lundi 18 décembre 2006

A week in Great Britain

Tom Stephens

Suffolk murders

Breaking news: a suspect has been arrested. Supermarket worker Tom Stephens was arrested by police at his home at Trimley St Martin, near Felixstowe. He is being held on suspicion of murdering prostitutes Gemma Adams, Anneli Alderton, Tania Nicol, Paula Clennell and Annette Nicholls. He’s 37.
He gave an interview this weekend to the Sunday Mirror, in which he confessed he knew the five prostitutes, but denied being their murderer. Speaking in an interview with BBC News last week for background purposes, Mr Stephens said he "was probably the closest thing Tania [Nicol] had as a boyfriend". He said he had known Miss Nicol for about six months but had known Miss Adams for 18 months - "about as long as I've known any of the girls".
This arrest is the latest development in the gloomy story that has been haunting Ipswich and the Suffolk region for the last 20 days. Five prostitutes have been found dead, and the population feared a serial killer was on the run. However, noone knows if Tom Stephens is the real killer.
The slaughter raised social issues, such as the place of prostitution in the English law: Prostitution is tolerated, but prostitutes cannot display any visible sign of their activity. As a result, they tend to lead their customers to concealed places. They are therefore easy targets for violent men with a grudge against women.

Tony Blair’s tour

Tony Blair has been much in the news this week. He condemned the killing of prostitutes, trying to calm Ipswich population as he praised the local police. After that, he put on his costume of a diplomat.
- At his monthly media briefing the Prime minister said the Iranian regime was "deeply extreme". Tony Blair declared “There is no point in hiding the fact that Iran poses a major strategic threat to the cohesion of the entire region”.
- He then began a whole Middle East tour. First destination: Turkey, where he met his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Mr Blair was set to assure Mr Erdogan of UK support for Turkish membership. Still, EU foreign ministers have decided to suspend accession talks with Turkey on eight of the 35 areas that candidates are required to complete. Blair declared: “Turkey is important in terms of its influence and its connections within the Middle East as a whole and therefore the influence it can bring to bear on Israel/Palestine.”
- Second stop in Egypt. He held talks with Egyptian President Hosni Moubarak, hoping this would boost the peace process between Israel and Palestine.
- Third destination: Iraq. The Prime minister visited troops in Basra, in the south of the country. This is a kind of farewell, as Tony Blair will not come back in Iraq before he leaves office in 2007. This visit cannot mask the difficulties British soldiers face there. A soldier who was shot and killed in Iraq died because of "unforgivable and inexcusable" delays in providing body armour to troops. He had given his armour back three days ago because there were not enough armours for every soldier.
- To finish with, Tony Blair was in Palestine yesterday, where he met Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of Palestinian Authority. Mr Blair told the Palestinian leader he backed his efforts to revive the peace process.
- Before leaving, Mr Blair became on Thursday the first sitting prime minister to be interviewed as part of a criminal investigation - but Downing Street stressed he spoke to police as a witness and not a suspect.
- Another affair: Tony Blair was accused of having a corruption probe into a Saudi arms deal dropped after commercial and political pressure. The Lib Dems argue it was "effectively blackmail" by the Saudis and the SFO decision "came from the top". Mr Blair has said the probe was dropped because of national security concerns.
- Breaking news: The Chatham House report has been released this morning. The report assesses British foreign policy since 1997. Two major pieces of information developed by Professor Bulther-Thomas
o Iraq: The 2003 invasion and the post-war "debacle" have damaged Britain's international influence, said the Chatham House report. The "disaster" of Iraq and Tony Blair's failure to influence US policy will overshadow his time as prime minister.
o Euro: the report also says Mr Blair's successor would also have to rethink Britain's role within the European Union and distance it from the US. The new prime minister would have to look again at his opposition to the euro and the Schengen agreement, which ends controls on international frontiers.
As a conclusion, it says, that “despite a number of successes, especially in his first term, Tony Blair's time in office will be overshadowed by the disaster in Iraq.”

Resignation at the head of MI5

Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller is to leave her post as director general of the British security service, MI5. Dame Eliza, 58, who has been in the post since October 2002, will leave by April and her replacement will be appointed by Home Secretary John Reid. For her, MI5 is facing two big challenges - the "serious threat" and the need to adapt to that threat.
Concerning the renewal of Britain’s Arsenal, Ministers have been warned by MPs that the skills base for building a new generation of nuclear submarines in the UK is at a "critical level". The Commons defence select committee said the shortage of engineers was a "cause of serious concern". Trident will reach the end of its scheduled life in 2024.

(Almost) a new development in Lady Diana’s inquiry

An official UK police inquiry into the Paris car crash which killed Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed has found no evidence the couple were murdered. Lord Stevens, who led the three-year investigation, said the 1997 crash was a "tragic accident". The inquiry report said chauffeur Henri Paul, who also died, was speeding and over the legal drink-drive limit.
A spokesman for Mr Al Fayed's father said he does not accept the findings, as questions remain "unanswered".
In Britain, this was just the necessary spark to get people gossip about this long debated issue. Who is to blame for this tragic death ...? The results of another investigation are to be unraveled next year. The story begins, again...

Prince Charles and the global warming

In the same time, Prince Charles was writing an article concerning global warming. “Climate change is now a critical issue for every Commonwealth country,” he wrote in CPQ, the quarterly magazine of the Commonwealth Press Union (CPU), adding that “[he] believe[d] that mankind ha[d] all the necessary skills, resources and ingenuity to tackle climate change effectively.”

A social news item

Work secretary John Hutton said he wanted to end the “can work but won't work” culture, saying society should expect more in return for benefits. He will therefore cut /or stop altogether/ benefits to long-term unemployed people who do not try to find a job.

Scotland and Northern Ireland

- Scotland export market tops nearly 15 billion pounds. Scotland's manufacturing export market grew by £80m last year to £14.9bn, but that is still down on the 1999 peak of almost £20bn. A study by the Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI) said that high-performing sectors such as whisky had helped the 2005 figures. The electrical machinery and recycling industries also did well last year.
- Last but not least: A Sinn Fein delegation led by party president Gerry Adams has met the head of Northern Ireland's police. The meeting came as republicans face growing pressure to support the police as part of the deal to restore devolution. "We need to resolve the whole matter of the transfer of powers on policing and justice in a doable, definitive timeframe to achieve that," Gerry Adams said.

© Brice 2007

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