UK peer accused of Islamophobia for ‘power of the womb’ comments in debate on counter-terrorism

Malcolm Pearson, whose peerage title is Baron Pearson of Rannoch and is now an unaffiliated peer, was speaking during a debate on the new Labour government’s plans to improve counter-terrorism measures at public venues. (Screenshot/Parliamentlive.tv/File Photo)
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Updated 30 July 2024
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UK peer accused of Islamophobia for ‘power of the womb’ comments in debate on counter-terrorism

  • Malcolm Pearson was speaking during a debate on the new Labour government’s plans to improve counter-terrorism measures at public venues

LONDON: A member of the UK’s House of Lords has been accused of expressing Islamophobic views after he said Islamist radicals planned to “take us over through the power of the womb and the ballot box.”

Malcolm Pearson, whose peerage title is Baron Pearson of Rannoch and is now an unaffiliated peer, was speaking during a debate on the new Labour government’s plans to improve counter-terrorism measures at public venues.

“The Shariah allows Muslim men to have four wives at a time, most of whom are having at least two children, so the Muslim population is going up 10 times faster than our national average,” he told the chamber last Thursday.

“On past trends, Birmingham and nine other English local authorities will be majority Muslim by 2031. The radicals’ plan is to wait until they can take us over through the power of the womb and the ballot box,” he added.

His comments were heavily criticized in the days afterward.

The Muslim Association of Britain and the Muslim Council of Britain said they will lodge formal complaints with the House of Lords Commissioners for Standards over the remarks, The Independent reported on Tuesday.

“Lord Pearson’s recent comments are outrageous and perpetuate classic Islamophobic tropes that demonize British Muslim communities. He appears indifferent to the impact of his words, despite the rise in Islamophobia-related hate crimes,” Zara Mohammed, MCB secretary general, told the newspaper.

“As a member of the House of Lords, Lord Pearson should be held accountable for his conduct. We will be writing to the House of Lords Commissioners for Standards and hope they investigate and take appropriate action,” she added.

Raghad Altikriti, chair of MAB, told The Independent that politicians had a duty to promote unity and respect and not resort to “racist dog whistles and Islamophobic tropes.”

He continued: “His comments and behavior fall far short of the expected standards of a member of the House of Lords, and we hope that the House of Lords Commissioners for Standards will look into this matter and take decisive action.”

When pressed by the newspaper to clarify his comments, Pearson said he was simply being “factual” and quoting a “projection of Office for National Statistics figures.”

He added: “Islamists … are quite open about using the ‘power of the womb and the ballot box’ to help them take over Western civilization; like communists before the (Berlin) Wall came down, they are a world domination movement.”

A House of Lords spokesperson confirmed that the House of Lords Commissioners for Standards would look into any complaint it received to first determine if it “fell within their remit to investigate.”


Finnish fighter jet crashes in Arctic town, pilot ejected

Updated 4 sec ago
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Finnish fighter jet crashes in Arctic town, pilot ejected

ROVANIEMI : A Finnish F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet crashed Wednesday near the Rovaniemi airport in Finland’s Arctic north, but the pilot was rescued after ejecting, the armed forces said.
No details were available about the cause of the crash, which occurred “in the Rovaniemi airport area” around 11:00 am (0800 GMT), the military said.
Dark smoke could be seen rising from the scene and several emergency vehicles were dispatched to the area, public service broadcaster YLE said.
The road leading to the airport was closed to traffic, and police blocked access to the airport, it added.
Airport operator Finavia told AFP that it did not expect civilian flights to be affected by the accident for the time being, with the next flight not expected for several hours.

Vatican conclave to pick new pope, world awaits white smoke

Updated 43 min 23 sec ago
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Vatican conclave to pick new pope, world awaits white smoke

  • Cardinals vote in the Sistine Chapel, cut off from world
  • New pope unlikely to emerge before Thursday or Friday
  • Lead cardinal tells peers to set aside personal desires

VATICAN CITY: Roman Catholic cardinals will begin the task on Wednesday of electing a new pope, locking themselves away from the world until they choose the man they hope can unite a diverse but divided global Church.
In a ritual dating back to medieval times, the cardinals will file into the Vatican’s frescoed Sistine Chapel after a public Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica and start their secret conclave for a successor to Pope Francis, who died last month.
No pope has been elected on the first day of a conclave for centuries, so voting could continue for several days before one of the red-hatted princes of the Church receives the necessary two-thirds majority to become the 267th pontiff.
There will be only one ballot on Wednesday. Thereafter, the cardinals can vote as many as four times a day.
They will burn their ballots, with black smoke from a chimney on the roof of the chapel marking an inconclusive vote, while white smoke and the peeling of bells signalling that the 1.4-billion member church has a new leader.
The pope’s influence reaches well beyond the Catholic Church, providing a moral voice and a call to conscience that no other global leader can match.
At a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday morning before entering the conclave, the cardinals prayed that God would help them find a pope who would exercise “watchful care” over the world.
In a sermon, Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re told his peers they must set aside “every personal consideration” in choosing the new pontiff and keep in mind “only ... the good of the Church and of humanity.”
Re, the dean of the College of Cardinals, is 91 and will not enter the conclave, which is reserved for cardinals under the age of 80.
Cardinals in recent days have offered different assessments of what they are looking for in the next pontiff.
While some have called for continuity with Francis’ vision of greater openness and reform, others have said they want to turn the clock back and embrace old traditions. Many have indicated they want a more predictable, measured pontificate.
A record 133 cardinals from 70 countries will enter the Sistine Chapel, up from 115 from 48 nations in the last conclave in 2013 — growth that reflects Francis’ efforts to extend the reach of the Church to far-flung regions with few Catholics.
No clear favorite has emerged, although Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle are considered the front-runners.

NO EAVESDROPPING
However, if it quickly becomes obvious that neither can win, votes are likely to shift to other contenders, with the electors possibly coalescing around geography, doctrinal affinity or common languages.
Among other potential candidates are France’s Jean-Marc Aveline, Hungary’s Peter Erdo, American Robert Prevost and Italy’s Pierbattista Pizzaballa.
Re suggested the cardinals should look for a pope who respected the diversity within the Church. “Unity does not mean uniformity, but a firm and profound communion in diversity,” he said in his sermon.
As in medieval times, the cardinals will be banned from communicating with outsiders during the conclave, and the Vatican has taken high-tech measures to ensure secrecy, including jamming devices to prevent any eavesdropping.
The average length of the last 10 conclaves was just over three days and none went on for more than five days. A 2013 conclave lasted just two days.
The cardinals will be looking to wrap things up quickly again this time to avoid giving the impression that they are divided or that the Church is adrift.
Some 80 percent of the cardinals who enter the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday were appointed by Francis, increasing the possibility that his successor will in some way continue his progressive policies despite strong pushback from traditionalists.
Among their considerations will be whether they should seek a pope from the global south where congregations are growing, as they did in 2013 with the Argentinian Francis, hand back the reins to Europe or even pick a first US pope.


China says US side initiated upcoming Geneva meeting on tariffs

Updated 07 May 2025
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China says US side initiated upcoming Geneva meeting on tariffs

BEIJING: An upcoming meeting between China and US trade representatives in Geneva was requested by the US side, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday.
China announced earlier that Vice Premier He Lifeng will visit Switzerland from May 9 to 12 during which He will also have a meeting with a US delegation led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
China’s position of opposing US tariffs has not changed and any dialogues must be based on equality, respect and mutual benefit, spokesperson Lin Jian told reporters.


India strikes Pakistan over tourist killings, Pakistan says Indian jets downed

Updated 07 May 2025
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India strikes Pakistan over tourist killings, Pakistan says Indian jets downed

  • India fired missiles into Pakistani-controlled territory in several locations early Wednesday, killing at least 26 people including a child
  • India says it struck terrorist sites in Pakistan
  • Pakistan says mosques, civilians hit, vows to respond

MUZAFFARABAD/NEW DELHI: India attacked Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir on Wednesday and Pakistan said it had shot down five Indian fighter jets in the worst fighting in more than two decades between the nuclear-armed enemies.
India said it struck nine Pakistani “terrorist infrastructure” sites, some of them linked to an attack by Islamist militants on Hindu tourists that killed 26 people in Indian Kashmir last month.
Islamabad said six Pakistani locations were targeted, and that none of them were militant camps. At least 26 civilians were killed and 46 injured, a Pakistan military spokesperson said.
Indian forces attacked the headquarters of Islamist militant groups Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Indian defense source told Reuters.
“India has demonstrated considerable restraint in selection of targets and method of execution,” the Indian defense ministry said in a statement.
Pakistan said Indian missiles hit three sites and a military spokesperson told Reuters five Indian aircraft had been shot down, a claim not confirmed by India.
However, four local government sources in Indian Kashmir told Reuters that three fighter jets had crashed in separate areas of the Himalayan region during the night.
All three pilots had been hospitalized, the sources added. Indian defense ministry officials were not immediately available to confirm the report.
Images circulating on local media showed a large, damaged cylindrical chunk of silver-colored metal lying in a field at one of the crash sites. Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the image.
Islamabad called the assault a “blatant act of war” and said it had informed the UN Security Council that Pakistan reserved the right to respond appropriately to Indian aggression.
“All of these engagements have been done as a defensive measure,” Pakistan military spokesperson Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said. “Pakistan remains a very responsible state. However, we will take all the steps necessary for defending the honor, integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan, at all cost.”
The South Asian neighbors also exchanged intense shelling and heavy gunfire across much of their de facto border in the Himalayan region of Kashmir, police and witnesses told Reuters.
Hindu-majority India and Islamic Pakistan have fought two of their three wars since independence in 1947 over Muslim-majority Kashmir, which both sides claim in full and control in part.

’OPERATION SINDOOR’
Since a 2003 ceasefire, to which both countries recommitted in 2021, targeted strikes between the neighbors are extremely rare, especially Indian strikes on Pakistani areas outside Pakistani Kashmir.
But analysts said the risk of escalation is higher than in the recent past due to the severity of India’s attack, which New Delhi called “Operation Sindoor.” Sindoor is the Hindi language word for vermilion, a red powder that Hindu women put on the forehead or parting of their hair as a sign of marriage.
US President Donald Trump called the fighting “a shame” and added, “I hope it ends quickly.” The State Department said Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke to the national security advisers of both nations, urging “both to keep lines of communication open and avoid escalation.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for maximum military restraint from both countries, a spokesperson said. China, which neighbors both India and Pakistan, also called for restraint.
The Pakistani army’s shelling across the frontier in Kashmir killed seven civilians and injured 35 in the Indian sector of the region, police there said.
Indian TV channels showed videos of explosions, fire, large plumes of smoke in the night sky and people fleeing in several places in Pakistan and Pakistani Kashmir. Reuters could not independently verify the footage.
In Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir, damage from the Indian strike was visible at sunrise. Security forces surrounded a small mosque in a hill-side residential neighborhood which had been hit, with its minaret collapsed.
All schools in Pakistani Kashmir, the national capital Islamabad, and much of Indian Kashmir and the populous Pakistani province of Punjab were ordered closed on Wednesday in the aftermath of the strikes.
Imran Shaheen, a district official in Pakistani Kashmir, said two mortars landed on a house in the town of Forward Kahuta, killing two men and injuring several women and children. In another village, a resident had been killed in firing, Shaheen said.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Islamabad was responding to the Indian attacks but did not provide details. Pakistan’s populous province of Punjab declared an emergency, its chief minister said, and hospitals and emergency services were on high alert.
A Pakistani military spokesperson told broadcaster Geo that two mosques were among the sites hit by India. The Pakistani defense minister told Geo that all the sites were civilian and not militant camps.
He said India’s claim of targeting “camps of terrorists is false.”
After India’s strikes, the Indian army said in a post on X on Wednesday: “Justice is served.”

STOCK FUTURES, AIRLINES IMPACTED
A spokesperson for the Indian Embassy in Washington told Reuters that evidence pointed “toward the clear involvement of Pakistan-based terrorists in this terror attack,” referring to the April tourist killings.
India said two of three suspects in that attack were Pakistani nationals but had not detailed its evidence. Pakistan denied that it had anything to do with the April killings.
News of the strikes impacted Indian stock futures mildly, with the GIFT NIFTY at 24,311, 0.3 percent below the NIFTY 50’s last close of 24,379.6 on Tuesday.
Several airlines including India’s largest airline, IndiGo , Air India and Qatar Airways canceled flights in areas of India and Pakistan due to closures of airports and airspace. Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval spoke to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other senior Indian officials briefed counterparts in Britain, Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, an Indian source told Reuters.
The Indian strike goes far beyond New Delhi’s response to previous attacks in Kashmir blamed on Pakistan. Those include India’s 2019 air strike on Pakistan after 40 Indian paramilitary police were killed in Kashmir and India’s retaliation for the deaths of 18 soldiers in 2016.
“Given the scale of the Indian strike, which was far greater than what we saw in 2019, we can expect a sizable Pakistani response,” said Michael Kugelman, a Washington-based South Asia analyst and writer for the Foreign Policy magazine.
“All eyes will be on India’s next move. We’ve had a strike and a counter-strike, and what comes next will be the strongest indication of just how serious a crisis this could become,” he said.


Trump, Ukraine propel EU and UK toward defense pact

Updated 07 May 2025
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Trump, Ukraine propel EU and UK toward defense pact

  • The EU and Britain look set to seal a defense pact at a landmark summit this month as worries about US President Donald Trump and the war in Ukraine spur them beyond the wrangles of Brexit

BRUSSELS: The EU and Britain look set to seal a defense pact at a landmark summit this month as worries about US President Donald Trump and the war in Ukraine spur them beyond the wrangles of Brexit.
Multiple EU diplomats and officials told AFP the signs are positive that a security agreement will be inked when British Prime Minister Keir Starmer meets EU chiefs in London on May 19.
The “security and defense partnership” is billed as an important first step in Starmer’s much-vaunted push to reset ties after the years of bad blood caused by the UK leaving the bloc.
The move is aimed at opening the door to closer cooperation as both the EU and Britain race to rearm in the face of the menace from Russia and fears Trump will no longer help protect Europe.
That should mean more regular security talks, Britain considering joining EU military missions and the potential for London to fully tap into a 150-billion-euro defense fund being set up by the bloc.
But the deal is expected to leave much of the detail to be filled in later — for instance requiring a further agreement on giving the UK and its defense industry unfettered access to the EU programs.
“It is a pre-condition for more serious stuff,” said one EU diplomat, talking like others on condition of anonymity to discuss internal discussions.
Diplomats said fears had subsided that a dispute over prolonging access to British waters for EU fishermen could derail talks as both sides are keen to improve relations amid the global turmoil unleashed by Trump.
“At this stage I’d say the odds are quite positive,” said a second EU diplomat. “But all the different files are linked, so lots can still happen between now and the 19th.”
The defense deal is expected to be signed alongside two other documents: one setting out a shared vision on global issues and another on the list of thorny subjects both sides hope to make progress on, including customs checks, energy links and a youth mobility scheme.
The drafts are set to be debated by EU ambassadors in Brussels on Wednesday and need to be signed off by all 27 before they can be forwarded to the British for final approval.
London and Brussels are treading carefully as closer cooperation with the EU remains a politically divisive issue for Starmer who faces a growing challenge from diehard euroskeptics Reform UK.
Reaching the security pact was long seen as the lowest hanging fruit for negotiators given that Britain already has intertwined defense ties with 23 EU countries in NATO.
Those bonds have only tightened as Trump has rattled Europe by pushing for a quick end to the war in Ukraine.
Britain has teamed up with France to spearhead plans for possibly deploying troops to Ukraine in the event of any deal.
In the latest sign of the closer relationship, British foreign minister David Lammy will meet his EU counterparts for talks in Warsaw on Wednesday.
London said Lammy would “make the case for a long-term UK-EU strategic partnership that will support economic growth, protect citizens, and support European collective security and defense.”
“We are working hand-in-hand with our European allies to build a safer, more secure, and more prosperous Europe,” Lammy said in a statement.
“Together, we will stand firm against aggression, defend our shared values, and deliver lasting peace. “