Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova criticized France's detention of the Tagor tanker, calling it 'European legal nihilism' and a violation of international maritime law.
Nigel Farage’s party proposed to place detention centres in places that vote for Green council leaders or MPsCommenting on the Reform UK detention centres plan (see 10.48am) on Bluesky, Sunder Katwala, head of the British Future thinktank, says it is not just potentially illegal, but also illogical in its own terms.There is rather inadvertent warped logic that a rival party said to favour “open borders” would mean ‘support detention centre’While the party favouring mass deportations at unprecedented scale means ‘oppose detention centre’ anywhere nearbyThese statements could have unwelcome legal consequences for a hypothetical Reform government - which may need to show that decisions which happen to match this pattern were chosen for other legitimate policy reasons, not as partisan political punishment/rewardA hypothetical future government with a thumping majority could have the powers to repeal any treaties, conventions or laws which may constrain this.A hypothetical minority government could find itself impeded by these kinds of public statements about the motive for locating detention facilitiesA more logical version of this school sixth form debating society policy might have the opposite design* Mass Detention in Reform-voting areas proud to vote for deportations + detentionsReform have launched a website with this “incentive” to voters in an effort to generate profile & controversy in election weekA Reform government will not put any migrant detention facilities in any constituency with a Reform MP.Nor will we put them where Reform controls the council.Reform keep making abhorrent announcements to distract voters from they fact they want to privatise the NHS. Greens are focused on building council housing, fixing our public services and bringing down the cost of living.This grotesque policy reveals Reform’s contempt for all voters – including their own. Threatening to punish places where people don’t vote your way is a betrayal of basic democratic principles. Nigel Farage has sunk to a new low: he is clearly more interested in stoking division and anger than in serving the whole country.We need to stop illegal immigration, but this is abhorrent from Reform.Zia is proposing the siting of detention centres expressly as a form of political punishment for people and places that don’t vote Reform – not just Green, but presumably Conservative, Liberal and Labour too. (And what about Reform voters in those constituencies?) Continue reading...
The 2026 FIFA World Cup faces an unprecedented tax issue as 30 of 48 participating nations lack double taxation agreements with the United States, potentially costing them significantly more to participate. Only 18 teams from countries with DTAs—including European nations, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Egypt, Morocco and South Africa—will benefit from tax protections. Teams like Brazil, lacking DTA coverage, face federal taxes of up to 37% plus state taxes varying by venue, while smaller nations like Curaçao and Cape Verde could face larger tax liabilities than wealthy European federations despite lower earnings.
Republican Senator Deb Fischer, chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee's strategic forces subcommittee, says China must be involved in nuclear arms control treaty negotiations. The US has been trying to bring China into the New Start treaty, which expired in February, but China has refused to participate, insisting it has no intention of engaging in an arms race.
CSTO Secretary General Taalatbek Masadykov accused some European leaders of embarking on a course of militarization and war preparations, stating that the European security treaty system has been effectively destroyed. Addressing the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly Council, he expressed alarm over escalating confrontation and instability hotspots near CSTO borders, describing the situation in Eastern Europe as extremely difficult.
