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Parliament goes chicken on Brexit – Washington Examiner
Parliament goes chicken on Brexit – Washington Examiner

Every time I think Britain’s MPs have touched bottom, they sink lower.

The House of Commons has just resolved that it will not let Britain leave the EU without explicit permission from Brussels, or, as Europhiles absurdly phrase it, that they will not let Britain “crash out” with “no deal.” With one vote, MPs have destroyed any prospect of an equitable outcome. Eurocrats now know that Britain has only two options: either to leave on humiliating terms, terms that would leave Brussels in charge of its trade policy in perpetuity, or to give up on Brexit entirely.

I’m trying to think of a more foolish and self-harming parliamentary vote. I can’t come up with an example from the past hundred years, or even the past 200. To find a similar level of legislative idiocy, we have go back to February 1775, when the House of Lords rejected Pitt the Elder’s Provisional Act, a measure that would have addressed the grievances of the American colonists and reconciled the two great branches of the English-speaking peoples.

I have previously poured cold water over the idea that support for President Trump and support for Brexit are equivalent phenomena. There are important differences between them: Most Brexiteers, for example, want freer trade, including with China. They resent being stuck in a protectionist European customs union. But Trumpsters and Leavers did have one thing in common. Both believed that that their respective politicians had stopped listening to their electorate, that they had become a remote and self-serving caste.

Everything that has happened since the Brexit vote in June 2016 has vindicated that belief. The moment the result came in, Westminster MPs and Brussels functionaries started working to overturn it. Some did so openly, campaigning for a second referendum or demanding that Britain revoke its legal notice to quit, which is scheduled to enter into force at the end of this month. Others operated more furtively, aiming to ensure that the exit terms were so bad that, in the end, Britain would drop the whole idea of recovering its independence.

Does that sound far-fetched? Listen to what Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, told European leaders in 2016, as revealed by the French magazine Le Point: “I’ll have done my job if, in the end, the deal is so tough on the British that they’d prefer to stay in the EU.”

A certain coldness from the EU was to be expected after the referendum. What was not expected was the readiness of British MPs to collude with Brussels in the hope of frustrating the largest vote in British history. Some politicians have maneuvered in the shadows. Others, including two former prime ministers, John Major and Tony Blair, have acted with stunning flagrancy, publicly calling for a reversal of the electorate’s decision.

Their behavior is causing catastrophic damage to Britain’s international standing, to its democratic procedures and, most seriously, to the authority of its institutions. Faced with calculatedly vindictive demands from the EU, including the regulatory annexation of Northern Ireland and a customs union that would prevent Britain from signing its own trade deals, any self-respecting nation would walk away from the table and then make the EU a generous offer on commerce and cooperation on a take-it-or-leave-it basis. Shamefully, Britain’s elected representatives are not prepared to do that.

There is blame enough for all sides. Labour has been focused solely on trying to force a general election. If that means blowing up any credible British negotiating strategy, so be it. But a handful of Conservative Eurofanatics have sided with Labour, or, rather, with Brussels, despite the fact that both main parties promised, at the 2017 general election, to respect the referendum result. Prime Minister Theresa May, for her part, emerged from the vote having lost her majority, her voice, and her authority. Rarely has British politics been in such a mess. No wonder Brussels negotiators feel they can press their advantage.

Imagine, to return to 1775 for a moment, that the Continental Congress had declared that it was not prepared to “crash out with no deal,” and so would not declare independence except with the wholehearted approval of King George III. You can’t imagine that, can you?

This has gone beyond Brexit now. What is at stake is nothing less than the legitimacy of our system of representative government. If MPs are seen to have sided with overseas powers against their own constituents, nothing will ever be the same again.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/parliament-goes-chicken-on-brexit

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North Korea may suspend nuclear talks with U.S., diplomat warns – NBC News
North Korea may suspend nuclear talks with U.S., diplomat warns – NBC News

SEOUL, South Korea — Kim Jong Un is considering suspending talks with the United States and may rethink a ban on missile and nuclear tests unless Washington makes concessions, a senior North Korean diplomat was quoted as saying Friday.

Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui blamed top U.S. officials for the breakdown of last month’s summit in Hanoi between President Donald Trump and Kim, Russia’s Tass news agency reported.

“We have no intention to yield to the U.S. demands (at the Hanoi summit) in any form, nor are we willing to engage in negotiations of this kind,” Tass quoted Choe as telling reporters in the North Korean capital.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton “created the atmosphere of hostility and mistrust and, therefore, obstructed the constructive effort for negotiations between the supreme leaders of North Korea and the United States,” Tass quoted Choe as saying.

Kim is set to make an official announcement soon on his position on the denuclearization talks with the U.S. and the North’s further actions, it added.

Choe said Washington threw away a golden opportunity at the summit and warned that Kim might rethink a moratorium on missile launches and nuclear tests, the Associated Press reported.

“I want to make it clear that the gangster-like stand of the U.S. will eventually put the situation in danger,” the AP quoted her as saying.

But she added: “Personal relations between the two supreme leaders are still good and the chemistry is mysteriously wonderful.”

South Korea, which has an ambitious agenda of engagement with North Korea that is dependent on Pyongyang and Washington resolving at least some of their differences, said it was too early to tell what Choe’s comments might mean.

“We cannot judge the current situation based solely on Vice Minister Choe Son Hui’s statements,” South Korea’s presidential Blue House said in a statemen. “We are watching the situation closely.”

Choe’s comments echoed the North’s usual rhetoric at tense points in its dealings with Washington.

The second Trump-Kim summit broke down over differences about U.S. demands for Pyongyang to denuclearise and North Korea’s demand for dramatic relief from international sanctions imposed for its nuclear and missile tests, which it pursued for years in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Choe had said after the Hanoi talks that Kim might lose his commitment to pursue a deal with the United States after seeing it reject a request to lift some sanctions in return for the North destroying its main known nuclear complex.

Bolton, who has argued for a tough approach to North Korea, said last week that Trump was open to more talks but also warned of tougher sanctions if the North did not denuclearize.

Source Article from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/north-korea-may-suspend-nuclear-talks-u-s-diplomat-warns-n983586

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Christchurch mosque shootings: Live updates – BBC News
Christchurch mosque shootings: Live updates – BBC News
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Source Article from https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-asia-47578860

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Pathetic Senate Republicans abandon principles by embracing Trump’s emergency declaration – Washington Examiner
Pathetic Senate Republicans abandon principles by embracing Trump’s emergency declaration – Washington Examiner

Republicans who spent the Obama administration warning about the expansion of executive power on Thursday made fools of themselves by overwhelmingly backing President Trump’s emergency declaration in the name of building a border wall. In the process, they did long-term damage to the conservative cause.

To be sure, the Senate voted 59-41 to disapprove of Trump’s declaration, and 12 Republicans took a principled stand. That Trump’s action was given the thumbs down by majorities in both chambers of Congress could bolster court cases challenging Trump’s executive action.

But the measure will now be vetoed by Trump, and there aren’t enough votes to overturn his veto, so he’ll be able to move forward, pending litigation.

What’s pathetic is that the overwhelming majority of Republicans signed off on the move. While consistent constitutional conservatives including Sens. Mike Lee and Rand Paul held firm, other conservatives who often warn about the erosion of checks on executive power, prominently Sens. Ted Cruz and Ben Sasse, caved. Thom Tillis, who actually wrote an op-ed outlining why he would vote against the measure, changed his mind when it came to vote.

In explaining away his decision, Sasse said: “We have an obvious crisis at the border everyone who takes an honest look at the spiking drug and human trafficking numbers knows this and the President has a legal path to a rapid response under the National Emergencies Act of 1976 (NEA). I think that law is overly broad and I want to fix it, but at present Nancy Pelosi doesn’t, so I am therefore voting against her politically motivated resolution. As a constitutional conservative, I believe that the NEA currently on the books should be narrowed considerably. That’s why I’m an original sponsor of Senator Lee’s legislation, and it is why I have repeatedly gone to the White House to seek support for NEA reform.”

This is a cop-out. Nothing in the world would prevent Sasse from both voting to disapprove of this specific invocation of emergency powers while also advocating for broader reforms. He is setting up a classic false choice. Sasse has in the past lamented the tendency of people to put their preferred outcomes over respecting process and institutional checks on power, and yet here he is, embracing a move because of the policy outcome.

Even if you think Trump’s actions are legal (which is debatable), it still would represent a novel use of emergency powers to advance a domestic priority after the president was repeatedly and explicitly denied it by Congress. Senators who argue against arbitrary rule shouldn’t endorse the idea of stretching the boundaries in the direction of expanding power of the executive. In the long run, the only people who will lose are those who want to limit the size and scope of government.

As I noted before, it’s quite likely that the legal process over the emergency will spill into next year and that it won’t be resolved in time to actually build a wall before the 2020 election. So in the end, Trump and those Republicans who embraced him may have just helped expand executive powers just in time for a Democratic president to use them, without even having a border wall to show for it.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/pathetic-senate-republicans-abandon-principles-by-embracing-trumps-emergency-declaration

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North Korea may suspend nuclear talks with ‘gangster-like’ U.S.:… – Reuters
North Korea may suspend nuclear talks with ‘gangster-like’ U.S.:… – Reuters

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea is considering suspending talks with the United States and may rethink a ban on missile and nuclear tests unless Washington makes concessions, news reports from the North’s capital on Friday quoted a senior diplomat as saying.

Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui blamed top U.S. officials for the breakdown of last month’s summit in Hanoi between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Russia’s Tass news agency and the Associated Press said.

“We have no intention to yield to the U.S. demands (at the Hanoi summit) in any form, nor are we willing to engage in negotiations of this kind,” TASS quoted Choe as telling reporters in the North Korean capital.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and national security adviser John Bolton “created the atmosphere of hostility and mistrust and, therefore, obstructed the constructive effort for negotiations between the supreme leaders of North Korea and the United States”, Tass quoted Choe as saying.

Kim is set to make an official announcement soon on his position on the denuclearisation talks with the United States and the North’s further actions, it added, citing Choe.

Choe said Washington threw away a golden opportunity at the summit and warned that Kim might rethink a moratorium on missile launches and nuclear tests, the Associated Press news agency said.

“I want to make it clear that the gangster-like stand of the U.S. will eventually put the situation in danger,” AP quoted her as saying. But she added: “Personal relations between the two supreme leaders are still good and the chemistry is mysteriously wonderful.”

South Korea, which has an ambitious agenda of engagement with North Korea that is dependent on Pyongyang and Washington resolving at least some of their differences, said it was too early to tell what Choe’s comments might mean.

“We cannot judge the current situation based solely on Vice Minister Choe Son Hui’s statements. We are watching the situation closely. In any situation, our government will endeavor for the restart of North Korea-U.S. negotiations,” South Korea’s presidential Blue House said in a statement.

Choe’s comments echoed the North’s usual rhetoric at tense points in its dealings with Washington. North Korea expert Joshua Pollack said North Korea may be delivering an ultimatum.

“They’re putting down a marker, saying which way things are headed if nothing changes,” Pollack, of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, California, said.

“NO OVERNIGHT SOLUTION”

The second Trump-Kim summit broke down over differences about U.S. demands for Pyongyang to denuclearise and North Korea’s demand for dramatic relief from international sanctions imposed for its nuclear and missile tests, which it pursued for years in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Choe had said after the Hanoi talks that Kim might lose his commitment to pursue a deal with the United States after seeing it reject a request to lift some sanctions in return for the North destroying its main known nuclear complex.

In Washington this week, the U.S. special representative for North Korea, Stephen Biegun, said the United States expected to be able to continue its close engagement, though he offered no specifics on when new talks might be held.

“Diplomacy is still very much alive,” Biegun said on Monday, but stopped short of saying if there had been any talks since the summit.

Bolton, who has argued for a tough approach to North Korea, said last week that Trump was open to more talks but also warned of tougher sanctions if the North did not denuclearise.

In Beijing, Premier Li Keqiang urged patience and further dialogue between North Korea and the United States.

“The peninsula problem can be said to be complicated and long-standing, and it cannot be solved overnight,” Li told an annual news conference on Friday, although his remarks were not made in response to the TASS report.

Earlier on Friday, a spokeswoman for South Korea’s Ministry of Unification told a press briefing that the weekly inter-Korean meeting scheduled at a liaison office in Kaesong, North Korea, had been canceled after the North Koreans said they would not be sending senior officials.

The spokeswoman said the ministry had not confirmed why the North Korean officials decided not to attend.

The South Korean won fell to its weakest intraday level in four months soon after the report, whereas the stock market’s KOSPI was muted in its reaction.

South Korean and Japanese defense-related shares surged following the reports.

Reporting by Joyce Lee and Josh Smith, additional reporting by Choonsik Yoo, Ju-min Park and Joori Roh; Writing by Jack Kim; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Nick Macfie

Source Article from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-usa/north-korea-considering-suspending-nuclear-talks-with-u-s-tass-idUSKCN1QW0C9

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Piece Found at Boeing 737 Crash Site Shows Jet Was Set to Dive – Bloomberg
Piece Found at Boeing 737 Crash Site Shows Jet Was Set to Dive – Bloomberg

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Source Article from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-15/piece-found-in-crash-wreckage-said-to-show-jet-was-set-to-dive

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Bribes and Big-Time Sports: U.S.C. Finds Itself, Once Again, Facing Scandal – The New York Times
Bribes and Big-Time Sports: U.S.C. Finds Itself, Once Again, Facing Scandal – The New York Times

The university moved swiftly to recover. Mr. Nikias succeeded Steven B. Sample as president that same year and began building the school into a fund-raising powerhouse. For the last several years, it has been one of the top universities in annual fund-raising, along with Harvard and Stanford, raising $6 billion in a recent campaign.

Mr. Nikias used the N.C.A.A. sanctions as the impetus to clean house — firing the athletic director, Mike Garrett, himself a former Heisman Trophy winner. Mr. Nikias also beefed up the rules compliance office, hiring a prominent Los Angeles lawyer, and soon had a nine-person staff.

“We’re going to have a culture of compliance,” Pat Haden, the replacement U.S.C. athletic director, told The New York Times at the time. “We’re going to think about it in the morning, think about it before we go to bed. We’re going to have issues but we’ll fess up and be better than the way before.”

As part of the restructuring, one administrator was soon thrust into a more prominent role — Ms. Heinel, a former college swimmer.

Ms. Heinel now stands accused of collecting more than $1.3 million in payments directed from parents through Mr. Singer between 2014 and 2018, and drawing $20,000 per month from Mr. Singer since last July through a sham consultant agreement.

Ms. Heinel, who came to U.S.C. in 2003, was fired Tuesday along with Jovan Vavic, the hugely successful water polo coach who was charged in the current affidavit with accepting $250,000 from Mr. Singer. Two former U.S.C. soccer coaches — Ali Khosroshahin and his assistant, Laura Janke — have been charged with taking $350,000 from Mr. Singer. So, too, has Bill Ferguson, the Wake Forest women’s volleyball coach, who led the men’s team at U.S.C. for a decade before leaving in 2016. He is accused of accepting $100,000 from Mr. Singer.

The recent scandals haven’t appeared to dim the university’s powerful lure for prospective students. This year, U.S.C. received close to 66,000 applicants, its largest pool ever, with the highest collective grade point averages and SAT scores ever recorded.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/14/us/usc-college-cheating-scandal-bribes.html

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Former Obama bundler reaching out to top Democratic Party donors to gain support for Beto O’Rourke’s 2020 candidacy – CNBC
Former Obama bundler reaching out to top Democratic Party donors to gain support for Beto O’Rourke’s 2020 candidacy – CNBC

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Politics

One of former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s supporters from his 2018 Senate campaign has been reaching out to top Democratic Party donors to see if they will back him to run for president in 2020.

Louis Susman, former U.S. ambassador to the U.K. and a lead bundler for Barack Obama’s first presidential campaign, has been speaking with political financiers from across the country, including those in the financial industry, to see if they will invest in O’Rourke’s campaign, according to people with direct knowledge of the outreach.

The former Obama backer has put together a string of senior party donors who are willing to contribute to the former congressman’s presidential operation, said the people, who declined to be named due to the conversations being deemed private.

In an interview with CNBC, Susman says the people he’s talked to about donating to the campaign are “family and friends.” He added “everyone is excited to go,” while noting he’s been in touch with O’Rourke’s campaign and coordinating his efforts with them. He declined to say who these donors are or which industry they are from.

“Whatever I do, I do it in coordination with the campaign,” Susman said. He said there’s no discussion about him becoming a campaign finance chairman and he has not recently spoken with O’Rourke himself. He’s confident the former Texas Senate candidate will be successful in the fundraising circuit.

“I don’t think, whether it’s through large bundlers or small donors, that he’s going to have a tough time raising money,” Susman said.

He also did not rule out holding fundraisers for O’Rourke, noting “everything is in the planning stages.”

“The team is focused on these four days in Iowa, and everything is going to develop from there,” he added and then abruptly ended the phone call.

Meanwhile, his daughter, Pfizer executive Sally Susman, is supporting another 2020 hopeful: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York. She’s hosting a fundraiser for Gillibrand in March at her home, and tickets range from $1,000 to $2,700.

CNN first reported in December that Louis Susman was planning to support O’Rourke’s candidacy if he ran for president.

A spokesman for O’Rourke did not return repeated requests for comment.

O’Rourke officially launched his campaign for president on Thursday and declared he would be following the same pledge he made when he ran for a Senate seat from Texas in 2018: He will not accept contributions from political action committees, corporations or any special interests. He did not rule out receiving the backing of wealthy financiers like Susman, who currently is a senior advisor to behemoth asset management firm Perella Weinberg Partners and investment firm Atlas Merchant Capital.

Susman was a contributor to O’Rourke’s failed Senate bid, in which he lost to Ted Cruz by just under 2 percentage points. He wrote a $2,700 check to O’Rourke’s campaign in March 2018. O’Rourke finished the 2018 election cycle raising $80 million with almost half of the contributions coming from supporters who gave $200 or less.

For O’Rourke, having Susman on his side could prove to be a difference maker, especially in appealing to donors who are willing to write the larger checks.

“Here’s what Beto doesn’t know: if the contributions he got in Texas will translate into a presidential race. He doesn’t know that,” said a Democratic donor who’s heard Susman’s pitch for backing O’Rourke. “He can’t just rely on that if he really wants to win,” this source added.

Before becoming Obama’s ambassador, Susman bundled at least $500,000 during Obama’s first run for president in 2008, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. He was also the national finance chairman for John Kerry’s 2004 bid for president.

In the buildup to his announcement, O’Rourke himself had been actively speaking with donors, including some in New York.

Robert Wolf, a longtime party donor and a veteran on Wall Street, spoke with O’Rourke on Wednesday afternoon, he confirmed to CNBC. Wolf would not comment on whether he will support him in the 2020 election but said he was impressed by his initial presidential campaign rollout. O’Rourke had a “great positive message and very smart retail-style politics, where he launches locally in an Iowa coffee shop shaking hands and taking questions.”

O’Rourke made his first campaign stop in the early caucus state of Iowa and traveled to the town of Keokuk to meet with voters at a local coffee shop.

Robert Zimmerman, another lead party bundler and donor, who has yet to hear from O’Rourke, said he considers him a viable candidate to compete for the Democratic nomination. Zimmerman said O’Rourke’s small-dollar donor base, which he put together when he ran for the Senate, will be a formidable hurdle for anyone competing against him.

“I think he’s a top-tier candidate. Very few candidates have shown the ability to build a donor base among young people, campaign in coffee shops around the country and also make the cover of Vanity Fair,” Zimmerman said.

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/14/former-obama-bundler-reaches-out-to-donors-to-back-orourke-in-2020.html

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New Mexico Compound Residents Accused Of Planning Terrorist Attacks – NPR
New Mexico Compound Residents Accused Of Planning Terrorist Attacks – NPR

A ramshackle compound in the desert area of Amalia, N.M. Five former residents were indicted on terror and gun charges.

Brian Skoloff/AP


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Brian Skoloff/AP

A ramshackle compound in the desert area of Amalia, N.M. Five former residents were indicted on terror and gun charges.

Brian Skoloff/AP

Updated at 9:40 p.m. ET

A federal grand jury in Albuquerque has indicted five residents of a rural New Mexico compound on new terror-related charges connected to an alleged conspiracy to attack FBI and military personnel.

The five defendants were arrested last year after authorities found 11 malnourished children living in squalor in the small community of Amalia, near the New Mexico-Colorado border. They also discovered a large cache of weapons, leading to charges of conspiracy and illegal possession of firearms.

The superseding indictment announced Thursday charges Jany Leveille, 36; Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, 40; Hujrah Wahhaj, 38; Subhanah Wahhaj, 36; and Lucas Morton, 41; with a conspiracy to provide material support for terrorist attacks on federal officers and employees.

“The indictment alleges that the defendants conspired to provide material support in preparation for violent attacks against federal law enforcement officers and members of the military,” said Assistant Attorney General John C. Demers in a statement. “Advancing beliefs through terror and violence has no place in America, and the National Security Division continues to make protecting against terrorism its top priority.”

Attorneys for the defendants withheld comment, saying that they are waiting for more information from the government.

“We still don’t have all the documents from the government regarding this case,” said Amy Sirignano, who represents Morton, as quoted by the Associated Press.

Sirignano said in an email sent to the AP on behalf of the defense that their clients would plead not guilty when they are arraigned next week.

Four of the compound residents also are charged with kidnapping a child who later died. The remains of a small child were discovered three days after the initial raid. The boy, three-year-old Abdul-Ghani Wahhaj, was the son of defendant Siraj Ib Wahaj and had been reported missing from his home in Georgia since December 2017. The search for the child led the FBI to begin monitoring the group and to the eventual raid.

New Mexico state child abuse charges were dismissed last year when prosecutors mishandled the case.

“Federal prosecutors say that between Dec. 2017 and August 2018, the group, who are either siblings or related by marriage, had ‘a common plan to prepare for violent attacks on government, military, educational and financial institutions,'” NPR’s Vanessa Romo reported in September 2018.

The Justice Department statement laid out the allegations related to preparations for attacks against federal officers and employees:

“According to the superseding indictment, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj and Hujrah Wahhaj gathered firearms and ammunition, and all of the defendants transported people, firearms, and ammunition across state lines and constructed a training compound where they stored firearms and ammunition. The superseding indictment further alleges that Siraj Ibn Wahhaj and Morton constructed and maintained a firing range at the compound where they engaged in firearms and tactical training for other compound occupants, and that Leveille and Morton attempted to recruit others to their cause.

“The superseding indictment also charges Leveille, Siraj Ibn Wahhaj, and Morton with conspiring to attack and kill officers and employees of the United States, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1117. It was a part and an object of the conspiracy that the defendants would kill officers and employees of the United States, specifically, Federal Bureau of Investigation employees, government officials, and military personnel.”

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2019/03/14/703587964/feds-indict-5-new-mexico-compound-residents-on-terror-and-gun-charges

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New Zealand Police Investigating Mass Shooting At 2 Mosques – HuffPost
New Zealand Police Investigating Mass Shooting At 2 Mosques – HuffPost

A gunman appears to have live-streamed the attack. The video, filmed from a first-person view and viewed by a HuffPost editor, begins with a man saying, “Let’s get this party started.” He then drives for nearly six minutes before leaving his car. The shooter enters what appears to be a mosque and fires at a large number of people, sometimes at close range. After about six minutes, he begins driving to another location. “There wasn’t even time to aim, there were so many targets,” he says.

Source Article from https://www.huffpost.com/entry/christchurch-mosque-shooting-new-zealand_n_5c8b08e5e4b03e83bdbeebc3

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Bangladesh Cricket team escape Christchurch mosque shooting | 1 NEWS NOW – TVNZ
Bangladesh Cricket team escape Christchurch mosque shooting | 1 NEWS NOW – TVNZ

He told 1 NEWS he was with players, as they were about to enter the mosque, and a lady came out telling them not to enter, so the team ran out and escaped.

Source Article from https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/bangladesh-cricket-team-escape-christchurch-mosque-shooting

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LIVE: Tesla Debuts the Model Y, Its Baby SUV – WIRED
LIVE: Tesla Debuts the Model Y, Its Baby SUV – WIRED

It’s been a weird few weeks for Tesla. Stores opened and stores closed, a $35,000 Model 3 appeared, the SEC asked a federal judge to charge CEO Elon Musk with contempt of court. But drown it all out, folks, because tonight is about that old school Musk magic. Expect him to walk onstage around 8 pm PDT to unveil Tesla’s latest, greatest offering, the Model Y, its first baby SUV.

If the Model 3 was the EV for the masses, the Model Y is the EV for the masses that the masses really want. The US loves big cars: SUV and crossover sales are currently up 13 percent year-over-year, and just short of half of all light vehicles sold in 2018 slot neatly into those categories. And Tesla certainly believes it has a hit on its hands. “The demand for Model Y will be maybe 50 percent higher than Model 3. Could be even double,” Musk said during a January earnings call.

As the hour of the unveil draws near, though, we have plenty of questions. Musk told investors that the Model Y would share about 75 percent of its part with the Model 3—but how different will it look? How much will it cost? Will it have gullwing doors like its more expensive predecessor, the Model X? How about a third row of seats? When will it be available? And how does Tesla—the company that went through “production hell” to create the Model 3—intend to pull it all off?

Tune in with us as we watch the show go down, and check back below for our latest, live updates.

9:00 pm PDT

And we’re done! Elon seemed to have a lot of fun with the audience during this unveil, cracking lots of jokes and giggling at the outbursts from (adoring) hecklers. But the whole thing was pretty short—just about 30 minutes—and the Tesla CEO spent most of his time reviewing how far his little-electric-vehicle-company-that-could had come. We have so many more questions! Stay tuned to wired.com for what we know so far about the Model Y.

8:57 pm PDT

A big surprise: The Model Y will have seven seats! But it won’t have gullwing doors. Here’s my big question: What becomes of the Model X now?

8:55 pm PDT

And we have some pricing information! Tesla says the Performance Model Y will show up in fall 2020, with a 280 mile range, a 150 mph top speed, a 0 to 60 time of 3.5 seconds, and a $60,000 price tag. The Dual Motor AWD is also slated for fall 2020, with a 280 mile range, a 135 mph top speed, a 0 to 60 sprint of 4.8 seconds, and a $51,000 price tag. Next up in fall 2020: the Long Range Model Y, topping out at 300 miles of range, for $47,000. Finally: The standard range Model Y is set to be released in spring 2021 with a 230 mile range, for a cool $39,000.

8:50 pm PDT

At last, it’s here! Dressed in blue, the Model Y comes on stage. It’s a bit bigger than the Model 3, with a higher roof and a third row, so it seats seven. Musk starts off talking about safety, and a bit on performance, saying it’ll be as functional as an SUV, but as fun to drive as a sports car. The big battery pack in the floor helps keep the center of gravity low, and the motor will provide a 3.5 second 0 to 60 mph time. Range: 300 miles.

8:48 pm PDT

We’ve got an update on Tesla infrastructure: 1,400 supercharger stations and 12,000+ superchargers in 36+ countries. The Canadians in the audience express discontent, and quoth Elon: “I’ve specifically asked about a Saskatchewan supercharger and I’m told it’s under construction.” (Musk’s grandfather is from the Canadian province.) He also promises a station in Kazakhstan, great news for Kazakh Tesla owners. And it feels like he’s about run out of things to say that aren’t about the Model Y. We hope…

8:45 pm PDT

Elon is on to the factory portion of his presentation, talking the Nevada Gigafactory and the one in production in Shanghai, which he says should be finished by the end of the year. I would not call this a “tight five”, but the audience seems to be eating this up.

8:30 pm PDT

Play the hits, Musk: the Roadster, the Model S, the Model X, the Model 3. (Elon confirms that “S” stands for “sedan”, not “saloon”.) The company’s tale, according to Elon, is a lot of “They couldn’t say we could do it…and then we did!” Which, fair enough! He notes that he would have called the Model 3 the Model E—to spell S-E-X—but that Ford holds the “Model E” trademark. “Ford killed sex.”

8:25 pm PDT

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is onstage—black shirt, black jacket, black pants, custom Tesla-branded Nike sneakers—and is starting off talking history. “There was a time when electric cars seemed very stupid,” he says. He’s rolling out past Tesla models, starting with the Roadster. “It’s a bit small,” he says. Next we’ll see the Model S sedan, Model X SUV, and Model 3 sedan.

8:22 pm PDT

It’s beginning! Discover how to tune in right here.

8:00 pm PDT

We’ve reached official show time, but like any rock star, Elon Musk tends to take the stage a little bit late. In the meantime, we’ll remind you that the Model Y is not just an overall big deal for Tesla, it completes something of a quartet, so Tesla’s current lineup includes the Model S, Model X, and Model 3. Get it? S3XY. (Ford holds the trademark to “Model E”.)

More Great WIRED Stories

Source Article from https://www.wired.com/story/live-tesla-debuts-the-model-y-its-baby-suv/

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Pathetic Senate Republicans abandon principles by embracing Trump’s emergency declaration – Washington Examiner
Pathetic Senate Republicans abandon principles by embracing Trump’s emergency declaration – Washington Examiner

Republicans who spent the Obama administration warning about the expansion of executive power on Thursday made fools of themselves by overwhelmingly backing President Trump’s emergency declaration in the name of building a border wall. In the process, they did long-term damage to the conservative cause.

To be sure, the Senate voted 59-41 to disapprove of Trump’s declaration, and 12 Republicans took a principled stand. That Trump’s action was given the thumbs down by majorities in both chambers of Congress could bolster court cases challenging Trump’s executive action.

But the measure will now be vetoed by Trump, and there aren’t enough votes to overturn his veto, so he’ll be able to move forward, pending litigation.

What’s pathetic is that the overwhelming majority of Republicans signed off on the move. While consistent constitutional conservatives including Sens. Mike Lee and Rand Paul held firm, other conservatives who often warn about the erosion of checks on executive power, prominently Sens. Ted Cruz and Ben Sasse, caved. Thom Tillis, who actually wrote an op-ed outlining why he would vote against the measure, changed his mind when it came to vote.

In explaining away his decision, Sasse said: “We have an obvious crisis at the border everyone who takes an honest look at the spiking drug and human trafficking numbers knows this and the President has a legal path to a rapid response under the National Emergencies Act of 1976 (NEA). I think that law is overly broad and I want to fix it, but at present Nancy Pelosi doesn’t, so I am therefore voting against her politically motivated resolution. As a constitutional conservative, I believe that the NEA currently on the books should be narrowed considerably. That’s why I’m an original sponsor of Senator Lee’s legislation, and it is why I have repeatedly gone to the White House to seek support for NEA reform.”

This is a cop-out. Nothing in the world would prevent Sasse from both voting to disapprove of this specific invocation of emergency powers while also advocating for broader reforms. He is setting up a classic false choice. Sasse has in the past lamented the tendency of people to put their preferred outcomes over respecting process and institutional checks on power, and yet here he is, embracing a move because of the policy outcome.

Even if you think Trump’s actions are legal (which is debatable), it still would represent a novel use of emergency powers to advance a domestic priority after the president was repeatedly and explicitly denied it by Congress. Senators who argue against arbitrary rule shouldn’t endorse the idea of stretching the boundaries in the direction of expanding power of the executive. In the long run, the only people who will lose are those who want to limit the size and scope of government.

As I noted before, it’s quite likely that the legal process over the emergency will spill into next year and that it won’t be resolved in time to actually build a wall before the 2020 election. So in the end, Trump and those Republicans who embraced him may have just helped expand executive powers just in time for a Democratic president to use them, without even having a border wall to show for it.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/pathetic-senate-republicans-abandon-principles-by-embracing-trumps-emergency-declaration

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Byron York: With Mueller office emptying, dramatic predictions remain unfulfilled – Washington Examiner
Byron York: With Mueller office emptying, dramatic predictions remain unfulfilled – Washington Examiner

Last week, John Brennan, the former CIA director turned Trump-bashing talking head, predicted a final flurry of indictments from Trump-Russia special counsel Robert Mueller. The big day, Brennan said, would be Friday, March 8.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if, for example, this week on Friday — not knowing anything about it— but Friday is the day the grand jury indictments come down. And this Friday is better than next Friday, because next Friday is the 15th of March, which is the ides of March,” Brennan told MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell. “And I don’t think Robert Mueller will want to have that dramatic flair of the ides of March when he is going to be delivering what I think are going to be are his indictments — the final indictments — as well the report.”

March 8 came and went without new Mueller indictments, or at least new public indictments. And now comes news that Mueller’s top deputy, Andrew Weissmann — also known as the special counsel’s “legal pit bull” — will leave the office within the next few days.

Also, the FBI recently announced that Mueller’s top investigator, David Archey, has left Mueller to take a top job with the bureau in Richmond, Va.

The departure of not one but two of Mueller’s key staff — along with other aides who have moved on in recent weeks — fueled speculation that the special counsel is wrapping up his investigation. “[Weissmann’s] departure is the strongest sign yet that Mueller and his team have all but concluded their work,” said NPR, which first reported the news.

As always, it is dangerous to predict what Mueller will or will not do, but what are the chances that Mueller’s key people are leaving while he is preparing big, new prosecutions?

“Slim and none,” said former Whitewater prosecutor Sol Wisenberg in a text exchange Thursday. Wisenberg has said for some weeks now that it does not appear Mueller is planning anything new. And now comes the news about Weissmann and Archey.

“The two leaving contemporaneously adds to my pre-existing views on this based on the course of events,” Wisenberg said. “If you were in their position and those big indictments were coming down, why wouldn’t you stay?”

If in fact Mueller plans no more charges, the investigation would leave some key figures in the Trump-Russia affair unindicted. Besides the president himself, the two biggest are Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner, the president’s son and son-in-law. But the bigger picture will be that the figures Mueller did charge — Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, Michael Flynn, Roger Stone, Michael Cohen, George Papadopoulos, and others — were not charged with taking part in a conspiracy with Russia to fix the 2016 election.

Indeed, so far, Mueller, in all his so-called “speaking indictments,” has not alleged that such a conspiracy existed. He has charged a lot of Russians with trying to interfere with the election, but he has not accused anyone on the Trump side of working with those or other Russians in the effort.

Had there been such a conspiracy, it seems reasonable to assume that the people Mueller charged — Manafort, Gates, Flynn, Cohen, Stone — would have been part of it, or at least would have known about it. Yet Mueller investigated and charged them all with crimes that were unrelated to the election or with lying to investigators. The special counsel has not alleged that any took part in an election conspiracy.

What seems most likely now is that Mueller will tell what he knows in a report to the attorney general. That report will almost certainly make its way to the public — on Thursday, the House voted nearly unanimously to urge its release — so Americans will finally know what Mueller discovered. Perhaps it will be a scathing assessment of what happened, a sort of nonindictment indictment of the Trump campaign. Or perhaps it will be something less.

In any event, if there are no further indictments, that will undoubtedly be a disappointment to those in the Resistance and Never Trump worlds who hoped to see people close to the president face charges.

It’s always important to be modest about knowing Mueller’s plans. He has surprised observers before. He might still now. But the departures of key investigators suggest that probe is reaching its end.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/byron-york-with-mueller-office-emptying-dramatic-predictions-remain-unfulfilled

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Boeing 737 Max Hit Trouble Right Away, Pilot’s Tense Radio Messages Show – The New York Times
Boeing 737 Max Hit Trouble Right Away, Pilot’s Tense Radio Messages Show – The New York Times

Then the controllers observed the plane going up and down by hundreds of feet, and it appeared to be moving unusually fast, the person said. The controllers, the person said, “started wondering out loud what the flight was doing.”

Two other Ethiopian flights, 613 and 629, were approaching from the east, and the controllers, sensing an emergency on Flight 302, ordered them to remain at higher altitudes. It was during that exchange with the other planes, the person said, that Captain Getachew, with panic in his voice, interrupted with his request to turn back.

Flight 302 was just three minutes into its flight, the person said, and appeared to have accelerated to even higher speeds, well beyond its safety limits.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/14/world/boeing-737-max-ethiopian-airlines.html

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Beto O’Rourke may be running for president, but his dog is a better candidate – Washington Examiner
Beto O’Rourke may be running for president, but his dog is a better candidate – Washington Examiner

There’s one real star of the Vanity Fair profile of Beto O’Rourke, and it’s not the Texas politician.

The failed Senate candidate announced he’s running for president Thursday morning, and just in time, the magazine profiled him in a glowing cover story.

Luckily, the piece does acknowledge his drunk driving arrest, which other media outlets have conveniently overlooked in the past, but that doesn’t make it levelheaded. Near the end of the piece, the author writes:

The politician with a crony capitalist background is certainly not too decent for the White House, but he has a dog who is.

The real star of the story is O’Rourke’s dog Artemis, who doesn’t even get a mention in the 8,000-word profile but who had plenty of photos taken by Annie Leibovitz.

Getting the legendary portrait photographer to capture O’Rourke may have been a little bit much, but Leibovitz’s talents were necessary to capture this pooch. She — since the dog is named after the goddess of the hunt, I’m guessing it’s a she — is looking at the ground while O’Rourke plays music with his kids. She’s looking off into the middle distance with the family at Franklin Mountains State Park. And as O’Rourke and his son sit on the couch, she’s staring right into the camera, and also into the soul of America.

O’Rourke said this next election is the “fight of our lives” and he’s “born to be in it.” But, despite polling among the top 2020 contenders since his Senate loss last fall, he’s shown little evidence he has what it takes. If charisma and Twitter fawning are all it takes to win the presidency, Artemis may as well run instead.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/beto-orourke-may-be-running-for-president-but-his-dog-is-a-better-candidate

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Brexit vote: UK Parliament has voted to delay Brexit – Vox.com
Brexit vote: UK Parliament has voted to delay Brexit – Vox.com

The UK Parliament has voted to postpone the Brexit deadline — but it’s now up to the European Union to agree to an extension.

Prime Minister Theresa May put forward a measure Thursday that sought to delay the UK’s exit from the EU beyond the current March 29 deadline. Parliament voted 412 to 202 in favor.

Parliament approved the extension a day after it voted against leaving the European Union without some sort of deal in place, and two days after members of Parliament rejected the prime minister’s Brexit deal by an overwhelming margin for the second time.

But a “Brextension” is not guaranteed — and could be complicated.

May has said that she would ask the EU for “a short limited technical extension,” until June 30, if Parliament approved her Brexit deal on March 20. This means she would try to pass her plan a third time. If her deal were to pass, the delay would simply provide the UK Parliament more time to pass the legislation to put the Brexit deal into law.

But, May warned, if Parliament doesn’t want to accept her deal a third time and doesn’t want to leave without a plan in place, then it’s possible any delay will have to be a long one, beyond the end of June.

May’s ultimatum appeared to be a last-minute threat to hardline Brexiteers — those members of Parliament (MPs) who keep voting down her deal but also want a decisive break with the EU. She’s basically warning them to get behind her plan or risk giving Parliament more time to figure out something else that will be far less desirable to them — like a softer Brexit, or a second referendum vote.

Ultimately, it’s up to the European Union to decide whether to grant any kind of extension. All 27 member states have to unanimously approve a delay, and they are almost certainly going to ask the UK: What is a delay good for?

The UK says it wants more time. But it’s really up to the EU.

The EU has been reluctant to grant the UK an extension unless it has a solution to break the political impasse. Parliament agrees it doesn’t like May’s deal, and says it doesn’t want to leave the EU without an agreement — but it hasn’t come to a consensus beyond that.

The EU doesn’t want the blame for the potential fallout of a no-deal Brexit on March 29, but it has said a reason for an extension can’t be more negotiations over May’s deal. What might meet the EU’s threshold, though, is a postponement that would allow the UK to better prepare for a no-deal Brexit, a technical delay to implement the Brexit deal if it’s approved on a third vote, or a dramatic shift in UK politics, such as a second referendum or general elections.

Both May and the EU have said any delay that lasts more than a few months will require the UK to participate in the European parliamentary elections, from May 23 to 26. (The new members of European Parliament take their seats at the beginning of July, so that’s how May came up with the June 30 date.) Both the UK and EU would almost certainly like to avoid this scenario, but a major political shake-up like a referendum or elections will almost certainly take more than a few months to plan and coordinate.

Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, seems to be the one EU leader who’s pushing for a longer extension to give the UK time to “rethink” its position. But there’s no real indication yet that others in Brussels want to drag out Brexit much longer, and a delay without a clear objective only adds to the uncertainty around the UK-EU divorce.

EU leaders will likely make their final decision at the European Council summit starting March 21, which is almost certainly why May is seeking a third deal vote on March 20.

“At this point, it’s hard to see an endgame that doesn’t involve an extension of time, which will likely be agreed upon by both sides,” Spencer Boyer, a fellow at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, told me in an email earlier this week.

A delay avoids the immediate catastrophe of a no-deal Brexit on March 29, but it still doesn’t solve the UK’s Brexit deadlock. But how May and the EU react to Thursday’s vote will offer some clues as to what’s next.

For now, the Brexit deadline, just 15 days away, still stands.

Source Article from https://www.vox.com/2019/3/14/18265380/brexit-vote-delay-deadline-parliament-european-union

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Rockets fired from Gaza towards Tel Aviv: Israeli military – Aljazeera.com
Rockets fired from Gaza towards Tel Aviv: Israeli military – Aljazeera.com

The Israeli army has said at least two rockets were fired towards Israel, triggering rocket sirens in the Tel Aviv area on Thursday.

The Israeli military said its Iron Dome missile defence system intercepted one of the rockets, while another landed in an open area, Israeli daily Haaretz reported.

Israeli television reported explosions and sirens being heard. An Israeli military spokesman said the incident was under investigation.

Israel’s Channel 10 news, citing anonymous military officials, said the rockets were Iranian-made Fajr rockets, and that there were no reports of injuries.

In Gaza, there was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Al Jazeera’s Harry Fawcett, reporting from West Jerusalem, said the Israeli army confirmed it detected two rockets from Gaza.

“The leadership of Hamas has gone underground, expecting an Israeli retaliation anytime soon,” Fawcett said, adding that some sort of retaliation is “absolutely inevitable”.


“[Israeli] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is already at the defense ministry in Tel Aviv to chair an emergency meeting with senior military figures to map out a response,” Fawcett said. 

Sirens were last activated in Tel Aviv two years ago, but it had been a false alarm.

Tel Aviv has not been attacked by rocket or missile fire since 2014, when the Israeli army launched an assault on the besieged Gaza Strip, which is administrated by Hamas.

Cross-border violence has increased in recent days with Israel’s military saying it carried out air raids on a compound belonging to Hamas after explosives attached to balloons were launched from the coastal enclave towards Israel.

Last week, Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian man and wounded more than 40 as thousands protested near the Gaza Strip’s perimeter fence.

Palestinians have staged weekly protests near the border with Israel as part of the Great March of Return protests.

According to the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, 267 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since March 30 last year.

Most of the Palestinians killed during the demonstrations were shot in weekly clashes, but some have been hit by Israeli tank fire or air raids.

Israel has accused Hamas of using the demonstrations as cover for infiltrations and attacks, but rights groups and Palestinians say the protesters have posed little threat.

Thursday’s incident comes weeks before Israel prepares to hold parliamentary elections on April 9.

Source Article from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/03/rockets-fired-gaza-tel-aviv-israeli-military-190314192341573.html

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Will children at center of college admissions scandal pay a price along with their parents? – Los Angeles Times
Will children at center of college admissions scandal pay a price along with their parents? – Los Angeles Times

The scheme, which began in 2011, centered on the owner of a for-profit Newport Beach college admissions company that wealthy parents paid to help their children cheat on college entrance exams and to falsify athletic records of students to enable them to secure admission to elite schools, including UCLA, USC, Stanford, Yale and Georgetown, according to court records.

Source Article from https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-usc-ucla-college-admissions-scandal-20190314-story.html

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Senate Rejects Trump’s Border Emergency Declaration, Setting Up First Veto – The New York Times
Senate Rejects Trump’s Border Emergency Declaration, Setting Up First Veto – The New York Times

Mr. Cruz initiated the meeting, in hopes of selling Mr. Trump on his own rewrite of the emergency declaration law that would restrict funding from military sources, according to a senior Republican aide with direct knowledge of the proposal. Mr. Trump summoned a lawyer from the White House Counsel’s Office, who said the plan would strip the president of powers he currently possesses. “No way,” an annoyed Mr. Trump told the trio, according to a person with knowledge of the exchange.

“I said there’s some people want to talk to you, they have some concerns about the emergency declaration,” Mr. Graham said. “Hell, if I was him, I would have told us to go to hell.”

All three men sided with Mr. Trump and voted against the resolution.

Mr. Graham, along with other lawmakers supportive of the declaration, argued that the president’s declaration was within the jurisdiction of the National Emergencies Act, and was needed to address what the president and his supporters deem to be a crisis at the southwestern border.

“I take Congress’s prerogative over appropriations extremely seriously,” said Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader. “But,” he added, “the Senate should not be in the business of misusing specific resolutions to express opinions on more general matters.” Mr. Trump, at Mar-a-Lago, told an associate that he felt let down by lackluster support for him among Republican leadership.

Mr. McConnell, who strongly advised Mr. Trump against declaring the emergency declaration, made a point of not pressuring senators to support Mr. Trump, urging them to vote according to their consciences and political interests, according to seven Republican aides and lawmakers.

At a party lunch in early March, the leader canvassed his conference and found virtually no support for the president’s position — then he informed senators running for re-election that they were free to vote “the politics” if they chose, according to a person in attendance.

He also repeatedly told senators that he had warned against Mr. Trump against enacting the emergency declaration in the first place.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/14/us/politics/senate-vote-trump-national-emergency.html

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Brexit: MPs vote by 412 to 202 to seek delay to EU departure – BBC News
Brexit: MPs vote by 412 to 202 to seek delay to EU departure – BBC News

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MPs have voted by 413 to 202 – a majority of 211 – for Prime Minister Theresa May to ask the EU for a delay to Brexit.

It means the UK may not now leave on 29 March as previously planned.

Mrs May says Brexit could be delayed by three months, to 30 June, if MPs back her deal in a vote next week.

If they reject her deal again then she says she will seek a longer extension – but any delay has to be agreed by the 27 other EU member states.

Most Conservative MPs voted against delaying Brexit – including seven cabinet members – meaning Mrs May had to rely on Labour and other opposition votes to get it through.

Theresa May has long insisted that the UK will leave the EU on 29 March with or without a withdrawal deal.

But she was forced to offer MPs a vote on delaying Brexit after they rejected her withdrawal agreement by a large margin, for a second time, and then voted to reject a no-deal Brexit.

She has warned that extending the departure date beyond three months could harm trust in democracy – and mean that the UK would have to take part in May’s European Parliament elections.

Downing Street said the government was still preparing for a no-deal Brexit.

Theresa May is planning to hold another “meaningful vote” on her withdrawal deal on Wednesday – after it was overwhelmingly rejected on two previous occasions.

She then plans go to an EU summit the following day, where she would ask for a one-off extension to get the necessary legislation through Parliament.

A spokesman for the European Commission said extending Article 50, the mechanism taking the UK out of the EU on 29 March, would need the “unanimous agreement” of all EU member states.

And it would be for the leaders of those states “to consider such a request, giving priority to the need to ensure the functioning of the EU institutions and taking into account the reasons for and duration of a possible extension”.

Some ministers said it was still possible for the UK to leave on 29 March – and others voted against a delay.

Downing Street said this was a “natural consequence” of Mrs May’s decision to offer a free vote on an issue where there are “strong views on all sides of the debate”.

Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liz Truss tweeted: “I voted against a delay to Brexit. As a delay was passed by Parliament, I want to see deal agreed ASAP so we can minimise to short, technical, extension.”

Seven cabinet ministers – Ms Truss, Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox, International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt, Commons leader Andrea Leadsom, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling and Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson – voted against the government motion.

Health Secretary Matthew Hancock said it would be “extremely difficult” but “still possible to deliver Brexit on 29 March with a deal”.

He said there were now two options: “to vote for the deal and leave in orderly way or a long delay and I think that would be a disaster.”

MPs earlier rejected an attempt to secure another Brexit referendum by 334 votes to 85.

And they also rejected a cross-party plan, to allow MPs to take control of the Brexit process to hold a series of votes on the next steps, by the narrow margin of two votes.

Following the votes, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn reiterated his support for a further referendum after earlier ordering his MPs not to vote for one.

He said: “Today I reiterate my conviction that a deal can be agreed based on our alternative plan that can command support across the House.

“I also reiterate our support for a People’s Vote – not as a political point-scoring exercise but as a realistic option to break the deadlock.”

Labour abstained when MPs voted on the referendum proposal, tabled by Independent Group MP Sarah Wollaston, arguing that now was not the right time to push for a public vote.

Labour’s plan to delay Brexit to allow Parliamentary time for MPs to “find a majority for a different approach” was defeated by 318 to 302 votes.

Source Article from https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-47576813

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