International

JUST IN: Keir Starmer’s Labour Wins UK General Election

Published

2 years ago

July 5, 2024

Charles Flames

400 Views

by Wale Ewedimi

Keir Starmer on Friday will become Britain’s new prime minister, as his centre-left opposition Labour party swept to a landslide general election victory, ending 14 years of right-wing Conservative rule.“The Labour Party has won this general election, and I have called Sir Keir Starmer to congratulate him on his victory,” a sombre-looking Rishi Sunak said after he was re-elected to his seat.

“Today, power will change hands in a peaceful and orderly manner with goodwill on all sides,” the Tory leader added, calling the results “sobering” and saying he took responsibility for the defeat.At a triumphant party rally in central London, Starmer, 61, told cheering activists that “change begins here” and promised a “decade of national renewal”, putting “country first, party second”.

But he cautioned that change would not come overnight, even as Labour snatched a swathe of Tory seats around the country, including from nine Cabinet members, and former prime minister Liz Truss.Truss’s disastrous 49-day tenure effectively sealed the Tories’ fate with the public two years ago, when her unfunded tax cuts spooked markets and crashed the pound.She had been facing a campaign to oust her by grassroots activists — dubbed “the Turnip Taliban” — in her rural constituency and lost by just 630 votes.

‘Keir we go’Labour raced past the 326 seats needed to secure an overall majority in the 650-seat parliament at 0400 GMT, with the final result expected later on Friday morning.An exit poll for UK broadcasters published after polls closed at 2100 GMT on Thursday put Labour on course for a return to power for the first time since 2010, with 410 seats and a 170-seat majority.The Tories would only get 131 seats in the House of Commons — a record low — with the right-wing vote apparently spliced by Nigel Farage’s anti-immigration Reform UK party.In another boost for the centrists, the smaller opposition Liberal Democrats ousted the Scottish National Party as the third-biggest party.

The results buck a rightward trend among Britain’s closest Western allies, with the far right in France eyeing power and Donald Trump looking set for a return in the United States.British newspapers all focused on Labour’s impending return to power for the first time since Gordon Brown was ousted by David Cameron in 2010.“Keir We Go,” headlined the Labour-supporting Daily Mirror.“Britain sees red,” said The Sun, the influential Rupert Murdoch tabloid, which swung behind Labour for the first time since 2005.

Tory futureSunak will tender his resignation to head of state King Charles III, with the monarch then asking Starmer, as the leader of the largest party in parliament, to form a government.The Tories’ worst previous election result was 156 seats in 1906. Former leader William Hague told Times Radio the projections would be “a catastrophic result in historic terms”.But Tim Bale, politics professor at Queen Mary, University of London, said it was “not as catastrophic as some were predicting” and the Tories would now need to decide how best to fight back.Right-wing former interior minister Suella Braverman and Mordaunt, who was leader of the House of Commons, both said the Tories failed because they had not listened to the British people.

But Brexit champion Farage, who finally succeeded in becoming an MP at the eighth time of asking, has made no secret of his aim to take over the party.“There is a massive gap on the centre-right of British politics and my job is to fill it,” he said after a comfortable win in Clacton, eastern England. To-do listLabour’s resurgence is a stunning turnaround from five years ago, when hard-left former leader Jeremy Corbyn took the party to its worst defeat since 1935 in an election dominated by Brexit.Starmer took over in early 2020 and set about moving the party back to the centre, making it a more electable proposition and purging infighting and anti-Semitism that lost its support.

Opinion polls have put Labour consistently 20 points ahead of the Tories since Truss’s resignation, giving an air of inevitability about a Labour win — the first since Tony Blair in 2005.Starmer is facing a daunting to-do list, with economic growth anaemic, public services overstretched and underfunded due to swingeing cuts, and households squeezed financially.He has also promised a return of political integrity, after a chaotic period of five Tory prime ministers in 14 years, scandal and sleaze.

International

Iran tells world to get ready for oil at $200 a barrel as it fires on merchant ships

The war unleashed with joint U.S. and Israeli air strikes nearly two weeks ago has so far killed around 2,000 people, mostly Iranians and Lebanese, as it has spread into ‌Lebanon and thrown global energy markets and transport into chaos.

Published

4 minutes ago

March 11, 2026

OCHEFA

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(REUTERS): Iran said the world should be ready for oil at $200 a barrel as its forces hit merchant ships on Wednesday and the International Energy Agency recommended a massive release of strategic reserves to dampen one of the worst oil shocks since the 1970s.

Despite what the Pentagon has described as the most intense airstrikes since the start of the war, Iran also fired at Israel and targets across the Middle East on Wednesday, demonstrating it can still fight back.

On Wednesday, three vessels were reported to have been hit in Gulf waters as Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said their forces had fired on ships in the Gulf that had disobeyed their orders.

While Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz said the operation “will continue without any time limit, as long as required, until we achieve all objectives and win the campaign,” Trump suggested the campaign would not last much longer.

International

NASA’s Satellite Crashing Back to Earth After 14 Years in Orbit

The spacecraft weighting 1,300 pound is called Van Allen Probe A, has been orbiting the planet for nearly 14 years and is now predicted to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere within the next day or two.

Published

10 hours ago

March 11, 2026

OCHEFA

30 Views

Photo: X

A satellite launched by NASA more than a decade ago is expected to return to Earth soon.

The spacecraft weighting 1,300 pound is called Van Allen Probe A, has been orbiting the planet for nearly 14 years and is now predicted to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere within the next day or two.

The space agency earlier estimated that the probe would begin re-entry around 7:45 p.m. ET on Tuesday (March 10), though the timing could vary by as much as 24 hours.

According to NASA, the risk of damage on the ground is extremely low.

Most of the more than 600-kg spacecraft is expected to burn up due to intense heat while passing through Earth’s atmosphere.

However, some small components may survive the re-entry. Scientists estimate that the chance of debris harming a person is about one in 4,200, which the agency describes as minimal.

International

FAO Food Price Index rises in February for first time in five months

International quotations for skim and whole milk powders increased notably amid strengthening import demand from North Africa, the Near East and Southeast Asia, while world butter prices registered their first monthly rise since reaching an all-time high in June 2025.

Published

13 hours ago

March 11, 2026

OCHEFA

32 Views

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reported that the world food commodity prices rose in February, ending a five-month downward trend, as higher quotations for wheat, most vegetable oils and several meat types outweighed declines in cheese and sugar prices.

According to the new update released by the global food body, the he FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in the international prices of a basket of globally-traded food commodities, averaged 125.3 points in February, up 0.9 percent from its revised January level while still 1.0 percent below its level a year earlier.

The FAO Cereal Price Index increased by 1.1 percent from January, driven primarily by higher world wheat prices reflecting reports of frosts in parts of Europe and the United States of America as well as ongoing logistical disruptions within the Russian Federation and the wider Black Sea region. International coarse grain prices also posted a modest increase, while the FAO All Rice Price Index edged up by 0.4 percent from the previous month, supported by sustained demand for basmati and Japonica varieties.The FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index increased by 3.3 percent in February, reaching its highest level since June 2022.

International palm oil prices rose amid firm global import demand and seasonally lower outputs in Southeast Asia, while world soyoil prices increased on expectations of supportive biofuel policy measures in the United States of America.

The FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index increased by 3.3 percent in February, reaching its highest level since June 2022.

Rapeseed oil prices rebounded, driven by prospects of stronger import demand for Canadian supplies. By contrast, sunflower oil prices eased moderately, partly due to rising export supplies from Argentina.

The FAO Meat Price Index increased by 0.8 percent from January, as ovine meat prices reached an all-time high and bovine meat prices rose on the back of strong import demand from China and the United States of America. Prices of pig and poultry meats edged up slightly from January.

The FAO Dairy Price Index declined by 1.2 percent, driven primarily by lower cheese prices.

The FAO Sugar Price Index was down by 4.1 percent from January and by as much as 27.3 percent compared with February 2025 amid expectations of ample global supplies in the current season.