Tag Archives: Great Britain

Britain, edging towards Trump, scolds Kerry over Israel

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry delivers remarks on Middle East peace at the Department of State in Washington

By Guy Faulconbridge and Kate Holton

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain scolded U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry for describing the Israeli government as the most right-wing in Israeli history, a move that aligns Prime Minister Theresa May more closely with President-elect Donald Trump.

After U.S. President Barack Obama enraged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by refusing to veto a UN Security Council resolution demanding an end to Israeli settlement building, Kerry’s public rebuke of Israel has unsettled some allies such as Britain.

Amid one of the United States’ sharpest confrontations with Israel since the 1956 Suez crisis, Kerry said in a speech that Israel jeopardizeds hopes of peace in the Middle East by building settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

While Britain voted for the UN resolution that so angered Netanyahu and says that settlements in the occupied territories are illegal, a spokesman for May said that it was clear that the settlements were far from the only problem in the conflict.

In an unusually sharp public rebuke of Obama’s top diplomat, May’s spokesman said that Israel had coped for too long with the threat of terrorism and that focusing only on the settlements was not the best way to achieve peace between Jew and Arab.

London also took particular issue with Kerry’s description of Netanyahu’s coalition as “the most right-wing in Israeli history, with an agenda driven by its most extreme elements.”

“We do not believe that it is appropriate to attack the composition of the democratically-elected government of an ally,” May’s spokesman said when asked about Kerry 70-minute speech in the State Department’s auditorium.

The U.S. State Department said it was surprised by the remarks from May’s office and said Kerry’s comments were in line with Britain’s own policy. It pointedly also thanked Germany, France, Canada, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates for support.

TRUMP AND MAY?

Britain has long cherished its so-called “special relationship” with the United States as a central pillar of its foreign policy, but May has struggled to build relations with Trump’s transition team.

Following his election, Trump spoke to nine other world leaders before he spoke to May while he caused astonishment in London when he suggested that Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage should be Britain’s ambassador to Washington.

By openly criticising Kerry, who will leave office in just weeks, May moves British policy closer to Trump than its other European allies such as Germany and France.

Trump has denounced the Obama administration’s treatment of Israel and promised to change course when he is sworn in on Jan. 20.

“We cannot continue to let Israel be treated with such total disdain and disrespect. They used to have a great friend in the U.S., but not anymore,” Trump said in a series of tweets. “Stay strong Israel, January 20th is fast approaching!”

Germany’s foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, has come out in favour of the Kerry speech while France holds a Middle East conference next month in Paris.

But Australia has distanced itself from Obama’s stance on Israel, ABC reported.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he was convinced peace with Israel was achievable but demanded that Israel halt settlement building before talks restarted.

ISRAEL

Netanyahu has been witheringly critical of Kerry’s speech. In a statement released shortly after it was delivered, Netanyahu accused Kerry of bias and said Israel did not need to be lectured to by foreign leaders.

Netanyahu said he looked forward to working with Trump.

Kerry “obsessively dealt with settlements”, Netanyahu said in his response, and barely touched “the root of the conflict – Palestinian opposition to a Jewish state in any boundaries.”

In Israel, Kerry’s speech has played into the hands of Israel’s far-right national-religious movement, led by Naftali Bennett, the education minister, who is in Netanyahu’s cabinet but very critical of Netanyahu and is trying to position himself as a future potential leader.

Bennett’s party, Jewish Home, wants to annexe large parts of the West Bank and openly opposes the creation of a Palestinian state. He is advocating for more settlements and the legalisation of outpost settlements, which even the Israeli government considers illegal.

“This [Obama] administation’s policy has left the Middle East up in flames,” Bennett said after Kerry’s speech. “The one free democracy has been thrown under the bus – and that’s Israel.”

(Additional reporting by Luke Baker; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Record number of children arrested for terrorism offenses in UK

LONDON (Reuters) – British police arrested a record number of children for terrorism offenses last year and the number of women detained also soared, official figures showed on Thursday.

While the total number of terrorism-related arrests fell, 16 children aged under 18 were held in 2015, up from 10 the year before and the highest number ever recorded, according to figures from the Home Office (interior ministry).

Meanwhile 45 women were detained on suspicion of terrorism crimes – a 15 percent increase on the previous year – and a continuation of a recent upward trend.

In total, there were 280 terrorism-related arrests, a decrease of 3 percent from 2015 when there were 289.

“The overall fall in terrorism-related arrests was driven by a fall in the number of arrests for domestic terrorism, which decreased to 15 in the year ending December 2015 compared with 28 in the previous year,” the Home Office said.

Arrests for international-related terrorism increased by three percent.

Britain is on its second-highest threat level, meaning an attack is considered highly likely.

Earlier this month, Britain’s most senior anti-terrorism officer said Islamic State fighters wanted to carry out “enormous and spectacular” attacks against Britain and the Western lifestyle in general in repeats of last November’s Paris attacks which left 130 people dead.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Stephen Addison)

Islamic State looking for ‘spectacular’ attacks, UK police say

LONDON (Reuters) – Islamic State fighters want to carry out “enormous and spectacular” attacks against Britain and the Western lifestyle in general, Britain’s most senior anti-terrorism officer said on Monday.

London Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley said the threat from the group which has taken over large parts of Syria and Iraq was evolving, and that it was keen to repeat elsewhere incidents such as last year’s Paris shootings and suicide attacks that killed 130 people.

“What we are now seeing in recent months … is the broadening of that threat, more plans to attack Western lifestyle … going from that narrow focus on police and military and symbols of the state to something much broader,” Rowley told reporters.

“You see a terrorist group that has big ambitions for enormous and spectacular attacks, not just the types that we’ve seen foiled to date.”

British security chiefs have previously warned that the biggest threat posed by the group was the radicalization of young Britons over the internet and the danger posed by those who joined the fighting in Syria and Iraq to return home to carry out attacks.

About 800 British citizens are thought to have traveled to Syria, many to join Islamic State (IS), since the outbreak of civil war.

Rowley said recent arrests showed that IS was adopting a different methodology in trying to get fighters into northern Europe who had weapons and paramilitary training.

“Terrorist groups have always wanted to do the grand and the more spectacular attack because it gets more impact,” he said.

He said British police had made more counter-terrorism arrests in 2015 than in any previous year including a marked number of women and those aged under 20.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Stephen Addison)

UK finance minister warns of ‘dangerous cocktail’ of threats for 2016

By David Milliken

LONDON (Reuters) – Finance minister George Osborne said on Thursday that Britain’s economy was not immune from a “dangerous cocktail” of threats from abroad, and urged against complacency after two years of solid growth.

Osborne — whom Prime Minister David Cameron has named as a possible successor — said in a new year’s message that Britain faced headwinds from slower growth in China, Brazil and Russia as well as tensions in the Middle East.

“The economy has slipped down the list of many people’s everyday concerns. But the biggest risk is that people think that it’s ‘job done’,” Osborne said.

Britain has been the fastest growing of its peers for the past couple of years, but Cameron and Osborne regularly focus on the danger of economic mismanagement. Cameron spoke of “red warning lights” from the world economy in late 2014.

Since becoming finance minister in 2010, Osborne has made reducing Britain’s large budget deficit his priority, and more than halved it to just under 5 percent of gross domestic product during his first five years in office.

In the run-up to May 2015’s national election, Osborne said he wanted Britain to run a budget surplus in normal economic times, a goal the opposition Labour Party and many economists think is too stringent and risks hurting growth.

Public borrowing during the current financial year has come in above forecasts, raising doubts about whether Osborne will meet his most immediate fiscal goals.

Business surveys have also suggested the outlook for economic growth is darker than thought a few months ago. The British Chambers of Commerce said on Thursday that manufacturing exports had stagnated for the first time since 2009.

“This year opens with a dangerous cocktail of new threats,” Osborne said. “We are only seven days into the New Year, and already we’ve had worrying news about stock market falls around the world, the slowdown in China (and) deep problems in Brazil and in Russia.”

While a big fall in oil prices was good for most British consumers and businesses, it would hurt oil and gas output and investors who had lent to the sector, he said. Tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran were also a worry.

Osborne made no mention of the referendum on European Union membership which Cameron has promised to hold before the end of 2017 but which many analysts expect to take place as early as June. They warn it could cause businesses to delay investment.

(Reporting by David Milliken; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)

British, U.S. Governments Warn of Potential Christmas Threat in Beijing

The British and United States governments are warning their citizens about possible threats against Westerners in China’s capital city.

The Beijing embassies of those two counties issued nearly identical advisories on Thursday, saying they received word that Westerners could be targeted in the city’s Sanlitun district “on or around Christmas Day.” The governments urged their citizens to be vigilant.

Sanlitun is a busy shopping and entertainment district.

Beijing police issued a yellow security alert, according to a post on one of its social media pages. The post says that more people will visit hotels, restaurants, malls and entertainment venues during the holiday season, and police will ensure that people remain secure.

China’s official Xinhua news agency reported that a yellow security alert is the second-lowest warning level on a four-tier system.

Neither the British nor the United States government mentioned the nature of the threat, though other countries issued similar warnings.

Global Affairs Canada, while not specifically mentioning Beijing or issuing any kind of nationwide travel advisory, said its citizens “should exercise a high degree of caution due to the occurrence of isolated acts of violence, including bombings and protests” in China.

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told its citizens about the United States government’s warning and said “possible road closures and checks” could impact travel in Sanlitun. The French embassy also shared the United States’ information with its citizens.

Great Britain Begins Airstrikes Against ISIS in Syria

Great Britain jets began carrying out airstrikes against Islamic State interests in Syria on Thursday, mere hours after lawmakers approved a plan to expand their military’s actions.

The fighter jets successfully attacked an ISIS-controlled oil field about 35 miles inside the country’s eastern border with Iraq, the country’s Ministry of Defense said in a news release.

The jets targeted six specific points within the Omar oil field, which is one of the Islamic State’s most significant holdings. It accounts for more than 10 percent of the potential oil income for the terrorist group, which is known as Daesh in some circles.

“Carefully selected elements of the oilfield infrastructure were targeted, ensuring the strikes will have a significant impact on Daesh’s ability to extract the oil to fund their terrorism,” Ministry of Defense officials said in the news release.

The ministry said the aircraft’s pilots ensured there were no civilians near the targets.

According to the BBC, the bombings came just a few hours after members of British parliament voted 397-223 to back their prime minister’s plan to approve carrying out airstrikes in Syria. Previously, Great Britain had only been executing airstrikes in Iraq. Those began last year.

But French leaders had asked for more help in the fight against ISIS after gunmen and suicide bombers killed 130 people during the Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris, Reuters reported.

British PM: “Christian Message Is the Bedrock of a Good Society”

The prime minster of Great Britain has written an Easter message where he called Christianity the “bedrock of a good society.”

David Cameron wrote the article for Premier Christianity that says all people, regardless of their faith, could celebrate the values of Easter: compassion, forgiveness, kindness, hard work and responsibility.

“Whether or not we’re members of the Church of England, ‘Love thy neighbour’ is a doctrine we can all apply to our lives – at school, at work, at home and with our families. A sense of compassion is the centre piece of a good community,” Cameron wrote.

Cameron admitted he’s not a “model church-going, God-fearing Christian” but that he relies strongly on his faith to guide him and his decisions for the nation.

The message from the PM was not without critics, many of whom pointed out the upcoming elections and wondered if the message was an attempt to sway voters.

“What’s ironic here is that the prime minister, through trying to convey he is not afraid to call himself Christian, has actually communicated that he seems terrified to identify as one. The prime minister is entitled to hold whatever religious beliefs he wants and should stand by them rather than cynically trying to woo the Christian vote ahead of May 7,” wrote an associate editor of the Catholic Herald.

Britain’s Lower House Approves Three Parent Babies

Great Britain is now the first country in the world to approve genetically modified children with DNA from three parents.

The vote in the House of Commons was 328 in favor and 128 against the process that scientists say would stop genetic diseases from being passed from a mother to the child.  The pro-genetic modification crowd said it was a “light at the end of a dark tunnel” for many families.

The bill now moves to the House of Lords for approval.  If the House of Lords approve the measure the first genetically modified babies could be born in 2016.  Estimates say 150 modified babies could be born each year.

Prime Minister David Cameron tried to quell criticism of the process.

“We’re not playing god here, we’re just making sure that two parents who want a healthy baby can have one,” the PM said.

Critics were quick to point out no one can know the future of this process.

“This will be passed down generations, the implications of this simply cannot be predicted,” MP Fiona Bruce said.  “But one thing is for sure, once this alteration has taken place, as someone has said, once the gene is out of the bottle, once these procedures that we’re asked to authorize today go ahead, there will be no going back for society.”

Olympic Gymnast Rejects Doctors Call To Abort Triplets

A former Olympic gymnast for Great Britain is refusing doctors demands that she abort her triplets because of “potential health risks” to the babies.

35-year-old Jaime Halsey and her husband were thrilled in October to find they were going to be parents of triplets.  Doctors then began to pressure them because of fears the babies would suffer from IUGR: Intrauterine Growth Restriction.

“We had our first scan in Northampton at 12 weeks and were immediately referred to specialists at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford,” she told the Northampton Chronicle. “They told us one of the twins is 25 percent smaller than the other and there’s a massive risk of further growth restrictions.”

“I also risk putting my body under three times the strain to keep them healthy,” she explained, “so they advised the termination.”

Halsey says that she flatly rejected the call of the doctors to abort two of the babies to let the third live.

“Everything went well at the last scan and all three babies are growing well,” Mr. Halsey told reporters. “The one twin remains smaller, but all three are extremely active, which is good news.”

Halsey was the UK’s first female to compete in trampoline when she appeared in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.

Hurricane Gonzalo Aiming For Great Britain

Hurricane Gonzalo, which reeked havoc on Bermuda last week, has continued to move through the Atlantic Ocean and is taking aim at Great Britain.

Great Britain is just over 3,400 miles away from Bermuda.

Gonzalo is expected to make landfall with 75 mile per hour winds and forecasters say it likely will not lose much strength when it heads inland.  Massive disruption to travel and public transportation.

“There will be strengthening winds and rain over Ireland in the middle of the evening as the storm comes in from the Atlantic,” forecaster Sean Penston said.  “It will reach north-western parts of Britain late in the evening, with gusts up to 45mph over north-western parts of Scotland by midnight, but these will increase to gusts up to 75mph during the night.”

The Met Office issued a “yellow warning.”

“Fallen leaves impeding drainage increases the risk of surface water affecting roads, while some damage to trees is possible, given that many are still in full leaf.”

Gonzalo caused widespread damage, blackouts and flooding when it hammered Bermuda last week.