Tag Archives: WorldNews

Boris Johnson plans customs sites for Irish border, reports claim

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RTE cites leaked proposals for clearance areas 5-10 miles from border and real-time tracking of goods

Boris Johnson’s secret plans to solve the Irish border Brexit challenge involve customs sites on both sides of the border and real-time tracking devices on lorries, it has been reported.

The ideas, which mark a departure from his promise not to put infrastructure on the border, are part of four unofficial papers submitted by the UK to Brussels by Johnson’s team.

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Trump acts as if he is above the law. The law has begun to fight back | Sarah Churchwell

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Democrats waited for their moment and, when the president started to believe he was secure, they struck. Will his complacency fell him?

Nancy Pelosi’s decision to begin a formal impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump, following reports that he used the power of his office to solicit interference by a foreign government in the 2020 US election, makes him only the fourth president in US history to have this notable distinction, with Bill Clinton in 1998, Richard Nixon in 1973 and Andrew Johnson in 1868. The picture changes by the hour, but the main story concerns Trump’s apparent offer to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to unfreeze $40m in (Congress-approved) military aid if he would investigate Joe Biden, the current frontrunner in the Democratic primaries.

The conversation so shocked a member of the intelligence community that they filed an official whistleblower complaint. The White House then appears to have engaged in a cover-up, in part by keeping these conversations from officials who would normally have access to them, as well as allegedly moving the transcript of the call to a secret computer system (the Presidential Records Act of 1978, passed in response to the Watergate scandal, mandates that all presidential records must be officially preserved).

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MPs of all parties must unite to rein in this reckless, divisive government | John Major

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I fear Boris Johnson will use political chicanery to bypass the anti-no-deal Brexit law. Time for parliament to show its strength

At the moment, our country is more unsettled, more divided, than I can ever recall. Ministers assure us they are moving towards a deal. The European Union tells us they are not – because no new or viable proposals have been put forward by the British government. The prime minister tells us he wishes to have a deal with Europe. But we don’t see him sitting down in Brussels, hammering out an agreement.

Related: Tory moderates may have to fight to get their party back | Gaby Hinsliff

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PM Boris Johnson referred to police watchdog over Jennifer Arcuri allegations

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Case involves possible conflict of interest when Boris Johnson was mayor of London

Boris Johnson has been formally referred for potential investigation into whether he committed the criminal offence of misconduct in public office, over allegations about a conflict of interest with a US businesswoman while he was mayor of London.

An official from the Greater London Authority, the city’s devolved government, has written to the prime minister noting claims he had “on more than one occasion” used his position as mayor to “benefit and reward” Jennifer Arcuri, a tech entrepreneur.

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‘We have made history’: Mexico’s Oaxaca state decriminalises abortion

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Lawmakers voted to scrap restrictions on abortion during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy in a win for reproductive rights advocates

Women’s rights activists in Mexico are celebrating after the southern state of Oaxaca decriminalised abortion in a move that activists hope signals broader reforms to ensure reproductive rights in what is still a conservative and deeply Catholic country.

Lawmakers voted 24-10 on Wednesday to scrap restrictions on abortion during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, despite vocal opposition from the Catholic Church. Opponents – including priests and the religious – screamed “killers!” at the lawmakers as the vote occurred, while women in the green handkerchiefs of the pro-choice movement chanted, “Yes we can!”

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Imran Khan warns of potential nuclear war in Kashmir

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Pakistan PM says he has tried to tell world leaders of growing risk of conflict with India over disputed region

Pakistan’s prime minister, Imran Khan, has said he has been trying to raise the alarm at the United Nations this week about the danger of a nuclear war breaking out over Kashmir.

India and Pakistan came close to a conflict in February when India bombed Pakistani territory for the first time in a half century and warplanes from both countries fought a dogfight over the divided region.

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The struggle for equality is real. The ‘woke police’ are a myth | Afua Hirsch

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How ironic that the rightwing culture warriors claim to support free speech. They seem to want minorities to shut up and stop complaining

There’s a lot of talk these days about new political tribes, so allow me to introduce another one: the “anti-woke”. The first curious thing to note about members of this group is that they define themselves in opposition to an identity that doesn’t actually exist. They are anti-woke, even though there is no “woke”.

Woke – a term once used by African Americans to denote people who were alert to racism and social injustice – has been retired. As is often the case with black innovations, overuse by the white mainstream killed off its authenticity. Today, the person using the word is likely to be a rightwing culture warrior angry at a phenomenon that lives mainly in their imagination.

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Combatting Disease: The Advance of Designer Viruses in Agriculture

Remember the story about the Greek who flew too close to the sun? How about the ecological disasters that Australians brought on themselves time after time? When men think they can outsmart nature, run for the doors as fast as you can and shut them down. They nearly always fail. Pesticides create new “pests!” Scientists believe designer viruses created in the laboratory can help the agricultural industry deal with pathogens and extreme weather. A vast experiment is currently being planned. But can the viruses be controlled?