U.K. PM Theresa May is being pilloried for her weak objection to President Donald Trump’s refugee and immigrant ban.
As I mentioned yesterday, May took her time in responding to the executive order Trump signed on Friday, at first saying the U.S. alone is responsible for its refugee policy and later stating her disagreement with the ban.
May’s flimsy answer to Trump’s ban simmered on the surface over the weekend, but Brits sprang into action over it yesterday. Thousands of protestors gathered outside 10 Downing Street in London chanting, “Shame on May.” The demonstrations reportedly brought Whitehall and Westminster—centers of U.K. government—to a standstill.
Meanwhile, a petition urging the government to withdraw the invitation it had extended to Trump for a state visit accumulated more than 1.5 million signatures. It said that an official state visit from Trump, which includes dinner with the queen, would “embarrass” Her Majesty. The petition received 15 times the signatures needed to trigger a Parliamentary debate so lawmakers called an emergency forum on Monday afternoon.
At the debate, MPs unanimously passed an emergency motion to call for the repeal of Trump’s ban that the body deemed discriminatory, divisive, and counterproductive. Discussion among the lawmakers centered on the harmful effects of Trump’s new policy, but May was not spared from critique. At one point, Labour MP Ed Miliband quoted German Chancellor Angela Merkel who said on Monday that “the necessary and decisive fight against terrorism does not justify a general suspicion against people of a certain belief.”
Another MP stood to share his “disappointment” that “the statesmanship that’s been shown by Chancellor Merkel wasn’t shown in our name by our prime minister this weekend.”
EUROPE/MIDDLE EAST/AFRICA
THE AMERICAS
Not convinced Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, a holdover from the Obama administration, took a stand yesterday in ordering the Justice Department not to defend Trump’s immigration ban in court. Yates said she was responsible for ensuring that the department's stances in court are consistent with "always seek[ing] justice and stand[ing] up for what is right," and she wasn't convinced the ban is lawful or consistent with that duty. Her decision was largely symbolic since Trump's AG nominee Jeff Sessions is likely to be confirmed soon. Trump fired her for the move last night. Fortune
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Forecasting a change In a Facebook live discussion, meteorologists from American broadcast networks urged the public to retire the term "weather girl." "Women on television can also be scientists. It's that simple," Ginger Zee, chief meteorologist for ABC News, said during the episode. Fortune
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ASIA-PACIFIC
Getting to work It used to be that only certain Japanese households like those of foreign diplomats were allowed to employ foreign housekeepers, but PM Shinzo Abe's administration deregulated the market in 2015 with the hope that additional domestic help would prompt more Japanese women to work. The foreign housekeepers Japan only recently welcomed will start work as early as March. The domestic helpers, mainly from the Philippines, will arrive in Japan next month for training. Japan Today