Category: UK

Time for UK Government to Come Clean on Ties to U.S. Torture Program

UK government shamefully cooperated with U.S. in torture of al-Qaeda suspects

We Americans have had a painful and difficult national debate over the past 20 years relative to torture. Torture was official U.S. government policy from 2002 until at least 2005, and that iteration was not formally outlawed until passage of the McCain-Feinstein Amendment in 2015. (The torture program was a highly-classified secret from 2002 until I revealed it in a nationally-televised interview in December 2007.)

In truth, torture has been illegal in the U.S. since at least the end of World War II. In 1946, the U.S. Government executed Japanese soldiers who had waterboarded American prisoners of war. In January 1968, the Washington Post ran a front-page photograph showing an American soldier waterboarding a North Vietnamese prisoner.

On the day the photo ran, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara ordered an investigation. The soldier was arrested, tried, convicted of torture, and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Torture was clearly a crime in 1946 and in 1968. But somehow, due to the legalistic gymnastics of the Bush Administration, torture was somehow magically legal in 2002. The law hadn’t changed; Americans had. It took us until 2015 to come to our collective senses again.

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DUMPSTER DINNERS: Brits now seeking out EXPIRED food to consume as they cope with meteoric rise in food prices Friday, February 03, 2023 by: Cassie B. Tags: badfood, badhealth, Bubble, chaos, economic collapse, economy, finance riot, food collapse, food inflation, food prices, groceries, grocery, Inflation, ingredients, panic, products, rationing, scarcity, UK

(Natural News) The cost of food continues to rise in the UK, and the country’s food retailers have warned that price inflation will continue into the foreseeable future. The latest figures show grocery prices are now increasing at their fastest rate on record.

Figures provided by retail analyst Kantar found that grocery price inflation in the country reached a new record high of 16.7% in the four weeks that ended on January 22. This amounts to a nearly £800 pound increase on a typical yearly shopping bill. This is a notable increase from the 14.4% recorded in December and the highest level since figures were first tracked in 2008.

Some categories of food that have noted particularly sharp rises recently include eggs, milk and dog food. However, fruit, vegetables, sugar and alcohol have also noticed steep rises in the past month. According to Kantar, the price of basics such as cheese, milk, butter and bread is up 16.7% in a year over year basis. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reports that olive oil has risen by nearly 40% in the last year, while low-fat milk is up 46% and sugar is up 38.5%.

People are turning to store label products, cheap carbs and expired food to feed their families

In response to record-setting inflation, some supermarkets are expanding their store label ranges to provide customers with more value. In January, sales of store label products climbed by 9.3%; sales of branded alternatives only rose by 1%.

Four out of every 10 British families with children under the age of 12 have been replacing meat in their diet with carbohydrates such as pasta and bread to bulk out their meals and get more out of their money. 18% of Brits are buying fewer vegetables and fruits, and almost a third are purchasing less meat, according to Red Tractor.

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Robber threatened to stab 11-year-old girl before stealing her electric scooter Police said the girl was not injured but was left shaken after her “terrifying ordeal”.

Adam McGeady has been jailed for more than three years. Pic: Met Police

A robber who threatened to stab an 11-year-old girl before stealing her electric scooter in Islington has been jailed.

Adam McGeady, 32, was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison on Friday 9 December at Snaresbrook Crown Court.

McGeady carried out the “terrifying” robbery on 24 September 2020 at around 6:15pm.

Footage shows the girl riding an electric scooter in Parkfield Street when she was then approached by McGeady on a bike. He threatened to stab her before taking the scooter and riding off.

The victim was not injured, but she was shaken after the incident, police said in a statement.

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Royal Navy warships and RAF jets join UK-led NATO ‘battlegroup’ right under Putin’s nose TWO Royal Navy vessels full of military vehicles and equipment arrived for patrols in the Baltic Sea, leading what is called a NATO “Battlegroup” as Vladimir Putin wages war in Ukraine.

HMS Northumberland and sister ship HMS Richmond arrived in the Baltic Sea and conducted freedom of navigation patrols and exercises. The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on Sunday that the ships were sent on a mission to deliver military vehicles and equipment and resupply the UK-led NATO Battlegroup in Estonia.

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UK moves to regulate private messaging to protect against ‘harmful content’ ‘We are unable to envisage circumstances where such a destructive step . . . could be justified’

A bill returned to the House of Commons last week would allows UK communications regulator Ofcom to force private messaging platforms to scan users’ messages for “harmful content.” It would also allow Ofcom to end the messaging services altogether.

Platforms such as Whatsapp, Telegram and Signal boast end-to-end encryption (E2EE), meaning that private messages are hidden from prying eyes.

But that would change with the Online Safety Bill, a piece of legislation introduced in March 2021 and now going through the final stages of the House of Commons. The bill would allow the government’s prying eyes to invade private messages and scan for a “harmful communications offence,” which is content sweepingly defined as that which causes “psychological harm amounting to at least serious distress.”

Ofcom would not need prior authorization to demand invasive scans of private messages, nor is the regulator subjected to independent oversight in the matter.

In a legal opinion reported by Reclaim the Net, human rights lawyer Matthew Ryder said the bill will “allow the state to compel [tech companies] to carry out surveillance of the content of communications on a generalized and widespread basis.”

“We are unable to envisage circumstances where such a destructive step in the security of global online communications for billions of users could be justified,” Ryder added.

Ryder says that instead of banning E2EE altogether, messaging platforms might be forced to use a controversial technology called client side scanning (CSS), according to TechCrunch. CSS scans messages for objectionable content before being sent to the recipient.

“Clause 104 does not refer to CSS (or any technology) by name,” says Ryder. “It mentions only ‘accredited technology’. However, the practical implementation of 104 Notices requiring the identification, removal and/or blocking of content leads almost inevitably to the concern that this power will be used by Ofcom to mandate CSPs [communications service providers] using some form of CSS.”

“The Bill notes that the accredited technology referred to c.104 is a form of ‘content moderation technology’, meaning ‘technology, such as algorithms, keyword matching, image matching or image classification, which […] analyses relevant content’ (c.187(2)(11). This description corresponds with CSS,” he added.

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New British PM has called Jerusalem Israel’s ‘historic capital,’ vowed to fight BDS

New UK Conservative party leader and incoming prime minister Rishi Sunak waves as he leaves the party’s headquarters in central London having been announced as the winner of the leadership contest, on October 24, 2022. (Justin Tallis/AFP)

Rishi Sunak, who will be the new British new prime minister after becoming Conservative party leader on Monday, is considered a strong supporter of Israel and a friend of the UK’s Jewish community.

At a Conservative Friends of Israel event in August, Sunak declared Jerusalem is “indisputably the historic capital” of Israel and that there was a “very strong case” for moving the UK embassy from its current location in Tel Aviv.

“It’s something I’d like to do,” he said.

 

But Sunak, a former Treasury chief, also acknowledged “sensitivities” over the issue.

“If it was that easy, it would have been done by now,” he said.

The incoming premier made those remarks during his failed leadership bid against Liz Truss, whose resignation as prime minister last week after a tumultuous six-week stint in office paved the way for Sunak’s elevation to leader, after his lone challenger for the post bowed out of the race on Monday.

Truss told Prime Minister Yair Lapid last month that she was reviewing the UK embassy’s potential relocation to Jerusalem, but did not end up acting on the matter during her record short term in office.

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Rishi Sunak to become UK’s next PM as last rival drops out of leadership race

Conservative Party leadership candidate Rishi Sunak leaves his home in London, October 24, 2022. (AP Photo/David Cliff)

LONDON (AP) — Former Treasury chief Rishi Sunak won the race to be leader of the Conservative Party on Monday and will become Britain’s next prime minister — the third this year.

The former Treasury chief will be Britain’s first leader of color, and faces the task of stabilizing the party and country at a time of economic and political turbulence.

His only rival, Penny Mordaunt, conceded and withdrew.

 

As leader of the governing party, he will take over as prime minister from Liz Truss, who quit last week after 45 tumultuous days in office.

Sunak had been the strong favorite as the governing Conservative Party sought stability at a time of immense economic challenges and after months of chaos that consumed the past two leaders.

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UK monkeypox cases jump 70% in just three days to 179 as health chiefs say anyone who develops a new rash should abstain from $EX

  • The UK Health Security Agency confirmed 71 new cases in today, bringing the UK total since May 6 to 179
  • WHO said outbreak is ‘moderate risk’ because clusters have been reported in different places simultaneously
  • The outbreak, which was first detected in early May, has spread to 24 countries and struck 106 Britons
  • The UN health agency said risk from the virus ‘could become high’ if it spreads to more vulnerable groups 
  • WHO said surge in infections suggests virus ‘may have been circulating unrecognised’ for weeks or longer
  • There are growing concerns that monkeypox will spill into wild animals and never be eradicated

Another 71 cases of monkeypox have been spotted among Britons, as health chiefs urge anyone who develops a new rash to abstain from sex.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said the new patients are all based in England. It brings the UK total to 179 since the first was detected on May 6, with the figure soaring 69 per cent since Friday — the biggest jump yet.

Almost all of the infections have been logged in England, apart from four logged in Scotland, two in Northern Ireland and one in Wales. 

UK health chiefs insist the risk to the public remains low. But they have urged everyone to be on the lookout for new rashes or lesions on any part of their body — which appear like spots, ulcers or blisters. 

The UKHSA has not shared the age, region or gender of those infected with monkeypox. But the majority are men who have sex with men, so it has told these groups to be particularly aware of the virus’s tell-tale signs.

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A single nuclear sub strike would “drown” Great Britain in a “radioactive tsunami,” warns Russia

Natural News) “Channel One,” a Russian state-run media outlet, ran a feature piece the other day outlining how easy it would supposedly be for Russia to “drown” the United Kingdom in a “radioactive tsunami.”

Aleksey Zhuravlyov, the chairman of Russia’s nationalist Rodina political party, explained during the segment that the Russian navy’s nuclear submarines could take out all of Great Britain with one single nuclear bomb.

“One Sarmat missile and the British Isles will be no more,” Zhuravlyov declared. (Related: Russia also says that the threat of nuclear war is very “serious, real.”)

Zhuravlyov’s statements were delivered following the UK military’s announced decision to support Ukraine in the ongoing conflict as opposed to Russia. Great Britain was among the first to proudly announce that it will deliver planeloads of weapons to Ukraine, including anti-tank systems and munitions.

After Zhuravlyov spoke, the “Channel One” segment transitioned to news anchor Dmitry Kiselyov, who described in further detail what a Russian submarine nuke launch would look like:

“It approaches its target at a depth of 1km at a speed of 200km / h. There’s no way of stopping this underwater drone. The warhead on it has a yield of up to 100 megatons. The explosion of this thermonuclear torpedo by Britain’s coastline will cause a gigantic tsunami wave up to 500m high.”

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UNITED KINGDOM It is illegal to ride a cow while drunk.

The Licensing Act of 1872 stipulates that operating a cow, horse or steam engine while intoxicated carries either a prison sentence or a fine. It allegedly carries a penalty fine of up to 1,200 GBP excluding the costs of looking after the cow, horse, etc. So when you go out cow-tipping, just make sure not to hop on one!

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