CURRENT AFFAIRS: British MPs rejected possible UK military action in Syria

British MPs on Thursday August 29 2013 rejected possible UK military action in Syria, which almost guarantee that Britain plays no direct role in any U.S. attack on Bashar Assad's government.

A government motion was defeated by 285 to 272, a majority of 13 votes.
British PM David Cameron stated after the vote that "the British Parliament, reflecting the views of the British people, does not want to see British military action."
Meanwhile, the US said it would "continue to consult" with London, "one of our closest allies and friends". White House issued a statement that reads "President Obama's decision-making will be guided by what is in the best interests of the United States."

It added that Mr Obama "believes that there are core interests at stake for the United States and that countries who violate international norms regarding chemical weapons need to be held accountable".
Obama administration officials on Thursday told a group of US lawmakers in a conference call that "it is beyond a doubt that chemical weapons were used, and used intentionally by the Assad regime," said Eliot Engel, the senior Democratic member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: ….Obama Praises Luther King, Says His ‘Dream’ Still to Be Fulfilled

The US President Barack Obama praised Martin Luther King Jr. on August 28, 2013, Wednesday, for saving America from oppression. America's first black president also pointed out that "constant vigilance" was needed to keep the civil rights icon's dream of equality alive.

Fifty years after the "I have a dream speech," the 44th American President stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, where King made an appearance in 1963 which changed American history.

"He offered a salvation path for oppressed and oppressors alike. His words belong to the ages, possessing a power and prophecy unmatched in our time," Obama said.

The US leader also remembered the thousands of African Americans who joined King's March on Washington to demand their rights and to wake their country's "long slumbering conscience."

Barack Obama, who has faced some criticism for not doing more to help the African American community, which remains plagued by poverty and barriers to advancement, dismissed arguments that little had changed for blacks since King spoke.

"To dismiss the magnitude of this progress, to suggest, as some sometimes do, that little has changed - that dishonors the courage and the sacrifice of those who paid the price to march in those years," he said.

But he also argued that much work remained to be done for King's dream to be fulfilled.

"We would dishonor those heroes as well to suggest that the work of this nation is somehow complete.

"The arc of the moral universe may bend towards justice, but it doesn't bend on its own.

"To secure the gains this country has made requires constant vigilance, not complacency," Obama said.

The president was joined at the ceremony on the National Mall in the center of Washington by former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.

Carter bemoaned the "racist bullet" that claimed King's life in 1968.

Clinton said that it was time to open the "stubborn gates" barring wider opportunity.

"The choice remains as it was on that distant summer day 50 years ago. Cooperate and thrive or fight with each other and fall behind."