LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson could pivot toward a general election as the EU mulls granting a Brexit deadline extension on Wednesday, after a fresh twist to the divorce saga cast doubt over his hopes of leaving on October 31.
In tense parliamentary votes on Tuesday, Johnson won initial backing for the divorce deal he agreed with the EU — but MPs then rejected his timetable to rush it through parliament in a matter of days.
Following that setback, Johnson said he would halt the ratification process while European Union leaders consult on a delay — which MPs had forced him to ask for on Saturday by law.
European Council President Donald Tusk has recommended that EU’s 27 other member states grant the extension as requested, which would be until January 31, 2020 unless the deal is ratified before then.
As it stands, without that unanimous agreement, Britain is due to crash out of the EU in eight days’ time.
Though MPs voted positively on a EU divorce proposal for the first time in the tortuous three-year saga, Johnson runs a minority Conservative government and has had enough of opposition MPs blocking Brexit.
He told MPs before Tuesday’s votes that if parliament decided to “delay everything until January or possibly longer, in no circumstances can the government continue with this.
“We will have to go forward to a general election. I will argue at that election: let’s get Brexit done.”
A three-month delay would give time to hold a general election before the New Year — though it would require the support of two-thirds of MPs.
The Labour main opposition has spurned two previous chances to face an election.
Justice Secretary Robert Buckland said the length of the extension would be the EU’s choosing — and leaders would want to know what an extension could achieve.
“We are left with the option of a general election,” he told BBC radio.
“That seems, to me, to be the only way to break this impasse.”
The Britain Elects poll aggregator puts the Conservatives on 35 percent, Labour on 25 percent, the anti-Brexit Liberal Democrats on 18 percent, the Brexit Party on 11 percent and the Greens on four percent.
For the Conservatives — who are 33 seats short of a majority — “the polls have been moving in their favor,” polling expert John Curtice told BBC radio.
“If that were to be replicated in the ballot box, it should give them an overall majority, maybe around 20 or so” seats.
Johnson won a significant victory when the House of Commons voted by 329 to 299 to approve in principle a bill that implements his Brexit deal.
But just minutes later, MPs rejected by 322 to 308 his timetable motion demanding they push through the bill in three days to allow Britain’s departure at the end of this month.
Britain’s newspapers on Wednesday raked over the results.
“PM’s Brexit horror” said the Daily Mirror front page.
The Daily Telegraph headlined: “Brexit is in purgatory,” while the Daily Mail said of MPs: “Trust this lot to turn triumph into disaster!“
The Sun’s editorial said: “We didn’t think this rancid Remainer parliament could get worse. But MPs topped it all with last night’s pantomime.”
London’s stock market steadied at the open Wednesday and the pound was stable against the dollar and euro on expectations of a further delay.
Businesses and markets on both sides of the Channel fear a no-deal scenario, where Britain severs ties with its closest trading partner with no new plans in place after 46 years of integration.
In the June 2016 EU membership referendum, 52 percent of voters in the UK backed leaving the bloc.
MPs three times rejected a divorce deal struck by Johnson’s predecessor Theresa May.
Johnson, who took office in July, defied expectations in striking a revised deal last Thursday — and seemed relieved that MPs voted positively for it to be considered further.
It covers EU citizens’ rights, Britain’s financial settlements, a post-Brexit transition period until at least the end of 2020 and new trade arrangements for Northern Ireland.
It also sets out vague plans for a loose free trade agreement with the EU after Brexit.
British PM could target election as EU mulls Brexit extension
British PM could target election as EU mulls Brexit extension
- On Tuesday, Johnson won initial backing for the divorce deal he agreed with the EU
- However, MPs then rejected his timetable to rush it through parliament in a matter of days
UK family visa applicants from war-torn countries caught in bureaucratic limbo
- Home Office granting just a handful of waivers to people in countries where biometric information cannot be collected
- Those seeking refuge from Gaza, Sudan and Afghanistan among those awaiting authorization
LONDON: Refugees trying to escape Gaza, Sudan and Afghanistan and join family members in the UK are in limbo between government bureaucracy and a lack of biometric processing facilities.
As part of the family reunification visa application process, applicants must submit biometric information, usually including a fingerprint, at centers in the countries from which they apply.
But such centers often either do not exist in war-torn areas or the facilities are not available to gather the information. This means applicants must either complete the biometric processing once in the UK or be excused from the biometric process entirely.
Figures published by The Guardian on Saturday, however, show that just a handful of these deferrals or exemptions have been granted by the UK.
As of May 2024, 114 people had requested to have their applications “pre-determined” by delaying the submission of biometric data until reaching the UK. Another 84 people had requested to be excused from providing biometric information altogether. By February 2024, just eight predetermination cases and one excusal had been authorized.
The highest number of the requests came from Palestinians and those in Afghanistan and Sudan, where visa application centers have been forced to close due to conflict.
Members of parliament and charities have accused the Home Office of blocking people such in areas from joining their families in the UK.
They compared it to the situation in Ukraine, where people can apply for family reunification visas in the UK without submitting biometrics beforehand.
“The UK rightly welcomed Ukrainian refugees fleeing war. Why can’t the same compassion be shown to people from Gaza and elsewhere?” a coalition of independent MPs, including former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, told The Guardian.
Nick Beales, head of campaigns at the charity RAMFEL, which helps vulnerable migrants access justice, said: “This disclosure proves that it was actually impossible for people in conflict zones, such as Sudan and Gaza, to apply for visas even when they had clear family ties in the UK.”
A Home Office spokesperson told The Guardian they understood applicants may face challenging circumstances to reach a visa application center to submit biometrics, saying: “That is why individuals have the option to submit a biometric deferral request, which is assessed on its own merits, and exceptional circumstances are considered.”
Taliban deputy tells leader there is no excuse for education bans on Afghan women and girls
- The Taliban government has barred Afghan females from education after sixth grade
- There are reports authorities had also stopped medical training and courses for women
A senior Taliban figure has urged the group’s leader to scrap education bans on Afghan women and girls, saying there is no excuse for them, in a rare public rebuke of government policy.
Sher Abbas Stanikzai, political deputy at the Foreign Ministry, made the remarks in a speech on Saturday in southeastern Khost province.
He told an audience at a religious school ceremony there was no reason to deny education to women and girls, “just as there was no justification for it in the past and there shouldn’t be one at all.”
The government has barred females from education after sixth grade. Last September, there were reports authorities had also stopped medical training and courses for women.
In Afghanistan, women and girls can only be treated by female doctors and health professionals. Authorities have yet to confirm the medical training ban.
“We call on the leadership again to open the doors of education,” said Stanikzai in a video shared by his official account on the social platform X. “We are committing an injustice against 20 million people out of a population of 40 million, depriving them of all their rights. This is not in Islamic law, but our personal choice or nature.”
Stanikzai was once the head of the Taliban team in talks that led to the complete withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan.
It is not the first time he has said that women and girls deserve to have an education. He made similar remarks in September 2022, a year after schools closed for girls and months and before the introduction of a university ban.
But the latest comments marked his first call for a change in policy and a direct appeal to Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada.
Ibraheem Bahiss, an analyst with Crisis Group’s South Asia program, said Stanikzai had periodically made statements calling girls’ education a right of all Afghan women.
“However, this latest statement seems to go further in the sense that he is publicly calling for a change in policy and questioned the legitimacy of the current approach,” Bahiss said.
In the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, earlier this month, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai urged Muslim leaders to challenge the Taliban on women and girls’ education.
She was speaking at a conference hosted by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Muslim World League.
The UN has said that recognition is almost impossible while bans on female education and employment remain in place and women can’t go out in public without a male guardian.
No country recognizes the Taliban as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan, but countries like Russia have been building ties with them.
Protesters storm South Korea court after it extends Yoon’s detention
- Yoon Suk Yeol is first sitting South Korean president to be arrested over his short-lived Dec. 3 declaration of martial law
SEOUL: Hundreds of supporters of South Korea’s arrested president, Yoon Suk Yeol, stormed a court building early on Sunday after his detention was extended, smashing windows and breaking inside, an attack the country’s acting leader called “unimaginable.”
Yoon on Wednesday became the first sitting South Korean president to be arrested as he faces allegations of insurrection related to his stunning, short-lived Dec. 3 declaration of martial law that has plunged the country into political turmoil.
Shortly after the court announced its decision around 3 a.m. (1800 GMT) on Sunday, Yoon’s supporters swarmed the building, overwhelming riot police trying to keep them at bay.
Protesters blasted fire extinguishers at lines of police guarding the front entrance, then flooded inside, destroying office equipment, fittings and furniture, footage showed.
Police restored order a few hours later, saying they had arrested 46 protesters and vowing to track down others involved.
“The government expresses strong regret over the illegal violence... which is unimaginable in a democratic society,” acting President Choi Sang-mok said in a statement, adding that the authorities would step up safety measures around gatherings.
Nine police officers were injured in the chaos, Yonhap news agency reported. Police were not immediately available for comment on the injured officers.
About 40 people suffered minor injuries, said an emergency responder near the Seoul Western District Court.
Several of those involved live-streamed the intrusion on YouTube, showing protesters trashing the court and chanting Yoon’s name. Some streamers were caught by police during their broadcasts.
CONCERN YOON MAY DESTROY EVIDENCE
With Yoon refusing to be questioned, investigators facing a deadline on detaining the impeached president asked the court on Friday to extend his custody.
After a five-hour hearing on Saturday, which Yoon attended, a judge granted a new warrant extending Yoon’s detention for up to 20 days, due to “concern that the suspect may destroy evidence.”
South Korean regulations require a suspect detained under a warrant to undergo a physical exam, have a mugshot taken and wear a prison uniform.
The leader is being held in a solitary cell at the Seoul Detention Center.
The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, which is leading the probe, said it had called Yoon in for further questioning on Sunday afternoon but the prosecutor-turned-president again did not show up. The CIO said it would ask Yoon to come in for questioning on Monday.
His lawyers have argued the arrest is illegal because the warrant was issued in the wrong jurisdiction and the investigating team had no mandate for their probe.
Insurrection, the crime that Yoon may be charged with, is one of the few that a South Korean president does not have immunity from and is technically punishable by death. South Korea, however, has not executed anyone in nearly 30 years.
Yoon said through his lawyers he found the violent incident at court “shocking and unfortunate,” calling on people to express their opinions peacefully.
“The president said... he wouldn’t give up and would correct the wrong, even if it took time,” the lawyers said in a statement. Saying he understands many are feeling “rage and unfairness,” Yoon asked police to take a “tolerant position.”
Separate to the criminal probe that sparked Sunday’s chaos, the Constitutional Court is deliberating whether to permanently remove him from office, in line with parliament’s Dec. 14 impeachment, or restore his presidential powers.
POLITICAL PARTIES WEIGH IN
Yoon’s conservative People Power Party called the court’s decision to extend his detention on Sunday a “great pity.”
“There’s a question whether repercussions of detaining a sitting president were sufficiently considered,” the party said in a statement.
The main opposition Democratic Party said the decision was a “cornerstone” for rebuilding order and that “riots” by “far-right” groups would only deepen the national crisis.
Support for the PPP collapsed after his martial law declaration, which he rescinded hours later in the face of a unanimous vote in parliament rejecting it.
But in the turmoil since — in which the opposition-majority parliament also impeached his first replacement and investigators botched an initial attempt to arrest Yoon — the PPP’s support has sharply rebounded.
His party has edged ahead of the opposition Democratic Party in support — 39 percent to 36 percent — for the first time since August, a Gallup Korea poll showed on Friday.
Thousands gathered for an orderly rally in support of Yoon in downtown Seoul on Sunday morning. Anti-Yoon demonstrations have also taken place across the city in recent days.
Suspected Bangladeshi arrested in stabbing of Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan
- Attack on Khan, one of India’s most bankable stars, shocked the nation’s film industry
- Bollywood star was stabbed six times by an intruder during a burglary attempt at his home
MUMBAI: A man thought to be a citizen of Bangladesh was arrested in India’s financial capital Mumbai on Sunday and is considered the prime suspect in the stabbing of Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan, police said.
Thursday’s attack on Khan, one of India’s most bankable stars, shocked the nation’s film industry and Mumbai residents, with many calling for better policing and security. He was out of danger, doctors said, and has left the hospital.
“Primary evidence suggests that the accused is a Bangladeshi citizen and after entering India illegally he changed his name,” Dixit Gedam, a deputy commissioner of police, told a press conference.
The suspect, arrested on the outskirts of Mumbai, was using the name Vijay Das but is believed to be Mohammad Shariful Islam Shehzad and was working with a housekeeping agency after having come to the city five or six months ago, Gedam said.
The police will seek custody of the suspect for further investigation, he added.
Khan, 54, was stabbed six times by an intruder during a burglary attempt at his home. He had surgery after sustaining stab wounds to his spine, neck and hands, doctors said.
Police in Mumbai detained a first key suspect in the attack on Friday, while police in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh detained a second person on Saturday.
Philippines, US hold joint maritime exercises in South China Sea
- South China Sea joint maritime exercises is first for the year and fifth overall since launching combined activities in 2023
- Security engagements between the two allies have soared under Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
MANILA: The Philippines and the United States carried out joint maritime exercises for a fifth time in the South China Sea, Manila’s armed forces said on Sunday, in a move that would likely irk China.
The Philippine military said in a statement it held a “maritime cooperative activity” with the US on Friday and Saturday, its first for the year and fifth overall since launching the joint activities in 2023.
Security engagements between the two allies have soared under Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who has pivoted closer to Washington, allowing the expansion of military bases that American forces can access, including facilities that face Taiwan.
The joint maritime activity included the United States’ Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group, two guided missile destroyers, two helicopters and two F-18 Hornet aircraft.
The Philippine side deployed its Antonio Luna frigate, Andres Bonifacio patrol ship, two FA-50 fighter jets, and search and rescue assets of the air force.
The activities “reinforced bilateral maritime cooperation and interoperability,” the Philippine armed forces said.
Their joint activity came at a time when the Philippines had called out China over the presence of Chinese coast guard vessels inside its maritime zone, including the 165-meter-long ship that it describes as “the monster” for its size.
The Chinese embassy in Manila did not immediately respond for a request for comment on a weekend.
