News (Page 360)

EPA/Chris Ison The Iraq war remains the UK’s most investigated foreign policy decision of the past 50 years. As the world marks 20 years since the invasion that killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, we have to ask, has the UK learned any lessons from what happened in 2003? The US and UK invaded Iraq in 2003 with the declared intention of removing weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and liberating the Iraqi people from the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. This followed a months-long process of diplomacy and UN weapons inspections, during which time the US and UK built their case for invasion. As a result of all the investigations into the Iraq war, we have a good understanding of whatContinue Reading

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has held talks with President Joe Biden as the two leaders marked St Patrick’s Day at the White House. Ahead of the bilateral engagement, Mr Varadkar hailed the Irish-American relationship as one of “two proud democracies, close friends and economic partners”. During the meeting, the two politicians discussed the president’s planned visit to the island of Ireland next month. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office before the private engagement, Mr Varadkar pledged to “roll out the red carpet” for Mr Biden when he visits Ireland. Biden thanked the Taoiseach for “standing together” with the US against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “It means a great deal speaking out against Russia’s brutal aggression,” he said. He saidContinue Reading

An abandoned house in the old town of Mosul, Iraq. (Ali Al-Baroodi, @ali_albaroodi), Author provided On March 19, 2003, the United States led an unlawful invasion into Iraq — at the time, the reason given was the search for weapons of mass destruction. The U.S. occupation of Iraq lasted over eight years, until the official withdrawal of troops throughout 2011. While the number of deaths as a result of the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq has been difficult to accurately calculate, it is estimated that around 405,000 deaths occurred as a direct result. Most of these deaths were of Iraqi civilians. Hundreds of thousands of others were injured, and over nine million displaced. Initially, this was due to the U.S. invasion,Continue Reading

There was another of those moments when the world held its breath this week when news broke on March 14 of an incident between a US drone and two Russian jets. The unmanned US Reaper MQ-9 drone, reportedly on routine surveillance duties in international airspace, had to be brought down into the Black Sea after apparently being irretrievably damaged by the jets. The US Department of Defense has just released footage of the incident, obtained, it appears, from the drone itself, which shows a Russian jet buzzing close to the unmanned Reaper drone and releasing quantities of what is reported to be fuel into its path. The video also reveals damage apparently caused by a collision between one of theContinue Reading

The row over Gary Lineker’s tweet criticising the UK government’s proposed asylum legislation has re-ignited the debate about impartiality in journalism and the way news organisations deal with social media. The BBC now looks set to review its social media policies again (it last did this in 2020). This decision is in line with a wider international media effort. In 2022, the UK Guardian revised its 2018 policies to include language on disciplinary action after a row involving its journalists spilled over onto Twitter. The Washington Post updated its policies a month later after another high-profile Twitter clash which drew in multiple Post staffers and resulted in the firing of one reporter and the suspension of another. In 2020, theContinue Reading

Dmitrijs Mihejevs/Shutterstock Gary Lineker’s tweet criticising the government’s asylum policy has led many to question when – if ever – it can be helpful to compare modern events to history. The chair of the Holocaust Education Trust rushed to condemn all historical comparisons between the Holocaust and current events. But Lineker had not mentioned the Holocaust, the systematic murder of six million European Jews between 1942 and 1945. His tweet referred to the exclusion of German Jews from German society in the 1930s, and to the role that language plays in “othering” and demonising human beings – Jews then, refugees today. But that nuance got lost in the hype. What the hype does show is that the Holocaust still loomsContinue Reading

Media caption, Watch: Hunt announces that energy support will continue Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has unveiled the contents of his first Budget in the House of Commons. It had a focus on prompting those who have left their jobs to return to the workforce, and boosting business investment. Here is a summary of the main announcements. Fuel, alcohol, pensions and wages Image source, Getty Images Energy bills, prepayment meter and nuclear power Image source, Reuters Government subsidies limiting typical household energy bills to £2,500 a year extended for three months, until the end of June £200m to bring energy charges for prepayment meters into line with prices for customers paying by direct debit – affects 4m households Commitment to invest £20bnContinue Reading