Source: Washington Post
Security & Justice
Southern Lebanon Endures Massive Damage: 40,000 Homes Leveled Across 37 Towns
Israeli forces have systematically destroyed entire neighborhoods in southern Lebanon, leveling more than 37 towns and wiping out over 40,000 residential units, according to Lebanon's National News Agency.
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
Gaps in Coastal Radar Enabled Israeli Raid in Batroun, Army Commander Says
Lebanon’s army chief, General Joseph Aoun, detailed to Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati how Israeli forces likely exploited gaps in the country's coastal radar system during the recent raid carried out in Batroun. The briefing comes as Lebanese officials seek answers on how Israel’s elite Shayetet 13 unit carried out the landing undetected.
Monday, November 4, 2024
Opinion
My Hope for Lebanon
A company of Lebanese soldiers assigned to maintain order in this anxious wartime capital is gathered at its headquarters 100 yards from the Mediterranean. I make the blunder of asking their commander how many of his men are Shiites, Sunnis, Christians and Druze.
Monday, November 4, 2024
The Emptying of Baalbek Is a Moment to Take Stock
“Large numbers of people continue to flee their homes every day, as Israel’s military operations in Lebanon have been going on unabated.” These disturbing words could be from almost any news report about Israel’s invasion of its northern neighbour over the past month. However, they can be found in a report by the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre issued on July 27, 2006.
Saturday, November 2, 2024
Sports
FC Barcelona Fears First Team Star Will Be Banned From Playing, Reports SPORT
FC Barcelona is concerned that one of its main first-team stars will be banned from playing at the turn of 2025 because of issues related to his registration and Financial Fair Play (FFP) limits according to SPORT, which cited anonymous sources.
Friday, November 1, 2024
Tottenham Forward Son Heung-min Crowned Asia’s International Player of the Year
Tottenham forward Son Heung-min was crowned as Asia’s International Player of the Year for the fourth time by the Asian Football Confederation at its annual awards ceremony Tuesday.
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Thursday 20 October 2022 16:17:42
U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss Announces Resignation After Six Weeks in Office
British Prime Minister Liz Truss announced her resignation Thursday after six turbulent weeks in office, making her one of the shortest-serving prime ministers in British history.
Truss, Britain’s third female prime minister, was unable to save her embattled premiership even though she ditched her entire economic plan and replaced two key Cabinet posts over the past week.
“I cannot deliver the mandate for which I have been elected by the Conservative Party. I spoke to the king and notified him that I was resigning,” she said in front of her residence at Downing Street.
Truss said that there would be a leadership election to replace her "to be completed within the next week.” She said that she would “remain as prime minister until a successor has been chosen.”
The leadership election that ushered her into office took two months, and involved multiple rounds of votes among Conservative Party lawmakers before two finalists competed for the support of the broader party faithful.
An election completed within a week suggests dramatically truncating that process — and potentially narrowing the decision about who will lead the country to an even smaller set of people.
A day after she told Parliament that she was a “fighter, not a quitter,” Truss met with the powerful chair of the 1922 committee, Graham Brady, who knows exactly how many Conservative lawmakers have issued letters of no confidence in her leadership.
Truss has only been in office for 44 days. The previous record-holder for shortest-serving prime minister was George Canning, who lasted 119 days. He started on April 12, 1827 and died on Aug. 8, 1827.
Under her leadership, the poll ratings for the Conservative Party have tanked. If there was an election today, the Conservatives would almost be annihilated. YouGov, the pollster, said that she was the most unpopular prime minister the organization has ever tracked.
Truss came to office with a vision for a low-tax, small government state. But her plans, which included billions of unfunded tax cuts, spooked the markets and sent the pound plunging. It wasn’t long before she was forced to jettison her agenda and fire her chancellor.
It was unclear who exactly would take over from Truss. Some commentators speculated that Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor who many were calling the de facto prime minister, could be called on to be a caretaker leader.
On Thursday morning at least a 16 of Truss’s own lawmakers went on the record calling for her to resign following a chaotic and confusing 24 hours, which saw claims of bullying in Parliament and the resignation of the home secretary.
Among those was Conservative lawmaker Sir Gary Streeter who tweeted, “sadly, it seems we must change leader BUT even if the angel Gabriel now takes over, the Parliamentary Party has to urgently rediscover discipline, mutual respect and teamwork if we are to (i) govern the UK well and (ii) avoid slaughter at the next election."
Simon Hoare, chairman of the Commons Northern Ireland Committee, told the BBC that the country has a “government that wants to function” but conceded it was currently engaged in “hand-to-hand fighting.”
He said that he was a “glass-half-full sort of person” have believed the ship could be turned around. But he added that needed to happen quickly: “I think there's about 12 hours to do it.”
In one impassioned interview Wednesday night, lawmaker Charles Walker spoke frankly about his frustrations. “I’m livid,” he said. “I really shouldn’t say this, but I hope all those people who put Liz Truss in No. 10, I hope it was worth it … because the damage they have done to our party is extraordinary.”
Labour leader Keir Starmer, who hasn’t had to do much more than sit back and watch his rivals implode, called for a general election “now.”
“Britain cannot afford to chaos of the Conservatives anymore, we need a general election now,” he said Thursday.