Tag Archives: political

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Statement from Jeremy Corbyn ahead of Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the UK

Jeremy Corbyn MP, Leader of the Labour Party,  speaking ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the UK, said:

“When Theresa May meets the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tomorrow, she has let it be known she will tell him that building settlements on occupied Palestinian land “undermines trust”.

“That is simply not good enough. The Israeli government’s decision to build 3,000 new settlement homes in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem is illegal under international law and a threat to peace and international security.

“It undermines still further the prospect of a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, about which the Netanyahu government is increasingly contemptuous. 

“Fifty years after the United Nations demanded Israeli withdrawal from the territories occupied in the 1967 war and 70 years after the UN voted for the creation of a Palestinian state, the British government must act in support of peace and justice in the Middle East conflict. 

“Theresa May must make clear to the Israeli Prime Minister that the British government will stand unequivocally behind the rights of the Palestinian people, along with the many who support them in Israel, as well as human rights and justice across the region. 

“She must also demand an assurance from the Israeli Prime Minister that the improper interference by the Israeli embassy in British democratic politics exposed last month will not be repeated.”

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Labour • • •

Kunming airport warns drone owners to steer clear

 

Changshui International Airport in Kunming, Yunnan Province. [Photo: China Daily]

Drones have been found at the clearance protection zone of an airport in southwest China’s Yunnan Province, and local police are investigating.

Sources with Kunming Changshui International Airport in the provincial capital said Sunday that there were four or five incidents in the past two days of drones flying close to the airport.

“Regulations stipulate that unmanned balloons, kites, gliders and parachutes are not allowed within the clearance protection zone, about 1,028 square kilometers surrounding the runway,” an official said. “Those who violate the regulations are subject to fines up to 100,000 yuan (about 14,600 U.S. dollars).”

The flying of drones could pose a threat to aviation safety, though the incidents reported did not disrupt flights at the airport.

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East Asia • •

Experiment zone in Qinghai to protect Tibetan culture

 

A woman wearing traditional Tibetan costumes is seen during a fashion show held at Batang grassland of Yushu city of Yushu Tibetan autonomous prefecture, Northwest China’s Qinghai province, July 26, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

The Ministry of Culture has agreed to build an experiment zone in China’s northwestern Qinghai Province to protect Tibetan ecological and cultural heritage.

According to Wang Dongmei, head of the culture and sports bureau in the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai, the zone will cover the city of Yushu and its adjacent counties.

On the zone’s protection list are the physical and cultural heritage items related to the local Tibetan people in the Sanjiangyuan area, which is home to the headwaters of the Yangtze, Yellow, and Lancang (Mekong) rivers, Wang said.

Yushu is home to seven national-level cultural heritage sites, 29 provincial-level sites as well as two historical villages. The song and dance, costumes of ethnic minorities, and metal forging techniques are all listed as intangible heritage in China.

Wang told Xinhua that Yushu has eleven national items of intangible heritage and 24 national “cultural inheritors.”

“The experiment zone will help boost protection of Tibetan culture and local ecology as a whole, and sustainable development of the society and economy,” said Tsering Teg, governor of Yushu.

Yushu has recovered from a magnitude 7.1 earthquake that hit the region on April 14, 2010. It affected 246,800 people, leaving 2,220 dead and more than 100,000 homeless.

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East Asia • •

These disappointing proposals fall far short of what is needed – Healey

Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Housing John Healey MP, responding to the government’s announcement on renting, said:

“These disappointing proposals fall far short of what is needed.

“Government figures show that affordable housebuilding has fallen to the lowest level in 24 years, with the number of homes being built for social rent now at the lowest level since records began.

“Ministers continue to do next to nothing to help people who rent from a private landlord and have consistently blocked Labour’s attempts to change the law to control costs and give renters security.

“Ministers even voted down Labour’s efforts to ensure that private rented homes were simply fit for human habitation.

“After seven years of failure on housing, renters deserve better than this.”

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Labour • • •

Privatised rail has left us with a fragmented and inefficient network that drives up costs and under delivers – McDonald

Andy McDonald MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, commenting on a report by the Commons Transport Select Committee, said:

“Privatised rail has left us with a fragmented and inefficient network that drives up costs and under delivers.

“A railway works best as an integrated network but privatisation and franchising have meant breaking it up to create opportunities for companies to extract a profit, resulting in costly inefficiencies. For example, hundreds of people are employed full time on the railway to argue about which company is responsible for delays.

“It’s not just that money which should be used to improve services or keep fares down is syphoned off or wasted, we have a confusing fare structure and services are disjointed and difficult to use for passengers.

“The current system is broken. It is time for our railways to be run under public ownership, in the public interest as an integrated national asset with affordable fares for all and long-term investment in the railway network.”

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Labour • • •