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“My working assumption is we’ll have a general election in the second half of this year and in the meantime I’ve got lots that I want to get on with,” he said during a visit to Nottinghamshire.
While he refused to rule out calling a May election, as has been predicted by senior Labour figures, Sunak repeated his intention to hold it in the second part of the year.
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Original article by JULIA CONLEY republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
South Africa is no longer alone in bringing its claim of genocide by the Israeli government to the International Court of Justice, following announcements from the Turkish Foreign Ministry and the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that they support the case.
Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oncu Keceli said Wednesday that those responsible for the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza since October 7 “must be held accountable before international law.”
“Israel’s murder of more than 22,000 Palestinian civilians, the majority of whom were women and children, in Gaza for nearly three months should not go unpunished in any way,” Keceli said. “We hope that the process will be completed as soon as possible.”
The ICJ is scheduled to hear the case on January 11-12. Israeli representatives are expected to appear at the hearing.
International rights groups issued a call on Wednesday for other countries to file Declarations of Intervention at the court, whose authority Israel recognizes, to bolster South Africa’s case.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said it expects “that within the framework of this application, the ICJ will decide on provisional measures involving those to stop Israel’s attacks on Gaza.”
The Malaysia Ministry of Foreign Affairs said late Tuesday that it “welcomes the application by South Africa instituting proceedings against Israel… concerning the violations by Israel of its obligations under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in relation to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”
A spokesperson for the South African Foreign Ministry told The Jerusalem Post that it expects other countries to soon follow Turkey and Malaysia’s lead and back its case.
In its 84-page complaint, South Africa detailed the genocidal intent that’s been displayed in numerous public statements by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Isaac Herzog, and other top officials, as well as Israel’s bombardment of civilian targets and forced displacement of civilians.
Original article by JULIA CONLEY republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
Original article by JESSICA CORBETT republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
Defenders of Palestinian rights on Wednesday organized a campout protest at a General Dynamics factory in the city of Saco, Maine to pressure the weapons giant to “stop arming Israel’s genocide in Gaza.”
The demonstrators, led by the Maine Coalition for Palestine, arrived at the roadway leading into the factory before dawn in an effort to prevent workers from entering the facility.
“Genocide in Gaza is currently supported by General Dynamics,” said organizer Lisa Savage of Solon in a statement. “It supplies Israel with the artillery ammunition and bombs used to kill and maim civilians and children in Gaza—which is illegal collective punishment.”
Since the Hamas-led attack that set off the war on October 7, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have killed more than 22,000 Palestinians in Gaza, injured over 57,000 more, and devastated civilian infrastructure including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques. A growing number of world leaders and legal scholars have accused Israel of genocide.
General Dynamics—which is headquartered in Virginia but has locations across the United States and around the world—is among a few dozen companies identified in an American Friends Service Committee database as aiding the U.S.-backed Israeli war effort with 155mm caliber artillery shells and the metal bodies of the MK-80 bomb series.
“Since October, more than 5,000 of the 500-lb MK-82 bombs—some made in Saco—have been given to Israel by the U.S.,” said Yusuf Ebrahim, an Iraqi American physician who participated in the protest. “These munitions play a particularly direct role in the ongoing criminal genocide of Palestinians by the IDF, targeting densely populated areas such as the Jabalia refugee camp.”
“Why do we tolerate this massive bomb factory here in Maine, exploiting the toils of local workers to aid with the intentional mass murder and displacement of innocent children and families in Palestine?” Ebrahim continued. “Meanwhile, many local community members suffer from hunger and housing insecurity and cannot afford medical care.”
Members of the Maine Coalition for Palestine include the groups Healthcare Workers for Palestine, the Maine Natural Guard, the Maine Party for Socialism & Liberation, Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights, Portland CONFRONT, and Students for Justice in Palestine from college campuses in the state.
The coalition’s Wednesday action came after a demonstration last month that drew more than 100 protesters to Bath Iron Works, a General Dynamics subsidiary that builds ships for the U.S. military.
The Bangor Daily News reported that Cecil Carey of Skowhegan, a teacher who spoke at the December event, said the group was protesting in Bath because the U.S. government has “got money for war but can’t feed the poor.”
“I do not want my tax dollars going to bomb people in the Middle East,” Carey said. “I want my tax dollars helping my students and their families.”
The United States gives Israel $3.8 billion in annual military aid each year and U.S. President Joe Biden has responded to the Israeli assault on Gaza by asking federal lawmakers for an additional $14.3 billion package that is still under consideration. Since the war began, the Biden administration has also twice bypassed Congress to enable arms sales to Israel.
Original article by JESSICA CORBETT republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
Founder of Reform UK, Nigel Farage, failed to turn up to his party’s election campaign launch today, as the current leader Richard Tice announced Farage was ‘assessing’ his return to the far-right political party.
Farage has been predicted to make a comeback to Reform in a lead role heading its election campaign. However he was a no-show at the news conference held today ahead of the 2024 election which offered an insight into the party’s plans this year.
Founded as the Brexit Party and renamed Reform UK in 2020, the anti-immigration fringe group currently holds no seats in parliament, and used the conference to launched an attack against ‘Starmergeddon’ and to capitalise on discontent with the Tory Party.
Trumping populist narratives, multi-millionaire Reform leader, Richard Tice, claimed to represent the ‘only party of the working people’. However commentators have said the privately education, asset management executive, property developer may struggle to prove that one.
Tice said Farage was the “master of political timing” as he seemed to beg Farage for his help to “save Britain”- “the more help Nigel is able to give frankly the better”.
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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/sunak-accused-having-‘fingers-ears’-planet-burns
CLIMATE campaigners slammed Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for having “fingers in his ears” on environmental issues today as new data revealed record-breaking temperatures in Britain.
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A government spokesperson said the Tories are “committed” to meeting their net zero targets, and boasted that they were “world leaders in cutting emissions.”
But Greenpeace UK policy director Doug Parr said that Mr Sunak “has his fingers in his ears” despite “climate alarm bells ringing” following back-to-back years of record temperatures.
He said: “There is massive voter support for climate action and you’d think this news would call for an emergency response from the UK government — a plan to cut temperature-rising emissions further and faster.
“But our Prime Minister’s newest plans consist of ramping up oil and gas drilling in the North Sea and delaying key policies that would slash emissions from cars and housing — or scrapping them altogether.
“Unless Sunak reverses these decisions and delivers the kind of bold policies needed to tackle the climate crisis, his likely short premiership will be marked as one of climate failure.”
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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/sunak-accused-having-‘fingers-ears’-planet-burns
