LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has strongly defended his government’s plan to override sections of the Brexit deal he negotiated with the European Union, arguing that the EU has an “extreme” interpretation of the treaty that could jeopardize the UK’s future.
In a column published Saturday in The Daily Telegraph, Johnson said the government’s Internal Market Bill is needed to end EU threats to impose a “blockade” in the Irish Sea that the prime minister asserted could “carve up our country.”
The legislation, which the British government has conceded violates international law in places, has prompted a furious outcry within the EU and Johnson’s Conservative Party. British lawmakers are expected to debate it next week.
With the government showing no sign of changing course, there are real concerns that ongoing talks on a future trade deal between the UK and the EU could collapse within weeks. If that happens, tariffs and other impediments to trade will be imposed by both sides at the start of 2021.
The furor is largely based on the fact that the bill would diminish the EU’s previously agreed oversight of trade between mainland Britain and Northern Ireland in the event a trade agreement isn’t secured.
Michael Gove, a senior member of Johnson’s Cabinet, told Sky News on Saturday that the government needs to take out an “insurance policy.”
The UK left the EU on Jan. 31, but it is in a transition period that effectively sees it benefit from the bloc’s tariff-free trade until the end of the year while a future relationship is negotiated. Even before the latest standoff, discussions between the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, and his UK counterpart, David Frost, had made very little progress.
One major element of the Brexit withdrawal agreement, which allowed for the UK’s smooth departure from the EU, is the section related to ensuring an open border on the island of Ireland to protect the peace process in Northern Ireland
The issue proved thorny during the more than two years of discussions it took to get a Brexit deal done, as the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland is the only land link between the UK and the EU.
The EU wanted assurances the border would not be used as a back-route for unlicensed goods arriving in Ireland from the rest of the UK — England, Scotland and Wales. As a result, the two sides agreed there would be some kind of regulatory border between mainland Britain and Northern Ireland.
In his newspaper column, Johnson wrote he was “now hearing” that unless his government agrees to the EU’s terms in the trade discussions, then the bloc will use “an extreme interpretation of the Northern Ireland protocol to impose a full-scale trade border down the Irish Sea.”
He said that could mean the EU imposing tariffs on goods moving to Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK or that the bloc stops the transport of food products.
“I have to say that we never seriously believed that the EU would be willing to use a treaty, negotiated in good faith, to blockade one part of the UK, to cut it off; or that they would actually threaten to destroy the economic and territorial integrity of the UK,” the prime minister wrote.
EU leaders have expressed dismay at the U.K’s bill and warned that the trade talks will end if Johnson does not pull the contested proposal. Legal action has also been threatened.
Luis Garicano, a Spanish member of the European Parliament, slammed Johnson’s allegation that the EU is trying to break up the UK as “ridiculous.”
“I think Mr. Johnson insists on having his cake and eating it,” Garicano told BBC radio.
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has also said there would be “absolutely no chance” of a trade deal between the United States and the UK if commitments to Northern Ireland are violated. Congress has to ratify all US trade deals.
The EU-UK trade discussions are set to resume on Monday in Brussels.
“It’s now for the UK to reestablish trust toward the European Union,” the EU’s economy commissioner, Paolo Gentiloni, said Saturday at a meeting of European finance ministers in Berlin. “We are prepared to deal also with (an) extraordinary negative outcome of this discussion, but we are still working for finding agreements and solutions.”
Boris Johnson defends Brexit change to avoid UK ‘carve-up’
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Boris Johnson defends Brexit change to avoid UK ‘carve-up’
- Johnson said the government’s Internal Market Bill is needed to end EU threats to impose a “blockade” in the Irish Sea
- The legislation has prompted a furious outcry within the EU and Johnson’s Conservative Party
More than 100 inmates make deadly prison break in Chad
A local Mongo official said prisoners broke into a manager’s office to steal guns
MONGO, Chad: More than 100 inmates escaped a Chad prison during a shoot-out that left three people dead, and wounded a state governor visiting the facility, officials told AFP on Saturday.
The break-out occurred late Friday when an uprising happened in the high-security penitentiary five kilometers (three miles) from the town of Mongo, in the center of the country.
“There are around 100 who escaped, three dead and three wounded,” Hassan Souleymane Adam, secretary general of the Guera province in which Mongo is located, said.
A local Mongo official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said prisoners broke into a manager’s office to steal guns.
“A shootout with guards ensued, at the same time the governor arrived. He was wounded,” he said.
The Mongo official confirmed there were three dead, and put the total number of escaped prisoners at 132.
He said the prisoners revolted after complaining about a lack of food.
Chad’s Justice Minister Youssouf Tom told AFP by telephone that he was about to fly to region and would be able to give “precise information once I am at Mongo in the coming hours.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin announces an Easter ceasefire in Ukraine
- Ceasefire will last from 6 p.m. Moscow time on Saturday to midnight following Easter Sunday
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday announced an Easter truce in the conflict in Ukraine starting this evening and lasting till midnight on Sunday.
The short-term ceasefire proposal from Russia comes as President Donald Trump has been pressing both Moscow and Kyiv to agree a truce, but has failed to extract any major concessions from the Kremlin.
“Today from 1800 (1500 GMT) to midnight Sunday (2100 GMT Sunday), the Russian side announces an Easter truce,” Putin said in televised comments, while meeting Russian chief of staff Valery Gerasimov.
Easter, a major holiday for Christians, is celebrated on Sunday.
“I order for this period to stop all military action,” Putin said, calling the truce “based on humanitarian reasons.”
“We are going on the basis that the Ukrainian side will follow our example, while our troops must be ready to resist possible breaches of the truce and provocations by the enemy, any aggressive actions,” Putin said.
He said that Gerasimov had told him Ukraine “more than 100 times... breached an agreement on not striking energy infrastructure.”
Russia on Friday abandoned a moratorium on striking Ukrainian energy targets after each side accused the other of breaking a supposed deal without any formal agreement put in place.
The latest truce proposal will show “how sincere is the Kyiv’s regime’s readiness, its desire and ability to observe agreements and participate in a process of peace talks,” Putin said.
Previous attempts at holding ceasefires for Easter in April 2022 and Orthodox Christmas in January 2023 were not implemented after both sides failed to agree on them.
Cambodia welcomes Japanese navy ships to naval base that US suspects is for China’s special use
- Tokyo has developed increasingly close ties with Cambodia in recent years
- China and Cambodia have close political, military, and economic ties
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Two Japanese naval ships docked Saturday at Cambodia’s Ream Naval Base, whose recently completed Chinese-funded upgrade has heightened US concerns that it will be used as a strategic outpost for China’s navy in the Gulf of Thailand.
The visit by the two minesweepers, the 141-meter (463-foot) -long Bungo and the 67-meter (219-foot) -long Etajima, part of the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force, marks the first foreign navy visit since the base’s expansion project was completed earlier this month.
Tokyo has developed increasingly close ties with Cambodia in recent years, seeking to offset China’s influence in the region, and Cambodia invited it to make the renovated port’s first port call, widely seen as an attempt to allay Washington’s concerns.
Both Japanese ships, making a four-day port call with a total of 170 sailors, docked at the base’s new pier, where Cambodian officials, including Rear Adm. Mean Savoeun, deputy commander of the base, held a welcome ceremony.
Concerns about China’s activities at the Ream base emerged in 2019 following a Wall Street Journal report alleging a draft agreement that would grant China 30-year use of the base for military personnel, weapon storage, and warship berthing. The US government has publicly and repeatedly aired its concerns.
China and Cambodia have close political, military, and economic ties. They commenced the port project in 2022, which included the demolition of previous naval structures built by the US at the base.
Cambodia has stated that warships from all friendly countries are welcome to dock at the new pier, provided they meet certain conditions. When Japanese Defense Minister Gen. Nakatani announced the planned visit on Tuesday, he said Japan’s port call symbolizes friendship with Cambodia and is key to regional stability and peace.
He stated that the visit would help ensure Cambodia has an open and transparent naval port, while noting the concerns over China’s growing efforts to secure overseas outposts for military expansion.
The port call came just one day after Chinese President Xi Jinping concluded a two-day state visit to Cambodia aimed at further strengthening China’s strong ties with its closest ally in Southeast Asia.
A statement on Saturday from Japan’s embassy in Cambodia stated that the two vessels are on a mission that began in January to visit 11 countries across Africa, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia. The port call in Cambodia is considered a “historically significant event for Japan-Cambodia relations,” it said.
The embassy emphasized that the journey of the Japanese vessels “underlines the importance of freedom of navigation, free and open international order based on international law, and its development.”
In December last year, a US Navy warship called at the nearby civilian port of Sihanoukville on a five-day visit. The visit by the USS Savannah, carrying a crew of 103, was the first in eight years by a US military vessel to Cambodia.
A US citizen was held for pickup by ICE even after proving he was born in the country
- It is unclear if Lopez Gomez showed documents proving he is a citizen to the arresting officers
- Court records show Judge Lashawn Riggans found no basis for the charge
MIAMI, USA: A US citizen was arrested in Florida for allegedly being in the country illegally and held for pickup by immigration authorities even after his mother showed a judge her son’s birth certificate and the judge dismissed charges.
Juan Carlos Lopez Gomez, 20, was in a car that was stopped just past the Georgia state line by the Florida Highway Patrol on Wednesday, said Thomas Kennedy, a spokesperson at the Florida Immigrant Coalition.
Gomez and others in the car were arrested under a new Florida law, which is on hold, making it a crime for people who are in the country illegally to enter the state.
It is unclear if Lopez Gomez showed documents proving he is a citizen to the arresting officers. He was held at Leon County Jail and released after his case received widespread media coverage.
The charge of illegal entry into Florida was dropped Thursday after his mother showed the judge his state identification card, birth certificate and Social Security card, said Kennedy, who attended the hearing.
Court records show Judge Lashawn Riggans found no basis for the charge.
Lopez Gomez briefly remained in custody after US Immigration and Customs Enforcement requested he remain there for 48 hours, a common practice when the agency wants to take custody of someone. ICE did not respond to a request for comment.
The case drew widespread attention because ICE is not supposed to take custody of US-born citizens. While the immigration agency can occasionally get involved in cases of naturalized citizens who committed offenses such as lying on immigration forms, it has no authority over people born in the US
Adding to the confusion is a federal judge’s ruling to put a hold on enforcement of the Florida law against people who are in the country illegally entering the state, which meant it should not have been enforced.
“No one should be arrested under that law, let alone a US citizen,” said Alana Greer, an immigration attorney from the Florida Immigrant Coalition. “They saw this person, he didn’t speak English particularly well, and so they arrested him and charged him with this law that no one (should) be charged with.”
Money, power, violence in high-stakes Philippine elections
- The country’s elections commission, Comelec, recorded 46 acts of political violence
- Comelec said “fewer than 20” candidates have been killed so far this campaign season, which it notes is a drop
MANILA: Philippines election hopefuls like mayoral candidate Kerwin Espinosa have to ask themselves whether the job is worth taking a bullet.
The country’s elections commission, Comelec, recorded 46 acts of political violence between January 12 and April 11, including the shooting of Espinosa.
At a rally this month, someone from the crowd fired a bullet that went through his chest and exited his arm, leaving him bleeding but alive.
Others have been less lucky.
A city council hopeful, a polling officer and a village chief were among those killed in similar attacks in the run-up to mid-term elections on May 12.
Comelec said “fewer than 20” candidates have been killed so far this campaign season, which it notes is a drop.
“This is much lower, very low compared to the past,” commission spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco told AFP, citing a tally of about 100 deaths in the last general election.
Analysts warned that such violence will likely remain a fixture of the Philippines’ political landscape.
The immense influence of the posts is seen as something worth killing for.
Holding municipal office means control over jobs, police departments and disbursements of national tax funds, said Danilo Reyes, an associate professor at the University of the Philippines’ political science department.
“Local chief executives have discretion when it comes to how to allocate the funding, which projects, priorities,” he said.
Rule of law that becomes weaker the farther one gets from Manila also means that regional powerbrokers can act with effective impunity, said Cleve Arguelles, CEO of Manila-based WR Numero Research.
“Local political elites have their own kingdoms, armed groups and... patronage networks,” he said, noting violence is typically highest in the archipelago nation’s far north and south.
“The stakes are usually high in a local area where only one family is dominant or where there is involvement of private armed groups,” Arguelles said.
“If you lose control of... city hall, you don’t just lose popular support. You actually lose both economic and political power.”
In the absence of strong institutions to mediate disagreements, Reyes said, “confrontational violence” becomes the go-to.
Espinosa was waiting for his turn to speak at a campaign stop in central Leyte province on April 10 when a shooter emerged from the crowd and fired from about 50 meters (164 feet) away, according to police.
Police Brig. Gen. Jean Fajardo told reporters this week that seven police officers were “being investigated” as suspects.
Convictions, however, are hard to come by.
While Comelec’s Laudiangco insisted recent election-related shootings were all making their way through regional court systems, he could provide no numbers.
Data compiled by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project show that in 79 percent of violent acts targeting local government members between 2018 and 2022 the perpetrators were never identified.
National-level politicians, meanwhile, reliant on local political bases to deliver votes, have little incentive to press for serious investigations, said Reyes.
“The only way you can ensure national leaders win positions is for local allies to deliver votes,” he said.
“There are convictions but very rarely, and it depends on the potential political fallout on the national leaders as well as the local leaders.”
It’s part of the “grand bargain” in Philippine politics, Arguelles said.
Local elites are “tolerated by the national government so long as during election day they can also deliver votes when they’re needed.”
Three days after Espinosa’s shooting, a district board candidate and his driver were rushed to hospital after someone opened fire on them in the autonomous area of Mindanao.
Election-season violence has long plagued the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, known as the BARMM.
Comelec assumed “direct control” over the municipalities of Buluan and Datu Odin Sinsuat after municipal election officer Bai Maceda Lidasan Abo and her husband were shot dead last month.
Since last year, Comelec has held the power to directly control and supervise not only local election officials but also law enforcement.
Top police officials in the two municipalities were removed for “gross negligence and incompetence” after allegedly ignoring requests to provide security details for the slain Comelec official.
Their suspensions, however, will last only from “campaigning up to... the swearing-in of the winners,” Comelec’s Laudiangco said.
The commission’s actions were part of a “tried and tested security plan” that is showing real results, he said.
But he conceded that the interwoven nature of family, power and politics in the provinces would continue to create a combustible brew.
“You have a lot of closely related people in one given jurisdiction... That ensures polarization. It becomes personal between neighbors.
“We all know Filipinos are clannish, that’s our culture. But we’re improving slowly.”
