This week has seen a fostering crisis, downpours which have caused chaos across much of the country and in dramatic scenes at Church House, legislation that would have allowed women to become bishops rejected by six votes. A temporary ending of violence has been agreed in the Middle East after a week-long war between Israel and the Palestinians, but a killing in the border area has already tested negotiations. Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi assumed sweeping powers on Thursday, prompting accusations of usurping authority and becoming a “new pharaoh”.
Decision over UKIP couple fostering is “a bloody outrage”
A couple had their three foster children taken away by Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council on the grounds that their membership of the UK Independence Party meant that they supported “racist” policies. The married couple, in their late 50s who were caring for three children from ethnic minorities, have said they were told by social workers that the party had ‘racist’ policies and that their membership made them unsuitable carers.
Nigel Farage, the leader of UKIP, described the actions of Rotherham borough council as “a bloody outrage” and “political prejudice of the very worst kind”. Tim Loughton, the former children’s minister, said: “I will be very concerned if decisions have been made about the children’s future that were based on misguided political correctness around ethnic considerations” and Labour have urged the council to mount an urgent investigation.
UK hit by flooding
The majority of the UK was battered by storms on Thursday leaving hundreds of drivers stranded and thousands of homes without power. More than 100 people had to be evacuated as winds reached more than 86mph. A man died on Thursday night after getting trapped in his car in floodwaters in Somerset.
The rain also brought disruption for thousands of commuters with timetables disrupted across most of Britain. Delays were also reported on cross-Channel ferry crossings from Dover to France. The AA said the last few days had been some of its busiest for flood-related call-outs, while high winds brought down power lines in the South West and Wales, where 3,000 customers were without power.
Church of England votes against allowing women bishops
In dramatic scenes at Church House in Westminster, a long-awaited measure that was the result of 12 long years of debate and more than three decades of campaigning was defeated, prompting one bishop to warn that the established church risked becoming “a national embarrassment”. Dr Rowan Williams, the outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury, described the failed vote as a “deep personal sadness”.
The legislation had needed a two-thirds majority in each of the three houses of the General Synod to pass, but despite comfortably managing that in both the houses of bishops and clergy, it was dealt a fatal blow in the laity, where lay members voted 132 votes in favour and 74 against. If just six members of the laity had voted for instead of against, the measure would have been passed. Conservative MP Sir Tony Baldry, the Second Church Estates Commissioner, said he was frustrated by the actions of a blocking minority in the synod and Tory backbencher Eleanor Laing argued that the Church’s “position as the established church must be called into question” as a result of the vote.
Ceasefire between Hamas and Israel
A ceasefire between Hamas and Israel has come into effect after eight days of violence that has left more than 140 Palestinians and five Israelis dead. Egyptian foreign minister Mohamed Kamel Amr announced the breakthrough at a news conference in Cairo. After the truce began, people took to the streets of Gaza City to celebrate, with gunmen firing into the air and others setting off fireworks.
As he announced Israel’s agreement to the ceasefire, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Israelis he knew some of them had been expecting harsher military measures to be taken, and said they might still be necessary in the future. A poll conducted for Channel 2 News in Israel, published just before the ceasefire went into force, said that 70% of Israelis were against it.
Since Wednesday when the ceasefire took effect Israeli troops have killed a Palestinian man and wounded at least 13 others on the Gaza Strip’s border with Israel as each side accused the other of violating the ceasefire. The shooting on Friday was the first flare-up of violence since the Egyptian-brokered truce. It remains too soon to tell whether the ceasefire will hold for very long, and if it does, whether its central provisions will be implemented in good faith. Palestinian witnesses and human rights officials have said the episode on Friday has illustrated the ambiguities of the deal.
Egypt’s top judges accuse President Mursi of “unprecedented attack” on the judiciary
President Mohammed Mursi has passed a decree earlier this week granting himself extensive new powers. The decree states that the president’s decisions cannot be revoked by any authority, including the judiciary giving the president near-absolute power and immunity from appeals in courts for any decisions or laws he declares until a new constitution and parliament is in place.
The president has said he is acting to protect the revolution, however the decree has polarised opinion between the newly empowered Islamists, represented by Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, and their opponents. Both critics and supporters of Mr Mursi have staged rallies since the decree and opponents have called for a large-scale demonstration on Tuesday.
Image Credits: BBC News