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21/03/2015 Belgian Police dismantles Jihadist cell planning large scale terrorist attack.
http://uk.blastingnews.com/europe/2015/01/belgianpolicedismantlesjihadistcellplanninglargescaleterroristattack00235395.html 1/4
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Belgian Police dismantles Jihadist cell planning large
scale terrorist attack.
Two radicals were killed and third arrested after rushhour gunfire exchange and
explosions.
With Europe still recovering from the brutal terrorist attacks in Paris, the Belgian Counter
Terrorism police launched, this Thursday, a vast preemptive operation involving searches
in more than 10 properties, to dismantle active jihadist cells. Two men were killed in
Verviers, a city in the province of Liège, 70 miles away from the capital Brussels. They were
part of a trio planning "a large scale attack" and being closely monitored by Belgian
authorities ever since entering the country returning from Syria, more than a week ago.
16 January 2015
MIGUEL VASCONCELOS (/EDITORIALSTAFF/MIGUEL
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21/03/2015 Belgian Police dismantles Jihadist cell planning large scale terrorist attack.
http://uk.blastingnews.com/europe/2015/01/belgianpolicedismantlesjihadistcellplanninglargescaleterroristattack00235395.html 2/4
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#International Affairs
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The operation led by the Belgian Federal Police Special Units caught Verviers' population
by surprise. The three men were Belgian citizens and extremely wellarmed, opening fire as
soon as the police closed in on their building, near the Verviers railway station. Some of the
locals described scenes right out of a war film, at the height of rushhour. Videos posted on
the internet show blasts, gunfire and sirens around the building where these Syria returnees
were barricaded. By the end, two of the radicals were killed and the third was badly injured
and is in custody. No civilians or policemen were injured.
The authorities believe their plan was to carry out an attack against a police station and
behead a prominent law enforcement official to post the video online. The Federal
Prosecutor, Eric van der Sypt, confirmed, in a press conference, that these men "were
extremely well armed" and "on the verge of committing important terror attacks", possibly
"within a matter of hours" but the threat has been "neutralised".
The Belgian primeminister, Charles Michel, announced that "out of prudence" the terror
alert level has been raised from two to three (the secondhighest level) and authorities are
ready to respond to any potential backlashes to this operation.
The city of Verviers, close to the border with Germany, has been struck by an unusual wave
of Islamic radicalisation. The small town with a population of 56.000 has seen at least 610
of its inhabitants leave for Syria to join ISIS.
There seems to be no direct link between this cell and the attacks perpetrated by the
Kouachi brothers or Ahmed Coulibaly that killed 17 people in Paris, last week, but the
authorities are still investigating.
After the Paris attacks, this successful preemptive operation will help rebuild some trust in
the authorities' capability to monitor and neutralise such threats. It won't stop the pressure
on European leaders to come up with a sensible response to the continuing radicalisation of
its youth, with the latest figures, from Europol, showing that as many as 5.000 European
citizens are still fighting in Syria.
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21/03/2015 British nurse, Pauline Cafferkey, is recovering after contracting the Ebola virus
http://uk.blastingnews.com/health/2015/01/britishnursepaulinecafferkeyisrecoveringaftercontractingtheebolavirus00244231.html 1/4
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British nurse, Pauline Cafferkey, is recovering after
contracting the Ebola virus
The Royal Free Hospital London announced that Pauline Cafferkey is 'no longer
critically ill'.
The British nurse, Pauline Cafferkey, who contracted the Ebola virus in Sierra Leone “is
showing signs of improvement and is no longer critically ill”, according to a statement from
the Royal Free Hospital in London.
23 January 2015
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21/03/2015 British nurse, Pauline Cafferkey, is recovering after contracting the Ebola virus
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After several weeks in a critical condition, Ms Cafferkey seems to be slowly recovering from
the virus contracted in December during her volunteer work with Save the Children at an
Ebola Treatment Centre in Sierra Leone.
Ms Cafferkey has been given an antiviral experimental drug, ZMapp, and blood plasma
infusions from virus survivor and fellow nurse, William Polley. He was the first patient
diagnosed with Ebola in the UK and recovered after being treated by the Royal Free
Hospital London staff, last year.
Public Health England and Health Protection Scotland have been conducting a
comprehensive review of all the Ebola screening procedures in the UK, after Ms Cafferkey
was cleared to fly to Glasgow Airport, despite telling staff that she was feeling unwell. Upon
arriving at Heathrow Airport, her temperature was taken several times and with the tests
showing normal results, she was given permission to go home, in South Lanarkshire. The
British volunteer nurse had just flown in from Morocco in a connecting flight from Sierra
Leone.
Ms Cafferkey would, days later, report symptoms of Ebola to an NHS helpline and was
taken into an isolation room at the Gartnavel Hospital in Glasgow and later transferred to
the Royal Free Hospital in North London, by a Royal Air Force Hercules plane on
December, 30.
According to the Royal Free Hospital staff, Ms Cafferkey will “remain in isolation as she
continues receiving specialist care”, until she tests negative for the virus.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than 7,000 people have already
died with Ebola and the number of people infected has now passed 20,000, mostly in Sierra
Leone, Liberia and Guinea. The United Kingdom has committed an additional £92.5m to
support West Africa eradicate the virus, taking the UK’s total contribution to £325m. Public
Health England clarifies however that “the overall risk of Ebola to the UK remains low”.
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21/03/2015 Google hands over Wikileaks emails to the FBI and keeps it secret
http://uk.blastingnews.com/politics/2015/01/googlehandsoverwikileaksemailstothefbiandkeepsitsecret00247735.html 1/4
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Google hands over Wikileaks emails to the FBI and
keeps it secret
Wikileaks is concerned that “privacy and journalistic rights” of its members may have
been violated
Wikileaks is asking for explanations, in a letter written to Google boss Eric Schmidt, about
not being informed that private emails and communications from three members of their
staff had been released to the FBI. Their concern is that several “privacy and journalistic
rights” of their staff may have been violated by Google and the US Justice Department.
Court orders are usually disclosed to its subjects immediately, to give them a chance to
challenge them.
26 January 2015
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21/03/2015 Google hands over Wikileaks emails to the FBI and keeps it secret
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These warrants were issued in March 2012 and the three Wikileaks staff members targeted
were only informed just before Christmas Eve, this year. In its letter, Wikileaks says “it’s
astonishing and disturbing” that it took almost two and half years for the search engine giant
to disclose that it had handed over private information.
The members of staff targeted were the spokesperson for the organisation, Kristin
Hrafnsson, one of its senior editors, Joseph Farrell and investigations editor, Sarah
Harrison. She is a British citizen and told British newspapers that Google helped the US
government hide “the invasion of privacy into a British journalist’s personal email address”.
They are not living up to their own laws and rhetoric”. She added that “knowing the FBI read
the words I wrote to console my mother over someone dying in the family makes me feel
sick”.
The warrants caused shock and doubts on many lawyers and specialists because of their
wide nature, covering basically all communications by the trio. All sent, received, deleted
and drafted emails as well as their source and destinations with date and time. Also all
details about their internet accounts, including IP addresses, phone and bank account
numbers or even the time they spent online.
Google has not revealed which information was actually handed over or if they tried
contesting the warrants, like Twitter, in 2012, when the US Justice Department tried a
similar ‘data grab’ with another Wikileaks volunteer. Google says it had a gagging order and
was unable to inform its users.
These warrants issued by the Department of Justice are believed to be an integral part of a
wider investigation into alleged ‘conspiracy’ and ‘espionage’ from Wikileaks and their staff
following its publication of secret cables and information, that had been passed to the
organization by army private Bradley Manning, in 2010. The federal judge responsible for
the warrants is John Anderson, the same who in 2013 issued the arrest warrant for Edward
Snowden.
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21/03/2015 Wales and Scotland have a plan to block a possible Westminster decision to leave the EU
http://uk.blastingnews.com/politics/2015/02/walesandscotlandhaveaplantoblockapossiblewestminsterdecisiontoleavetheeu00266105.html 1/4
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Wales and Scotland have a plan to block a possible
Westminster decision to leave the EU
Welsh nationalists Plaid Cymru and the SNP want a potential EU exit to be unanimous
among all UK nations.
The Welsh nationalist party, Plaid Cymru, revealed a plan drafted in conjunction with the
SNP that could stop Britain from leaving the EU, even if the majority of England voted for it
in a referendum. The plan would require such a decision to be unanimous among the four
nations of the UK, by holding an independent referendum in each one. The Plaid Cymru
10 February 2015
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21/03/2015 Wales and Scotland have a plan to block a possible Westminster decision to leave the EU
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leader, Leanne Wood, explained this morning to Sky News that "the votes in each of the
nations should be added up separately and we should only pull out of the EU if all four
countries want to do that".
The British PrimeMinister David Cameron has ruled out, last October, any possibility of
different nations having an independent say over the overall decision, saying that a
referendum would be decided based only on the majority of the people who vote. The
leader of the Welsh nationalists went further and said she is prepared to submit an
amendment to any referendum legislation requiring that "for the UK to leave the EU, each of
the four constituent nations would have to vote to do so, not just the UK as whole."
This distinction is important because England has over 40 million people and the other
three nations combined only about 8 million. This would mean that if a UKwide referendum
is called, the interests of the three smaller constituents would have little impact when
compared to England's views, where the Eurosceptic feelings are clearly more popular.
Ms Wood argues that "we have had a lot of talk during the Scottish referendum about the
UK being a family of nations and all members of the family need to be involved in such a big
decision". This plan would make sure that the interests of the three smaller members of the
Union would be factored in by giving Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland's population the
possibility to veto an English decision to leave the EU.
Scottish nationalists leader Nicola Sturgeon supports the plan and has previously voiced
similar views saying, just last October, that the Scots would want their own say about Britain
leaving the EU.
David Cameron has promised that if his Conservative Party wins the next general election,
in May 2016, a referendum on Britain's European Union membership would be called by
2017.
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21/03/2015 Ukraine crisis: ceasefire deal agreed in Minsk
http://uk.blastingnews.com/europe/2015/02/ukrainecrisisceasefiredealagreedinminsk00269655.html 1/4
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Ukraine crisis: ceasefire deal agreed in Minsk
Vladimir Putin announced a ceasefire deal with Ukraine after 17hour long tense
negotiations in Belarus.
The Russian president Vladimir Putin announced, this morning, that a ceasefire deal for the
Ukrainian crisis was reached and will go into effect on the 15 of February. The
announcement came after 17 hours of tense negotiations, in Belarus, between the Russian,
Ukrainian, French and German leaders.
The ceasefire agreement includes the withdrawal of heavy weapons and foreign armed
groups from the conflict areas, disarmament of all illegal militias, lifting the restrictions and
decentralising more power to Ukraine's 'rebel areas' and the release of prisoners from both
12 February 2015
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21/03/2015 Ukraine crisis: ceasefire deal agreed in Minsk
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sides.
The deal was also signed by the proRussian rebels in Eastern Ukraine. Alexander
Zakharchenko, the leader of the Donetsk rebels, warned that if Ukrainian president Petro
Poroshenko violates any of these new agreements the ceasefire will be immediately called
off. The leader of the Luhansk rebels, Igor Plotnitsky, said they were ready to "give Ukraine
a chance to change its constitution and its attitude".
The French president François Hollande told reporters that the deal managed to reach an
important agreement on contentious issues like border control, decentralisation and
economic sanctions but recognised that there is "very, very much work still to do". A similar
ceasefire deal had been agreed in September 2014 but unravelled quickly with accusations
of treaty violations from both sides.
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel said that this is "a glimmer of hope" to all those
affected by the conflict. More than 5,400 people have already lost their lives since April and
the bloodshed keeps on rising, with over 200 people being killed just in the first two months
of 2015.
Several key contentious issues are still unresolved and will require further negotiations: The
status of Debaltseve, a town held by Ukrainian government troops but surrounded by
rebels; how far the decentralisation of powers to 'rebel areas' should go; or how will Ukraine
be able to monitor border areas with Russia, controlled by the rebels.
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21/03/2015 Three Tory MPs block wild animal circus ban
http://uk.blastingnews.com/politics/2015/03/threetorympsblockwildanimalcircusban00297449.html 1/4
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Three Tory MPs block wild animal circus ban
Trio of Conservative MPs blocked a bill supported by all parties, the PM and 94% of
the British public
A new proposed law that would ban the use of wild animals in circuses was blocked for the 12 and
final time on Friday, by three Tory MPs. The bill had the personal of support of the PrimeMinister
David Cameron, the government, Labour, all other parties in Parliament and 94% of the British
public but the trio of backbenchers blocked any discussion on the matter by filing objections against
it 12 different times, since the proposed law was first introduced in September last year.
8 March 2015
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21/03/2015 Three Tory MPs block wild animal circus ban
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The bill was introduced by former environment minister and current Labour MP Jim Fitzpatrick that
blamed Conservative MPs Andrew Rosindell, Phillip Davies and Christopher Chope, for preventing
Britain from ”joining the 21 century”. Andrew Rosindell MP explained that he believes the circus is
a “great British institution” and that it would be cruel to remove the animals “from the environment
they are accustomed to.”
This latest objection filed by Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell, on Friday, means that the bill has
now effectively “failed” because there will be no more opportunities to discuss the proposed ban
before the next general election, in May. The bill will have to be reintroduced under a new
government and Parliament.
Although more than 200 local British authorities have already banned the use of wild animals in
circuses, the United Kingdom remains one of the few European countries without a nationwide ban
on the use of wild animals in circuses. Greece, Cyprus, Bosnia Herzegovina and Malta have banned
the use of animals – wild or domestic for any performances, shows or exhibitions. Other countries
like Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, The
Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia and Sweden have already passed some form of nationwide ban on the
use of wild animals in circuses. In the Rest of the world, countries like India, Israel, Singapore,
Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru, Panama, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Colombia and more recently Mexico have
already outlawed the use of wild animals in circuses.
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21/03/2015 Ed Miliband rules out coalition with SNP
http://uk.blastingnews.com/politics/2015/03/edmilibandrulesoutcoalitionwithsnp00308561.html 1/4
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Ed Miliband rules out coalition with SNP
The Labour leader says his party will not form a coalition with the SNP after the
general election, in May.
The Labour Party leader, Ed Miliband, ruled out the possibility of forming a coalition with the Scottish
National Party, after the general election on May 6th. He dismissed today, in a speech delivered in Pudsey,
West Yorkshire, claims by the Conservative Party that he wanted to build a coalition with an antiunionist
party, as simply “scaremongering” and guaranteed that such an alliance was “nonsense” and “will not
happen”. He made his position clear by adding that “there will be no SNP ministers in any government I
lead”.
16 March 2015
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21/03/2015 Ed Miliband rules out coalition with SNP
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The Conservative Party reacted with a statement saying that Ed Miliband’s speech had been carefully
drafted to not rule out the possibility of an “informal coalition” with the Scottish nationalists. The Scottish
National Party first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, reacted by saying that Ed Miliband’s statement today
“doesn’t change anything” and simply dismissed a possibility that “no one proposed”. She added that a
formal coalition between Labour and the SNP was not her preference either but she still believes that the
SNP and Labour should “work together to keep the Tories out of government”.
The SNP’s First Minister had previously said that in case her party held the balance of power in
Westminster, after the general election, they “would never support or form an alliance with the Tories” and
that a coalition with Labour would be “highly unlikely” but she wouldn’t rule out the possibility of “a loose
agreement” to support a Labour ledgovernment.
The latest polls by Lord Ashcroft revealed that the SNP could win as much as 56 of Scotland’s 59
parliamentary seats in May. Such a landslide victory could make the SNP one of the political forces that
would hold the balance of power, in case of a hung parliament, along with the Lib Dems and UKIP.
Commenting on the possibility of holding the balance of power in Westminster, Nicola Sturgeon has also
guaranteed, in a speech at the London School of Economics, that her party would strive to be “a
constructive force” and help bring positive change not only to Scotland but also across the Union.
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