Category: Political News

UK deputy speaker accused of rape and sexual assaults

May. 06 Political News no comments

The Britain’s House of Commons’ deputy speaker Nigel Evans denied the accusations of sexual assault and rape against him on Sunday. Nigel Evans was arrested in Pendleton, Northwestern England last Saturday. As said by the deputy speaker, the allegations have left him with a feeling of disbelief since he considered the two complainants as his friends.

Police said yesterday that the assault happened four years ago. Accusations involved two men in their 20’s. The authorities in Lancashire did not state the identity of 55-year-old man who was arrested and questioned by the police against the allegations but was later released after he paid the bail. Based on the reports, one man purported that he was rape and in another instance, another man stated that he was sexually assaulted. As stated by the police, the crime allegedly happened between July 2009 and March 2013 in Pendleton.

Authorities added that the man was obliged to appear at the police station on 19th day of June. Before Evans was chosen as the deputy speaker of the House of Commons in 2010, he had been a conventional member of the legislative body in 1992 and acted as vice chairman of Tory Party from 1999 to 2001. During a newspaper conversation in 2010, Evans appeared to be gay and has been an activist on protuberant rights of gays in England.He added that he respected the way the authorities handled the incident and thanked those who have supported him in the unproven and false allegations set up against him.

Farewell Margaret Thatcher

Apr. 15 Political News no comments

A ceremonial funeral service for Britain’s Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. Thatcher was the Britain’s first female prime minister. 2,000 people attended the funeral including officials from different countries and Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip. Among the officials were Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and F.W. de Klerk, the last apartheid-era president of South Africa.

At the age of 87, Thatcher died of stroke last April 8. She was given full military honors like Princess Diana and Queen Mother. Her twin children Mark and Carol organized the funeral with the wishes of their late mother. Readings were given by the UK Prime Minister David Cameron and Thatcher’s granddaughter Amanda while London Bishop Rev. Richard Chartres gave the final address.

Chartres stated that she was amazed by how Thatcher reached out to the poor and young people and her kindness and courtesy to her staffs. Thatcher’s coffin was transported on a procession led by the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. More than 4,000 Metropolitan Police guarded around the funeral to avoid the risk of having protesters. Roads were closed and buses were rerouted early Wednesday.

From 1975 to 1990 Thatcher was the Conservative Party leader until she was obliged to resign, but still she engaged for the next several years in British politics. Thatcher’s body had a private ceremony and her body was cremated according to her wish before she died. Mixes emotions were felt by many mourners who attended the funeral. Some were protesters while some are there out of respect for the British Lady who served many tears for her country.

The UK Government’s Cuts and Reforms due in April

Apr. 01 Economy, Political News no comments

The UK government under the leadership of Prime Minister David Cameron will be introducing cuts and reforms in the first week of April. It was describe to be a day wherein Britain will face a lot of changes. These changes will affect areas of health, tax, justice and welfare.

The following changes that were introduced included the Universal Credit or called the in and out of work credit.  Due to start with the implementation this April, the change is aiming to increase the incentives of for the unemployed to be able to give them a chance to work. It was also announced that the benefit up rating will start. The tax credits and welfare benefits would not increase and can only rise after three years by only 1 percent. The welfare benefit cap will also start on the 15th of April in some parts of the United Kingdom like Croydon, Bromley and some London boroughs. When this will be implemented, welfare claimants would no longer receive an amount more than the average annual working household income.

There will also be a change in the commissioning of the NHS. The board will already be in charge of controlling the budget for the services of patients. In addition, there will also be a change in the regulation of financial industry. The FSA will be replaced by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. The scrapping of the disability living allowance will be replaced by the Personal Independence Payment. The people who earn big will have a tax cut amounting to £100,000.

Prime Minister would ban EU Nationals claiming Benefits

Mar. 25 Economy, Political News no comments

A tough immigration plan for the British Prime Minister. Mr. David Cameron has a lot of plans to toughen Britain’s immigration policy. He has promised to ban EU Nationals from claiming their benefits if they can no longer provide evidence that they are working or in the quest of looking for work.  In addition, Mr. Cameron had plans on restricting the migrants in the UK to have social housing if they weren’t able to stay in the UK for 5 years.

During the weekend the said plans were released. According to some critics the proposal would create problems between the UK Government and the European Union. The job seeker’s allowance coming from the government will only be utilized by the migrants who were seeking work. Mr. Cameron said immigration has already benefited Britain. The statement of the Prime Minister was published in the newspaper The Sun. It is well know that immigration in Britain wasn’t controlled well by the Labour government: figures show that there an estimated 2.2 Million people got in and (and some out) of the country while they were in power.

The Prime Minister wanted the migrants to come to Britain and work. He added that in the case of migrants nowadays in Britain, they come to the UK and work but only for a short time but they have full access of the benefits that the government gives out. When a migrant wants to work in Britain for a short period of time, he or she can only access the benefits after six months.

Cross-party Agreement on the Press Regulation Deal

Mar. 18 Political News no comments

A deal was agreed during a late night talk between the most prominent British political parties. The said deal is all about the press regulation. It is a new system that was established by a Royal Charter and it will still be sent to the Royal Palace for approval. It was reported that a system of statutory underpinning will already be a law on Monday as part of the enterprise and regulatory reform bill. The said bill was controversial because of the many newspapers that refused with the new regulation or its structure. It is still yet to be agreed by the House of Commons on how the damages will be addressed.

The said deal was a victory for the parties according to the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg. In his statement he said that he was happy to see that there had been a cross-party agreement. The Labor Leader, Ed Miliband also agreed with the Deputy Prime Minister. The two politicians will publish the said Royal Charter on Friday. According to Miliband, the royal charter will serve as a regulator because in the future in can stop the ministers or the press to meddle with it. He also added that the free press should not worry about anything that has been recently agreed.

The said talks occurred at night and have reached 2:30 early dawn. The venue was at The Labor Leader, Ed Miliband’s office. During the agreement it was reported that the people involved includes Nick Clegg, Oliver Letwin and Harriet Harman. After the agreement both sides has claimed victory but the Prime Minister said that it was not a statutory underpinning.

PM David Cameron’s Marvelous Speech

Jan. 24 Political News no comments

Prime Minister David Cameron delivered his long-awaited speech last night on the relationship of UK with the European Union. He declared that Britain rejects “ever closer union.”He also cited EU regulations on employment, the environment, social affairs and crime as among ‘so many areas’ where he wanted to ‘examine whether the balance is right.

The Prime Minister pulled a seemingly impossible speech last night with his EU referendum pledge. It united Eurosceptic Tory, Britain’s business leaders, and won the support of Germany’s Angela Merkel. He gave a guarantee of an in/out vote on the membership if he is prime minister after 2015. He persuaded other EU leaders and Eurocrats to back his calls for reform against the strong opposition from the likes of Spain and Italy. His announcement left the Labor in chaos as Ed Miliband told MPs he did not want an in/out referendum, only for other senior figures to insist later that he might.

Mr. Cameron’s speech gained a positive feedback from prominent leaders including London Mayor Boris Johnson who said, “No doubt, the British people would vote for the kind of renegotiated membership the Prime Minister envisaged. What most sensible people want is to belong to the single market but to lop off the irritating excrescences of the European Union.”

A member state of the European Union is a state that is party to treaties of the European Union (EU) and thereby subject to the privileges and obligations of EU membership. Unlike the membership of an international organization, EU membership places each member under binding laws in exchange for representation in the EU’s legislative and judicial institutions. On the other hand, EU states retain considerable autonomy compared to the constituent states of a federation (such as a U.S. state), maintaining their national military and foreign policy ,where they have not agreed to European action in these areas.

Mr. Cameron, who was forced to postpone his speech, last week because of the Algeria hostage crisis, set out a hugely ambitious vision of a transformed EU.

Iran General’s Statement Shows Insight on Iran Support for Gaza

Sep. 12 Political News no comments

Iranian General Mohammad Ali Jafari stated that Iran supplied Gaza’s Hamas organization with weaponry and technology to produce long-range missiles faster without the need for shipments from any country. His statement confirms Iran’s firm support to Gaza in the latest Israel-Gaza conflict, where rocket volley exchange and air strikes claimed 150 civilian lives and militants.

The general says that the Fajr-5 missiles fired by Gaza were not provided by Iran given that Gaza was under fire from Israel making transport impossible. However, no further information was obtained about how much Gaza knows about the level of missile technology they have on hand.

Israel accuses Iran of sending weapons and shipments to Gaza through a network of tunnels for smugglers below the border of Gaza and Egypt and that they back the anti-Israel faction in Hezbollah, Lebanon, which might also have used the same missile technology which fired a volley of rockets into Israel in 2006.

General Jafari was disappointed with the reaction of the Arab community during the latest attack against Israel. He said that Arab countries should have sent military aid. Iran’s leader Ayatollah Khamenei also criticized other Islamic nations for not supporting Gaza’s cause.

Iran is currently sanctioned by the U.N. for deep nuclear research, which the U.N. claims were intended to make nuclear weapons secretly. However, Iran denies this and states that its nuclear program was designed for peaceful products such as power generation and for cancer treatment.

 

U.S Might Get Involved in Japan-China Conflict

Aug. 15 Political News no comments

Japan and China, two of the world’s biggest economies, have been confronting each other disputing over a set of islands in the East China Sea. The Senkaku islands to Japan and known as Diaoyu islands in China became a major issue for both countries as to who truly owns the set of land distributed between the territories of two countries.

The United States might get involved in the conflict. Historically, China claims that it was owned by a dynasty in China for over millions of years while Japan claims its ownership based on recent historical fact that the United States, after Japan’s seizure by U.S. troops was lifted, gave back the islands to Japan. The United States plays a role in the situation as per treaty and Washington confirms that the treaty covers the Senkaku islands.

In China, anti-Japan protests erupted in recent months with Japanese manufacturing companies and brands being vandalized and boycotted respectively. Chinese reception of Japanese products slowly declined along with consumer interest, leaving Japan a weaker export market as China is one of their largest clients. In Japan, protests against the Chinese broke out in the streets.

Analysts state that the situation can go worse with both countries in bad relations. China’s economy is slowing down and will need new kinds of economic and growth policies that would need Japan’s economic partnership. Japan’s exports, with the EU in a deep debt crisis, will require the help of Chinese consumers to outdo their other Asian economic rivals.

If a war breaks out between both countries, the U.S. can get involved as it is by treaty bound to come to Japan’s aid during such a crisis.

Gaza-Israel Truce Declared Today

Jul. 21 Political News no comments

What seemed to be a hopeless scenario for a cease-fire finally happened today as a cease-fire has been declared between Gaza and Israel. Following the attacks that happened eight days ago, which claimed 150 deaths from rocket volley exchange, a cease-fire was announced by a joint news conference in Cairo with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr in the evening. The cease-fire halts Israel’s defense force for any acts of aggression on Gaza.

The eight day conflict, which began with Israel forces successfully assassinating Hamas military head Ahmed al-Ja’abari on November 14 that began the exchange. Israel intended to defend their borders as Israelis died by the rocket volleys delivered by Gaza. The attack, both publicized online and featured photos of casualties and burning cities, sparked public outrage worldwide.

However, there were signs that the cease-fire is not strictly observed. Five rockets were fired from Gaza and landed on stray Israel ground, Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich says. Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon states that the total rockets fired after the cease fire were 12. Israel’s ambassador Michael Oren says that the cease-fire may take time to be effective and Israel will not deliver return fire.

The cease-fire was agreed upon that Hamas will be responsible for any attacks from Gaza whether conducted by the terrorist organization or any person inside Gaza.

The attacks sparked international controversy as Israel appeared to be deliberately attacking civilians based on their casualty count with Gaza having 137 dead, mostly civilians including women and children and 900 injured. Hacker collective Anonymous also declared war on Israel for trying to cut off Gaza’s communication lines.