UK’s Sunak, Starmer face televised grilling by unhappy voters

Britain’’s Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader Rishi Sunak speaks with Sky’s political editor Beth Rigby during a Sky News election event in Grimsby, northeast England, on June 12, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 13 June 2024
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UK’s Sunak, Starmer face televised grilling by unhappy voters

LONDON: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Keir Starmer were grilled by voters at a televised event on Wednesday, with both challenged over past decisions, pledges and how they would fund policies if they won a July 4 election.

At their last meeting in television studios before the poll, the two men took turns to face an interviewer and then an audience, whose questions and responses underscored the everyday struggles of many in Britain and the mistrust of politicians.

With just over three weeks until an election opinion polls suggest Labour will easily win, Sunak was booed and heckled over doctors’ strikes, migration and his policy to introduce national service for young people.

Starmer was taken to task for what one audience member said was his avoidance of answering questions, and over his previous support of his predecessor, left-wing veteran Jeremy Corbyn.

A poll taken after the event in the northern English town of Grimsby said 64 percent believed Starmer had won the event on Sky News.

Starmer told the audience that he would start implementing his policies from ‘day one’ if he won the election but shied away from answering whether he was being honest when in 2019 he said his left-wing predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn, should become prime minister.

“I want to get the place when I can roll up my sleeves and work with you ... to say the government is on your side,” Starmer said to applause. “That will be a massive difference to the last 14 years.”

SUNAK BOOED

Sunak was challenged over some of his policies, which audience members said had yet to solve their inability to get dentist appointments, reduce waiting lists in the National Health Service or stop the arrival of migrants in small boats.

“I know we’ve been through a tough time, of course we have... its been tough for all of you here tonight, all of you watching, but I do believe we have turned a corner and we’ve got a clear plan for the future,” he said.

“I am going to keep fighting hard until the last day of this election.”

The event came a day after Sunak unveiled 17 billion pounds of tax cuts in his governing party’s manifesto, trying to convince voters’ that he had a plan to make them better off while Labour’s policies are vague and ill-thought through.

He said again on Wednesday that a vote for Starmer was akin to writing him a blank cheque, repeating the contested accusation that a Labour government would increase taxes by more than 2,000 pounds. Starmer denied that was the case.

On Thursday, Labour will be try to set the story straight with its own manifesto, a document which sets out the policies the party will pursue in government, an agenda Starmer said would put wealth creation and economic growth at its heart.

Labour has repeatedly said it will stick to strict spending rules — a line Labour, traditionally seen as the party of tax and spend, has adopted not only to try to show it has changed since being led by Corbyn but also to challenge Conservative attacks that it will increase taxes.

But it was Corbyn who came back to haunt Starmer on Wednesday, when he was asked whether he believed what he said when in 2019 he said the veteran leftist would make a good prime minister and when he made 10 left-wing pledges to become Labour leader a year later, several of which he has since dropped.

“Have I changed my position on those pledges, yes I have,” said Starmer. “I think this party should always put the country first.”


Driver charged with causing grievous bodily harm after Liverpool soccer parade tragedy

Updated 2 sec ago
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Driver charged with causing grievous bodily harm after Liverpool soccer parade tragedy

Doyle faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted
The people injured ranged in age from 9 to 78, with at least 50 treated at hospitals

LONDON: A driver who injured nearly 80 people when his car rammed into a crowd of Liverpool soccer fans celebrating their team’s Premier League championship was charged Thursday with intentionally causing grievous bodily harm and six other serious counts, a prosecutor said.

Paul Doyle, 53, was also charged with dangerous driving and five other counts alleging different variations of causing grievous bodily harm, Prosecutor Sarah Hammond said.

He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.

The people injured ranged in age from 9 to 78, with at least 50 treated at hospitals. Seven people remained in the hospital Thursday in stable condition.

The charges did not indicate how many victims the counts were tied to but Hammond said the investigation was at an early stage as police review a huge volume of evidence, including videos and eyewitness statements.

“It is important to ensure that every victim gets the justice they deserve,” Hammond said.

The city had been celebrating Liverpool’s record-tying 20th title when the driver turned down a street full of fans and joy quickly turned to tragedy.

“We know that Monday’s shocking scenes reverberated around the city of Liverpool, and the entire country, on what should have been a day of celebration for hundreds of thousands of Liverpool FC supporters,” Hammond said.

Doyle remained in custody and faces his first court hearing Friday in Liverpool Magistrates’ Court.

Police had previously said they believed Doyle dodged a road block by tailing an ambulance responding to a report of a person in cardiac arrest.

Video that circulated on social media showed scenes of horror as the car struck and tossed a person in the air who was draped in a Liverpool flag and then swerved into a sea of people packed on the side of the road.

Merseyside Police said the driver was believed to have acted alone and they did not suspect terrorism.

“I fully understand how this incident has left us all shocked and saddened, and I know many will continue to have concerns and questions,” Assistant Chief Constable Jenny Sims said during a short news conference.

“Our detectives are working tirelessly, with diligence and professionalism to seek the answer to all of those questions.”

France to ban smoking outdoors in most places: minister

Updated 29 min 58 sec ago
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France to ban smoking outdoors in most places: minister

  • “Tobacco must disappear where there are children,” Catherine Vautrin said
  • The freedom to smoke “stops where children’s right to breathe clean air starts“

PARIS: France will ban smoking in all outdoor places that can be frequented by children, like beaches, parks and bus stops, the health and family minister said in an interview published on Thursday.

“Tobacco must disappear where there are children,” Catherine Vautrin said in an interview published by the regional Ouest-France daily on its website.

The freedom to smoke “stops where children’s right to breathe clean air starts,” she said.

The restrictions will enter into force on July 1 and will include all places where children could be, such as “beaches, parks, public gardens, outside of schools, bus stops and sports venues,” she said.

Violators could be fined up to 135 euros ($154), she said.

Cafe terraces will be excluded from the ban, which will also not extend to electronic cigarettes, she said.

Some 75,000 people are estimated to die from tobacco-related complications each year in France.

According to a recent opinion survey, six out of 10 French people (62 percent) favor banning smoking in public places.


Chinese students anxious and angry after Rubio vows to revoke visas

Updated 29 May 2025
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Chinese students anxious and angry after Rubio vows to revoke visas

  • China is the second-largest country of origin for international students in the US
  • This is a “new version of Chinese Exclusion Act,” said Linqin, a Chinese student at Johns Hopkins University

HONG KONG: Chinese students studying in the US are scrambling to figure out their futures after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Wednesday that some students would have their visas revoked.

The US will begin revoking the visas of some Chinese students, including those studying in “critical fields,” and “those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party,” according to the announcement.

China is the second-largest country of origin for international students in the United States, behind only India. In the 2023-2024 school year, more than 270,000 international students were from China, making up roughly a quarter of all foreign students in the US

This is a “new version of Chinese Exclusion Act,” said Linqin, a Chinese student at Johns Hopkins University, who asked to be identified only by his first name out of fear of retaliation. He was referring to a 19th-century law that prohibited Chinese from immigrating to the US and banned Chinese people already in the US from getting citizenship. He said Wednesday was the first time he thought about leaving the US after spending one third of his life here.

Chinese international students are point of tension between US and China

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, called the US decision unreasonable.

“Such a politicized and discriminatory action lays bare the US lie that it upholds the so-called freedom and openness,” she said Thursday, adding that China has lodged a protest with the US

The issue of Chinese students studying overseas has long been a point of tension in the bilateral relationship. During Trump’s first term, in 2019, China’s Ministry of Education warned students about visa issues in the US, with rising rejection rates and shortening of visas.

Last year, the Chinese Foreign Ministry protested that a number of Chinese students have been unfairly interrogated and sent home upon arrival at US airports.

Chinese state media has long hyped gun violence in the US and violent protests during the pandemic, and portrayed the US as a dangerous place that wasn’t safe for its citizens. The tense bilateral relationship has also meant that some Chinese students are opting to study in the UK or other countries over the US after the pandemic.

Zou Renge, a 27-year-old public policy master’s student at the University of Chicago, said she had planned to take some time off and work in humanitarian aid programs abroad after graduating at the end of this year.

But now, she will refrain from leaving the US and will look for jobs in the meantime. “In a very uncertain environment, I’ll try my best to find myself a solution,” she said.

Hong Kong seeks to draw in talent amid uncertainty

Some were eager to capitalize on the uncertainty facing international students in the US Hong Kong’s leader John Lee told lawmakers on Thursday that the city would welcome any students who have been discriminated against by American policies to study in the city.

“The students who face unfair treatment can come from different countries beyond the US I think this is an opportunity for Hong Kong,” he said. “We will work with our universities to provide the best support and assistance.”

That followed a widely shared post by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) inviting Harvard students to “continue their academic pursuits” there after Trump said he would revoke the university’s ability to accept international students.

Hong Kong, a former British colony that returned to China in 1997, is a popular destination for mainland Chinese students to pursue their university degrees because of its international image and relative freedoms.

The city launched a new visa scheme in 2022 to counter the exodus of expatriates and local professionals that occurred after Beijing imposed a national security law to quell dissent and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Multiple Hong Kong universities including the Chinese University of Hong Kong, HKUST, and City University of Hong Kong said they would streamline or facilitate applications for international students coming from top universities in the US

Will Kwong, managing director at Hong Kong’s AAS Education Consultancy, said his company was helping students with offers from American universities to apply to other institutions, predominantly in Britain and Australia, so that they had alternative choices.

US was known for diversity and this will hurt it, students say

“Having fewer international exchanges is definitely not good for America’s development,” said Zhang Qi, a postdoctoral fellow in Beijing. “This could be a positive change for China’s development. More talented individuals may choose to stay at Tsinghua or Peking University, or with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and other top institutions in China, which would benefit the development of domestic science and technology.”

For many, there is little they can do as they now wait for the fallout from the move.

Chen, an incoming Chinese student at Purdue University who only gave his last name out of concern for retaliation by the Trump administration, has been waiting anxiously for his visa approval. But he was also angry. Currently in China, he said this was the exact opposite of what he thought the US stood for.

“I was expecting freedom and tolerance. The US was known for its diversity which allows international students to fit in, but it is a pity to see such kind of change,” he said.


Russia says no response from Ukraine on Istanbul talks

Updated 29 May 2025
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Russia says no response from Ukraine on Istanbul talks

  • Moscow has shown no signs of easing its bombardment of Ukraine while rebuffing calls for an immediate ceasefire
  • “We need to wait for a response from the Ukrainian side,” Peskov said

MOSCOW: Russia on Thursday said it was still waiting for Ukraine to say whether it would attend peace talks in Istanbul on Monday, after Kyiv demanded Moscow send its peace terms before agreeing to the meeting.

Diplomatic efforts to end the three-year conflict have gained pace in recent months, but Moscow has shown no signs of easing its bombardment of Ukraine while rebuffing calls for an immediate ceasefire.

Moscow has offered to hold a second round of direct talks with Ukraine in Istanbul on June 2, where it wants to present a so-called “memorandum” outlining its conditions for a long-term peace settlement.

But Ukraine said the meeting would not yield results unless it saw a copy of the memorandum in advance, a proposal that the Kremlin dismissed.

“As far as I know, no response has been received yet... we need to wait for a response from the Ukrainian side,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, calling Kyiv’s demand that Russia provide peace conditions up front as “non-constructive.”

Ukraine said it had already submitted its peace terms to Russia and demanded Moscow do the same.

Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Russia and Ukraine not to “shut the door” on dialogue ahead of the anticipated meeting in Istanbul.

The warring sides previously met in Istanbul on May 16, their first direct talks in over three years.

Those talks failed to yield a breakthrough, but the two sides did agree to trade 1,000 prisoners each — their biggest POW swap since the beginning of the conflict.

Erdogan’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, who met Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday, was expected to travel to Kyiv on Thursday to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

US President Donald Trump, who has been pushing for a peace deal, has become increasingly frustrated with Moscow’s apparent stalling and warned Wednesday he would determine within “about two weeks” whether Putin was serious about ending the fighting.

Moscow’s offensive, launched in February 2022, has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and the destruction of large parts of eastern and southern Ukraine.

Ukraine on Thursday criticized Russia’s refusal to provide the memorandum.

“The Russians’ fear of sending their memorandum to Ukraine suggests that it is likely filled with unrealistic ultimatums,” foreign ministry spokesman Georgiy Tykhy said.

The Kremlin has been grinding forward on the battlefield for over a year while pushing its demands for peace, which include Ukraine abandoning its NATO ambitions and ceding territory it already controls.

Local authorities in Ukraine said Thursday that Russia had fired 90 drones overnight, killing at
least five people across the country.

In southern Ukraine, a drone strike killed two civilians in the Kherson region, while a ballistic missile attack claimed the life of a farm worker in the Mykolaiv region.

In the eastern Donetsk region, shelling killed one civilian, according to a 24-hour tally from the National Police.

A 68-year-old man was killed by a drone strike on his home in the northeastern Sumy region, which borders Russia.

In his comments on Wednesday, Trump told reporters he was “very disappointed” at Russia’s deadly bombardment during the negotiating process, but rebuffed calls to impose more sanctions on Moscow.

Kyiv has accused Russia of deliberately stalling the peace process to pursue its offensive.

Zelensky said Russia was “amassing” more than 50,000 troops on the front line around Sumy, where Moscow’s army has captured a number of settlements as it seeks to establish what Putin has called a “buffer zone” inside Ukrainian territory.

On Thursday, the Russian army said it captured three villages in the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions and had repelled 48 Ukrainian drones, including three over the Moscow region.

A retired Russian commander who led air strikes on the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol died in a blast early Thursday in Stavropol in southern Russia, authorities said, adding that they did not rule out Ukrainian involvement.


US signals it may use administrative process against Harvard

Updated 29 May 2025
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US signals it may use administrative process against Harvard

  • Harvard has 30 days to respond
  • The notice came ahead of a scheduled court hearing

NEW YORK: The Trump administration signaled on Thursday it might back off plans to immediately revoke Harvard University’s ability to enroll foreign students because of several concerns, including its alleged failure to police antisemitism on campus, and would instead employ a lengthier administrative process.

According to a court filing, the US Department of Homeland Security sent Harvard a notice of intent on Wednesday to withdraw the university’s certification under the federal Student and Exchange Visitor Program. Harvard has 30 days to respond.

The notice came ahead of a scheduled court hearing on whether to extend a temporary ban on the revocation announced by US President Donald Trump’s administration last week.