rescind tony knighthood gets thousands signatures

The United States remains the only country ever to have used nuclear weapons in conflict.īut around 13,000 are now held in state arsenals worldwide, Guterres said. There are now fewer than 119,000 officially recognized survivors of the two nuclear attacks, according to government statistics from March. Three days after the Hiroshima bombing, Washington dropped a second atomic bomb on the Japanese port city of Nagasaki, killing about 74,000 people and leading to the end of World War II. In a speech on Saturday, Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui cited Leo Tolstoy, the Russian author of “War and Peace,” saying: “Never build your happiness on the misfortune of others, for only in their happiness can you find your own.” Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, President Vladimir Putin has made thinly veiled threats hinting at a willingness to deploy tactical nuclear weapons. The Russian ambassador was not invited to the ceremony but visited Hiroshima on Thursday to lay flowers at the memorial site. Today, “crises with grave nuclear undertones are spreading fast,” Guterres said, repeating warnings he made this week at a nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty conference in New York.īefore dawn, survivors and their relatives began to gather at Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial Park to pay tribute to the victims.Ī silent prayer was held at 8.15 am, the moment the bomb was dropped.

“We must ask: What have we learned from the mushroom cloud that swelled above this city?“Īround 140,000 people died when Hiroshima was bombed by the United States on August 6, 1945, a toll that includes those who perished after the blast from radiation exposure. Survivors were “cursed with a radioactive legacy” of cancer and other health problems. Women, children and men were incinerated in a hellish fire,” he said. “Tens of thousands of people were killed in this city in the blink of an eye. HIROSHIMA, Japan: “Humanity is playing with a loaded gun” as crises with the potential for nuclear disaster proliferate worldwide, UN head Antonio Guterres said in Hiroshima on Saturday, the 77th anniversary of the first atomic bomb attack.Īt an annual memorial, Guterres warned of the risk posed by crises in Ukraine, the Middle East and the Korean peninsula as he described the horrors endured by the Japanese city. On Thursday, Scott thanked people who had signed the petition on behalf of “families of soldiers who died in both Iraq and Afghanistan.” For this alone he should be held accountable for war crimes.” “He was personally responsible for causing the death of countless innocent, civilian lives and servicemen in various conflicts. The person behind the petition, Angus Scott, said on : “Tony Blair caused irreparable damage to both the constitution of the UK and to the very fabric of the nation’s society. Rose Gentle, the mother of a 19-year-old soldier who was killed in the Iraqi city of Basra in 2004, told the Daily Record that she had written to the committee responsible for awarding honors to “ask for an explanation” over Blair’s appointment. There were back at the time and there still are, but that does not detract from the fact that Tony Blair was a very successful prime minister of this country and made a huge difference to the lives of millions of people in this country.” Starmer said: “I understand there are strong views on the Iraq War.

Labour leader Keir Starmer highlighted Blair’s achievements, including enacting a national minimum wage and securing the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland. Labour MP Richard Burgon tweeted: “It says a lot about what is wrong with our system when, after being one of the leading architects of the Iraq War, Tony Blair is honored with a knighthood while Julian Assange, who exposed war crimes in Iraq, faces extradition to the US and a lifetime in prison.” The decision was met with both criticism and support from across the political spectrum.

LONDON: An online petition to strip former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair of his recently awarded knighthood has reached 1 million signatures.īlair, a divisive and controversial figure in Britain, was awarded last week a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, the most senior order of knighthood.

Rescind tony knighthood gets thousands signatures