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US and UK launch 3 new airstrikes on Yemen’s Hodeidah Airport

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Original article by Aseel Saleh republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

UK RAF aircraft. Photo: UK Ministry of Defense

The Ansar Allah-led Yemeni Armed Forces announced on Thursday July 18, that Hodeidah International Airport in western Yemen was hit by three airstrikes launched from American and British jet fighters. No further details were mentioned in the announcement which was broadcasted on Ansar Allah’s Almasirah news website.

Hodeidah airport was subjected to previous airstrikes by the United States and the United Kingdom on Friday, July 12. It has also been a vital target for the US and the UK for several months due to its location in Hodeidah Governorate, which overlooks the Red Sea. The airstrikes are believed to be launched to pressure Ansar Allah to stop its activities in the regional waters in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

The Yemeni Armed Forces have begun their activity in the Red Sea since the Israeli aggression began on Gaza in the aftermath of October 7 events, by launching scores of attacks on commercial ships connected with Israel in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

The airport was not the only location in Yemen to be targeted by US airstrikes during the course of the current week. “The US launched in its aggression on our country 13 raids this week in Hodeidah and Hajjah, but with no effect, neither in preventing our operations nor in limiting them,” Sayyed Abdulmalik al-Houthi, the leader of Yemen’s Ansar Allah, said during a televised speech on Thursday July 18.” We seek to increase operations targeting ships in Indian Ocean, Mediterranean Sea,” added Sayyed Abdulmalik.

The Yemeni Armed Forces’s attacks in the Red Sea have had a great impact on one of the most important maritime trade routes in the World, suspending the transit of vessels belonging to some of the biggest oil and shipping companies worldwide. Vessels had to sail additional thousands of miles around the continent of Africa instead of going through the Suez Canal due to the blockade of the Red Sea caused by Ansar Allah’s attacks.

According to the Arab Center Washington DC research organization, Ansar Allah’s attacks represent a new phenomenon in geo-economic conflict being launched by a non-state actor using asymmetric warfare in fighting conventional armed forces, and imposing targeted economic sanctions by attacking international shipment selectively. Shipping companies based in pro-Israel countries, and ships carrying cargos connected to these countries, have lost access to the Red Sea shortcut, namely the Suez Canal, between Asia and Europe and therefore endured additional cost and extended sail duration. Consequently cargo fees have witnessed an increase, including on routes that do not pass through the Red Sea.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) mentioned in a report published in March, 2024 that attacks on vessels in the Red Sea reduced traffic in the Suez Canal, through which about 15% of global maritime trade volume normally passes. The attacks obliged shipping companies to divert their ships around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa as an alternative route, increasing delivery times by an average of 10 days.

On the morning of Friday June 19, Ansar Allah claimed responsibility for a drone attack which struck Tel Aviv and killed one person.

Original article by Aseel Saleh republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

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‘This government needs to start to offer hope’

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/this-government-needs-to-start-to-offer-hope

The Stroud Red Band take part in a march at the Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival in Dorset, July 21, 2024

Union leaders demand Labour deliver ‘deep and ambitious change’ as thousands attend the Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival in Dorset

UNION leaders issued a stark warning today, urging the new Labour government to deliver real change as thousands lined the streets at the Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival in Dorset.

Trade unionists taking part in the annual procession marched to brass bands and chanted “Oh Jeremy Corbyn” and “Keir Starmer you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide.”

They then cheered Bibby Stockholm refugees as they took centre-stage alongside general secretaries Matt Wrack (FBU), Paul Nowak (TUC) and Sharon Graham (Unite).

TUC president Matt Wrack said Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer must raise expectation that Labour will use its overwhelming party majority to deliver the “significant change” the public wants to see.

“We want to see our rights restored, we want to see public services restored, we want to see homes rebuilt we want to see our wages rebuilt and restored after 14 years of attacks,” he said.

“I say this to the new Labour government as a Labour-affiliated union: this government needs to start to offer hope, because there are some stark warnings within that election.”

Noting the historically low vote share for Labour and high support for Reform in this month’s general election, he said: “What we cannot afford is further disillusionment within traditional Labour voters.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/this-government-needs-to-start-to-offer-hope

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Scrap two-child benefit cap to end child poverty, Labour told: ‘Good intentions are not enough’

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https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/two-child-benefit-cap-poverty-taskforce/

The new Labour government has promised an ‘ambitious plan’ to end child poverty, but it is yet to commit to ending the two-child limit

The new Labour government has launched a taskforce to work towards ending child poverty, but charities have warned that “good intentions are not enough” as they ramp up calls for the two-child benefit cap to be scrapped.

Keir Starmer’s party has promised an “ambitious” plan for ending child poverty, but it has so far refused to commit to removing the two-child limit, which is also referred to as the two-child benefit cap and has been described as “one of the cruellest welfare policies of the past decade”.

It means that families who have a third child or subsequent children born after April 2017 are denied up to £3,500 a year compared with those whose children were born sooner.

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Alison Garnham, chief executive of Child Poverty Action Group, said: “The taskforce is a welcome first step towards fulfilling the government’s pledge to bring in an ambitious child poverty strategy.  

“But with a record number of kids in poverty now, scrapping the two-child limit on benefits has to happen in the government’s first budget.  The two-child limit is driving up child poverty more than any other policy, children need it to be removed as a priority.”

https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/two-child-benefit-cap-poverty-taskforce/

Continue ReadingScrap two-child benefit cap to end child poverty, Labour told: ‘Good intentions are not enough’

Zarah Sultana: I call on Keir Starmer to suspend arms sales to Israel and end Britain’s complicity in the killing

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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/17/keir-starmer-suspend-arms-sales-israel-kings-speech-amendment

Destruction caused by an Israeli airstrike in Al-Maghazi refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, 15 July 2024. Photograph: Xinhua/REX/Shutterstock

International law is clear: we have an obligation to prevent genocide. That is why I have tabled an amendment to the king’s speech

Whenever I see the heart-wrenching aftermath of an Israeli airstrike in Gaza – a Palestinian mother cradling the lifeless body of her child; a refugee camp engulfed by fire – I ask myself the same question. Were British-made weapons used to inflict this horror?

Almost certainly, the answer at times is “yes”. Raining down hell on Gaza is Israel’s fleet of F-35 fighter jets, described by their manufacturer as the “most lethal fighter jet in the world”. Each jet is made, in part, in Britain, in a deal the Campaign Against the Arms Trade estimates to be worth £368m.

This is just one example of Israel’s use of British-made arms in its assault on Gaza. But after almost 10 months and 38,000 Palestinians killed, to their eternal shame the Conservatives left office refusing to suspend arms sales. This responsibility now falls to Labour.

Our new government must do the right thing and stop enabling Israeli war crimes. That is why today, as a backbench Labour MP, I am tabling an amendment to the king’s speech calling on colleagues to uphold international law and suspend arms sales to Israel.

There is no time to waste. This past week has been “one of the deadliest” since Israel’s assault began, according to Unrwa, the UN aid agency for Palestinians. We must urgently pull every lever and strain every sinew to pressure the Israeli government to abide by international law and end this assault. This is not simply a moral duty, but a legal one too.

Consider again the F-35. The Israeli military has armed these jets with 2,000lb bombs, explosives with a lethal radius up to 365m – an area the equivalent of 58 football pitches. A recent UN report identified these bombs as having been used in “emblematic” cases of indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks on Gaza that “led to high numbers of civilian fatalities and widespread destruction of civilian objects”. In lawyerly understatement, the UN said this raises “serious concerns under the laws of war”.

And this is where our arms export laws come in. As our new foreign secretary, David Lammy, himself said a few months ago: “The law is clear. British arms licences cannot be granted if there is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law.” Without doubt this threshold has been met, hence why UN experts have called for arms exports to Israel to immediately stop.

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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/jul/17/keir-starmer-suspend-arms-sales-israel-kings-speech-amendment

Continue ReadingZarah Sultana: I call on Keir Starmer to suspend arms sales to Israel and end Britain’s complicity in the killing

Activists arrested in draconian crackdown ahead of planned march to parliament

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/activists-preemptively-arrested-draconian-crackdown-ahead-march-parliament

Police carry off a Youth Demand protester during a demonstration against the state opening of parliament, July 17, 2024 Photo: Youth Demand

POLICE stormed a cafe and arrested activists before they had even begun marching today in the latest crackdown on the right to protest.

The Youth Demand activists were sipping their morning coffees in a branch of Leon in central London, ahead of a peaceful pro-Palestine demonstration planned by the group.

The activists were due to march towards Parliament, where the state opening was taking place, to urge the new government to suspend arms to Israel and halt all oil and gas licences granted since 2021.

Ten activists were arrested in the cafe for “conspiracy to commit public nuisance.”

“How is this more harmful than the people arming Israel?” one of the activists shouted as they were dragged away by police.

Shortly after, in Victoria Embankment, another group of activists were kettled in by police before the march commenced. Dozens more were arrested on the same charge.

Among those arrested was Violet Powell, a 23-year-old student.

She said: “Our leaders hide behind pomp and ceremony while a genocide is going on, and our new government are refusing to take action beyond making meaningless platitudes.

“Young people will not allow yet another government to continue ‘business as usual,’ when that business is killing countless people.”

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/activists-preemptively-arrested-draconian-crackdown-ahead-march-parliament

Continue ReadingActivists arrested in draconian crackdown ahead of planned march to parliament