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☆ UK government under growing pressure to stop selling arms to Israel
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-05 | by ( Luke Mcgee | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

London CNN —Pressure is mounting on British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to suspend the sale of arms to Israel following the deadly attack on a convoy of aid workers in Gaza. Calls for Sunak to stop supplying Israel with weapons grew after an Israeli airstrike on Monday killed seven members of staff from World Central Kitchen, three of whom were British citizens. The government is still waiting for legal advice from its lawyers on whether or not selling arms to Israel is in breach of international law. However, parliamentary estimates show that the UK has still licensed arms worth over $725m. The family of one of the aid workers killed former Royal Marine James Henderson, have criticized the UK sale of arms to Israel.

Persons: Rishi Sunak, Sunak, Alicia Kearns, Kearns, ”, “, Benjamin Netanyahu, Grant Shapps, Marine James Henderson Organizations: London CNN, British, Parliament’s, Conservative Party, UNRWA, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Scottish National Party, Israeli, ” Defense, ”, UN Security Council, Marine, Times Locations: Israel, Gaza, British, Germany, Times of London

☆ Israel’s military says it made ‘grave’ mistakes in killing seven aid workers in Gaza. Here’s what we know
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-05 | by ( Christian Edwards | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —Israel’s military said its troops made a series of “grave” mistakes and violated protocol in their strikes that killed seven aid workers in Gaza this week. The IDF is considering distributing thermal stickers for aid vehicles to prevent this happening again in the future, he added. After the first vehicle was struck, some of the surviving aid workers fled to the other vehicles in the convoy – which were also struck, the spokesperson said. People gather around one of the WCK vehicles struck by the IDF, April 2, 2024. The killing of the seven aid workers sparked condemnation from some of Israel’s most prominent supporters and may mark a turning point in how Israel perpetrates its war in Gaza.

Persons: CNN —, WCK, Israel’s, “, Jose Andres, Daniel Hagari, ” Andres, Israel, ”, ” WCK, Israel perpetrates, Joe Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu, ’, Biden, Alicia Kearns, Kearns, Itamar Ben Gvir Organizations: CNN, Israel Defense Forces, IDF, Canadian, Staff, 162nd Division, Southern Command, Getty, West Bank, United Nations, Israeli, Conservative, BBC, National Locations: Gaza, Israel, Gazan, Deir, Palestinian, Australian, AFP, ”

☆ Pouria Zeraati: ‘Brutal stabbing’ of exiled Iranian journalist prompts counterterrorism investigation
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-30 | by ( Joshua Berlinger | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —A prominent exiled Iranian journalist was stabbed outside his home in London on Friday, prompting British police to launch a counterterrorism investigation. Pouria Zeraati, a television anchor at the UK-based channel Iran International, was reportedly attacked by a group of men outside his home in south-western Wimbledon. Iran has designated the television station a “terrorist entity.” Iranian state media has repeatedly accused the channel of fomenting unrest. Zeraati’s stabbing comes after an investigation by Britain’s ITV last year revealed that Iranian spies had attempted to pay a people smuggler $200,000 to assassinate two Iran International journalists. Kearns noted on Twitter that Iran International had only recently returned to the air from London after having to shut down in the UK.

Persons: Pouria, Dominic Murphy, Britain’s, Alicia Kearns, Michelle Stanistreet, ” Stanistreet, Kearns, ”, CNN’s Mostafa Salem, Atay Alam Organizations: CNN, British, Iran, London Metropolitan Police, Britain’s ITV, Iran International, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Foreign Affairs Committee, British National Union of Journalists, BBC Persian Service, UN, Twitter Locations: Iranian, London, Wimbledon, Tehran, Iran

CNN —UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he raised his “very strong concerns” to China’s premier regarding potential Chinese interference in British democracy after a parliament employee was arrested on suspicion of spying for China. UK newspaper, The Sunday Times broke the story on Sunday, reporting that the researcher was arrested alongside another man on March 13. According to a statement from London’s Metropolitan Police, police arrested a man in his 30s in Oxfordshire, southern England, and a man in his 20s in Edinburgh, Scotland. Chinese Premier Li Qiang attends the ASEAN Summit in Jakarta on September 7, 2023. According to the Sunday Times reporting, the arrested parliamentary researcher was also linked to the chairperson of the British government’s foreign affairs committee, Alicia Kearns.

Persons: Rishi Sunak, Sunak, Premier Li Qiang, Tom Tugendhat, Li Qiang, Yasuyoshi Chiba, Alicia Kearns, ”, Kearns Organizations: CNN —, Premier, Conservative, Sunday Times, London’s Metropolitan Police, ASEAN Summit, Getty, Command, Twitter, Inter, Parliamentary Alliance, China Locations: China, New Delhi, Beijing, Oxfordshire, England, Edinburgh, Scotland, Jakarta, AFP, London, British, People’s Republic of China

[1/2] British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and Chinese Vice President Han Zheng attend a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China August 30, 2023. "We are clear-eyed about the areas where we have fundamental disagreements with China and we raise those issues when we meet," he told broadcasters. China Vice President Han Zheng told Cleverly at their meeting that he hoped the two countries could make new advances in their relations. Cleverly's visit to China comes as other countries in the West also try to improve their relations with the country. U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo is on a four-day visit in China but warned that U.S. companies have complained to her that China has become "uninvestible".

Persons: James, Han Zheng, Florence Lo, Wang Yi, Liz Truss, Conservative Alicia Kearns, Gina Raimondo, Han, Sarah Young, Laurie Chen, Kate Holton, Elizabeth Piper, Conor Humphries Organizations: of, People, REUTERS, Rights, Conservative Party, China, British, Conservative, . Commerce, Thomson Locations: Beijing, China, Rights BEIJING, London, British, CHINA, Taiwan, Taipei, West

☆ Reaction to Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin in plane crash with no survivors
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Yulia Morozova/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsAug 23 (Reuters) - Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was listed as a passenger on a private jet that crashed on Wednesday evening north of Moscow with no survivors, the Russian authorities said. The following is reaction:*U.S. President Joe Biden to reporters in Lake Tahoe:“I don't know for a fact what happened. Reports Russian Air Defence shot down the plane suggests Putin is sending a very loud message." It so happens that political opponents whom Vladimir Putin considers a threat to his power do not die naturally." In the end, if Vladimir Putin is so powerful, why didn’t he arrest Prigozhin?”Editing by Cynthia OstermanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Maxim Fomin, Vladlen Tatarsky, Yulia Morozova, Joe Biden, I'm, Putin, Mykhailo Podolyak, Vladimir, Alicia Kearns, Zbigniew Rau, Vladimir Putin, Daniel Hoffman, Prigozhin, ”, That’s, Pavel Luzin, thinktank, Cynthia Osterman Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, CNN, Foreign Affairs, Govt, Russian Air Defence, CIA, Center for, Thomson Locations: St Petersburg, Moscow, Russia, Lake Tahoe, Estonia, U.S

☆ The West’s ‘see no evil’ approach to Serbia’s Vucic is destabilizing the Balkans
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-14 | by ( Christian Edwards | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +20 min

The result is that, despite Serbia’s professed hopes to join the EU, Vucic has continued to walk a tightrope between Moscow and western powers. A Pristina government official told CNN that they did not want to “surrender” official government buildings to protesters. A decade on, these municipalities have not been created, leaving disputes to fester over the degree of autonomy for Kosovo Serbs. After such episodes, Joseph told CNN that the “see no evil” approach to Vucic’s regime may be starting to crack. “The situation is clear who the bully of the Balkans still is,” Meliza Haradinaj, Kosovo’s former foreign minister, told CNN.

Persons: Moscow’s, Aleksandar Vucic, Vladimir Putin, Daniel Mihailescu, ” Jasmin Mujanovic, Vucic, “, Mujanovic, Alicia Kearns, ”, –, Serbia's Aleksandar Vucic, Albin Kurti, Serbia’s, you’ll, Kearns, wouldn’t, Putin, Viktor, Orban, ” Majda, you’re, Quint, ” Kurti, Kurti, Edward Joseph, Laura Hasani, He’s, Shqiprim Arifi, Arifi, Ben Kilb, ” Dusan, Milorad Dodik, Oliver Bunic, Boris Grdanoski, ” Joseph, Viktor Oban, Joseph, Biden, Aleksandar Vulin, ” “ He’s, ‘ we’re, ’ He’s, I’ve, ” Vucic, Meliza Organizations: CNN, European Union, Putin, Belgrade, Getty, Serbian Progressive Party, SNS, NATO, National Security, United Nations, Kosovo's, EU, Anadolu Agency, Gazprom, Serbian, European Council, Foreign Relations, ”, US, Kosovo Serbs, Kosovo’s, Johns Hopkins University, …, Kosovo Serb, Reuters, British, Kosovo, Kosovar Business Alliance, Kosovar, Serbs, “ Association of, Bloomberg, ASM, Russian, AP, Serbia ”, KFOR, NATO’s Kosovo Force, Red Star, Red Star Belgrade soccer Locations: Russia, Ukraine, United States, Serbia, Europe, Belgrade, West, Kosovo, Kosovo’s, Kosovar, AFP, Russian, Balkan, Western Balkans, British, United, EU, Brussels, Belgium, Moscow, ” Kosovo, Serbs, France, Germany, Italy, Balkans, Pristina, … Serbia, Zvecan, Serbian, Presevo, Albanian, Leposavic, Republika Srpska, ” Republika Srpska, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Dayton, Banja Luka, Kurti, Ohrid, North Macedonia, Republic of Serbia, appeasing Serbia

London CNN —The United Kingdom government has been heavily criticized by Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee for underestimating the growth of Russia’s Wagner private mercenary group, despite it posing a major threat to the country’s interests. Wagner “essentially operate like a criminal mafia,” Kearns said in an interview with Sky News Wednesday. Barbara Debout/AFP/Getty Images/FILEIt also criticized the UK government for only beginning to seriously monitor the group after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. “It is deeply regrettable that it was not until early 2022 that the Government began to invest greater resource in understanding the Wagner Network, despite Wagner fighters having already conducted military operations in at least seven countries for almost a decade,” read the report. “The Government has not told us anything specific that it is doing to challenge the network’s influence and impunity outside of Ukraine,” the report said.

Persons: Russia’s Wagner, Wagner, ”, Alicia Kearns, Wagner “, ” Kearns, “, Barbara Debout Organizations: London CNN, United, Parliament’s Foreign, “, CNN, Sky News, Getty, Government, Wagner Network, European Union Locations: Africa, Europe, Russia, Ukraine, Sudan, Syria, Central African Republic, Libya, Mozambique, Mali, Bangui, AFP, “, United States

☆ Reaction to Reuters report on Nigerian military abortion programme
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Dec 7 (Reuters) - A Reuters investigation published on Wednesday revealed that the Nigerian Army has run a secret, systematic and illegal abortion programme in the country's northeast since at least 2013. It's a concerning report, and for that reason we are seeking further information." ALICIA KEARNS, CHAIR OF UK PARLIAMENT FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE"The stories in this report are heartbreaking and - if verified - represent a large-scale, and deeply concerning, abuse of human rights. "It is the responsibility of UK authorities to ensure that their support of the Nigerian military does not aid human rights abuses and we expect the Government to take these allegations seriously. JIM RISCH, LEADING REPUBLICAN ON U.S. SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE"This is a deeply disturbing report.

☆ UK parliament committee chair says she talked defence cooperation on Taiwan trip
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/7] Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen poses for a photo with Alicia Kearns a British lawmaker at the Presidential Office Building in Taipei, Taiwan, December 2, 2022. Taiwan Presidential Office/Handout via REUTERS. "And we talked about how we as an international community work together to prevent, and therefore the importance of deterrence diplomacy. And, yes, defence cooperation was discussed as part of that because it should be part of a whole conversation that takes place." Tsai, meeting Kearns and her delegation at the presidential office, expressed thanks for Britain's support of Taiwan, especially calls to uphold peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.

☆ China accuses UK lawmakers of "gross interference" over Taiwan visit
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Kylie Maclellan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Dec 1 (Reuters) - China on Thursday accused a committee of British lawmakers visiting Taiwan of "gross interference" in China's internal affairs and threatened a forceful response to anything that undermines Chinese interests. The Chinese embassy in Britain issued a statement responding to the ongoing visit to Taiwan by British parliament's Foreign Affairs committee, calling it a "flagrant violation" of the one-China principle. China claims the self-ruled, democratic island of Taiwan as its own territory, part of its "one China" policy. "Moves of the UK side that undermine China's interests will be met with forceful responses from the Chinese side." The spokesperson said the visit sent the wrong signal to those who want Taiwan to be independent.

General view of signage outside the Chinese Consulate General in Manchester, Britain, October 17, 2022. REUTERS/Phil NobleLONDON, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Britain expects China to waive diplomatic immunity for any official facing police charges over an attack on a protester who was dragged inside the grounds of a Chinese consulate, a junior British foreign office minister said on Thursday. China has disputed the account of events which took place during a demonstration on Sunday against Chinese President Xi Jinping, saying protesters had stormed its grounds. "Let me be clear that if the police determine there are grounds to charge any officials, we would expect the Chinese Consulate to waive immunity for those officials. The Chinese Consul-General Zheng Xiyuan told Sky News it was an emergency situation and his colleagues' life had been threatened.

☆ China claims right to protect consulate as Britain decries assault
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Britain’s foreign secretary summoned China’s second-most senior diplomat in the U.K. on Tuesday to express the U.K.’s “deep concern” about the assault allegations and to demand an explanation for the actions of the Chinese consulate staff. The protesters had gathered at the consulate as the Chinese Communist Party opened its weeklong congress in Beijing on Sunday. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin rejected the accounts of the protester and Manchester police. Video on the BBC website showed a scuffle breaking out in front of the consulate after masked men tore down the protesters’ placards. The Chinese Consulate in Manchester did not respond to a request for comment.

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