It
started raining in Sept and hasn't stopped since: Half the average
rainfall of November falls in the last 24 hours causing the Met
Office to issue another 45 flood alerts in the UK
Map
Met Office showing torrential rainfall over the UK The Big Wobble,
23
November, 2019
The
United Kingdom is once again being drenched with torrential rain as
half of the average rainfall of November has fallen in the last 24
hours causing the Met
Officeto
issue another 45 flood alerts to a very weary population.
The
Met Office is expecting heavy rain and strong winds throughout
Saturday and into Sunday, with 48-hour weather warnings currently in
place for the south-west of England as of this morning. Flooding of
homes and businesses is 'likely', forecasters are warning, as are
power cuts and disruption on the roads and railways.
England's
green and pleasant land...Credit propertyroad.co.uk November
has been a disaster for the UK after persistent torrential rain. The
rain started in late September when Storm Lorenzo which brought
strong winds to the west of Ireland before crossing the UK on 3rd
October. Lorenzo was a mid-Atlantic hurricane but weakened rapidly
as it tracked north-east past the Azores toward the west coast of
Ireland. The storm followed a spell of unsettled wet weather across
England and Wales during late-September causing disruption and
flooding. Torrential downpours across parts of Wales, the Midlands
and southern England on 1st of October also brought localised
flooding and disruption, it has continued to rain in some areas
since then with hardly a pause
The
persistent wet weather continued throughout October 2019 as
slow-moving westerlies rolled in from the Atlantic. Some locations
across Wales and northern England received a full months rain often
in just a couple of hours. The heavy rain, which was falling on
already very wet ground, led to flooding disruption across Wales,
Shropshire, Staffordshire and Manchester. Altogether The Environment
Agency has 44 flood warnings in place across the country, including
five severe warnings on the River Don in South Yorkshire.
The
city of Sheffield in the UK has received six months of rain in just
seven days. Fishlake, near Doncaster, was cut off by its worst
flooding in living memory when the River Don burst its banks. About
700 residents were told to evacuate after a month's worth of rain
fell in a single day.
Maduro "Open to Talks" After 20 Tonnes Of Gold Disappears From Venezuela Vaults
Dahboo 777
On Monday, a Russian newspaper reported that the empty plane had departed from Moscow to Caracas with enough space for some 400 passengers. According to photos taken by Reuters, it was parked by a private corner of the Caracas airport. It marked the first time the plane had flown on that route. Reports said the plane carried two crew teams and that there was "no obvious reason for it to fly there."
Update: A spokesman for the Kremlin has denied rumors that the private Boeing 777 registered to Russia's Nordwind airline which landed in Caracas this week was there to spirit away a chunk of the country's gold reserves - or escort the country's embattled leader, Nicolas Maduro, into exile, according to the Telegraph.
The freezing of Venezuelan gold by the Bank of England is a signal to all countries out of step with US interests to withdraw their money, according to economist and co-founder of Democracy at Work, Professor Richard Wolff.
He told RT America that Britain and its central bank have shown themselves to be “under the thumb of the United States.”
“That is a signal to every country that has or may have difficulties with the US, [that they had] better get their money out of England and out of London because it’s not the safe place as it once was,” he said.
The economist added that it is for the Venezuelans who put the money into the care of the British bank to determine what is done with it, and not for the Bank of England.
“You can be sure that every government in the world is going to rethink putting any money in London, as they used to do, when they are watching this political manipulation with the money that they entrusted to the British. It is very dangerous for the world but for Britain particularly,” said Wolff.
He explained: “What the British are showing is that they can’t continue apparently to be the neutral place where you can safely put your money.”
A British minister on Monday suggested that the Bank of England should decline to release £1 billion of gold to Venezuela's dictator after the opposition leader wrote to Theresa May.
Juan Guaido, who last week declared himself the country’s legitimate ruler and was recognised as such by the US, has written to Mark Carney, the Bank’s governor, to ask him not to hand over the gold to Nicolas Maduro. He also sent the letter to Theresa May, the Prime Minister.
"I am writing to ask you to stop this illegitimate transaction," the 35-year-old opposition leader wrote.
"If the money is transferred it will be used by the illegitimate and kleptocratic regime of Nicolas Maduro to repress and brutalise the Venezuelan people."
Sir Alan Duncan, minister of the Americas, on Monday said it was a decision for the Bank to make, and suggested they should decline to release the gold.
The Kremlin has called reports of 20 tons of Venezuelan gold heading to Russia fake news. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov advised the public against listening to rumors.
On Wednesday, a member of the Venezuelan opposition and former banker at the country’s central bank, Jose Guerra, claimed he has information of the planned shipment of tons of gold bars, amounting to 20 percent of the bank’s holdings. The lawmaker said that a Russian jet, which arrived from Moscow, was ready to transport the cargo
The statement was then reported by Bloomberg, and then by other Western media. The rumors were fueled by other reports, claiming that a mystery Boeing 777, which can carry some 400 passengers and belonging to Russia's Nordwind Airlines, was spotted at the local airport after flying direct from Moscow.
The Kremlin rejected the reports, calling them fake news.
“There is no such information,” said Peskov. “It is necessary to be very cautious about different hoaxes,” he added.
Vladimir Putin’s spokesman also stressed that Russia is ready to help resolve the political turmoil in Venezuela “without interfering in the country’s internal affairs” as Moscow is against any third countries’ meddling in Venezuela’s politics.
The South American nation plunged deeper into political crisis after opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself interim president following calls for regime change from Washington. The US and some other Western nations were quick to recognize Guaido as the country’s new leader, while Russia, Turkey, Iran, and China pledged their support for President Nicolas Maduro, who was sworn in for his second term earlier this year.
Britain
to send forces to Mali as part of EU mission
Downing
Street has said that the British government will dispatch 350 troops
to Mali to aid French troops stationed in the country's north, as
part of a UK mission to train local forces and engage in “force
protection.”
British
representatives are attending a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday to
discuss the provision of troops as part of an EU mission to the
African country. The EU estimates that 500 supplementary troops will
be sent to Mali, some 350 of which will be British. This will include
approximately 40 military advisers who will train soldiers in Mali
and 200 British soldiers to be sent to neighboring African countries.
An
ECOWAS (Economic Community Of West African States) force of West
African troops – about 7,500 of them – are also coming into
Mali to take over some garrison duties, and steadily take over the
fighting role from the French.
The
budget for the campaign, which has been set at around $950m will be
financed through an international donors' conference based in
Ethiopia.
British
Prime Minister David Cameron told French President François Hollande
on Sunday evening that the UK was keen to provide military assistance
in Mali and West Africa, including the training of local forces.
London
reiterated that British troops would not be participating directly in
combat, but would be providing armed “force
protection.”
However, Downing Street did state that the country has both
the “capability
and capacity” for
a larger deployment. The country has already supplied two C-17
military transport aircraft and a Sentinel surveillance plane.
“Two
weeks ago we started by offering transport planes to France; we then
sent force protection to back up the transport planes, we sent
trainers, we have additional force protection to protect them,”
UK Labor MP Jeremy Corbyn told RT.
Corbyn
expressed concerns that the new conflict in Mali very much resembles
the “French
reaction of Afghanistan in 2001.”
That war, which started in a “hunky-dory”
manner, later developed “into
a greater war which is now going on for 11 years,”
he explained.
France
has declared that, so far, they are “winning
this battle.”
It the past two weeks, French forces have had major successes in
pushing back the Islamist troops who seized strongholds in
northeastern Mali. The French gained a footing in the ancient city of
Timbuktu as recently as yesterday.
Islamist
forces seized control of Timbuktu last April, imposing sharia law in
the city. France responded to calls from the Malian government to
suppress the uprising that was gripping the country.
Prior
to leaving, the Islamists set alight to Timbuktu's
world-famous research center,
the Ahmed Baba, which opened in 2009 and housed over 20,000
documents, including medieval manuscripts, many of which remained
unstudied. The destruction has been labeled “cultural
vandalism”
and a “devastating
loss.”
US
signs deal with Niger to operate military drones in west African
state
Mali
Islamists' war reveals paucity of west's intelligence on Sahel and
Sahara but Pentagon's move could backfire, analysts warn
The
US government appears close to opening a new front in its fight
against Islamist militants by planning a new base for surveillance
drones in the west African country of Niger.
American
forces are already assisting a French offensive in neighbouring Mali
that is aimed at recapturing the country's northern desert territory
from the hands of Islamist rebels. On Monday the US signed a military
agreement with Niger that paves the way legally for US forces to
operate on its soil, prompting a series of reports that the Pentagon
was keen on opening a new drones base there.
That
news appeared to be confirmed by Niger government sources, who said
the US ambassador in Niamey, Bisa Williams, had asked Niger's
president, Mahamadou Issoufou, for permission to use surveillance
drones and had been granted it.
"Niger
has given the green light to accepting American surveillance drones
on its soil to improve the collection of intelligence on Islamist
movements," a Niger government source told Reuters.
In
Washington a diplomatic source told the Guardian that the recently
signed deal, known as a "status of forces" agreement, was
very broad. "There are no constraints to military-to-military
co-operation within the agreement," the source said.
The
deal with Niger had been under negotiation for some time but had got
a sudden burst of urgency after the dramatic events following the
French intervention in Mali. Though French-led forces have swept
militants from key cities in northern Mali, the conflict has focused
diplomatic efforts on the security threat posed by Islamist groups in
the vast wilderness of the Sahel and Sahara.
It
is believed that the US only currently desires surveillance drones to
be deployed to Niger though the agreement could pave the way for more
aggressive armed drones in the future. A spokesman for the Pentagon
did not return requests for clarification by email and telephone.
The
move would be the latest in a gradual expansion of American
surveillance drones in Africa, which have so far been operated from
Burkina Faso, Ethiopia and Djibouti in the Horn of Africa. It would
represent an acknowledgement that the north and west African regions
are becoming a key battleground in the fight against Islamist groups.
Aside from the conflict in Mali, Nigeria is plagued by violent
Islamists extremists in its northern provinces and Algeria recently
saw a high-profile and bloody attack on western workers at an oil
industry facility.
US
military consultant Robert Caruso said that any base in Niger would
probably be similar to the one already in Burkina Faso and use a
variety of manned and unmanned craft to carry out spying and
monitoring missions. Caruso said it would make up for a lack of human
intelligence in the region.
"The
reason we are having to push so many drones to the Sahel is because
we don't have any human intelligence in the region – either through
friendly countries providing it, or through espionage," said
Caruso. "We should have humans on the ground, but we don't. When
it comes to Mali, US policymakers really don't know what's going on."
However,
the use of drones, even if just on surveillance missions, is
controversial. American drone strikes have been used to deadly effect
in countries such as Pakistan, Yemen, Afghanistan and Somalia but
have caused outrage among civil liberties groups over the secrecy
that surrounds their operation and the high incidence of civilian
casualties. The London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism has
monitored American drone strikes all around the world and calculates
that in Pakistan alone there have been some 362 strikes since 2004.
They are estimated to have killed up to 3,461 suspected militants in
the country and as many as 891 civilians.
Due
to the US's broad definition of "militant", many experts
believe the number of dead civilians may be much higher. But despite
the controversy, President Barack Obama has made the use of drones
one of the centrepieces of his national security strategy, overseeing
a huge increase in their deployment.
If
the use of drones in the Sahel did escalate beyond simple
surveillance and into active strikes, some experts warn that the US
risks a considerable backlash.
"The
use of drone strikes in the Sahel would become very problematic,"
said one senior diplomatic source, who did not want to be named.
"There
are already serious issues with identification of targets and
reliability with drones elsewhere, even in Pakistan, where the CIA
has a network of informants. But in north Africa they have no idea
who they are dealing with whatsoever."
The
source added that there was a paucity of intelligence as to who
exactly US forces would be targeting when it came to local Islamic
groups. "The US has no one integrated into these organisations.
Intelligence is extremely poor.
"These
groups and subgroups and splinter groups are capable of division at a
moment's notice. You might know something about one group but you
know nothing about the other. It is an extremely unstable situation,"
the source said.
Americas
bloc foreign ministers to meet over UK threats to storm Ecuadorian
Embassy
The
Organization of American States has adopted Ecuador’s proposal for
a meeting of foreign ministers to address the international legal
implications of British threats to invade the embassy of a sovereign
country.
The
resolution was adopted with 23 voting in favor, three against and
five abstentions.
The
US and Canada were among those who opposed the measure, stating that
the dispute over Assange's fate is a bilateral matter between Ecuador
and the United Kingdom, and should not be dragged to the
international table.
The
foreign ministers of the bloc's thirty-five member states will
convene at the OAS Headquarters in Washington, D.C., on August 24.
The
special meeting of the Permanent Council of the Organization of
American States was held on Thursday and Friday. The bloc discussed
Ecuador’s proposal to arrange a ministerial meeting of the member
states to address the issue as a matter of international law.
Ecuador
called for an emergency OAS meeting after it received a memorandum
from the UK, including a threat of an assault on the country’s
London embassy to arrest Julian Assange if he is not handed over to
the British authorities. The contents of the letter were revealed the
day before Ecuador publicly announced its decision to grant Assange
political asylum.
While
the UK maintains that it has a right to extract Assange from
Ecuador’s embassy, the Latin American country says any entry by
British authorities onto its ambassadorial premises to arrest Assange
would constitute a violation of Article 22 of the Vienna Convention
on Diplomatic Relations.
Ecuador
promised to pursue every legal means, including an appeal to the
International Criminal Court, if the UK refuses to grant Assange safe
passage out of the country.
In
addition to the OAS, Ecuador also called on the Council of Foreign
Ministers of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and the
Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our Americas (ALBA) to hold
meetings with a similar agenda.
The
ALBA countries responded to the call with a statement expressing
their solidarity with Ecuador and a “most resounding rejection”
of the UK's threats against the country. According to a press release
published by Ecuador, the ALBA governments warned Britain of “the
serious and irreversible consequences the execution of these threats
would have on the political, economic and cultural relations” with
its member countries.
Both
UNASUR and ALBA are expected to hold meetings on the issue over the
weekend.
Ecuador
may file appeal to ICC if UK refuses Assange safe passage
Ecuador
has said it may appeal to the International Criminal Court (ICC) if
the UK refuses to grant Julian Assange safe passage out of the
country.
Ecuadorian
presidential staff adviser Alexis Mera said his government would
pursue every legal means to bring Assange to Ecuador.
"We
are open to discuss with Britain the solution to this problem, and if
there is no diplomatic solution, we may resort to the International
Court of Justice," Ecuadorian daily EL Commercio quoted Mera as
saying.
"It
would be terrible and an attack on all international rights" if
British police were to enter the Ecuadorian embassy, he said.
On
Friday Mera attended a cabinent meeting with President Rafael Correa
and other ministers in the Southern city of Liba.
The
WikiLeaks founder Assange took shelter in Ecuador’s UK Embassy two
months ago, with Quito granting him political asylum after careful
deliberation on Thursday.
Ecuador’s
Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said that Julian Assange’s rights
are endangered as he was at high risk of being extradited to the
United States upon being handed over to Sweden by UK authorities.
Patino
further stated that Assange’s home country Australia was not
providing him with sufficient legal protections, thus facilitating
Ecuador’s decision to grant him asylum.
UK
Foreign Secretary William Hague said that Britain did not recognize
Assange’s asylum status and would continue with its efforts to
extradite him to Sweden, where he is currently wanted for questioning
on suspicion of sexual assault.
Hague
reiterated that the UK “will not allow Mr Assange safe passage out
of the UK."
On
Thursday, the head of Assange’s legal team Baltasar Garzon said
that any attempt by the UK to block Assange’s safe passage to
Ecuador would be subject to an ICC appeal.
"What
the United Kingdom must do is apply the diplomatic obligations of the
Refugee Convention and let him leave, giving him safe conduct,"
the former judge told Spanish newspaper El Pais.
"They
have to comply with diplomatic and legal obligations under the 1951
UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, and respect the
sovereignty of a country that has granted asylum," he told the
daily.
The
refugee convention defines who is a refugee, the rights of those
granted asylum, and the responsibilities of nations which grant
asylum. The convention further grants special travel arrangements for
individuals who have been given asylum.
In
the run up to the decision to grant Assange asylum, the British
government reportedly warned Ecuador it could revoke diplomatic
immunity for its embassy in London, empowering police to enter the
building and arrest Assange.
Patino
responded that such an unprecedented action would be a “flagrant
violation” of international law.
Assange
mother: Ecuador a shining light to world, other govt’s should
follow suit
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