UK Prime Minister Tony Blair won the support of Parliament Friday for a new anti-terrorism law, allowing the government to act swiftly against eight foreign terror suspects who have been granted bail.
The House of Lords approved new powers to order house arrest, impose curfews and use electronic tagging for terror suspects without trial, after the government made concessions to end a bitter parliamentary deadlock.
The Prevention of Terrorism Bill, which also allows the government to ban terror suspects from meeting certain people or traveling, and to restrict their access to the Internet or telephone, later received the formality of royal assent to become law.
The new control orders are likely to be used immediately against the eight foreign nationals, including radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatada who has alleged links to al-Qaeda. The men have spent three years in a high security prison without charge but were granted bail at a special commission on Friday.
The law under which the men were detained, and which allowed the judge to set such bail conditions, expires on Monday. The government urgently wanted its new powers cleared by Parliament and had warned that without new legislation the men could have walked free.
Home Secretary Charles Clarke said he would sign control orders Friday night for the 10 men held under the current terrorism legislation that expires Monday.
Parliament was deadlocked for almost two days over the bill, which will apply to both foreign nationals and Britons, with both the government and opposition refusing to make concessions.
The main opposition Conservative Party said the legislation would infringe civil liberties and had demanded a so-called sunset clause guaranteeing that the law would expire a year after being passed. The government refused, saying such an amendment would send a message that Britain was soft on terrorism.
Seeking to end the standoff, the government produced a timetable for Parliament to review and amend the law and promised Parliament time to draft more wide ranging legislation later in the year.
PEACE AND STABILITY: Maintaining the cross-strait ‘status quo’ has long been the government’s position, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan is committed to maintaining the cross-strait “status quo” and seeks no escalation of tensions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, rebutting a Time magazine opinion piece that described President William Lai (賴清德) as a “reckless leader.” The article, titled “The US Must Beware of Taiwan’s Reckless Leader,” was written by Lyle Goldstein, director of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Defense Priorities think tank. Goldstein wrote that Taiwan is “the world’s most dangerous flashpoint” amid ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said that the situation in the Taiwan Strait has become less stable
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi yesterday lavished US President Donald Trump with praise and vows of a “golden age” of ties on his visit to Tokyo, before inking a deal with Washington aimed at securing critical minerals. Takaichi — Japan’s first female prime minister — pulled out all the stops for Trump in her opening test on the international stage and even announced that she would nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize, the White House said. Trump has become increasingly focused on the Nobel since his return to power in January and claims to have ended several conflicts around the world,
REASSURANCE: The US said Taiwan’s interests would not be harmed during the talk and that it remains steadfast in its support for the nation, the foreign minister said US President Donald Trump on Friday said he would bring up Taiwan with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) during a meeting on the sidelines of the APEC Summit in South Korea this week. “I will be talking about Taiwan [with Xi],” Trump told reporters before he departed for his trip to Asia, adding that he had “a lot of respect for Taiwan.” “We have a lot to talk about with President Xi, and he has a lot to talk about with us. I think we’ll have a good meeting,” Trump said. Taiwan has long been a contentious issue between the US and China.
UKRAINE, NVIDIA: The US leader said the subject of Russia’s war had come up ‘very strongly,’ while Jenson Huang was hoping that the conversation was good Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and US President Donald Trump had differing takes following their meeting in Busan, South Korea, yesterday. Xi said that the two sides should complete follow-up work as soon as possible to deliver tangible results that would provide “peace of mind” to China, the US and the rest of the world, while Trump hailed the “great success” of the talks. The two discussed trade, including a deal to reduce tariffs slapped on China for its role in the fentanyl trade, as well as cooperation in ending the war in Ukraine, among other issues, but they did not mention
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