Sunday, October 06, 2019
Saturday, October 05, 2019
‘We Cannot Change What We Are’: Michel Barnier Stares Down Tory Threats
As the Brexit pressure ratchets up another notch, Michel Barnier appears everything most of the current British government is not: clear, calm, precise – and logical to a fault.
“I promised myself from the start,” the EU’s silver-haired, grey-suited chief negotiator told a packed theatre near the Gare du Nord in Paris on Saturday, “that I would not allow passion or emotion into my approach to Brexit.
“I work on facts, on figures. On what is legal and operable. My obligation is to defend, calmly and firmly, the interests of the European Union, of its citizens, its companies, its regions … And in leaving, the UK cannot ask us to change what we are.” » | Toby Helm and Jon Henley | Saturday, October 5, 2019
THE OBSERVER: Michel Barnier: blame Boris Johnson for a no-deal Brexit » | Saturday, October 5, 2019
China Calls It Re-education, But Uighur Muslims Say It's 'Unbearable Brutality'
US Immigrants Will Be Denied Entry If They Can't Afford Health Care
Immigrants applying for US visas will be denied entry into the country unless they can prove they can afford health care within 30 days of entering or can’t pay for it themselves, according to a proclamation signed by President Trump.
The new rule, which comes into force on 3 November, will be applied to people seeking immigrant visas, not those in the US already. It does not apply to those seeking asylum seekers, refugees or children.
But it would apply to the spouses and parents of US citizens. That could have an impact on families who are trying to bring their parents to the US.
The proclamation said immigrants will be barred from entering the country unless they are to be covered by health insurance within 30 days of entering or have enough financial resources to pay for any medical costs. » | Agencies | Saturday, October 5, 2019
Thatcher Sent Pinochet Finest Scotch During Former Dictator's UK House Arrest
While he was under house arrest in Surrey in 1999, the former Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet received a fine malt from an old friend.
“Scotch is one British institution that will never let you down,” read the accompanying note from its sender: the former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher.
The detail, revealed this week in the third volume of Charles Moore’s biography of Baroness Thatcher, adds further colour to the close relationship between Thatcher and the man responsible for the death of more than 2,000 people and the torture of many more.
Thatcher was appalled that the Labour government had allowed the arrest of Pinochet while he was in London for medical treatment, overriding his diplomatic immunity. » | Matt Youkee in Santiago | Friday, October 4, 2019
Friday, October 04, 2019
The Guardian View on Donald Trump: An Abuser of His Office
Until very recently indeed, the idea that the president of the United States might stand outside the White House and call on Communist China to investigate one of his presidential challengers would not merely have seemed far-fetched. It would also have seemed unpatriotic (presidents don’t involve foreign powers in domestic politics), unprincipled (this is the same China with which he is fighting a trade war and which may soon crack down on Hong Kong democracy protests), illegal (US law bans attempts to solicit foreign assistance to fight American elections), and a breach of his oath of office (in which he promises to protect and defend the constitution). It [sic] short, such a thing was unthinkable.
It is a mark of Donald Trump’s ability to trash the rules of domestic and international politics, and make up an entire new set of his own, that the unthinkable happened this week without causing much more than a weary collective shake of the American head. Speaking on live television outside the White House on Thursday, Mr Trump openly solicited America’s greatest international rival to help him get re-elected. Next year, Mr Trump may face a presidential contest against Joe Biden, the former vice-president, whose son Hunter – like Donald Trump Jr, as it happens – is a businessman and lobbyist with overseas interests. This week Mr Trump said: “China should start an investigation into the Bidens.” » | Editorial | Friday, October 4, 2019
Hong Kong Protesters Attack Metro Stations after Face Mask Ban
THE GUARDIAN: Violence grips Hong Kong as Lam activates emergency powers » | Emma Graham-Harrison in Hong Kong | Friday, October 4, 2019
Prince Harry Launches Phone-hacking Case against Sun and Mirror Owners
Prince Harry has issued legal proceedings against the owners of the Sun and the Daily Mirror over alleged phone hacking, in an escalation of his all-out war with the British newspaper industry.
The decision follows Harry’s strongly worded attack on the British media’s treatment of his wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.
Buckingham Palace confirmed claims had been filed at the high court regarding alleged illegal interception of voicemail messages. News Group, which published the News of the World until its closure as well as the Sun, confirmed a claim had been issued.
There were no details on the nature of the intended claims but they were filed by Clintons, a law firm that has brought multiple phone-hacking claims in the past and won substantial payouts on behalf of its clients. » | Jim Waterson and Caroline Davies | Friday, October 4, 2019
Is UK's Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Brexit Proposal for the EU Workable? | Inside Story
The EU has already said there are problems - key, is what happens to the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.
There are more talks planned for October 17th - but that's just 10 days before Boris Johnson says leave will mean leave, even if it's against the law as it now stands.
With one eye on a possible general election, UK MPs would have to vote for what he wants, knowing that the EU can ultimately veto the whole thing anyway.
So, is the European Union ready to compromise?
Presenter: Peter Dobbie | Guests: Donnacha Ó Beacháin, Professor of Politics at the School of Law and Government, Dublin City University; Pieter Cleppe, Head of the Brussels Office, Open Europe think tank; Professor Alex De Ruyter, Director of Centre for Brexit Studies at Birmingham City University
Donald Trump demande ouvertement à la Chine d’enquêter sur son rival Joe Biden
Alors que la procédure de destitution à son encontre s’accélère au Congrès, le président américain persiste et signe. Jeudi 3 octobre, Donald Trump a ouvertement appelé la Chine à enquêter sur son rival Joe Biden. « La Chine devrait lancer une enquête sur les Biden parce que ce qui s’est passé en Chine est tout aussi grave que ce qui s’est passé en Ukraine », a déclaré le président devant la presse.
Le président américain est sous la menace d’une mise en accusation(impeachment) après qu’il a demandé à son homologue ukrainien de l’aider à rassembler des informations compromettantes sur Joe Biden, bien placé pour l’affronter dans la présidentielle de 2020.
Martelant que son échange avec Volodymyr Zelensky était « parfait » et sa requête légitime, Donald Trump a franchi un nouveau cap jeudi en déclarant qu’il pourrait « assurément »formuler la même demande auprès du président chinois. Le milliardaire républicain répète à l’envi que Joe Biden et son fils Hunter ont « arnaqué la Chine et l’Ukraine ». » | Le Monde avec AFP | jeudi 3. octobre 2019
Silence Still Surrounds the Murder of My Fiancé, Jamal Khashoggi. Who Will Speak Up?
Exactly one year ago, I stood outside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, waiting for my fiance, Jamal Khashoggi, to come out with the marriage documents we needed to begin our life together. I was optimistic, even excited. Yet I never saw Jamal again.
I did not expect to have my life transformed. I did not expect to have to alert the authorities to Jamal’s disappearance, or to find myself at the centre of a story that would shake the world. I did not expect, on a day that seemed unremarkable, to have my dreams shattered. By necessity I was put on a path, compelled to begin a campaign for justice for the man who was not only stolen from me but also taken away from those who read his work, and who admired him for his courage and his unrelenting commitment to the truth. » | Hatice Cengiz | Wednesday, October 2, 2019
Boris Johnson's Brexit Plan Hangs by Thread as EU Dismisses Weekend Talks
Boris Johnson’s Brexit plans look to be falling apart as the European commission has said there are no grounds to accept a request from the UK for intensive weekend negotiations two weeks before an EU summit.
EU sources said there remained considerable doubt as to whether there was any basis for such discussions, given the British prime minister’s insistence on there being a customs border on the island of Ireland.
Johnson’s chief negotiator, David Frost, along with a team of a dozen British officials, failed to convince their EU counterparts in Brussels on Friday that he had a mandate from Downing Street to compromise on what the EU sees as major flaws in the UK government’s proposals. » | Daniel Boffey and Jennifer Rankin in Brussels | Friday, October 4, 2019
Pig Ignorant: Spanish PM Ridiculed for Mixing Up His Hams
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
Johnson Will Write to EU Requesting Article 50 Extension, Court Told
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
Thursday, October 03, 2019
EU Parliament: Boris Johnson Brexit Plan Not Remotely Acceptable
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 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
Wednesday, October 02, 2019
Joe: Mike Pompeo Is Shaming Himself and America | Morning Joe | MSNBC
Trump's Foreign Policy Is For Sale. That Threatens Our National Security
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
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'
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
Tuesday, October 01, 2019
Ralph Peters: Trump Must Keep 'Throne' to Avoid Prison
In Blow to Hopes for a Brexit Deal, a Leaked British Plan Is Rejected
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
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?
Would Trump Resign for Nixon-like Immunity?
Democracy Now! To Impeach or Not to Impeach? Chris Hedges & John Bonifaz Debate What Congress Should Do Next
Brexit: Could Scotland Back Independence to Stay in the EU? – BBC Newsnight
Egypt Protests Continue Despite Government Repression
Österreich: Ex-FPÖ-Chef Heinz-Christian Strache beendet politische Karriere
Der frühere FPÖ-Vorsitzende Heinz-Christian Strache lässt seine Parteimitgliedschaft ruhen. Das teilte er in einer persönlichen Stellungnahme zwei Tage nach der Wahlniederlage für seine Partei mit. Er werde darüber hinaus "jegliche politische Aktivität einstellen und kein Amt mehr anstreben", um eine Spaltung der FPÖ zu verhindern, sagte der frühere Parteivorsitzende. Strache war im Mai wegen der sogenannten Ibiza-Affäre zurückgetreten. » | Quelle: ZEIT ONLINE, zz | Dienstag, 1. Oktober 2019
The Tories Have Lost Their Ideology. Now They Are Merely the Party of Resentment
What does the Conservative party stand for in 2019? If you survey the central tenets of Tory ideology from the past 50 years, it is hard to find a single one that is still intact.
The party of business is hellbent on undermining access to an export market of half a billion people. The party of law and order is now raging against the judiciary – with senior Tories being regularly asked whether their government intends to obey the law.
The party of “family values” – “back to basics”, as John Major put it – has now fallen for the charms of a famous philanderer, who is currently being dogged by questions about how his “close friend”, Jennifer Arcuri, was awarded £126,000 of grants during his time as London mayor. The party of the establishment is provoking a constitutional crisis, angering the Queen and expelling some of its most distinguished MPs from its benches. » | Tuesday, October 1, 2019
Monday, September 30, 2019
La journée d’hommage à Jacques Chirac en images
La journée a commencé avec les honneurs funèbres militaires donnés par Emmanuel Macron aux Invalides en présence de nombreux corps de l’armée. Ensuite, à midi, Mgr Michel Aupetit, archevêque de Paris, a rendu un service solennel dans l’église Saint-Sulpice, la cathédrale Notre-Dame, où sont traditionnellement rendus les services religieux officiels, étant fermée au public depuis l’incendie du 15 avril 2019.
L’ancien chef de l’Etat a ensuite été enterré au cimetière du Montparnasse dans l’après-midi, en présence de sa famille et de ses proches.
Swedish Navy Returns to Vast Underground HQ amid Russia Fears
Sweden’s navy HQ is returning to a vast underground cold war fortress designed to withstand a nuclear attack, in what has been seen as a defensive move against a resurgent Russia.
After a 25-year absence, the navy will once again be commanded from beneath billions of tonnes of granite as the country strives to build up its defences in response to the perceived threat from Moscow. » | David Crouch in Gothenburg | Monday, September 30, 2019
Saudi Prince Warns Regional War with Iran Could Lead to 'Total Collapse of Global Economy'
Speaking two weeks after Iran allegedly bombed major Saudi oil facilities, and as new footage of the attack surfaced, the kingdom’s de-facto ruler said that a full-scale conflict in the Persian Gulf would cause oil prices to jump to “unimaginably high numbers that we haven't seen in our lifetimes”.
“The political and peaceful solution is much better than the military one,” Crown Prince Mohammed told CBS News. » | Raf Sanchez, Middle East correspondent | Monday, September 30, 2019
Outrage as Trump Suggests Key Democratic Foe Face Arrest for 'Treason'
Donald Trump, already facing impeachment, has provoked fresh outrage by suggesting one of his main political adversaries should be arrested for “treason”.
The US president unleashed a barrage of tweets littered with false claims, incendiary language and a refusal to acknowledge wrongdoing in a July phone call with the president of Ukraine.
Trump singled out Adam Schiff, the Democratic chair of the House intelligence committee, who has been criticised for his opening statement at a hearing last week in which he parodied Trump’s conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Schiff “illegally made up a FAKE & terrible statement, pretended it to be mine as the most important part of my call to the Ukrainian President, and read it aloud to Congress and the American people,” Trump wrote. “It bore NO relationship to what I said on the call. Arrest for Treason?” » | David Smith in Washington and Andrew Roth in Moscow | Monday, September 30, 2019
Harry: The Mysterious Prince – British Royal Family Documentary | Timeline
Sunday, September 29, 2019
Robert De Niro: Trump Should Not Be President. Period
The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia | Full Documentary | FRONTLINE
In a never before seen or heard conversation featured in the documentary, the Saudi Crown Prince addresses his role in Khashoggi’s murder exclusively to FRONTLINE correspondent Martin Smith. Smith, who has covered the Middle East for FRONTLINE for 20 years, examines MBS's vision for the future, his handling of dissent, and his relationship with the United States.
Serious Questions Raised about Khashoggi’s Murder in Interviews with Saudi Officials | FRONTLINE
Saudi officials maintain that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had no prior knowledge of the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
But in powerful and occasionally contentious new interviews, FRONTLINE correspondent Martin Smith presses high-ranking Saudi official Adel al-Jubeir about how they could come to such a conclusion while the murder is still being investigated.
Europe Isn’t the Enemy – Demonising Us Is Undermining Britain
Seventeen years ago Theresa May stunned her fellow Conservatives by telling their annual party conference that they were “just plain unattractive”. The Tories, she said, had become “ the nasty party”. Today, from where I sit in western Europe, Britain itself looks just plain unattractive. It seems to have become “the nasty country”. I’m not saying the British people are any worse, or any better, than any other Europeans. I am saying its ruling political party is nasty, as is much of its press. The leader of the Conservative party, and therefore the prime minister, is a man who has personally taken nastiness to an entirely new level, yet is the country’s most popular politician.
Ever since the UK voted to leave the EU, millions of other Europeans like me have been looking for signs that the country is coming around to its old, pragmatic self. It’s a version of Boris Johnson’s cakeism: you want to love Britain and you want to be honest about the kind of country it is now. These two positions have become impossible to hold at the same time. » | Joris Luyendijk | Sunday, September 29, 2019
Saturday, September 28, 2019
James Risen: Whistleblower Complaint Shows “Trump Is a Habitual Criminal” Abusing His Office
Brexit Anxiety in Ireland's Drummully Polyp | Focus on Europe
Exclusive Interview with Lady Hale - First 100 Years | November 2017
In this exclusive interview, Lady Hale, the first female President of the Supreme Court, gives a personal account of her being the 'first' many times over and the role of women in the legal profession.
Lady Hale, President of the UK Supreme Court – BBC HARDtalk
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