Keir Starmer: lawyer set to take UK’s Labour back to power

Keir Starmer: lawyer set to take UK’s Labour back to power
UK Labour leader Keir Starmer is an ex-human rights lawyer and public prosecutor who will have to focus his relentless work ethic and methodical mind to fixing the country. (AFP)
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Updated 05 July 2024
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Keir Starmer: lawyer set to take UK’s Labour back to power

Keir Starmer: lawyer set to take UK’s Labour back to power

LONDON: UK Labour leader Keir Starmer is an ex-human rights lawyer and public prosecutor who will have to focus his relentless work ethic and methodical mind to fixing the country.

If exit polls are confirmed, at 61, Starmer will be the oldest person to become British prime minister in almost half a century — and comes just nine years since he was first elected to parliament.

The married father-of-two is unlike most modern politicians: he had a long and distinguished career before becoming an MP and his views are rooted in pragmatism rather than ideology.

“We must return politics to service,” Starmer said repeatedly during the campaign, promising to put “country first, party second” following 14 chaotic years of Conservative rule under five different prime ministers.

That mantra chimes with supporters’ lauding of him as a managerial safe pair of hands who will approach life in Downing Street the same way he did his legal career: seriously and forensically.

Detractors, though, label him an uninspiring opportunist who regularly shifts position on an issue and who has failed to spell out a clear and defining vision for the country.

Football-mad Starmer, a devoted Arsenal fan, has struggled to shed his public image as buttoned-up and boring and only recently started to appear more at ease in the public spotlight.

Supporters admit that he fails to ooze the charisma of more flashy predecessors like Boris Johnson, but say that therein lies his appeal: a reassuring and strait-laced presence following the turbulent, self-serving years of Tory rule.

With his grey quiff and black-rimmed glasses — Starmer, named after Labour’s founding father Keir Hardie — is also the center-left party’s most working-class leader in decades.

“My dad was a toolmaker, my mum was a nurse,” he tells voters often, countering depictions by opponents that he is the epitome of a smug, liberal, London elite.

Starmer’s purging of left-wingers from his party highlights a ruthless side that has propelled him to Britain’s highest political office, but he is said to be funny in private and loyal to his friends.

He has pledged to maintain his habit of not working after 6:00 p.m. on a Friday to spend time with his wife Victoria, who works as an occupational therapist in the National Health Service, and their two teenage children, who he does not name in public.

“There’s something extraordinary in him still being quite normal,” Starmer’s biographer Tom Baldwin wrote in the Guardian.

Born on September 2, 1962, Keir Rodney Starmer was raised in a cramped, pebbledashed semi-detached house on the outskirts of London by a seriously ill mother and an emotionally distant father.

He had three siblings, one of whom had learning difficulties. His parents were animal lovers who rescued donkeys.

A talented musician, Starmer had violin lessons at school with Norman Cook, the former Housemartins bassist who became DJ Fatboy Slim.

After legal studies at the universities of Leeds and Oxford, Starmer turned his attention to leftist causes, defending trade unions, anti-McDonald’s activists and death row inmates abroad.

He is friends with human rights lawyer Amal Clooney from their time together at the same legal practice and once recounted a boozy lunch he had with her and her Hollywood actor husband George.

In 2003, he began moving toward the establishment, shocking colleagues and friends, first with a job ensuring police in Northern Ireland complied with human rights legislation.

Five years later, he was appointed director of public prosecutions (DPP) for England and Wales when Labour’s Gordon Brown was prime minister.

Between 2008 and 2013, he oversaw the prosecution of MPs for abusing their expenses, journalists for phone-hacking, and young rioters involved in unrest across England.

He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, but rarely uses the prefix “Sir,” and in 2015 was elected as a member of parliament, representing a seat in left-leaning north London.

Just weeks before he was elected, his mother died of a rare disease of the joints that had left her unable to walk for many years.

Just a year after becoming an MP, Starmer joined a rebellion by Labour lawmakers over radical left-winger Jeremy Corbyn’s perceived lack of leadership during the EU referendum campaign.

It failed, and later that year he rejoined the top team as Labour’s Brexit spokesman, where he remained until succeeding Corbyn after he took the party to its worst defeat since 1935 in the last election five years ago.

Starmer moved the party back to the more electable center ground, purging Corbyn and rooting out anti-Semitism.

Dominic Grieve, who as Conservative attorney-general worked closely with Starmer as DPP, said he “inspires loyalty because he comes across as being so transparently decent and rational.”

“These are quite important features even if you disagree with a policy. And he comes across as man of moderation,” he told The Times.

Nevertheless, the left accuses him of betrayal for dropping a number of pledges he made during his successful leadership campaign, including the scrapping of university tuition fees.

But his successful strategic repositioning of Labour is indicative of a constant throughout his life: a drive to succeed.

“If you’re born without privilege, you don’t have time for messing around,” Starmer once said.

“You don’t walk around problems without fixing them, and you don’t surrender to the instincts of organizations that won’t face up to change.”


Mexico says won’t accept US ‘invasion’ in fight against cartels

Mexico says won’t accept US ‘invasion’ in fight against cartels
Updated 3 sec ago
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Mexico says won’t accept US ‘invasion’ in fight against cartels

Mexico says won’t accept US ‘invasion’ in fight against cartels
  • The eight Latin American drug trafficking groups designated as terrorist organizations include Mexican gangs such as the Jalisco New Generation and Sinaloa cartels
  • Claudia Sheinbaum: ‘They can call them (the cartels) whatever they want, but with Mexico, it is collaboration and coordination, never subordination or interventionism, and even less invasion“
MEXICO CITY: Mexico’s president warned the United States on Thursday her country would never tolerate an “invasion” of its national sovereignty and vowed fresh legal action against US gunmakers after Washington designated cartels as terrorist organizations.
The remarks were the latest in a series hitting back at the administration of President Donald Trump, which has ramped up pressure on its southern neighbor to curb illegal flows of drugs and migrants.
Mexico is trying to avoid the sweeping 25-percent tariffs threatened by Trump by increasing cooperation in the fight against narcotics trafficked by the cartels in his sights.
The eight Latin American drug trafficking groups designated as terrorist organizations include Mexican gangs such as the Jalisco New Generation and Sinaloa cartels — two of the country’s most powerful and violent criminal organizations.
But the designation “cannot be an opportunity for the US to invade our sovereignty,” President Claudia Sheinbaum told a news conference.
“They can call them (the cartels) whatever they want, but with Mexico, it is collaboration and coordination, never subordination or interventionism, and even less invasion.”
Sheinbaum said Mexico would expand its legal action against US gun manufacturers, which her government accuses of negligence in the sale of weapons that end up in the hands of drug traffickers.
The lawsuit could lead to a new charge of alleged “complicity” with terrorist groups, she said.

Trump signed an executive order on his first day back in the White House last month saying that the cartels “constitute a national-security threat beyond that posed by traditional organized crime.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday that the designations “provide law enforcement additional tools to stop these groups.”
“Terrorist designations play a critical role in our fight against terrorism and are an effective way to curtail support for terrorist activities,” he said in a statement.
While he did not mention it, the move has raised speculation about possible military action against the cartels.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who has been given a prominent role in the Trump administration, suggested the designation “means they’re eligible for drone strikes.”
On Wednesday, Sheinbaum confirmed that the United States had been operating drones spying on Mexican cartels as part of a collaboration that has existed for years.
According to The New York Times, Washington has stepped up secret drone flights over Mexico in search of fentanyl labs as part of Trump’s campaign against drug cartels.
Military threats from the United States always generate resentment in Mexico, which lost half of its territory to the United States in the 19th century.
Sheinbaum said that she would present to Congress a constitutional reform to protect “the integrity, independence and sovereignty of the nation” including against the violation of its territory by land, air or sea.
Mexico says that between 200,000 and 750,000 weapons manufactured by US gunmakers are smuggled across the border from the United States every year, often being used in crime.
The Latin American country tightly controls firearm sales, making them practically impossible to obtain legally.
Even so, drug-related violence has seen around 480,000 people killed in Mexico since the government deployed the army to combat trafficking in 2006, according to official figures.
While she has ruled out declaring “war” on drug cartels, Sheinbaum has quietly dropped her predecessor’s “hugs not bullets” strategy, which prioritized tackling the root causes of criminal violence over security operations.
Her government has announced a series of major drug seizures and deployed more troops to the border with the United States in return for Trump pausing tariffs for one month.
Mexican authorities also announced the arrest this week of two prominent members of the Sinaloa Cartel, including the head of security for one of its warring factions.

Glamping retreat for Indonesia leaders sparks criticism as cuts bite

Glamping retreat for Indonesia leaders sparks criticism as cuts bite
Updated 1 min 5 sec ago
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Glamping retreat for Indonesia leaders sparks criticism as cuts bite

Glamping retreat for Indonesia leaders sparks criticism as cuts bite

JAKARTA: The Indonesian government will host a week-long mountain glamping retreat for hundreds of regional leaders this week, a presidential official said Wednesday, sparking criticism as President Prabowo Subianto imposes widespread budget cuts.

More than 500 mayors, governors and regents will be taken to a military-style academy in the Central Java city of Magelang, where the recently inaugurated president’s Cabinet stayed in luxury tents in October. The 73-year-old former general, accused of rights abuses under dictator Suharto in the late 1990s, has pledged to drill and unite the country’s top politicians, choosing the mountains of Central Java for that mission. The camping trip for 503 politicians will take place between Feb. 21-28, presidential spokesman Hariqo Wibawa Satria told AFP, confirming Prabowo would attend in some capacity. The regional heads will be trained on good governance, improvement of public services and “chemistry building,” he said.

But the gathering — costing $808,000 from the Home Ministry budget — has prompted outrage online and criticism from NGOs.

“What’s the urgency? Why should it be glamping with aides? A cheaper version of camping should be doable,” a user posted in Indonesian on social media site X.

The criticism comes as Prabowo slashes budgets across the government after ordering cuts of around $19 billion last month.


Putin hails Russia’s huge number of ‘terror’ convictions

Putin hails Russia’s huge number of ‘terror’ convictions
Updated 20 February 2025
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Putin hails Russia’s huge number of ‘terror’ convictions

Putin hails Russia’s huge number of ‘terror’ convictions
  • “Military courts have a key role in deciding on criminal cases with a terrorist direction,” Putin said in a speech to Russia’s top judges.
  • “Last year, around 950 such cases were looked at, 1,075 people were sentenced“

MOSCOW: Russian military courts sentenced more than 1,000 people on terrorist charges last year, President Vladimir Putin said Thursday, referring to a massive wave of prosecutions during the Ukraine offensive.
Russia’s secretive military courts prosecute captured Ukrainian soldiers, Russians accused of working with Kyiv or sabotaging Moscow’s army, domestic opponents of the Kremlin, and alleged radicals and terrorist groups.
“Military courts have a key role in deciding on criminal cases with a terrorist direction,” Putin said in a speech to Russia’s top judges.
“Last year, around 950 such cases were looked at, 1,075 people were sentenced.”
Russia regularly sentences people over opposition to the Ukraine offensive, while convicting captured Ukrainian soldiers on treason and terrorist charges.
The Geneva Conventions prohibit the prosecution of prisoners of war (POW) for taking part in armed hostilities.
Moscow has also intensified its targeting of alleged jihadist cells since the March 2024 massacre at a Moscow concert hall that killed 145 people — an attack claimed by the Islamic State.
The crackdown at home is of a scale not seen since the Soviet era.
The OVD-Info rights group says 1,184 people have been prosecuted in Russia for their opposition to the Ukraine conflict — including 258 for justifying “terrorism” and 58 for “acts of terrorism.”
The Memorial rights group says Russia has 868 political prisoners, though its co-founder Oleg Orlov told AFP last year there were “a lot more” that campaigners did not know about.
Jailed for “discrediting” Russia’s armed forces, he was then released in a prisoner exchange with the United States.
Putin on Thursday praised Russia’s judges for their “dedication” in overseeing the ballooning case load.
He said Russia had created 100 courts and appointed 570 judges in occupied parts of eastern Ukraine, where Moscow has jailed an unknown number of Ukrainians for opposing Moscow’s military offensive.
“They are completely integrated in the united Russian judicial system,” Russia’s Supreme Court chief Irina Podnosova told Putin.
She said military courts had seen a steep rise in overall cases during the Ukraine campaign.
“In 2024, they looked at 18,000 criminal (cases), 13,000 administrative (cases) and 9,000 civilian (cases),” she added.
Little is known of the fate of Ukrainians sentenced by Russian-installed courts in the four Ukrainian regions Russia annexed in 2022 — Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk and Zaporizhzhia.
Russian courts are known for their low acquittal rates.


Teenager kills two women in knife attack at Czech shop

Teenager kills two women in knife attack at Czech shop
Updated 20 February 2025
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Teenager kills two women in knife attack at Czech shop

Teenager kills two women in knife attack at Czech shop
  • Police arrested the teenager, a Czech national, minutes after the attack at an Action branch on the outskirts of Hradec Kralove
  • The attacker’s motive was unclear but that there was nothing to indicate a terror attack, police said

HRADEE KRALOVE, Czech Republic: A 16-year-old boy killed two women in a knife attack at a discount shop in the Czech Republic on Thursday, police said, adding the motive remained unclear.
Police arrested the teenager, a Czech national, minutes after the attack at an Action branch on the outskirts of Hradec Kralove, around 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Prague.
“Both of those attacked suffered injuries which were so serious that they could not be saved despite all efforts of the rescuers,” police said on X.
Police spokeswoman Iva Kormosova said the teenager attacked a shop assistant at the counter and another worker in a service area of the store.
The attacker’s motive was unclear but that there was nothing to indicate a terror attack, police said.
“The information we have for now seems to suggest he chose the victims randomly,” they added.
Rescuers received the first call about 0730 GMT, half an hour after the shop had opened.
“When we arrived, we found two people stabbed,” Anatolij Truhlar, head doctor of the local air rescue service, told the private CNN Prima News TV channel.
“Unfortunately, despite 40 minutes of resuscitation efforts, both persons died,” he added.
Police were deployed outside the Action discount store where a lone candle flickered, and a part of an adjacent car park was closed with police tape until Thursday afternoon.
“I think you’re not safe anywhere, given what’s going on around us,” passer-by Adela Ptackova told AFP.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala expressed condolences to the families of the victims, calling the murders “an incomprehensible, horrendous act.”
Terror attacks are rare in the Czech Republic, an EU and NATO member of 10.9 million people, but in 2023 a student killed 14 people and wounded 25 in a shooting rampage at a Prague university.
The Czech Republic’s southern neighbor Austria is reeling from the murder of a teenager in a knife attack by a Syrian asylum seeker in the city of Villach at the weekend.


Kyrgyzstan urges respect for heritage amid row over Russian ‘appropriation’

Kyrgyzstan urges respect for heritage amid row over Russian ‘appropriation’
Updated 20 February 2025
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Kyrgyzstan urges respect for heritage amid row over Russian ‘appropriation’

Kyrgyzstan urges respect for heritage amid row over Russian ‘appropriation’
  • “Recently, there has been an alarming trend related to the commercial use of national patterns and symbols,” its culture ministry said
  • “The culture ministry calls on all organizations, entrepreneurs and individual citizens to respect the historical and cultural heritage of the Kyrgyz Republic“

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan: Kyrgyzstan has called for respect for its “historical and cultural heritage” after a Russian clothing brand used traditional Kyrgyz designs and claimed copyright over them, prompting accusations of “cultural appropriation.”
The Central Asian country is closely allied with Moscow, but has taken steps to reinforce its national identity in recent years after many decades of dependence on former ruler Russia.
“Recently, there has been an alarming trend related to the commercial use of national patterns and symbols, which are an integral part of the historical and cultural heritage of Kyrgyzstan,” its culture ministry said on Facebook Wednesday.
“The culture ministry calls on all organizations, entrepreneurs and individual citizens to respect the historical and cultural heritage of the Kyrgyz Republic.”
The furor began earlier this month after social media users accused Russian fashion label Yaka, founded in 2023, of ripping off traditional Kyrgyz patterns and including a legal warning against “copying” its designs on its website.
Yaka sells a range of clothes and accessories featuring colorful Kyrgyz patterns, describing them as “modern ethno-chic.”
It also sells “shyrdaks,” traditional felt rugs native to Kyrgyzstan that are sometimes used as a dowry at weddings and have been included in UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage.
Some social media users accused the brand of “cultural appropriation” — when a tradition is taken from another culture and used in a way that was not intended.
Kyrgyzstan has a relatively freer media and looser controls on social networks than its authoritarian Central Asian neighbors, but open anger against Russia is rare.
Yaka’s founder Anna Obydenova reacted to the criticism by calling on Kyrgyz people to “learn Russian better” in an Instagram video.
She later deleted the video and apologized.
In an Instagram post Tuesday, she denied accusations of disrespect toward Kyrgyz culture, saying she had worked with local craftswomen.
“I never said I came up with these patterns, nor did I call myself a designer or author of the motifs,” she said.
“I am simply a person who saw incredible beauty and wanted to share it with the world.”
Russian remains an official language in Kyrgyzstan, with a segment of the population expressing pro-Russian attitudes.
But others, especially among the younger generation, have turned away from Moscow, partly due to the invasion of Ukraine and Russian authorities’ often harsh treatment of Kyrgyz migrants.