Saturday, July 4

Featured

Saudis hit military targets in first attack since drone strike
20Sep By Sumon AdminNo Comments
Arab world, Featured

Saudis hit military targets in first attack since drone strike

    The Saudi-led military coalition has reportedly carried out attacks on targets in Yemen – its first response since an assault on oil facilities that the US has blamed on Iran. The strikes hit areas north of Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah, Saudi state TV reported. On Friday morning local time, Saudi-run Ekhbariya TV said the coalition, which has the support of the US and the UK, had struck “legitimate military targets”. There was no immediate confirmation of the strikes, or which coalition members were involved. Broadcasters urged civilians to stay away from the areas that had been hit. The reported operation came two days after officials in Saudi Arabia held a press conference to display debris from drones and cruise missiles, which they claimed proved Iran was i...
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Bercow could be given power to recall MPs if PM refuses
20Sep By Sumon AdminNo Comments
Featured, United Kingdom

Bercow could be given power to recall MPs if PM refuses

    John Bercow could bypass Boris Johnson and recall Parliament himself if the Prime Minister loses his legal battle over prorogation, the Supreme Court heard yesterday. Britain's top judges will give their verdict in the highly contentious case next week after three days of legal argument which finished on Thursday. Lord Pannick QC, representing Remainer activist Gina Miller, suggested the court could find the prorogation unlawful but then leave it to Parliament to decide what happens next. In that case, the Commons Speaker and his counterpart in the Lords may be entitled to re-open Parliament themselves, Lord Pannick said. The Government has indicated it may try to prorogue again if it loses the case. In his closing remarks yesterday Lord Pannick said: 'The remedy...
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Kashmir conflict could snowball into nuclear war
19Sep By Sumon AdminNo Comments
Asia, Featured

Kashmir conflict could snowball into nuclear war

    A member of Prime Minister Imran Khan's cabinet has warned that, if left unchecked by the international community, the fallout of India's controversial move in Kashmir could lead to a nuclear conflict between the two longtime rivals. Speaking to Newsweek, Sayed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari, who serves as Khan's special assistant for overseas Pakistanis and human resource development, discussed the Pakistani leader's upcoming visit to New York as part of the United Nations General Assembly. Bukhari said Khan's trip would be "very Kashmir-centric," revolving around India's decision last month to consolidate control over its share of the disputed border territory and the ongoing human rights concerns that have since emerged there. Kashmir has been the subject of three out o...
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Britain reveals plan to break Brexit deal deadlock
19Sep By Sumon AdminNo Comments
Featured, United Kingdom

Britain reveals plan to break Brexit deal deadlock

    Britain has submitted some written documents to the EU to try and break the Brexit deadlock. A UK government spokesperson confirmed the "confidential technical non-papers which reflect the ideas the UK has been putting forward" were shared with Brussels. They added: "We will table formal written solutions when we are ready, not according to an artificial deadline, and when the EU is clear that it will engage constructively on them as a replacement for the backstop." It is understood the non-papers, which mean informal proposals used to inform discussions, focus on customs and manufactured goods. Technical discussions will now take place between Britain and the EU, with talks between Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay and Brussels' chief negotiator Michel Barnier to ...
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Co-op boss warns of no-deal Brexit fresh food shortages
12Sep By Sumon AdminNo Comments
Featured, United Kingdom

Co-op boss warns of no-deal Brexit fresh food shortages

    The boss of the Co-op has warned that a no-deal Brexit could lead to fresh food shortages and higher prices in supermarkets. Steve Murrells said the product area he is most worried about is fruit, where he expected prices to surge as retailers may be forced to fly in supplies if the chaos predicted in leaked government documents became a reality. We think there will be shortages in some fresh food areas. Where that is the case we would endeavour to bring it in to give our customers a choice. Murrells said the convenience chain was using extra warehouse space to stockpile long-life products such as water, toilet paper and canned goods but the pinch point was fresh food, particularly soft fruits such as blueberries, and also apples and pears, which are imported durin...
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Barnier refuses to reopen Brexit talks
12Sep By Sumon AdminNo Comments
Featured, United Kingdom

Barnier refuses to reopen Brexit talks

    Michel Barnier has told MEPs there remain insufficient grounds for reopening formal negotiations over the Brexit withdrawal agreement, six months after Theresa May and the European commission closed them. In a private briefing with the European parliament’s leaders, the EU’s chief negotiator said Boris Johnson’s officials had yet to offer any “legally credible and workable” proposals to replace the Northern Irish backstop on which the two negotiating teams could build. In an earlier briefing with diplomats representing the EU27, a senior member of Barnier’s Brexit team had described the ideas so far put forward during technical talks between officials on both sides as “aspirational”. “Another longish meeting without tangible progress on Wednesday,” said an EU diplo...
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Did China just threaten the UK with military action?
10Sep By Sumon AdminNo Comments
Featured, United Kingdom

Did China just threaten the UK with military action?

    Concerns have been raised over an apparent threat to the UK issued by the Chinese government, which stated that the deployment of HMS Queen Elizabeth to the South China Sea could be interpreted as a “hostile action”. The Ministry of Defence plans to deploy the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carrier to the Asia Pacific region on her first operational deployment in 2021, The Telegraph reports, adding that the UK Government is “keen to assert freedom of navigation through international waters” alongside other Western powers. In response to the plans, Major General Su Guanghui, China’s defence attaché to the UK, told reporters: “If the US and UK join hands in a challenge or violated the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China, that would be hostile action.” Sky News ...
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France working on law to ban gay conversion therapy
10Sep By Sumon AdminNo Comments
Europe, Featured

France working on law to ban gay conversion therapy

    Politicians in France have started working on a law that would outlaw the practice of “gay conversion therapy”. Its parliament is holding hearings this week on a draft bill that could become law by early next year. It seeks to ban practices which attempt to “cure” homosexuality. Last year, the British government announced plans to ban “gay conversion therapy” in the UK. If implemented, the law would ban any procedure that would alter someone’s physical or mental health. It could come with sentenced of up to two years in prison and a £27,000 fine, it was reported by France Inter. This week’s hearings focus on “practices claiming to alter a person's sexual orientation or gender identity”. They will include input from LGBTQ+ groups, the National Council of French Eva...
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Corbyn says PM wants Brexit for his rich friends
10Sep By Sumon AdminNo Comments
Featured, United Kingdom

Corbyn says PM wants Brexit for his rich friends

    Labour declared class war on Boris Johnson today as Jeremy Corbyn accused him of wanting Brexit for his 'rich friends'. The Labour leader played down claims he was 'yellow' for blocking the PM's call for a snap election - saying he would not back a poll on 'Johnson's terms'. Meanwhile, the party's union paymaster Len McCluskey ramped up the rhetoric even further by raging that the 'workers are coming for you' in an extraordinary rant at the TUC conference in Brighton. The vicious attacks came after Mr Johnson suffered his latest disastrous defeat in the Commons - with MPs refusing his plea for a snap election. Labour is now threatening to delay a national poll until well into December in a bid to destroy Mr Johnson's 'do or die' vow to deliver Brexit by October 31...
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Hundreds of cyclists stage die in protest in London
8Sep By Sumon AdminNo Comments
Featured, London

Hundreds of cyclists stage die in protest in London

    Hundreds of cyclists took part in a staged funeral procession in central London on Saturday before performing a “die-in” near Whitehall to call for greater investment in walking and cycling. The protest, organised by the campaign groups Extinction Rebellion and Stop Killing Cyclists, drew attention to statistics showing that more than 100 cyclists were killed and 3,400 seriously injured in 2016, the most recent year for which figures were available. Three horse-drawn hearses carrying coffins led the procession from Lincoln’s Inn Fields along the Strand, as signs saying “Asthma”, “Crashes”, “Obesity” and “Climate” highlighted the impact of car travel. A small child’s coffin commemorated the children and adults who have died prematurely from diseases related to air p...
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