In Pictures: Hard hats on as Gove and Starmer attempt to talk housing
PA Reporter
·2-min read
Cabinet minister Michael Gove was tasked with handling questions about fresh Tory Party turmoil over allegations of betting on the date of the General Election, instead of talking up the party’s housing policies as planned on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was forced to deny that a party official had suggested a future government could “flatten the whole green belt” to achieve its homebuilding plans.
Both the Labour and Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey were visiting seats in Yorkshire on Thursday, ahead of their appearance on BBC1’s Question Time in York.
Cabinet minister Michael Gove, centre left, made a housing visit in West London on Thursday (Aaron Chown/PA)
Mr Gove said the situation regarding the fresh betting allegations did not ‘look great’ for the Conservatives (Aaron Chown/PA)
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer visited the Persimmon Homes Germany Beck site in York (Stefan Rousseau/PA)
The Labour leader spoke to residents during his trip to the city (Stefan Rousseau/PA)
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage gave a speech at Catton Hall in Frodsham, Cheshire … (Dominic Lipinski/PA)
… before trying his hand at some clay pigeon shooting at the outdoor activity centre (Dominic Lipinski/PA)
Liberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey went to what is plausibly the only constituency in the country his party might gain from Labour on polling day: Sheffield Hallam (Danny Lawson/PA)
Sir Ed inspected an insect hotel during his trip to Whinfell Quarry Gardens in Sheffield (Danny Lawson/PA)
Meanwhile, in Belfast, Alliance leader Naomi Long, centre, launched her party’s manifesto alongside Westminster parliamentary candidates (Liam McBurney/PA)
And in Edinburgh, Scottish Greens co-leader Lorna Slater launched her party’s manifesto, proposing a wealth tax and an end to oil and gas companies advertising (Jane Barlow/PA)
Nigel Farage ended the day posing with supporters as he visited Blackpool in the evening (Dominic Lipinski/PA)
China on Thursday expelled its former Defense Minister Li Shangfu from the ruling Communist Party over corruption allegations, state broadcaster CCTV reported, eight months after he was dramatically removed from the post.
Every spring, when warm rays of sunshine herald the start of South Korea’s baking summer, fountains across Seoul’s central Gwanghwamun plaza suddenly burst into life, sending cooling jets of water into the air.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government on Wednesday said it has asked the Tamil Nadu state to submit a "detailed report" after a Reuters story revealed that Apple supplier Foxconn rejected married women from iPhone assembly jobs in the country. In a statement calling for the probe, the federal government's Ministry of Labour and Employment cited the Equal Remuneration Act of 1976, saying the law "clearly stipulates that no discrimination (is) to be made while recruiting men and women workers." The ministry said it has requested a detailed report from the Labour Department of Tamil Nadu, site of a major iPhone factory where Reuters uncovered Foxconn’s practice of shunning married women from jobs.
Game changer – The RMAF’s capabilities will undergo a massive transformation under a bold and ambitious new roadmap that will see the introduction of a fifth-generation stealth fighter, upgraded Su-30MKM Flankers, and additional F/A-18 Hornet strike fighters from ex-Kuwaiti stocks. The post Ex-Kuwaiti Hornets to join RMAF fleet, Su-30MKMs to be upgraded to ‘Super Flankers’ under bold, ambitious plan appeared first on Twentytwo13.
Volunteers and supporters of grassroots Colorado Republican Ron Hanks, who’d hoped to fill the congressional seat vacated by fellow MAGA diehard Lauren Boebert, gathered Tuesday night at a Grand Junction brewery for a watch party. Hanks lamented the results — and the state of the Republican Party. Sheila Flynn reports from the third congressional district
Michelle Obama was not happy with the Biden family over the way they treated her good friend Kathleen Buhle following her divorce from Hunter Biden, according to a report.Two sources familiar with the relationship between the former first lady and the incumbent president’s family told Axios that Michelle has privately spoken about her frustrations at the manner in which the Biden clan mostly exiled Buhle when her marriage to Hunter ended. It’s partly why Michelle hasn’t been campaigning for Joe
Israel said it does not want war in Lebanon but could send its neighbour "back to the Stone Age", as the UN's humanitarian chief warned such a conflict would be "potentially apocalyptic".It's potentially apocalyptic," warned Griffiths, whose term ends this week.
When he leaves the army barracks to return to his ultra-orthodox Kiryat Menchem neighbourhood in west Jerusalem, Jacov Barchaim immediately swaps his khaki uniform for a traditional black suit to avoid causing offence.
Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 foreign nationals after a raid at a villa on the resort island of Bali, officials said Thursday. Immigration authorities said they conducted the raid on Wednesday at a villa in Kukuh village in Tabanan district and detained 91 men and 12 women.
Bolivia's army chief was arrested Wednesday after sending soldiers and tanks to take up position in front of government buildings in what President Luis Arce called an attempted "coup d'etat".The troops and tanks entered Plaza Murillo, a historic square where the presidency and Congress are situated, in the afternoon, prompting global condemnation of an attack on democracy.One of the tanks tried to break down a metal door of the presidential palace.Surrounded by soldiers and eight tanks, the now-dismissed army chief General Juan Jose Zuniga said the "armed forces intend to restructure democracy, to make it a true democracy and not one run by the same few people for 30, 40 years."Shortly thereafter, AFP reporters saw soldiers and tanks pulling back from the square.Later Wednesday, Zuniga was captured and forced into a police car as he addressed reporters outside a military barracks, footage on state television showed. "General, you are under arrest," Deputy Interior Minister Jhonny Aguilera told Zuniga."No one can take away the democracy we have won," Arce said from a balcony of the government palace in front of hundreds of supporters.Earlier he had urged "the Bolivian people to organize and mobilize against the coup d'etat in favor of democracy," in a televised message to the country alongside his ministers inside the presidential palace. He also swore in new military leaders, firing Zuniga.Former president Evo Morales wrote on X that "a coup d'etat is brewing" and also urged a "national mobilization to defend democracy."- Zuniga's anti-democratic remarks -Bolivia is deeply polarized after years of political instability and the ruling Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) is riven by internal conflict between supporters of Arce and his former mentor Morales.Morales, who was Bolivia's first Indigenous president, was extremely popular until he tried to bypass the constitution and seek a fourth term in office in 2019. The leftist and former coca union leader won that vote but was forced to resign amid deadly protests over alleged election fraud, and fled the country. He returned after Arce won the presidency in October 2020.Since then a power struggle has grown between the two men, and Morales has increasingly criticized the government and accused it of corruption, tolerating drug trafficking, and sidelining him politically.Six months ago, the Constitutional Court disqualified Morales from the 2025 elections, however he is still seeking nomination as the MAS candidate.Arce has not said whether he will seek re-election.Zuniga appeared on television on Monday and said he would arrest Morales if he insisted on running for office again in 2025."Legally he is disqualified, that man cannot be president of this country again," he said.Since that interview, rumors have swirled that Zuniga was on the verge of being dismissed.- Calls for calm -The US administration of Joe Biden said it was keeping a close eye on events in Bolivia and "calls for calm," according to a spokesperson for the National Security Council.Condemnations of the troop movements also poured in from across Latin America, with leaders of Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela calling for democracy to be respected. Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wrote on X: "I am a lover of democracy and I want it to prevail throughout Latin America. We condemn any form of coup d'etat in Bolivia."Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday called for "respect for democracy and the rule of law," in a message on X.The Organization of American States (OAS) said the international community would "not tolerate any form of breach of the legitimate constitutional order in Bolivia."bur-fb/md
