UKIP has been accused of going to "war" with Muslims by one of its most prominent supporters.
Leader Paul Nuttall has unveiled plans to force girls at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM) to undergo regular medical checks, as well as a ban on burkas in public and outlawing sharia law.
The Muslim Council of Britain has said the policy - part of UKIP's "Integration Agenda" - was "deeply regrettable" and hit out at stereotyping around "bombs, beards and burkas".
And Arron Banks, a former donor to UKIP, has been critical, saying the party was going in "entirely the wrong direction".
Mr Banks, who on Monday announced he would not stand to become an MP in Clacton, wrote on Twitter: "I don't approve of the war on Muslim religion."
The party's foreign affairs spokesman has also quit his post in protest at Mr Nuttall's plans to ban the burka.
West Midlands MEP James Carver described the policy as "incompatible" with his desire to represent all of his constituents and to seek a global perspective for the UK.
Defending the measures, deputy leader Peter Whittle said: "The burka is not something in the Koran, it's not specified by the Koran, it's a cultural practice, FGM is a cultural practice."
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We have talked about these issues in UKIP for many years - 2010 we actually had this in our manifesto, that we should ban face coverings - not, for example the headscarf, not those sorts of things at all, just purely the face covering, because we believe that is a literal barrier to integration in our society.
"We are actually in this country rather behind the curve on this, because even the biggest party in the EU has called for an EU-wide ban on this."
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
Japan warns citizens they might have only 10 minutes to prepare for a North Korean missile
TOKYO – North Korea might be talking about building missiles that can reach the United States, but Kim Jong Un’s regime already has lots of missiles that can reach Japan. So the Japanese government is preparing its citizens to be ready in case a missile comes their way — something that could come with less than 10 minutes’ warning.
The prime minister’s office issued new “actions to protect yourself” guidelines this week, including for the first time instructions on how to respond if a North Korean ballistic missile is heading toward Japan.
Three of the four missiles that North Korea launched March 6 fell within Japan’s exclusive economic zone in the Sea of Japan, the body of water that separates Japan and the Korean Peninsula. North Korea later said that it was practicing to hit U.S. military bases in Japan.
North Korea showed almost two decades ago that it has all of Japan in its reach. In 1998, North Korea fired a Taepodong-1 missile — ostensibly for launching a satellite — over Japan and into its economic zone on the Pacific Ocean side.
The Japanese government’s advice isn’t exactly helpful, amounting to basically: you won’t get the warning in time, but if you do, then go to a strong building.
As North Korea has issued threats and paraded missiles this month, Japan’s official civil defense website has had 5.7 million visitors in the first 23 days of April — compared with usual monthly traffic of less than 400,000 hits.
Under the "frequently asked questions" section, the government poses the question of how many minutes it will take for a missile to reach Japan.
“When a missile is launched from North Korea, it will not take long to reach Japan,” the answer reads. “For example, the ballistic missile launched from [North Korea] on February 7 last year took 10 minutes to fly over Okinawa.”
The central government has also been holding meetings to instruct local governments what they should do if a North Korean missile hits their region.
This meeting was unprecedented in post-war Japan, the Asahi Shimbun reported, the first time the Japanese government has taken steps to instruct residents on how to prepare for enemy attacks.
In Yamagata prefecture, which extends to the Sea of Japan, plans are underway to conduct an evacuation drill as soon as possible.
In Akita prefecture to the north, Governor Norihisa Satake instructed his disaster management department to stay on alert around the clock this month.
To the south, in Fukui, the local government will have its staff stay on alert overnight Tuesday, in case of any provocations linked to the anniversary of the foundation of North Korea’s army.
In “Actions and Other Measures In Case of Falling of Ballistic Missile” posted on its website last week, Fukui’s prefectural government told citizens to “evacuate to a substantial building or underground shopping area” if they were outside, and to lie down under cover and away from windows if inside.
Japan has a system called “J-Alert” designed to broadcast information about an imminent missile attack to disaster management officials at the local level. Here’s how The Japan Times described the system:
From there, local governments will relay warnings via outdoor loudspeaker systems, emergency broadcast channels on cable TV, FM radio broadcasts and cellphone alerts.
If you are outside when a warning is sounded or received, the government’s advice is to proceed calmly to the strongest concrete building you can quickly get to, or to go underground, if possible. Families in their homes are advised to stay low to the floor, take cover underneath tables and to stay away from glass windows.
But Osaka Mayor Hirofumi Yoshimura said that there would be almost no time to respond to a North Korean missile.
“A missile may not be detected as soon as it leaves the launch pad ... and that could take several minutes,” he said, according to the Japan Times’ report. “Depending on the case, the warnings and alarms might only sound four or five minutes before a missile arrives."
Meanwhile, sales of nuclear shelters and radiation-blocking air purifiers have surged in Japan, Reuters reported. A small company that specializes in building nuclear shelters, generally under people’s houses, has received eight orders in April alone compared with six orders during a typical year.
Increased efforts to make contingency plans in response to growing public concern will also likely accelerate the government and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s push for an upgraded ballistic missile defense system for the nation, the Asahi Shimbun wrote.
An influential group of politicians is publicly arguing for technically pacifist Japan to acquire the ability to strike North Korea instead of having to rely on the United States for its defense, and has submitted a recommendation to the government to this effect.
The prime minister’s office issued new “actions to protect yourself” guidelines this week, including for the first time instructions on how to respond if a North Korean ballistic missile is heading toward Japan.
Three of the four missiles that North Korea launched March 6 fell within Japan’s exclusive economic zone in the Sea of Japan, the body of water that separates Japan and the Korean Peninsula. North Korea later said that it was practicing to hit U.S. military bases in Japan.
North Korea showed almost two decades ago that it has all of Japan in its reach. In 1998, North Korea fired a Taepodong-1 missile — ostensibly for launching a satellite — over Japan and into its economic zone on the Pacific Ocean side.
The Japanese government’s advice isn’t exactly helpful, amounting to basically: you won’t get the warning in time, but if you do, then go to a strong building.
As North Korea has issued threats and paraded missiles this month, Japan’s official civil defense website has had 5.7 million visitors in the first 23 days of April — compared with usual monthly traffic of less than 400,000 hits.
Under the "frequently asked questions" section, the government poses the question of how many minutes it will take for a missile to reach Japan.
“When a missile is launched from North Korea, it will not take long to reach Japan,” the answer reads. “For example, the ballistic missile launched from [North Korea] on February 7 last year took 10 minutes to fly over Okinawa.”
The central government has also been holding meetings to instruct local governments what they should do if a North Korean missile hits their region.
This meeting was unprecedented in post-war Japan, the Asahi Shimbun reported, the first time the Japanese government has taken steps to instruct residents on how to prepare for enemy attacks.
In Yamagata prefecture, which extends to the Sea of Japan, plans are underway to conduct an evacuation drill as soon as possible.
In Akita prefecture to the north, Governor Norihisa Satake instructed his disaster management department to stay on alert around the clock this month.
To the south, in Fukui, the local government will have its staff stay on alert overnight Tuesday, in case of any provocations linked to the anniversary of the foundation of North Korea’s army.
In “Actions and Other Measures In Case of Falling of Ballistic Missile” posted on its website last week, Fukui’s prefectural government told citizens to “evacuate to a substantial building or underground shopping area” if they were outside, and to lie down under cover and away from windows if inside.
Japan has a system called “J-Alert” designed to broadcast information about an imminent missile attack to disaster management officials at the local level. Here’s how The Japan Times described the system:
From there, local governments will relay warnings via outdoor loudspeaker systems, emergency broadcast channels on cable TV, FM radio broadcasts and cellphone alerts.
If you are outside when a warning is sounded or received, the government’s advice is to proceed calmly to the strongest concrete building you can quickly get to, or to go underground, if possible. Families in their homes are advised to stay low to the floor, take cover underneath tables and to stay away from glass windows.
But Osaka Mayor Hirofumi Yoshimura said that there would be almost no time to respond to a North Korean missile.
“A missile may not be detected as soon as it leaves the launch pad ... and that could take several minutes,” he said, according to the Japan Times’ report. “Depending on the case, the warnings and alarms might only sound four or five minutes before a missile arrives."
Meanwhile, sales of nuclear shelters and radiation-blocking air purifiers have surged in Japan, Reuters reported. A small company that specializes in building nuclear shelters, generally under people’s houses, has received eight orders in April alone compared with six orders during a typical year.
Increased efforts to make contingency plans in response to growing public concern will also likely accelerate the government and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s push for an upgraded ballistic missile defense system for the nation, the Asahi Shimbun wrote.
An influential group of politicians is publicly arguing for technically pacifist Japan to acquire the ability to strike North Korea instead of having to rely on the United States for its defense, and has submitted a recommendation to the government to this effect.
Plastic waste on beaches underestimated by 80% - study
The amount of ocean plastic washing up on beaches around the world could be underestimated by up to 80%, according to new research being carried out in Australia.
Dr Jennifer Lavers, from the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania, has told Sky News current pollution data could represent just "the tip of the iceberg" of what is really in the environment.
Her study compared the number of plastic items found during a typical beach clean-up - the main source of data for estimates about the quantity of waste on coastlines - with the amount subsequently identified by more thorough surveys of the same areas.
Initial results of numerous comparative experiments suggest a typical beach clean-up, even if carried out by multiple individuals covering the same area, on average only identifies between 20 and 25% of the waste that is actually present on the surface.
"The reality of the plastic situation is that we are only skimming the surface," Dr Lavers said.
Election 2017: Pro-EU campaigners draw up hit list of Brexit MPs
Pro-EU campaigners have come up with a hit list of Brexit-supporting MPs they will try to get rid of at the General Election.
Key supporters of Leave will be targeted in 20 constituencies, while support will also be given to 20 MPs who have spoken out against a hard Brexit.
Among the seats that pro-European groups Open Britain, European Movement and Britain for Europe plan to focus on during the campaign are those of former Conservative Cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith and Labour's Kate Hoey.
They will also use its database of 600,000 supporters to provide help to Labour's Mary Creagh, Tory Neil Carmichael and Green MP Caroline Lucas.
The groups say more MPs will be added to both lists as the campaign progresses.
Labour former Cabinet minister Lord Mandelson, an Open Britain board member, said: "As a former European trade commissioner, I have seen such negotiations from the inside.
"For Britain to get the best possible trade deal, it is totally counter-productive for Theresa May to go into them with a rigid set of red lines."
Stephen Dorrell, chair of European Movement Chair, said the June 8 vote was "about something much bigger than party politics".
"Pro-Europeans need to stand up and be counted between now and June 8th," he said.
"The supporters of our organisations want to know where they can make a difference in this campaign and we are providing the tools for them to be able to.
"It is time for our activists to get behind all candidates, regardless of which political tradition they are from, if they are committed to opposing hard Brexit and willing to keep an open mind about the Brexit negotiations and the national interest."
The 20 Brexit-supporting MPs being targeted are:
:: Kate Hoey (Labour, Vauxhall)
:: Victoria Borwick (Conservative, Kensington)
:: David Burrowes (Conservative, Enfield Southgate)
:: Nicola Blackwood (Conservative, Oxford West and Abingdon)
:: Charlotte Leslie (Conservative, Bristol North West)
:: Theresa Villiers (Conservative, Chipping Barnet)
:: James Berry (Conservative, Kingston and Surbiton)
:: Matthew Offord (Conservative, Hendon)
:: Maria Caulfield (Conservative, Lewes)
:: Steve Baker (Conservative, Wycombe)
:: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative, Chingford and Woodford Green)
:: Byron Davies (Conservative, Gower)
:: Paul Scully (Conservative, Sutton and Cheam)
:: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party, Belfast East)
:: Christopher Davies (Conservative, Brecon and Radnorshire)
:: William Wragg (Conservative, Hazel Grove)
:: Luke Hall (Conservative, Thornbury and Yate)
:: James Heappey (Conservative, Wells)
:: Derek Thomas (Conservative, St Ives)
:: Caroline Ansell (Conservative, Eastbourne)
Campaigners call for digital cannabis market for the UK
The UK should have a legal, digital-only cannabis market, according to a new report.
The regulated market would limit access to anyone younger than 21, with checks similar to buying alcohol online.
The report, from pro-drug legalisation think tank Volte Face, argues that a controlled market would offer safer products and offer the ability for revenues to be taxed - potentially raising around £800m for the exchequer.
"We believe that Britain's multibillion-pound cannabis market should be developed and operated exclusively online by a private sector that is stringently controlled and regulated by democratically elected governments," the report, called The Green Screen, argues.
But anti-drugs campaigners have called the suggestion an "opportunity for national disaster" and "absolutely the most irresponsible thing to do".
Around 2.1 million people use cannabis every year, according to government figures, despite it being illegal.
Mike Power, the author of The Green Screen report, told Sky News: "The current situation, any young person with five or ten pounds can come to Camden and buy a bag of cannabis.
"They can't go to a supermarket and buy alcohol without having their identity checked and verified."
"We would argue that a digital model would enable that to be the case. So that every purchase would have to have age and ID verified before you actually bought it.
"As well as that, it would mean that you could tax every single purchase, and monitor it, and make sure that money was going directly into the taxpayers' pocket."
North Korea tensions: US submarine arrives in South Korea
A US submarine has arrived in South Korea, amid worries of another North Korean missile or nuclear test.
The missile-armed USS Michigan is set to join an incoming group of warships led by aircraft carrier Carl Vinson.
North Korea is celebrating its army's 85th founding anniversary on Tuesday. Reports suggest it has marked the event with its "largest ever firing drill".
Tensions have risen in the area in recent weeks, with the US and North Korea exchanging heated rhetoric.
Experts fear Pyongyang could be planning more tests - it has marked some key anniversaries in the past with nuclear tests or missile launches.
Why Beijing should lead on North Korean crisis
North Korea 'detains American citizen'
What can the outside world do about N Korea?
However, South Korea's defence ministry said "no unusual development had been detected".
Instead, the North conducted a large live-fire drill to mark its military anniversary, South Korean news agency Yonhap said, citing a government source.
North Korea conducted a failed ballistic missile test on 16 April, prompting US Vice-President Mike Pence to warn it not to "test" President Donald Trump.
In an unusual move, the entire US Senate has been asked to attend a briefing on North Korea on Wednesday at the White House.
The USS Michigan docked at South Korea's Busan port on Tuesday, in what it called a routine visit. It is a nuclear-powered submarine carrying 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles and 60 special operations troops and mini-subs, reported the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo.
Analysis: Stephen Evans, BBC News, Seoul
The North Korean crisis is moving on many fronts.
The US submarine docking in South Korea is a routine event - but in this time of heightened tension it has extra significance
Pyongyang remains defiant, including of China, warning that if it helped the US, the results would be "catastrophic".
Envoys from South Korea, the US and Japan are discussing North Korea in Tokyo.
What this all adds up to depends on whether President Trump has rejected the advice given to his predecessors that attacking North Korea could provoke an attack on Seoul, with one expert saying there could be tens of thousands of deaths on the first day.
It may be that President Trump has decided that the cost of North Korea eventually getting nuclear weapons that could strike the US means that the risk of war has to be taken. We simply do not know.
The submarine is expected to take part in military exercises with the Carl Vinson warship group, which the US said it was dispatching to North Korea earlier this month to "maintain readiness" in the region.
At the time, Mr Trump said that he was sending an "armada" to the region and that the US had submarines which were "very powerful, far more powerful than the aircraft carrier".
Pyongyang reacted angrily to the aircraft carrier deployment, threatening to sink it and launch a "super-mighty pre-emptive strike" against what it called US aggression.
However, the US warships caused some confusion and attracted mockery when it emerged that they actually sailed in the opposite direction, away from North Korea, after the announcement. However, US Navy officials said they are now proceeding to the region as ordered.
China is North Korea's only ally and main trading partner - and the US has been urging Beijing to help put pressure on Pyongyang.
Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke to Mr Trump on Monday, urging all sides to "maintain restraint and avoid actions that would increase tensions".
The missile-armed USS Michigan is set to join an incoming group of warships led by aircraft carrier Carl Vinson.
North Korea is celebrating its army's 85th founding anniversary on Tuesday. Reports suggest it has marked the event with its "largest ever firing drill".
Tensions have risen in the area in recent weeks, with the US and North Korea exchanging heated rhetoric.
Experts fear Pyongyang could be planning more tests - it has marked some key anniversaries in the past with nuclear tests or missile launches.
Why Beijing should lead on North Korean crisis
North Korea 'detains American citizen'
What can the outside world do about N Korea?
However, South Korea's defence ministry said "no unusual development had been detected".
Instead, the North conducted a large live-fire drill to mark its military anniversary, South Korean news agency Yonhap said, citing a government source.
North Korea conducted a failed ballistic missile test on 16 April, prompting US Vice-President Mike Pence to warn it not to "test" President Donald Trump.
In an unusual move, the entire US Senate has been asked to attend a briefing on North Korea on Wednesday at the White House.
The USS Michigan docked at South Korea's Busan port on Tuesday, in what it called a routine visit. It is a nuclear-powered submarine carrying 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles and 60 special operations troops and mini-subs, reported the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo.
Analysis: Stephen Evans, BBC News, Seoul
The North Korean crisis is moving on many fronts.
The US submarine docking in South Korea is a routine event - but in this time of heightened tension it has extra significance
Pyongyang remains defiant, including of China, warning that if it helped the US, the results would be "catastrophic".
Envoys from South Korea, the US and Japan are discussing North Korea in Tokyo.
What this all adds up to depends on whether President Trump has rejected the advice given to his predecessors that attacking North Korea could provoke an attack on Seoul, with one expert saying there could be tens of thousands of deaths on the first day.
It may be that President Trump has decided that the cost of North Korea eventually getting nuclear weapons that could strike the US means that the risk of war has to be taken. We simply do not know.
The submarine is expected to take part in military exercises with the Carl Vinson warship group, which the US said it was dispatching to North Korea earlier this month to "maintain readiness" in the region.
At the time, Mr Trump said that he was sending an "armada" to the region and that the US had submarines which were "very powerful, far more powerful than the aircraft carrier".
Pyongyang reacted angrily to the aircraft carrier deployment, threatening to sink it and launch a "super-mighty pre-emptive strike" against what it called US aggression.
However, the US warships caused some confusion and attracted mockery when it emerged that they actually sailed in the opposite direction, away from North Korea, after the announcement. However, US Navy officials said they are now proceeding to the region as ordered.
China is North Korea's only ally and main trading partner - and the US has been urging Beijing to help put pressure on Pyongyang.
Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke to Mr Trump on Monday, urging all sides to "maintain restraint and avoid actions that would increase tensions".
First double execution in the US since 2000 goes ahead in Arkansas
Two inmates have been given lethal injections as Arkansas completed the first double execution in the US since 2000.
It comes just days after the state ended a nearly 12-year hiatus on capital punishment.
Rapist and murderer Jack Jones was executed on schedule and pronounced dead at 7.20pm local time - 14 minutes after the procedure began.
Lawyers for the second man, Marcel Williams, convinced a judge minutes later to briefly delay his punishment over concerns about how Jones had died.
They claimed he was "gulping for air" and may have suffered - an account the state's attorney general denied.
However, the judge lifted her stay of execution about an hour later and Williams was pronounced dead at 10:33pm.
The last state to put more than one inmate to death on the same day was Texas, which executed two killers in August 2000.
Arkansas' last double execution occurred in 1999.
Jack Jones was sent to death row for the 1995 rape and killing of Mary Phillips, 34.
He was also convicted of attempting to kill Phillips' 11-year-old daughter, Lacy, who police thought was dead and only regained consciousness when crime scene experts were taking photos.
Jones was also convicted of another rape and killing in Florida.
Before his execution, Jones delivered a two-minute final statement where he apologised to Phillips' family, ending with: "I'm sorry."
Addressing Phillips' daughter, now 32, he told her: "Over time you can learn who I really am and I am not a monster."
Marcel Williams was sent to death row for the 1994 rape and killing of 22-year-old Stacy Errickson.
He kidnapped the mother-of-two from a petrol station at gunpoint and strangled her.
Williams also admitted to the state Parole Board last month that he had abducted and raped two other women in the days before his arrest over Errickson's murder.
"I wish I could take it back, but I can't," Williams told the board.
Attorney General Leslie Routledge said she hoped his execution would bring "much-needed peace" to Errickson's children, now adults.
The men challenged their executions on the basis that because they were both obese and had diabetes, the execution could be cruel and unusual and cause "severe pain".
Williams weighed 28 stone (400 pounds) and his lawyers said it meant the line carrying the lethal drugs could be placed incorrectly and cause him damage like a collapsed lung.
Arkansas had planned to stage four double-executions within an 11-day period because its stock of lethal injection drug midazolam is due to pass its use-by date at the end of April.
The first three executions were cancelled because of court rulings.
But Ledell Lee was put to death on 21 April, with the clock ticking down on two impending deadlines.
Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson said it is "a serious and reflective time" in the state but that residents should know that justice has been carried out.
Nine people have been executed in the US so far this year, including Jones and Williams.
Twenty were executed last year, down from 98 in 1999 and the lowest number since 14 in 1991.
It comes just days after the state ended a nearly 12-year hiatus on capital punishment.
Rapist and murderer Jack Jones was executed on schedule and pronounced dead at 7.20pm local time - 14 minutes after the procedure began.
Lawyers for the second man, Marcel Williams, convinced a judge minutes later to briefly delay his punishment over concerns about how Jones had died.
They claimed he was "gulping for air" and may have suffered - an account the state's attorney general denied.
However, the judge lifted her stay of execution about an hour later and Williams was pronounced dead at 10:33pm.
The last state to put more than one inmate to death on the same day was Texas, which executed two killers in August 2000.
Arkansas' last double execution occurred in 1999.
Jack Jones was sent to death row for the 1995 rape and killing of Mary Phillips, 34.
He was also convicted of attempting to kill Phillips' 11-year-old daughter, Lacy, who police thought was dead and only regained consciousness when crime scene experts were taking photos.
Jones was also convicted of another rape and killing in Florida.
Before his execution, Jones delivered a two-minute final statement where he apologised to Phillips' family, ending with: "I'm sorry."
Addressing Phillips' daughter, now 32, he told her: "Over time you can learn who I really am and I am not a monster."
Marcel Williams was sent to death row for the 1994 rape and killing of 22-year-old Stacy Errickson.
He kidnapped the mother-of-two from a petrol station at gunpoint and strangled her.
Williams also admitted to the state Parole Board last month that he had abducted and raped two other women in the days before his arrest over Errickson's murder.
"I wish I could take it back, but I can't," Williams told the board.
Attorney General Leslie Routledge said she hoped his execution would bring "much-needed peace" to Errickson's children, now adults.
The men challenged their executions on the basis that because they were both obese and had diabetes, the execution could be cruel and unusual and cause "severe pain".
Williams weighed 28 stone (400 pounds) and his lawyers said it meant the line carrying the lethal drugs could be placed incorrectly and cause him damage like a collapsed lung.
Arkansas had planned to stage four double-executions within an 11-day period because its stock of lethal injection drug midazolam is due to pass its use-by date at the end of April.
The first three executions were cancelled because of court rulings.
But Ledell Lee was put to death on 21 April, with the clock ticking down on two impending deadlines.
Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson said it is "a serious and reflective time" in the state but that residents should know that justice has been carried out.
Nine people have been executed in the US so far this year, including Jones and Williams.
Twenty were executed last year, down from 98 in 1999 and the lowest number since 14 in 1991.
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