Rupa Huq apologises to Kwasi Kwarteng for ‘ill-judged’ comments

 A Labour MP has offered Kwasi Kwarteng “sincere and heartfelt apologies” after describing him as “superficially” black during a fringe meeting at the Labour conference.

Rupa Huq had the party whip suspended after she was accused of making a “racist” comments about the chancellor. The former shadow Home Office minister was recorded at an event held on Monday during a fringe event as part of Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool hosted by British Future and the Black Equity Organisation and also attended by the party’s chair, Anneliese Dodds.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Huq said: “I have today contacted Kwasi Kwarteng to offer my sincere and heartfelt apologies for the comments I made at yesterday’s Labour conference fringe meeting.

“My comments were ill-judged and I wholeheartedly apologise to anyone affected.”

Huq could be heard on a short recording obtained by the Guido Fawkes website saying: “I’m sorry if I was not making myself understood clearly. He superficially is a black man.”

She said Kwarteng went to “the top schools in the country” and added: “If you hear him on the Today programme, you wouldn’t know he’s black.”

Huq faced swift condemnation, with a senior Labour source calling the comments “clearly totally inappropriate” and David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, telling BBC’s Politics Live programme: “I think those comment are unfortunate. I wouldn’t have made them myself and clearly I hope Rupa apologises and retracts that.”

Jake Berry, the chair of the Conservative party, wrote to the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, saying he had “serious concerns” about the remarks. He called for Huq to lose the Labour whip, and added: “I trust you will join me in unequivocally condemning these comments as nothing less than racist.”

The Guardian understands Huq had the whip suspended on Tuesday afternoon.

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Young Russian Asks Friend To Break His Leg To Dodge Vladimir Putin ‘s Military Draft

 A young Russian man screams in pain in disturbing new footage after asking his friend to break his leg to dodge Vladimir Putin ‘s military draft.

It comes after the Russian president last week ordered the mobilisation of an additional 300,000 fighting-age men across the country for the war in Ukraine, leading to a rush of protests and forcing many to flee to neighbouring countries.

Others who are unable to leave have opted for reported acts of self-harm to avoid being called up, including one desperate man who made an extraordinary request for his pal to fracture his leg.

In the clip circulating online, the unidentified young person sits at the bottom of a set of stairs and places his feet on the steps while anxiously waiting for his his friend to carry out the deed.

Read Full Story …. mirror.co.uk >>> :   

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Rupa Huq MP apologises for ‘superficially’ black remark

 MP Rupa Huq says she has apologised to Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng for describing him as “superficially” black.

Speaking at a Labour Party conference fringe event, Ms Huq also said: “If you hear him on the Today programme, you wouldn’t know he’s black.”

Her remarks were criticised and Labour suspended her from the parliamentary party pending an investigation.

Tory Party chair Jake Berry called her comments “racist” and “disgusting”.

Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said the remarks were “unacceptable”.

Speaking to the BBC’s Politics Live programme, she said Ms Huq should apologise, while the party’s foreign affairs spokesman David Lammy described the remarks as “unfortunate” adding: “I wouldn’t have made them myself.”

A Labour spokesperson said: “We condemn the remarks, they are totally inappropriate, and we call on her to withdraw them.”

The Ealing Central and Acton MP, who will now sit in Parliament as an independent, was recorded making the comments on Monday evening at a fringe event entitled What’s Next for Labour’s Agenda on Race.

The audio clip was published by the Guido Fawkes website minutes before Sir Keir Starmer began his speech to the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool.

During a Q&A session, she said: “He’s superficially, he’s, a black man but again he’s got more in common… he went to Eton, he went to a very expensive prep school, all the way through top schools in the country.

“If you hear him on the Today programme you wouldn’t know he’s black.”

Following the publication of the clip, Ms Huq tweeted: “I have today contacted Kwasi Kwarteng to offer my sincere and heartfelt apologies for the comments I made at yesterday’s Labour conference fringe meeting.

“My comments were ill-judged and I wholeheartedly apologise to anyone affected.” Kwasi Kwarteng became the first black Conservative cabinet minister in 2021, when he was given the job of business secretary

Mr Kwarteng, who became chancellor earlier this month, was born in east London and has Ghanaian heritage.

Former chancellor and Tory MP Sajid Javid said he was “appalled and saddened” by the clip adding: “Rather than give encouragement to racists and people who seek to divide us, she should know better. Not too late for her to show that she does.”

In a letter to Sir Keir, Mr Berry urged the Labour leader to “join me in unequivocally condemning these comments as nothing less than racist”.

The Conservative Party chair also labelled her words as “vile” and “disgusting”.

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Over 3,000 Vehicles Queue As Thousands of Russian Men Flee Being Mobilized For War Against Ukraine

 Russian men are fleeing into neighbouring Georgia to avoid being called-up to fight in a war they do not believe in, following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s order to mobilise hundreds of thousands of reservists for the conflict in Ukraine.

According to Russia’s own government statistics released by state media reported, on Sunday, September 25 the estimated wait to enter Georgia hit 48 hours, with more than 3,000 vehicles queuing to cross the frontier.

“When we found out about the mobilisation, we dropped everything at home and jumped in the car,” Dmitry Kuriliyunok told Reuters in Tbilisi, the Georgian capital.

Dmitry, his wife Irina and young daughter first drove across southern Russia from Krasnodar to Mineralnye Vody in the North Caucasus, a staging post for many crossing into Georgia. There, they hired a local driver to take them through the border checkpoints and after 24 hours they arrived in Tbilisi.

“We are completely against this war. For us, like for others, it’s scary. To die and to kill others, and for what? We don’t understand. Therefore, we decided to flee,” he said.

The exact number of people who have left Russia since Putin announced what he called a “partial mobilisation” last Wednesday is unclear. But new video footage released Monday show a chaotic scene at the border.

Russians have also gone to Kazakhstan, Finland and Mongolia, which have all reported heavy queues. Russia has not closed its borders yet but reports indicated that Putin could order a border closure.

 

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Egypt marks 200th anniversary of decoding the Rosetta Stone

 Museums and archaeological sites in Egypt are free to visitors today to mark the 200th anniversary of the deciphering of the Rosetta Stone, which unlocked the secrets of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.

The stele is inscribed with three versions of a decree issued about 200 BC.

One is in ancient Greek which enabled a French linguist Jean-Francois Champollion to translate hieroglyphics for the first time.

The Rosetta Stone had been found in Memphis in Egypt in 1799 by a French military officer, but was subsequently taken by British forces and shipped to England.

It was then given to the British Museum where it remains

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Nigeria destroys biggest seizure of cocaine

 Nigeria’s anti-narcotics agency has destroyed a batch of 1.8 tonnes of cocaine, its biggest ever seizure, that was discovered last week in a warehouse in the Ikorodu area, north-east of the commercial hub, Lagos.

The bust was estimated to be worth more than $270m (£240m).

Four Nigerian men aged 69, 65, and two 53-year-olds were arrested in different parts of the commercial city. A foreign nation was also detained.

The suspects were brought to the scene to witness and sign the certificate of destruction of the 1,800 blocks of cocaine.

A small batch that was retained will be used in their prosecution.

The head of National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) said in a statement that the agency had made some progress in its fight against illegal drugs.

“In the past 20 months, arrested and jailed drug offenders have forfeited 249 luxury cars and we blocked 600 drug related bank accounts”, Baba Marwa said.

Nigeria has recently recorded several drug busts and secured high-profile arrests.

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Prospects of World War III Keeps Me Up At Night – Says Fmr. US Prez Trump

 Former US president, Donald Trump said the idea of an impending World War III ‘keeps him up at night,’ while making repeated his claim that the Ukraine war would have been avoided if he were still president.

Trump stated this during a wide-range interview where he went on a rant against New York Attorney General Letitia James.

He said that due to nuclear power, the world is the most dangerous it’s ‘ever’ been, as the former president warned that international affairs are spelling doom.

The predictions of a possible WWIII, Trump said, are based on the war between Russia and Ukraine, which started in February, and the growing feud internationally over the island nation of Taiwan and its autonomy from China.

‘I think more than anything else, I think we could end up in World War III,’ Trump said when asked by John Catsimatidis on his radio show Tuesday evening ‘what are the things that keep you up at night right now?’

‘To be throwing around the word cavalierly like nuclear is a very bad time,’ the 45th president said. ‘A very bad time for this country and a very bad and a very dangerous time for the world.’

Trump also said that if he were still the president, Russian President Vladimir Putin would not have invaded Ukraine. He said that after President Joe Biden’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan last summer, Putin saw a weakness in U.S. leadership.

‘I think it was the most embarrassing and horrible moment – just about the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country,’ Trump said of the Afghanistan debacle. ‘I think Putin saw that.’

‘But he would have never done it, that would have never been a problem,’ Trump said in the hypothetical situation where he is still president. ‘He was not going to go into Ukraine, and he understood the consequences.’

‘What’s happened in Ukraine should have never ever happened,’ he added.

Trump also had some choice words for James during his interview after the New York attorney general brought fraud charges against him for his business dealings with the Trump Organization.

When discussing spiking crime in the nation’s most populated city, which he once called home, Trump went on a tangent lashing out against its ‘horror show’ liberal AG.

‘We have murderers going down – walking down the street. It’s just horrible. She’s a horror show, she’s so bad,’ Trump said of James’ leadership. ‘She doesn’t care about violent crime.’

‘She doesn’t care about anything except trying to use Trump’s name to get elected,’ he continued to 77 WABC radio show Cats at Night. ‘And she’s a disaster and everybody knows that. She’s done a terrible job.’

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