Month: May 2024

A Palestinian doctor has died in an Israeli prison after more than four months in detention, Palestinian prisoner associations have said.

Dr Adnan Al-Bursh, 50, was the head of orthopaedics at al-Shifa Hospital.

The Israeli prison service confirmed that a statement published on 19 April about a prisoner who was detained for national security reasons and had died in Ofer prison was Dr Al-Bursh.

No details were given on the cause of death, and the prison service said the incident was being investigated.

But the Palestinian prisoner advocacy groups said in a joint statement on Thursday that Dr Al-Bursh’s death was an “assassination” and his body still remained in Israeli custody.

Dr Al-Bursh was the head of orthopaedics at Gaza’s largest medical facility, al-Shifa hospital, which has been raided several times by Israeli armed forces.

He was temporarily working at Al-Awada hospital in north Gaza when he was detained by Israeli forces.

Colleagues have paid tribute to the late surgeon, describing him as “compassionate” and “heroic”.

Al-Shifa’s director, Dr Marwan Abu Saada, said the news of his death was difficult for the human soul to bear.

Another colleague, Dr Suhail Matar, called Dr Al-Bursh “the safety valve” for every orthopaedic department in all of Gaza’s hospitals.

“It is rare that you meet a person like him in your life, because this doctor worked all his life with dedication and used to make tremendous efforts at the expense of himself,” Dr Matar told BBC Arabic’s Gaza Lifeline programme.

He described his late colleague as someone who was never tired of working, and who was “loved by everyone and his smile never went away”.

Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the West Bank and Gaza, said she was “extremely alarmed” by news of Dr Al-Bursh’s death and called on the diplomatic community to take concrete measures to protect Palestinians.

Meanwhile White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden has discussed with Israel the importance of protecting humanitarian workers in Gaza.

“The president has said very clearly that when it comes to people who are… in Gaza providing that all-important care, humanitarian aid, humanitarian care, they need to be protected. They should be protected. And so certainly those conversations are going to continue,” she said.

“We believe that certainly… the Israeli government has taken efforts to do just that and has taken into account our concerns and so we’re going to continue to have those conversations but it is heartbreaking to hear.”

Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said in a statement that Dr Al-Bursh’s death meant that the total number of medical workers who had been killed by Israel since the 7 October attack now stands at 496.

It added that 1,500 others had been wounded while 309 had been arrested.

Medical facilities are protected under international law, but Israel says Hamas uses them as cover for military operations – something Hamas denies.

The US president said during a campaign fundraising event earlier this week that Japan, India, China and Russia “don’t want immigrants”.

The White House has said he meant no offence and was merely highlighting US immigration policies.

The comment, however, has drawn scorn from some US and foreign observers.

Speaking to a largely Asian-American audience on Wednesday, Mr Biden said: “Why is China stalling so badly economically? Why is Japan having trouble. Why is Russia? Why is India? Because they’re xenophobic. They don’t want immigrants.”

The US government later clarified that his comment was meant in the context of explaining “that the US is a nation of immigrants and that immigrants make the US stronger”, and did not have “the intent of undermining” the US-Japan relationship.

Japan’s embassy said on Friday that it was “aware” of the clarification.

“It is unfortunate that some of the comments were not based on an accurate understanding of Japan’s policies,” the statement added.

Japan’s traditionally strict immigration policies have been loosened in recent years to to address a steadily shrinking population.

Mr Biden’s comments came less than a month after he called the US-Japan alliance “unbreakable” during a state visit by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to Washington.

The embassy said the visit showed that the US-Japan relationship was “stronger than ever”.

Mr Biden’s comments were also criticised by China.

Chen Weihua, a prominent columnist for the state-owned China Daily, said on X, formerly Twitter, that the US president was “obsessed with smearing China… It’s a serious mental disease.”

India’s government has not directly responded to Mr Biden’s comments. However, Madhavan Narayanan, an Indian economist and journalist, told the Abu Dhabi-based National newspaper that it was “incorrect” to say his country does not want immigrants.

“India has been attractive either for the high-end expats or for the extremely low-wage kind of immigrants from Bangladesh and poor countries,” he said.

Opinion polls indicate widespread dissatisfaction among US voters over Mr Biden’s handling of the US-Mexico border.

The Tories lost nearly half the seats they contested, with only a handful of council and mayoral results pending.

In contrast, Labour won key councils, regional mayors and a decisive victory in the Blackpool South by-election.

The PM called the results “disappointing” but denied Labour was on track for a general election win.

In a rare bright spot for the Tories, Ben Houchen was elected for a third term in Tees Valley, with a much reduced majority.

Speaking at Teesside International Airport, Mr Sunak said the results showed at the general election election voters “are going to stick with us”.

Mr Sunak said Labour “knew they have to win here in order to win a general election”, but said voters know “the Conservatives are building a brighter future for Teesside and a brighter future of Britain”

In total, the Conservatives lost 10 councils and more than 400 councillors in England.

Labour emerged as the main beneficiary, gaining 169 new councillors and making advances in areas the party claim point toward a general election victory.

The party also won all three of the newly created regional mayors in the East Midlands, North East and York and North Yorkshire.

Speaking at Northallerton Town Football Club in North Yorkshire, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the result was a “historic victory” for Labour in “the heart of Tory territory”.

The newly created York and North Yorkshire mayoralty includes Mr Sunak’s Richmond constituency.

He said: “We’ve had a positive campaign here and I am very, very proud to stand here as leader of the Labour Party to celebrate this historic victory.

“And it is a historic victory – these are places where we would not have usually had a Labour Party success but we’ve been able to create that success and persuade people to vote for us.”

The local election results so far yielded a wealth of results for the parties to pore over with around 2,600 seats contested across 107 councils, 37 police and crime commissioners, and 11 local mayors.

Results will continue to come in on Saturday and Sunday.

Research by Sir John Curtice for the BBC estimates that, if the whole country had had an election on Thursday and behaved in a similar manner to those places that did, the outcome would be Labour on 34% and the Conservatives on 25%.

Meanwhile, national polling puts Labour on as much as 20 points ahead of the Conservatives in general election intentions.

Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats are now calling for Mr Sunak to call for a general election.

Gaining nearly 100 new councillors, the Liberal Democrats said they have proved they can benefit from Conservative difficulties.

The Green Party just missed out on its target of taking over Bristol Council, but continued to gain ground winning 66 new seats.

Meanwhile, Reform are averaging 12% of the vote in wards where they are standing, and came third in the Blackpool by-election, 117 votes behind the Tories.

Despite the poor results, there is no sign of an internal revolt against the prime minister’s leadership. There are only two MPs who have publicly called for a change of leader – and no-one new voices joining that band in response to these results.

Holding on to the Tees Valley mayoralty may have provided Mr Sunak with a lifeline.

But as leading elections expert Sir John pointed out, Lord Houchen’s success was “heavily personal” and the results unreliable indicators of Conservative prospects in a general election.

MPs have

The Tories lost nearly half the seats they contested, with only a handful of council and mayoral results pending.

In contrast, Labour won key councils, regional mayors and a decisive victory in the Blackpool South by-election.

The PM called the results “disappointing” but denied Labour was on track for a general election win.

In a rare bright spot for the Tories, Ben Houchen was elected for a third term in Tees Valley, with a much reduced majority.

Speaking at Teesside International Airport, Mr Sunak said the results showed at the general election election voters “are going to stick with us”.

Mr Sunak said Labour “knew they have to win here in order to win a general election”, but said voters know “the Conservatives are building a brighter future for Teesside and a brighter future of Britain”.

In total, the Conservatives lost 10 councils and more than 400 councillors in England.

Labour emerged as the main beneficiary, gaining 169 new councillors and making advances in areas the party claim point toward a general election victory.

The party also won all three of the newly created regional mayors in the East Midlands, North East and York and North Yorkshire.

Speaking at Northallerton Town Football Club in North Yorkshire, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the result was a “historic victory” for Labour in “the heart of Tory territory”.

The newly created York and North Yorkshire mayoralty includes Mr Sunak’s Richmond constituency.

He said: “We’ve had a positive campaign here and I am very, very proud to stand here as leader of the Labour Party to celebrate this historic victory.

“And it is a historic victory – these are places where we would not have usually had a Labour Party success but we’ve been able to create that success and persuade people to vote for us.”

The local election results so far yielded a wealth of results for the parties to pore over with around 2,600 seats contested across 107 councils, 37 police and crime commissioners, and 11 local mayors.

Results will continue to come in on Saturday and Sunday.

Research by Sir John Curtice for the BBC estimates that, if the whole country had had an election on Thursday and behaved in a similar manner to those places that did, the outcome would be Labour on 34% and the Conservatives on 25%.

Meanwhile, national polling puts Labour on as much as 20 points ahead of the Conservatives in general election intentions.

Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats are now calling for Mr Sunak to call for a general election.

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Watch: England and Wales local elections… in 60 seconds
Gaining nearly 100 new councillors, the Liberal Democrats said they have proved they can benefit from Conservative difficulties.

The Green Party just missed out on its target of taking over Bristol Council, but continued to gain ground winning 66 new seats.

Meanwhile, Reform are averaging 12% of the vote in wards where they are standing, and came third in the Blackpool by-election, 117 votes behind the Tories.

Despite the poor results, there is no sign of an internal revolt against the prime minister’s leadership. There are only two MPs who have publicly called for a change of leader – and no-one new voices joining that band in response to these results.

Holding on to the Tees Valley mayoralty may have provided Mr Sunak with a lifeline.

But as leading elections expert Sir John pointed out, Lord Houchen’s success was “heavily personal” and the results unreliable indicators of Conservative prospects in a general election.

MPs have reported to the BBC’s chief political correspondent Henry Zeffman that seeing a popular independent-minded local incumbent defy a national trend is compelling. Many MPs believe they have strong personal votes – even if there is little academic evidence for that.

The results from the remaining votes could still prove to be pivotal to the two leading parties.

Sir John said the Tories could be on course to lose 500 councillors – making it “one of the worst, if not the worst” performances by the party in 40 years.

Five council elections are still to come in, with but all eyes will be on the remaining seven mayoral races due to be announced by the end of Saturday – they include London, Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, Salford, West Yorkshire, West Midlands and South Yorkshire.

The outcomes in London and Greater Manchester – currently held by two of Labour’s biggest national figures in Sadiq Khan and Andy Burnham – will be crucial for gauging the party’s public support.

 that seeing a popular independent-minded local incumbent defy a national trend is compelling. Many MPs believe they have strong personal votes – even if there is little academic evidence for that.

The results from the remaining votes could still prove to be pivotal to the two leading parties.

Sir John said the Tories could be on course to lose 500 councillors – making it “one of the worst, if not the worst” performances by the party in 40 years.

Five council elections are still to come in, with but all eyes will be on the remaining seven mayoral races due to be announced by the end of Saturday – they include London, Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, Salford, West Yorkshire, West Midlands and South Yorkshire.

The outcomes in London and Greater Manchester – currently held by two of Labour’s biggest national figures in Sadiq Khan and Andy Burnham – will be crucial for gauging the party’s public support.

The MSP, who spent 16 years in senior roles in the Scottish government until last year, has already won the backing of many party colleagues.

It is still unclear whether he will face a contest for the role from the former finance secretary Kate Forbes.

The two were confirmed to have met on Tuesday, promoting speculation that a deal may be done to avoid a leadership contest.

Mr Swinney, 60, is to hold a news conference in the Grassmarket in Edinburgh on Thursday morning, at which he is expected to confirm his bid to take over from Humza Yousaf.

Mr Yousaf announced his resignation on Monday, though he will remain in post until his successor is elected.

So far, only Mr Swinney and Ms Forbes have indicated they are considering running to lead their party and seek election as first minister.

If a run-off between them does take place, a ballot of SNP members will be required. Party officials have confirmed nominations will close on Monday. Any contest would end on the 27 May.

The Perthshire North MSP, who served as Nicola Sturgeon’s deputy for almost nine years, announced late on Wednesday that he was preparing to make a statement on speculation he would run for the leadership.

Mr Swinney was also SNP leader between 2000 and 2004, standing down after a poor showing at the European elections.

Speaking to journalists on Tuesday, Mr Swinney said he was giving the idea of running for the leadership “a great deal of thought”.

Senior party members, including Westminster leader Stephen Flynn, health secretary Neil Gray and education secretary Jenny Gilruth, have already said they would support Mr Swinney if he decides to stand for election.

Former finance secretary Kate Forbes, 34, has yet to confirm whether or not she will make any similar statement on the future leadership of the SNP.

The Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch MSP narrowly lost to Mr Yousaf in the SNP leadership election last year.

She was criticised during the campaign for revealing she would have voted against gay marriage legislation had she been an MSP at the time due to her religious beliefs as a member of the Free Church of Scotland.

At the time, Mr Swinney, also a Christian, questioned whether it would be “appropriate” for someone with such views to become SNP leader.

Several senior party members have backed her, including those regularly at odds with the SNP leadership such as Joanna Cherry and Fergus Ewing.

If more than one candidate receives 100 nominations from at least 20 local party branches, a ballot will be held among members to choose a new leader.

Mr Yousaf has said he will resign as first minister once a new leader is chosen. At that point, parliament will have 28 days to nominate a new first minister to be appointed by the King.

If MSPs cannot reach an agreement after 28 days, a snap election would be called.