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Blesma Channel Swimmers win People’s Choice Award at Soldiering On Awards

Thousands of people voted in The People’s Choice Award category of the Soldiering On Awards, held on Friday 22 April in London, making the Blesma Channel Swim team the winners.

The all-amputee team, Steve White, Jamie Gillespie, Craig Howorth and Conrad Thorpe completed the crossing in September 2014 in just over 12 hours raising around £4,000 for Blesma and setting the record for the first all-amputee team to cross the Channel. They adhered to the Official Channel Swimming Association (CSA) rules which include not wearing wetsuits in water temperatures that average at 18°C for September. They did not wear their prosthetic legs out of choice.

: Bryony Stevens; International Security, Safety & Strategic Defence; Posted On Tuesday, 26 April 2016 12:23

UN Secretary-General expresses doubts over two-state solution in Middle East

[Israeli first responders transport the wounded after an assailant rammed his car into a bus stop in an ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem neighbourhood. Photo: <a href=http://bit.ly/1PvrtnC>Oren Ziv/IRIN</a>]

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has warned that a two-state solution, which envisages peaceful co-existence of Palestine and Israel, seems more distant than it has for many decades, citing the ongoing violence, Israel's settlement activity and demolitions of Palestinian homes, and the absence of Palestinian unity.

: The Editorial Team; International Security, Safety & Strategic Defence; Posted On Monday, 25 April 2016 06:57

Marine Environment Protection Committee meets

IMO's Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) met last wek for its 69th session (18-22 April). Among the items on a busy agenda, the MEPC considered the implementation of the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments, which is close to reaching entry into force criteria. There will be further work on the energy efficiency of international shipping, including the development of the data collection system for ships' fuel consumption.

: The Editorial Team; International Security, Safety & Strategic Defence; Posted On Monday, 25 April 2016 06:54

Hammond urges Taliban to end violence against civilians

The Rt Hon Philip Hammond MP

Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond last week condemned the appalling attack in Kabul against soft targets and extended his condolences and sympathies to the families and friends of those killed and injured in Kabul, adding by rejecting the opportunity to enter peace talks and instead targeting innocent civilians, the Taliban had demonstrated their total disregard for the Afghan people.