LONDON: Britain’s Supreme Court ruled Tuesday the government must win parliament’s approval before beginning Brexit negotiations in a landmark judgment that also said regional lawmakers had no say.
“The Supreme Court rules that the government cannot trigger Article 50 without an act of parliament authorizing it to do so,” Supreme Court president David Neuberger told a packed courtroom in London.
He said a majority of the 11 judges had agreed that withdrawing from the European Union meant there would have to be changes to British laws and therefore the national parliament had to be consulted.
But he said lawmakers in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales had no say, in a blow for Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who has argued that since Scotland voted to stay in the EU then it should not be taken out “against its will.”
Northern Ireland also voted against Brexit.
“UK ministers are not legally compelled to consult the devolved legislatures... Relations with the EU are a matter for the UK government,” Neuberger said.
Attorney General Jeremy Wright said the government was “disappointed” but the ruling was widely expected and draft legislation is already being prepared in order to meet Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit timetable.
May has said she is planning to invoke Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty by the end of March, and Brexit minister David Davis is expected to address MPs later on Tuesday to provide details.
David Greene, a lawyer for one of the claimants, hairdresser Deir Dos Santos, hailed the ruling as a “victory for democracy and the rule of law.”
The lead claimant, investment fund manager Gina Miller, said: “No prime minister, no government can expect to be unanswerable or unchallenged.”
She added: “MPs we have elected will rightfully have the opportunity to bring their invaluable expertise and experience to bear.”
Miller said: “This case was about the legal process not politics. Today’s decision has created legal certainty based on our democratic process.”
Lawmakers are not expected to vote against triggering Article 50 but the main opposition Labour party has said it is planning amendments to demand an early “meaningful” vote on the final divorce settlement.
Labour also wants provisions included in the bill urging the government to negotiate tariff-free access to the EU’s single market and agreed to abide by EU-level protection of workers’ rights.
May has said she wants to leave the single market in order to be able to restrict immigration and negotiate a new customs deal with the EU.
Tuesday’s decision follows a High Court ruling against the government in November, in a case which attracted protests, as well as death threats and racist taunts against Miller.
“I have been shocked by the levels of personal abuse I have received from many quarters,” Miller said.
She said people in power should be “much quicker” in condemning this abuse.
Anger was also directed at the High Court judges following their decision in November, with one newspaper branding them “Enemies of the People.”
The legal challenge has tapped into divisions within British society after the June referendum which saw 52 percent vote to leave the EU.
Parliament must approve start of Brexit talks: court
Parliament must approve start of Brexit talks: court
Three years after restoring ties, Thailand sees growth in exchanges with Saudi Arabia
- Last week, Saudi FM led Kingdom’s delegation at inaugural meeting of Saudi-Thai Coordination Council
- With increase in trade relations, Thai Board of Investment opened an office in Riyadh in July last year
Bangkok: Three years into the reestablishment of ties with Saudi Arabia, Thais say that they are observing new opportunities and the growth of relations.
Relations between Saudi Arabia and Thailand were officially restored in January 2022, during Thailand’s former prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s visit to Riyadh, when the two countries agreed to appoint ambassadors for the first time in more than three decades.
The visit was reciprocated in November that year, when Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrived in Bangkok as a guest of honor at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit and became the first Saudi official to make such a trip.
Many agreements and official exchanges have since followed. Not only the volume of trade between the two countries has significantly increased, but also people-to-people exchanges and political consultations.
The ties were further solidified last week, when Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan visited Thailand, leading the Kingdom’s delegation at the inaugural meeting of the Saudi-Thai Coordination Council. The meeting drove further bilateral cooperation in politics, consular affairs, security and military ties, culture, tourism, economy and trade.
Alhuda Chanitphattana, a Middle East expert from Bangkok University, told Arab News that while over the past three years there has been significant growth in various industries, especially tourism and cooperation between small and medium-sized enterprises, last week’s visit marked another milestone in relations.
“The Jan. 16 meeting was a hopeful step in the history of our ties,” she said.
“The Saudi foreign minister was here himself, bringing along the press, and the meeting was able to set up a number of significant collaborations.”
The Tourism Authority of Thailand estimated that since the restoration of ties, the number of Saudis visiting the Southeast Asian nation has risen threefold, as it expected 300,000 Saudi travelers in 2025.
Since the resumption of diplomatic relations in 2022, bilateral trade has grown by more than 30 percent, surpassing $7 billion. Key Thai exports include automobiles, wood products and canned seafood, while Saudi Arabia primarily exports crude oil, chemicals and fertilizers to Thailand.
The upside is seen especially in the automobile sector.
“Thailand’s car and car parts export to Saudi Arabia grew by 40-50 percent in the past year due to more demand in the Kingdom,” Chanitphattana said. “Thai mechanics are in high demand now.”
The establishment of a Thailand Board of Investment office in Riyadh in July 2024 has also underscored the country’s commitment to supporting Saudi Vision 2030 and attracting investors from the Kingdom.
“There was a Thai exporter of essential oils who was earlier based in Dubai, but after 2022, he moved to Riyadh and opened an office in King Abdullah Financial District,” Chanitphattana said, adding that the Thai Chamber of Commerce is open to helping other businesses match with Saudi counterparts.
One such entrepreneur is Manoj Atmaramani, who in 2022 was among the first Thais to join a hotel, restaurant and cafe/catering event in Saudi Arabia.
That visit bore fruit. Today, Atmaramani exports tea and coffee products to the Kingdom and his business is growing.
“Now Saudi people can travel here, and Thai people can travel there. I have taken many Saudi businesspeople to my factory. I have also visited coffee factories in Saudi Arabia. I would advise the Thai businesspeople to present themselves at the business exhibitions in Saudi Arabia,” he said.
“Saudi Arabia is my first export market outside of Southeast Asia. My product lines have expanded since.”
South Korea to release preliminary report of Jeju Air crash by Monday
- One area under investigation is what role a bird strike played in the Dec. 29 crash of flight 7C2216
- It will take several months to analyze and verify flight data and cockpit voice recordings
SEOUL: South Korea will release by Monday a preliminary report on last month’s Jeju Air plane crash that killed 179 people, the deadliest air disaster on the nation’s soil, the transport ministry said on Saturday.
One area under investigation is what role a bird strike played in the Dec. 29 crash of flight 7C2216 as it arrived at Muan International Airport from Bangkok, according to a ministry statement.
The report will be sent to the International Civil Aviation Organization as well as the United States, France and Thailand, the ministry said. Seoul has been cooperating with investigators from the US National Transportation Safety Board and France’s Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety.
It will take several months to analyze and verify flight data and cockpit voice recordings, which stopped recording four minutes and seven seconds before the crash, and communication recordings with the control tower, the ministry said.
At 08:58:11 a.m., the pilots discussed birds flying under the Boeing 737-800, then declared mayday at 08:58:56, reporting a bird strike while the plane was on a go-around, the statement said. Airport CCTV footage also showed the plane making “contact” with birds during the go-around, it said.
Previously the ministry had said the pilots issued the distress signal due to bird strikes before going around.
The jet crashed at 9:02:57 a.m., slamming into an embankment and bursting into flames that killed everyone aboard except for two crew members in the tail section.
The surveillance footage was taken from too far away to see if there was a spark from the bird strike but it “confirmed the plane making contact with birds, though the exact time is unclear,” a ministry official told Reuters.
Duck feathers and blood were found in both of the plane’s GE Aerospace engines, the ministry said.
The ministry said it would conduct a separate analysis of the role of the concrete embankment that supported navigation antennas called “localizers.” The ministry said on Wednesday that it would remove the embankment, which experts said likely made the disaster more deadly.
India probes mystery illness after 17 die: reports
SRINAGAR: Authorities in India-administered Jammu and Kashmir were investigating a mysterious disease that has claimed the lives of 17 people, local media reports said Saturday.
The deaths, including those of 13 children, have occurred in the remote village of Badhaal in Jammu’s Rajouri area since early December.
The village was declared a containment zone earlier this week with around 230 people quarantined, the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency reported.
All of the fatalities had damage to the brain and nervous system, Amarjeet Singh Bhatia, who heads Rajouri’s government medical college, said.
“The winter vacations have also been canceled to deal with the medical alert situation,” PTI quoted Bhatia as saying.
The victims were members of three related families.
The federal government has launched an investigation with health minister Jitendra Singh saying an initial probe suggested the deaths were “not due to any infection, virus or bacteria but rather a toxin.”
“There is a long series of toxins being tested. I believe a solution will be found soon. Additionally, if there was any mischief or malicious activity, that is also being investigated,” PTI quoted Singh as saying.
In a separate medical incident, authorities in the western city of Pune recorded at least 73 cases of a rare nerve disorder.
Those infected with Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) include 26 women and 14 of the patients are on ventilator support, PTI quoted an official as saying.
In GBS, a person’s immune system attacks the peripheral nerves, according to the World Health Organization.
The syndrome can impact nerves that control muscle movement which may lead to muscle weakness, loss of sensation in the legs of arms and those infected can face trouble swallowing and breathing.
Apartment building collapses in central Turkiye, trapping 2 people
ISTANBUL: Rescuers were battling to reach two people trapped under a collapsed apartment building in central Turkiye on Saturday, officials said, with three others had already been rescued. No deaths were reported.
The collapse comes as there is renewed focus on building safety following the deaths of 78 people in a hotel fire Tuesday.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said 79 people were registered as living in the four-story apartment block in the city of Konya, some 260 kilometers (160 miles) south of the capital Ankara.
TV images showed emergency workers sifting through a large pile of rubble Saturday morning following the building’s collapse Friday evening.
Those remaining under the debris were Syrian nationals, Yerlikaya said, adding that the cause of the building collapse was not immediately known. “If there is a fault, negligence or anything else, we will learn it together,” he told journalists.
The incident occurred just three days after a fire ripped through a 12-story hotel at a ski resort in northwestern Turkiye, killing 78 people. The investigation into the blaze is examining whether proper fire prevention measures were in place.
Questions over building safety have resurfaced two weeks before the second anniversary of an earthquake that hit southern Turkiye and north Syria, killing more than 59,000. The high death toll was due in part to building safety regulations being ignored.
In 2004, a 12-story apartment building collapsed in Konya, claiming the lives of 92 people and injuring some 30 others. Structural flaws and negligence were blamed for the collapse.
Nearly 250 million children missed school last year due to extreme weather— UNICEF
- Heatwaves, cyclones and other extreme weather interrupted schools in 85 countries in 2024, says report
- Around 74 percent of the total children affected in 2024 were in middle- and low-income countries, says UNICEF
CAPE TOWN, South Africa: At least 242 million children in 85 countries had their schooling interrupted last year because of heatwaves, cyclones, flooding and other extreme weather, the United Nations Children’s Fund said in a new report Friday.
UNICEF said it amounted to one in seven school-going children across the world being kept out of class at some point in 2024 because of climate hazards.
The report also outlined how some countries saw hundreds of their schools destroyed by weather, with low-income nations in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa hit especially hard.
But other regions weren’t spared the extreme weather, as torrential rains and floods in Italy near the end of the year disrupted school for more than 900,000 children. Thousands had their classes halted after catastrophic flooding in Spain.
While southern Europe dealt with deadly floods and Asia and Africa had flooding and cyclones, heatwaves were “the predominant climate hazard shuttering schools last year,” UNICEF said, as the earth recorded its hottest year ever.
More than 118 million children had their schooling interrupted in April alone, UNICEF said, as large parts of the Middle East and Asia, from Gaza in the west to the Philippines in the southeast, experienced a sizzling weekslong heatwave with temperatures soaring above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).
“Children are more vulnerable to the impacts of weather-related crises, including stronger and more frequent heatwaves, storms, droughts and flooding,” UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell said in a statement. “Children’s bodies are uniquely vulnerable. They heat up faster, they sweat less efficiently, and cool down more slowly than adults. Children cannot concentrate in classrooms that offer no respite from sweltering heat, and they cannot get to school if the path is flooded, or if schools are washed away.”
Around 74 percent of the children affected in 2024 were in middle- and low-income countries, showing how climatic extremes continue to have a devastating impact in the poorest countries. Flooding ruined more than 400 schools in Pakistan in April. Afghanistan had heatwaves followed by severe flooding that destroyed over 110 schools in May, UNICEF said.
Months of drought in southern Africa exacerbated by the El Niño weather phenomenon threatened the schooling and futures of millions of children.
And the crises showed little sign of abating. The poor French territory of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean off Africa was left in ruins by Cyclone Chido in December and hit again by Tropical Storm Dikeledi this month, leaving children across the islands out of school for six weeks.
Cyclone Chido also destroyed more than 330 schools and three regional education departments in Mozambique on the African mainland, where access to education is already a deep problem.
UNICEF said the world’s schools and education systems “are largely ill-equipped” to deal with the effects of extreme weather.
