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Conservative MP Bob Stewart has said he made “a mistake” after he was caught on video telling a human rights activist to “go back to Bahrain”.

In video footage obtained by Sky News, Sayed Alwadaei, the director of the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (Bird), confronts the veteran Tory MP outside a reception hosted by the Bahraini embassy.

“How much did you sell yourself to the Bahraini regime?” Mr Alwadaei asks, referring to a trip paid for by the Bahraini government ahead of its elections.

In response, Mr Stewart says: “Get stuffed. Bahrain’s a great place. End of.”

Mr Alwadaei adds: “You were paid by them recently.”

Mr Stewart replies: “Go away, I hate you. You make a lot of fuss. Go back to Bahrain.”

Asked “how much did you sell yourself to the Bahraini regime” once more by Mr Alwadaei, Mr Stewart says: “I didn’t, now you shut up you stupid man.”

When Mr Alwadaei asks again, “how much”, Mr Stewart replies: “You’re taking money off my country, go away!”

Mr Stewart told Sky News he is “not racist”.

Admitting the footage was of himself, the MP for Beckenham told Sky News: “I was goaded into a response, a mistake on my part. I’m not [taking money], never have been.”

Mr Stewart added: “It’s a lovely country, I’m chair of the All Party Country Group. I’ve watched it become an extremely nice place to live.”

He also stressed that he had “never taken a personal penny” from the authorities in Bahrain for his role as chair of the APPG.

Mr Stewart continued: “I’m not racist, it really hurts, I lived in the middle east.”

‘I don’t believe I would have been told to ‘go back’ if it weren’t for the colour of my skin’

The MP for Beckenham is a former British Army officer who was stationed in Bahrain in 1969.

Parliamentary records show Mr Stewart registered flights, accommodation and meals worth £5,349 during a four-day trip to Bahrain in November last year paid for by its ministry of foreign affairs.

A separate entry covered by the Bahraini government shows another trip to visit an air show and meet its foreign minister being worth £1,245.56.

Mr Alwadaei has complained to the Parliamentary Commission for Standards and Chairman of the Conservative Party, Nadhim Zahawi, about Mr Stewart’s conduct.

He is also seeking legal advice to submit a complaint before the police.

“I don’t believe I would have been told to ‘go back’ to the country that violently tortured me if it weren’t for the colour of my skin,” he said in a statement.

“No one should be subjected to racial abuse, particularly for holding an MP to account for accepting lavish gifts from one of the world’s most repressive regimes.

“Stewart is acting as a mouthpiece by publicly denying its notorious and extensively documented human rights abuses, abuses which have been condemned by the United Nations.”

Mr Alwadaei says he was imprisoned and tortured for taking part in a pro-democracy uprising in 2011 and that after being sentenced he sought political asylum in the UK in 2012.

He says his Bahraini citizenship was revoked after a protest against King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa’s presence at the Royal Windsor horse show in 2013.

A Conservative party spokesperson said: “We have an established code of conduct and formal processes where complaints can be made in confidence. This process is rightly confidential.”

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’12 people’ injured in stabbing at Hamburg train station – as woman arrested

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'12 people' injured in stabbing at Hamburg train station - as woman arrested

A woman has been arrested after 12 people were reportedly injured in a stabbing at Hamburg’s central train station in Germany.

An attacker armed with a knife targeted people on the platform between tracks 13 and 14, according to police.

They added that the suspect was a 39-year-old woman.

Police at the scene of a stabbing at Hamburg Central Station. Pic: AP
Image:
Police at the scene. Pic: AP

Officers said they “believe she acted alone” and investigations into the stabbing are continuing.

There was no immediate information on a possible motive.

The fire service said six of the injured were in a life-threatening condition, three others were seriously hurt, and another three sustained minor injuries, news agency dpa reported.

The attack happened shortly after 6pm local time (5pm UK time) on Friday in front of a waiting train, regional public broadcaster NDR reported.

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A high-speed ICE train with its doors open could be seen at the platform after the incident.

Railway operator Deutsche Bahn said it was “deeply shocked” by what had happened.

Read more from Sky News:
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Mum of emaciated Gazan baby: ‘I don’t want to lose her’

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Four tracks at the station were closed in the evening, and some long-distance trains were delayed or diverted.

Hamburg is Germany‘s second biggest city, with the train station being a hub for local, regional and long-distance trains.

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Mum of emaciated baby in Gaza says ‘I lost my husband… I don’t want to lose her’

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Mum of emaciated baby in Gaza says 'I lost my husband... I don't want to lose her'

In mid-May, the World Health Organisation assessed that there were “nearly half a million people in a catastrophic situation of hunger, acute malnutrition, starvation, illness and death”.

“This is one of the world’s worst hunger crises, unfolding in real time,” its report concluded.

Warning: This article contains images of an emaciated child which some readers may find distressing

Israel‘s decision this week to reverse the siege and allow “a basic level of aid” into Gaza should help ease the immediate crisis.

But the number of aid trucks getting in, so far fewer than 100 per day, is considered dramatically too few by aid organisations working in Gaza, and the United Nations accuses Israel of continuing to block vital items.

Israel-Gaza latest: Gaza enduring ‘atrocious death and destruction’, UN boss warns

“Strict quotas are being imposed on the goods we distribute, along with unnecessary delay procedures,” said UN secretary general Antonio Guterres in New York on Friday.

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“Essentials, including fuel, shelter, cooking gas and water purification supplies, are prohibited. Nothing has reached the besieged north.”

Nineteen of Gaza’s hospitals remain operational, all of them are overwhelmed with the number of patients and a lack of supplies.

Baby Aya at the Rantisi hospital in northern Gaza
Image:
Baby Aya at Rantisi hospital in northern Gaza is dangerously thin

“Today, we receive between 300 to 500 cases daily, with approximately 10% requiring admission. This volume of inpatient cases far exceeds the capacity of Rantisi hospital, as the facility is not equipped to accommodate such large numbers,” Jall al Barawi, a doctor at the hospital, told us.

At least 94% of the hospitals have sustained some damage, some considerable, according to the UN.

Jall al Barawi, a doctor at Rantisi hospital
Image:
Jall al Barawi, a doctor at Rantisi hospital

Paramedic crews are close to running out of fuel to drive ambulances.

The lack of food, after an 11-week blockade, has left thousands malnourished and increasingly vulnerable to surviving injuries or recovering from other conditions.

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Children are the worst affected.

Our team in Gaza filmed with baby Aya at the Rantisi hospital in northern Gaza. She is now three months old and dangerously thin.

Her skin stretches over her cheekbones and eye sockets on her gaunt, pale face. Her nappy is too big for her emaciated little body.

Aya's nappy is too big for her emaciated little body.
Image:
Aya’s nappy is too big for her emaciated little body.

Lethal spiral

Her mother Sundush, who is only 19 herself, cannot get enough food to produce breastmilk. Baby formula is scarce.

Aya, like so many other young children, cannot get the vital nutrition she needs to grow and develop.

It’s a lethal spiral.

This is what Aya looked like shortly after she was born
Image:
This is what Aya looked like shortly after she was born

“My daughter was born at a normal weight, 3.5kg,” Sundush tells us.

“But as the war went on, her weight dropped significantly. I would breastfeed her, she’d get diarrhoea. I tried formula – same result. With the borders closed and no food coming in, I can’t eat enough to give her the nutrients she needs.”

“I brought her to the hospital for treatment, but the care she needs isn’t available.

“The doctor said her condition is very serious. I really don’t want to lose her, because I lost my husband and she’s all I have left of him. I don’t want to lose her.”

Read more:
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Shouts of ‘genocide’ in Commons

Aya and her mother Sundush
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Aya and her mother Sundush

Some of the aid entering Gaza now is being looted. It is hard to know whether that is by Hamas or desperate civilians. Maybe a combination of the two.

The lack of aid creates an atmosphere of desperation, which eventually leads to a breakdown in security as everyone fights to secure food for themselves and their families.

Only by alleviating the desperation can the security situation improve, and the risk of famine abate.

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Police launch ‘major operation’ after 12 people injured in knife attack at Hamburg train station

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Police launch 'major operation' after 12 people injured in knife attack at Hamburg train station

Twelve people are reported to have been injured after a knife attack at Hamburg’s central train station.

A “major operation” has been launched and a suspect was arrested, police said in a post on X.

The identity of the suspect has not been revealed.

Reports in Germany said the suspected attacker was a woman.

The fire service said six of the injured were in a life-threatening condition, three others were seriously hurt, and another three sustained minor injuries, news agency dpa reported.

Bild newspaper said the motive for the attack was so far unknown.

Hamburg is Germany’s second biggest city, with the train station being a hub for local, regional and long-distance trains.

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