A huge scandal has broken out in the US after the New York Times (NYT), one of the United States’ leading newspapers, was found to have run a major front-page story smearing Palestinian resistance fighters as using ‘systematic’ use of sexual violence co-written by an Israeli film-maker with no journalism background who served as a in Israeli military intelligence – and had ‘liked’ social media posts featuring racism and violence toward Palestinians.
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Schwartz reportedly ‘liked’ a post that talked about turning Gaza ‘into a slaughterhouse’ including the summary execution of prisoners and ‘violat[ing] any norm’:
THE “bullied” Commons Speaker has “effectively lied” to Parliament and public, according to the SNP’s Westminster leader.
Stephen Flynn MP made the remarks on BBC Radio Scotland as he discussed the fallout of the chaotic opposition day debate when Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle effectively prevented voting on the SNP’s ceasefire motion.
Instead the house was left to accept or reject a Labour amendment, which omitted an SNP reference to “collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”
Mr Flynn said: “He was obviously bullied into a position last week by the leader of the Labour Party, Sir Keir Starmer, following a private conversation in the back rooms of Westminster.”
Responding to Sir Keir and Sir Lindsay’s denials of collusion, Mr Flynn added: “That’s like me denying that I’m a bald man — it would just defy reality and logic.
“Everyone on Westminster’s estate knows what happened last week.”
UK’s largest water company also calls for dividend payouts and lower fines for breaches to avoid taxpayer bailout
Thames Water has been lobbying the government and regulators to let it increase bills by 40%, pay lower fines for breaches and keep paying out dividends as part of efforts to avert a taxpayer bailout, according to a report.
The UK’s largest water company was trying to strike a deal with the watchdog Ofwat that would give it permission to charge customers more to avoid having to be taken over by court-appointed special administrators, the Financial Times reported.
That plan would give Thames Water permission to increase bills by 40% by 2030, while also offering more leniency around regulator fines and rules around the dividends it can pay to shareholders.
It comes as the company, which serves more than 15m households, attempts to deal with a debt pile of £14bn and widespread criticism over sewage dumping.
Green Party Co-leader Adrian Ramsay. Wikipedia CC.
The Green Party has repeated calls for water companies to be brought into public ownership in response to the latest State of Our Rivers report. This has found not a single waterway in England is in good overall health. The Rivers Trust study reveals that the impact of pollution from treated and untreated sewage and agricultural and industrial runoff means rivers are in a worse condition than ever.
Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay said:
“The state of our rivers is a national scandal. Despite public outcry over our polluted waterways and coastline the latest State of Our Rivers report shows things haven’t improved since the last report in 2021.
“For too long water companies and consecutive governments have failed to act. Taking our water companies into public ownership, so they work for people, not profit, will be a clear Green Party manifesto commitment.
“For decades, money that should have been invested in improved infrastructure has been siphoned off to water company executives and shareholders. It’s time to flush this failed experiment with privatisation down the drain and for a service as vital as water and sewage to be run for the public good.
“It should also be acknowledged that agricultural pollution contributes to 62% of waterways in England failing to meet good standards. We need to learn from the many innovative farmers who are using regenerative and organic farming methods that prevent chemical runoff into rivers.
“Our rivers should be havens for wildlife and biodiversity and healthy places for people to enjoy. In too many cases they more closely resemble open sewers. Green MPs will make cleaning up our act on water pollution a key priority.”
A Palestinian stands on top of a mosque destroyed in an Israeli strike in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024.
LABOUR councillors in two London boroughs have been suspended and face disciplinary action for backing calls for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Lambeth Council’s Labour administration suspended four of its councillors today, including Jewish councillor Martin Abrams and a Hindu representative, for supporting a motion calling for a ceasefire.
Mr Abrams is an outspoken Jewish pro-Palestinian activist and spokesman for the left-wing Momentum campaign group.
He said: “My vote for the ceasefire motion was a matter of conscience for me.
“My great grandparents were persecuted and driven from Eastern Europe over 100 years ago in the pogroms of Kiev and came to this country as refugees with nothing, leaving and losing many close family in the process.
“It is exactly this history of persecution of my close ancestors in Europe over the ages that meant I was brought up to always stand with the oppressed and against oppression and when I say never again, I mean never again: for everybody.”
A Momentum spokesperson said:“This is an outrageous attack on a Jewish Labour councillor for having the temerity to stand up for the people of Gaza.
