Peter Mandelson declines to apologise for association with Jeffrey Epstein pred 9 urami in 54 minutami Former UK ambassador says he is sorry for system that does not give victims protection they are entitled to expectPeter Mandelson declined to apologise to Jeffrey Epstein’s victims for remaining friends with the paedophile financier after his conviction but said he was sorry for “a system” that meant Epstein’s victims were ignored.The Labour peer, who was sacked as US ambassador when details of his support for Epstein emerged in September, gave an interview to the BBC on Sunday, saying he had paid a “calamitous” price for his association with the “evil monster”. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Parents of critically ill children ‘crushed’ by lack of support, say campaigners pred 10 urami in 30 minutami Frances and Ceri Menai-Davis, who lost their son Hugh to cancer, say gap in financial help is ‘devastating’Parents of critically ill children are being “crushed” by a lack of statutory financial support when they need to take time off work, the parents of a six-year-old boy who died of cancer have said.Hugh Menai-Davis was diagnosed with a rare form of the disease when he fell ill suddenly in October 2020. The boy, then aged five, had been happy and healthy before he developed severe stomach pains. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Syrian forces expel Kurdish fighters as US strikes Islamic State targets pred 10 urami in 38 minutami Three hundred Kurds detained and further 400 evacuated following clashes in AleppoSyrian government forces have detained 300 Kurds and evacuated more than 400 Kurdish fighters after clashes in Aleppo, the interior ministry has said, as US and allied forces carried out separate “large-scale” strikes against Islamic State targets.An interior ministry official told Agence France-Presse that about 360 Kurdish fighters and 60 wounded had been bussed to the Kurds’ de facto autonomous zone in the north-east from the Sheikh Maqsoud district, the last area of Aleppo to fall to the army. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Council member who lost eye in George Floyd protest sees echo in Ice killing pred 10 urami in 44 minutami Soren Stevenson says Minneapolis shooting ‘reminiscent in a scary way’ – but he and his neighbors are feeling activatedIt was Soren Stevenson’s third day in office as a Minneapolis city council member on Wednesday when Renee Nicole Good was shot and killed by ICE on the edge of his district.On Thursday, he sat in an eerily quiet food court at lunchtime in Plaza Mexico, a mall of mostly Latino businesses in south Minneapolis, eating carne asada and talking about how his neighborhood was once again the center of a national firestorm. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Mandelson praises Trump’s ‘graciousness’ and declines to apologise for friendship with Jeffrey Epstein – UK politics live pred 10 urami in 53 minutami In first TV interview since he was sacked as UK ambassador to US, Mandelson says association with Epstein was ‘terrible mistake’ but adds: ‘I was not culpable’Laura Kuenssberg asks Peter Mandelson if he liked Donald Trump when he was the UK ambassador.Mandelson says he did like Trump, listing of numerous reasons why, but said he did not like all of his “language”.I like him, yes, I liked his humour, his graciousness…I liked his directness. You knew exactly what he was thinking and where you stood and what he wanted. And how he was proposing to engage, with you. Did I like in all his language? No, I didn’t, did I? Did he make me gasp? What’s going to happen is there’s going to be, another discussion, a lot of consultation and a lot of negotiation.At the end of the day, we are all going to have to wake up to the reality that the Arctic needs securing against China and Russia. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Kemi Badenoch says Tories would ban under-16s from ‘addictive’ social media pred 10 urami in 57 minutami Conservative leader backs Australian-inspired policy to stop platforms ‘profiting from their anxiety’The Conservatives are backing a ban on social media for under-16s in an attempt to prevent addictive platforms fuelling anxiety and distraction among teenagers.Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, said she did not like the word ban but she wanted to see an age limit of 16 in the same way that Australia has introduced restrictions on social media for children. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
