Prince William upset conservationists by saying in an interview that trophy hunting of animals like lions could sometimes be “justifiable” as a means of raising money to protect threatened species.
“When [an animal] is infertile,” he said, “he’s at the end of his life, if somebody out there wants to pay that money—and it wouldn’t be me—but if somebody did, then as long as that money goes back into protection of the species then it is a justifiable means of conserving species that are under serious threat.”
Groups like Lion Aid were frustrated by the comment, saying in a statement, “With likely less than 15,000 wild lions left in Africa, there is no place for commercial hunting of lions,” the Guardian reports.
This is not the first time the Duke of Cambridge has come under fire in relation to wildlife conservation; in 2014, a day before launching a conservation appeal against illegal hunting, he went on a deer and wild boar hunt in Spain; while his hunt was not illegal, critics said it sent a mixed message.
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Osborne To Levy Sugar Tax On Soft Drinks
George Osborne has announced he is to levy a sugar tax on soft drinks which will raise £520m for primary school sports.
He also said fuel duty would be frozen for the sixth year running along with the levy on beer, cider and Scottish whisky.
On the sugar levy, Mr Osborne told MPs: "Doing the right thing for the next generation is what this government and this Budget is about.
"No matter how difficult and how controversial it is.
"You cannot have a long-term plan for the country unless you have a long-term plan for our children's health care."
He added: "I am not prepared to look back at my time here in this Parliament, doing this job and say to my children's generation, I'm sorry.
"We knew there was a problem with sugary drinks and we knew it caused disease but we dumped the difficult decisions and did nothing.
"Today, I can announce we will introduce a new sugar levy on the soft drinks industry."
On education, Mr Osborne also announced Maths would be made a compulsory subject for students until the age of 18.
Mr Osborne also used his Budget speech to argue the UK will be "stronger, safer and better off" inside a reformed EU.
The Chancellor warned against putting at risk the hard work taken to make the economy strong again by quitting the bloc.
In help for the oil and gas industry, which has been hit by falling global prices, Mr Osborne said he was "effectively abolishing Petroleum Revenue Tax".
In a sideswipe at the Scottish nationalists, he said: "We are only able to provide this kind of support to our oil and gas industry because of the broad shoulders of the United Kingdom."
As a result of the worsening economic forecast, he has to find further "austerity" savings if he is to meet his own target of clearing the deficit and balancing the nation's books by the next General Election in 2020.
He told MPs: "Britain will be stronger, safer and better of inside a reformed European Union and I believe we should not put at risk all the hard work the British people have done to make our economy stronger again."
His comments sparked interruptions leading the deputy speaker to intervene.
Lindsay Hoyle said: "Let's be honest, we all want to hear what the Chancellor has got to say.
"Some people may agree, some people may disagree but I want to hear him, the electorate want to hear, this country wants to hear him Chancellor."
In making his argument, Mr Osborne pointed to the remarks of the independent Office for Budget Responsibility, which downgraded its forecasts for UK economic growth in successive years.
In 2015 it has been reduced from 2.4% to 2.2%, from 2.4% to 2% in 2016, from 2.5% to 2.2% in 2017, from 2.4% to 2.1% in 2018 and from 2.3% to 2.1% in both 2019 and 2020.
The independent financial watchdog warned "a vote to leave in the forthcoming referendum could usher in an extended period of uncertainty regarding the precise terms of the UK's future relationship with the EU.
"This could have negative implications for activity via business and consumer confidence and might result in greater volatility in financial and other asset markets."
Mr Osborne said he would introduce additional spending cuts totalling £3.5bn by 2020 - lower than the £4bn expected.
Meanwhile, forecasts for national debt as a proportion of GDP have been revised upwards in each of the coming years - from 81.7% to 82.6% in 2016/17, then from 79.9% to 81.3% in 2017/18, from 77.3% to 79.9% in 2018/19, from 74.3% to 77.2% in 2019/20 and from 71.3% to 74.7% in 2020/21.
The deficit - the amount the Government spends above what it brings in - is forecast to fall next year to 2.9%. In 2017/18, it falls to 1.9%, then it falls again to 1.0% in 2018/19.
This compares with forecasts for public sector net borrowing in the November 2015 Autumn Statement of 2.5% in 2016/17, 1.2% in 2017/18 and 0.2% in 2018/19.
Conservative MPs cheered Mr Osborne's announcement that the richest 1% now contributed 28% of all income tax revenue - a higher proportion than at any point under Labour.
Unveiling changes to business taxes to make it "fit for the future" he announced that corporation tax would fall to 17% by April 2020.
In a move that will be welcomed in Wales, the Chancellor announced the Severn crossing tolls would halved.
Syrian Kurds planning to declare federalism
Kurdish-controlled areas of northern Syria are expected to declare a federal system imminently, a Kurdish official said, as peace negotiations continued to be held in Geneva about how to end the country's five-year war.
The step, which would combine three Kurdish-led autonomous areas of northern Syrian into a federal system, is sure to alarm neighbouring Turkey, which fears growing Kurdish sway in Syria is fuelling separatism among its own Kurdish minority.
Idris Nassan, a Syrian Kurdish official and former leader in the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), said the announcement would mean "widening the framework of self-administration" across northern Syria.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Nassan said preparations for federalism have been ongoing for quite some time and an announcement would be made shortly.
Al Jazeera's diplomatic editor James Bays, reporting from Geneva, said the PYD has so far been left out of peace talks, making the timing of the federalism announcement significant.
I think the timing is very significant, making this announcement as the talks re-start for the third day," Bays said.
"The time has been chosen by the PYD to say 'don't forget about us', because they have been excluded from this process here in Geneva."
The PYD was not invited to Geneva, in line with the wishes of Turkey, which sees it as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) which it is battling in southeastern Turkey.
Federalism in Syria has been discussed openly in recent weeks after Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov floated the idea in the media ahead of the start of the Geneva talks.
"If as a result of talks, consultations and discussions on Syria's future state order...they come to an opinion that namely this [federal] model will work to serve the task of preserving Syria as a united, independent and sovereign nation, then who will object to this?" Ryabkov said in February.
Then, in an interview with Al Jazeera, the UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said that the idea of federalism is likely to be discussed among the parties at the Geneva talks.
President Bashar al-Assad's government, however, has consistently said no political decisions will be "imposed" on the country.
One of the president's senior advisers was quoted on state television on Wednesday, rejecting any calls for federalism.
The development out of the Kurdish controlled areas of Syria came as Russia continued to withdraw its forces from Syria - a move that de Mistura declared as "significant" .
Islamic State Flag Found At Terror Raid Scene
An Islamic State flag and a jihadist manual have been found at the scene of a Brussels anti-terror raid, according to prosecutors.
Four police officers were injured after gunmen opened fire on Tuesday during a Belgian-French operation linked to November's Paris attacks.
One man armed with an assault rifle was shot dead during the shoot-out with police. He has been identified as 35-year-old Mohamed Belkaid.
Belgian federal prosecutor Thierry Werts said Belkaid was an Algerian who was living in Belgium illegally.
He added that an Islamic State flag, a Salafist Muslim book and a Kalashnikov assault rifle were discovered in the suspect's home.
Police have detained two men, one of whom was admitted to hospital near Brussels with a broken leg, and are assessing whether they were connected to the shooting.
Belgian media reported one of the suspects was detained on Tuesday night, while the other was arrested early today.
Police came under fire the moment the flat's door was opened by security forces during Tuesday's search.
Five hours later, officers stormed the building and the suspect was killed.
Some reports said the suspect was "neutralised" after being spotted in a nearby garden by a police helicopter.
Witnesses reported a heavy exchange of fire lasting several minutes.
People in two schools and two nurseries nearby were asked to remain indoors and the security cordon around the area was extended, the local mayor's office said.
The incident happened across the street from an Audi car plant and train lines leading to the Gare du Midi railway station, where trains run to London and Paris.
Mass Murderer Breivik Will Fight 'To The Death'
Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik has told a court he would fight "to the death" for Nazism.
The 37-year-old right-wing extremist is suing the Norwegian authorities over his prison conditions, arguing he is the victim of inhuman and degrading treatment by being kept in isolation since the 2011 massacre in which he killed 77 people.
Although he has the run of three cells and access to a television and games console, Breivik claimed the state had been "trying to kill me for five years" with his solitary confinement.
The government has rejected his claims and says the conditions are appropriate for a dangerous fanatic.
On the second day of the case, brought by Breivik, he obeyed a judge's order not to make a Nazi salute, as he had at the opening hearing.
The gesture fuelled concerns he would use the proceedings, being held at Skien prison in the south of the country, as a platform for his extremist views.
Judge Sekulic told him she would intervene if his explanation strayed from his description of his prison conditions.
When she asked his job description, Breivik said it was "party secretary of the Nordic State".
The case is being broadcast on Norwegian television, but his testimony is not being aired out of respect to the families of the victims and the survivors, and to prevent him from sending any coded messages to his supporters.
Breivik is serving a maximum 21-year sentence for killing eight people in a bomb attack outside a government building in Oslo in July 2011, then murdering another 69 people, most of them teenagers, in a shooting rampage at a Labour Youth camp on the island of Utoya.
The killing spree lasted more than an hour as he methodically stalked and killed his victims.
He blamed Norway's dominant political party for the rise of multiculturalism.
Breivik's prison sentence can be extended if he is still considered a danger to society.
Defending the state, Adele Matheson Mestad argued Breivik had received and sent about 4,000 letters, and only 15% of them had been stopped by prison authorities.
She said Breivik was trying to correspond with known Nazis and sympathisers.
"Among them could be a new Breivik," she added.
Instagram is changing the way your feed displays things
Instagram has revealed it is to change the way it displays photos in your feed.
The photo sharing app is adding an algorithm which will rank posts and show you what it "believes you care about the most".
It currently orders them from most recent to oldest in a timeline.
The news was confirmed in a blog post on Tuesday and follows similar moves by Facebook and Twitter in the past few years.
"To improve your experience, your feed will soon be ordered to show the moments we believe you will care about the most," reads the blog post.
"The order of photos and videos in your feed will be based on the likelihood you'll be interested in the content, your relationship with the person posting and the timeliness of the post."
The change seemed inevitable after Instagram's parent company Facebook made similar changes to its timeline.
But Instagram bosses have promised to take time and "listen to your feedback along the way".
The new experience will go live in the coming months and follows another significant development with the app.
In February, Instagram confirmed it was letting its users switch between different accounts more easily.
Australia Dumps Controversial 'Backpacker Tax'
A proposed tax on foreign travellers who work in Australia has been scrapped amid concerns from farmers about a labour drought during harvest times.
The 'backpacker tax' would have required travellers on working holiday visas to pay 32.5% on every dollar earned, when they previously paid no tax on income up to $18,000 (£9,500).
But with backpackers currently making up the bulk of fruit pickers during harvest times, farmers say the change could affect their supply of "backpacker labour".
Backpackers have long been encouraged to work in Australia on special visas which allow them to stay for a second year if they work for three months in rural areas.
They spend around AU$4.3bn (£2.3bn) every year in Australia, and concerns have been raised about the tax's long-term impact on tourism.
Farmers are already struggling to find enough workers during harvest times, and have argued that a further shortfall might see fruit simply drop off trees and rot.
Tourism minister Richard Colbeck said the country needs to pursue the right policy to support both tourism and agriculture.
"Concerns have been raised about the impact of the 2015 Budget measure on tax arrangements for Working Holiday Makers, particular our global competitiveness as a backpacker destination," he said.
"We have therefore decided that the proposed tax arrangements require further discussions to ensure Australia does not lose market share in backpacker visitation."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)