The government of British Prime Minister Tony Blair recalled two senior ministers from overseas trips for a high-stakes vote yesterday on controversial anti-terrorism laws.
Amid concern about the degree of opposition to the proposals, the government recalled Foreign Secretary Jack Straw from Russia and Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown from Israel shortly after they had arrived in those countries.
"The foreign secretary will be returning to the UK for the vote," but would still have the time to attend meetings involving his French, German and Russian counterparts, a foreign office spokeswoman said.
"He will attend the EU troika [British, German and French diplomats] meeting and then fly back. He was meant to be in Moscow today for meetings but he is returning a little early," she said.
Brown said he was summoned back from Israel for the vote on anti-terrorism measures, including one that extends the period for which suspects can be detained from the current 14 days to 90 days without charge.
Blair, who had long backed police demands for such an extension in the wake of the July 7 London bombings, faced a rebellion last week by fellow members in the governing Labour Party seeking to set the limit at 28 days.
"On important issues of national security, one of the most important votes we will have in this parliament, it is important that all of us who can be there are going to be there," Brown said.
Brown spent only minutes in Israel's Ben Gurion Airport in the early hours of yesterday morning before boarding a plane back home after receiving a message from Government Chief Whip Hilary Armstrong.
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
Two former Chilean ministers are among four candidates competing this weekend for the presidential nomination of the left ahead of November elections dominated by rising levels of violent crime. More than 15 million voters are eligible to choose today between former minister of labor Jeannette Jara, former minister of the interior Carolina Toha and two members of parliament, Gonzalo Winter and Jaime Mulet, to represent the left against a resurgent right. The primary is open to members of the parties within Chilean President Gabriel Boric’s ruling left-wing coalition and other voters who are not affiliated with specific parties. A recent poll by the
TENSIONS HIGH: For more than half a year, students have organized protests around the country, while the Serbian presaident said they are part of a foreign plot About 140,000 protesters rallied in Belgrade, the largest turnout over the past few months, as student-led demonstrations mount pressure on the populist government to call early elections. The rally was one of the largest in more than half a year student-led actions, which began in November last year after the roof of a train station collapsed in the northern city of Novi Sad, killing 16 people — a tragedy widely blamed on entrenched corruption. On Saturday, a sea of protesters filled Belgrade’s largest square and poured into several surrounding streets. The independent protest monitor Archive of Public Gatherings estimated the
Irish-language rap group Kneecap on Saturday gave an impassioned performance for tens of thousands of fans at the Glastonbury Festival despite criticism by British politicians and a terror charge for one of the trio. Liam Og O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, has been charged under the UK’s Terrorism Act with supporting a proscribed organization for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London in November last year. The rapper, who was charged under the anglicized version of his name, Liam O’Hanna, is on unconditional bail before a further court hearing in August. “Glastonbury,
RSS