TATA/TALBOT STEEL WALES

Starmer’s promise to save steel jobs has melted away

Only struggle—at all of the steel companies’ sites—will force the bosses to back off from a jobs massacre

By Charlie Kimber
Saturday 24 August 2024

SOCIALIST WORKER Issue



Sharan Graham, general secretary of Unite the union, on a march to defend steel jobs (Picture: Guy Smallman)

Labour’s election promises to save steel jobs are falling apart. It hammers home that the union leaders were wrong to run away from strikes in July and rely on Keir Starmer—and should call walkouts now.

Unless there’s a fight, thousands of steel workers are set to be laid off just before Christmas. British Steel last week brought forward plans to close its blast furnaces in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire.

The GMB union said on Friday that at least 2,500 jobs are at risk. The owner, multinational Jingye, has insisted that no decision has yet been made.

But the Telegraph newspaper says Jingye is in talks with the government over plans to cut imports of coal needed for its steel blast furnaces in October. That’s almost two years earlier than initially planned.

The three million tonnes of steel currently produced from the furnaces would potentially be replaced by steel imported from China.

Jingye remains in discussions with the government for a £600 million state handout so it can modernise its plants.

British Steel has previously announced it would be building an electric arc furnace (EAF) as part of its decarbonisation plans. The company had said it would keep its current operations running until the transition had been made to electric arc steelmaking.

Meanwhile, the jobs slaughter continues at Port Talbot steel works in South Wales, owned by the Tata conglomerate.

Last week Starmer said his ministers will do “everything we can”. But he added, “I’m not going to pretend it’s anything other than tough.”

He said he didn’t want to give “false hope” to workers ahead of the imminent closure of the town’s last blast furnace next month.

Labour’s Welsh secretary Jo Stevens is also admitting jobs will go. “We want to make sure there are as many jobs protected as possible,” she said recently. “We don’t want to see compulsory redundancies.”

That leaves the door open for mass cuts—and Tata bosses are pressing ahead with their plans. The firm has already pushed workers to “volunteer” for redundancy and says it will close the second of two blast furnaces in September.

Huw Thomas, BBC Wales business correspondent commented, “Since the steelmaker announced its original proposals at the beginning of this year, barely any changes have been made to the overall plan.”

Its plan will “cut 2,800 jobs and shut the heavy end of Port Talbot’s operation by the autumn”. “With just weeks remaining, the blueprint for Tata Steel’s restructure seems unlikely to change,” he said.

“Any additional investment or job creation is likely to be secondary, and small in scale, compared with what’s being lost.”

The key moment came just before the general election in July. Unite union leaders crumbled in the face of bosses’ threats and called off a scheduled strike by 1,500 workers in south Wales.

The union claimed Tata Steel company bosses had offered new talks.

In reality, the firm had threatened to start shutting down two blast furnaces immediately unless Unite called off an indefinite strike. And, unwilling to defy the company, Unite dropped the strike and an overtime ban.

Disgracefully, the Community union which had not called strikes—despite its members voting for them—revelled in Unite backing off.

It’s not too late to launch strikes and a wider battle throughout the working class movement for jobs and for more sustainable production.

Only struggle—at all of the companies’ sites—will force the bosses to back off. There should be no agreement to any moves that lead to a shutdown—and workers must not perform them.

“Greener steel” doesn’t have to mean devastation for working class people.

It’s right to move away from the polluting processes that presently dominate the industry. But that should be done with workers at the centre of decision-making—and not with profits dominating.

Workers should organise for an occupation of the threatened sites and demand Labour nationalise the industry under democratic control.

DECRIMINALIZE  DRUGS

Scotland’s drugs deaths are a public health emergency

People in Scotland are dying from drug use at a rate higher than in any other European country.

By Yuri Prasad
Sunday 25 August 2024

SOCIALIST WORKER Issue



Opioid drugs, such as heroin, are behind around 80 percent of Scottish drug-related deaths

People in Scotland are dying from drug use at a rate higher than in any other European country.

National Records for Scotland last week showed that 1,172 people died as a result of drug use in 2023—an increase of 12 percent over the pre­vious year.

And opioid drugs, such as heroin, morphine and methadone, are impli­cated in around 80 percent of the deaths.

Opioids relax muscles and the brain, including the parts that con­trol breathing, meaning that many drug-related deaths happen because of respiratory failure.

Poverty plays an important part in this story, with the poorest areas of Glasgow, Inverclyde and Dundee being among the worst affected.

Poor people with bad physical and mental health are far more likely than those who are healthy to turn to drugs to ease their pain. They are also more likely to die from an overdose. But poverty alone doesn’t explain what is happening.

The numbers of drug-related deaths in the poorest areas of England and Wales don’t come close to those of Scotland—even though poverty levels are similar.

Instead, Scotland appears to be trapped in a public health emergency.

Trauma is a well-known factor in problematic drug use. And there are now generations of drug users that experienced childhood trauma because their parents were addicts.

Many of them lost family to overdoses or drug-associated diseases and are now themselves vulnerable to the same tragedies.

There are ways to break out of the crisis, but they depend on a massive increase in funding into holistic ser­vices for drug users. And they require a break with the moralism behind state drugs policy.

Despite the Scottish government having formally signed-up to the full range of treatments demanded by experts and users, what services exist are often overwhelmed.

Clinics that help people break from opioid dependency by offer­ing a controlled alternative, such as methadone, are a vital part of a treat­ment strategy.

But a recent report from the Scottish Drugs Forum showed that many people wait months to start treatment, while others have to travel miles to reach a clinic.

One service user reported that her clinic was “just ridiculous. It was just wholeheartedly inaccessible to begin with. I was genuinely phoning up in tears begging for this help, for months.”

And its not just preventative ser­vices that are affected. People who have overdosed can be saved if a medical professional gets to them fast and injects them with a reversal drug, such as Naloxone.

But these long-promised rapid reaction teams are still thin on the ground, with not enough funding to make them truly effective.

There are an estimated 60,000 people in Scotland thought to be at risk of a drugs overdose, but just 40 percent have access to this kind of lifesaving treatment.

If the state is going to tackle the ever-rising number of drugs deaths in Scotland it must treat them as a public health emergency.
‘Expand Glasgow services’

Britain’s first official consumption room for illegal drugs will open in Glasgow in October. Keir McKechnie, a mental health worker in the city, told Socialist Worker the move is long overdue.

“The arrival of synthetic opioid drugs—which can be far stronger than heroin—means there has to be a massive expansion of all drug user services,” he said.

“It’s vital that we take drug users out of the criminal justice system and get them in the public health system instead.

“We need more investment in drug addiction teams, and we need a full range of mental health services that people can access quickly. Problematic drug use cannot be separated from wider mental health problems people are experiencing.

“At the moment, it can take months, and even years, for someone that wants to deal with their addiction to get access to a rehab centre.”

Keir adds that the new consumption rooms must be just the start of a radical change in healthcare for drug users.

“The onset of an opioid crisis means we urgently need drop-in centres where people can have the drugs they’ve bought properly tested,” he says.

“That will at least give people an understanding of what’s in the drugs they plan to take.”

For that to happen, the state must abandon the criminalisation of addiction.
Criminalising drugs—and drug users—doesn’t work

The number of people dying from drug overdoses in Scotland has risen fairly consistently since 1996.

But state attempts to deal with the increase have made little progress for one key reason—the drugs in question are illegal.

The safest way for people to take drugs is for the NHS to offer medical grade substances for free and an environment in which to take them.
Illegality forces users to buy drugs from dealers who cut their products with other substances to make up the weight or increase the high.

And that same illegality creates a stigma that pushes people to administer their drugs behind closed doors, where medical services can’t get to them if they overdose.

The state insists on criminalisation for ideological and financial reasons. By making drugs illegal, it designates drug users as “criminals”. It suggests that it is drug users’ individual failings that are responsible for the harm that comes to them.

That helps the state duck the question of why the poverty, inequality, abuse and pain behind drug use are built into its system. And most of our rulers oppose the higher health spending required to properly treat people who are addicted to drugs.

So it suits them to label drug use as a problem of a “criminal minority”.

‘It’s as if he got away with it’: how a loophole can leave child abusers walking free in England and Wales

Haroon Siddique Legal affairs correspondent
Sun 25 August 2024
THE GUARDIAN

Lucy (not her real name) said reporting her abuse to police was ‘exhausting and traumatic’. Photograph: Jonny Weeks/The Guardian

Lucy (not her real name) was groomed by her friend’s father, who was 22 years older than her, and he began sexually abusing her at the age of 13. When she was 15, she became pregnant and had an abortion. She said when the abuse took place in the 1980s, because of her age she did not realise that it was wrong and her parents were concerned about the effect that reporting it would have on their family.

Now aged 51, she still struggles to come to terms with what happened and has suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression. It was only when she began therapy that she began to come to terms with the abuse and made the decision, last year, to contact the police. She was also persuaded to act by the death of her parents, which meant that she no longer had to worry that speaking out would distress them. And she was being harassed by the partner of the perpetrator, who lived close by.

“It took me a long time and even when I’d spoken to the police, I still had to decide if I definitely wanted to go ahead with it,” she said. “I decided that I would because there was nothing stopping me now.”

She said the process of reporting the offence to the police had been “exhausting and traumatic”, particularly reliving her past experiences during the video interview.

Lucy felt “relieved and pleased” when officers told her that her abuser had admitted in a police interview to having sex with her when she was 14 and 15. However, about six weeks later she was told the news that, because prosecution oe offence of sexual intercourse with a girl under 16 under the Sexual Offences Act 1956 had to begin within 12 months of the alleged offence, he could not be charged.

“I was devastated,” said Lucy. “I thought, I’ve finally decided to go ahead with it and he’ll be prosecuted – it just felt more positive. But then, when I learned that he wouldn’t be prosecuted, it was like that had all just gone and we were back to where we were.”

While the legislation dictating the 12-month limitation period was changed in 2004, it was not made retrospective and so Lucy and hundreds of other women have been left without recourse to justice.

“It just doesn’t seem right that if it’s before a certain date he can’t be prosecuted or if I didn’t report it within a certain time,” she said. “People have mental health issues or other reasons why they can’t always report it straight away.”

She said her mood and self-esteem had suffered as a result of the decision not to bring charges, especially as she is back living in the area where she grew up and where her abuser still lives.

“I think there’s still some people that think it was partly my fault and it was almost like an affair or something,” she said. “But they’re not taking into account that I was 13 when it started.

“It’s still hanging over my head. They [he and his current partner] are still acting like normal and carrying on with their lives – it’s as though he’s got away with it.”

The curious tale of Kamala Harris and the Irish slave owner

The US presidential candidate is believed to have links to a town in County Antrim but whereas transatlantic ties are normally a cause for celebration, in the town of Ballymoney there is a strange unwillingness to embrace its most famous daughter.

Stephen Murphy
Ireland correspondent @SMurphyTV
Sunday 25 August 2024 


In the heart of Ballymoney, a small town in Northern Ireland's County Antrim, bike leather-clad tourists seek out a well-manicured memorial garden.

Astride his motorbike, a life-sized statue of champion racer Joey Dunlop leans back, arms folded, a victorious grin engraved for eternity. The late King of the Roads, a local legend, still commands pilgrimage from around the world.

There are statues too of his brother Robert, and nephew William, all three men taken before their time, snatched away by one of the world's most dangerous sports.

Down the street, drinkers sip pints in the sunshine outside Joey’s Bar, beneath his smiling image. This place knows how to celebrate its sons.

Statue of Joey Dunlop, motorcycle racing legend from Ballymoney

Yet there is a strange reticence to embrace the ancestral ties that might see Ballymoney blood in the Oval Office. A reluctance to acknowledge the town’s most famous daughter. “You'll not get them to talk on that," one man told me. And I soon found out how right he was.

Five years ago, Donald J Harris, father of Kamala Harris, revealed his belief that he is descended from Hamilton Brown, born in Ballymoney around 1776. Brown emigrated to Jamaica and ran sugar plantations. He owned scores of slaves, some treated harshly.

In an essay by Harris, published by the Jamaica Global Online website, the Stanford University professor wrote: "My roots go back, within my lifetime, to my paternal grandmother Miss Chrishy (nee Christiana Brown, descendant of Hamilton Brown who is on record as plantation and slave owner and founder of Brown’s Town)." Donald J Harris emigrated to the US from Jamaica in 1961.

Donald J Harris with his baby daughter Kamala. Pic Kamala Harris

That story has been given fresh impetus since Joe Biden paved the way for Kamala Harris to become the Democratic presidential candidate. In recent weeks, a County Antrim historian said he had found documentation shedding further light on Hamilton Brown.

Stephen McCracken told the local newspaper, the Ballymoney Chronicle, that he had discovered letters connecting Brown to his birthplace in Bracough, a townland just outside Ballymoney. He told the newspaper that Brown was "a seriously bad man, who travelled to London a few times to campaign against the abolition of slavery".

The Irish Times picked up on the story, as did the Belfast Telegraph and the Daily Mail.

"I've been getting a wee bit of abuse over it," McCracken told the Irish Times. "People have been asking me why I've publicised it."

The local Ballymoney newspaper ran an article on Harris's links to the town

When I asked him for an interview, he declined, citing an abusive backlash via social media, including Kamala Harris supporters accusing him of trying to wreck her campaign.

Right-wing and pro-Trump memes have circulated since 2019, painting the Harris family as "descended from slave owners", without any context. These tropes deliberately ignore the ugly explanation that slave owners commonly raped their female slaves, explaining why many black Jamaicans have European genes.

In the ultra-polarised world of American politics, Kamala supporters were allegedly hitting out at those publicising her heritage, seeing it as ammunition for further MAGA propaganda.

Meanwhile, the Ballymoney Chronicle carried a follow-up piece practically debunking the original claim of lineage. A qualified genealogist told the paper that the links were "unproven", and said Hamilton Brown was not recorded as getting married or having children.

Depiction of slavery in British West Indies, most likely Jamaica, 1800. Pic slaveryimages.org,

When I asked that genealogist for an interview - they agreed. The next day they abruptly cancelled, calling the story "a pile of nonsense".

I asked McCracken for further details of his research. He stopped replying.

A third historian told me he didn't think existing documentation would ever prove the link. "You'd need DNA testing," he said.

I felt like I was encountering a wall of silence from others in Ballymoney. Multiple phone calls, messages and emails to a high-profile local DUP councillor went unanswered. A Sinn Fein colleague seemed unaware of the story and not overly interested in an interview. Ballymoney business owners declined to arrange interviews, or were not returning calls.

Repeated attempts to visit Ballymoney were abandoned due to rioting in Belfast. Another journey was aborted after the Sky News satellite van suffered a blow-out on a particularly inhospitable stretch of road.

The story was starting to feel a bit cursed.

This bronze sculpture welcomes visitors to the Barack Obama Plaza. 

Photo by Adrian Langtry/Shutterstock

When we did belatedly arrive, the contrast to other US presidential "hometowns" in Ireland was stark. Long before they received the imprimatur of an actual visit, Ballina in Co Mayo and Carlingford in Co Louth were abuzz with Bidenmania.

You can’t visit the "Barack Obama Plaza" motorway service station outside Moneygall, Co Offaly, without a sense of the faintly ridiculous Irish enthusiasm for presidential heritage. Petrol and a chicken fillet roll downstairs, Obama visitor centre upstairs.

Yet, half a decade on from Donald J Harris’s revelation, there isn’t a solitary sign of the transatlantic connection in Ballymoney. Not a mural, a sign, a US flag or an enterprising cafe with a Kamala-themed name.

On Main Street, pedestrians were bemused. Most simply hadn’t heard the tale. It'd take more than Kamala to brighten up "this dreary town", one woman ventured, a bit unkindly.

There is a seeming reticence to discuss Kamala Harris's links to Ballymoney

But some locals were happy to talk.

In the W & J Walker hardware shop, paint brushes from both the "Hamilton" and "Harris" brands hung serendipitously side-by-side.

"People around here like family trees," said worker Joanne Donnell. "They like to go back to the original people."

"It’ll bring a bit of excitement to the town," her sister Rhonda Lafferty said. "We get a lot of visitors here from America, this summer especially."

Rhonda Lafferty and Joanne Donnell, sisters who both work at the W & J Walker shop in Ballymoney

Neither woman seemed concerned that Hamilton Brown was a slave owner. "People take these things with a pinch of salt," said Joanne. "It was a long time ago."

Winifred Mellot owns the bustling The Winsome Lady clothes shop. A popular figure, she is also the long-serving president of the Ballymoney Chamber of Commerce. She doesn't think Brown's slave-owning past should sour any future celebrations.

"I don’t think so," she said. "I mean let's face it, we all have ancestors we're not happy with, and you can't blame Kamala or her family for what Hamilton Brown did. No, we don't approve of it but it's history."

Winifred Mellot, owner of The Winsome Lady clothes shop and president of Ballymoney Chamber of Commerce

County Antrim's White House credentials are also history. Incredibly, nine US presidents (with varying degrees of certainty) claim lineage from The Saffron County, from Andrew Jackson right up to Ronald Reagan (shared with Co Tipperary).

Can Kamala Harris make it 10? That depends firstly on the US electorate, and a willingness in Ballymoney to embrace the story.

Not far from the town you'll find the Dark Hedges which portray the "King’s Road" in Game Of Thrones. A certain darkness too, may lurk within the branches of the Harris family tree. But while historians bicker, Kamala’s own father knows his truth. And that roots the family as surely in Antrim soil as those storm-battered beeches.

'Prisons are for rehabilitation, not punishment'

Jonathan Holmes & Caroline Martin
BBC News, West of England

Bishop Rachel Treweek said 'locking people up for a long time' wasn't always the solution

The Church of England Bishop for Prisons has called for greater rehabilitation for inmates in the wake of recent disorder.

The Right Reverend Rachel Treweek, who is also Bishop of Gloucester, said: "Those people who have rioted and caused damage on our streets, we as taxpayers contribute £50,000 per person per year to put them in prison.

"If at the end of that there is no transformation and change then what do we think we are doing?

"Within a year of release, around 50% of prisoners are re-offending - what we're doing is not working."

So far, hundreds of people have been jailed for their part in the disorder, which saw protesters targeting mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers.

The longest sentence handed out so far is three years and three months' imprisonment.

The violence across England broke out after the killings of three young girls at a dance workshop in Southport.

Bristol was one of the locations that saw disorder break out in early August

"Prisons are not there to punish people," said Bishop Treweek in an interview with Caroline Martin on BBC Radio Gloucestershire.

"The removal of your liberty should be your punishment, and prison should be a place where you can address the underlying issues with rehabilitation so people can contribute to community when they leave.

"Our prisons are full of people who have experienced real trauma in their lives.

"You would be shocked to see how many people fell out of education very young, or had bad experiences in the care system, or who didn't have stable relationships in their lives.

"When you come out of prison, you have a label of an ex-offender, which makes it hard for you to gain employment, and people just drift back into re-offending," she added.

Bishop Treweek said most prisoners go on to re-offend after being released

Bishop Treweek said she wanted to make it clear she didn't condone crime, and there are consequences to criminal behaviour, but called for more to be done to help people once they are incarcerated.

"When I go to prisons, there isn't that much rehabilitation going on because prisons are too overcrowded.

"People say there aren't many work opportunities in prison, and they have no purpose.

"The public narrative is that locking people up for a long time makes our streets safer, but the truth is the evidence does not support that," she added.

Pair of tornadoes confirmed west of Cornwall, Ontario



Published on Aug. 25, 2024

Twisters hit Morrisburg, Newington areas Wednesday afternoon

Two weak twisters touched down Wednesday afternoon west of Cornwall, Ont., according to a Western University tornado research group.

The two tornadoes hit Morrisburg, Ont., and an area southwest of Newington, Ont., the Northern Tornadoes Project (NTP) said in a social media post Saturday.

The Morrisburg tornado had an estimated maximum speed of 115 km/h and caused minor damage to a gazebo, a fence and some trees, the group said.



There's been no evidence yet of any damage in connection with the Newington-area tornado, NTP said. Its estimated wind speed was not announced.

SEE ALSO: Move over Prairies; Ontario is now Canada’s tornado 'hot spot'

Both tornadoes were classified as EF-0 on the enhanced Fujita scale — the lowest possible rating — although the Newington-area tornado's classification is a preliminary one.

No injuries have been reported, NTP said.

Chinese premier calls for strengthening global cooperation to boost robot industry

Source: Xinhua

Editor: huaxia

2024-08-25 



Chinese Premier Li Qiang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, pays a field survey visit to the 2024 World Robot Expo in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 25, 2024. (Xinhua/Liu Weibing)

BEIJING, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Qiang has emphasized the need to foster an open environment for technical innovation and support foreign firms and research institutions to invest in China, when talking about advancing the robot industry through closer global collaboration.

Li made the remarks while on a field survey visit on Sunday to the 2024 World Robot Expo in Beijing.

He said it is necessary to establish and make good use of cooperation platforms for industrial exchanges, maintain the stability and smoothness of industrial and supply chains, and facilitate technical innovation of the robot industry worldwide.

Li toured the expo's exhibition hall and inquired about the performance, technological advantages, and in particular the applications of some robots on display.

The expo was part of the five-day World Robot Conference which opened on Wednesday and was themed "Co-fostering New Quality Productive Forces for a Shared Intelligent Future."

Li called for strengthened efforts to boost technical innovation and industrial development to cultivate new growth engines and continuously improve people's well-being.

Referring to robots as an "important yardstick for technical innovation and high-end manufacturing strength," Li said relevant innovation should target industrial upgrading, consumption upgrading demand and world-leading industrial frontiers.

Li added that China's advantages, ranging from a super-sized domestic market to abundant innovation scenarios, should be put to full use, while applications of robot-related technological innovation in sectors such as manufacturing, farming and services should be accelerated.

To boost the robot industry, he also underlined the need for engaging more venture capital investment, incubating more unicorn firms and more "little giant" firms, which are small and medium-sized enterprises that specialize in a niche market and boast cutting-edge technologies, as well as fostering industrial clusters with specialties and advantages. ■

THE CUPBOARD WAS BARE

UK PM Keir Starmer to warn of tough times ahead in first Downing Street keynote speech

UK PM Keir Starmer’s speech to caution public on the challenging road ahead after inheriting a “societal black hole” from the Tories

PTI

London 

Published 25.08.24

Keir Starmer

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is preparing for his first Downing Street keynote speech since being elected last month and ahead of Parliament resuming after its summer recess.

According to ‘The Sunday Times’, some members of the public will be invited to the Rose Garden speech on Tuesday in a signal that the Labour Party leader intends to do things differently from his Conservative Party predecessors.

In keeping with a theme the government has already struck amid major announcements since the July 4 general election, Starmer will caution the public that things will get worse before they can get better due to the state of things his government has inherited after 14 years of Tory leadership.

Excerpts of the speech, which is scheduled a week before the House of Commons resumes, refer to Labour inheriting “not just an economic black hole but a societal black hole”.

“And that is why we have to take action and do things differently. Part of that is being honest with people - about the choices we face. And how tough this will be. Frankly, things will get worse before we get better,” Starmer is expected to say.

The speech will foreshadow the government’s Autumn budget statement, which is widely expected to entail tough new financial announcements on October 30.

The UK PM is expected to say: “When there is rot deep in the heart of a structure, you can’t just cover it up. You can’t tinker with it or rely on quick fixes. “You have to overhaul the entire thing. Tackle it at the root. Even if it’s harder work and takes more time. Because otherwise, what happens? The rot returns. In all the same places. And it spreads.” Taking aim at the Tories — now in Opposition, Starmer will reiterate his Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ previous claim that they discovered a GBP 22 billion “black hole” in the public finances within days of taking charge.

"The OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility) did not know about this. They wrote a letter saying so. They didn't know — because the last government hid it,” Starmer will allege.

The Conservatives have hit back at the government, accusing Labour of poor financial decisions such as rolling back an allowance for senior citizens for their heating bills.

"The soft-touch Labour Chancellor is squandering money whilst fabricating a financial black hole in an attempt to con the public into accepting tax rises, and literally leaving pensioners in the cold,” said Conservative Party chairman Richard Fuller. "The Prime Minister really should tell his Chancellor to reverse course or step in himself to reverse her decision,” he said.

 

Hezbollah Rejects Israel’s Pre-emptive Strike Claims as Baseless

August, 25, 2024 - 

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Hezbollah dismissed Israel's statement of preemptive strikes as unfounded, stating that its military operations were carried out as planned and that Israeli claims of disrupting these attacks contradict the reality on the ground.

Hezbollah has refuted Israel's claims of preemptive action, labeling them as baseless. The Lebanese group stated that all of its offensive drones were launched at specific times from their designated sites, successfully crossing into Israeli occupied territories and reaching their intended targets via multiple routes.

The resistance group declared that its military operation for the day had been completed. In a statement, Hezbollah added that Israel’s claims about preemptive actions, alleged targets hit, and the supposed disruption of Hezbollah's attacks are not supported by facts on the ground.

On the other hand, the Israeli military claims that Hezbollah intended to target military intelligence and Mossad bases in central Israel overnight. This information was reported by Israeli Army Radio and the Israeli media outlet Haaretz.

Hezbollah has indicated that it carried out its long-promised retaliation for the killing of its top commander in late July. Meanwhile, Israeli media suggests that Hezbollah may have indeed struck a strategic target.

The Israeli army stated it conducted strikes, destroying rocket launchers across southern Lebanon. In the past hour, two additional strikes by the Israeli military have been reported: one targeting a car in the border village of Khiam, resulting in the death of a Hezbollah fighter, and another overnight attack that killed two Hezbollah fighters.

While this round of exchanges seems to have concluded, Hezbollah warns that this is merely the beginning of its promised retaliation. However, there is no indication that a second phase is imminent.

Further details are expected in a speech by Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah. Nasrallah is scheduled to speak on the latest developments in a televised address today at 15:00 GMT. Updates on any significant announcements from his speech will follow as they occur.

Israel's 'pre-emptive' strikes hit southern Lebanon; Hezbollah fires back

 A Hezbollah unmanned aerial vehicle crossing from Lebanon gets intercepted by an Israeli fighter jet over an area near the Lebanon-Israel border on Sunday.

Photo by Ate Safadi/EPA-EFE

Aug. 25 (UPI) -- The Israeli Defense Forces "proactively and broadly" struck Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon after detecting preparations to fire missiles and rockets toward the nation Sunday. Hezbollah immediately afterward carried out its air assault.

The Lebanese militant group said it launched 320 rockets and several drones. IDF said it was approximately 200 rockets launched toward Israel. Israeli military told CNN that "very little damage was sustained" and that it was unaware of any impacts on military bases or targets in central Israel.

A 21-year-old Israeli naval soldier died after sustaining shrapnel wounds. David Moshe Ben Shitrit and two others were "either directly from an Iron Dome interceptor or from falling shrapnel from the interceptor" that hit his unit's boat, an army official told CNN.

Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging strikes for several months but these are among the most intense.

About 100 of Israel's fighter jets initially "struck and destroyed thousands of Hezbollah rocket launcher barrels" across dozens of launch sites, IDF said. Then there were further strikes.

"We are removing threats against the Israeli home front," IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said at a press briefing. "Dozens of jets are currently striking targets in various locations in southern Lebanon. We are continuing to remove threats, and to intensively strike against the Hezbollah terrorist organization."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who convened a meeting with cabinet members Sunday morning, said the pre-emptive strike was not "the end of the story."

"Hezbollah tried to attack the State of Israel with rockets and drones," the prime minister said. "We instructed the IDF to carry out a powerful, preemptive strike to eliminate the threat.

"The IDF destroyed thousands of short-range rockets, and all of them were aimed at harming our citizens and our forces in the Galilee. In addition, the IDF intercepted all the drones that Hezbollah launched at strategic targets in the center of the country."

The Hezbollah terror group said two of its members were killed "on the road to Jerusalem," its term for operatives slain in Israeli strikes.

Their deaths bring the terror group's toll since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip in October to at least 430.

Lebanese health officials said two people were killed from Israeli strikes on the village of At Tiri in Nabatiyeh in southern Lebanon and a third was killed when a car was hit in the town of Khiyam.

Hezbollah said it carried out strikes in response to the killing of top military commander Fu'ad Shukr on July 30 in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a populous neighborhood that is also the Iran-backed group's stronghold.

"Israel is hitting Hezbollah with surprising, crushing blows. Three weeks ago we eliminated its chief of staff [Shukr]," Netanyahu said. "Today we foiled its attack plan. [Hezbollah's Hassan] Nasrallah in Beirut and [Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei in Tehran should know that this is another step on the path to changing the situation in the north and returning our residents safely to their homes."

Hezbollah had claimed 15 strikes against Israel on Friday.

Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, said in a televised speech Sunday night said the latest attack has been completed, but further strikes could be carried out in the future.

He said the response was delayed for three reasons: give "sufficient opportunity" for Gaza ceasefire negotiations to take place, impose greater "mental and financial strain" inside Israel and ensure the attack's success.

"We have been ready. We delayed because the extent of the Israeli and American security alert by air and land and sea was high, so rushing into it could've led to failure," Nasrallah said.

He said Israel's airstrikes were "aggression, not preemptive action."

The United States helped Israel track incoming Hezbollah attacks, according to a U.S. defense official.

The USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group has joined the USS Theodore Roosevelt in the Middle East.

Flights resumed at Tel Aviv airport after being temporarily suspended for less than two hours on Sunday.

Air France suspended all flights to Tel Aviv and the Lebanese capital of Beirut until "at least" Monday, according to CNN affiliate BFMTV. And British Airways canceled all flights in and out of Tel Aviv through Wednesday.

Beaches and cultural institutions were closed in Tel Aviv.

Mediation talks resumed in the Egyptian capital Cairo in efforts to broker a cease-fire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas. Gaza is about 108 miles from northern Israel.
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The Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza said at least 71 people have been killed as a result of Israeli military operations in the enclave over 24 hours. The ministry does not distinguish between civilian casualties and those sustained by Hamas.

The cumulative toll since Oct. 7 is now at least 40,405 killed and 93,468 injured, according to the health ministry.

SCOTLAND

National register needed of buildings with RAAC, say Lib Dems

It comes after Aberdeen City Council decided this week that 500 homes affected by the collapse-risk concrete will be torn down.

PA Media

More than 500 homes in Aberdeen will be demolished because of the presence of RAAC.
PA Media

The Scottish Liberal Democrats have called for a national register of buildings with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) as they press the Government for an update on the number of council houses affected.

Earlier this week, it was decided that more than 500 homes in Aberdeen affected by the collapse-risk concrete would have to be torn down.

Residents of an estimated 366 council homes in the Balnagask area will be rehomed and will have a say in where they are placed. A further 138 private properties in the area will also be demolished, with the city council aiming to purchase these by voluntary agreement to allow the owners to move.

Independent surveyors found demolition was the best option to remove the high-risk lightweight concrete.

Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said RAAC has also been found in council houses in Angus, Clackmannanshire, Dundee, North Lanarkshire, Stirling, South Lanarkshire, Edinburgh and West Lothian.

Its presence has also been detected in a number of public sector buildings like schools, hospitals and police stations.