Boris has finally resigned
Boris Johnson finally resigned as British prime minister on Thursday. What was the final push, and where did it come from?
The resignation of Boris Johnson has been announced. This was something everyone had been expecting this week – but the Prime Minister refused to go.
Conservative MP Andrew Mitchell told the BBC Thursday that Johnson’s death is similar to Rasputin’s. His body’s been dumped in a freezing river after he was poisoned, stabbed, shot, and stabbed again.”
As his government, battered by endless scandals and crises for a year, collapsed around him over the last few days, the Prime Minister has been finally forced out of office.
There is no escaping the fact that the Prime Minister has deserted in mass. As of 9 am on Thursday (1.30 pm in India), 27 ministers – five at cabinet level and 22 below cabinet level – had resigned, according to British media.
Additionally, Johnson sacked leveling up secretary Michael Gove for disloyalty on Wednesday, after Gove met Johnson and asked him to resign. Around 2.45 pm India time, environment secretary Rebecca Pow announced her resignation on Twitter.
In addition to these 29 ministers, dozens of parliamentary private secretaries (PPSs) resigned as well, bringing the total number of resigning ministers and government aides to more than 50. In spite of the fact that the resignations of PPSs are “far less important” since “government can function without PPSs, but not without ministers,” the numbers do add up.
Johnson, who had made a typical brazening-out speech in the House of Commons on Wednesday, appeared to be in real danger of becoming a Prime Minister without a government by Thursday afternoon.
Earlier, reporters staking out the door of No. 10 Downing Street jokingly asked Larry, the famous cat of No. 10 Downing Street, whether he too intended to leave.
Minister after minister stated bluntly that Johnson’s leadership had lost their trust.
On Tuesday (July 5), the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak and the Health and Social Care secretary Sajid Javid both resigned within minutes of each other – and Javid told Parliament the following morning that “at some point, we have to conclude that enough is enough.”.
According to Javid, “the problem begins at the top,” stating that “that point is now.”
According to Sunak, who, like Javid, is viewed as a possible replacement for Johnson, “the public rightly expects the government to be conducted properly, competently, and seriously” and despite knowing that he may never be a minister again, “I believe these standards are worth fighting for.”
Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, whom Johnson appointed just 48 hours ago, posted on Twitter on July 7: “Prime Minister: this is not sustainable, and it will only get worse: for you, for the Conservative Party, and most importantly for the country. Now is the time for you to leave.”
It had finally been decided by the Conservative Party that the Prime Minister was a liability.
Johnson admitted candidly in his resignation speech outside No. 10 that he failed to persuade his party colleagues that it would be “eccentric” to change the party leader at this time.
Earlier on Thursday, the BBC reported that Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs, told Johnson that the party had lost confidence in him.
There is a clear electoral calculation at play. Before the Chris Pincher scandal exploded on the government, opinion polls in Britain showed the Conservatives trailing Labour. Tory MPs have now reached critical mass in their belief that Johnson must be sacked to prevent damage to the party.
Conservative backbenchers literally laughed at the Prime Minister on Wednesday as he defended himself against lacerating criticism, vowed to “keep going,” and jeered him as he left the house by a side door.
Prime Minister Cameron’s position is significantly worse now than it was a month ago when a large group of Tory MPs brought a no-confidence motion against him. As many as 148 MPs (more than 40 percent) voted against Johnson, denting his legitimacy; despite Johnson having majority support, 211 of the 359 MPs.
As a result, the Conservatives suffered devastating losses in by-elections for two parliamentary districts: Wakefield and Tiverton and Honiton. It was especially significant since it overturned the Conservative Party’s 24,000 majorities in the district, the biggest ever majority to be overturned in a by-election.
In a resignation letter dated June 24, the co-chairman said, “We cannot continue with business as usual” and “somebody must take responsibility.” Tory lawmakers resigned from both seats after facing sex scandals – one had been convicted of sexually assaulting a teenage boy, and another had been caught watching porn in Parliament.
In the Pincher scandal, the prime minister promoted a Conservative MP to deputy chief whip in the Commons despite knowing he had a history of sexual misconduct, which proved to be the last straw that broke the government’s back.
The sky turned green.
Nebraska, Minnesota, and Illinois in the US were hit by a derecho storm system on Tuesday. In what way did the US skies turn green as a result of a right?
The US states of Nebraska, Minnesota, and Illinois were hit by a derecho on Tuesday. As the storm rolled in, strong winds knocked down trees and snapped power lines, turning the skies green, with even experienced storm chasers claiming they had never seen such atmospheric optics before, according to the Washington Post. What is a right, and how did it transform the US skies to green?
Right, according to the National Weather Service, it is “a widespread, long-lived, straight-line windstorm” associated with “rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms.” It’s derived from the Spanish word ‘la derecho,’ which means ‘straight.’ Straight-line storms are those in which winds do not rotate, unlike tornadoes. It is common for these storms to travel hundreds of miles and cover a large area.
A right generally occurs during summertime, beginning in May, with most occurrences occurring in June and July. They are, however, rare compared to other storm systems, such as tornadoes or hurricanes.
For a storm to be categorized as a right, the winds must reach 93 km per hour; the damage swath must extend more than 400 km. University of Oklahoma’s School of Meteorology recommends a three-hour interval between successive wind damage events.
In severe thunderstorms, the light interacts with a large amount of water, resulting in a green sky. According to the Washington Post, the big raindrops and hail scatter all light except for blue wavelengths, causing primarily blue light to penetrate below the storm clouds. Combined with the red-yellow of the afternoon or evening sun, this blue produces green, the report said.
A progressive system, a serial system, and a hybrid system all fall into three categories. A progressive right is characterized by a short line of thunderstorms that travel along a relatively narrow path for hundreds of miles. The phenomenon occurs during the summer.
A serial right, on the other hand, has an expansive squall line sweeping over a large area. Fall or spring are the most common times for it to occur.
In the United States, they are mostly found in the central and eastern regions.
As wind speeds reached up to 170 mph, the May 8, 2009 “Super Law” was one of the “most intense and unusual rights ever observed” in the US.
The existence of entitlements has also been documented around the world. A documented right was established in Russia for the first time in 2010. Moreover, they have spread to Germany, Finland, Bulgaria, and Poland in recent years.
What’s the new blackout challenge?
In 2021, two young girls died after taking part in a viral ‘blackout challenge’ on TikTok. Their parents are suing the company in the United States. Why is this challenge so important, and how has video social media responded to it?
TikTok, which is a video social media platform, is being sued by the guardians of two young girls who died after trying to be a part of the viral ‘blackout challenge’ in the year 2021. The families of 8-year-old Lalani Erika Walton and 9-year-old Arriani Jaileen Arroyo accuse TikTok of intentionally uploading deadly videos to the children.
A 14-year-old Australian boy and a 10-year-old Italian girl, a 12-year-old boy from Colorado, United States, and a 12-year-old boy in Oklahoma, United States, died while doing the blackout challenge in April 2020, April 2021, and July 2021, respectively.
In this challenge, participants choke themselves until they become unconscious from a lack of oxygen.
There is no clear indication as to who started the viral trend. According to The New York Times report, Know Your Meme, a website that details popular memes, the challenge has received widespread media attention after three young children died in Italy in January 2021 while trying the challenge.
India has banned TikTok and dozens of other apps with Chinese connections since 2020, including TikTok, which was once popular there.
SMVLC which is the Social Media Victims Law Center, which works to hold social media firms licit responsible for the harm they inflict on vulnerable users, filed the lawsuit on June 30 in a California court for 8-year-old Lalani and 9-year-old Arriani.
As part of TikTok’s Blackout Challenge, which encourages users to choke themselves with belts, purse strings, or other similar items until they pass out, the children died of self-strangulation.
In the lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, TikTok’s algorithm promotes harmful content, allows underage users, and fails to warn users of TikTok’s addictive nature, The Guardian reported.
According to the New York Times report, the lawsuit pertains to TikTok’s “For You” page, which features personalized streams of videos based on a user’s demographics, likes, and prior activity.
According to Matthew P Bergman of SMVLC, TikTok has invested billions in an app that is deliberately designed to push harmful content. According to Bergman, TikTok should be held accountable for pushing deadly content to these two young girls.
“TikTok,” according to SMVLC lawyers, “prioritized greater profits over the health and safety of its users, especially vulnerable children whom the company knew or should have known were actively using it.”
The Sacramento Bee reported that a TikTok spokesperson expressed their “deepest sympathies” for the families’ “tragic loss.” In spite of this, the spokesperson pointed out that the challenge predates TikTok.
A spokesperson for TikTok told McClatchy News that the “challenge” has predated our platform and has never been a TikTok trend, The Bee reported. As part of our commitment to user safety, we will remove related content immediately if found.
The statement is similar to the one TikTok issued in response to the Nylah Anderson lawsuit. Earlier, the TikTok spokesperson also mentioned a 2008 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that found at least 82 children died after playing “the choking game” between the years 1995 and 2007, long before the app ultimately became TikTok.
A managing editor at Knows Your Meme told The New York Times that dangerous challenges on the Internet are not “any more dangerous” than they have been. According to him, the accessibility and the way these algorithms work make them more widely available.
Several potentially dangerous challenges have spread across the Internet, including the ‘Tide Pod Challenge,’ in which people eat laundry detergent packets on camera, leading to dozens of cases of poisoning, and the ‘Fire Challenge,’ in which people share videos of burning flammable liquid on their skin.
Shinzo Abe’s relations with India
Shinzo Abe served two terms as Prime Minister between 2006 and 2007 and then between 2012 and 2020, as one of the most consequential leaders in post-war Japanese history.
NHK announced on Friday (July 8) that Shinzo Abe, the former Prime Minister of Japan, had passed away. As a result of being shot at and wounded at an election meeting early in the morning, he was unconscious and was showing no vital signs.
According to NHK, Shinzo Abe, the former Prime Minister, who was shot with a gun during the speech, died in a hospital in Kashihara City, Nara Prefecture.
An ex-marine from Japan’s self-defense forces, Tetsuya Yamagami, a 41-year-old, was identified by the Japanese media as the assassin.
As the country’s longest-serving Prime Minister, Abe served two terms from 2006 to 2007, followed by two terms from 2012 to 2020. Following the resurfacing of a chronic illness, he announced in August 2020 that he would step down from his position. The 65-year-old Abe was expected to remain in office until September 2021.
As president, Abe was a great friend of India, and he invested personally in the relationship. In addition, he had a close relationship with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which was evident on several occasions.
Following Abe’s announcement to step down in 2020, Modi tweeted: “Pained to hear about your ill health, my dear friend @AbeShinzo.”. With your wise leadership and personal commitment, the India-Japan partnership has grown stronger and deeper. My best wishes and prayers are with you during your recovery.”
“Deeply distressed by the attack on my dear friend Abe Shinzo,” Modi tweeted Friday as the news spread about the attack. Throughout this difficult time, our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.”
A visit to India and an address to Parliament were made by Abe during his first stint in 2006-07. In his second stint, during which he broke Eisaku Sato’s record for consecutive days in office, he visited India three times: in January 2014, December 2015, and September 2017. There has never been a Prime Minister of Japan who has visited India so many times.
In 2014, he was the first Japanese Prime Minister to attend the Republic Day parade as Chief Guest. The fact that he was being hosted by a government that will face elections in May 2014 reflects his commitment to an India-India relationship. The UPA under Manmohan Singh and the NDA under Modi wooed him as Japan’s leader.
Abe accelerated the pace of bilateral ties in 2012, despite the fact that the foundation for the “Global Partnership between Japan and India” was laid in 2001, and annual bilateral summits were agreed upon in 2005.
edited and proofread by nikita sharma
