Kieran Lawrence looks at autonomous weapons and the effect they could have on modern warfare
Continuing a series on world leaders, Miles Deverson takes a look at Angela Merkel
Ben Bland examines the fallout from the Iowa caucuses and looks forward to the New Hampshire primaries.
In the first of a series on world leaders, Miles Deverson takes a look at Nicholas Sarkozy
In the return of a weekly feature, the Yorker brings you a roundup of the political stories affecting the UK in recent days.
MI5 was able to detain a possible Russian agent who worked within the Defence Select Committee. The Agent was trying to gain sensitive Information from the Department of Defence, consisting of an inventory of Britain’s nuclear arsenal and the location of its international submarine bases. The suspected Agent is Katia Zatuliveter, is twenty-five and has a Masters Degree at the University of Bradford. Her father, Andrei Zatuliveter, works for a company called Choices (Northern UK) and was shocked about the accusations. It appears that he and Miss Z’s sister were also involved in enrolling wealthy Russian students to schools and universities in the UK. Katia Zatuliveter, was arrested and is faced with a deportation order. Currently uncertain is the future of Mike Hancock MP, employer of Miss Z. Presumably he will have to withdraw his position in the Defence Select Committee.
Last Thursday FIFA announced that the World Cup 2018 will take place in Russia and Qatar will be the host of the World Cup 2022. Awarding the contest to Russia caused some British politicians to raise concerns: “After all the work that was put into our bid, it feels like a slap in the face for the country that has done more for football than any other.” Over the last weeks the FIFA faced some serious corruption claims. Several Newspapers published stories about executives who perhaps received money from external organisations. The BBC has named three FIFA officials so far who are called Cameroonian Hayatou, Nicolas Leoz and Ricardo Teixeira. The IOC is conducting an investigation to look into the matter. After the voting fiasco last week, English newspapers are, more than ever, determined to search for dirt.
Last Sunday a British Soldier was shot in Afghanistan near the provincial capital Lashkar Gah. Bad weather conditions after a sand storm and haze lowered the visibility as an American F18 flew over and accidently killed the soldier. The troops of the specialist Brigade Reconnaissance Force were fighting the Taliban in this area and called in air support when several insurgents opened the fire on them. A spokesman of the Ministry of Defence says:” Initial reports suggest that the death was caused as a result of a friendly fire incident.” An investigation will look into the matter more closely and search for the circumstances which led to the death of the British Soldier. It increases the total number of British deaths in Afghanistan to 346.
The bailouts of Ireland and Greece tested the strength of the euro and caused expenditure of £164 billion. However, investors are still anxious and cannot be reassured about the future of the euro zone as Spain, Portugal and Italy are still in trouble. Britain has to pay an increasing amount of money to be a member in the EU club. As the European Union may enter a deeper crisis the loan and liability costs will rise. An additional bill of at least £20 Billion could come into affect and would cost every British household up to £773. The UK has already provided financial support: a £9.2 billion share of IMF’s £210 billion commitment and an additional £7.7 billion (Greek - £1.1bn, Irish - £6.6bn) of the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (EFSM). Peter Bofinger, a German member of the German Council of Economic Experts says: “For me it is decisive that we ask ourselves in Germany whether we want to continue to have the euro or not. We must have this discussion because we must ask ourselves whether we find it worth it to stand up for it."
You must log in to submit a comment.
