World News Roundup

INTERNATIONALARAB TIMES, FRIDAY-SATURDAY, JULY 14-15, 2017

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Politics

May sheds ‘little tear’

Without women, localgovt not ‘fit’ for futureLONDON, July 13, (RTRS): Despite having a fe-male prime minister, local government in England and Wales is still dominated by men and held back by outdated practices and attitudes, a report said on Thursday.

A year-long study by the women’s rights organisa-tion the Fawcett Society and the Local Government Information Unit found about 17 percent of council leaders in England and Wales are women, a figure that has hardly shifted for 10 years.

Only one in three local councillors is female — with the slow pace of change meaning it will take county councils until 2065 to have equal numbers of men and women — and almost a third of female councillors experiencing sexist comments.

Digging into the reasons for this, the report found only four percent of lo-cal councils have formal pa-rental leave policies in place and 80 percent of seats go to incumbents at election time, making it hard for women to break in.

Sam Smethers, chief ex-ecutive of the Fawcett Soci-ety, said “significant barriers” remained in place for women — even though Britain will next year mark 100 years since women could first be elected

into parliament.“We are going backwards and that is fundamen-

tally unacceptable in 21st century,” Smethers said in a statement.

Chairwoman of North Tyneside Council, Cath Da-vis — a single mother who works full time — said she was initially encouraged by other women to join the council but on arrival found the demographics were “a lot of retired, white men”.

Although this has changed, there remain hurdles de-terring women such as time, childcare and transport, she said, adding, that key roles were still predomi-nantly filled by men.

“I would like to see more women in strategic roles,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, noting that positions regarding culture, children and other “nur-ture” roles were mostly occupied by women.

“Still a bias towards us doing the softer roles.”In Manchester City Council there are often young

children in the chamber, said Susan Cooley, former lord mayor of the city and a councillor who is working to establish crèche facilities.

When she took up her post more than 20 years ago, Cooley said the council was dominated by “old dino-saurs” who still regarded the chamber as a men’s club.

But the landscape in Manchester has changed with the council among the few in Britain where female members outnumber males.

Dame Margaret Hodge, co-chair of a commission of experts put together by the Fawcett Society, said the culture still favoured men as decision makers.

“The way councils do business is still designed by, and for, men. This needs to change, and fast,” Hodge said in a statement. “Currently local government is not fit for purpose and does not work for women.”

Claire Kober, the first female chair of London Councils which represents the capital’s 32 borough councils and the City of London, said the report re-vealed “the uncomfortable truth about the representa-tion of women in local government”.

The report made a number of recommendations to help drive change, including calling for targets for female representation and legalising remote at-tendance.

“Being a councillor is so rewarding and offers a great opportunity to learn new skills,” Gillian Keegan, co-chair of the commission of experts, said in a state-ment.

“We need to get out there and sell the merits of the role to women across the country.”

Also:LONDON: British Prime Minister Theresa May said she cried a “little tear” when an exit poll revealed she had failed to win an overall majority in a June 8 snap election.

May told BBC radio she felt “devastated” when the results came in, revealing she had lost her parliamen-tary majority, despite her call on Britons to give her a strong mandate to negotiate Britain’s exit from the European Union.

May said her campaign was not “perfect”, but said she expected that her party would increase its major-ity.

The prime minister said her husband Philip told her the result of the exit poll and gave her a hug to console her.

“When the result came through it was complete shock,” May said. “It took a few minutes for it to sink in what it was telling me.”

May faced calls to quit from inside and outside her ruling Conservative Party after losing its ma-jority in an election she did not need to call and which plunged Britain into the worst political in-stability for decades.

“When it came to the actual result there were a lot of people within the party who had been very close to the campaign who were genuinely shocked by the result as it came through,” she said.

May said she had not considered stepping down and declined to say how much longer she would remain in power.

“I still see there is a lot that we need to do, and as prime minister I want to get on with that job of chang-ing people’s lives for the better,” she said.

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LONDON: British Prime Minister Theresa May or-dered on Wednesday a review into reports that candi-dates in June’s parliamentary election suffered threats, bullying and harassment.

May asked the Committee on Standards in Public Life, a public body funded by the government, to con-sider whether candidates were adequately protected, especially in light of the rising use of social media, and recommend any changes necessary.

“I have been horrified by stories from colleagues about the scale and nature of the intimidation, bullying and harassment they suffered during the general elec-tion campaign,” May said in a statement.

The review was announced as lawmakers debat-ed the subject in parliament after representatives from across the political spectrum spoke out about their experiences, which included sexist and racist abuse online, threats of violence, and damage to property.

“Robust debate is a vital part of our democracy, but there can be no place for the shocking threats and abuse we have seen in recent months,” May said.

Davis

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II hosts Spanish King Felipe VI and Spanish Queen Letizia during a State Banquet in the ballroom at Buckingham Palace in central London on July 12, the first day of the Spanish King and Queen’s three-day state visit. Spanish King Felipe VI called for a deal on the status of Gibraltar that would be ‘ac-ceptable to all’ on Wednesday, raising a thorny dispute on the first day of his state visit to Britain. (Inset): Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II (left), arrives with Metropolitan

Police Commissioner Cressida Dick to open the new headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, New Scotland Yard, in central London on July 13. (AFP)

‘Payment no big threat to finances’

Bill to end EU membershipLONDON, July 13, (Agencies): The British government on Thursday pub-lished a draft law that would formally put an end to Britain’s membership of the European Union, as a top official warned the country was unprepared for Brexit in less than two years’ time.

The new bill will repeal the 1972 law in which Britain became an EU member and convert an estimated 12,000 existing EU regulations into British law, ending the supremacy of EU law in Britain.

“This bill means that we will be able to exit the European Union with maximum certainty, continuity and control,” Brexit Secretary David Davis said in a statement.

But Prime Minister Theresa May is braced for a battle over the bill, which also gives ministers powers to amend the EU laws as they are transferred without full parliamentary scrutiny.

These so-called “Henry VIII” pow-ers will be limited for two years, but opposition parties have warned they will not allow the government to use the bill to push through policy changes.

May’s Conservative Party lost its majority in the June 8 election, leav-ing it dependent on the small Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party to win votes in parliament.

The prime minister, who on Thursday marks one year since taking office after last year’s referendum to leave the EU, remains vulnerable and questions remain over how long she can stay.

As the bill was published, opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was in Brussels to offer his own Brexit vision to EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier.

May’s government began the two-year withdrawal process on March 29, setting Britain on an uncharted jour-ney.

Extricating Britain from four de-cades of membership of the bloc is no

small task: the new European Union (Withdrawal) Bill is one of eight Brex-it bills the government will introduce.

But Labour’s Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer warned his party would not support the legislation as it stood.

“We have very serious issues with the government’s approach, and unless the government addresses those issues, we will not be supporting the bill,” he told The Guardian.

As well as concerns about the ex-pansion of executive power, Labour fears an erosion of basic and workers’ rights and plans to submit amendments when the bill is debated in the autumn.

“This will be hell,” added Tim Far-ron, leader of the pro-European Liberal Democrats.

MajorityWith the help of the 10 DUP law-

makers, May’s government has a ma-jority of just 13 in the 650-member parliament.

Formal Brexit negotiations with the EU began last month and the two sides have already clashed over the future rights of European citizens living in Britain.

Ahead of the next round of talks starting next week, Britain on Thurs-day published three new papers setting out its position on nuclear coopera-tion, the European Court of Justice and privileges afforded to EU employees in Britain.

Meanwhile, Britain’s Brexit bill, the subject of a furious row this week between Brussels and London, will not pose a “big threat” to public finances, the government’s fiscal watchdog said Thursday.

“A lot of attention focuses on the possible divorce bill, but, while some numbers mooted for it are very large, a one-off hit of this sort would not pose a

big threat to fiscal sustainability,” read a report from the Office for Budget Re-sponsibility (OBR).

Britain last month kicked off lengthy negotiations with the EU to set the terms of its divorce — and a po-tential timetable for discussing a future free trade deal.

The nation’s estimated exit bill has however hogged the headlines.

EU officials told AFP that the fig-ure could be around 100 billion euros ($112 billion).

But British foreign minister Bo-ris Johnson declared on Tuesday that Brussels could “go whistle” for the money.

In response, EU Brexit negotia-tor Michel Barnier warned Britain on Wednesday to quickly settle the row — adding: “I am not hearing any whis-tling, just the clock ticking.”

Lawmakers have expressed concern that the sheer volume of work could limit their ability to scrutinise the changes effectively and fear the gov-ernment will introduce policy change by the back door.

The main opposition Labour Party has said it would oppose the bill unless it met six conditions, including guar-antees for workers’ rights. Tim Farron, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said he would work to soften May’s stance, promising the prime minister that “this will be hell”.

The bill will also face scrutiny from British companies, many of which have spent the year since Britons voted by 52 percent to 48 to leave the EU try-ing to figure out how the change will affect their business.

“A legislative transition of this scope has never before been undertak-en,” Adam Marshall, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said in a statement.

Brexit

Spain’s King Felipe VI addresses the UK-Spain Business Forum in London on July 13, the second day of his state

visit. (AFP)

Francis Kearney

Infant’s parents storm out of court: The parents of a baby with a rare disease stormed out of a London court hearing in an emotional outburst Thursday, as the couple tried to convince a judge to let them take their critically-ill child to the United States for medical treatment.

Charlie Gard’s parents are challenging the view of Britain’s most famous children’s hospital, arguing that treatment abroad is in the best interest of the 11-month-old suffering from a rare genetic condition.

A succession of judges has backed spe-cialists at Great Ormond Street Hospital, who argue experimental treatment in Amer-ica won’t help and may cause suffering for Charlie. The parents hoped to present fresh evidence to alter that view.

Two hours into the High Court hearing, questions from Judge Nicholas Francis prompted tensions to boil over. Charlie’s mother, Connie Yates, accused Francis of misquoting her earlier statements about Charlie’s quality of life.

“We said he’s not suffering and not in pain,” Yates yelled. “If he was we wouldn’t be up here fighting.” Chris Gard then slammed his water cup down and the couple left the courtroom.

Charlie suffers from mitochondrial depletion syndrome, a rare genetic disease that has left him brain damaged and unable to breathe unaided. The hospital says there is no known cure and believes his life sup-port systems should be turned off.

The parents want to try — but it isn’t up to them.

British judges are tasked to intervene when families and doctors disagree on the treatment of people unable to speak for themselves. The rights of the child take primacy, with the courts weighing issues such as whether a child is suffering and how much benefit a proposed treatment might produce. (AP)

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N. Ireland parades pass peacefully: Annual parades in Northern Ireland that frequently trigger sectarian violence passed peacefully on Wednesday with little sign the province’s political crisis is increasing tensions on the streets.

A power-sharing coalition between pro-British Protestant unionists and Irish Catholic nationalists collapsed in January and the protracted political impasse raised fears that inter-community relations might

Britain

The parents of critically ill baby Charlie Gard, Connie Yates and Chris Gard ar-rive at the Royal Courts of Justice in London on July 13. The parents of Charlie Gard who has a rare disease returned to a court in London on Thursday, hoping for a fresh analysis of their wish to take the critically ill child to the United States

for medical treatment. (AP)

deteriorate.Traditional July and August marches

are seen as a barometer of those relations and Wednesday’s were among the most

peaceful since a 1998 peace deal ended three decades of sectarian fighting in which 3,600 people died.

Police Service of Northern Ireland As-

sistant Chief Constable Alan Todd called it “the most peaceful Twelfth of July for some years and a model for years to come.”

Tens of thousands of mainly Protestant unionists, some wearing orange sashes and bowler hats began marching across the province early on Wednesday to the accompaniment of pipe bands.

The marches mark the 1690 victory by Protestant King William of Orange over Catholic King James at the Battle of the Boyne, which secured Protestant ascen-dancy in Britain and Ireland.

The sort of angry protests by national-ists, who want Northern Ireland merged with the Republic of Ireland, that fre-quently greet the marches, were nowhere to be seen, though the worst trouble tends to occur late in the evening.

A morning unionist march past an Irish nationalist estate in North Belfast that has often been the scene of violence passed off without incident. Marchers agreed to cancel the evening leg, which has frequently caused street clashes.

Police said they had launched an in-vestigation after some unionists overnight burned a replica coffin bearing the image of Martin McGuinness, former leader of the nationalist Sinn Fein party in Northern Ireland, who died in March.

Sinn Fein national chairman Declan Ke-arney described the burning of the coffin as a “particularly sickening manifestation of hate” and called on unionist politicians to condemn it. (RTRS)