Markus Andrews

Slovakia’s parliament on Thursday narrowly rejected proposed legislation that would have tightened access to abortion in the European Union country.The bill was rejected by one vote, as 67 of the 134 lawmakers present in the 150-seat house voted in favor of it. A similar proposal to restrict abortion was rejected a year ago, also by one vote.The bill was submitted by conservative lawmakers for the Ordinary People, the senior party in the coalition government led by Prime Minister Eduard Heger.It has drawn protests at home and abroad.Among its key provisions, the mandatory waiting period before women have access to abortion at their request would have been extended from 48 to 96 hours.At the same time, women would have had to give their reasons for having abortion.The new legislation would also have banned what it calls advertising abortion and services linked to it, which might have restricted access to information women get publicly from medical experts, clinics and hospitals.Currently, abortion is legal in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy in the Roman Catholic stronghold in Eastern Europe; it is available after that for certain medical reasons.But doctors have a right to refuse to provide abortion due to conscientious objection. More

There is strong public support for taxing domestic flights in order to fund greener alternatives, a new poll released during the Cop26 climate summit has found.Pollsters Opinium found a majority of the UK population would support the government using cash for higher levies on short-haul aviation to subsidise rail fares.The finding comes as world leaders and negotiators in Glasgow hope to close in on a deal to limit carbon emissions. The summit has been punctuated by rows about politicians turning up by jet when they could have taken the train.58 per cent of those surveyed by Opinium said they would support “raising taxes on short-haul domestic flights in the UK” if the income was used to “subsidise greener forms of transport such as high speed trains” – with just 15 per cent disagreeing.The wildly popular approach is the opposite of government policy – which has raised rail fares above inflation which slashing air passenger duty on domestic aviation in last month’s budget.Miatta Fahnbulleh, chief executive of the New Economics Foundation think-tank, said the government was both reckless and out “out of step with public opinion” by slashing taxes on domestic aviation.“As the climate talks move into a concluding phase, this polling makes it crystal clear that the British people want to see climate leadership not empty rhetoric from this government,” she said. “That means funding green, clean public transport systems, such as trains and buses that stretch across the country – and raising, not cutting, taxes with a frequent flyer levy.”15 per cent of people take 70 per cent of all flights in the UK – while nearly 50 per cent of the population do not fly at all in any given year. Some campaigners have called for a frequent flier levy that would be paid by the minority who take the most flights.Fatima Ibrahim, co-director of the campaign group Green New Deal Rising, told The Independent: “It is the people outside the conference centre that have focused minds and set the agenda for these climate talks. “Alongside the student strikers and people taking to the streets of Glasgow, this polling tell us that up and down the country people want to see bold climate action. “If Boris Johnson fails to act now it would be like seeing a house on fire, promising to fetch help – and then walking away. He cannot talk big on the international stage and fail to act at home. It will be a disaster for the planet and it It is clear from this polling that the UK public will not forgive him.”Some countries have taken a different approach to the UK, with France work in on ban in domestic aviation where a rail alternative is under two hours. German ministers have also debated the possibility of banning domestic flights, a policy championed by the Greens – who are about to enter coalition government.EU Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans said in May that he supported “taxing kerosene like other fuels” and that “nobody has to fly 10 or 12 times a year”. A Treasury spokesperson meanwhile defended the UK government’s move to make domestic flights cheaper and said it would would “boost” regional airports. The spokesperson noted that there had been a rise on air passenger duty for the longest flights.“In line with our environmental objectives, the Budget introduced a new ultra-long haul distance band for Air Passenger Duty – increasing tax on the most polluting flights,” they told The Independent.”Our new lower domestic band will provide a boost to over nine million passengers, our regional airports, and the jobs they support in local communities.“We are also investing over £35 billion in rail across England and Wales over the Spending Review period – including High Speed Two, rail enhancements and vital renewals to improve passenger journeys and connectivity across the country.” More

The UK is an “enabler” of corruption, an adviser to the Nigerian president says, in a sharp rebuke to Boris Johnson’s rejection of widespread sleaze.The prime minister hit back at warnings that the UK is sliding into dishonest practices – following the Owen Paterson and Geoffrey Cox controversies – by declaring: “The UK is not remotely a corrupt country.”But the claim has been ridiculed by Nigeria’s anti-corruption tsar, who pointed to a broken promise to crack down on the super-rich buying homes through secret offshore companies.Prof Sadiq Isah Radda branded London “the most notorious safe haven for looted funds in the world today” – and warned of the impact on his own country and continent.“There are no thieves without receivers. Without safe havens for looted funds, Nigeria and Africa will not be this corrupt,” he told the investigative website Finance Uncovered.In 2016, David Cameron’s government promised transparency legislation to unmask the true owners of UK properties bought using offshore companies.The Registration of Overseas Entities Bill would have required the beneficial owner of a property-owning offshore company to be registered with Companies House, the UK’s business registry.It was hailed by the government as a “major step forward in tackling dirty money and safeguarding the reputation of the UK’s business environment” – but has yet to be passed.Meanwhile, Mr Johnson rejected calls for action made in the 2018 Russia report, in which the Commons intelligence committee warned of London becoming a “laundromat” for illicit Russian cash.The government has also been criticised for setting up a network of freeports, despite criticism that they will open the door to corruption – the reason why the EU is outlawing them.Last week, the chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, Jonathan Evans, warned of the sleaze rows: “We could slip into being a corrupt country.”In the interview, Prof Radda challenged Johnson to deliver on the stalled anti-corruption law, telling him to “do better by matching words with concrete actions”.“UK law allows the global elite to loot their countries and rush to London. No wonder London swims in other people’s blood and sweat,” he warned.“As a country and as a people, corruption has done monumental damage to us and we have to bring a stop to it. Safe havens, such as London, as well as their governments, have to support and help Nigeria. The muted response by British politicians suggests complicity.“The practice under UK law where anyone buying a house or apartment can hide their identity from public records that are submitted to the Land Registry, if they purchase the property through a company registered in an offshore secrecy haven, is very disappointing, disturbing and contradictory.”In his comments, at the Cop26 climate summit, Mr Johnson argued: “I genuinely believe that the UK is not remotely a corrupt country, nor do I believe that our institutions are corrupt.“We have a very, very tough system of parliamentary democracy and scrutiny, not least by the media.” More

Negotiators at the climate change summit in Glasgow face a “monumental challenge” to deliver a credible deal in the few days left to them, Cop26 president Alok Sharma has warned.Officials are still hopeful that an agreed text will be produced by the scheduled end of the summit on Friday afternoon, though many delegates think that the summit will spill over into the weekend as wrangling intensifies on crucial details.There are fears that the crucial reference in Wednesday’s draft agreement  – unprecedented in a UN climate document – to phasing out coal and ending subsidies for fossil fuels is unlikely to survive horse-trading as the deadline approaches.UN secretary general Antonio Guterres today said that the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5C is “on life support”, as the talks have come nowhere near meeting the United Nations priority of securing pledges to cut carbon emissions by half by 2030.In a press conference in Glasgow, Mr Sharma rejected suggestions that the gathering had failed, insisting that the aim of the UK presidency had always been the less ambitious target of being able to say credibly that “we have kept 1.5C within reach”.But he acknowledged that he was still not able to make that claim.“Whilst we have made progress, we are not there yet on the most crucial issues,” he said.“There is still a lot more work to be done and Cop26 is scheduled to close at the end of tomorrow.“Time is running out.”Mr Sharma urged all countries to “strain every sinew to achieve a timely outcome that we can all be proud of”, warning: “We still have a monumental challenge ahead of us.”The last phase of the talks is focusing on finding “ways forward” on finance and carbon markets, he said, adding: “Negotiations on finance really need to accelerate and they need to accelerate now.“Having engaged extensively with parties of the past year and at Cop, I know that everyone understands what is at stake for the future of our planet here in Glasgow.“We still have a monumental challenge ahead of us, but collectively we have no choice but to rise to that challenge and strain every sinew to achieve a timely outcome that we can all be proud of.“Because ultimately, this outcome, whatever it is, will belong to all of us.” More

Sudan’s top general has re-appointed himself as head of the army-run interim governing body, a sign that he is tightening his grip on the country two weeks after he led a coup against civilian leaders. There was no immediate reaction by pro-democracy groups to the move by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan on Thursday. The development comes even as the military has pledged to hand over power to civilian authorities. Since the Oct. 25 coup, more than 100 government officials and political leaders have been detained, along with a large number of protesters and activists.Sudan has been in the midst of a fragile transitional period after a 2019 pro-democracy uprising led to the removal of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir from power. The eleven-member Sovereign Council was first formed in summer 2019 after the military signed a power-sharing deal with pro-democracy forces. The agreement stipulated then that the council should include five civilians chosen by activist, five military representatives and one member to be chosen in agreement between civilians and the generals.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.CAIRO (AP) — Internet access remains largely disrupted in Sudan since last month’s military coup, despite a court order for providers to restore services, an advocacy group said Thursday. According to a tweet by NetBlocks, the disruption is now in its eighteenth day and represents an “ongoing impediment” to democracy and human rights. A Sudanese court ruled on Wednesday, ordering the country’s three main telecommunications providers to restore internet access. However, authorities have not shown any sign yet of carrying out that order. Internet disruptions have become common in Sudan since nationwide protests erupted in late 2018, leading to the military’s removal of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir in April 2019. In an attempt at the time to quell protests, authorities disrupted social media for 68 days, according to the London-based NetBlocks.On Oct. 25, the Sudanese military seized power, dissolving the country’s transitional government and detaining more than 100 government officials and political leaders, along with a large number of protesters and activists. Almost all still remain in custody. The army also placed the country’s prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok under house arrest at his residence in the capital of Khartoum Since the takeover, at least 14 anti-coup protesters have been killed due to excessive force used by the country’s security forces, according to Sudanese doctors and the United Nations The coup has been condemned by the U.N., the United States and the European Union which have been urging the generals to restore a military-civilian transitional government. Mediation efforts are ongoing to resolve the crisis. On Wednesday, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that U.N. Special Representative for Sudan Volker Perthes met the previous day with the head of the Sudanese military, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan. In the talks, the special representative urged for “a return to the transitional partnership” and appealed on the military “to exercise restraint and to take de-escalation measures, including freeing all those people who have been detained and the prime minister who remains under house detention,” said Dujarric. Dujarric also said the U.N. Secretary General António Guterres spoke with the ousted premier, Hamdok, earlier in the week. More

The chair of the government’s independent standards committee has urged the government to restrict MPs from holding some second jobs – and warned politicians to stop stalling on the issue.Lord Evans, who chairs the independent body, said his committee had made recommendations as far as 2018 that MPs should be banned from holding consultancy and advisory jobs.”We have made a number of recommendations. I have been slightly frustrated, I guess, over the last couple of days, people calling for a review of MPs’ second jobs and reviews of this and that,” he told the BBC on Thursday.”Our committee, an independent committee established by John Major with cross party representation has made recommendations on a number of these areas, including only last week. “Those are on the table. We offer a way forward now which we means we can be confident that our standards bodies are independent, that our public life is being defended, that we don’t need to set up a Royal Commission or public inquiry.”The chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said that if an MP was spending a “huge amount of time” on a second job, they it would “get in the way of their ability to work in support of their constituents”.”They can’t be maintaining support for their constituents,” he said.The cross-party committee’s report said that MPs should not be able to “provide services such as parliamentary strategists, or advisors, or consultants”.Lord Evans said last week that Britain “could slip into being a corrupt country” and that “international perceptions” of standards in Britain could also suffer.He warned: “Almost always the answer is there needs to be more independence. People don’t trust a system where people sit as judges in their own court. So they meet as independence and that’s one of the reasons we recommended last week that “We undertook a report on this in 2018 and made recommendations then, and we also did a lot of polling on public views on this issue and the public as you expect were quite sophisticated in this – they recognised that there were certain jobs that it was right and appropriate that MPs should be able to hold in addition to their main responsibilities. “But we recommended that MPs should not accept any paid work to provide services such as parliamentary strategists, or advisors, or consultants – because that was was in tension with the main job”. More

Nicola Sturgeon says ‘there is corruption at the heart of Westminster’Scotland’s first minister has accused the UK government of being “corrupt” at its core, saying ongoing allegations of sleaze against the Tories may have been a “distraction” at Cop26 – but they at least “shone a light on issues that need to be resolved in Westminster politics”.“There is particular concern, and I don’t use this word lightly, that there is corruption at the heart of the Westminster system,” Nicola Sturgeon told Sky News on Thursday, “and that has to be rooted out.”The SNP leader made her views on the Conservative Party’s disastrous two weeks in parliament less than 24 hours after Boris Johnson stood up in Glasgow and told the world’s media the UK was “not remotely a corrupt country”.Pressure is continuing to build on the prime minister and his Cabinet colleagues over ongoing “sleaze” allegations, with the former attorney general Sir Geoffrey Cox at the centre of the row over his work for the British Virgin Islands. Follow our live coverage belowShow latest update

1636640757PM risks Thatcher-style felling by own MPs over sleaze, Tory grandee warnsBoris Johnson is in danger of becoming “a liability” to the Conservatives and of being toppled by his own MPs as Margaret Thatcher was, a party grandee has said.Malcolm Rifkind – a Cabinet minister during those dramatic events in 1990 – said the Tories are notoriously ruthless when “prime ministers are deemed to have outlived their usefulness”.The former foreign secretary told our deputy political editor Rob Merrick there is a growing mood that Mr Johnson is failing to show proper leadership, after the failed bid to rip up anti-sleaze rules to save Owen Paterson.Sam Hancock11 November 2021 14:251636639686Watch: Kate Middleton opens new Holocaust exhibitsKate Middleton officially opens new Holocaust exhibits at Imperial War MuseumSam Hancock11 November 2021 14:081636638657Ex-advisor married to Tory MP to help pick media regulatorSome news from Downing Street now. A former Conservative advisor who is married to a Tory MP will help choose the UK’s next media regulator, the government has confirmed.Michael Simmonds, husband of former schools minister Nick Gibb and brother-in-law of former No 10 communications chief Robbie Gibb, will be on the interview panel who will chose the next chair of Ofcom.Downing Street is widely reported to want former Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre to take the job and has already rebooted the recruitment process once after the right-winger unexpectedly failed his final interview and was deemed “not appointable,” reports our policy correspondent Jon Stone.Sam Hancock11 November 2021 13:501636637893‘I wouldn’t be here if govt doing enough,’ Ratcliffe says on day 19 of hunger strikeNazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband has said he “wouldn’t be” on day 19 of a hunger strike, outside the Foreign Office, “if the government was doing enough”.Speaking to reporters, Richard Ratcliffe said ministers have continues to ignore the £400m debt the government owes to Iran, and that the obvious solution to secure his wife’s release was to “settle that dispute”.Asked when he planned to end his demonstration, the father-of-one said while he couldn’t give an exact date, “we’re not going to be able to do it for much longer because my body is saying so”.Mr Ratcliffe added a doctor had just checked him over and that he was in good condition.It comes ahead of Foreign Office officials’ meeting with Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, on Thursday where the UK has said it will push to secure the release of detained Britons in the Middle Eastern country. “Part of the tension in previous years was that the government had one position and the Revolutionary Guard – the ones holding Nazanin – had a different one,” Mr Ratcliffe told PA. “I would suspect there’s less shadow foreign police.”He is due to be given an update on his wife’s case shortly after the meeting takes place.Sam Hancock11 November 2021 13:381636635439Sturgeon condemns ‘corruption at heart of Westminster’Sam Hancock11 November 2021 12:571636634924Social media users continue to rally against CoxThe actress and author goes on to ponder the Tory MP’s position on Universal Credit.“Wonder how he voted on denying people on UC their £20 uplift,” she tweeted. Sam Hancock11 November 2021 12:48163663412535-year-old member of far-right wing group arrestedA police update now, as a 35-year-old man is arrested on suspicion of being a member of a banned far-right wing group.The suspect was detained on Wednesday in north London, as part of an investigation by officers from the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command, the force said.His home was searched and the man was questioned before being bailed to mid-December.The force said in a statement: “The 35-year-old man was arrested on the morning of 10 November at an address in north London on suspicion of membership to a proscribed organisation (contrary to Section 11 of the Terrorism Act 2000).“The address was searched. The man was detained under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, and taken to a London police station. He has since been bailed to a date in mid-December.“The arrest relates to suspected membership to an extreme right-wing group. Enquiries continue.”Sam Hancock11 November 2021 12:351636633385Timeline of how Geoffrey Cox became embroiled in second jobs scandalThe sleaze scandal surrounding Boris Johnson’s government is continuing to dog the PM a week on from the row that erupted over his decision to order MPs to save ex-Northern Ireland secretary Owen Paterson from a six-week suspension after the Commons Standards Committee found him guilty of breaking a centuries-old ban on parliamentary lobbying.Now the spotlight is trained on Sir Geoffrey Cox, Conservative MP for Torridge and West Devon since 5 May 2005 and the former UK attorney general.But, how did Sir Geoffrey, a practising barrister since 1982 and Queen’s Counsel since 2003, become the centre of the latest controversy? Joe Sommerlad takes a look.Sam Hancock11 November 2021 12:231636632152Tory MP calls for tightening of lobbying rulesWriting for Times Red Box on Thursday, Peterborough MP Paul Bristow, has called for a tightening of the rules in the wake of the lobbying row.Mr Bristow, who has a majority of 2,580 compared to Sir Geoffrey’s 24,992, defied the party whip to vote against the government last week and added: “We are now faced with the task of restoring public confidence.”He wrote: “There’s nothing wrong with lobbying, done right. In fact, those involved can have much to be proud of, advising charities, businesses and campaigns on how to get their voices heard.“I’m proud of my role in the campaign to get the Sepsis 6 pathway adopted in the NHS. I’m proud of helping to organise a petition for funding research into brain tumours, which led to a report and a debate in parliament.“There’s a lot wrong with lobbying, done badly. At its most unethical, it can veer to corruption. The professional parts of the industry have no truck with that, not least because it would put them out of work, when almost inevitably exposed.”Tom Batchelor11 November 2021 12:021636631372What was Geoffrey Cox doing in the British Virgin Islands?Sir Geoffrey Cox, the MP for Torridge and West Devon, has since come under scrutiny for earning hundreds of thousands of pounds as a top QC while also an MP, including representing the British Virgin Islands in a corruption probe brought by the UK government.But what was he doing in the BVI? The Independent’s associate editor, Sean O’Grady, explains:Tom Batchelor11 November 2021 11:49 More

Boris Johnson is in danger of becoming “a liability” to the Conservatives and of being toppled by his own MPs as Margaret Thatcher was, a party grandee says.Malcolm Rifkind – a Cabinet minister during those dramatic events in 1990 – said the Tories are notoriously ruthless when “prime ministers are deemed to have outlived their usefulness”.The former foreign secretary told The Independent there is a growing mood that Mr Johnson is failing to show proper leadership, after the failed bid to rip up anti-sleaze rules to save Owen Paterson.And he warned: “I was in the Cabinet when Margaret Thatcher was required to fall on her sword.“And if somebody of the stature of Thatcher can be disposed of pretty quickly and pretty ruthlessly by the parliamentary party, no prime minister can assume that they’re free from that risk.”The warning comes amid Tory MPs’ anger over the botched attempt to clear Mr Paterson for breaching lobbying rules, which ended in a humiliating government retreat. More