British opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn says it is time for the UK to hold “difficult conversations” with Saudi Arabia and other Arab states of the Persian Gulf in the wake of the London terror attack.

Terror on and near the London Bridge left at least seven people dead and wounded almost 50 others on Saturday.

“Yes, we do need to have some difficult conversations starting with Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf states that have funded and fueled extremist ideology,” Corbyn said in Carlisle, north England, on Sunday.

Daesh claims responsibility

Saudi Arabia and some of its regional allies have already been implicated in support for Takfiri terrorism, currently wreaking havoc in Iraq and Syria.

On Saturday, three knife-wielding assailants drove a hired van into pedestrians on London Bridge and stabbed others nearby in an attack initially praised and subsequently claimed by the Daesh Takfiri group.

“A detachment of Daesh fighters executed yesterday’s London attack,” said a statement posted on Amaq’s media page, monitored in Cairo.

The opposition leader, who will face Prime Minister Theresa May in a June 8 snap election, also censured Islamophobia in the wake of the attack.

“We must resist Islamophobia and division and turn out on June 8 united in our determination to show our democracy is strong,” asserted the Labour leader.

Culled from Presstv

British voters are more likely to vote for the Labour Party in the June 8 general election, says a scholar in London, arguing that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is the only candidate who represents a real change. Dr. Rodney Shakespeare, a university professor and political analyst, made the remarks when asked about Labour’s recent rise in polls.

The latest YouGov survey showed on Tuesday that British Prime Minister Theresa May’s ruling Conservative Party was likely to lose 20 parliamentary seats and Labour could gain almost 30 in the upcoming vote. That means Tories could ultimately win 310 seats at the election, falling short of an absolute majority of 326 seats needed to form a government.

Such a result on June 9 would be catastrophic for May, who called for the snap election back in April, arguing the UK needed certainty, stability and strong leadership in Brexit negotiations with the European Union.

“I don’t usually bet or gamble, but I have placed two bets on the UK general election: one is that there would be no overall majority and two that Labour will win,” Shakespeare told Press TV on Wednesday. “The reason is actually the same reason that led people to vote for Brexit,” he argued. “Brexit was motivated by lots of people suffering economic hardship that has increased rich-poor division.”

The “anger over economic insecurity” was what Shakespeare said would come into play in favor of the Labour Party this time. Aside from this, the issue of terrorism was another factor that was going to help Labour, according to Shakespeare.

He argued that concerns for more terror attack like the one that took place in Manchester recently won’t go away unless a “fundamental change” takes place in the UK’s current foreign policy. “The only way that we can stop that is strike at the philosophical of that [terrorist] belief which is in fact the Wahhabism of Saudi Arabia,” he said. “There is a chance that Jeremy Corbyn at least would stand up to be counted.”

The scholar argued that Corbyn would certainly bring about change in Britain’s Bahrain policy, but it remains to be seen if he can do the same with regards to Saudi Arabia. “Very urgent is to vote in somebody, that means in practice Jeremy Corbyn and Labour Party, who is going to at least start what should be a huge change in foreign policy,” he added. “Saudi Arabia, the USA, the UK and Israel… they are all in together… we have to stand up to be counted,” Shakespeare concluded.

Culled from Presstv

The election campaign of British Prime Minister Theresa May has fallen into disarray after she announced a U-turn on the Conservative Party’s social care policy. May made a reversal on her policy on social care costs, strangely branded as the “dementia tax,” but she claimed that “nothing has changed” since her party’s manifesto was published on Thursday.

The prime minister said she made some clarifications about her policy in response to Labour Party leader’s Jeremy Corbyn’s “fake claims.” “Since my manifesto was published, the proposals have been subject to fake claims made by Jeremy Corbyn. The only things he has left to offer in this campaign are fake claims, fear and scaremongering,” she said on Monday while launching the Welsh Tory manifesto in Wrexham, Wales.

“So I want to make a further point clear. This manifesto says that we will come forward with a consultation paper, a government green paper. And that consultation will include an absolute limit on the amount people have to pay for their care costs,” she stated.

However, according to The Guardian, Prime Minister May is wrong to say that Corbyn made “fake claims” about the Conservative social care policy.  The newspaper wrote that initially Corbyn got some of the detail of the policy wrong but later on he made valid criticism.

The Conservatives were planning to make people pay for care in their own home unless they have assets of less than £100,000 including the value of their house, according to The Guardian. It created widespread fears among families who said that they could lose their homes to pay their social care costs later in life.

Labour officials warned that the Conservative policy would “leave thousands of the most vulnerable at risk of losing their homes.” First time in this election campaign, May’s character has become an issue, and at a time when the Conservative lead over the Labour Party has narrowed to single digits in several polls.

In an interview on Monday, May was asked several times why she was not being “honest” about her decision of capping on care costs. While talking to reporters in Wrexham, May refused to accept she was performing a U-turn. “Nothing has changed, nothing has changed.”

But a BBC journalist bluntly told her: “Your manifesto rejects a cap, it gives a reason why you don’t want a cap. Now you’re going to have a cap. You need to be honest, I would suggest, and tell the British people you’ve changed your mind.” May replied insisting that she’s being “absolutely honest with the British people about the big challenge that we face. And absolutely honest with them about the need for us to deal with this now, to start fixing it now.”

Culled from Presstv

France’s centrist Emmanuel Macron has taken the reins of the French government as president of the country. The inauguration ceremony took place in the Elysee Palace in Paris on Sunday. Macron, 39, who is a former investment banker and economy minister, won the presidential election with 66 percent of the votes on May 7.

Macron officially became president after Laurent Fabius, who is chairman of the constitutional council, read out the results of the presidential election in the Sunday ceremony. To win the post, Macron defeated ten other candidates, far-right contender Marine Le Pen being the last one.

In his inauguration speech, Macron vowed to support French people and businesses. “France has the potential to play a leading role in the global stage,” the new president said. He said France had to overcome divisions in the society to activate those potentials. Macron also said that, on his first official foreign visit as French president, he planned to travel to neighboring Germany.

Germany and France are the European Union’s two heavyweights, who aim to jointly set the tone on policy in the EU. “Europe needs to be re-founded… EU will be reformed and re-launched,” Macron said. Prior to the inauguration, Macron took part in a private one-on-one meeting with outgoing Socialist President Francois Hollande.

In the meeting, Hollande briefed his successor, who had served as his economy minister for two years, and handed over to him the secret codes to launch France’s nuclear missiles.

Macron is France’s youngest president ever and the first to be born after October 5, 1958, when President Charles de Gaulle set up the Fifth Republic from the ashes of the Fourth Republic, replacing a factional parliamentary government with a centralized one.

Culled from Presstv

Newly-elected president Emmanuel Macron has vowed to protect France against threats and unify the country.   Early on Monday, the French Interior Ministry announced that Macron had been officially elected president after winning 66.06 percent of valid votes in the run-off. It also announced that 11.5 percent of the votes had been either blank or spoiled, while just over 25 percent of the country’s registered voters had abstained.

“We will not give into fear, we will not give into division,” said Macron during his victory speech late on Sunday after projected results showed he had defeated Marine Le Pen. “I will serve you with humility, with strength. I will serve you by remaining true to the Republic’s principles of ‘Liberty, Equality and Fraternity’. I will serve you to be loyal to the trust you showed me. I will serve you with love. Long live the Republic, long live France!,” said the 39-year-old centrist who is set to become the country’s youngest leader ever in six weeks.

“Our task is huge. It will require us to build, from tomorrow onwards, a real majority, a strong majority. This majority to carry out change is what the country is hoping for and what the country deserves,” he noted.

He further reached out to those who had voted for Le Pen, vowing to bring them back from the “extremes.” “They voted out of anger, distress and sometimes conviction. I respect them…will do everything I can over the next five years to ensure that people no longer have any reason to vote for extremes,” he said.

After her defeat was announced, Le Pen gave a speech to her supporters in which she wished Macron success in dealing with the “huge challenges” ahead of him.   She also noted that her National Front party must renew itself and vowed that she would begin the “deep transformation of our movement.”

US President Donald Trump wrote an early congratulation to the French President elect. “Congratulations to Emmanuel Macron on his big win today as the next President of France. I look very much forward to working with him!,” he said via twitter.

“We congratulate President-elect Macron and the people of France on their successful presidential election. We look forward to working with the new President and continuing our close cooperation with the French government,” read a statement released by the White House.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hailed Macron’s victory, stressing that he looked forward “to working closely with President-elect Macron in the years ahead.” “Canada and France share a warm and historic relationship, rooted in our common history, deep cultural ties, people-to-people connections, and strong economic partnership,” he said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s chief of staff congratulated Macron, tweeting in French “Vive la France, Vive L’Europe!” or “Long live France, long live Europe!” Merkel also spoke to the president elect over the phone, and praised him for his support of a “united and open European Union.”

A Downing Street spokesman announced that UK Prime Minister Theresa May said she looks forward to working with Macron. “The Prime Minister warmly congratulates President-elect Macron on his election success. France is one of our closest allies and we look forward to working with the new President on a wide range of shared priorities,” said a statement.

Source: Presstv

France’s centrist candidate, Emmanuel Macron, has won the country’s  presidential election by a resoundingly margin over far-right candidate, Marine Le Pen.

Initial estimates showed Macron winning between 65.5 percent and 66.1 percent of ballots ahead of Le Pen, who is expected to win between 33.9 percent and 34.5 percent.

In an interview with AFP, Macron said his election victory represented “hope” and a “new chapter” for France. “A new chapter in our long history begins tonight. I want it to be one of hope and renewed confidence,” he added.

Defeated candidate, Marine Le Pen, claimed a “historic, massive result” for her far-right National Front (FN) in Sunday’s presidential run-off, AFP reported.

Le Pen made a short statement, saying she had called Macron to wish him “success” in tackling the “huge challenges” he faced. Le Pen also announced that she would lead the FN into June’s legislative elections.

People in France started to cast their ballots in the presidential run-off earlier on Sunday after polling stations opened at 8 a.m. local time (0600 GMT). Some 47 million people were eligible to vote at 66,546 polling stations across the European countries.

Figures from the Interior Ministry said 65.30 percent of voters had turned out by 5 p.m. (1500 GMT), which was lower than in any of the past four presidential elections at the same stage of the day, Reuters reported.

Pollsters’ estimates based on these figures put the final turnout at 73-75 percent, down from around 80 percent or more in those past four elections. Macron and Le Pen won the first round of voting in France’s presidential election on April 23. Macron finished first with 24 percent, ahead of Le Pen with 21.3 percent.

The populist far-right candidate has portrayed herself as anti-EU, anti-NATO, and anti-immigration. Macron is seen as a centrist who aims to continue the policies of outgoing President Francois Hollande by deregulating the economy and deepening integration with the European Union.

Source: Presstv

The campaign of leading French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron says he has been the target of a “massive and coordinated hacking attack” following the release of what it said to be the campaign’s internal documents online just ahead of the election.

Late Friday, Macron’s campaign staff said the “cyber attack” led to the release of thousands of emails and other documents, slamming it as an attempt at “democratic destabilization, like that seen during the last presidential campaign in the United States.”

According to local press reports, nearly nine gigabytes of data were posted on a profile called EMLEAKS to Pastebin, a site that allows anonymous document sharing. However, it was not immediately clear who was responsible for posting the data or whether any of the information was genuine.

In a statement, Macron’s political movement En Marche! (Onwards!) confirmed that it had been hacked. It issued a statement saying, “The En Marche! Movement has been the victim of a massive and coordinated hack this evening which has given rise to the diffusion on social media of various internal information.”

The campaign files spread on social media shortly before midnight on Friday. when the 39-year-old, centrist Macron and his ultra-right rival Marine Le Pen officially concluded political campaigning for Sunday’s presidential poll. Macron’s aides slammed the leak as “unprecedented in a French electoral campaign.”

“Clearly, the documents arising from the hacking are all lawful and show the normal functioning of a presidential campaign,” Macron’s aides declared in a statement.

This is while the pro-European Union and pro-business former banker is leading his anti-establishment rival with a comfortable margin of nearly 62 percent to 38 percent, according to latest polls. Le Pen has said she wants to copy Britain’s example and hold a referendum on France’s EU membership, prompting serious concerns in capitals across the bloc.

A former economy minister under Socialist President Francois Hollande, Macron is a pro-trade reformer, who left the government last August to concentrate on his new political movement En Marche, which has drawn 250,000 members in 12 months. Meanwhile, a French Interior Ministry official refused to comment on the hacking, citing French rules that forbid any commentary likely to influence an election.

Moreover, the presidential election commission said in a statement that it would hold a meeting later on Saturday after Macron’s campaign informed the body about the reported hacking attack. The commission further called on the media to be cautious about publishing details of the emails considering that campaigning had ended, and publication could lead to criminal charges.

France is the latest nation to see a major election overshadow by allegations of manipulation through cyber hacking. In January, US intelligence agencies accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering the hacking of parties linked to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in a bid to influence the polls on behalf of her Republican rival Donald Trump.

Source: Presstv

European Council President Donald Tusk has warned of “impossible” Brexit negotiation after UK Prime Minister Theresa May accused Brussels of meddling in Britain’s election. “These negotiations are difficult enough as they are. If we start arguing before they even begin they will become impossible,” Tusk told a Thursday news conference alongside Norway’s prime minister.

“The stakes are too high to let our emotions get out of hand, because at stake are the daily lives and interests of millions of people on both sides of the Channel,” the former Polish premier said. “We must keep in mind that in order to succeed we need today discretion, moderation, mutual respect and a maximum of goodwill,” he added. The remarks came hours after European Parliament President Antonio Tajani insisted that “no one is trying to influence the outcome of the election campaign in the United Kingdom.”

On Wednesday, May accused the EU of using Brexit as an excuse to influence the outcome of Britain’s upcoming general election. Speaking after a meeting with Queen Elizabeth II, May told reporters at 10 Downing Street that the “bureaucrats of Brussels” were hoping to sway voters by making “threats” against the country. She also attacked the European media, saying they had “misrepresented” her government’s stance on negotiations concerning the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

French centrist presidential candidate Emanuel Macron and his far-right rival Marine Le Pen have exchanged barbs at their only televised debate prior to the Sunday presidential runoff in France. The duel on Wednesday night was rife with verbal clashes between the two presidential hopefuls, who discussed an assortment of controversial issues on economy, national security, and foreign policy.

During the two-and-a-half hour debate, Le Pen tried to highlight her flagship policy of “France-first” nationalism, including a crackdown on illegal immigration, scrapping the euro currency, and holding a referendum on European Union (EU) membership.

Macron, for his part, called for political openness, pro-market reforms, and the slashing of public spending. At one climactic point, Le Pen branded the former economy minister as “the candidate of the elite” and a “darling of the system.” Macron called her a “liar” and a “parasite of the system” in response.

On foreign policy, the 48-year-old candidate of the far-right Front National (FN) party accused her rival of being “submissive” toward German Chancellor Angela Merkel, taking a dig by saying, “France will be led by a woman, either me or Mrs. Merkel.”

Le Pen also accused Macron of having “no plan” on national security and of adopting an “indulgent attitude” toward the terrorist threats faced by the country. The 39-year-old centrist replied that he would be “uncompromising” on terrorism, which he described as the biggest issue of the next few years in France.

Accusing his rival of “hate-filled speech,” Macron warned that Le Pen’s bellicose rhetoric would divide France and lead to “a civil war.” In a final blow, Macron reproached his rival for her policies and said, “I’m sorry, Madame Le Pen; France deserves better than you.”

In an opinion poll immediately conducted by Elabe pollsters for BFM TV after the heated debate, some 63 percent of the people interviewed found the pro-EU former economy minister more convincing versus 34 percent for the leader of the FN party.

Macron and Le Pen won the first round of voting in France’s presidential election on April 23. Macron finished first with 24 percent, ahead of Le Pen with 21.3 percent. They will now have to contend in the runoff, scheduled for May 7. Nearly 47 million voters are eligible to vote on that day. France’s outgoing President Francois Hollande urged voters last week to back Macron and reject Le Pen.

Culled from Presstv

French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has warned that the European Union will not survive if far-right leader Marine Le Pen becomes president.

“The European Union, weakened by Brexit, would not be able to withstand the new shock that would be constituted by the arrival in power in France of a government that is openly europhobic,” wrote Cazeneuve in a column in the Liberation newspaper on Tuesday.

He further called on the country to vote for front-runner Emmanuel Macron in the decisive May 7 presidential run-off.

Macron, 39, and Le Pen, 48, won the first round of voting in the presidential election on April 23. Macron finished first on 24 percent, ahead of Le Pen with 21.3 percent.