Starmer heckled as pro-Gaza candidates snatch safe Labour seats in UK election

Ppter from Shockat Adam election rallies (X/@ShockatAdam)
Short Url
Updated 05 July 2024
Follow

Starmer heckled as pro-Gaza candidates snatch safe Labour seats in UK election

  • Party leader’s victory speech accompanied by ‘free Palestine’ shouts
  • 5 pro-Palestine independent candidates elected, including ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn

LONDON: Labour leader Keir Starmer faced heckles of “free Palestine” as independent candidates took a number of seats from his party during the UK general election over anger at its stance on Gaza.

In a major upset, shadow minister Jonathan Ashworth, a key Starmer ally, was defeated in the formerly safe seat of Leicester South.

The shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, survived by just 528 votes, having previously commanded a majority of more than 9,000, after a strong campaign by Leanne Mohamed, the granddaughter of Palestinian refugees.

In areas with a Muslim population of over 10 percent, the party’s vote dropped by an average of 11 points, despite Labour winning a significant majority of seats nationwide ahead of forming the next UK government.

Though enjoying a comfortable win, Starmer was heckled at his victory speech after independent candidate Andrew Feinsten won 7,312 votes.

Five independent candidates running on pro-Gaza tickets were returned as MPs, including former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

The party also lost Leicester East to the Conservatives after an independent — vocal pro-Palestine supporter and former Labour MP Claudia Webbe — split the Labour vote.

In Leicester South, Shockat Adam unseated Ashworth, who previously had a 22,000 majority and had held the seat for 13 years. Adam announced “this is for Gaza” during his victory speech, winning by 979 votes.

Labour also lost seats in Dewsbury and Batley to independent Iqbal Mohamed by nearly 7,000 votes, Blackburn to Adnan Hussain by 132 votes, and Birmingham Perry Bar, where Khalid Mahmoud was defeated by independent candidate Ayoub Khan by 507 votes.

A number of senior Labour MPs only narrowly retained their seats in the face of independents, including Shabana Mahmood in Birmingham Ladywood, who saw her majority slashed from 32,000 to 3,421.

Fellow Birmingham MP Jess Phillips saw her majority reduced from 13,141 to 693 despite having resigned from a shadow ministerial role in order to vote for a ceasefire in Gaza earlier this year.

In Birmingham Hodge Hill, former minister Liam Byrne retained his seat by just over 1,500 votes.

In the London constituency of Bethnal Green and Stepney, the shadow small business minister, Rushnara Ali, saw her majority of more than 31,000 go down to 1,689.

In north London, Corbyn, a long-time champion of the Palestinian cause, won his Islington North seat as an independent, beating his Labour opponent by more than 7,000 votes.

However, Labour claimed a major pro-Palestine scalp in Rochdale, unseating former MP George Galloway, who took the seat from Labour in a by-election earlier this year.

The party has struggled with its position on Gaza since Israel launched its invasion of the enclave last October.

It faced criticism from its own members for initially backing the Israeli government, and since then has backed a humanitarian ceasefire.

In the party’s manifesto, it said it would move to recognize a Palestinian state if elected, but there have since been suggestions that the move could be shelved over fears of jeopardizing Labour’s relationship with the US government.


EU leaders call on Georgia to probe vote 'irregularities'

Updated 3 sec ago
Follow

EU leaders call on Georgia to probe vote 'irregularities'

BUDAPEST: The leaders of France, Germany and Poland called on Georgia Thursday to quickly probe "numerous irregularities" during a recent parliamentary poll won by the Russia-leaning ruling party but contested by the pro-Western opposition.
In a joint statement, the EU countries' presidents said they were "deeply concerned by the numerous irregularities and voter intimidation" reported during the vote and said they would not be able to support the ex-Soviet republic's ambitions to join the European Union unless it carried out reforms.

Philippines evacuates thousands ahead of Typhoon Yinxing

Updated 7 min 38 sec ago
Follow

Philippines evacuates thousands ahead of Typhoon Yinxing

  • Packing maximum sustained wind speeds of 175 kilometers (109 miles) per hour, Typhoon Yinxing could make landfall in the northern Philippines later in the day or early Friday, the state weather agency

MANILA: The Philippines has evacuated thousands of people from coastal communities ahead of a major typhoon, officials said Thursday, just weeks after a tropical cyclone left at least 150 people dead.
Packing maximum sustained wind speeds of 175 kilometers (109 miles) per hour, Typhoon Yinxing could make landfall in the northern Philippines later in the day or early Friday, the state weather agency said.
Yinxing is the third storm in less than a month to threaten the Philippines after Severe Tropical Storm Trami and Super Typhoon Kong-rey together left 158 people dead, the national disaster agency said, with most of that tally attributed to Trami.
At least 17,000 people from coastal areas of Cagayan province, in the country’s far north, moved into temporary shelters on Wednesday to avoid potential flooding from heavy rains now pounding the region, provincial rescue official Rueli Rapsing told AFP.
“I’m expecting more evacuees to arrive since there is an ongoing evacuation in the municipalities,” Rapsing said.
The national weather agency said Cagayan, home to about 1.3 million people, might bear the brunt of Yinxing based on its current trajectory.
“We have already depleted the quick response fund of the province and we’re actually asking the national disaster council for the replenishment of the quick response fund so we can provide assistance,” Rapsing said.
In Ilocos Norte province near Cagayan, rescuers were on standby to help local police, fire officers and soldiers in emergency response, provincial rescue official Randy Nicolas told AFP.
Nicolas said they are closely monitoring possible landslides, floods and swelling of rivers in the province, with storm surges — huge waves along the coast, also a concern in Ilocos Norte and Cagayan.
Disaster officials in the mountainous province of Apayao said almost 500 people have been evacuated.
“We really prioritized preemptive evacuations because we want to have zero deaths here in Apayao,” provincial disaster official Aldrin Agmata told AFP.
School has been suspended in many areas of the north and President Ferdinand Marcos put all government agencies on high alert so they can swiftly respond.
“Remember, every life is important so we should always be prepared,” Marcos said in a statement on Wednesday.


Japan PM to boost defense alliance with ‘very friendly’ Trump

Updated 12 min 52 sec ago
Follow

Japan PM to boost defense alliance with ‘very friendly’ Trump

  • Key allies Japan and the United States are each other’s top foreign investors

TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Thursday he had agreed with US president-elect Donald Trump in a phone call to strengthen the nations’ alliance, after the tycoon’s victory sent defense-related shares surging.
Trump’s “America First” approach could mean less cash from Washington for security in the Asia-Pacific region, analysts say — with investors betting on Japan upgrading its own military capacities.
Key allies Japan and the United States are each other’s top foreign investors, and 54,000 US military personnel are stationed in Japan, mostly in Okinawa east of Taiwan.
Ishiba, who took office just over a month ago, said he and Trump hoped to organize a face-to-face meeting “as soon as possible,” describing the president-elect as “very friendly.”
“He is the kind of person I will be able to talk to candidly,” Ishiba told reporters.
“I would like to hold active discussions on the strengthening of the Japan-US alliance from various standpoints including specific equipment, operations and integration, not just money,” he added.
Shares in Japanese defense contractor IHI ended up nearly 20 percent Wednesday, as Trump’s victory began to look secure, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries gained almost 10 percent.
The expectation is “that Trump will demand that allies do more and spend more to defend themselves,” said Claudia Junghyun Kim, an assistant professor of international affairs at City University of Hong Kong.
Japan is already in the process of doubling its military spending to the NATO standard of two percent of GDP.
“This pressure from Trump doesn’t exactly clash with Ishiba’s hope to increase defense spending,” Kim told AFP, and it “should be good news for Japan’s defense industry.”
US elections
When Trump last won a US election in 2016, then-prime minister Shinzo Abe was the first foreign leader to meet the president-elect at his Manhattan skyscraper.
Japanese media said Ishiba could arrange a trip to the United States around the time he attends the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Peru this month.
“On a personal level, Ishiba might be in a challenging position” when he meets Trump, Daisuke Kawai, deputy director of the University of Tokyo’s economic security research program, told AFP.
“Ishiba is a railway enthusiast who doesn’t enjoy golf or social dinners, and unlike Abe, he’s not particularly adept at engaging in social or entertaining conversations. This could mean their personal chemistry may not align well.”
Both Ishiba and Trump perceive the US-Japan alliance as unequal — but in opposite directions — so “initiating productive discussions could be difficult,” Kawai added.
Ishiba led his ruling coalition to a disastrous loss of its majority in snap elections last month.
He is expected to lead a minority government or widen the coalition to include other parties.
Japan and the EU announced a sweeping new security and defense pact on Friday.
Kawai said it was important for Tokyo to build a defense ecosystem “that generates profits through joint production with other countries.”
Japan, which for decades has relied on the United States for military hardware, is also developing a new fighter jet with EU member Italy and Britain set to be airborne by 2035.


Indonesia volcano belches colossal ash tower

Updated 07 November 2024
Follow

Indonesia volcano belches colossal ash tower

  • Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki erupted on Monday and Tuesday, killing nine people and forcing the relocation of residents
  • Laki-Laki, which means ‘man’ in Indonesian, is twinned with a calmer volcano named after the Indonesian word for ‘woman’

EAST FLORES, Indonesia: A volcano in eastern Indonesia erupted more than half a dozen times on Thursday, catapulting a colossal ash tower five miles into the sky against a backdrop of lightning as nearby residents fled in panic.
Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki erupted on Monday and Tuesday, killing nine people and forcing the relocation of residents from a 7-kilometer (4.3-mile) exclusion zone.
The country’s volcanology agency reported seven eruptions on Thursday, the biggest of which belched an ash tower five miles (eight kilometers) high, according to an observation post.
Some said it was the biggest eruption they had ever seen from Lewotobi Laki-Laki.
“This is the first time I saw this big eruption since I’ve been living in Lewolaga village,” said Anastasia Adriyani, 41, who lives outside the exclusion zone.
“I was cooking at the community kitchen (for evacuees) and when it happened, I ran back home. I was very scared.”
Officials have raised the alert level for the 1,703-meter (5,587-foot) twin-peaked volcano on the tourist island of Flores to the highest level.
There were no immediate reports of damage to nearby villages from Thursday’s fresh eruptions.
But residents and schoolchildren were seen running from their homes, according to an AFP journalist, who added volcanic lightning was also seen.
Locals at a temporary shelter were anxious as the latest eruptions rumbled on Thursday morning.
“It is sad to think of our village, and we are also panicked seeing the continuous eruptions. Since last night and this morning, we’re still worried,” said evacuee Antonius Puka, 56.
Laki-Laki, which means “man” in Indonesian, is twinned with a calmer volcano named after the Indonesian word for “woman.”
Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation, experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire.”


Joe Biden gets blamed by Harris allies for the vice president’s resounding loss

Updated 07 November 2024
Follow

Joe Biden gets blamed by Harris allies for the vice president’s resounding loss

  • Biden is set to deliver a Rose Garden address Thursday about the election

WASHINGTON: Joe Biden’s name wasn’t on the ballot, but history will likely remember Kamala Harris’ resounding defeat as his loss too.
As Democrats pick up the pieces following President-elect Donald Trump’s decisive victory, some of the vice president’s backers are expressing frustration that Biden’s decision to seek reelection until this summer — despite longstanding voter concerns about his age and unease about post-pandemic inflation as well as the US-Mexico border — all but sealed his party’s loss of the White House.
“The biggest onus of this loss is on President Biden,” said Andrew Yang, who ran against Biden in 2020 for the Democratic nomination and endorsed Harris’ unsuccessful run. “If he had stepped down in January instead of July, we may be in a very different place.”
Biden will leave office after leading the US out of the worst pandemic in a century, galvanizing international support for Ukraine in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion and passing a $1 trillion infrastructure bill that will impact communities for years to come.
But having run four years ago against Trump to “restore the soul of the country,” Biden will make way after just one term for his immediate predecessor, who overcame two impeachments, a felony conviction and an insurrection launched by his supporters. Trump has vowed to radically reshape the federal government and roll back many of Biden’s priorities.
“Maybe in 20 or 30 years, history will remember Biden for some of these achievements,” said Thom Reilly, co-director of the Center for an Independent and Sustainable Democracy at Arizona State University. “But in the shorter term, I don’t know he escapes the legacy of being the president who beat Donald Trump only to usher in another Donald Trump administration four years later.”
The president on Wednesday stayed out of sight for the second straight day, making congratulatory calls to Democratic lawmakers who won downballot races as well as one to Trump, who he invited for a White House meeting that the president-elect accepted.
Biden is set to deliver a Rose Garden address Thursday about the election. He issued a statement shortly after Harris delivered her concession speech on Wednesday, praising Harris for running an “historic campaign” under “extraordinary circumstances.”
Some high-ranking Democrats, including three advisers to the Harris campaign, expressed deep frustration with Biden for failing to recognize earlier in the election cycle that he was not up to the challenge. The advisers spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
Biden, 81, ended his reelection campaign in July, weeks after an abysmal debate performance sent his party into a spiral and raised questions about whether he still had the mental acuity and stamina to serve as a credible nominee.
But polling long beforehand showed that many Americans worried about his age. Some 77 percent of Americans said in August 2023 that Biden was too old to be effective for four more years, according to a poll by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs.
The president bowed out on July 21 after getting not-so-subtle nudges from Democratic Party powers, including former President Barack Obama and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He endorsed Harris and handed over his campaign operation to her.
Harris managed to spur far greater enthusiasm than Biden was generating from the party’s base. But she struggled to distinguish how her administration would differ from Biden’s.
Appearing on ABC’s “The View” in September, Harris was not able to identify a decision where she would have separated herself from Biden. “There is not a thing that comes to mind,” Harris said, giving the Trump campaign a sound bite it replayed through Election Day.
The strategists advising the Harris campaign said the compressed campaign timetable made it even more difficult for Harris to differentiate herself from the president.
Had Biden stepped aside early in the year, they said, it would have given Democrats enough time to hold a primary. Going through the paces of an intraparty contest would have forced Harris or another eventual nominee to more aggressively stake out differences with Biden.
The strategists acknowledged that overcoming broad dissatisfaction among the American electorate about rising costs in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic and broad concerns about the US immigration system weighed heavy on the minds of voters in key states.
Still, they said that Biden had left Democrats in an untenable place.
Harris senior adviser David Plouffe in a posting on X called it a “devastating loss.” Plouffe didn’t assign blame. He noted the Harris campaign “dug out of a deep hole but not enough.”
At the vice president’s concession speech on Wednesday, some Harris supporters said they wished the vice president had had more time to make her pitch to American voters.
“I think that would have made a huge difference,” said Jerushatalla Pallay, a Howard University student who attended the speech at the center of her campus.
Republicans are poised to control the White House and Senate. Control of the House has yet to be determined.
Matt Bennett, executive vice president at the Democratic-aligned group Third Way, said this moment was the most devastating the party has faced in his lifetime.
“Harris was dealt a really bad hand. Some of it was Biden’s making and some maybe not,” said Bennett, who served as an aide to Vice President Al Gore during the Clinton administration. “Would Democrats fare better if Biden had stepped back earlier? I don’t know if we can say for certain, but it’s a question we’ll be asking ourselves for some time.”