irrupción del multipartidismo, PP y PSOE suman 258 escaños, ambos por encima de los 115, algo que no sucedía desde 2008, en la segunda victoria de José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, antes de la caída de Lehman Brothers.
El bipartidismo se recupera, en poco más de una legislatura se han evaporado los 4,1 millones de votos que Ciudadanos sumó en abril de 2019, cuando aspiraba a dar el sorpaso al PP. Y la izquierda a la izquierda del PSOE reinventada en Sumar parte con 3,3 millones de votos, todavía muy lejos de los cinco millones y los 76 escaños de Podemos en 2016.
La votación apunta algunas pistas para futuras citas electorales: en Euskadi, por ejemplo, EH Bildu se disputa el liderazgo del nacionalismo empatado con el PNV, cuando falta menos de un año para las elecciones vascas.
En Catalunya, el bloque independentista se ha desplomado. El PSC es primera fuerza, Sumar alcanza la segunda posición, por delante de ERC y Junts. El PP es cuarta fuerza con seis escaños y la CUP desaparece.
Y pese a ese hundimiento y al peor resultado electoral de su historia reciente, el 23J que supuestamente iba a enterrar el sanchismo deja en manos de Junts el futuro del país: coalición de izquierdas o repetición electoral.
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Nuestra voz es más necesaria que nunca
Sin prensa independiente no podrán resistir los derechos y libertades democráticas y por eso elDiario.es se ha convertido en un medio muy incómodo, que algunos querrían callar. Somos uno de los pocos periódicos de referencia que sigue siendo libre, que no blanquea a los ultras ni está capturado por la derecha. Tú, que nos lees habitualmente, lo sabes bien. ¿Te imaginas cómo sería el periodismo en España si elDiario.es no existiera? ¿Cómo sería el debate público sin nuestra voz? ¿Te imaginas qué España nos quedaría?
Si te preocupa lo que pueda pasar en este país, apóyanos. Hoy te necesitamos más que nunca. Hazte socio, hazte socia, de elDiario.es. | Europe Politics |
Liz Truss’s tax-cutting agenda “clearly wasn’t the right approach” before the government had tackled inflation, the business secretary, Grant Shapps, has said in a retort to an essay by the former prime minister.
Truss, in her first major intervention since leaving office, wrote that she had “not [been] given a realistic chance to enact my policies by a very powerful economic establishment, coupled with a lack of political support”.
She said she had expected her mandate as prime minister to be respected but admitted mistakes had been made, including that the fallout from her mini-budget had left the UK close to not being able to fund its own debt. But she also said that Conservatives had “failed to make these arguments enough since 2010” about growth and low taxes.
Shapps, who had been a critic of Truss as prime minister but served as home secretary in her administration for a few days towards the end of her premiership, said many Conservatives did agree the tax burden should not be as high.
“She makes a perfectly valid point that somebody’s obviously got to be agitating for making the good arguments for the reasons why a lower-tax economy in the longer run can be a very successful economy,” he said. “I think you’ve got to set this within an international picture, which is Ukraine was invaded, energy prices went through the roof.
“We’re in a situation, for example, where we’re paying a third of people’s energy bills, and that is unprecedented right after the whole coronavirus [pandemic], where we have had to spend vast fortunes and, of course, taxes have had to rise.”
Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, in the first of a series of interventions before the spring budget, the former prime minister said her “soul-searching has not been easy”.
However, she said scepticism about the growth potential of the British economy was “sadly endemic at the Treasury”, blaming pessimism as a barrier to changes including planning reform and deregulation of financial services, and said Brexit was seen as a “damage-limitation exercise rather than a once-in-a-generation opportunity”.
Shapps told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme: “You have got to deal with the fundamentals first. You have got to reduce inflation, which is the biggest tax cut anybody can have.
“I notice she said they hadn’t prepared the ground for these big tax changes. What you have got to do is deal with the big structural issues first, deal with inflation first, deal with debt, and then you look towards tax cuts.
“I completely agree with Liz’s instinct to have a lower-tax economy. We also know that if you do that before you’ve dealt with inflation and dealt with the debt, then you end up in difficulty. You can’t get the growth out of nowhere.”
Truss claimed no one had made her aware of the effect her changes might have on pension funds – “a problem that would ultimately bring my premiership to an abrupt and premature end because of the panic it induced”.
She claimed no one had raised concerns about the liability-driven investments that posed a risk to bond markets, until the Bank of England governor wanted to make a statement on the Monday after the mini-budget.
“Dramatic movements in the bond market had already begun, meaning the mini-budget faced a very difficult environment. Only now can I appreciate what a delicate tinderbox we were dealing with in respect of the LDIs,” she said.
But she said the government also became “a useful scapegoat” for problems that began to hit ordinary families, including rising interest rates and mortgage costs.
“Knowing what I know now, undoubtedly I would have handled things differently. I underestimated the extent to which the market was on edge and, like many others, was not aware of how fragile our system had become,” she said.
She said she was given the “starkest of warnings by senior officials that further market turmoil could leave the UK unable to fund its own debt”.
She said she knew after sacking her chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, and reversing most of her positions that she would be unlikely to be able to stay as prime minister.
“Fundamentally, I was not given a realistic chance to enact my policies by a very powerful economic establishment, coupled with a lack of political support,” she said.
“I assumed upon entering Downing Street that my mandate would be respected and accepted. How wrong I was. While I anticipated resistance to my programme from the system, I underestimated the extent of it.”
The former Conservative party chairman Sir Jake Berry told BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that he did still agree with “Liz’s diagnosis of the disease that is facing the country and I think she accepts in this story that the prescription that we wrote – [for] which I have to take part of the blame – wasn’t delivered in the correct way.
“But I think her point of, we need to lower taxes, we need to create a growing economy, that’s what people want.” | United Kingdom Politics |
An attempted North Korean space launch on Wednesday morning ended in fialure after it briefly triggered evacuation warnings in parts of South Korea and Japan.
Both the Chollima-1 rokcet and its payload — claimed by Pyongyang to be a military recosatellite— crashed into the ocean, North Korea's state-run KCNA news agency reprted.
Japan's coast guard said that North Korea informed it of a plan to launch a military satellite between May 31 and June 11.
The launch initially prompted authorities in parts of South Korea and Japan to issue evaculation alerts, but shortly afterwards, Seoul said evacuation warnings had been "incorrectly issued" while authorities in Japan also lifted its alert, stating the rocket was no longer expected to fly over Okinawa.
In a rare admission of technical failure, KCNA later reported that the rocket crashed into the ocean "after losing thrust due to the abnormal starting of the second-stage engine."
South Korea's military salvaged presumed debris from the rocket in waters off Eocheongdo island.
What did North Korea say before the launch?
North Korea said its "military reconnaissance satellite No. 1" would be "indispensable [for] tracking, monitoring ... and coping with in advance in real time the dangerous military acts of the US and its vassal forces."
Ri Pyong Chol, a top adviser to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said in a statement on Tuesday that Pyongyang felt "the need to expand reconnaissance and information means and improve various defensive and offensive weapons."
Recent satellite imagery showed active constriction activity at North Korea's main rocket launch center in the northwest of the country.
In his statement on Tuesday, Ri said the North planned to test "various reconnaissance means."
Launch breaches Security Council resolutions
Resolutions passed by the United Nations Security Council ban North Korea from using ballistic technology, including for space launches, because it is regarded as a cover for missile tests.
The US State Department condemned the planned launch on these grounds.
"Space launch vehicles (SLVs) incorporate technologies that are identical to, and interchangeable with, those used in ballistic missiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles," a State Department spokesperson said.
South Korea's Foreign Ministry also said earlier this week that the launch was a "serious violation of UN Security Council resolutions."
It said North Korea "will have to bear the price and pain it deserves."
zc/nm (AFP, AP, Reuters) | Asia Politics |
The government on Wednesday listed a special discussion on Parliament's journey of 75 years starting from the Samvidhan Sabha on the first day of the five-day session of Parliament beginning Sept. 18.
The government on Wednesday listed a special discussion on Parliament's journey of 75 years starting from the Samvidhan Sabha on the first day of the five-day session of Parliament beginning Sept. 18.
During the session, the government has also listed the bill on the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and other election commissioners to be taken up for consideration and passage. The bill was introduced in Rajya Sabha during the last Monsoon session.
Discussion on 'Parliamentary Journey of 75 years starting from Samvidhan Sabha – Achievements, Experiences, Memories and Learnings' will be held on Sept. 18 besides other formal business like laying of papers.
The session is likely to see the proceedings of Parliament moving from the old building to the new Parliament building.
The other listed business for Lok Sabha includes The Advocates (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and The Press and Registration of Periodicals Bill, 2023, already passed by Rajya Sabha on Aug. 3.
Besides, The Post Office Bill, 2023 has also been listed in the Lok Sabha business, according to an official bulletin. The bill was earlier introduced in Rajya Sabha on Aug. 10. | India Politics |
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday over the situation in Manipur and said "I.N.D.I.A will not stay silent while the idea of India is being attacked" in the northeastern state.
Gandhi's remarks came after a video shot on May 4 surfaced on Wednesday, showing two women being paraded naked in ethnic violence-hit Manipur.
Police said a case of abduction, gang rape and murder has been registered at the Nongpok Sekmai police station in Thoubal district against unidentified armed miscreants.
"PM's silence and inaction has led Manipur into anarchy. I.N.D.I.A will not stay silent while the idea of India is being attacked in Manipur," Gandhi said in a tweet.
PM’s silence and inaction has led Manipur into anarchy.
INDIA will not stay silent while the idea of India is being attacked in Manipur.
We stand with the people of Manipur. Peace is the only way forward.
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) July 19, 2023
"We stand with the people of Manipur. Peace is the only way forward," he added.
Twenty-six opposition parties formed a front -- Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A) -- on Tuesday to unitedly take on the ruling BJP-led NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also reacted to the video, saying the pictures of "sexual violence against women" emerging from Manipur are heart-wrenching.
"No amount of condemnation is enough for this horrific incident of violence against women. Women and children have to bear the maximum brunt of violence in the society," she said in a tweet in Hindi.
"We must all condemn the violence in one voice while furthering the efforts for peace in Manipur," Priyanka Gandhi said.
"Why has the central government, Mr Prime Minister turned a blind eye to the violent incidents in Manipur? Do such pictures and violent incidents not disturb them?" she asked.
Mahila Congress chief Netta D'Souza said, "Humanity has died a thousand deaths! If this BJP govt can't stop women from being shamed and humiliated, from being paraded naked, it simply be dismissed."
What is stopping the Modi government from imposing the President's Rule in Manipur, she asked on Twitter.
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WARSAW, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Seven people have been charged over alleged irregularities in the granting of Polish work visas, a prosecutor said on Wednesday, amid a deepening scandal on the hot-button subject of migration ahead of Oct. 15 elections.
Opposition claims that the government was complicit in a system in which migrants received visas at an accelerated pace without being properly checked after paying intermediaries could be damaging for the ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, which has campaigned on a tough stance on immigration.
"Thanks to the efficient operation of the (security) services, the prosecutor...brought charges against seven people in this proceeding," said Daniel Lerman, deputy director of the Department for Organized Crime and Corruption of the National Prosecutor's Office. "Three people are under temporary arrest."
Former Deputy Foreign Minister Piotr Wawrzyk, who was fired on Aug. 31, the same day that Poland's Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA) carried out a search of the foreign ministry, is accused by the opposition and media reports of playing a central role in the visa scheme.
Asked whether Wawrzyk was among those facing charges, Lerman declined to comment on individuals but said no state employees were among the seven accused.
Wawrzyk has not commented publicly on the claims about his involvement and the foreign ministry said his dismissal was due to "a lack of satisfactory cooperation".
On Wednesday opposition lawmakers said knowledge about the irregularities was widespread in government, stretching as far as Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau.
PiS have said they are waiting for the results of the investigation, but that the opposition was exaggerating the scale of the problem.
PiS spokesperson Rafal Bochenek said on Thursday it was a "pseudo scandal" and that the state had started taking action long before opposition politicians were even aware of the issue.
The opposition has said the irregularities could concern hundreds of thousands of visa applications, but prosecutors have said that their investigation concerns several hundred.
Deputy coordinator of special services Stanislaw Zaryn said that none of the visa applicants concerned by the investigation posed a security threat to Poland.
He also dismissed media reports that Polish services had only acted after being alerted by other European Union countries that were seeing unusually high number of migrants entering with Polish visas - which under the EU's Schengen open border regime give the holder the right to work throughout the bloc.
According to Eurostat data cited by Rzeczpospolita daily on Wednesday, Poland issued almost 2 million work visas over the past three years, including 600,000 in 2020, more than a quarter of the EU total that year.
Reporting by Alan Charlish, Editing by William Maclean
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Europe Politics |
The Labour party is planning to put the UK at the head of a worldwide green industrial revolution, with a massive US-style, public-private investment scheme targeted at the most deprived regions.
In an interview with the Observer, Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, who will travel to Washington in May to meet senior Democrats, says a Labour government will follow the model of US president Joe Biden’s hugely ambitious regional recovery plan, using the climate crisis as the catalyst for economic revival.
She says Labour’s new national wealth fund, to be endowed with an initial £8bn of funding from the state but which it is hoped will then pull in private investment, will be given a specific remit to focus on green industrial revival in deprived areas with regional targets to create hundreds of thousands of jobs outside London and the south-east.
Ahead of the spring budget on Wednesday, in which the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, will be under pressure to prevent an exodus of UK green industries to the US and the EU – both of which are preparing incentives to lure green firms from overseas – both Labour and the Tories are determined to ensure the UK will not be left behind.
Hunt is set to announce a £20bn investment in technology to reduce Britain’s carbon emissions in the budget, as well as plans to boost the nuclear sector with a competition to develop small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs).
Many UK companies, Reeves said, were desperate to invest in areas such as offshore wind, tidal energy, green hydrogen and carbon capture and storage, but feared that without government backing – on a partnership model like that pioneered by Biden in his Inflation Reduction Act – they “would not get off the ground”.
“The Tories are the last people in town believing that the ‘laissez faire’ approach of leaving it all to the market can work. Everyone else recognises that, in a world of such huge change and increased competition between nations for this investment, you have to have this partnership approach,” she said.
“All of this is up for grabs, no-one is doing a lot of this stuff at scale yet. We could be global leaders in some of this. There is a real urgency because growth is so low. This would be real levelling up, where the government has failed. We have got a serious plan and we just want a chance to get on and get started with it.”
Several key UK-based companies are now examining where best to operate. Jaguar Land Rover’s owner, Tata Motors, has reportedly asked the UK government for more than £500m in state subsidies to build a battery factory in Somerset, a move seen as crucial to the future of the entire British car industry.
Reeves said: “The government said we were going to get electric vehicle production and batteries here but we haven’t and Jaguar Land Rover (Britain’s biggest car maker) are on the verge of making a really big decision. It is crucial that batteries are produced by JLR in Britain or, as night follows day, more car production will move overseas.”
In January, the UK battery start-up Britishvolt collapsed into administration, with the majority of its 300 staff made redundant after talks about rescue bids failed. The company’s efforts to build a large facility near Blyth came unstuck as it struggled to find a cash injection to pursue the project. It has now been bought by an Australian company.
Labour has already committed to investing £28bn a year – or £224bn over its first eight years in government – on climate measures. Reeves says it will aim to create 450,000 new jobs over a decade from green industrial projects – in which the UK public will have a stake – including 50,000 in the north-west and Yorkshire, and 30,000 in the north-east, the East Midlands, the West Midlands and the east of England.
Reeves is planning to meet key architects of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) during her May visit and make a speech from there to “show the UK can deliver global leadership on climate change, on new industries and on the future of economic thinking”.
Biden’s IRA was signed into law in August last year and aims to spur investment in green technology by devoting billions of dollars in subsidies through grants, loans and tax credits to public and private entities. It has a strong focus on electric vehicles and the battery industry.
Since it was announced it has drawn investment into areas such as Michigan, a rust belt state, where Ford has revealed plans to build a $3.5bn electric vehicle battery plant that would create 2,500 jobs. The company explicitly referenced the Biden legislation as being a factor in its decision to locate there instead of Canada or Mexico.
The EU is expected to unveil more details this week of its net-zero industry act, which is also designed to lead to a big acceleration of green technology in EU member states, with recent changes to state aid rules also in the pipeline.
The Institute for Directors recently called for a UK version of the Inflation Reduction Act to “incentivise much-needed green investment” and prevent the UK being left behind.
Reeves said: “The exciting thing about some of the new industries of the future, whether it is floating offshore wind, or carbon capture and storage, or green hydrogen, is that they are going to create good jobs in places outside London and the south-east, in former industrial areas, in coastal communities. We are taking inspiration from president Biden and the US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen.” | United Kingdom Politics |
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! I not only heard about the atrocities and oppression the Taliban subjected the Afghan people to; I also witnessed them firsthand. Sometimes I couldn’t clear them from my mind. During my eighth and last deployment, I conducted a feasibility study for an operation targeting a high-level Taliban leader in the mountains. Soon after the successful operation, our leadership team informed me the Taliban had captured and killed 10 Afghan team members who had worked for me. This was a special group to me. I had eaten in their homes and played with their kids. AFGHAN OPPOSITION GROUPS OUTRAGED AT UN EMPLOYEES PHOTOGRAPHED UNDER TALIBAN FLAGThese guys were aware of my location and possessed the ability to compromise it. The Taliban held them for a week and then hanged them, except for two who flipped to the Taliban side and then turned the others over, causing their deaths. I loved these men; they were my friends. I would have died for them, and they would have died for me. In fact, I believe they did die for me. Smoke rises from explosion outside the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Aug. 26, 2021. The explosion went off outside Kabul’s airport, where thousands of people have flocked as they try to flee the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. Officials offered no casualty count, but a witness said several people appeared to have been killed or wounded Thursday. (AP Photo/Wali Sabawoon) (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)Despite being compromised, I continued with our operation because I believed its importance was worth the personal risk. A few days later, at 5 a.m., I heard a knock on my door, and through the window saw Jack, a guy who had spent time in my home, and an older man. When I opened the door, two more guys came out of hiding and forced me into the back of a car. I thought for certain they were going to kill me. The men heavily interrogated me for an hour or two, but for some reason, they chose to release me. I attempted one more operation after that, but my mind was not in a good place. I was experiencing severe physiological reactions, panic attacks and mental disassociation. Then, in the middle of my compromised state, our command intel team discovered one of our Afghan teammates had flipped sides to the Taliban. A few days later, my home in Afghanistan was blown to rubble after a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) was driven into my house. My previous Afghan teammate had supplied the Taliban with our location. Thankfully, neither I nor any of my team was in the house. These guys were aware of my location and possessed the ability to compromise it. The Taliban held them for a week and then hanged them, except for two who flipped to the Taliban side and then turned the others over, causing their deaths. I loved these men; they were my friends. I would have died for them, and they would have died for me. In fact, I believe they did die for me. The execution of our Afghan teammates, the interrogation, and the attempt to kill me and my teammates shook me up. In a moment of clarity, I concluded my declining mental condition had placed me and others in danger. I needed medical help and signaled to leadership that I needed to remove myself. At the airport, I remember every moment of constant paranoia and anxiety pulsing through my body from the jetway to walking onto that plane. I don’t know if I have ever felt more relieved than when the wheels lifted from the runway, and we cleared the mountains. When I got home, I was nonstop anxious. My hands and arms would go numb, then my face. My throat felt like it was swelling shut, and I struggled to breathe. I felt like I had a thousand-pound weight on my chest. I was diagnosed with severe chronic post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and was removed from the task force. I was essentially out of a job and home for good with all the anxiety, guilt, frustration, anger and shame.I had trained in martial arts and Brazilian jiu-jitsu and had competed as a professional mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter with an unbeaten record. Kathy and I opened a jiu-jitsu school, and I returned to fighting professionally in MMA. Within three years, our school grew to two locations and a thousand students, I won a world MMA title, and climbed to No. 6 in the world in the flyweight division. But my life was a complete failure. CLICK HERE TO GET THE OPINION NEWSLETTERKathy and I separated and filed for divorce. I convinced myself the best thing I could do for my three children was commit suicide. In September 2010, while pressing a pistol to my head, I heard someone outside my apartment. When I opened the door, Kathy was there. We engaged in a heated argument until she asked, "Chad, how can you do all the things you’ve done in the military, Afghanistan, be willing to die for your buddies, and train so hard for MMA fights, but when it comes to your family, you quit?" There is no more soul-cutting word to me than being called a quitter. But she was absolutely correct. When it came to the most important things like being a husband and father, and having the will to get well, I had quit. Kathy was attending church and praying for me and my recovery. A man from church helped counsel me and provide accountability. Before then, I would say I was a Christian — I wore a military dog tag that claimed I was one — but for the first time in my life, I surrendered my life to Jesus. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPAfter my recovery, I created the Mighty Oaks Foundation to help combat veterans and those from military communities suffering from PTSD and life issues to move beyond life’s hardships and into the life God created us all to live. I tell every struggling veteran the lesson I learned: in life, just like in combat, we aren’t meant to fight alone. Over the past 10 years, over 4,500 military warriors and spouses have entered our recovery program, and I have spoken about resiliency to over 275,000 active-duty troops. We will all have seasons of life. We will have highs and lows, finding ourselves in dark valleys some days and on high mountaintops others. There will be times in life when you will be in dire need of help and other times when you will be in the position to help someone else. When we have the ability to help our fellow man in their most critical moment, we must. We were created to. It is who we are by design. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13 ESV) Taken from "Saving Aziz: How the Mission to Help One Became a Calling to Rescue Thousands from the Taliban" by Chad Robichaux, David L. Thomas. Copyright © 2023 by Chad Robichaux, David L. Thomas. Used with permission from Nelson Books. Chad Robichaux is the vice president of Serving California’s veteran affairs, the founder of the Mighty Oaks Warrior Programs, a United States Marine Corps Force Recon Veteran and a PTSD survivor. He is also the bestselling author of “Redeployed: How Combat Veterans Can Fight the Battle Within and Win the War at Home,” a board certified counselor, and a former professional mixed martial arts world champion featured on NBC’s "World Series of Fighting." | Middle East Politics |
Demonstrators calling for Gaza ceasefire block bridge in Boston
Demonstrators seeking a cease-fire in Gaza blocked traffic for more than two hours on the Boston University bridge during rush hour
BOSTON -- Demonstrators seeking a cease-fire in Gaza blocked traffic on the Boston University bridge during rush hour Thursday morning, stopping traffic for more than two hours.
The group of about 100 people chanted “Cease-fire now!” and held a banner with the words “Jews say: ceasefire now" during the protest amid an Israeli ground offensive in Gaza that followed Hamas-led attacks in Israel on Oct. 7. Demonstrators also held signs that said, “Let Gaza Live.” The bridge connects Boston and Cambridge.
Activists were demanding that Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts support an immediate cease-fire and use her influence to stop the Israeli government’s military action. Her office had no immediate comment.
Boston police were at the scene of the protest, which was organized by IfNotNow, a group that says it represents members of Boston's Jewish community. The demonstration wrapped up by mid-morning.
Elizabeth Weinbloom, a spokesperson, said the group wants more than a measured words from Warren.
“We can’t wait for her to make slow, incremental steps to pressing for a cease-fire. We need that now,” Weinbloom said. "So we’re taking disruptive and inconvenient action. We need Sen. Warren take disruptive and inconvenient action to end this war."
The protest came as Israeli forces dropped leaflets warning Palestinians to flee parts of southern Gaza, residents said Thursday, signaling a possible expansion of the Israeli offensive.
___
For more AP coverage of the Israel-Hamas war: https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war | Middle East Politics |
Armed police officers wave cars off the motorway going from Poland to Germany.
They're searching for people-smugglers and their desperate cargo.
This is the German government's latest bid to show it is getting a grip on rising levels of irregular migration.
But, as we found in a rural border district, there's little sense of control.
Altenberg is a small town in Saxony, right by the Czech Republic.
Families race down a toboggan run that weaves through the forest and, when winter's here, there's even a small ski resort.
The local mayor, Markus Wiesenberg, says that - in this area alone - smugglers drop off people as often as once a day.
"The trafficker disappears and probably picks up the next load."
New arrivals put a strain on local services, he says, as well as local people.
"Sometimes they find sleeping bags and campfires in the woods and they are worried for their children."
Migration is looming large in the national debate after the far right is seen to have capitalized on the issue, fuelling recent gains in regional elections.
Ministers ordered "temporary" checks last month on Germany's land borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland.
The controls were renewed this week, as they have been for years on the border with Austria, and they are all within the EU's supposedly border-free Schengen Zone.
The number of people found entering Germany illegally in September is 21,366, the highest monthly figure since early 2016, according to Federal Police.
The country remains a top destination for asylum seekers.
Inside an old youth hostel in rural Saxony, more than 50 men are waiting for their future to begin.
Thirty-three-year-old Muhammad Abdoum, from Syria, has successfully applied for asylum and hopes soon to find work.
He's adopted a leadership role at this migrant housing centre and seems naturally upbeat.
However, he becomes tearful when recounting a "lost" decade in his life with the prospect of starting again from "zero."
"I lost too much [many] friends. I lost 10 years. What did I make for myself?"
A long journey, he tells me, took him from war-torn Syria to Turkey, through the Balkans and eventually here; to what feels like a remote outpost, just metres from the Czech border, surrounded by pine trees and a heavy morning mist.
Passing through other EU nations, the last leg of his travels was on a train from Prague.
Now he dreams of having a life, maybe even a family, in Germany.
That evening, just ten minutes' drive from the hostel, a small crowd of forty to fifty people gathers in the village square of Hermsdorf.
They're protesting about the possibility that nearby apartments might be used to house migrants.
A speaker, playing anti-establishment songs, blares out from the back of a van.
Thomas clutches a damp, sagging flag of Saxony as he tells me that while an Iraqi family has integrated well into his village, "If hoards of young men arrive⦠we fear for our safety."
"I'm here for the children," chimes in Anja. "For me the young migrants who come here, they are armies - and when the order comes for them to take action, then we're done. Then Germany is done."
The group eventually marches off into the night to do a loop of the village.
You might think, tucked away amongst forests and hilltops, that no one can hear them - but you'd be wrong.
Polls that put the far-right, anti-immigration, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party ahead of the three governing parties appears to have spooked Berlin into action.
Plans to speed up deportations of failed asylum seekers are being introduced while Chancellor Olaf Scholz was in Nigeria this week to try and boost the number of returns.
The German leader has denied that recent AfD state election successes have forced his hand.
But a "sense of fear" has led to fresh, serious discussions in government according to Gerald Knaus, chair of the European Stability Initiative think tank in Berlin.
He's dismissive of border checks and EU plans to fast-track asylum applications, describing them all as "fake solutions."
Mr Knaus was the brains behind the contentious 2016 deal which saw Turkey promised aid and visa-free travel in return for stemming the flow of migrants into the EU.
He believes this kind of agreement should be revived and expanded to countries such as Senegal, Morocco and Rwanda.
Some senior political figures in Germany, including from within the three-party governing coalition, are also calling for third-country deals.
One idea, which has not been endorsed by ministers, could see asylum claims processed in nations that migrants pass through on their way to the EU.
"We must prevent people with no prospect of asylum to start the dangerous route across the Mediterranean," Christian Dürr, the Free Democrats Bundestag group leader, told Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Successful claimants would then proceed to Germany whereas the UK's deal with Rwanda, which is being contested in the courts, would see refugees remain in the Central African country.
On Monday Chancellor Olaf Scholz will meet with Germany's regional leaders where migration is expected to top the agenda.
A collision of factors are present in the current migration debate in Germany.
Attempts to tackle irregular migration are running in parallel with efforts to plug labour shortages by attracting skilled foreign workers.
Germany's also taken more than a million people from Ukraine - mainly women and children - following Russia's full-scale invasion.
Increased backing for the AfD comes as elected leaders are accused of ducking the debate.
It seems we didn't learn the lesson of 2015... We are as unprepared as then
Mayor Markus Wiesenberg, who's a member of Angela Merkel's Christian Democrat party, says there is a perception that the federal government is failing.
All the while, the rise in irregular migration appears to feed gains by the far right as elected leaders are accused of ducking the debate.
"It seems we didn't learn the lesson of 2015," he says - referring to the apogee of Europe's migration crisis.
"We are as unprepared as then." | Europe Politics |
Maldives new president makes an official request to India to withdraw military personnel
Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu has officially requested India to withdraw its military personnel from the archipelago, a day after being sworn in
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu officially requested India to withdraw its military personnel from the archipelago on Saturday, a day after being sworn in.
The president's office said in a statement that Muizzu made the request when he met Kiren Rijiju, India's minister for earth sciences. He was in the Maldives for the presidential inauguration.
“The president noted that at the presidential election held in September, the Maldivian people had given him a strong mandate to make the request to India and expressed hope that India will honour the democratic will of the people of the Maldives,” the statement said.
Muizzu, who is seen as pro-China, campaigned on a promise to evict Indian military personnel and balance trade, which he said was heavily in favor of India under his predecessor, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.
The election was seen a virtual referendum on which regional power — China or India — should have the biggest influence in the Indian Ocean archipelago. Both India, the closest neighbor of the Maldives, and China have been vying for influence in the islands located strategically on the shipping route connecting east and west.
The number of Indian troops in the Maldives is not publicly known. Critics say secrecy in the agreement between India and Solih’s government regarding the role and number of Indian military personnel has led to suspicion and rumors. The Indian military is known to operate two Indian-donated helicopters and assisting in search and rescue operations for people stranded or facing calamities at sea.
The Maldives' minister for strategic communications, Ibrahim Khaleel, told The Associated Press that the president himself will have to find out the number of Indian troops from officials after the weekend.
He said the discussions took place in a cordial manner and the Maldives was hopeful that the withdrawal will take place soon.
Muizz's ally, former President Abdulla Yameen, made the Maldives part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative during his presidency from 2013 to 2018. The development initiative is meant to build railroads, ports and highways to expand trade — and China’s influence — across Asia, Africa and Europe. | Asia Politics |
Sept 11 (Reuters) - Brazil's president said on Monday there was a need to review the country's accession to the International Criminal Court when nations like the U.S., China and India had not done so.
It would be up to Brazil's judiciary to decide whether Russian President Vladimir Putin would be arrested if he attends next year's G20 summit in the South American country, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told reporters in New Delhi. Lula attended this year's summit in the Indian capital, which was held over the weekend.
The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March, accusing him of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine. Russia has denied its forces have engaged in war crimes, or forcibly taken Ukrainian children.
Brazil is a signatory to the Rome Statute which led to the founding of the ICC.
"I want to know why the U.S, India and China didn't sign the ICC treaty and why our country signed it," Lula said.
Putin has skipped the last two G20 summits in Bali and New Delhi, and Russia has been represented by its foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov.
"If Putin decides to join (next year's summit), it is the judiciary's power to decide (on a possible arrest) and not my government," Lula said.
On Saturday, he had said in an interview with news show First Post that there was "no way" Putin would be arrested if he attended the summit in Rio de Janeiro.
Reporting by Nidhi Verma; writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Raju Gopalakrishnan
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Latin America Politics |
Iran’s supreme leader told the head of Hamas in a face-to-face meeting in Tehran that his country would not enter the war with Israel and accused the terror group of not giving any prior warning of the Oct 7 attacks.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Ismail Haniyeh that Iran – a longtime backer of Hamas – would continue to lend the group its political and moral support, but would not intervene directly, according to three Iranian and Hamas officials with knowledge of the discussions who asked to remain anonymous.
The supreme leader pressed Haniyeh to silence those voices in the Palestinian group publicly calling for Iran and its powerful Lebanese ally Hezbollah to join the battle against Israel in full force, a Hamas official told Reuters.
Hezbollah, too, was taken by surprise by Hamas’s devastating assault last month that killed 1,200 Israelis. Its fighters were not even on alert in villages near the border that were front lines in its 2006 war with Israel, and had to be rapidly called up, three sources close to the Lebanese group said.
“We woke up to a war,” said a Hezbollah commander.
The unfolding crisis marks the first time that the so-called “axis of resistance” – a military alliance built by Iran over four decades to oppose Israeli and American power in the Middle East – has mobilised on multiple fronts at the same time.
Hezbollah has engaged in the heaviest clashes with Israel for almost 20 years. Iran-backed militias have targeted US forces in Iraq and Syria. Yemen’s Houthis have launched missiles and drones at Israel.
The conflict is also testing the limits of the regional coalition whose members – which include the Syrian government, Hezbollah, Hamas and other militant groups from Iraq to Yemen – have differing priorities and domestic challenges.
Mohanad Hage Ali, an expert on Hezbollah at the Carnegie Middle East Centre think tank in Beirut, said Hamas’s Oct 7 assault on Israel had left its axis partners facing tough choices in confronting an adversary with far superior firepower.
“When you wake up the bear with such an attack, it’s quite difficult for your allies to stand in the same position as you.”
Hamas, the ruling group of Gaza, is fighting for its survival against an avenging Israel, which vows to wipe it out and has launched a retaliatory onslaught on the tiny enclave that has killed more than 11,000 Palestinians.
On Oct 7, Mohammed Deif, Hamas’s military commander, called on its axis allies to join the struggle. “Our brothers in the Islamic resistance in Lebanon, Iran, Yemen, Iraq and Syria, this is the day when your resistance unites with your people in Palestine,” he said in an audio message.
Hints of frustration surfaced in subsequent public statements by Hamas leaders including Khaled Meshaal, who in an Oct 16 TV interview thanked Hezbollah for its actions thus far but said “the battle requires more” .
Nonetheless, alliance leader Iran will not directly intervene in the conflict unless it is itself attacked by Israel or the US, according to six officials with direct knowledge of Tehran’s thinking who declined to be named due to the sensitive nature of the matter.
Instead, Iran’s clerical rulers plan to continue using their axis network of armed allies, including Hezbollah, to launch rocket and drone attacks on Israeli and American targets across the Middle East, the officials said.
The strategy is a calibrated effort to demonstrate solidarity for Hamas in Gaza and stretch Israeli forces without becoming engaged in a direct confrontation with Israel that could draw in the US, they added.
“This is their way of trying to create deterrence,” said Dennis Ross, a former senior US diplomat specialising in the Middle East who now works at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy think tank. “A way of saying: ‘Look, as long as you don’t attack us, this is the way it will remain. But if you attack us, everything changes’.”
Iran has repeatedly said that all members of the alliance make their own decisions independently.
The Iranian foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment about its response to the crisis and the role of the “axis of resistance”, a term of disputed origin that has been used by Iranian officials to describe the coalition.
Hamas did not immediately respond to questions sent to Haniyeh’s media adviser, while Hezbollah also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hezbollah, the most powerful group in the axis, boasting 100,000 fighters, has exchanged fire with Israeli forces across the Lebanon-Israel border on an almost daily basis since Hamas went to war with Israel and more than 70 of its fighters have been killed.
Yet, like its backer Iran, Hezbollah has avoided an all-out confrontation.
The group has calibrated its attacks in a way that has kept the violence largely contained to a narrow strip of territory at the border, even as it has escalated those strikes in recent days, according to the people familiar with its thinking.
One of the sources said Hamas wanted Hezbollah to strike deeper into Israel with its massive arsenal of rockets but that Hezbollah believed this would lead Israel to lay waste to Lebanon without halting its attack on Gaza.
Hezbollah, which is also a political movement deeply involved in Lebanese government affairs, knows Lebanon can ill afford another war with Israel, more than four years into a financial crisis that has driven up poverty and hollowed out the country’s governing institutions.
Lebanon took years to rebuild from the 2006 war, during which Israeli bombardment pounded the Hezbollah-controlled south of the country and destroyed swathes of its stronghold in the southern suburbs of the capital Beirut.
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s leader, said in a Nov 3 speech that Hamas had kept its attack on Israel a secret from its allies and this had ensured its success and not “upset anyone” in the axis. Hezbollah attacks at the Israeli border were unprecedented and amounted to “a real battle”, he said. | Middle East Politics |
The leader of Turkey’s ultranationalist Victory party has endorsed the opposition candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, breaking ranks with the party’s former presidential hopeful Sinan Oğan, who endorsed Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
The Victory party leader, Ümit Özdağ, declared at a joint press conference with Kılıçdaroğlu that the two had signed a memorandum of understanding, including guarantees to deport all refugees in Turkey within a year of coming to power.
They also agreed not to reinstate democratically elected Kurdish mayors in Turkey’s south-east previously replaced with appointees as part of a state crackdown on the leftwing and mostly Kurdish People’s Democratic party (HDP) – a swipe at the Kurdish support that buoyed Kılıçdaroğlu in the first round.
“We reached a consensus with him. As the Victory party, we decided to support Kılıçdaroğlu in the second round,” he said. The HDP, whose jailed leader Selahattin Demirtaş previously endorsed Kılıçdaroğlu, said it would meet to decide how to respond.
The split endorsement comes days before Erdoğan and Kılıçdaroğlu face a runoff round in the presidential elections on 28 May. In the first round Erdoğan attained just over 49.5% of the vote, ahead of Kılıçdaroğlu’s 44.5%.
Oğan, who ran on a far-right explicitly anti-refugee platform, won just over 5% of the vote in the first round, and declared his support for Erdoğan earlier this week.
“We believe that our decision will be the right decision for our country and nation,” he said. “I declare that we will support Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the candidate of the People’s Alliance, in the second round of the elections.”
The Victory party had backed Oğan but said at the time that Oğan’s statement did not represent the views of the party.
Kılıçdaroğlu has already doubled down on his own anti-refugee rhetoric after the first round of voting, where both he and Erdoğan attempted to attract Victory party supporters to their side for the runoff.
Days after his setback in the first round of voting, Kılıçdaroğlu pivoted away from his previous messages of inclusion and democracy and instead focused solely on his anti-refugee promises, reiterating a pledge to send refugees back to their countries of origin.
Throughout his campaign, including at his largest rally in Istanbul, Kılıçdaroğlu declared he would expel all refugees in Turkey “within two years” of coming to power. When the Guardian asked how he intended to square this promise with a desire to join the European Union, he replied: “We do not think of this as racism. When we come to power, we will sit and talk with the legitimate administration in Syria and find a solution to this problem.”
Following the signing of their agreement, Özdağ said Kılıçdaroğlu’s messages about sending refugees home had resonated with him. Both leaders cited vastly inflated figures for the numbers of refugees and asylum seekers currently in Turkey, estimated to be around 4 million, including at least 3.6 million Syrians under a temporary protection order imposed by Erdoğan.
Just 2.2% of Turkish voters say refugees are the country’s biggest problem when polled, compared with more than 56% concerned about a profound economic crisis that saw the lira lose half its value in one year alone. | Middle East Politics |
Swedish police have arrested two people and detained around 10 others after a violent riot broke out at a protest involving a burning of the Quran. Organised by Iraqi refugee Salwan Momika, its the latest incident among protests which have sparked outrage across the Middle East.
Swedish police arrested more than ten people on Sunday after scenes of violence in Malmö which followed a rally during which a copy of the Quran was burned.
Sunday's rally, organised by Iraqi refugee Salwan Momika, who initiated similar events that angered the Muslim world, took place in a square in Malmö, a city home to a large immigrant population.
“Spectators showed their emotion after the organiser burned the writings,” the police said in a statement adding that “The atmosphere was stormy” as “violent riots” broke out in the early afternoon.
According to police, the gathering ended after the organiser left, but a group of people remained behind.
Around ten people were arrested for disturbing public order and two others arrested on suspicion of having participated in violent riots.
According to media reports, spectators threw stones at Salwan Momika.
At the end of July the 37-year old and another man, Salwan Naja, trampled on a copy of the Quran in Stockholm before setting it on fire, as they had done during previous rallies, causing diplomatic tensions between Sweden and countries in the Middle East.
The Swedish government has previously condemned the desecrations of the Quran while emphasising that Sweden's Constitution protects the right to assembly and freedom of expression.
Iraqi protesters attacked the Swedish embassy in Baghdad twice in July, starting a fire inside the diplomatic mission in the second assault.
In mid-August, the Swedish Security Service announced that it had raised the terrorist alert level to 4 on a scale of 5, the strong reactions aroused abroad by the desecration of the Quran on Swedish soil making the country a “priority target”.
At the beginning of August, Sweden also decided to strengthen border controls.
Neighbouring Denmark, where public desecration of the Quran has also taken place, announced that it was considering banning the burning of the Muslim holy book.
Sweden is considering legal ways to follow suit, too. | Europe Politics |
Socialist acting prime minister Pedro Sanchez offers an amnesty for those involved in Catalonia's 2017 independence bid as he tries to forge an alliance that will allow him to form a government.
In Madrid, protesters clashed with riot police over a potential amnesty for those involved in Catalonia's failed 2017 independence bid. The protests took place outside the headquarters of the ruling Socialist Party, with crowds holding banners and chanting.
The amnesty has sparked a political controversy, with conservative opponents accusing acting prime minister Pedro Sanchez of undermining the rule of law for personal gain. Spanish police used batons to charge against protesters, some of whom were using fire flares.
The clashes resulted in chaotic scenes, with people running and rubbish bins being thrown into the streets.
Approximately 4,000 people, including the leader of the Spanish far-right party Vox, participated in the protest. At least one person was arrested, and tear gas was reportedly used by some protesters.
You can watch a full report from Jaime Velazquez in the video player above. | Europe Politics |
Hundreds of Afghan refugees who settled in London after fleeing the Taliban 18 months ago have been told they have a week to uproot and move 200 miles away, the Guardian can reveal.
The Home Office has told 40 families with 150 children who have lived for more than a year in Kensington, west London, that they must leave the capital for another hotel in Wetherby, on the outskirts of Leeds.
Some of the refugees, who include a former Afghan general and former British army translators, say they will refuse to go because their children, already traumatised by war and displacement, will suffer again by being forced to drop out of their schools.
Others have found jobs in London and are concerned they will not find work in West Yorkshire.
It comes amid deepening concerns that the home secretary, Suella Braverman, has failed to uphold promises made by Boris Johnson to support Afghans who worked and fought alongside the UK in Afghanistan.
The government aims to move all Afghan families out of hotels by the end of this year, according to briefings given to local councils. An estimated 9,000 Afghans are still living in temporary accommodation in the UK 18 months after being evacuated from Afghanistan under Operation Pitting. Western forces withdrew and the Taliban took power in August 2021.
The families resisting a move to Wetherby were evacuated to the UK because a family member worked alongside the British authorities. They are currently housed in a four-star hotel near the Victoria and Albert Museum. Last week, some received letters telling them they must move to the Mercure hotel in Wetherby.
Hamidullah Khan, a former parliamentary adviser in Kabul who was evacuated to the UK with his wife and three sons aged between four and 14, said the government had broken a series of promises to help them find housing of their own.
“We asked the Home Office: ‘Why do you want to force us out?’ and they say: ‘This hotel is expensive. The Leeds hotel is cheaper.’ But we didn’t choose this hotel or this area to live in, the Home Office did,” he said. “Now we have been here, not out of choice, for 18 months. Our children are going to local schools, and in the middle of the school year they ask us to leave.”
Khan has asked the Home Office to stop paying tens of thousands of pounds in hotel fees and instead act as a guarantor so he can afford to rent a place near London. “Please do not send us to a Leeds hotel where our children will lose their schooling. They may have to drop out of their year because they won’t have places for them there,” he said.
Another refugee, a former general in the Afghan army who came to the UK with six children, said most hotel residents had decided they would protest against the plan and refuse to leave. “Two children who lived in this hotel are in hospital, and their parents are being asked to move on. Some people now have jobs. We cannot just leave these responsibilities and start again,” he said.
The refugees received letters from the Home Office that stagger their moving dates over several days, starting on 7 February.
Many of the refugees say they are suffering from mental health problems that will only get worse if they are displaced again.
A third male hotel resident, 44, who worked in logistics with the Ministry of Defence in Kabul before evacuating to London with his family, said he was anxious about the plight of his brothers who are in hiding after being captured and tortured by the Taliban. His wife has been suffering from blackouts, and his eldest son has threatened to kill himself.
“We hope to live independently in the UK. But the promises of help finding a home have come and gone, and now this threat of being forced to move,” he said.
The Home Office sent letters to the residents over the past three weeks, telling them that the Kensington hotel “will no longer be available for the Home Office therefore we will move everyone into alternative accommodation” in Wetherby.
In Wetherby, some residents have already voiced their opposition to the local hotel taking in Afghan residents. One told the Leeds Live website in November that the government had been “underhand and secretive”.
As well as drawing up plans to resist being forced to move out of Kensington, some of the Afghan refugees plan to demonstrate outside parliament on Friday morning.
Operation Warm Welcome was launched in August 2021 to aid the full integration of Afghans into British life after the UK followed the US in abandoning Kabul to the Taliban. Johnson as prime minister said at the time: “We will never forget the brave sacrifice made by Afghans who chose to work with us at great risk to themselves.”
The Home Office is required under the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act to “safeguard and promote the welfare of children when it makes any immigration decision”.
Last summer, the government began encouraging Afghans to find their own homes to rent, but for many it has proved difficult. Many private landlords do not rent to those on universal credit and most Afghans struggle to find a guarantor.
According to Peymana Assad, a Labour councillor in Harrow who is of Afghan origin, many Afghans are finding it difficult to move on from hotels because they have low incomes and large families.
“With refugees being kicked out of hotels by the Home Office, councils across the country will see homeless applications from them and many refugees will be back where they started, in a hotel,” she said.
Asked to respond to the refugees’ detailed claims, a Home Office spokesperson said its officials had been telling the refugees for months that they would have to move to near Leeds.
“While hotels do not provide a long-term solution, they do offer safe, secure and clean accommodation. We will continue to bring down the number of people in bridging hotels, moving people into more sustainable accommodation as quickly as possible,” they said.
“Occasionally families may be moved from a hotel scheduled for closure to another hotel. In these instances, families are given appropriate notice of a move and are supported by their local authority. We are proud this country has provided homes for more than 7,500 Afghan evacuees, but there is a shortage of local housing accommodation for all.”
A Kensington community
One of the appointed leaders of the community living within the Kensington hotel is a 60-year-old general from Jalalabad province who spent 10 years working alongside the UK forces on intelligence matters.
Two weeks ago, one of his sons who remains in Afghanistan was captured and tortured by the Taliban. While being tortured, the son was asked whether his father might return in exchange for the son’s freedom. The son has been freed but is under surveillance, he said.
The general came to the UK in August 2021 along with his wife and six of his children, two of whom are now studying for A-levels while the rest are in college.
Ali, 54, worked as an accredited cultural adviser and translator with the British and US armies in Afghanistan for four years. He came to the UK with his wife and two young sons in August 2021, and said that initially the Home Office said they would be well looked after, but they had received very little help.
Recently he landed a translating job, and he is concerned that he will not be able to get an equivalent job in Yorkshire. “The hotel is one hour away from the city centre, and we will be 300 new people trying to get on the buses which do not come very often. How am I going to get a job? And which schools will welcome my children?” he said.
Gulalai, 25, came to the UK on an evacuation flight with her father, who is a British citizen. She also qualified for the flight because her uncle was a general in the army. Many of her family remain in hiding in Afghanistan.
She is studying for her GCSEs and hopes to become a lawyer one day, mindful that her friends in Afghanistan cannot study at all. Asked how she was coping with life in a hotel, she said: “I have serious anxiety issues for months now but my education is the only thing which gives me some comfort and happiness. I have some good friends at college.” | United Kingdom Politics |
By Sarantis Michalopoulos | EURACTIV.com Est. 7min 07-07-2023 (updated: 07-07-2023 ) Content-Type: News News Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. “We expect Serbia to create an enabling environment in which media freedom and freedom of expression can be exercised without hindrance,” the EU spokesperson added. [EPA-EFE/ANDREJ CUKIC] EURACTIV is part of the Trust Project >>> Print Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram The constantly deteriorating situation of the media in Serbia and the government’s failure to address it has raised eyebrows in Brussels, with the European Commission putting pressure on authorities in Belgrade to implement the necessary reforms “without delay”. According to the 2023 press freedom index, Serbia ranks 91st out of 180 countries, falling another 12 places compared to the year before. International organisations have slammed the Serbian government over the lack of media pluralism, and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) described the situation as “toxic”. The only countries in the region ranking worse than Serbia are Greece (107), an EU member, and EU candidate Albania (96). Serbia has been an EU candidate since 2012, and it opened EU accession talks in January 2014 but has made very little progress in the last two years. Brussels considers media freedom as a crucial element of Serbia’s EU accession process and an “important interim benchmark to be fulfilled under Chapter 23 of the negotiations process”, an EU spokesperson told EURACTIV. “We expect Serbia to create an enabling environment in which media freedom and freedom of expression can be exercised without hindrance,” the EU spokesperson added. The EU official also pointed fingers at Serbian politicians, who often publicly criticise journalists. “Journalists should be able to do their job free of any threat of violence, harassment and intimidation to ensure that citizens have access to all information […] We also expect high-level officials to refrain from verbal attacks and threats against journalists,” the EU official said. Tabloids ‘fuel the fire’ The issue of Serbia’s media freedom returned to the EU agenda after a school shooting in early May cost the lives of ten students. Since then, thousands of Serbian citizens have been taking to the streets to protest against “violence” in the country, which, according to analysts, is primarily fuelled by the poor quality of mainstream media in Serbia, most of which closely support the government. Tamara Skrozza, deputy editor in chief at FoNet news agency, said protestors have been asking for the closure of two pro-government tabloids that target opposition activists and simultaneously promote violence. “They take active part in targeting political opponents of the regime, writing terrible stories about opposition activists, journalists”, she told EURACTIV. She explained that violence either has the form of verbal attacks against the opposition or trash news related to reality shows. These tabloids, no matter whether one watches these reality shows or not, always report what’s happening there. “So you can read pornographic stories about who’s beating who, how some of the participants in the reality shows killed people in prison,” Skrozza said. “This kind of reporting fuels the fire, which led to the massacres at the beginning of the May[…] not directly inspired, but, you know, affected the massacres”, she added. Skrozza opposed shutting down the tabloids saying the best way to sort out the issue is for these papers to abide by the law. “We have good media laws; these papers and TV stations would be good if they just obey the law. They are breaching the media laws each and every day”, she commented. EU source: reforms have been ‘stalled’ Pavol Szalai, RSF Head of EU/Balkans Desk, said the press freedom situation in Serbia is “extremely preoccupying”, noting that mainstream media are spreading the “government’s propaganda”. Szalai said the protesters requested that some media be suspended and the national media regulator dissolved. “Instead of regulating the media and pluralism […] the government accused the independent media of being responsible basically for the shootings”, he said. Meanwhile, EURACTIV was informed that the country has been dragging its feet on reforms requested by the European Commission, especially those related to the Regulatory Authority of Electronic Media (REM), which was part of a 2020 media strategy drafted by the government itself. EURACTIV has learnt that Commission officials have expressed their concern about the slow progress on a much-awaited reform “law on electronic media”, whose aim was to make selection of the REM board more transparent and to ensure better regulation and sanctioning of violations made by the media. “Progress on media law reform was going well until a year ago when everything was stalled again”, an EU source close to the matter said, speaking anonymously, noting that this delay could not be explained. The Commission insists that greater efforts should be made to ensure media pluralism and diversity, including through transparency in media ownership and advertising. It also stressed the need to give different political voices and opinions access to mainstream media. “In this regard, we expect that the media regulator REM starts fully delivering on its mandate,” the EU spokesperson said. On the Commission’s radar is also the stance of some Serbian media at the outset of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine in February 2022, compounded by the continuing presence of some Russian media outlets in the country. “Serbia also needs to take urgent action to counter anti-EU narratives and to counter foreign information manipulation and interference,” the EU spokesperson said. According to RSF, it is “rare to see such strong Russian propaganda” in mainstream media in Europe. Efforts underway EURACTIV was informed that the Commission’s annual report on Serbia, due in the autumn, will assess the state of play and progress made in these areas. “In this context, we are in constant dialogue with the Serbian authorities. We welcome the comments of Prime Minister Ana Brnabić that Serbia recognises the need to implement the media strategy now. This should happen without further delays”, the Commission official added. The Serbian government has recently pledged to take action to tackle the press freedom issue. Prime Minister Brnabić said last month that Belgrade is doing “everything possible” to address the situation and guarantee a healthy media environment. Referring to verbal attacks against journalists, she explained that some of them were resolved, but some media deliberately did not report about it as it “did not suit them”. German Greens on the spotlight Meanwhile, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić triggered strong reactions after he claimed earlier this week that the German Green party is “funding” the protests in the country. “They talk about Russian meddling in the US elections while here, before every election, they send as much money as they want to who they want, particularly those Greens. And they don’t care, they think they can do whatever they want,” Vučić said. His statement drew angry comments from Green EU lawmaker Viola von Cramon, who dismissed it as “absolute stupidity”. “I categorically deny all accusations that organisations from Germany – including our Green Party and our Heinrich Böll Foundation – are financing protests in Serbia,” she told Nova.rs. “These statements are unfounded, and their only purpose is to show that protests are not a genuine reaction of the Serbian people.” “Quite the contrary, Germany has invested in Serbia and opened 80,000 jobs in Serbia. This helped Vučić stay in power,” von Cramon said separately on Twitter. (Sarantis Michalopoulos | EURACTIV.com – Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic, Alice Taylor) Read more with EURACTIV Croatia’s property prices soar compared to last year Print Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Topics Politics The Capitals | Europe Politics |
Aug 6 (Reuters) - Ukraine struck and damaged the Chonhar road bridge linking mainland Ukraine to Crimea and a smaller bridge linking the town of Henichesk with the peninsula's northeast coast on Sunday, Moscow-appointed officials and Ukraine's armed forces said.
"The enemy launched a missile strike in the area of the Chonhar bridge in the north of Crimea," Sergei Aksyonov, the Moscow-appointed head of Crimea, wrote on Telegram. "One hit, part of the missile was hit by air defence." The road surface was damaged, traffic diverted and repairs had begun, he said.
Acting Kherson regional governor Vladimir Saldo -- another Moscow appointee -- said without providing evidence that the strike on the Chonhar bridge, one of three road links between Crimea and mainland Ukraine, involved an Anglo-French Storm Shadow missile.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine Strategic Communications Directorate said the strike damaged the road surface of the bridge, which lies on a route used by the Russian military to move between Crimea and other parts of Ukraine under its control. Ukraine struck the same bridge in June.
The directorate said Ukrainian strikes had also left the smaller Henichesk bridge sagging but provided no further details. Reuters could not immediately verify the condition of either bridge nor the munitions used.
Saldo said Ukrainian shelling wounded a civilian driver and damaged a gas pipeline running alongside the bridge serving Henichesk, the temporary administrative centre of the Russian-controlled part of the Kherson region, leaving more than 20,000 people without gas. He said a village school was also damaged.
The attacks are making it increasingly hard to get on and off the peninsula, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014 and which is of military importance to Moscow as well as a popular tourist destination for Russians.
On July 17, an attack attributed by Ukrainian media to Ukrainian sea drones damaged the Russian-built Crimean Bridge, which links the peninsula eastward to southern Russia, for the second time in less than a year, severely restricting road traffic during the summer holiday season.
In the early hours of Saturday, a Ukrainian sea drone full of explosives damaged a Russian fuel tanker near the Crimean Bridge, the second such attack in 24 hours.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Europe Politics |
New Delhi — Indian authorities suspended internet service and deployed thousands of paramilitary and police forces Monday to the northern state of Haryana as deadly sectarian violence spread toward India's sprawling capital city. At least one person was killed and 20 others injured in the clashes that erupted Monday afternoon.
Two police officers were among the injured, officials said. Several cars torched by angry mobs.
The violence started after the right-wing Hindu groups, Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad, led a religious procession through a Muslim-majority part of Haryana's Nuh district.
Indian media said the clashes began after a video was posted on social media by Monu Manesar, a member of Bajrang Dal who's wanted by police as a suspect in the murder of two Muslim men whose bodies were set on fire in February. Manesar announced plans to join the religious procession in the video — seen as a direct challenge to the local Muslim community.
"Our first priority is to bring the situation under control. We are appealing to all to maintain peace. We are also trying to send forces by helicopter," Haryana home minister Anil Vij was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency.
Police used teargas and fired rounds into the air to disperse crowds as the clashes spread to the Delhi suburbs of Gurugram, Faribad and Palwal. The police also banned assemblies of four or more people in the violence-hit areas.
The Haryana state government said it was banning all mobile internet and SMS services in Nuh district until August 2, "in order to stop the spread of misinformation and rumors through various social media platforms."
India has grappled with sectarian violence since former colonial power Britain divided the country into modern-day, Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan in 1947.
The partition of the country prompted a mass exodus of tens of millions of people and is considered one of the deadliest mass-migrations in human history, with an estimated one million people believed to have been killed in an initial bout of sectarian conflict.
But Hindu-Muslimin India has been on the rise in recent years, with hundreds more people losing their lives, including more than 50 who were killed in that erupted in Delhi in 2020.
for more features. | India Politics |
WARSAW, Poland -- Three opposition parties that vowed to restore democratic standards in Poland together won over 54% of the votes in the nation's weekend parliamentary election, putting them in a position to take power, according to a complete ballot count reported Tuesday.
The conservative Law and Justice party, which has governed the country for eight turbulent years, won slightly over 35% of the votes, making it the single party with the most votes. But the party and its leader Jarosław Kaczyński lost their majority in parliament and appeared to have no way to hold onto power.
The official ballot announced by the National Electoral Commission aligns closely with an exit poll released after voting ended Sunday.
Turnout was nearly 75%, a record that surpassed even the 63% turnout of 1989, a vote that triggered the collapse of the oppressive Soviet-backed communist system.
Law and Justice had been moving the country down an illiberal path, taking control of courts in a manner that violated the country's constitution. The party politicized state institutions, including taxpayer-funded public media which it used as a crude propaganda tool to praise itself and vilify opponents.
The result was a huge victory for Donald Tusk, the head of the largest opposition group, Civic Coalition. He appeared likely to return to his past role as Polish prime minister, a job he held from 2007-14. He also served as the European Council president, a top job in the EU, from 2014-19.
Tusk's success is all the more remarkable given that state media went into overdrive to portray him as a stooge of Germany and Russia. That portrayal, which appeared baseless, also won him much sympathy.
Tusk himself won more than half a million votes running for a seat in parliament. His party said it was the best result in the history of parliamentary elections in Poland.
The result was a huge relief for Poles concerned about the country’s international isolation at a time of war across the border in Ukraine and the constant bickering with the European Union. Many feared it could cause the country's eventual exit from the 27-member bloc.
The LGBTQ+ community also suffered a smear campaign in recent years, being portrayed as a threat to the nation by the conservative ruling party. Liberal critics were sometimes depicted as disloyal to the country. Over the years, massive protests led by women rocked the country as the party restricted the abortion law to prevent the termination of pregnancies with fetal abnormalities.
Young people and women were among those who voted in droves to get rid of the Law and Justice party, which won in 2015 vowing to fight corruption and help even out economic inequalities. While its social spending did help many Polish pensioners and families, solidifying a solid base of support, the party has increasingly faced allegations of corruption.
The National Electoral Commission said that Law and Justice won slightly over 35% of the votes, and the far-right Confederation party, a possible ally, about 7%.
Three opposition groups won a collective of 53.7%, enough for a comfortable majority of 248 seats in the 460-seat lower house of parliament, or Sejm; The Civic Coalition garnered 30.7% of the vote while the centrist Third Way got 14.4% and the New Left about 8.6%.
The three ran on separate tickets so they are not formally part of the same coalition, but all promised to cooperate to restore the rule of law.
Law and Justice will have 194 seats, far short of the majority it held for eight years.
Confederation increased its presence from 11 in the outgoing parliament to 18 seats in parliament. It had hoped for more after a brief summertime surge in the polls.
The opposition, which had a razor-thin majority in the outgoing Senate, has now obtained an overwhelming majority of 66 out of 100 seats in that upper chamber. The Senate is far less powerful than the Sejm, but still has some limited influence over the legislative process. Law and Justice will only have 34 seats.
In another sharp blow to Law and Justice, a referendum held alongside the vote failed to reach the 50% needed to be valid. Many voters boycotted it to protest loaded questions on migration and other fraught issues which appeared aimed mostly at mobilizing the ruling party's supporters.
Although the voting is over, it might still take weeks for a new government to be in place.
President Andrzej Duda, an ally of Law and Justice, must call for the first session of the new parliament within 30 days of election day and appoint a prime minister to form a government.
In the meantime, the current government will remain in a caretaker role. | Europe Politics |
The leader of Armenia's self-declared Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh has said it will cease to exist in the new year.
Samvel Shahramanyan announced on Thursday that he had signed an order dissolving all state institutions from 1 January.
The region, which had been controlled by Armenians for three decades, was seized by Azerbaijan last week.
More than half of its majority ethnic Armenian population have now fled, according to officials.
Mr Shahramanyan said the decision to dissolve the state was "based on the priority of ensuring the physical security and vital interests of the people", referencing Azerbaijan's agreement that "free, voluntary and unhindered travel is ensured to residents".
He encouraged people from Nagorno-Karabakh, including those currently living outside it, to "familiarise themselves with the conditions of reintegration" into Azerbaijan. Talks between Baku and the Karabakh authorities have started on this.
Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said he expects there will be no Armenians left in Nagorno-Karabakh in the coming days.
The region is recognised internationally as part of Azerbaijan but Armenia took control in the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Fears of fresh violence came when Azerbaijan mounted an effective blockade of a vital route into the enclave in December 2022.
On 20 September, a ceasefire brought 24 hours of fighting to an end.
But many of the region's 120,000 ethnic Armenians fear they have no future in Nagorno-Karabakh. Mr Pashinyan said "ethnic cleansing" had started in the region.
On Thursday, he called for international action over the issue.
"If the condemnation is not followed by adequate political and legal decisions, then these condemnations become acts of agreement with what is happening," he told members of his cabinet.
Western governments have been pressing Azerbaijan to allow international observers into Karabakh to monitor its treatment of the local population but access has not yet been given.
The Armenian authorities are adamant they can cope with the growing number of people fleeing the region. A senior official told the BBC it was a matter of principle to help Armenia's "brothers and sisters" from Karabakh.
Traffic jams have lined the road out of Karabakh towards Armenia for days, with families crammed into cars, boots overflowing and roof-racks piled high with belongings.
In the town of Goris, close to the border, the aid effort is intensifying. Local hotels are full, offering rooms for free, and Armenians are posting on social media, offering housing all over the country to refugees.
The demand is so high, the authorities are opening a second hub two hours down the road in Vayk. | Europe Politics |
TOKYO (Reuters) -- Japan on Wednesday said it plans to offer friendly nations financial assistance to help them bolster their defenses, marking Tokyo's first unambiguous departure from rules that forbid using international aid for military purposes.
Japan's Overseas Security Assistance (OSA) will be operated separately from the Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) program that for decades has funded roads, dams and other civilian infrastructure projects, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said at a regular news conference.
"By enhancing their security and deterrence capabilities, OSA aims to deepen our security cooperation with the countries, to create a desirable security environment for Japan," a statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday said.
The aid will not be used to buy lethal weapons that recipient countries could use in conflicts with other nations in accordance with the three principles that govern arms exports, according to the statement.
The Philippines and Bangladesh are likely to be included as the first recipients of the aid, a government source involved in talks said to Reuters.
Japan is considering providing radars to the Philippines to help it monitor Chinese activity in the contested South China Sea, and also weighing Fiji and Malaysia as potential recipients of the aid, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Monday.
In principle, only developing countries will be eligible to receive the aid given it will be provided as grants, according to the foreign ministry.
The decision to expand the scope of international aid to military-related projects follows Japan's announcement in December of a military build-up that will double defense spending within five years as it looks to counter China's growing military might in Asia. | Asia Politics |
US currently assesses that Israel is 'not responsible' for Gaza hospital blast
By Natasha Bertrand, Katie Bo Lillis and Jeremy Herb, CNN
(CNN) — The US government currently believes that Israel “is not responsible” for the blast at a hospital in Gaza on Tuesday, according to the National Security Council, following President Joe Biden’s comments that a Palestinian militant group was behind the strike.
A spokesperson for the NSC, Adrienne Watson, said the assessment is based on analysis of overhead imagery, intercepts and open-source information.
“While we continue to collect information, our current assessment, based on analysis of overhead imagery, intercepts and open-source information, is that Israel is not responsible for the explosion at the hospital in Gaza yesterday,” Watson said in a statement on Wednesday.
Officials told CNN separately that the initial evidence gathered by the US intelligence community suggests that the hospital strike came from a rocket launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group.
Among the evidence that’s been gathered is a blast analysis that suggests it was a ground explosion rather than an airstrike that hit the hospital, one of the sources said. There was no singular crater suggesting there was a bomb, but there was extensive fire damage and scattered debris that is consistent with an explosion starting from the ground level, according to the source.
That analysis is one datapoint that’s led intelligence officials to lean toward assessing that the attack on the hospital was a rocket launch gone wrong.
Still, the blast analysis is just one of the things being examined by the intelligence community, which has surged intelligence collection assets to the region. US intelligence officials have not made a final assessment and are still gathering evidence, the officials said.
Not long after landing in Israel on Wednesday, Biden weighed in on who was behind the strike on the hospital. “Based on what I’ve seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you,” Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after his arrival in Israel on Wednesday.
Biden was later asked what made him confident the Israelis weren’t behind the hospital strike.
“The data I was shown by my Defense Department,” he said.
In his remarks later on Wednesday, Biden reiterated that based on the information the US has seen, the blast appears to have been “the result of an errant rocket fired by a terrorist group in Gaza.”
“The Palestinian people are suffering greatly as well – we mourn the loss of innocent Palestinian lives,” he said. “Like the entire world, I was outraged and saddened by the enormous loss of life yesterday in the hospital in Gaza. Based on the information we’ve seen to date, it appears the result of an errant rocket fired by a terrorist group in Gaza. The United States unequivocally stands for the protection of civilian life during conflict, and I grieve, I truly grieve for the families were killed or wounded by this tragedy.”
Authorities in Gaza have said Israel was behind the deadly blast at the hospital, while the Israel Defense Forces said its intelligence showed a “failed rocket launch” by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group was responsible for the explosion.
An IDF spokesman said Wednesday that imagery following the blast showed “no cratering and no structural damage to nearby buildings.”
“There are no craters here. The walls stay intact. This shows is it not an aerial munition that hit the parking lot” of the hospital, IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said at a news conference Wednesday. “Analysis of our aerial footage confirms that there was no direct hit of the hospital itself. The only location damaged is outside the hospital in the parking lot where we can see signs of burning.”
The US intelligence community has been reviewing different kinds of intelligence to try to reach an assessment, including overhead imagery as well as the blast analysis, the officials said.
“I believe the US intelligence community likely has enough imagery, communications intercepts, and other data to determine where the projectile originated that stuck in the Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital and what the original statements of people on the ground were as to what they believed happened,” said Mick Mulroy, a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East and retired CIA officer.
“In addition, from the video released publicly, the explosion is consistent with a rocket that still had a lot of rocket fuel at the time of impact,” Mulroy added.
Retired Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, a CNN national security and military analyst, said the US military has overhead platforms from satellites that see “a missile burn when it takes off or when something explodes and comes out of the sky.”
The imagery released by the Israeli military of the explosion site was also “compelling,” Hertling said.
“It is very compelling, but when you also look at that aftermath, where’s the crater? When you’re talking about a crater from an Israeli bomb, there’s going to be a hole there,” he said.
The-CNN-Wire
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A media firm owned by state energy giant Orlen has informed two opposition groups that it cannot publish their campaign adverts ahead of next week’s elections because of their “left-wing values”. One of the groups is not left-wing.
Polska Press, which publishes hundreds of newspapers and websites, including the main local titles in many regions of Poland, was bought by Orlen in 2021.
At the time, the opposition and many commentators warned that the energy firm – whose CEO, Daniel Obajtek (pictured above with the prime minister), is close to the ruling party – would use its new outlets to provide coverage favouring the government.
"Of course I want Law and Justice to win [this year's elections], I make no secret of that," said Daniel Obajtek, the head of state oil firm Orlen, when asked if he would be making donations to the ruling PiS party for its campaign https://t.co/IHnUBGRHfg
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) March 7, 2023
In a statement published Wirtualne Media, an industry news service, a representative of Polska Press’s board said that “the publisher has decided that the leftist values and understanding of the Polish national interest represented by The Left/Third Way are incompatible with [our] line”.
The Left (Lewica) is Poland’s second-largest opposition group, with 42 MPs, while Third Way (Trzecia Droga) is a recently formed coalition between the Polish People’s Party (PSL), an agrarian, centre-right party, and Poland 2050 (Polska 2050), a centrist party.
Polska Press’s position was also confirmed in a letter published yesterday by Marek Kacprzak, spokesman for The Left’s parliamentary caucus. It showed the firm rejecting an election advert The Left had wanted to publish in one of its newspapers.
Poland 2050 also published the same letter it received from Polska Press. The party accused the firm of acting not in the national interest or its own interests, but in the interests of the ruling party.
Jeszcze chwilę możecie kłamać, obrażać i odmawiać reklam, ale nie zatrzymacie zmiany, którą niesie Trzecia Droga. Nie odbierzecie Polakom długopisów, którymi za 9 dni zastąpią was rządem współpracy, inwestycji i pojednania, który gwarantujemy. pic.twitter.com/oN8QVPsv2r
— Szymon Hołownia (@szymon_holownia) October 6, 2023
The media group, however, argues that Poland’s press law gives publishers and editors the right to refuse advertisements if their content or form is inconsistent with the programme or nature of the publication.
But a number of commentators have criticised the decision. “Orlen Censorship Department,” tweeted Dariusz Ćwiklak from Newsweek Polska.
“This is crazy,” wrote Rafał Mrowicki, a journalist from news website Wirtualna Polska, who noted that Polska Press titles regularly promote the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party. “Is this the freedom of the press that Daniel Obajtek declared when Orlen took over the publishing house?”
However, in a statement issued today, Polska Press rejected “false claims…[of] censorship” and said that it “demands an immediate cessation of disseminating such false information”.
— Portal i.pl (@portal_ipl) October 6, 2023
Meanwhile, Adam Bodnar, an election candidate for another opposition group, Civic Coalition (KO), noted that in 2021, when he was serving as Poland’s commissioner for human rights, he had tried to stop Orlen’s takeover of Polska Press.
At the time, Bodnar argued that the takeover could “transform the free press…into propaganda bulletins” and “will be an unacceptable restriction on freedom of the press and consequently of freedom of expression and of obtaining and disseminating information”.
In a tweet yesterday, Bodnar sarcastically noted that his arguments had been rejected by the head of the state consumer protection office, who found that Orlen’s takeover would not impinge on media freedom.
Dedykuję ten news Tadeuszowi Chróstnemu, Prezesowi UOKiK. Z pewnością przejęcie Polska Press przez PKN Orlen było neutralne dla wolności mediów😖 https://t.co/1W2qO3zbJD
— Adam Bodnar (@Adbodnar) October 5, 2023
After completing its takeover of Polska Press, Orlen replaced a large number of the group’s editors with figures more closely aligned with the ruling party.
Earlier this year, Norway’s sovereign wealth fund put Orlen under observation over concerns that the company is responsible for human rights violations through its ownership of media outlets.
Last month, an article that presented opposition criticism of a government minister disappeared from the website of one of Polska Press’s titles. No official reason has been given, but an inside source told another media outlet that the newspaper was pressured by the ruling party to remove the article.
In March this year, Obajtek said that he “of course wants PiS to win” the elections. He has donated to the ruling party’s election campaign, as have many other senior managers at Orlen and other state-owned firms. The firm has also been accused of artificially lowering fuel prices to help PiS’s re-election bid.
An article that presented opposition criticism of the government has disappeared from the website of a newspaper owned by a state energy firm
No reason has been given but an inside source says there was pressure from the ruling party to remove the article https://t.co/WcbMJGzdh3
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) September 5, 2023
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. | Europe Politics |
AFRIN, Syria -- One summer night a decade ago, the al-Shami family was woken up by a roaring sound or rockets but it wasn't followed by the usual explosions. Instead, the family members started having difficulty breathing.
Ghiad al-Shami, 26, remembers how everyone tried to run to the rooftop of their apartment building in eastern Ghouta, a Damascus suburb that at the time was held by opposition fighters trying to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Al-Shami's mother, three sisters and two brothers died that night — victims of the Aug. 21, 2013 sarin gas attack that killed hundreds and left thousands of others hurt.
Ten years on, al-Shami and other survivors say there has been no accountability for the attack and for the other atrocities committed in Syria during the country's brutal civil war, now in its 13th year.
Over the past year, Assad's government — accused by the United Nations of repeated chemical weapons attacks on Syrian civilians — has been able to break out of its political isolation.
Assad was welcomed back to the Arab League, which had suspended Syria’s membership in 2011 following a crackdown on anti-government protests. With the help of top allies Russia and Iran, Assad also recaptured large swaths of territory he initially lost to opposition groups.
“Today, instead of holding perpetrators accountable, Assad is being welcomed back into the Arab League and invited to international conferences, cementing impunity for the most heinous of crimes,” said Laila Kiki, executive director of The Syria Campaign advocacy group.
“To all those who seek to shake hands with Assad, this anniversary should serve as a clear reminder of the atrocities his regime has committed,” she said in a statement.
In 2013, Assad was widely held responsible for the eastern Ghouta attack — weapons specialists said the rocket systems involved were in the Syrian army’s arsenal.
The Syrian government has denied ever using chemical weapons. Russia, Syria’s prime ally, claims the Ghouta attack was carried out by opposition forces trying to push for foreign military intervention.
The United States threatened military retaliation in the aftermath of the attack, with then-President Barack Obama saying Assad’s use of chemical weapons would be Washington’s “red line.” However, the U.S. public and Congress were wary of a new war, as invasions in Afghanistan and Iraq had turned into quagmires.
In the end, Washington settled for a deal with Moscow for Assad to give up his chemical weapons' stockpile.
Syria says it eliminated its chemical arsenal under the 2013 agreement. It also joined a global chemical weapons watchdog based in The Hague, Netherlands, as global pressure mounted on Damascus.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has blamed the Syrian government for several deadly chemical attacks, most recently for a 2018 chlorine gas attack over Douma, another Damascus suburb, that killed 43 people.
Syrian authorities refused to allow investigation teams access to the site of the attack, and had their voting rights within the OPCW suspended in 2021 as punishment for the repeated use of toxic gas.
Damascus has accused the watchdog of bias in favor of the West and has not recognized its authority. Western countries say that Syria has not fully declared its chemical weapons stockpile to the OPCW to be destroyed.
The Syrian government and its allies reclaimed eastern Ghouta in 2018, with most of its residents fleeing to the last rebel-held enclave in Syria's northwest.
Abdel Rahman Sabhia, a nurse and former resident of the suburb, has since moved to the town of Afrin in the northern Aleppo province, now under Turkish-backed groups.
“We lost hope in the international community,” said Sabhia, who worked at a voluntary field hospital in Ghouta at the time of the gas attack. “Why should we trust in them if we still haven’t seen any accountability for all the children who lost their families?”
Sabhia says he had gotten used to airstrikes and shelling, but the aftermath of the 2013 attack was different. The streets were eerily quiet, “like a ghost town,” he recalled. “We broke into a house and saw a baby, just months old, lying dead in bed with his parents."
At the time, dozens of bodies were laid out in hospitals with families looking to identify their loved ones. Some families were buried together in large graves.
Al-Shami, who now lives in Istanbul recalls regaining consciousness a day after the attack.
“I felt helpless,” he said.
___
Chehayeb reported from Beirut. | Middle East Politics |
(ATTN: ADDS more info in 7th para)
By Song Sang-ho
WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 (Yonhap) -- Two Russian ships made at least five round trips between North Korea and Russia, beginning mid-August, in what could be arms transfers, the Washington Post reported Monday, citing satellite imagery.
Based on analysis by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a London-based think tank, the ships have been travelling between the northeastern North Korean port of Najin and a port facility in Dunay in Russia's Far East between mid-August and Saturday.
The analysis came after the U.S. government revealed Friday that the North shipped more than 1,000 containers of military equipment and munitions to Russia in recent weeks for use in Ukraine, highlighting burgeoning military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow.
According to the news report, the apparent transfers began in mid-August -- about three weeks after Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Pyongyang and met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
It was also about a month before Kim held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Vostochny Cosmodrome, a Russian spaceport on Sept. 13.
The White House mentioned only one Russian-flagged vessel, MV Angara, involved in the transfers between Sept. 7 and Oct. 1. But according to the Washington Post, MV Maria was also spotted in the satellite imagery.
Although it is impossible to verify what the ships' cargo was, the satelite images showed that the ships are linked to the Russian military logistics network, which suggests they were carrying military equipment, RUSI analysts and U.S. officials were quoted by the news outlet as saying.
Shortly before the operation began, the two vessels turned off their automatic identification systems to hide their movements, the newspaper said, citing data from Marine Traffic, a ship-tracking site.
Seoul and Washington have said that any arms transfers between the North and Russia would be in violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions and a challenge to global peace.
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Israel’s widening air and ground offensive in southern Gaza has displaced tens of thousands more Palestinians and worsened the territory’s dire humanitarian conditions, with the fighting preventing distribution of food, water and medicine outside a tiny sliver of southern Gaza and new military evacuation orders squeezing people into ever-smaller areas of the south.
The United Nations said 1.87 million people — more than 80 percent of Gaza’s population — have been driven from their homes since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, triggered by the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas assault on southern Israel. The U.N. also says that all telecom services have been shut down due to cuts in the main fiber routes.
WATCH: Israeli troops move south into Gaza’s 2nd largest city amid pleas to protect civilians
On Tuesday, Israel’s military entered Khan Younis, Gaza’s second-largest city, in its pursuit to wipe out the territory’s Hamas rulers. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the military must retain open-ended security control over the Gaza Strip long after the war ends. Around 1,200 people have died on the Israeli side, mainly civilians killed during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.
The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said the death toll in the territory has surpassed 16,200, with more than 42,000 wounded. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths, but said 70 percent of the dead were women and children.
Here’s what’s happening in the war:
The U.N. human rights chief is demanding that the international community immediately push “with one voice” for a cease-fire in Gaza as the plight of civilians deepens.
“Palestinians in Gaza are living in utter, deepening horror,” U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said at a news conference in Geneva. “As an immediate step, I call for an urgent cessation of hostilities and the release of all hostages.”
He added: “The international community needs to insist with one voice on a cease-fire, immediately, on human rights and humanitarian grounds.”
Türk said that, as more information emerges on allegations of sexual violence by members of Hamas and other Palestinian groups in their attack on Israel in October, “it is painfully clear that these attacks need to be fully investigated to ensure justice for the victims.”
While investigators are trying to determine the scope of the sexual assaults, Israel’s government is accusing the international community, particularly the U.N., of ignoring the pain of Israeli victims.
Türk said he asked Israeli authorities in October for permission to deploy a team to investigate the attacks on Israelis, and has repeated the request, but hasn’t received a response. “We need to ensure that justice is served, because that’s what we owe the victims,” he said.
Türk also expressed “grave concern regarding dehumanizing and inciteful statements made by current and former high-level Israeli officials, as well as Hamas figures,” without citing specific comments or people.
“History has shown us where this kind of language can lead,” he said. “This is not just unacceptable, but a competent court may view such statements, in the circumstances in which they were made, as incitement to atrocity crimes.”
NICOSIA, Cyprus — Cyprus says a number of countries have offered to store humanitarian assistance in the east Mediterranean island nation as part of a plan to ship the aid to Gaza via a maritime corridor.
The countries include the U.K., which last week sent humanitarian aid that is being stored at Larnaca port, from where ships will depart for Gaza once conditions on the ground in the territory allow for it, government spokesperson Constantinos Letymbiotis said Wednesday.
He said the U.K. has also offered a shallow-draft ship capable of approaching Gaza’s shoreline, where it would be able to offload the aid without the need for port facilities required by large vessels.
Earlier this week, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said he held talks with his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, and Jordan’s King Abdullah II, who reaffirmed their support for the aid corridor. Israel has also backed the plan but has given no indication yet when the aid could begin to flow.
Last month, Christodoulides told The Associated Press that the proposed maritime corridor of about 230 miles (370 kilometers) is the “only one currently being discussed on an international level” as a feasible way to significantly supplement the trickle of aid getting into the enclave through Egypt’s Rafah border checkpoint.
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Israel that there would be serious consequences if Israel pressed ahead with a threat to attack Hamas officials on Turkish soil. The Turkish leader also said his country has petitioned the International Criminal Court for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials to be prosecuted for alleged war crimes in Gaza.
His comments — made Tuesday and reported by Turkish media on Wednesday — echoed warnings from other Turkish officials in response to the head of Israel’s domestic security agency, Shin Bet, who said in an audio recording that his organization is prepared to destroy Hamas “in every place,” including in Lebanon, Turkey and Qatar.
Erdogan also said thousands of lawyers from various countries were employed to petition the ICC.
“We brought the war crimes committed in Gaza to the court’s agenda and we will be following up on this,” Erdogan said. “Netanyahu will not be able to evade paying the penalty for his actions. Sooner or later, he will be tried and will pay the price for the war crimes he committed.”
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip — The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says 16,248 Palestinians have been killed and more than 42,000 wounded since the Israel-Hamas war broke out two months ago.
The ministry said Tuesday evening that the death toll included more than 6,000 children and more than 4,000 women. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
The figures show a sharp rise in deaths since a weeklong truce between Israel and Hamas collapsed on Dec. 1. Since the resumption of fighting Friday, more than 1,000 Palestinians were killed, according to the Health Ministry. The United States had urged Israel to do more to protect Palestinian civilians as its blistering air and ground campaign shifted to southern Gaza, particularly in and around Khan Younis, the territory’s second largest city.
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By Aleksandra Krzysztoszek and Sonia Otfinowska | EURACTIV.pl Est. 3min 25-10-2023 (updated: 25-10-2023 ) Content-Type: News News Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. In Brussels, Tusk would meet European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, as European Commission spokesman Eric Mamer told Euractiv Poland, calling it an “introductory meeting.” [EPA-EFE/FRANCOIS LENOIR / POOL] Euractiv is part of the Trust Project >>> Languages: DeutschPrint Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Opposition leader and potential future prime minister Donald Tusk set off to Brussels to discuss the chance to launch the nation’s recovery money, which was frozen due to the rule of law concerns in Poland. As Polish opposition parties have officially declared their will to form a new government after their electoral success earlier this month, Tusk has launched an effort to warm relations with Brussels, damaged during the eight-year rule of the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, and convince the European Commission to release EU funds allocated for Poland under the Recovery and Resilience Facility. “It is very good that Donald Tusk wants to agree on a procedure for obtaining these funds for Poland as soon as possible even before taking over the prime minister’s portfolio,” Tusk’s Civic Platform (PO, EPP) MEP, former foreign and defence minister Radoslaw Sikorski told Euractiv.pl. Tusk recently faced criticism from the ruling camp for not delivering his promise from one of his election campaign rallies that he would visit Brussels and get the money launched a day after the elections, even though opposition politicians explained it was nothing more than a metaphor. PiS MEP, also former foreign minister Anna Fotyga, contacted by Euractiv.pl, refused to comment on Tusk’s visit. Asked about Tusk’s electoral promise, she said that should she listen to such statements, she would expect trucks loaded with euros to stand at the Polish border. “Nowhere can I see them,” she concluded sarcastically. In Brussels, Tusk would meet European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, as European Commission spokesman Eric Mamer told Euractiv Poland, calling it an “introductory meeting.” The former European Council president also plans to talk with EU Commissioners for Economy and Trade, Paolo Gentiloni and Valdis Dombrovskis, Manfred Weber, head of the European People’s Party, of which Tusk’s PO is a member, told private Polish RMF FM radio. The EU Commission has frozen €35.4 million for Poland under the RRF, conditioning the release of the money on having achieved a couple of milestones related to the rule of law, which the Polish government agreed with Brussels. So far, the EU executive found PiS’ attempts to deliver on the milestones unsatisfactory. EU Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders told the Financial Times earlier this month that the new government would have a chance for the money to be unblocked, but for that purpose, concrete reforms are needed, especially regarding judicial independence. (Aleksandra Krzysztoszek & Sonia Otfinowska | Euractiv.pl) Read more with EURACTIV Bulgaria tops global rule of law progress, Greece hits bottom Languages: DeutschPrint Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Topics Politics The Capitals | Europe Politics |
"The enemy is trying to move forward and then we beat them back," Oleksandr Shtupun, a spokesperson for Ukraine's southern forces, said on Wednesday evening.
According to Shtupun, Russia's losses in the last six days tallied at 2,500 dead and wounded in the area.
According to Ragnar Gudmundsson, an Iceland-based analyst, Russia hit a probable wartime record of more than 1,400 killed in combat in a single day on Oct. 20 and averaged 900 men a day killed in combat from 10-20 October, coinciding with its push toward Avdiivka, a key city on the eastern front north of Donetsk city.
The only times in the war when Russian military body counts piled up at a roughly comparable pace on a week-by-week basis, according to Gudmundsson’s estimates, were in February and March 2023, and November 2022.
Both were periods of intense and bloody Russian attacks in mostly urban terrain, around the cities of Severodonetsk and Bakhmut respectively.
A report published by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) on Tuesday implies a Russian force of 20-25,000 men went from battle readiness to combat ineffectiveness due to heavy losses, in a little more than three weeks, and about 1,500 soldiers – all front-line fighters not easily replaced without gutting rear area staff and support units – died and 2,000 were seriously wounded.
Ukraine Counteroffensive Update for Oct 26 (Europe Edition): 'Avdiivka Front Is Hell on Earth... For Russians'
According to the estimates from the Ukrainian military, Russia’s total troop loss since the invasion began is bound to exceed 300,000 in the next few days.
Russia has been trying to break through Ukraine’s defense from the north but was unable to get past a rail line, according to Vitaliy Barabash, head of Avdiivka's military administration.
He also denied claims that Russian troops had secured control of one of the large slag heaps dominating the industrial stronghold.
The National Police of Ukraine showed three dogs who remain in Avdiivka.— Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (@khpg) October 26, 2023
First photo - a dog that survived an enemy shell;
Second photo - a dog under fire escorting people to evacuation;
Third photo - the dog leaving the house with its owner, whose life it saved before hit. pic.twitter.com/psGJ3hF25v
Russia captured Bakhmut in May this year prior to Ukraine’s counteroffensive and has since been on the defensive without any significant gains, making the capture of Avdiivka a much-needed objective for a morale boost.
"The second issue is political. They have little to be proud of and have to sell to their population some sort of victory, even if it is only an interim one," said Valeriy Prozapas, a Ukrainian captain in an interview with Espresso TV.
Meanwhile, Russia is portraying the offensive in an optimistic manner, with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visiting the frontline and telling troops: “The situation today suggests the enemy has fewer and fewer opportunities. And they will continue to be reduced, thanks exclusively to your combat work.”
Shoigu was filmed smiling and laughing when a Russian soldier told him Ukrainian troops were “in a panic.”
Reality paints a different picture, however, even from sources coming from within Russia.
The independent Russian information platform Astra published an open video appeal to Putin from wives and mothers of soldiers from the north Russian city Kirov, claiming their husbands and sons were thrown into combat in the Donbas sector despite being reservists with minimal training and equipment.
“Local commanders used violence and the threat of violence to force the Kirov reservists to conduct bloody attacks across open ground, killing and wounding many of them,” a spokesperson said.
“The deployments directly violate Russian law banning [the] placement of reservists called up to serve in local territorial defense unit, in combat,” she said.
The ISW highlighted reports of a “prominent” Russian blogger who claimed on Wednesday that Russian forces achieved “serious tactical success” on the approaches to Avdiivka and near Stepove and advanced to the railway line north of Avdiivka. Another Russian military blogger claimed that Russian forces are advancing from Krasnohorivka to Novokalynove (7 km north of Avdiivka).
Geolocated footage published on Tuesday indicates that Russian forces have indeed advanced northwest of Krasnohorivka (5 km northwest of Avdiivka) while sustaining losses.
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Negotiators are getting closer to anto release an initial 50 civilians in exchange for Israel allowing in more aid , coinciding with a limited pause in fighting, multiple sources told CBS News. More civilian hostage releases could potentially follow.
At this stage, there is no firm deal in hand but rather a written draft agreement that is being passed between parties who remain locked in what were described to CBS News as very difficult talks brokered with the help of the, according to two sources familiar.
In an interview with "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," White House deputy national security advisor Jon Finer"many areas of difference that previously existed" in the hostage talks "have been narrowed," and that the U.S. is "closer than we have been to reaching a final agreement."
Finer said it would not be helpful to detail the developing diplomacy in public, and acknowledged the caveat that past deals had been close before collapsing. Hopes were high last week that a breakthrough in diplomacy was finally imminent, but two officials in the region cited the Israeli military move on al-Shifa hospital as having complicated diplomacy with Hamas.
A source familiar with the draft agreement told CBS News that the proposal as it stands now would involve 50 hostages being released on day one with a limited pause in fighting that would last around four days for a duration of six hours a day. If that release and pause happens as planned, there would be a second release of around 20-25 hostages, according to this source. White House officials declined to comment on the sensitive diplomacy.
In a press conference on Sunday in Doha, Qatar's Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani described the remaining sticking points to the emerging deal between Israel and Hamas as "very minor" logistical matters and said the parties are "close to reaching an agreement."
Sources familiar with the talks have said there are several recent complicating issues, including whether overhead surveillance would happen during the releases. Israel has also demanded that Hamas provide some accounting for the captives it holds or can obtain from other militant groups such as Islamic Jihad, as the total figure of more than 200 hostages remains just an estimate.
Last week, two of those unaccounted for who were believed to have been hostages, Noa Marciano and Yehudit Weiss, wereby the IDF nearby the 45,00-square-meter al-Shifa hospital complex in Gaza. The remains of those slaughtered by the terror group Hamas and other militants during the Oct. 7 attack in Israel continue to be identified.
"Obviously, Gaza is an extremely dangerous place to be a civilian, to be a hostage held at this point," Finer told CBS' Margaret Brennan, "so there is a time imperative."
Finer said he wouldn't use the phrase "running out of time," but "we feel acutely that this should be done as soon as possible."
Moussa Abu Marzouk, a founding member of Hamas and a senior figure in its political wing, told CBS News senior foreign correspondent Holly Williams on Monday in Doha, Qatar, that the two sides were "close" to reaching an agreement that would see his group release 50 hostages in exchange for a five-day cease-fire — and the release of 100 Palestinians from Israeli prisons.
He said Israel would also cease all flight operations over the southern portion of Gaza during the temporary cease-fire, and for six hours daily in the northern part of the enclave to enable the transfer of hostages and the provision of humanitarian aid supplies.
Marzouk's description of the prospective agreement differed notably from what other officials involved in the talks have spoken of, primarily for its inclusion of the release of Palestinian prisoners by Israel. He said all 100 of the Palestinians in question were women, children and the elderly currently in Israeli prisons.
Marzouk acknowledged that Hamas could not account for the location or condition of all of the Israeli hostages in Gaza, and he reiterated the group's claim that some — "maybe around 60" — had been killed by Israel's ongoing bombardment of the densely-populated enclave.
Others, he said, could be captives of other Palestinian militant groups or even be in the homes of Palestinian families.
"Nobody can search about this," the Hamas official told CBS News. "It's a war."
Officials have told CBS News that one of the complications of the ongoing talks in Doha is the time it can take for information to be relayed between Hamas officials there and their military counterparts in Gaza. Some sources have said there can be a delay of two to three days between officials in Doha agreeing to something and Hamas' commanders in Gaza either confirming or rejecting the proposal, for instance.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin NetanyahuNorah O'Donnell last week that Israel had "strong indications" hostages were held in al-Shifa hospital, which was one of the reasons he cited for the Israeli Defense Forces' decision to enter al-Shifa. However, Netanyahu added "if there were they were taken out."
The United States has not produced intelligence to confirm the assessment, but didlast week that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad members operate a "command and control node" from al-Shifa hospital and tunnels underneath, and have used it for both weapons and hostages.
Finer said the U.S. is still confident in its assessment, and said that the Israeli military is still "exploiting" the al Shifa facility to find further information.
On Saturday in Manama, President Biden's top Mideast adviser Brett McGurk described the hostage talks as intensive and ongoing before heading to Doha for meetings with the Qatar Prime Minister that night. In public comments, McGurk echoed Israel's call for the release of a "large number of hostages" in order to lead to a "significant pause in fighting" and what he described as a "massive" surge of humanitarian relief. He acknowledged that one of Hamas' demands has been to receive fuel and humanitarian supplies. McGurk did not make public mention of anfor the release of an undetermined number of Palestinian women and children from Israeli detention centers.
"That's the bargain they set," McGurk has said from the earliest days. McGurk said the onus remains on Hamas to release all of the hostages — "the women, the children, the toddlers, the babies, all of them."
CIA director Bill Burns is back in Washington but has remained involved following his meetings in recent weeks with the Mossad chief. President Biden himself has been working the phones, calling Qatar's Emir on November 12th and as recently as Friday, an indication that a resolution was near.
Qatar is using its relationship with Hamas to mediate and the U.S. is helping to broker proposals that are passed from a tight circle in Doha to Hamas leaders in Gaza as well as Israel's five-person war cabinet that is led by Netanyahu.
for more features. | Middle East Politics |
The United Nations mission in Afghanistan will hold talks on Wednesday, April 5, with Taliban officials in Kabul "to seek clarity" on a new government ban that blocks women from working for the world body across the country.
Since seizing power in August 2021, the Taliban authorities have imposed a slew of restrictions on Afghan women, including banning them from higher education and many government jobs.
On Tuesday, the UN said the Taliban government had extended a ban on women working for non-governmental organizations to the world body. "UNAMA received word of an order by the de facto authorities that bans female national staff members of the United Nations from working," the spokesperson for the secretary-general, Stephane Dujarric, told reporters, adding that the UN had heard "from various conduits that this applies to the whole country".
The UN had so far been exempt from a December order for all foreign and domestic NGOs to stop women from working across the crisis-stricken nation. Dujarric said no written order had yet been received, but that the UN was to hold meetings with the Taliban on Wednesday in Kabul to "seek some clarity".
For UN chief Antonio Guterres, Dujarric said, "Any such ban would be unacceptable and frankly, inconceivable". "This is the latest in a disturbing trend undermining the ability of aid organizations to reach those most in need. Female staff members are essential for the United Nations to deliver lifesaving assistance," he said, noting that the UN is working to reach 23 million people with humanitarian aid in Afghanistan.
'Need women'
The UN employs around 400 Afghan women – the bulk of some 600 female staff members working in Afghanistan, according to UN figures. There are about 3,300 Afghans in total in the 3,900-strong UN workforce in the country. "It's very difficult to imagine how we deliver humanitarian aid without our female staff," Dujarric said, noting that "obviously, given the society and the culture, you need women to deliver aid to women".
After the ban was announced last year, several NGOs suspended their entire operations in protest, piling further misery on Afghanistan's 38 million citizens, half of whom are facing hunger, according to aid agencies.
Days of discussions led to an agreement that women working in the health aid sector would be exempt from the decree, and UN staff, including those in the aid sector, were never beholden to the ban.
Last month, however, UNAMA chief Roza Otunbayeva told the UN Security Council she feared the Taliban government could extend the ban imposed on women working for NGOs to the UN's women staff. In a tweet, the agency earlier on Tuesday expressed "serious concern that female national UN staff have been prevented from reporting to work in Nangarhar province".
Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Agence France Presse (AFP) he was seeking information on the matter in Nangarhar.
Since surging back to power, the Taliban government has imposed an austere interpretation of Islam. Authorities have barred teenage girls from secondary school, women have been pushed out of many government jobs, prevented from traveling without a male relative and ordered to cover up outside of the home, ideally with a burqa. Women have also been banned from universities and are not allowed to enter parks or gardens.
UN special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan Richard Bennett said in a recent speech in Geneva that the Taliban authorities' policy "may amount to the crime of gender persecution". | Human Rights |
North Korea has said that any move to intercept and shoot down its test missiles would be considered “a declaration of war”.
The statement on Tuesday by Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, cited a South Korean media report that said the United States planned to shoot down Pyongyang’s intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) if the weapons were test-launched towards the Pacific Ocean.
The US and its allies have never shot down North Korean ballistic missiles — typically launched at steep angles to avoid neighbouring countries — but the question has drawn new scrutiny since Pyongyang suggested it would fire more missiles over Japan.
Kim Yo Jong said Pyongyang would see any US military action against its strategic weapons tests as a “declaration of war”.
“The Pacific Ocean does not belong to the dominion of the US or Japan,” she said.
The US deployed a B-52 bomber for a joint drill with South Korean fighter jets on Monday in what South Korea’s defence ministry said was a show of force against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.
The US and South Korean militaries are also preparing to revive their largest exercises later this month.
The field training exercises, known as Warrior Shield FTX, will include amphibious landings and run alongside the Freedom Shield exercise, a computer-simulated command post training aimed at strengthening defence and response capabilities.
Kim Yo Jong warned on Tuesday that North Korea was ready to take “overwhelming” actions against the drills.
“We keep our eye on the restless military moves by the US forces and the South Korean puppet military and are always on standby to take appropriate, quick and overwhelming action at any time according to our judgment,” she said.
Kim Yo Jong has repeatedly warned against increased US presence on the Korean peninsula, saying last month that “the frequency of using the Pacific as our firing range depends upon” Washington’s troops.
In a separate statement on Tuesday, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry called the flyover of the US B-52 bomber a reckless provocation that pushes the situation on the peninsula “deeper into the bottomless quagmire”.
The statement, attributed to the unnamed head of the ministry’s foreign news office, said “there is no guarantee that there will be no violent physical conflict” if US-South Korean military provocations continue.
Approximately 28,500 US troops are stationed in South Korea as a legacy of the 1950-1953 Korean War, which ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty, leaving the countries technically at war. | Asia Politics |
BRUSSELS — Moldova wants to become the EU’s newest member, pushing to be offered a clear path to accession when Brussels unveils its latest expansion plans next month despite fears that joining could drag the bloc into a decades-old frozen conflict with Russia.
Moldova’s Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu insisted in an interview with POLITICO that his country’s EU aspirations shouldn’t be at the mercy of Moscow, which continues to support the breakaway region of Transnistria.
“Everything would be easier if a country like ours didn’t have a separatist conflict — it affects our security, economy, border control capacity — it has massive negative effects,” he admitted. Backed by the Kremlin, Transnistria, a region lying along Moldova’s border with Ukraine, has functioned as an unrecognized state since the fall of the USSR, keeping its Soviet-era hammer and sickle flag and using Russian as its official language.
However, Popescu insisted, it’s “not at all” true that the standoff will hurt Moldova’s membership ambitions.
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“The territory that is controlled by our government in Chişinău can join the EU irrespective of what happens to the east of us, and that includes the situation around Transnistria,” he said. “No one wants divided countries inside the EU, but keeping countries at the mercy of geopolitical manipulation and separatist conflicts would be even worse for the continent, for the EU, and for us.”
Moldova’s diplomats in Brussels will present a position paper to the Commission on Tuesday arguing that their government “has been working hard to firmly anchor the country in the European family of nations.” According to a draft seen by POLITICO, in the coming weeks “Moldova will also launch a process of self-screening to identify the legislative needs for the expected accession talks,” paving its way to join the bloc without delay.
Moldova’s pro-European President Maia Sandu has repeatedly condemned Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine and said her country of just 2.6 million people must break its historically close ties with Moscow. Last June, EU leaders granted the former Soviet republic candidate status, along with Ukraine.
Brussels has also made hundreds of millions of euros available to help Moldova end its reliance on Russian energy, and deployed a civilian mission to the country following warnings from Ukraine’s intelligence services that pro-Russian politicians were planning to stage a coup and overthrow the government. Meanwhile, polls have consistently shown a majority of Moldovan citizens support joining the bloc, and almost half of the population already has an EU passport, largely thanks to family ties with neighboring Romania.
On a visit to the country in May, the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, was asked whether the Transnistria conflict would hold up Moldova’s membership process. “There are precedents of member states that became member states having a territorial problem inside — that is the case of Cyprus,” he said.
However, earlier this year, Romania’s Siegfried Mureșan, chair of the European Parliament’s delegation to the country, told POLITICO that “Moldova cannot become a member of the EU with Russian troops on its territory against the will of the Republic of Moldova itself.” According to him, despite support for its pro-Western turn, “we will need to solve this before membership.”
Brussels will give an update on its enlargement plans in October. Three of the membership hopefuls — Moldova, Ukraine and Georgia — all face occupation of some of their territory by Russian troops.
With the war in Ukraine raging just across the border, it’s unclear whether EU countries are ready to take a risk for Moldova’s European dream. | Europe Politics |
Kyiv has warned those living in Moscow to expect more attacks, adding the Russian capital’s air defenses appear incapable of protecting its citizens as the drone war between the two countries continues to escalate.
After a dramatic increase in Ukrainian attacks in recent weeks, Andriy Yusov, spokesperson for Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR), told Kyiv Post, that the “the concept of security is increasingly distant from the residents of Moscow.”
“He added: “The whole world continues to see that the Russian defense system and the country – which claims a leading role in the arms market – is ineffective, outdated, and cannot adequately respond to modern challenges.”
Yusov said this is a symptom of President Putin’s leadership which “continues to lead to the degradation of the state management system.”
He added: “Perhaps this trend will lead the residents of Moscow to some correct conclusions – whether or not to believe Russian television and Russian propaganda, and whether or not to continue to support the criminal regime.”
Yusov’s comments came shortly after an explosion was reported on the Karamyshevskaya embankment near Moscow on Friday morning.
“From 10:50 a.m. (07:50 GMT) the restrictions on flights were removed. At the current time the airport is working normally,” an airport source told the Russian state media outlet TASS.
Russia’s defense ministry later said it had destroyed a Ukrainian drone over the western outskirts of Moscow, the latest in a growing number of aerial attacks on the capital.
“This afternoon, an attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack using an unmanned aerial vehicle on a facility in Moscow was thwarted,” the defense ministry said in a statement, adding there was no damage or casualties as a result of the incident.
It’s just the latest attack in an escalating drone war between Russia and Ukraine.
But while Moscow has been launching drones since October with decreasing effectiveness due to Ukraine’s ever-improving air defenses, Kyiv has only recently started attacking Moscow which has appeared largely unprepared to defend itself.
Ukraine’s drones have been regularly reaching the capital and causing damage though in relatively small numbers compared to Russia’s mass attacks.
Yusov however, suggested this could change, saying: “Given the dynamics of recent months, the number, geography and intensity, it would be logical to assume an increase in daily attacks.”
Andriy Yusov, spokesperson for Ukrainian military intelligence. PHOTO: Ukrinform.
He added that there is also a “certain justice” in Ukraine’s retaliatory strikes, saying: “As a result of the Putin’s criminal and genocidal war against Ukraine, Ukrainians are deprived of the opportunity to use air transportation, airplanes and our airports do not work or are destroyed.
“Today, Muscovites can feel something similar.”
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After the debacle of Liz Truss's September mini-budget, with all its mega ramifications, and an autumn statement eight weeks later that performed an about-turn so big that the country's tax burden hit a 70-year-high, Wednesday's budget will be all about stability and sticking to the plan.
"No big bangs in this budget," is how one senior government insider put it to me last week. "It's got to be a growth budget.
"We're fighting to be competitive again with Labour. If we can get to next summer and the economy is ticking up, and we can narrow the gap to five to eight points behind in the polls, there's a chance in an election campaign we can shift the dial."
Tax cuts, I'm told, will have to wait.
What the chancellor and prime minister want to project this week is the sense that they are getting the economy back on track, and working towards Rishi Sunak's pledges to halve inflation, get debt down and get the UK economy growing again.
Do that, argue his allies, and the tax cuts will come - just in time for a general election.
But there is pressure, and lots of it, from voters and from the Tory backbenchers to do more on tax cuts and cost-of-living now, not tomorrow.
And that pressure is all the more palpable after the chancellor received a £30bn windfall in the public finances last month, after it emerged that in the year to January, the public sector had borrowed less than forecast in November by the UK's official fiscal watchdog.
Floating voters we spoke to in a focus group in one Tory shire seat last week told us that struggling with the cost-of-living and a buckling NHS were top of their concerns, and they expressed scepticism that the government was up to the job.
One voter in the Wycombe constituency in Buckinghamshire described the government as "stale", with another telling us: "The current crisis emphasises that our government is fairly broken."
On the cost-of-living, our group of floating voters spoke of their anxiety around energy bills, food prices and childcare.
Charlotte, a working mum, told us she had to change her working hours because she couldn't afford childcare costs.
"I can't afford to work full time anymore," she told us. "It's not feasible for our family, so I've had to rope my mum in to do childcare.
"I wouldn't say we're a low earning family. That's just the way it is now."
Food bills were also a concern, with voters saying they'd switched to cheaper supermarkets and cut back in the face of galloping food price inflation.
Ashley, who in the past has voted Conservative but is now undecided, told us he'd switched his weekly shop from Tesco and M&S to Aldi, while energy bills were a problem all round.
"I've voted Conservative a long time," the father-of-two told us. "And then I got a bit tired of, you know, Boris and the promises.
"We need to have some results and I want to see some improvement, not the deflection bit around immigration, [but] some real positive on the cost of living. For me, that's the most key…it's what's important to people."
The Treasury are alive to the pressure, with insiders telling me there will be two parts to Mr Hunt's budget on Wednesday: a short-term support plan to provide immediate relief on the cost-of-living crisis and then the long-term plan for growth.
On the first part of that, the government is expected to extend the £2,500 energy price guarantee for another three months from April (where there had been a planned rise to £3,000) to give people support on their bills.
The chancellor is also under pressure to again freeze fuel taxes in this budget, at a cost of £6bn.
When it comes to childcare, the chancellor is expected to change rules so that parents on Universal Credit are given more childcare and given the funding upfront.
The Treasury is also believed to be planning a cash injection of hundreds of millions into expanding access to 30 hours of free childcare to the over threes.
Mr Hunt also plans to loosen staff-to-child ratios for two-year-olds, which could make the cost of childcare a little cheaper.
But anything really big bang on childcare, such as extending 30 hours of free childcare to one-and two-year-olds, is unlikely - that policy would cost around £6bn.
And when it comes to the most obvious way of helping people manage their bills - wage packets - the government is standing firm, with Treasury insiders insisting there will be no above inflation pay sector awards.
Neither is the chancellor expected to offer voters any cuts to personal taxes.
"We haven't got £30bn to cut taxes," is how one government insider put it to me, in a nod to the boost from revised public finances.
"What we've got to do is get people back into work, be that through better childcare support or incentives to get those in their 50s back into work.
"That is where we have to focus policy, and that could amount to say £5bn and that comes out of the [£30bn] headroom."
Because beyond the short-term support measures, the focus for this budget will be on trying to get the economy moving and getting people back to work post-pandemic, with a package of measures to try to shift parents, the sick, disabled and older workers back into jobs.
To that end, the chancellor is expected to raise the lifetime allowance for pension savings from £1m to an expected £1.8m - a record level - in order to try to incentivise doctors and other professionals out of retirement and back into work.
He could also lift the annual tax-free allowance for pensions from £40,000 to £60,000.
It's a package that could cost £2bn a year and would be much welcomed by higher earners, but also opens the chancellor up to criticism that he is giving a tax break to the rich while offering nothing to basic rate taxpayers.
Read more:
What to look out for in Hunt's first budget
And when it comes to the other group of voters the chancellor and PM need to placate, his backbenchers, there is disquiet over the high level of tax burden, with many Tory MPs keen for tax cuts.
One former cabinet minister told me last week that they wanted to see the £30bn windfall in the public finances used to reverse the planned increase in corporation tax from 19p to 25p in April.
But Treasury insiders insist the tax hike will go ahead and instead the chancellor will offer business tax breaks to try to encourage growth.
When Mr Sunak was chancellor back in March 2021, he created the £25bn "super-deduction" tax allowance for capital investment - a two-year measure offering 130% tax relief on companies' purchases of equipment - in order to try to boost investment and growth.
Mr Hunt is coming up with a new set of plans to try to support business and could give firms much more generous capital allowances to incentivise investment.
Watch too for policies and reforms targeting certain industries and sectors, from artificial intelligence to green energy and advanced manufacturing: all of it will be framed as the government's long-term plan for growth.
Wednesday will be, if you like, the third act of the prime minister's performance over the past few weeks to try and win a jaded public back around by trying to convince them he will stick to his plan and deliver on promises.
On the international stage, he has rehabilitated the UK with allies after the bumpy years of Prime Minister Johnson and then Prime Minister Truss, symbolised most strongly in a deal with the EU over post-Brexit trading arrangements in Northern Ireland - where even his foes conceded Mr Sunak had got more than they expected.
At home, the PM has put forward his plan to "stop the boats" - a key priority of many of the voters he needs to keep onside or win back in 2024.
Whether the plan, surrounded in legal and practical controversies, will come off remains to be seen.
But Mr Sunak will at least be able, to quote one of his allies, "build a narrative" that blames the failure of the policy around France and the EU refusing to grant the UK a returns agreement and the international courts blocking his plans.
"At least he can then make the argument it wasn't his fault," they said.
On Wednesday, the focus will be on the PM's three economic targets - halving inflation, cutting debt and growing the economy - as the chancellor tries to lay down the best conditions he can for the Conservatives' run into the general election in 2024.
Mr Sunak's allies tell me they think there is a way back to victory for this government at the ballot box once again, but the "path is very narrow".
A budget then building the foundations rather than lightning the fireworks, all of this the groundwork for the pre-election showstopper next year.
But with the cost-of-living squeeze so acute, the promise of jam tomorrow is unlikely to satisfy the public, particularly if those being given some of the spoils this time around look to be business and the wealthy.
Mr Hunt may be charged with steadying the ship, but he'll have to be skilful on Wednesday not to lose more ground. | United Kingdom Politics |
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