Ozzone 12-20 > Lift up the Cross of Christ in all your work

 

UK Elections > With results still coming in it's obvious that Labour is taking a thrashing

 

Starmer’s Labour Party ‘wiped out’ in UK elections

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has hailed the results as “a complete reshaping of British politics”

Published 8 May, 2026 18:29 | Updated 8 May, 2026 19:30

Keir Starmer reacts as he speaks to supporters following local elections at Kingsdown Methodist Church in London, England, May 8, 2026 ©  Getty Images;  Leon Neal

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour Party has been decimated in parliamentary elections in Scotland and Wales, as well as local elections in England. However, Starmer is refusing calls to resign.

Labour was the biggest loser in Thursday’s elections. As results came in on Friday, Starmer’s party had lost more than 1,100 local council seats in England, around 9 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and 21 seats in the Welsh Senedd, as of 7 PM local time.

While full results are not expected until Saturday, Starmer has already admitted that “when voters send a message like this, we must reflect and we must respond.” However, although the PM has been urged to resign by some within his own party, including Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, he has dismissed the idea, stating that he is not “going to walk away and plunge the country into chaos.”

Some 5,066 out of 16,000 local council seats in England and all 129 and 96 seats in the Scottish and Welsh legislatures were up for grabs on Thursday. Labour went into the election holding 5,873 local seats, but looks set to emerge with closer to 4,000.

For the first time this century, Labour will lose control of Wales, with First Minister Eluned Morgan losing her seat and the Plaid Cymru and Reform dominating the Senedd.

Labour’s loss has not been the Conservative Party’s win. While power has typically swung back and forth between both parties for more than 100 years, the Tories are on track to lose 470 council seats, plus 19 seats in Scotland and 9 in Wales.

Nigel Farage’s Reform UK was the big winner in England, picking up more than 1,200 local council seats. In some constituencies, Reform’s gains have come almost entirely at the Conservatives’ expense. Reform picked up 37 seats in Suffolk, where the Tories lost 36. Farage has spent years hammering successive Tory governments over their failure to reduce immigration and lower the cost of living, and as such has drawn the votes of dissatisfied right-wingers who once backed the Tories.

“It’s a big, big day, not just for our party, but for a complete reshaping of British politics in every way,” Farage told reporters, adding that Labour had been “wiped out.”

Zack Polanski’s Green Party has also drawn votes from former Labour supporters abandoning Starmer’s party over the prime minister’s austerity policies and support for Israel. “I said that the Green Party was going to replace Labour,” Polanski told reporters, “and we’re seeing that right across the country. The new politics is the Green Party vs. Reform.”

READ MORE: Why is Keir Starmer’s government so unpopular?

As of Friday evening, Polanski’s Greens had picked up 269 seats in England, and two seats in both the Scottish and Welsh legislatures.

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Ozzone 12-19 > Is your peace based on your relationship with Jesus Christ? It should be!

 

Corruption is Everywhere > Including China's Department of Defence

 

2 ex-Chinese defense officials sentenced for bribery

By Danielle Haynes    

Then-Chinese State Councilor and Minister of National Defence General Li Shangfu gestures before delivering his speech during a plenary session of the International Institute for Strategic Studies Shangri-la Dialogue at the Shangri-la hotel in Singapore, on June 4, 2023. On Thursday, he was given a suspended death sentence for bribery. File Photo by How Hwee Young/EPA-EFE

May 7 (UPI) -- Two former Chinese defense officials were given suspended death sentences Thursday after being found guilty of bribery, state-run media reported.

The military court gave Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu a two-year reprieve, which means after that time period, their death sentences will be commuted to life in prison with no possibility of parole, the BBC reported, citing China's state-run Xinhua.

Both men were generals when they accepted bribes. Li also gave bribes, The New York Times reported.

The two men were convicted as part of Chinese President Xi Jinping's crackdown on corruption in the military. About 100 senior officers have lost their jobs or been disappeared amid investigations, the Center for Strategic and International Studies said.

Former CIA analyst Christopher Johnson told the Times in January that the ouster of the military's top brass shows that Xi no longer trusts his longtime commanders and allies. Instead, he's seeking to make room for younger officers.

Andrew Nien-Dzu Yang, a Chinese military expert and former employee of Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense, told the Times that Xi's crackdown is likely about corruption but also a "political tactic."

"Putting these two senior military leaders under a suspended sentence to death can be used to justify the tightening control of the armed forces under Xi Jinping," Yang said.

Read More

• Trump's 'new world order' push turns toward East Asia
• China's ocean stewardship narrative faces a credibility test
• Explosion at China fireworks plant kills 26, dozens hurt
• Japan, Vietnam boost supply chain ties amid China concerns

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Politics in the UK > Municipal elections in the UK could be dramatic for Labour government

 

Britons head to polls in key test for ruling Labour government

By Paul Godfrey    

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria on Thursday morning as they arrived to cast their votes at a polling station in his north London constituency of Holborn and St. Pancras. Photo by Neil Hall/EPA

May 7 (UPI) -- Millions of Britons were headed to the polls on Thursday to vote in local, mayoral and parliamentary elections in England, Scotland and Wales in what is being seen as a 'mid-term' referendum on the leadership of Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Voters in Scotland and Wales are electing lawmakers to their parliaments while in England more than 5,000 seats across 136 local councils are up for grabs, including in all 32 of London's boroughs. Elections for half or a third of the seats are being held in another 73 local voting districts.

Six English municipalities, all but one of them in London, are electing new mayors.

Labour is expected to lose as many as 2,000 seats, mainly to new parties Reform UK and the Green Party, in an historic shift to a multi-party political system from a system dominated for the past century by Labour and the Conservative Party.

Support for both parties is down sharply with Labour polling on about 20%, compared with 35% at the last set of local elections in 2022, and the Conservatives on 18%, down from about 40%.

Labour's numbers are also sharply down from the time of the 2024 general election that brought the party to power in a landslide; the Conservatives much less so.

The worst case scenario for Labour sees it losing control of many of the 60 councils it is defending in the big cities, the party's political heartland.

The Conservatives, who are heavily represented in rural areas, are expected to fare a little better but could lose control of a handful of the 32 councils it runs and as many 1,000 seats overall.

That type of result with a general election only two years away would dramatically ramp up pressure on Starmer, potentially triggering an internal challenge to his leadership of the party and premiership.

Starmer is already under fire for his failure to deliver on his main pledges of his "Change" election manifesto to grow the economy, end the churn and chaos of previous Conservative administrations and tackle illegal immigration, along with his botched appointment of Peter Mandelson as British Ambassador to the United States.

Speculation was mounting that he could face a challenge from an Angela Rayner-Andy Burnham 'ticket' under which former deputy prime minister Rayner, would step in to deliver the party's manifesto before standing aside to let Manchester Mayor Burnham fight the next election, which is due to be held by July 2029 at the latest.

An aide to Rayner, who quit as deputy prime minister in September amid a scandal over underpayment of property taxes on a new home purchase, dismissed the rumors as absurd.

Labour veteran Burnham was blocked by the party from running in a by-election for a Manchester parliamentary seat in February to replace a Labour MP who was standing down. Burnham's request to contest the election was denied by an internal party committee headed by Starmer on grounds he needed to serve out his term as mayor.

Labour went on to lose with the Green Party, beating them into third place with a 4,000-seat majority, and 12 points clear of Reform UK.

In May 2025, a win by Reform UK in an election for the Runcorn and Helsby constituency in northwestern England, another "safe" Labour seat, prompted Reform leader Nigel Farage to declare that Britain's two-party system was "dead."

Read More

• British Deputy MP Angela Rayner resigns over tax scandal
• Greens push ruling Labour Party into 3rd place in key U.K. byelection
• Britain's Labor Party in landslide election win
• U.K. Reform Party leader: Two-party system is 'dead'

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Corruption is Everywhere > Even in the EU Commissioners Office; Another Ukraine military official

 

ING settles Belgian money laundering case for €1.6 Million involving ex-EU Commissioner

ING has agreed to pay 1.6 million euros to settle a Belgian money-laundering investigation involving former European Commissioner Didier Reynders, the Brussels public prosecutor’s office said Tuesday.

The settlement follows a complaint filed by Belgium’s central bank in April 2025 against ING’s Belgian branch for possible complicity in money laundering.

According to Belgian newspaper De Morgen, Reynders deposited nearly 700,000 euros in cash into his ING Belgium account between 2008 and 2018.

• EU moves to tighten crackdown on VAT fraud worth up to €32.8 billion a year

That probe focused on 245 cash deposits and 779 e-Lotto transfers, totaling more than 1 million euros. Prosecutors investigated why the bank failed to report suspicious activity by Reynders earlier.

The bank questioned him about the deposits in 2018 but did not file a report until 2023 with the Cel voor Financiële Informatieverwerking, Belgium’s financial intelligence unit that receives suspicious transaction reports from banks.

Ex-Ukrainian draft chief suspected of $1 million corruption

Police have reported a sweeping crackdown on former officials accused of profiting from mobilization

Published 5 May, 2026 11:03 | Updated 5 May, 2026 12:05

A car being evacuated as part of a crackdown on Ukrainian draft officials suspected of corruption. ©  Telegram / National police of Ukraine

A former Ukrainian military official who led a regional conscription office in Odessa is suspected of illegally accumulating around $1 million in wealth while in office.

Corruption, long seen as a systemic issue in Ukraine, has intensified public frustration surrounding the country’s obligatory mobilization campaign, with widespread claims of some officials taking bribes from men seeking to evade military service.

The unnamed suspect’s case was highlighted by the national police on Monday as part of a wider investigation into alleged abuses within the conscription system. The authorities said several serving and former senior draft officials are under scrutiny, with assets believed to be of dubious origin being confiscated.

According to police, property worth more than $2 million that had not been properly declared was targeted. Seized items reportedly include Tesla vehicles, large sums of cash, gold coins, and other valuables. In total, 44 searches were carried out nationwide.

Czech golden coins seized by Ukrainian police in an anti-corruption probe. ©  Telegram / National police of Ukraine

Ukraine depends on compulsory military service to replenish its frontline forces in the conflict with Russia, with numerous videos circulating online showing recruitment officers forcibly detaining men of fighting age. The Defense Ministry is reportedly considering reforms as incidents of resistance, including violent confrontations with officials, become more frequent. Critics argue the military may be attempting to shift public anger onto civilian authorities by assigning enforcement responsibilities to the police.

Bank notes laid out by Ukrainian police in an anti-corruption probe. ©  Telegram / National police of Ukraine

The controversial mobilization system has been linked to organized crime. In a recent high-profile case in Odessa, the authorities said they busted a group of draft officials allegedly operating as a kidnapping ring. The suspects were accused of using insider police information to identify affluent targets, abduct them, and demand ransom for their release, threatening to send them to the front line otherwise.

Politics in Europe > Romania's pro-EU government collapses spectacularly

 

Key NATO member’s pro-EU government falls

Romanian lawmakers have voted overwhelmingly to oust Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan, toppling his cabinet

Published 5 May, 2026 17:00 | Updated 5 May, 2026 18:05

Romanian Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan addresses a parliament session ahead of a no confidence vote on May 5, 2026. ©  AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda

Romania’s ruling pro-EU coalition collapsed on Tuesday after Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan was ousted in a no-confidence motion in the country's parliament. The defeat follows months of tensions over austerity measures as Bucharest struggles with the highest budget deficit in the EU.

The motion passed 281-4 after a debate on a joint effort launched by the left-wing Social Democratic Party (PSD), which withdrew from the governing coalition late last month, and the right-wing opposition Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) party.

Bolojan called the motion “cynical and artificial” during the parliamentary debate, insisting that he took “urgent and necessary” measures to address the country’s economic crisis.

Critics, however, have argued that after ten months in power, Bolojan and the four-party pro-EU government failed to bring any real improvements for citizens. AUR leader George Simion celebrated the vote, writing on social media that Romanians had only “received taxes, war and poverty” under the government and called for snap elections, which are, however, considered unlikely before 2028.

Why is Romania's politics so unstable

The current government and the four-party coalition were set up in June 2025 by President Nicusor Dan after winning a controversial election rerun that critics argue was orchestrated to keep anti-European forces out of power and appease EU and NATO interest groups.

READ MORE: NATO state’s leader booed for support of Kiev (VIDEO)

Romania hosts one of NATO's largest regional airbases at Mihail Kogalniceanu near the Black Sea which is currently being expanded to become the bloc’s biggest airbase in Europe. Meanwhile, the country has also become a significant market for Western European exports and a source of cheaper labour for EU-based companies.

Annulment of Georgescu’s victory

The initial election round, held in December 2024, was won by independent anti-NATO and anti-EU candidate Calin Georgescu who advocated for restoring Romania’s sovereignty and opposed the EU’s confrontational stance towards Russia.

READ MORE: Romania’s stolen elections were only the start: Inside the EU’s war on democracy

However, Romania’s Constitutional Court, under pressure from Brussels, infamously overturned the result, citing an alleged Russian TikTok interference campaign. While no evidence was ever provided for the accusations, TikTok has testified that it saw no coordinated Russian operation boosting Georgescu but constantly received demands from EU-funded NGOs to remove content supporting the nationalist candidate.

Georgescu was later detained, charged with incitement against the constitutional order, and barred from running in the 2025 rerun. The charges were subsequently reduced to charges of promoting “far-right propaganda.”

The EU’s democratic backsliding

The treatment of Georgescu has been widely criticized, including in the US, where the House Judiciary Committee concluded in February that Brussels had used unproven Russian interference claims to overturn the 2024 election results. The committee’s report described the move as “the most aggressive censorship steps” taken by the EU in recent years.

US Vice President J.D. Vance told the Munich Security Conference in February 2025 that it was “ugly” to see a politician with an alternative viewpoint being blocked from power and accused Europe of backsliding on the most fundamental democratic values.

Georgescu himself has argued that his victory was overturned by the “globalist mafia” because NATO intends to “launch World War III from Romania” and was opposed to his campaign focused on peace.

What happens next

President Dan is expected to begin consultations with party leaders to form a new government as Romania faces an August deadline to complete reforms and unlock around €11 billion in EU funding while a credit rating downgrade remains a risk, according to Politico.