British members of parliament have voted to allow Britain’s military to join air strikes against Islamic State targets in Syria. After more than ten hours of impassioned debate, 397 MPs voted in favor of the motion, a majority of 174. The foreign minister Phillip Hammond welcomed the result. “I’m very pleased that significant number of Labor MPs voted with the government tonight, so that we’ve got a clear majority across the House of Commons in support of the action, and now we are going to be taking to degree this evil terrorist organization. Britain is safer tonight because of the decision that the House of Commons has taken.” As the results came through, there were angry protests outside parliament. Nearly a third of MPs from the opposition Labor Party supported the government motion.
Meanwhile President Obama has welcomed the vote as Barbara Plett Usher reports from Washington. “President Obama highlighted the special relationship between the two countries, he called the UK one of America’s most valued partners in the fight against Islamic State, and said the US would work quickly to integrate British forces into the air war over Syria. But in Washington, there is also skepticism about the President strategy. The Republican Senator John Mccain is urging the deployment of more ground troops to defeat Islamic State. He said it was good to have a show of support from Britain, but suggest this would be a total contribution that would significantly affect the outcome of the conflict.”
Two pairs of British Tornado fighter jets have taken off from the royal air force base of Akrotiri in Cyprus, defense ministry officials have not confirmed that the jets are heading for Syria. But correspondence over air force which is already conducting operations against IS in Iraq, has been preparing for months to extend its flights to Syria.
Police in California say at least 14 people have been killed in a mass shooting. Seventeen were also injured in the attack at a social service center in San Bernardino. The attackers wearing military staff clothing and armed with long guns opened fire at the center which helps adults with disabilities. A short time after what local police chief Jerrod Burguan told reporters the police exchange fire with suspects inside a vehicle in a nearby residential area killing two people. “We have two suspects that are dead after seeing.
We have one police officer that was wounded, he has injuries that are not considered to be life threatening and he is at a local hospital. The suspects that are dead after seeing, one is a male, one is a female. They were dressed in kind of sort of style clothing, I think it is probably the best wayto clothing. They were both armed with the sort of rifles, they were both armed with hand guns, we have taken a very cautious approach to dealing with the vehicles in case there is more explosives there.”
The speaker of the Brazilian congress has announced he’ll begin impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff. Eduardo Cunha said he was opening the process based on allegations that Ms. Rousseff broke the law in the management of last year’s budget. Following the announcement,the president said she was outraged towards the decision and was confident the motion would be defeated in the Lower House.
The Australian government says it’s refining the underwater search area for the missing Malaysian airline MH370 which has disappeared last year with 239 people on board. If nothing has been found by the middle of next year, the search is likely to be called off. From Sydney more details from JonDonnison.“Twenty one months of hunting and still no certainty about whereMH370 went down. But in its latest report, the Australian government says it still believes it’s looking in the right place, an area of southern Indian Ocean,around 2000kms of the coast of Perth. The underwater search zone has only been narrowed down to an area that just short to a hundred thousand square kilometers,that’s the around 60 times the size of London. Half of that area has already been searched, the rest should be completed by June, 2016.” John Donnison.
A report by the UN atomic watchdog the IAEA has reviewed that Iran was carrying out activities relevant to developing nuclear weapons until at least the end of 2003. But the report adds that Iran ran no further than planning and testing basic components.
Twenty six Italian track and field athletes have been accused of evading drug tests. The claims have been made about the country’s National Olympic Committee following a police investigation. It won’t sent them to be banned for two years. Five of the athletes have already qualified for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro next year, others have retired. BBC world news.
