Tag: united kingdom

How has the war on Gaza changed the narrative among young people? | TV Shows

We look into how the war on Gaza has been reshaping global perceptions among youth in the West and what potential reforms that might bring.

Through a conversation with young online activists, we delve into some of the new shifts in young people’s perspectives of their governments, mainstream media, international law, Western democracy and more.

Presenter: Myriam Francois

Guests:
George Lee – educator and content creator
Allie O’Brien – content creator
Yeganeh Mafaher – social justice content creator

 

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Fury’s father bloodied in clash with Usyk’s entourage | Boxing News

Tyson Fury’s and Oleksandr Usyk’s entourages clash at media event before Saturday’s boxing bout in Saudi Arabia.

Tyson Fury’s father appears to have head-butted a member of Oleksandr Usyk’s entourage in a bloody clash at a media day for Saturday’s undisputed world heavyweight title fight in Saudi Arabia.

John Fury, with a cut on his forehead and bloody streaks on his face, confirmed to Sky Sports television his involvement in an incident at the event on Monday in Riyadh attended by both fighters.

“[He] disrespected my son, the best heavyweight to ever wear a pair of boxing gloves,” he said.

“He was in my face, trying to be clever – coming into my space [with] ‘Usyk! Usyk!’” he added. “… I was only chanting my own son’s name. So then he went a step closer and a step closer. So at the end of it, I’m a warrior. That’s what we do. We’re fighting people.

“You come in the space, you’re going to get what’s coming.”

Sky reported Saudi authorities had decided to draw a line under the incident.

Ring of Fire set alight already

Billed as the “Ring of Fire”, the fight will unify Briton Fury’s WBC heavyweight championship with the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO belts held by Ukrainian Usyk. Both are undefeated professionally.

“I didn’t see anything,” Sky quoted Tyson Fury as saying. “I was in the room doing interviews. But I’m not here for all that. I’m here to get the job done and go home and rest.”

The fight originally was to have been held on December 23. It was then set for February 17 before being rescheduled when Fury suffered a cut in sparring.

Usyk’s manager, Alexander Krassyuk, hoped the elder Fury would apologise.

“It would be nice if we hear some apologies from John because this was his behaviour,” he told Sky.

“We are the example for the whole world. … A new generation of kids are taking us as an example. What will they see from this?”

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Extermination, expulsion ‘identifiable strategies’ of Israel’s war in Gaza | Israel War on Gaza News

A human rights group calls on the United Kingdom to stop arming Israel as its campaign in the strip continues.

London, United Kingdom – Mass extermination and mass expulsion are “identifiable strategies” of Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip, a human rights group warns, as it calls on the United Kingdom to impose an arms embargo.

Restless Beings, which is based in the UK, decried Israel’s “policies of colonialist occupation” on Monday in a report that has won support from Afzal Khan, a member of the UK Parliament with the opposition Labour Party.

“Rather than meeting the stated intention of extracting hostages and dismantling Hamas, the most obvious findings in this report highlight destruction of places of refuge and accessibility of those who are displaced,” the seven authors of the study wrote, having reviewed the Israeli army’s actions in Gaza from early October until early February.

“In all of the 753 cases of civilian infrastructure attacks recorded in the report, civilian loss of life and the destruction of civilian society is clearly evidenced,” the report found.

 

The Israeli assault began on October 7, the day Hamas attacked southern Israel.

During the Palestinian group’s attacks, 1,139 people were killed and more than 200 were taken captive. Some hostages have since been released, others have died and dozens are still being held.

More than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children.

Much of the Strip has been reduced to rubble, and the majority of Palestinians have been displaced, many of them multiple times.

Boys watch smoke billowing up from eastern Rafah during Israeli strikes [AFP]

Across 146 days monitored in the report, hospitals in Gaza were attacked on “65 percent” of those days, it found.

“The attacks on hospitals were systematic, moving north to south to render all health facilities non-operational by the middle of February, 2024. Roads around hospitals were attacked first to prevent patients from seeking medical assistance or evacuating,” it said.

“Just under half of Gaza’s hospitals and health facilities have been attacked multiple times by [the] Israeli army, either by air, sea, or ground attacks.”

Israel has long blockaded Gaza and imposed a total siege on October 9.

At the time, Yoav Gallant, Israel’s minister of defence, said: “I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel. Everything is closed.”

In a comment that was widely condemned, he added: “We are fighting human animals, and we are acting accordingly.”

A looming ‘death sentence’

Gaza’s Ministry of Health warned on Monday that without an influx of fuel deliveries, the few hospitals that are still operating could collapse within hours.

Junaid Sultan, a vascular surgeon who volunteered in the southern area of Rafah, told Al Jazeera that hospitals would run out of electricity and water without the deliveries.

“[If] that fuel does not come in, that will be a death sentence to not only hundreds, but thousands of patients,” Sultan said.

Restless Beings found that much of Gaza’s population is also at risk of “starvation, forced displacement to a third country and of further attacks” as it blamed international governments for not recognising “the Israeli strategy” in Gaza.

It found that the patterns of Israel’s military operation indicate that it has breached the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which classify attacks on civilian infrastructure as a “war crime”.

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Northern lights illuminate night skies around the world | Newsfeed

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Solar flares sparked the biggest geomagnetic storm in two decades, causing spectacular displays of auroras, or northern lights, in skies around the world.

Published On 12 May 2024

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Solar storm produces stunning northern lights across US, UK, Russia | In Pictures News

An unusually strong solar storm hitting Earth produced stunning displays of colour in the skies across the Northern Hemisphere early on Saturday, with no immediate reports of disruptions to power and communications.

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a rare severe geomagnetic storm warning when a solar outburst reached Earth on Friday afternoon, hours sooner than anticipated.

The effects of the northern lights, which were on display in the United Kingdom, were due to last through the weekend and possibly into next week.

Many in the UK shared phone snaps of the lights on social media early Saturday, with the phenomenon seen as far south as London and southern England.

There were sightings “from top to tail across the country,” said Chris Snell, a meteorologist at the Met Office, the British weather agency. He added that the office received photos and information from other European locations including Prague and Barcelona.

NOAA alerted operators of power plants and spacecraft in orbit, as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to take precautions.

“For most people here on planet Earth, they won’t have to do anything,” said Rob Steenburgh, a scientist with NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center.

The storm could produce northern lights as far south in the US as Alabama and northern California, NOAA said. But it was hard to predict and experts stressed it would not be the dramatic curtains of colour normally associated with the northern lights, but more like splashes of greenish hues.

“That’s really the gift from space weather: the aurora,” Steenburgh said. He and his colleagues said the best aurora views may come from phone cameras, which are better at capturing light than the naked eye.

The most intense solar storm in recorded history, in 1859, prompted auroras in Central America and possibly even Hawaii. “We are not anticipating that” but it could come close, NOAA space weather forecaster Shawn Dahl said.

This storm poses a risk for high-voltage transmission lines for power grids, not the electrical lines ordinarily found in people’s homes, Dahl told reporters. Satellites also could be affected, which in turn could disrupt navigation and communication services here on Earth.

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Who is John Swinney, Scotland’s new first minister after Humza Yousaf quit? | Politics News

Mild-mannered, 60-year-old Swinney, who joined the SNP at 15, is the party’s third leader in 14 months.

Glasgow, Scotland – Bespectacled, mild-mannered John Swinney is not a political firebrand.

The new leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), who was officially sworn in as Scotland’s seventh first minister on Wednesday, has made a career out of being a steady political presence at the heart of an SNP government, which has been in power for 17 years.

The veteran politician, who served as Scottish finance secretary and deputy first minister in previous SNP administrations, and who was SNP leader between 2000 and 2004 during the party’s years in opposition at the devolved Scottish Parliament, described his ascendancy to Scotland’s highest office as “something of a surprise”.

Lawmakers confirmed his appointment on Tuesday following Humza Yousaf‘s resignation last month.

“When I stood down as deputy first minister in March last year, I believed that would be the last senior office I would hold in politics,” Swinney told the Scottish Parliament following his confirmation. “Having served then as a senior minister for 16 years, I felt I had – to coin a phrase – done my bit.”

But senior SNP figures turned to 60-year-old Swinney when Yousaf, 39, was forced to quit after collapsing the SNP’s power-sharing agreement with the Scottish Green Party in April.

‘He hasn’t changed much in 20 years’

The SNP, which made international headlines 10 years ago after it almost achieved Scottish independence from the British state in a sovereignty referendum in 2014, has become a beleaguered force of late.

Scandal, including the 2020 trial and acquittal of one-time SNP First Minister Alex Salmond on sexual assault charges, and last month’s decision by Scottish police to charge Peter Murrell, the husband of the former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, with the embezzlement of funds from the SNP, has gone hand in glove with the party’s falling poll ratings.

As a resurgent Labour Party in London threatens to end the SNP’s dominance at both a UK Westminster and Scottish Parliament level, is Swinney the man to reverse his party’s flagging fortunes?

“Those who were sympathetic to Swinney during his first spell as leader felt that he was a good organiser behind the scenes, but accepted that he failed because the public didn’t warm to him or have confidence in him,” said James Kelly, who runs the pro-independence Scot Goes Pop blog. “The problem is that he hasn’t changed much in 20 years. His communication skills are still workmanlike and aren’t in the same league as Salmond and Sturgeon.”

Kelly conceded that “not all popular leaders are conventionally charismatic”, adding: “The fact that he’s older and that the public have seen his competence in government over many years will make him more popular the second time around.”

Swinney appointed the 34-year-old socially conservative Kate Forbes, widely seen as a future party leader, as deputy first minister.

The new first minister has pledged to make tackling child poverty a priority of his premiership.

He joined the party at 15 and has been a sitting member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) since it was established 25 years ago.

But his four-year stint as leader was seen as unsuccessful after he presided over the SNP’s poor showing at the 2003 Scottish Parliament election. After the pro-independence party claimed victory over Scottish Labour in 2007 under the leadership of Salmond, Swinney was appointed cabinet secretary for finance.

Despite his bookish reputation, Swinney once admitted that he had contributed to the divisive nature of the Scottish Parliament by “heckling from a sedentary position”.

As Scottish first minister, he will have to juggle the responsibilities of being a reassuring presence to his wife, Elizabeth, who has multiple sclerosis, and handling the day-to-day demands of running a minority government in a legislature where the SNP’s opponents are itching to end the party’s dominance at the next Scottish Parliament election in 2026.

Some SNP voters say they have faith that Swinney will weather political storms – and steer the party into calmer waters.

“Swinney will make an excellent first minister for the people of Scotland,” said SNP supporter Angela Curley, a university lecturer who believes his “calm manner and experience” would reunite the party which is now onto its third leader in just 14 months.

The SNP’s ultimate goal is an independent Scotland, which polls say is supported by about 50 percent of Scots.

“I think the debate is still there. Polls suggest that the independence debate has not lost momentum, which could indicate it is now above party politics or manifesto mantra,” said Curley. “I think Swinney simply needs to be the constant gardener, ensuring the right people are in the right posts to maintain public confidence.”

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UK to expel Russian attache over Moscow’s ‘dangerous activities’ | News

British government terms Maxim Elovik an ‘undeclared military intelligence officer’ as Russia promises an ‘appropriate response’.

The British government says it will expel Russia’s defence attache over spying allegations as part of several measures targeting Moscow’s intelligence-gathering operations in the United Kingdom.

Home Secretary James Cleverly said on Wednesday the measures were aimed at what he called the “reckless and dangerous activities of the Russian government across Europe”.

The latest round of measures will boot the attache, Maxim Elovik, a Russian colonel whom the government termed an “undeclared military intelligence officer”. It will also rescind the diplomatic status of several Russian-owned properties because they are believed to have been used for intelligence purposes, and impose new restrictions on Russian diplomatic visas and visits.

“In the coming days we should expect accusations of Russophobia, conspiracy theories and hysteria from the Russian government,” Cleverly said in Parliament. “This is not new and the British people and the British government will not fall for it, and will not be taken for fools by Putin’s bots, trolls and lackeys.”

The Russian embassy in London responded by saying that British restrictions against Russia had been imposed under a “groundless and ridiculous pretext”, and it promised “an appropriate response”, Russian state news agency TASS reported.

The UK has had an uneasy relationship with Russia for years, accusing its agents of targeted killings and espionage, including cyberattacks aimed at British parliamentarians and leaking and amplifying sensitive information to serve Russian interests.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the UK has also sanctioned hundreds of wealthy Russians and moved to clamp down on money laundering through London’s property and financial markets.

The government said Wednesday’s actions followed criminal cases in London alleging espionage and sabotage by people acting on behalf of Russia.

It also cited allegations that the Russian government planned to sabotage military aid for Ukraine in Germany and Poland and carried out spying in Bulgaria and Italy, along with cyber- and disinformation activities, airspace violations and jamming GPS signals to hamper civilian air traffic.

“Since the illegal invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s attempts to undermine UK and European security have become increasingly brazen,” Foreign Secretary David Cameron said. “These measures are an unequivocal message to the Russian state – their actions will not go unanswered.”

Elovik has been based in the UK since at least 2020. TASS said he was summoned to the UK’s Ministry of Defence the day Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

He has subsequently been pictured laying flowers to Soviet soldiers who died during the second world war in both London and Manchester.

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John Swinney elected as new Scotland leader | Politics News

Swinney replaces Humza Yousaf, who formally resigned on Tuesday after just over a year in office.

Scotland’s Parliament has approved political veteran John Swinney of the Scottish National Party (SNP) to lead the country as first minister.

Swinney, 60, succeeds Humza Yousaf, who formally resigned from the role earlier on Tuesday after his announcement last week that he would step down after just more than a year in charge.

Yousaf, 39, made the announcement before a confidence vote in the Scottish Parliament that he was set to lose, having ditched the SNP’s junior coalition partners, the Scottish Green Party, in a row over climate policy.

Swinney won the backing of 64 members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) in the vote that was all but a foregone conclusion. His nearest rival, Scottish Conservatives leader Douglas Ross, picked up 31.

The political veteran said it was “something of a surprise” to find himself taking the top job at this stage of his career but added it was “an extraordinary privilege”.

“I am here to serve you. I will give everything I have to build the best future for our country,” he told parliament after accepting the nomination.

Swinney, an old party hand who led the pro-independence SNP from 2000 to 2004 when the nationalists were in opposition, was elected unopposed as leader of the SNP on Monday.

He is seen as an experienced operator able to reach across the political divide, which is key to the SNP being able to rule as a minority government.

Swinney must also unite his divided party, split between those on the left supportive of trans rights and urgent climate action and members on the right wanting to focus on issues such as health and the economy.

He has said that alongside advancing the case for Scottish independence, he wants to eradicate child poverty.

But he inherits a difficult political legacy with former SNP leader and ally Nicola Sturgeon embroiled in a party funding scandal and a challenging domestic policy landscape.

Resurgent Labour

The SNP is expected to lose several seats in the United Kingdom Parliament to a resurgent Labour Party at a general election due this year.

The SNP currently holds 43 seats at Westminster. Labour hopes a comeback in its former stronghold of Scotland will help it win an outright majority in the nationwide vote.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, a Conservative, said he looked forward to “working constructively” with Swinney “on the real issues that matter to families – delivering jobs, growth and better public services for people across Scotland”.

Critics have accused the SNP, in power in the devolved parliament in Edinburgh for 17 years, of focusing on pursuing independence at the expense of issues like the cost-of-living crisis and education.

The party has struggled to rebuild momentum for another independence referendum since Scotland voted against leaving the UK in 2014.

Despite the SNP slumping in the polls since Sturgeon quit in March last year, support for independence continues to hover around 40 percent, giving the party cause for hope.

The SNP holds 63 seats in the 129-member Scottish Parliament, two short of a majority, meaning Swinney will need the support of other parties to pass legislation.

He has said he will not resurrect the defunct power-sharing deal between the SNP and the Scottish Greens and will approach issues on a case-by-case basis.

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UK Defence Ministry targeted in cyberattack: Minister | Cybercrime News

Third-party payroll system with names and bank details of armed forces staff hacked, reports say.

Britain’s Ministry of Defence has been the target of a large-scale cyberattack, a government minister confirmed to British media.

On Tuesday, Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride told Sky News, which first reported the hack, that the attack was on a system run by an outside firm but was still a “very significant matter”.

It targeted a third-party payroll system used by the Defence Ministry and included the names and bank details of current and former service personnel of the armed forces, Sky News and the BBC reported.

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps is expected to give further details to parliament later in the day.

“The MoD [Ministry of Defence] has acted very swiftly to take this database offline. It’s a third-party database and certainly not one run directly by the MoD,” Stride told Sky. The ministry first discovered the cyberattack several days back.

Tobias Ellwood, a former minister in the Conservative government, said the incident has the hallmarks of a Chinese cyberattack.

“Targeting the names of the payroll system and service personnel’s bank details, this does point to China because it can be as part of a plan, a strategy to see who might be coerced,” the former soldier and ex-chairman of a parliamentary defence committee told BBC Radio.

Meanwhile, Stride said the government was not currently pointing the finger at Beijing.

“That is an assumption … we are not saying that at this precise moment,” he added.

Shapps is to confirm that a hostile state was the culprit, according to British media reports, but the government is not expected to publicly name China.

China refutes claims as ‘utter nonsense’

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lin Jian said Beijing opposed all forms of cyberattacks and rejected any attempt to use the issue of hacking for political ends to smear other countries.

“The remarks by relevant British politicians are utter nonsense,” Lin said on Tuesday. “China has always firmly opposed and cracked down on all types of cyberattacks.

The two countries have increasingly sparred over the issue of hacking, with Britain saying in March that Chinese hackers and a Chinese entity were behind two high-profile attacks in recent years – the targeting of parliamentarians critical of China, and an assault on the country’s electoral watchdog.

It has strained ties as Britain sought to strike a delicate balance between trying to neutralise security threats posed by China while maintaining or even enhancing engagement in some areas such as trade, investment and climate change.

But there has been growing anxiety about its alleged espionage activity in Britain, particularly before general elections expected later this year, and some British politicians have become increasingly vocal over the threat that they say China poses.

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UK students join pro-Palestine protests | Israel War on Gaza

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Students in the UK, including those at Cambridge and Oxford, are showing solidarity with Palestine and their peers around the world. Similar to protests in the US, Canada and France, encampments were set up on campus with students demanding a boycott and divestment from Israel.

Published On 6 May 2024

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