World

Subterms

    More stories

    • 113 Shares119 Views

      in UK Politics

      UK urged not to cut life-saving aid to Yemen

      by

      The UK government has been warned against cutting aid to Yemen, amid fears tens of millions of pounds will be slashed from Britain’s contribution to humanitarian relief efforts.Millions of people in the war-torn country will go hungry this year and hundreds of thousands are already facing famine, the UN says.Ahead of a UN donor conference on Monday, at which secretary-general Antonio Guterres will ask the world for $3.85bn (£2.76bn) in aid for Yemen, former Tory minister Andrew Mitchell said UK funding might fall by as much as half from 2020 levels, when £214m was sent.Mr Mitchell said reducing help for Yemen would have dire consequences and damage Britain’s global standing, given its backing for Saudi Arabia’s coalition, which is battling Houthi rebels there in a conflict that has caused widespread civilian casualties.
      UK news in picturesShow all 50 More

    • 163 Shares179 Views

      in UK Politics

      Donald Trump’s son Eric attacks ‘pathetic’ Scottish parliament debate on golf resort financing

      by

      Donald Trump’s son Eric has lashed out at Scottish politicians over plans for a parliamentary debate on whether the financing behind the family golf resorts should be investigated.
      MSPs will vote on a motion calling for a court order to probe the ex-president’s business holdings in Scotland, amid growing concerns about deals done to set up the Trump Organisation’s golf courses.Mr Trump’s son said those leading the push for Wednesday’s vote were “pathetic” – and warned Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon that investors could be put off from doing business in the country.
      The debate has been called by the Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie, who said it was time to shed some light on the “shadowy” business dealings of the Trump Organisation.It is aimed at pressuring the Scottish government to seek an Unexplained Wealth Order (UWO) – a legal mechanism aimed at forcing those suspected of financial corruption to explain the source of their wealth.Eric Trump suggested the campaign for an investigation had been driven by the Scottish Greens’ personal animosity towards the family. “Patrick Harvie is nothing more than a national embarrassment with his pathetic antics that only serve himself and his political agenda,” he said.“If Harvie and the rest of the Scottish government continue to treat overseas investors like this, it will deter future investors from conducting business in Scotland, ultimately crushing their economy, tourism and hospitality industries.”
      Mr Trump Jr, an executive vice president at the Trump Organisation, also claimed Scotland’s politicians should be focused on “saving lives and reopening businesses in Scotland”,  rather than pursuing “personal agendas”.Ahead of Wednesday’s vote, Mr Harvie claimed there were “evidenced concerns” surrounding the Trump Organisation’s purchase of the Turnberry golf course in Ayrshire, and the purchase of land for its course in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire.“The Scottish government has tried to avoid the question of investigating Donald Trump’s wealth for far too long,” the Green MSP told The Scotsman earlier this week. “There are serious concerns about how he financed the cash purchases of his Scottish golf courses, but no investigation has ever taken place.” More

    • 125 Shares159 Views

      in World Politics

      Former Russian PM describes Trump’s presidency as ‘period of disappointment’

      by

      “The period of the previous administration’s work is the period of disappointment,” Mr Medvedev, who is deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council,  said according to Tass, a Russian news agency.”Donald Trump, already a former president of the United States, was indeed a friendly person and demonstrated in every possible way his intention to, as he put it, get along with the Russians – but failed,” Mr Medvedev, who is deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council,  said according to Tass, a Russian news agency.”The period of the previous administration’s work is the period of disappointment.”The official said that certain members of the US political establishment on both ends of the spectrum were “throwing a spanner in Mr Trump’s works” during that period.The official said that the former president was “drove into a corner” by political adversaries, who he said saw him as an “agent” of the country.
      Mr Medvedev, who served as Prime Minister to Vladimir Putin from 2012 to 2020, said that Mr Trump’s efforts with Russia “failed to produce any result,” and that this was the outcome that Mr Trump intended.“Naturally, they drove him to a corner, and it was very hard for him to find a way out. That is why it all ended up with a continuous series of additional sanctions,” Mr Medvedev said.Mr Medvedev reportedly told Russian media that a stalemate occurred between the two countries because the former president simultaneously insisted he had a good relationship with Russia while also boasting of his tough attitude towards the country.
      Last week, a former KGB spy claimed that Russia cultivated former President Donald Trump as an asset for over 40 years.KGB agents flattered Mr Trump, fed him talking points, and told him he should go into politics when he visited Moscow for the first time in 1987, Yuri Shvets, who worked in Washington DC for the Soviet Union in the 80s, told The Guardian.During his presidency, Mr Trump was subjected to a special counsel probe into Russian election meddling.Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report failed to state clearly if he committed any crimes and explicitly stated it would have exonerated him if Mr Mueller had concluded no crimes were committed. More

    • 163 Shares179 Views

      in World Politics

      Nobel Peace Prize: Trump, Navalny, Thunberg and WHO among candidates as nominations close

      by

      Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, the World Health Organisation and climate campaigner Greta Thunberg have joined Donald Trump among a list of expected nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize, according to a survey of Norwegian MPs who are eligible to propose candidates and who have a track record of successfully guessing the winner.Ms Thunberg, Mr Navalny, and the WHO – for its Covax programme to secure fair access to Covid vaccines for poor countries – are likely frontrunners, research carried out by Reuters found. Nominations for the prestigious award close on Sunday.The climate activist, Russian opposition leader and global health body are backed by Norwegian lawmakers, who have nominated the eventual laureate every year since 2014, with the exception of 2019.Thousands of people, from members of parliaments worldwide to former winners, are eligible to propose candidates. A host of other figures including university professors and members of select international organisations can also put names forward.The Norwegian Nobel Committee, which decides who wins the award, does not comment on nominations, keeping secret for 50 years the names of nominators and unsuccessful nominees, while nominations do not imply an endorsement from the committee.But nominators can choose to reveal their picks. He said the now former president had “done more trying to create peace between nations than most other peace prize nominees”, citing Mr Trump’s role in brokering a peace deal between Israel and Middle Eastern nations. More

    • 125 Shares129 Views

      in World Politics

      How hope is vanishing 10 years after the Arab Spring

      by

      Much of the Arab world erupted in jubilant revolt 10 years ago against the dictatorial regimes whose corruption, cruelty and mismanagement had mired the Middle East in poverty and backwardness for decades.Now, the hopes awakened by the protests have vanished but the underlying conditions that drove the unrest are as acute as ever.Autocrats rule with an even tighter grip. Wars unleashed by leaders whose control was threatened have killed hundreds of thousands of people. The rise of the Islamic State amid the resulting wreckage ravaged large parts of Syria and Iraq and drew the United States into another costly Middle East war.Millions of people were driven from their homes to become refugees, many converging on the shores of Europe and beyond. The influx fuelled a tide of nativism and anti-immigrant sentiment that brought populist leaders to power in Europe and the US as fears of terrorism eclipsed concerns for human rights as a Western priority.Even in those countries that did not descend into war, more Arabs are now living in poverty, more are unemployed and more are imprisoned for their political beliefs than a decade ago.Only in Tunisia, where the protests began, did anything resembling a democracy emerge from the upheaval. The fall of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, the Tunisian President,  after a month of street protests in Tunis inspired demonstrations across the Middle East, including the mass protest on 25 January 2011 in Cairo’s Tahrir Square that fixated world attention on what was prematurely labelled the Arab Spring.On its face, the Arab Spring failed, and spectacularly so – not only by failing to deliver political freedom but by further entrenching the rule of corrupt leaders more intent on their own survival than delivering help.“It’s been a lost decade,” said Tarik Yousef, director of the Brookings Doha Centre in Qatar, recalling the euphoria he initially felt when the fall of Libya’s Moammar Gaddafi in August 2011 enabled him to return home for the first time in years. “Now we have the return of fear and intimidation. The region has experienced setbacks at every turn.”For many of those who participated in the uprisings, the costs have been immeasurable. Esraa Eltaweel, 28, was partially paralysed after a bullet fired by security forces sliced through her abdomen and chipped her spine during a protest in Cairo in 2014. Some of her friends were killed. Others were imprisoned, including her husband, who is still incarcerated. Ms Eltaweel, who spent seven months in detention, has struggled to find work because of the stigma attached to political prisoners.“We didn’t achieve anything we aimed for. Things got worse,” she said. “We believed we could change the system. But it is so rotten that it can’t be changed.”Yet as long as the conditions that provoked the original uprisings persist, the possibility of more unrest cannot be ruled out, analysts say. More

    • 163 Shares199 Views

      in UK Politics

      Alexei Navalny: UK calls for immediate release of Putin critic after ‘appalling’ arrest

      by

      Boris Johnson’s government has demanded that Russia releases Alexei Navalny “immediately”, following the Kremlin critic’s arrest in Moscow upon flying home from Germany.The opposition leader’s detention by Russian authorities has drawn international condemnation – with some western nations calling for sanctions against Vladimir Putin’s government.“It is appalling that Alexei Navalny, the victim of a despicable crime, has been detained by Russian authorities. He must be immediately released,” said foreign secretary Dominic Raab, who stopped short of threatening any further action against Russia.  Mr Raab added: “Rather than persecuting Mr Navalny, Russia should explain how a chemical weapon came to be used on Russian soil.”
      Russian police detained Mr Navalny on arrival in Moscow on Sunday after he flew home to Russia from Germany for the first time since he was poisoned last summer using using Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok. Germany said it has ‘unequivocal evidence’ the Kremlin was behind the attack. Prior to his arrival at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, Russia’s prisons service said the 44-year-old had violated parole terms from a suspended sentence on a shaky 2014 embezzlement conviction.Following the news of his arrest, a host of British MPs used Twitter to call for his release. Labour’s shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy led the calls for action, tweeting: “Alexei Navalny was the victim of a cowardly chemical weapons attack. He has shown great courage in returning to his homeland.”She added: “His detention is unjustifiable and an insult to the Russian people. He must be released immediately and his attackers brought to justice.”Defence committee chairman Tobias Ellwood called Mr Navalny’s decision to return to Russia “incredibly brave”. Mr Ellwood said: “Poisoned by the FSB yet he chooses to return to Russia and has now been arrested. Incredibly brave stand by Navalny in the name of democracy as we head towards Russian parliamentary elections.”Labour MP Catherine West called for a coordinated response “at speed” from the UK government, the EU and the incoming Joe Biden administration in the US. “It can’t be right that an opposition leader, whose life was almost taken in an aggressive poison attempt, is arrested on arrival,” she said.While the foreign ministers of the UK, Germany, France and Italy called for Mr Navalny’s release, Lithuania said it would ask the EU to swiftly impose new sanctions on Russia. Czech foreign minister Tomas Petricek also said he wanted the bloc to discuss possible sanctions.
      Jake Sullivan, one of Mr Biden’s top aides, told Moscow to free Mr Navalny, and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Twitter he was deeply troubled by Moscow’s decision to arrest Navalny.
      Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed Western concern over Mr Navalny’s case, casting it as an attempt to distract from the West’s own problems. “You can feel the joy with which these comments are coming out,” said Mr Lavrov.
      “Judging by everything, it allows Western politicians to think that by doing this they can divert attention away from the deep crisis that the liberal model of development finds itself in,” he said.   More

    • 225 Shares139 Views

      in UK Politics

      Julian Assange: UK court to rule on WikiLeaks founder’s US extradition in ‘biggest press freedom case for decades’

      by

      Mr Assange, 49, who enraged and embarrassed Washington when his website published details of the reality of the so-called “war on terror”, faces a total of 17 charges of espionage and computer hacking in the States. He could be sentenced to as many as 175 years in a high security jail.His fate is set to be decided by a British district judge, Vanessa Baraitser, who is due to deliver her verdict on Monday morning at London’s Central Criminal Court, better known as the Old Bailey. If the judge grants Washington’s request, a final decision will be made by Priti Patel, the home secretary, likely in consultation with Boris Johnson.Meanwhile, lawyers for Mr Assange plan to file an appeal if they lose.Mr Assange’s supporters point out the ruling, coming after a string of hearings that started in February of last year, is to be handed down in the Old Bailey’s Court 2, the same court room in which the Guildford Four were wrongly convicted of the Guildford pub bombings.A number of high-profile figures in the media world who fell out with Mr Assange during the course of his work, among them former Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger, who published many scoops provided by Chelsea Manning and Mr Assange, have emerged as vocal defenders.John Shipton, father of Julian Assange, says case against his son intended to cover up war crimesOn Sunday, WikiLeaks spokesperson Kristinn Hrafnsson told The Independent the hearing was the most important press freedom case in decades.“What is at stake here is a basic principle about being able to report truthful information about our governments and the authorities,” he said. “And the precedent being set here if Julian Assange is extradited, is that nobody will be safe.”Also on Sunday, Stella Morris, Ms Assange’s partner and the mother of two of his children, repeated her call for her husband to be released.“Leading figures, from former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin to Nobel Prize winners, such as human-rights campaigner Adolfo Perez Esquivel, have been calling for Julian’s freedom,” she wrote on the Mail on Sunday.“So far, there has been no pardon. But tomorrow, a British magistrate will decide whether to order Julian’s extradition or throw out the US government’s request.”She added: “Extraditing Julian would be so manifestly unjust that it seems impossible. But it is not. It is precisely at times like these when our rights are most easily taken away from us.”Among the events exposed by WikiLeaks was an incident in 2007 in Iraq when two US AH-64 Apache helicopters targeted some buildings and then bore down on a group of people. More than a dozen were killed, including two Reuters journalists. None of them was armed.“Oh, yeah, look at those dead bastards,” one US airman could be heard to say on the video footage.Wikileaks published the video and a transcript in the spring of 2010. A month later, Ms Manning, then a US army intelligence analyst, was arrested, charged and convicted.She was sentenced to 35 years by a military court, serving seven years of detention before her sentence was commuted by the outgoing Barack Obama.Speaking from Australia last week ahead of the case, Mr Assange’s father John Shipton said he feared his son would be taken to the US and “broken in an act of revenge”.“It’s just wretched injustice. I call it plague of malice,” he said.Veteran journalist John Pilger, like Mr Assange an Australian citizen, said if he was extradited, then no reporters who challenged power would be safe.He said Mr Assange was a threat to Washington because he and his organisation had “lifted America’s facade”. “It revealed America’s routine war crimes, the lies of its policy-makers and an Orwellian surveillance,” he said.“What’s more, the WikiLeaks revelations were 100-per-cent authentic. The public service this represents is unprecedented, it is investigative journalism at its finest.”A total of 17 of the 18 charges against Mr Assange have been brought under the 1917 Espionage Act, which does not permit a defendant to argue they were acting in the public interest. More