For the United Nations (UN), the United Kingdom arrested “arbitrarily” WikiLeaks’s co-founder, Julian Assange, on Thursday and warned that by allowing his arrest, Ecuador has put the Australian journalist at risk of being extradited to the United States, “Exposing him to the risk of serious violations of human rights.”
British Prime Minister Theresa May toured Berlin and Paris on Tuesday to plead for an extension to the deadline for Brexit, which looked increasingly likely to be approved by EU leaders at a crunch meeting in Brussels.
British Prime Minister Theresa May on Saturday mulled a possible fourth attempt to get her Brexit agreement through parliament, faced with the growing risk of a chaotic no-deal exit in less than two weeks' time. MPs on Friday resoundingly rejected May's deal, although by a substantially lower margin than on two previous occasions in January and March.
MPs will be asked to vote again on Brexit on Friday but only on part of the deal negotiated with the EU. They will vote on the withdrawal agreement on the Irish backstop, divorce bill and citizens' rights. But it will not amount to a third meaningful vote on the deal, as it will not include a vote on the UK's future relationship with the EU.
Efforts to persuade MPs to back Theresa May's Brexit deal will continue on Thursday, a day after she promised to quit as PM if it was approved. Her pledge brought some on-side, such as ex-foreign secretary Boris Johnson.
The British government has officially responded to the record-breaking petition calling for Brexit to be canceled, which will be debated by MPs next week. The petition, which has passed more than 5.75m signatures has been scheduled for debate on Monday, 1 April along with two other Brexit petitions.
MPs have voted to take control of Commons business in an unprecedented move to try to find a majority for any Brexit option. The government was defeated by 329 votes to 302 on the cross-party amendment, a majority of 27. It means MPs will get a series of votes on Wednesday to find out what kind of Brexit they will support.
A vessel closely linked to the Falkland Islands' history and which was later to become the heart of the SS Great Britain in Bristol museum, is one of three British museums nominated along with the British Motor Museum and the D-Day Story at Portsmouth which have been shortlisted for the prestigious 2019 European Museum of the Year, (EMYA) Award. Last year’s EMYA winner was London’s Design Museum.
Theresa May says she has secured legally binding changes to her Brexit deal, a day ahead of MPs voting on it. But European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker warned if the deal was voted down there was no third chance. They spoke at a joint press conference in Strasbourg after a late meeting.
The UK government may cut trade tariffs on between 80% and 90% of goods in the event of a no-deal Brexit, reports say. Some tariffs would be scrapped completely, including those on car parts, and some agricultural produce. However, 10-20% of key products would continue to be protected by the current level of tariffs, including some textiles, cars, beef, lamb and dairy.