Politics
Opinion and Analysis of the local and global Politics
Scotland First Minister calls for new independence vote
The results for the 2019 UK elections are in and it seems that the conservative party won everywhere but Scotland. The Scotland National Party won a majority of the Scottish seats that were being contested and the conservatives only won six. The Scottish First Minister has said that Scotland deserves independence and should not be forced to leave the EU.
brexit uk britain election scotland european-union
CNBC
Violent mobs clash with police in India, two dead
Protestors took to the streets in India's North-Eastern state of Assam as more and more people expressed their opposition to the government's new citizenship bill. The bill would give citizenships to non-Muslims who come to India from neighboring Muslim majority countries. The protests turned violent once the police fired live rounds into the crowd.
india modi discrimination muslim hindu
Reuters
Russia may have intervened in UK election
Around one month before the UK's general elections, Liberal party leader Jeremy Corbyn brought forward some leaked documents that showed that Boris Johnson was planning to privatize the UK's healthcare system. According to reports by Graphika, the information originally came from a Russian source. It is unclear whether or not the documents were obtained via a hack.
brexit uk britain russia election tempering
CNN
Conservatives win landslide victory in UK elections
As predicted by various polling agencies, the latest general elections in the UK have delivered an enormous victory for reigning prime minister Boris Johnson's Conservative party, marking the Tories' biggest win since the Thatcher era in the 1980s. Conservatives won 364 out of a total of 650 seats, easily crossing the halfway mark at 326 to form a majority government.
elections conservatives vote tories general thatcher boris-johnson united-kingdom polling
BBC
UK hosts general elections to resolve Brexit issue, again
After failing to meet the October 31 deadline for the UK's departure from the European Union, which it joined in 1973, prime minister Boris Johnson called for general elections to be held to revitalize political will in the country and win a Conservative majority in parliament, promising that if he won he would accomplish Brexit and spend more on health, education and the police.
brexit elections uk health police prime-minister boris-johnson united-kingdom education
Reuters
Harvey Weinstien to make $25 million settlement with accusers
ex-Hollywood bigshot Harvey Weinstein has managed to negotiate a settlement deal with those accusing him of sexually abusing or harassing them. The deal says that he would not have to admit wrongdoing and will have to pay $47 million, $25 million of which will compensate the victims. Many of the victims have said that the deal is unacceptable as it does not hold Weinstein accountable.
abuse sexual-harassment sexual-abuse harvey-weinstein harassment
NBC
Woman who accused Prince Andrew of abusing her posts ominous tweet
Virginia Roberts Giuffre, the woman who accused Prince Andrew of sexually abusing her when she was only of age 17, has posted an eerie tweet explaining that she is not suicidal. In the tweet, she mentioned that many powerful people want her silenced. Many people speculate that Jeffry Epstein was murdered in prison in order to prevent him from testifying.
rape royal-family sexual-abuse pince-andrew pedophilia
7News
US wants to negotiate with North Korea, declares missile tests 'unproductive'
US Ambassador Kelly Craft has warned North Korea that their missile tests are 'deeply unproductive' and that the US is willing to come to an agreement with the country. Negotiations between the two countries broke down earlier this year and North Korea has been using its missile tests to place pressure on the US.
us nuclear negotiation north-korea missile-test denuclearisation
Aljazeera
Time names Greta Thunberg 'Person of the Year'
Climate change activist Greta Thunberg has been named Time Magazine's 'Person of the Year' for 2019. The 16-year-old Swedish girl inspired millions of people to take action against climate change all over the world. She has also spoken at the UN and has met a large number of world leaders. She is the youngest person ever to have won this award.
climate-change global-warming time time-magazine greta-thunberg
Reuters
China becomes worst country in the world for journalists in 2019
According to a new report, China imprisoned more journalists in 2019 than any other country in the world. By arresting 48 different journalists, it displaced Turkey as one of the most unsafe places for the press. Many of these arrests were related to reporting on China's Uighur Muslim internment camps.
china journalism press free-press
Reuters
Oldest PM in the world Mahathir Muhammad will resign next year
Malaysian prime minster Mahathir Muhammad, the oldest prime minister in the world at 94 years of age, has announced that he will be stepping down from his position next year. He has chosen Anwar Ibrahim as his successor, but has repeatedly delayed handing over power since the 2018 elections, citing the country needed him to steer it out of financial troubles first.
elections resignation prime-minister mahathir-muhammad anwar-ibrahim successor
Reuters
Russia and Ukraine have agreed to a full ceasefire
Ukraine and Russia have agreed to a 'full and comprehensive' ceasefire after a series of negotiations. The talks between the two countries were brokered by France and Germany and will end five years of fighting. Russia and Ukraine have also agreed to exchange all war-related prisoners and unblock all trade.
violence ukraine russia war ceasefire
BBC
US refuses to discuss North Korea human rights violations in UN
The United States has abruptly backed out of a vote that would call a United Nations Security Council meeting regarding North Korea's human rights violations. Since the US has backed out, the council is now short one vote of the minimum 9 required to hold a meeting. North Korea had warned that holding such a meeting would be a 'dangerous provocation'.
us international united-nations north-korea global-politics
Time
The US government may have lied about the their success in Afghanistan
According to a report by the Washington Post, the US government had severely overstated their success in Afghanistan over the last ten years. The report is based on over 400 interviews of those involved with the operation, many of whom admitted that the American public was lied to about the war.
trump government bush afghanistanus war-on-terror obama
APNews
Chinese government orders that all foreign computer equipment be removed from their offices
The Chinese government has issued a new order to remove all foreign computer equipment from government offices within the next three years. Some are speculating that this move is in response to Washington's attempts to limit Chinese technology via its Huawei ban. This order will involve the replacement of 20-30 million pieces of hardware.
china privacy data computers information
Guardian
The Pensacola naval base shooter reportedly tweeted against the US just before the shooting
The FBI has announced that they are assuming that the shooting was an act of terrorism as the shooter expressed anti-US and anti-Israel sentiments on Twitter before the shooting. The FBI has opened an extensive investigation into the incident but are currently not sure if the shooter was working alone or was a part of a larger plot.
shooting fbi terrorism
ABCNews
China claims a number of people have 'graduated' from their 're-education camps'
The Chinese government has claimed that a number of people who were held in their 'training camps' have graduated and are free to come and go as they please. This statement came in response to a UN report that estimated that around 1 million people (mainly Uighur Muslims) were being kept in these camps.
china muslims uighur campsconcentration-camps
Reuters
Hong Kong protest turns violent as protesters start fires
One of the largest pro-Democracy marches Hong Kong has ever seen turned violent yesterday as some protestors lit fires outside courts and vandalized government buildings. The event was mostly peaceful, things only became violent near the end of the march. Protestors estimated that around 800,000 people showed up for the march.
protest china us government democracy police hong-kong
Reuters
Restaurants in Saudi Arabia will no longer be gender segregated
The Saudi Arabian government has rolled back a law that required restaurants to maintain separate entrances for families and women, and a separate one for just men. While it is unclear if this means segregation inside the restaurants is no longer required, the law has been rolled back on a voluntary basis, meaning that restaurants can still choose to follow gender segregation at their premises.
saudi-arabia women gender law segregation voluntary restaurants entrance
AlJazeera
Iranian president presents ambitious budget to combat US embargo
The Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, termed it a "budget of resistance", referring to the severe US embargo that has been placed on the country's economy since the Trump administration withdrew from the Iran deal. The 39 billion USD budget will include raises in public sector wages, and attempt to spur non-oil exports from Iran in light of the US sanctions.
trump oil iran export united-states administration hassan-rouhani budget-of-resistance embargo sanction iran-deal
AlJazeera
Ukrainian president to negotiate end of hostilities with Putin in high-profile meeting
Ukraine's new president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who came into power this summer in a landslide victory, promised his voters he would commence negotiations with Russian president Vladimir Putin to bring an end to hostility between the two countries over territory disputes in south-east Ukraine. Concerns have been raised regarding Zelenskiy's negotiating skill as a newly empowered president, and whether Putin will be able to strong-arm him into granting undue concessions.
paris ukraine russia president dispute war meeting putin negotiations zelenskiy
TheGuardian
Weinstein accused of tempering with ankle bracelet, may have bail raised to $5 million
Harvey Weinstein has been accused of violating his bail conditions by tampering with his ankle bracelet and has been brought back to court. Prosecutors are asking for his bail to be raised from $1 to $5 million although defense attornies claim that there was no tampering and that the bracelet was just out of batteries.
bail crime trial abuse rape weinstein abuser house-arrest
APNews
North Korea claims to have complete a 'very important test' at a satellite launch site
According to North Korean state media, the government has completed a 'very important test' at a satellite launch site they had previously promised to close. The test comes months after denuclearisation talks between the US and North Korea broke down. The country has warned that it could take a 'new path' by the end of the year.
rocket us missile nuclear north-korea warhead
Reuters
Hong Kong protestors hope to attract large crowds for rallies on Sunday
Hong Kong protestors hope to attract a large number of people for the pro-democracy rallies on Sunday. Protestors are trying to maintain pressure on the Chinese government after six months of constant protests. These demonstrations have attracted millions of people in the past but the city has been very calm during the last two weeks.
protest china us government democracy police hong-kong
Aljazeera
Corbyn debates Johnson in final showdown before UK elections
Reigning UK prime minister Boris Johnson faced Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn in the final round of debates before the general elections next week. The issue of Brexit dominated the talk, as expected, with Corbyn promising a new referendum and Johnson rebuking the idea. Most current polls show Johnson's Conservative party to be in a comfortable lead against all other contending parties in the country.
brexit elections uk debate general jeremy-corbyn boris-johnson referendum
AlJazeera