LONDON: The decision by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to leave D-Day commemorations in northern France early has caused a political storm that threatens to derail his Conservative Party’s general election campaign.
Though Sunak apologized for not attending Thursday’s final commemoration on Omaha Beach in Normandy, his critics said the decision showed disrespect to the veterans and diminished the UK’s international standing. Other world leaders including President Joe Biden, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky were all present.
Keir Starmer, the leader of the main opposition Labour Party, remained to the end and said it was up to Sunak “to answer for his choice” to skip the D-Day event.
With opinion polls giving Labour a commanding lead ahead of the election on July 4, Sunak’s gaffe has raised concerns that the Conservatives’ support may come under further pressure over coming days.
Campaign gaffes are regular features of British elections. Some have more impact than others.
Here are a few that have lit up campaigns in recent decades:
1974
Following a difficult few years in government that saw oil prices quadruple following the Yom Kippur war between Israel and Arab nations and the miners’ strike causing widespread economic pain, then Conservative Prime Minister Ted Heath called a general election a year earlier than necessary for February 1974.
On explaining his decision to hold the election in the midst of a winter when power was being rationed, Heath said that he sought a mandate from the British people to rein in the power of trade unions. His question to the public was “Who governs Britain?” Ultimately, the British people decided it wasn’t Heath, and Labour’s Harold Wilson returned as prime minister.
1983
Following the Falklands War in 1982 in which British forces sailed thousands of miles to the South Atlantic to expel invading Argentine troops, Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was riding high and was widely expected to win the general election she called for June 1983.
Her victory in the election became more or less assured after Labour, which had been riven with divisions over the previous few years, published an election manifesto that one moderate member of the party described as “the longest suicide note in history.” The manifesto advocated an array of radical left-wing policies to be funded by higher taxes. It also called for unilateral nuclear disarmament and withdrawal from what was then the European Economic Community — a policy that the Conservatives decades later would embrace.
Thatcher won a landslide and remained in power until 1990 when she was ousted by lawmakers in her own party.
1992
After 1983’s big defeat, the Labour Party sought, under the leadership of Neil Kinnock, to move back to the center ground, where historically elections are won.
By the time the election was called for April 1992 by John Major, who replaced Thatcher, Labour was contending again. With a week or so to go before the elections, opinion polls were moving in favor of Labour, if not quite winning then becoming the biggest party.
A rally was held in Sheffield, a city in the north of England, and optimism was high. It was an event unlike anything seen before in the UK — more like an event seen in US presidential elections.
Kinnock was clearly caught up with the buoyant mood and started shouting a phrase that sounded like “We’re alright!” or “Well alright” several times.
Whatever he actually said, his perceived overconfidence was widely perceived to be one of the reasons why Labour fell way short and the Conservatives won a fourth straight election.
2001
With hindsight, this was one of the most boring postwar elections, with Tony Blair’s Labour Party widely expected to be re-elected by a big margin, akin to the one it achieved four years earlier.
The election took place a month later than Blair had planned in June 2001 as a result of an outbreak of foot and mouth disease. Nothing else surprising happened, until Blair’s deputy John Prescott punched a man with a mullet hairdo after he had thrown an egg at him on the campaign trail.
The incident threatened to derail Labour’s campaign, but Blair managed to defuse its impact at the following morning’s press conference. “John is John,” he said, to widespread laughter among the journalists present.
2010
Blair’s successor Gordon Brown didn’t have his predecessor’s natural communications skills and that was particularly evident in the election campaign of 2010. Brown’s ratings — and Labour’s — had collapsed in the wake of the global financial crisis and the party, in power since 1997, faced losing to the Conservatives.
With barely a week to go to the May election, 65-year-old Gillian Duffy quizzed Brown while he was canvassing over the state of the economy and the party’s immigration policies.
Following her interrogation and still wired up to Sky News when he got into his car, Brown told his advisers that the meeting was a “disaster” and that she was “just a bigoted woman.”
The gaffe dominated the rest of the campaign and there was no way back for Labour, though the Conservatives failed to win an outright majority and David Cameron had to enter into a coalition arrangement with the smaller Liberal Democrats.
2017
Theresa May, who succeeded Cameron after he resigned following Britain’s vote to leave the European Union in a referendum in June 2016, sought to capitalize on the Conservative Party’s big opinion poll lead and called an early general election for June 2017.
Her hope was that a big majority would help her face down critics — both within her ranks and the opposition — in the upcoming Brexit discussions with the EU.
However, her proposal to change the way retirees pay for long-term care was criticized across the political spectrum and was quickly dubbed the “dementia tax.” May was forced to make an embarrassing partial reversal.
Rather than increase the modest majority that Cameron had secured in the 2015 general election, she lost it. Her premiership never recovered and she was replaced by Boris Johnson two years later.
Rishi Sunak’s D-Day departure is just the latest in a long line of gaffes in UK election campaigns
https://arab.news/b6jtf
Rishi Sunak’s D-Day departure is just the latest in a long line of gaffes in UK election campaigns
- Sunak apologized for not attending Thursday’s final commemoration on Omaha Beach in Normandy
- His critics said the decision showed disrespect to the veterans and diminished the UK’s international standing
US judge stops deportation of Boulder firebombing suspect's Egyptian family
- Immigration officials seek to deport the wife and five children of suspect Mohamed Sabry Soliman
- Attorneys for the family argue: “It is patently unlawful to punish individuals for the crimes of their relatives”
BOULDER, Colorado: A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the government to immediately halt deportation proceedings against the family of a man charged in the firebombing attack in Boulder, Colorado, to ensure the protection of the family’s constitutional rights.
US District Judge Gordon P. Gallagher granted a request from the wife and five children of Mohamed Sabry Soliman, who are Egyptian, to block their deportation. US immigration officials took the family into custody Tuesday.
“The court finds that deportation without process could work irreparable harm and an order must issue without notice due to the urgency this situation presents,” Gallagher wrote.
Soliman, 45, has been charged with a federal hate crime and state counts of attempted murder in the attack in downtown Boulder on Sunday. Witnesses say he threw two Molotov cocktails at a group demonstrating for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza, and he confessed to the attack in custody.
His family members have not been charged.
Federal authorities have said Soliman has been living in the US illegally, and US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said earlier Wednesday that the family was being processed for removal. It’s rare that a criminal suspect’s family members are detained and threatened with deportation.
“It is patently unlawful to punish individuals for the crimes of their relatives,” attorneys for the family wrote in the lawsuit.
Eric Lee, one of the attorney’s representing the family, said efforts to deport them should not happen in a democracy.
“The punishment of a four-year-old child for something their parent allegedly did, who also has a presumption of innocence, is something that should outrage Americans regardless of their citizenship status,” he said.
Emails, a text and a telephone call seeking comment from spokespeople for the Department of Homeland Security and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Washington and Colorado have not been returned.
Soliman’s wife, Hayam El Gamal, 18-year-old daughter, two minor sons and two minor daughters all are Egyptian citizens, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement. They were being held at an immigration detention center in Texas, Lee said.
“We are investigating to what extent his family knew about this heinous attack, if they had knowledge of it, or if they provided support to it,” Noem said in a statement.
Noem also said federal authorities would immediately crack down on people who overstay their visas, following the Boulder attack.
Soliman told authorities that no one, including his family, knew about his planned attack, according to court documents. Soliman’s wife said she was “shocked” to learn her husband had been arrested in the attack, according to the lawsuit.
Victims increase to 15 people and a dog
Earlier Wednesday, authorities raised the number of people injured in the attack from 12 to 15, plus a dog.
Boulder County officials said in a news release that the victims include eight women and seven men ranging in age from 25 to 88. The Associated Press on Wednesday sent an email to prosecutors seeking more details on the newly identified victims.
Soliman had planned to kill all of the roughly 20 participants in Sunday’s demonstration at the popular Pearl Street pedestrian mall, but he threw just two of his 18 Molotov cocktails while yelling “Free Palestine,” police said. Soliman didn’t carry out his full plan “because he got scared and had never hurt anyone before,” police wrote in an affidavit.
According to an FBI affidavit, Soliman told police he was driven by a desire “to kill all Zionist people” — a reference to the movement to establish and protect a Jewish state in Israel. Authorities said he expressed no remorse about the attack.
A vigil is scheduled for Wednesday evening at the local Jewish Community Center.
The family’s immigration status
Before moving to Colorado Springs three years ago, Soliman spent 17 years in Kuwait, according to court documents.
Soliman arrived in the US in August 2022 on a tourist visa that expired in February 2023, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a post on X. She said Soliman filed for asylum in September 2022 and was granted a work authorization in March 2023, but that has also expired.
Hundreds of thousands of people overstay their visas each year in the United States, according to Department of Homeland Security reports.
Soliman’s wife was born in Saudi Arabia and is an Egyptian national, according to her lawsuit. She is a network engineer and has a pending EB-2 visa, which is available to professionals with advanced degrees, the suit said. She and her children all are listed as dependents on Soliman’s asylum application.
A newspaper in Colorado Springs profiled one of Soliman’s children in April, noting the family’s journey from Egypt to Kuwait and then to the US It said after initially struggling in school, his daughter landed academic honors and volunteered at a local hospital.
The case against Soliman
Soliman told authorities that he had been planning the attack for a year and was waiting for his daughter to graduate before carrying it out, the affidavit said.
Soliman is being held in a county jail on a $10 million cash bond and is scheduled to make an appearance in state court on Thursday. His attorney, Kathryn Herold, declined to comment after a state court hearing Monday. Public defenders’ policy prohibits speaking to the media.
The attack unfolded against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war, which has contributed to a spike in antisemitic violence in the United States. It happened at the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot and barely a week after a man who also yelled “Free Palestine” was charged with fatally shooting two Israeli Embassy staffers outside a Jewish museum in Washington.
Trump administration may rescind $4 billion for California High-Speed Rail project
- One key issue cited is that California has not identified $7 billion in additional funding needed to build an initial 171-mile segment between Merced and Bakersfield, California
WASHINGTON: The Trump administration said Wednesday there is no viable path forward for California’s High-Speed Rail project and warned it may rescind $4 billion in government funding in the coming weeks.
The US Transportation Department released a 315-page report from the Federal Railroad Administration that cited missed deadlines, budget shortfalls and questionable ridership projections. One key issue cited is that California has not identified $7 billion in additional funding needed to build an initial 171-mile segment between Merced and Bakersfield, California.
USDOT gave California until mid-July to respond and then the administration could terminate the grants. Trump said last month the US government would not pay for the project.
The FRA report Wednesday said California had “conned the taxpayer out of its $4 billion investment, with no viable plan to deliver even that partial segment on time.”
The California High-Speed Rail System is a planned two-phase 800-mile system with speeds of up to 220 miles per hour that aims to connect San Francisco to Los Angeles/Anaheim and in the second phase extend north to Sacramento and south to San Diego.
The California High-Speed Rail Authority said it strongly disagrees with the administration’s conclusions “which are misguided and do not reflect the substantial progress made to deliver high-speed rail in California.”
It noted California, Governor Gavin Newsom’s budget proposal before the legislature extends at least $1 billion per year in funding for the next 20 years “providing the necessary resources to complete the project’s initial operating segment.”
The authority noted in May there is active civil construction along 119 miles in the state’s Central Valley.
Voters approved $10 billion for the project in 2008 but the costs have risen sharply. The Transportation Department under former President Joe Biden awarded the project about $4 billion.
The entire San Francisco-to-Los Angeles project was initially supposed to be completed by 2020 for $33 billion but has now jumped from $89 billion to $128 billion.
In 2021, Biden restored a $929 million grant for California’s high-speed rail that Trump had revoked in 2019 after the Republican president called the project a “disaster.”
Starmer condemns Israel’s ‘appalling’ actions in Gaza
- UK prime minister refuses to be drawn on recognizing Palestinian state during questions from MPs
- Says Britain and its allies are considering further sanctions against Israel
LONDON: Israel’s actions in Gaza are “appalling and intolerable,” the UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Wednesday amid growing international pressure to stop the slaughter of Palestinians.
Aid agencies and governments around the world have all condemned the killing of dozens of Palestinians this week as they tried to access food distribution sites in the decimated territory.
It follows growing opposition in Europe to Israel’s military campaign, with the UK, France, Germany and Italy becoming increasingly critical of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
“Israel's recent action is appalling, and in my view counterproductive and intolerable, and we have strongly opposed the expansion of military operations and settler violence and the blocking of humanitarian aid,” Starmer told MPs.
He said the UK and its allies were considering sanctions against Israel and that his government had already suspended talks on a free trade agreement.
That step was announced after the UK, France, and Canada issued a joint statement last month threatening "concrete actions” against Israel if it did not halt its military operation in Gaza and allow humanitarian aid into the territory.
France and Saudi Arabia are organizing a UN conference this month about a two-state solution for Palestine and Israel. France has already said it is considering recognizing the Palestinian state during the conference.
Starmer did not answer whether the UK would follow suit and recognize a Palestinian when asked in parliament Wednesday.
However, Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer told MPs that the government was reconsidering its position on Palestinian statehood, The Guardian reported.
Falconer said he was "appalled" by the killings of Palestinians this week as they gathered to approach a new aid distribution hub.
"We call for an immediate and independent investigation into these events for the perpetrators to be held to account,” he said.
Dozens of MPs from both the main political parties have signed letters in recent months calling for Palestine to be recognized.
Starmer is facing fierce criticism from within his own Labour Party to take a tougher line on Israel.
Labour MP Paula Barker said history "will not be kind" to his government unless action is taken.
”What more evidence do we need to call this exactly what it is? A deliberate policy of annexation and genocide," she said.
Trump promised to welcome more foreign students. Now, they feel targeted on all fronts
- That promise never came to pass. Trump’s stance on welcoming foreign students has shifted dramatically
To attract the brightest minds to America, President Donald Trump proposed a novel idea while campaigning: If elected, he would grant green cards to all foreign students who graduate from US colleges.
“It’s so sad when we lose people from Harvard, MIT, from the greatest schools,” Trump said during a podcast interview last June. “That is going to end on Day One.”
That promise never came to pass. Trump’s stance on welcoming foreign students has shifted dramatically. International students have found themselves at the center of an escalating campaign to kick them out or keep them from coming as his administration merges a crackdown on immigration with an effort to reshape higher education.
An avalanche of policies from the Trump administration — such as terminating students’ ability to study in the US, halting all new student visa interviews, moving to block foreign enrollment at Harvard — have triggered lawsuits, countersuits and confusion for international students who say they feel targeted on multiple fronts.
In interviews, students from around the world described how it feels to be an international student today in America. Their accounts highlight pervasive feelings of fear, anxiety and insecurity that have made them more cautious in their daily lives, distracted them from schoolwork and prompted many to cancel trips home because they fear not being allowed to return.
For many, the last few months have forced them to rethink their dreams of building a life in America.
A standout student from Latvia feels ‘expendable’
Markuss Saule, a freshman at Brigham Young University-Idaho, took a recent trip home to Latvia and spent the entire flight back to the US in a state of panic.
For hours, he scrubbed his phone, uninstalling all social media, deleting anything that touched on politics or could be construed as anti-Trump.
“That whole 10-hour flight, where I was debating, ‘Will they let me in?’ — it definitely killed me a little bit,” said Saule, a business analytics major. “It was terrifying.”
Saule is the type of international student the US has coveted. As a high schooler in Latvia, he qualified for a competitive, merit-based exchange program funded by the US State Department. He spent a year of high school in Minnesota, falling in love with America and a classmate who is now his fiancee. He just ended his freshman year in college with a 4.0 GPA.
But the alarm he felt on that flight crushed what was left of his American dream.
“If you had asked me at the end of 2024 what my plans were, it was to get married, find a great job here in the US and start a family,” said Saule, who hopes to work as a business data analyst. “Those plans are not applicable anymore. Ask me now, and the plan to leave this place as soon as possible.”
Saule and his fiancee plan to marry this summer, graduate a year early and move to Europe.
This spring the Trump administration abruptly revoked permission to study in the US for thousands of international students before reversing itself. A federal judge has blocked further status terminations, but for many, the damage is done. Saule has a constant fear he could be next.
As a student in Minnesota just three years ago, he felt like a proud ambassador for his country.
“Now I feel a sense of inferiority. I feel that I am expendable, that I am purely an appendage that is maybe getting cut off soon,” he said. Trump’s policies carry a clear subtext. “The policies, what they tell me is simple. It is one word: Leave.”
From dreaming of working at NASA to ‘doomscrolling’ job listings in India
A concern for attracting the world’s top students was raised in the interview Trump gave last June on the podcast “All-In.” Can you promise, Trump was asked, to give companies more ability “to import the best and brightest” students?
“I do promise,” Trump answered. Green cards, he said, would be handed out with diplomas to any foreign student who gets a college or graduate degree.
Trump said he knew stories of “brilliant” graduates who wanted to stay in the US to work but couldn’t. “They go back to India, they go back to China” and become multi-billionaires, employing thousands of people. “That is going to end on Day One.”
Had Trump followed through with that pledge, a 24-year-old Indian physics major named Avi would not be afraid of losing everything he has worked toward.
After six years in Arizona, where Avi attended college and is now working as an engineer, the US feels like a second home. He dreams of working at NASA or in a national lab and staying in America where he has several relatives.
But now he is too afraid to fly to Chicago to see them, rattled by news of foreigners being harassed at immigration centers and airports.
“Do I risk seeing my family or risk deportation?” said Avi, who asked to be identified by his first name, fearing retribution.
Avi is one of about 240,000 people on student visas in the US on Optional Practical Training — a postgraduation period where students are authorized to work in fields related to their degrees for up to three years. A key Trump nominee has said he would like to see an end to postgraduate work authorization for international students.
Avi’s visa is valid until next year but he feels “a massive amount of uncertainty.”
He wonders if he can sign a lease on a new apartment. Even his daily commute feels different.
“I drive to work every morning, 10 miles an hour under speed limit to avoid getting pulled over,” said Avi, who hopes to stay in the US but is casting a wider net. “I spend a lot of time doomscrolling job listings in India and other places.”
A Ukrainian chose college in America over joining the fight at home — for now
Vladyslav Plyaka came to the US from Ukraine as an exchange student in high school. As war broke out at home, he stayed to attend the University of Wisconsin.
He was planning to visit Poland to see his mother but if he leaves the US, he would need to reapply for a visa. He doesn’t know when that will be possible now that visa appointments are suspended, and he doesn’t feel safe leaving the country anyway.
He feels grateful for the education, but without renewing his visa, he’ll be stuck in the US at least two more years while he finishes his degree. He sometimes wonders if he would be willing to risk leaving his education in the United States — something he worked for years to achieve — if something happened to his family.
“It’s hard because every day I have to think about my family, if everything is going to be all right,” he said.
It took him three tries to win a scholarship to study in the US Having that cut short because of visa problems would undermine the sacrifice he made to be here. He sometimes feels guilty that he isn’t at home fighting for his country, but he knows there’s value in gaining an education in America.
“I decided to stay here just because of how good the college education is,” he said. “If it was not good, I probably would be on the front lines.”
What we know about the Colorado attack on demonstrators for the release of Israeli hostages
- Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, faces hate crime charges in federal court and multiple state charges including attempted murder
- He threw two of 18 Molotov cocktails he was carrying Sunday, injuring more than half of the estimated 20 people demonstrating
BOULDER, Colorado: The man charged with injuring more than a dozen people in Boulder, Colorado, who were demonstrating for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza, went disguised as a gardener and told police his initial plan was to kill them all.
Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, faces hate crime charges in federal court and multiple state charges, including attempted murder.
Soliman — whose first name also was spelled Mohammed in some court documents — yelled “Free Palestine” and threw two of 18 Molotov cocktails he was carrying Sunday, injuring more than half of the estimated 20 people demonstrating, police said. Authorities said Soliman shied away from his plan to kill the entire group but expressed no regrets about the attack.
Boulder County officials said Wednesday the number of victims climbed from 12 to 15, plus a dog. The Associated Press left an email message with prosecutors seeking more details on the newly identified victims and the dog.
Among those injured was a Holocaust survivor who did not want her name shared publicly, said Ginger Delgado of the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office, who is acting as a spokesperson for the family.
What’s next for the suspect?
Soliman was being held on a $10 million, cash-only bond. He is due back in a Boulder County courtroom Thursday. More charges are possible in federal court.
Public defender Kathryn Herold is representing Soliman. She declined to comment after Monday’s hearing, where he initially was charged, as is common with Colorado public defenders.
Soliman was living in the US illegally after entering the country in August 2022 on a visa that expired in February 2023, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. Soliman filed for asylum and was granted a work authorization in March 2023, but that also expired.
He was born in Egypt, spent 17 years living in Kuwait, and lived in Colorado Springs with his wife and five children, according to state court documents.
Soliman’s wife and children were taken into custody Tuesday by immigration authorities and were being processed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said a DHS official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Federal officials are investigating whether Soliman’s family knew about his plan, US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said. Soliman told authorities that no one, including his family, knew about his plan, according to court documents.
Noem said Wednesday that federal authorities will be cracking down on people who overstay their visas.
What was the motive behind the attack?
Soliman told police he was driven by a desire “to kill all Zionist people,” referring to the movement to establish and sustain a Jewish state in Israel.
Sunday’s attack at the popular Pearl Street pedestrian mall in downtown Boulder, 30 miles (48 kilometers) from Denver, had been planned for more than a year and targeted what Soliman described as a “Zionist group,” authorities said in court papers charging him with a federal hate crime.
That charge carries a sentence of life in prison when it includes attempted murder. Colorado state charges include 16 counts of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of using an incendiary device and 16 counts of attempted use of an incendiary device.
The attack came at the beginning of the Jewish holiday Shavuot, and as the Israel-Hamas war has contributed to a spike in antisemitism in the US. A week before the Boulder attack, a man who also yelled “Free Palestine” was charged with fatally shooting two Israeli embassy staffers outside a Jewish museum in Washington.
Who are the demonstrators?
The people hurt in the attack are demonstrators with Run for Their Lives, a global grassroots initiative that started in October 2023 after Hamas militants in Gaza stormed into Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 others hostage. Israel responded with military attacks on the Gaza Strip, killing more than 52,000 Palestinians, the majority women and children, and arresting hundreds.
Through weekly walks, the Run for Their Lives group’s 230 chapters seek to raise awareness of the 58 people believed to still be in captivity in Gaza, said Shira Weiss, the organization’s global coordinator.
Police liaisons assigned to the victims said none were ready to speak with reporters. They include eight women and seven men, range in age from 25 to 88, and their injuries range from serious to minor.
No new details were released Wednesday about three victims receiving treatment at the UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital.
After the attack, FBI director Kash Patel said the agency was investigating a “targeted terror attack” in Boulder.
Boulder Police Chief Stephen Redfearn said Tuesday he initially suspected terrorism. “There was no intent to hide what happened,” Redfearn said. “There was no intent to minimize or lessen what we later, within a couple of hours at the press conference, confirmed was terrorism.”
