Pig Ignorant: Spanish PM Ridiculed for Mixing Up His Hams

THE GUARDIAN: Pedro Sánchez confuses prized jamón ibérico for plain old jamón serrano in ‘serious error’

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has confused jamón ibérico, the prized Spanish ham, with run-of-the-mill jamón serrano in a gaffe on a par with a French politician referring to a fine burgundy as plonk.

Speaking at the centuries-old livestock fair in Zafra in Extremadura, western Spain, Sánchez left his audience open-mouthed when he told them “you can be sure that when the Chinese president visited Spain he would have been served a plate of jamón serrano from Extremadura”.

Extremadura is the cradle of jamón ibérico, a delicacy capable of throwing Spaniards of all political persuasions into a gastronomic swoon. The local farmers’ association said it had dispatched some to Madrid to educate Sánchez, lest he once again cast his swine before pearls. » | Stephen Burgen in Barcelona | Friday, October 4, 2019

MbS' Words on Khashoggi ‘An Empty Gesture’ – George Galloway

Turkish President Recep Erdogan wrote in a recent op-ed that the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi is the most influential and controversial incident of the 21st century, barring the September 11, 2011 attacks. Khashoggi’s one-year death anniversary falls on Wednesday. Former UK MP George Galloway, Khashoggi’s close friend, weighs in.

Johnson Will Write to EU Requesting Article 50 Extension, Court Told

THE GUARDIAN: Government pledge appears to contradict claim Brexit will happen on 31 October

The UK government has promised a court that Boris Johnson will send a letter to the EU seeking an extension to article 50 as required by the Benn act.

The undertaking appears to contradict the prime minister’s statements the UK will leave the EU on 31 October regardless and unattributed claims from Downing Street that he will find a way to sidestep the act.

The pledge has been given in legal papers submitted to the court of session in Edinburgh after anti-Brexit campaigners began legal action to force Johnson to uphold the act’s requirements. » | Severin Carrell and Heather Stewart | Friday, October 4, 2019

The Debate: How Nasty Will It Get? Trump Impeachment Probe Opens in Run-up to 2020 Campaign

EU Parliament: Boris Johnson Brexit Plan Not Remotely Acceptable

THE GUARDIAN: Leading MEP says it is ‘nearly impossible’ to see how Irish border plan can be basis of deal

The European parliament has told Boris Johnson that his proposals for the Irish border do not “even remotely” amount to an acceptable deal for the EU, in comments echoed by Ireland’s deputy prime minister.

The committee of MEPs representing the parliament’s views on Brexit said the prime minister’s proposals could not form the basis for an agreement, describing them as a “last-minute” effort. The European parliament will have a veto on any withdrawal agreement.

“Safeguarding peace and stability on the island of Ireland, protection of citizens and EU’s legal order has to be the main focus of any deal,” it said in a statement. “The UK proposals do not match even remotely what was agreed as a sufficient compromise in the backstop.”

Simon Coveney, the Irish foreign minister and deputy to the taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, reiterated those concerns. » | Daniel Boffey in Brussels | Thursday, October 3, 2019

Lung Damage from Vaping Resembles Chemical Burns, Report Says

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Doctors at the Mayo Clinic examined samples of lung tissue from 17 patients, all of which looked as if the people had been exposed to toxic chemicals, the researchers said.

The lung damage in some people who have become ill after vaping nicotine or marijuana products resembles a chemical burn, doctors from the Mayo Clinic reported on Wednesday.

Their findings are based on samples of lung tissue from 17 patients around the country whose biopsy specimens were sent to Mayo to be examined under the microscope by experts in lung pathology. Two samples came from patients who died.

“All 17 of our cases show a pattern of injury in the lung that looks like a toxic chemical exposure, a toxic chemical fume exposure, or a chemical burn injury,” said Dr. Brandon T. Larsen, a surgical pathologist at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz. “To be honest, they look like the kind of change you would expect to see in an unfortunate worker in an industrial accident where a big barrel of toxic chemicals spills, and that person is exposed to toxic fumes and there is a chemical burn in the airways.”

The injuries also look like those seen in people exposed to poisons like mustard gas, a chemical weapon used in World War I, he said. » | Denise Grady | Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Joe: Mike Pompeo Is Shaming Himself and America | Morning Joe | MSNBC

The panel discusses Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's reaction to the Trump Ukraine scandal and to a House committee requesting to interview five State Department officials. Aired on 10/2/19.

Democracy Now! Top US News & World Headlines — October 2, 2019

Trump's Foreign Policy Is For Sale. That Threatens Our National Security

THE GUARDIAN: The president’s efforts to govern in his own self-interest will undermine the world’s faith in our commitments

The Ukraine scandal is not only undermining American democracy – it’s damaging national security. US foreign policy increasingly looks like that of a mafia state, wielded at the behest of, and for the benefit of, one man’s personal interests, and for sale to the highest bidders. This is devastating America’s role in the world.

Trump led an effort – along with other government officials and the president’s personal lawyer – to use the power of the United States to pressure the government of Ukraine to fabricate smears about one of Trump’s domestic political opponents. As the White House admitted in a transcript of Trump’s 25 July call with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Trump asked Zelenskiy for a “favor” – to look into the former vice-president Joe Biden and his son – and said that the US attorney general, Bill Barr, and Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, would help.

At the same time, Trump withheld military assistance to Ukraine – which is fighting a war with Russia – on a timeline that makes it clear that it was part of an attempt to use taxpayer dollars as leverage to get Ukraine to do Trump’s personal bidding. » | Michael H Fuchs | Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Mohammed bin Salman: How Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Rose to Power

BBC: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS, is transforming and modernising a deeply conservative country.

Yet at the same time, he has dragged Saudi Arabia into a war in Yemen, and locked up women’s rights protesters, Islamic clerics and bloggers. He is also widely suspected of being behind the murder of critic Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul a year ago.

So just who is the man they call MBS?

Jeddah, September 2013, and under a blazing Red Sea sun the palace guards stepped aside as our car swept through the reinforced gates. It had taken days to get an audience with the ageing then-Saudi Crown Prince and Defence Minister Salman bin Abdulaziz.

Years earlier, in 2004, Prince Salman had been governor of Riyadh when gunmen ambushed our BBC team, shooting me six times, leaving me for dead and killing my Irish cameraman, Simon Cumbers. I’m told the prince visited me in hospital but I have no recollection since I was in a medically induced coma.

Today Salman is king and in frail health. Even then, in 2013, I noticed he was resting his hand on a walking stick as we sat on ornate gilt chairs in a palace reception room.

His long, solemn face cracked frequently into a smile as he spoke slowly, in English, in a deep, stentorian voice, telling me how much he liked London. » | Frank Gardner | Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Donald Trump 'Suggested Shooting Migrants in the Legs'

BBC: US President Donald Trump suggested shooting migrants in the legs to slow them down, according to a new book.

The book, by two New York Times journalists, says Mr Trump suggested extreme methods of deterring migrants from crossing the southern border.

They included building an electrified, spiked border wall and a snake or alligator-infested moat.

Building a wall on the border with Mexico is one of Mr Trump's main policy objectives.

The construction of the wall has now begun, with the Pentagon allocating $3.6bn (£2.9bn) of military funding towards its development.

The White House has not commented on the latest reports . » | Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Looking Back: Interview with Jamal Khashoggi: 'Saudi Arabia is becoming One-man Rule' | November 16, 2017

Ralph Peters: Trump Must Keep 'Throne' to Avoid Prison

Retired Army Lt. Col. Ralph Peters tells CNN's Anderson Cooper that he thinks if President Donald Trump loses the 2020 election, he could be spending time in court for the rest of his life.

In Blow to Hopes for a Brexit Deal, a Leaked British Plan Is Rejected

THE NEW YORK TIMES: MANCHESTER, England — With time running out for a deal on Brexit, the Irish government and European Union officials have rejected the latest British thinking on how to resolve an impasse over the Irish border, a serious setback to prospects for a breakthrough.

Progress on the border issue is urgent if Britain is to agree with the European Union on the terms of its withdrawal, which is scheduled to take effect at the end of the month. Leaving without an agreement, experts warn, would mean a disorderly, possibly chaotic and damaging rupture. » | Stephen Castle | Tuesday, October 1, 2019

Meghan Sues Mail on Sunday as Harry Launches Attack on Tabloid Press

THE GUARDIAN: Prince compares wife’s treatment to Diana’s as proceedings over private letter are announced

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex has take the unusual decision to sue the publisher of the Mail on Sunday after the newspaper published a handwritten letter she had sent to her estranged father.

The decision came as Prince Harry launched an extraordinary and highly personal attack on the British tabloid press and its treatment of his wife, saying he could no longer be a “silent witness to her private suffering”.

Emphasising his respect for the importance of “objective, truthful reporting”, he accused parts of the media of “waging campaigns against individuals with no thought to the consequences” and compared the treatment of Meghan to coverage of his mother. » | Jim Waterson, Media editor | Tuesday, October 1, 2019

Coming Soon?

Trump’s in luck! Orange seems to be his favourite colour, so he’ll probably feel at home in the jumpsuit. Pity about the WC, though! Gold toilets don’t come as standard!

Would Trump Resign for Nixon-like Immunity?

Could Trump use his presidency as a bargaining tool to keep himself and his children from facing the consequences of their crimes or do the American people want to see Donald Trump impeached and convicted?

Democracy Now! To Impeach or Not to Impeach? Chris Hedges & John Bonifaz Debate What Congress Should Do Next

House Democrats subpoenaed President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani Monday, seeking documents related to his work in Ukraine. Last week, Guliani admitted on television that he had urged the Ukrainian government to investigate Trump’s political rival and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. This comes as House Democrats continue to build their case for impeaching the president, following a whistleblower complaint focused on a phone call in which Trump asked the Ukranian president to do him a “favor” investigating the actions of Democrats, including Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Meanwhile, Trump is continuing to threaten lawmakers who are pushing impeachment, and publicly admitted he is trying to find out the identity of the anonymous whistleblower, in possible violation of whistleblower protection laws. We host a debate on impeachment with John Bonifaz, co-founder and president of Free Speech for People, one of the organizations demanding Trump’s impeachment, and Chris Hedges, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, award-winning author and activist.

Brexit: Could Scotland Back Independence to Stay in the EU? – BBC Newsnight

Newsnight explores how #Brexit could impact the union between Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Egypt Protests Continue Despite Government Repression

Angela Joya discusses the return of demonstrations in Egypt against President Al-Sisi. After thousands were arrested and police brutality was unleashed at the protesters, the demonstrations only grow larger.