Royal Navy sends boats after threat to commercial vessels anchored off UK territory
A Spanish warship has ordered commercial vessels to leave British waters, Gibraltar’s government said.
The warship’s crew can be heard in an audio recording of a radio exchange on Sunday telling vessels anchored at the Rock to “leave Spanish territorial waters”. Royal Navy boats were deployed in response to the incident.
Continue reading...Eurosceptics react angrily to culture secretary’s suggestion backstop may not be removed
Theresa May is facing a fresh showdown with Eurosceptic Conservative MPs after a cabinet minister suggested she may put her Brexit deal to parliament again without having secured a change to the withdrawal text.
Before talks between May and EU leaders, the culture secretary, Jeremy Wright, said the prime minister’s aim was to solve the Northern Ireland backstop issue but the “mechanism” of the change did not matter.
Continue reading...EU regulations outlaw killing of wolves unless people are in danger or there is ‘no satisfactory alternative’
More than a century ago, wolves were hunted to extinction in Germany. These days, they’re back – and their presence is a source of political strife.
Wolf attacks on livestock increased drastically in 2017, according to government statistics released at the weekend: they carried out 472 attacks, an increase of 66% over the previous year. The number of killed, injured or missing livestock – mostly sheep and goats – rose 55%, to 1,667.
Continue reading...Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attempts to build friendly relations with central European nations are being tested, on the eve of a Jerusalem summit aimed at showcasing the alliance, by disputes over Holocaust history.
Netanyahu has long been criticised by domestic opponents for seeking political alliances in central Europe while turning a blind eye to historical revisionism and antisemitism in the region. However, the Israeli leader was caught up in the dispute last week, when he said during a visit to Warsaw that Poles had collaborated with the Nazis in the Holocaust.
Continue reading...PM makes appeal in letter for unity and announces further talks with EU president
Theresa May has issued a fresh plea to Conservative MPs to unite and deliver on Brexit, urging her party to “move beyond what divides us” and sacrifice “personal preferences”.
The prime minister’s rallying cry follows another tumultuous week in Westminster that saw tensions in the Tory party reach boiling point, with one of her ministers accusing his Eurosceptic colleagues of “treachery”.
Continue reading...Justice secretary says leaving EU without deal would have ‘very adverse effect’
The justice secretary has said he has grave concerns about the prospect of leaving the European Union without a deal, saying it would have a “very adverse effect” on the UK’s economy, security and union with Northern Ireland.
David Gauke said the government was planning for the contingency of no deal, but suggested he would support extending article 50 if a deal between the UK and EU was not reached, since a no-deal Brexit was not in the national interest. He added that he expected the government to act responsibly if the current deadlock prevailed.
Continue reading...‘Homosexuality is not an illness,’ says health minister Jens Spahn
The German health minister, Jens Spahn, has said that he will seek to ban “conversion therapies” that claim to change sexual orientation. “Homosexuality is not an illness, which is why it does not need to be treated,” Spahn, who is gay himself, told the left-leaning Berlin daily Die Tageszeitung.
Related: ‘I still have flashbacks’: the ‘global epidemic’ of LGBT conversion therapy
Continue reading...Company says move is a precaution in case WTO tariffs apply to EU-UK trade
Porsche is asking British customers to sign a contract committing them to pay a surcharge of up to 10% of their vehicles’ purchase price if there is a no-deal Brexit.
Cars made in Europe could attract tariffs of 10% if imported to the UK under the terms of the World Trade Organization, the default trading relationship if the UK and the EU are unable to agree a transition period before 29 March.
Continue reading...Defence minister’s comments at Munich conference reflect deepening transatlantic rift
The Nato alliance is about decency and dependability, not just cash and contributions, Germany’s defence minister has said in a rebuke to Donald Trump over his insistence that European countries rapidly increase their defence spending.
Ursula von der Leyen told a gathering of defence ministers in Munich the alliance was about fairness in collective decision-making, and not just during military missions.
Continue reading...Political landscape fragmented amid Catalan secession crisis and re-emergence of far-right
Spain is heading into what could be months of political uncertainty after its Socialist prime minister called a snap general election for April – the country’s third in less than four years – against the backdrop of a continuing Catalan secession crisis.
It was always improbable that Pedro Sánchez, whose administration will be the shortest in Spain’s modern democratic history, would last long. He came to power in June only because his predecessor, the conservative Mariano Rajoy, lost a no-confidence vote after a string of corruption revelations about his People’s Party (PP).
Continue reading...Country’s third general election in less than four years comes after national budget rejected
Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has called a snap election for 28 April.
The country’s third general election in less than four years was seen as an inevitability after Catalan secessionists joined rightwing parties in rejecting the socialist government’s national budget on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Romania’s capital has a buzzing nightlife with plenty of options for a romantic night out – unless you’re LGBT
Continue reading...Denis Sergeyev named as involved in suspected poisoning in Bulgaria in 2015 by website Bellingcat
A third suspect linked to the poisoning of the former Russian double-agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury has been identified as a high-ranking officer in Russian military intelligence by the investigative website Bellingcat.
Bellingcat reported that Denis Sergeyev, a graduate of the Military Diplomatic Academy, a training ground for intelligence officers, is the real identity of a man operating under the cover persona of Sergey Fedotov.
Continue reading...Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including the latest Commons debate and votes on what should happen next with Brexit
Anna Soubry, the Conservative pro-European, described the result as a “body blow” to Theresa May. Soubry said:
The prime minister has been dealt yet another body blow. This is really serious stuff.
What is happening is a profound lack of leadership from the very top of government.
We have a Conservative party - the party of business, of economic competence and prosperity - gambling with the real lives of my constituents, their futures, their jobs, their children and grandchildren.
This is outrageous and, from the Conservative Party in particular, it is not acceptable any longer.
How MPs voted on the government motion.
For (258)
Continue reading...Russia condemns move as row escalates over Ukrainian church’s autonomy
Ukraine has stripped an Orthodox bishop of his citizenship and barred him from entering the country as a dispute escalates over the Ukrainian and Russian branches of the church.
Ukrainian border guards on Thursday said they had detained and then deported Bishop Gedeon, the abbot of a Kiev monastery, because he allegedly held dual Ukraine-US citizenship. The deportation was condemned by Russian officials, who called on the US to intervene.
Continue reading...Mythological hunter is depicted enraptured by his own reflection
Archaeologists working in a richly decorated house in ancient Pompeii have discovered a stunningly preserved fresco depicting the mythological hunter Narcissus enraptured by his own reflection in a pool of water.
The figure of Narcissus, who according to the myth fell in love with his own image to the point that he melted from the fire of passion burning inside him, was a fairly common theme in the first-century Roman city.
Continue reading...Oriol Junqueras refuses to recognise Madrid court trying 12 people for independence bid
The chief defendant in the trial of Catalan independence leaders declared himself a political prisoner as he took the stand on Thursday in the Madrid court where he and 11 others face charges over the 2017 bid to break away from Spain.
Oriol Junqueras, the former Catalan vice-president, effectively refused to recognise the court, agreeing only to take questions from his defence lawyer and not the prosecution. “This is a political trial and I refuse to answer to my accusers,” he said. “I am a political prisoner and I am on trial for my ideas.”
Continue reading...Daughter of Swedish bookseller jailed in China says Anna Lindstedt set up meetings in Stockholm
Sweden is investigating its ambassador to China after she was accused of orchestrating a bizarre series of meetings between the daughter of a Swedish bookseller jailed in China and businessmen who said they could help secure his release.
The story is detailed in a blogpost by Angela Gui, the daughter of Gui Minhai, a Chinese-born Swedish bookseller who has disappeared twice and is currently held in Chinese custody.
Continue reading...Ex-ambassadors and high commissioners say UK is weakened by ‘fiasco’
More than 40 former British ambassadors and high commissioners have written to Theresa May warning her that Brexit has turned into a “national crisis” and urging her to delay proceedings until the government has greater clarity about Britain’s likely future relationship with Europe.
The letter, signed by many of the most senior diplomats of the last 20 years, underlines concerns that British influence in the world will wane if the country leaves Europe’s trading and foreign policy bloc.
Continue reading...There are plenty of thoughtful, pragmatic remainers and leavers. They’re just not getting any airtime
Brexit has divided Britain – everyone says so. Families have been fractured, friendships blighted. Fury – yes, fury – hangs heavy in the air. Well, maybe. Perhaps it’s just the furious – the politicians, the punters, the pundits – who are getting all the airtime.
Just after the referendum I made a Panorama documentary in the West Midlands asking people why they had voted the way they had. The leavers, the majority, thumped their tubs in triumph. The remainers hung their heads in despair at the simple-mindedness of the leavers. Standard stuff.
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