Abbott on Monday signed a sweeping order effectively banning vaccine mandates for private businesses with 100 or more employees. Last month, the Biden administration said it will require that businesses with 100 employees or more must mandate vaccines or receive weekly Covid tests.
American Airlines said it’s also reviewing Abbott’s order and that so far airline officials “believe the federal vaccine mandate supersedes any conflicting state laws, and this does not change anything for American.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki called the federal mandates’ legal mandate “unquestionable,” and said Abbott is just playing politics.
“We’ve seen from economist after economist, and frankly, many business leaders who have already worked to implement mandates that implementing these mandates creates certainty and reduces the number of people who are out of work sick, and worse,” Psaki said. “That is good ultimately for businesses, it’s good for the economy,” she said, adding it saves lives.
“Bottom line is we’re going to continue to implement the law, which the President of the United States has the ability, the authority — the legal authority to do, and we are going to continue to work to get more people vaccinated, to get out of this pandemic,” Psaki said. “The President will use every lever at his disposal to do that.”
Background: Southwest recently announced that, like its sister airlines, its contracts with the federal government require “full compliance” with the federal vaccination directive. That means its employees must be fully vaccinated, or be approved for religious, medical or disability exemption, by Dec. 8 to continue employment — the same date by which federal contractors must prove they’ve been vaccinated.
The administration has said that it would seek to modify their Civil Reserve Air Fleet contracts to require that airline employees be vaccinated, a move which top Republicans on the House Transportation Committee and its aviation subcommittee have called “insulting” given airlines’ contribution to CRAF during the Afghanistan evacuations.
The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, its pilot union, last month first sought exemptions to the pending mandate, petitioning members in the administration to reconsider.
The union took it a step further on Friday with a legal filing in a Dallas federal court to temporarily block the vaccine requirement as it sorts out another dispute with Southwest involving claims of unfair labor practices during Covid.
Where this is going: The Abbott decree is similar to one issued by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that directed the state to sue federal authorities over requirements that cruise ship passengers prove their vaccination status prior to boarding a ship. A judge last month ruled that cruise lines can’t ban vaccine passports; Florida is attempting to appeal the ruling.
The Abbott-Biden vaccine mandate staring contest is likely to head to the courts as well.
When asked for a response to Abbott, on Tuesday the White House pointed to vaccine mandate guidance for government contractors issued through the Office of Management and Budget on Sept. 24. That states that federal contractors and subcontractors “are promulgated pursuant to Federal law and supersede any contrary State or local law or ordinance,” and “nothing in this guidance shall excuse noncompliance with any applicable State law or municipal ordinance.”
DOT could step in front of Abbott’s decree by using its broad consumer protection authority to mandate that pilots and flight crew be vaccinated. However, it’s unlikely to do that absent a directive from the White House. So far, the Biden administration has preferred to utilize the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to implement and parse out its mandates, creating a more comprehensive enforcement as opposed to singling out individual agencies to do the job.
OSHA is in the midst of reviewing the matter, and is expected to issue the regulations in coming weeks.
America’s deadliest serial killer, Samuel Little, who confessed to strangling 93 people, has died in California aged 80 with the identity of almost half of his victims still unknown.
Little said he targeted disadvantaged and mostly black women, including sex workers, in the belief that this would draw less attention from a disjointed law enforcement system that had little apparent interest in such victims – a calculation that proved grimly correct. His death means families of many of the victims may never have closure.
He was serving three consecutive sentences of life without parole for the killing of three women in Los Angeles County during the late 1980s, crimes to which he was linked through DNA matches. He was convicted of first-degree murder by a Los Angeles County jury on 25 September 2014 and began serving his prison sentence about two months later.
According to the FBI, Little began confessing to additional murders to a Texas Ranger who interviewed him in his California prison cell in 2018, and ultimately admitted to killing 93 people across the country by strangulation between 1970 and 2005.
The FBI said investigators had since verified 50 of those confessions, with many more pending final confirmation, making Little the deadliest US serial killer on record.
Authorities have said he appears to have targeted mostly vulnerable young black women, many of them sex workers or addicted to drugs, whose deaths were not well publicised at the time and in some cases were not recorded as homicides.
Describing how he killed with impunity for years, Little boasted to investigators of avoiding “people who would be immediately missed”, in an interview acquired by the Washington Post, which examined the repeated failures to catch Little. “I’d go back to the same city sometimes and pluck me another grape,” he said. “How many grapes do you all got on the vine here? I’m not going to go over there into the white neighbourhood and pick out a little teenage girl.”
Many of his killings were initially recorded as overdoses or attributed to accidental or undetermined causes, and some bodies were never recovered, according to an FBI profile of the killer.
Samuel Little in 2014. Photograph: AP
Before his convictions in 2014, Little was linked to at least eight sexual assaults, attempted murders or killings, but he repeatedly escaped serious punishment.
Little served two prior sentences in a California state prison, including a four-year term ending in 1987 for assault with a deadly weapon and false imprisonment, and a stint of about 14 months ending in April 2014.
FBI video recordings of his jailhouse confessions showed Little sitting in front of a cinder-block wall in blue prison scrubs and a grey knit cap, sometimes appearing bemused or smiling as he recounted the circumstances of the killings.
He was incarcerated at a state prison in Lancaster, California, north of Los Angeles, and died early on Wednesday morning at an outside hospital, the state department of corrections said. It said an official cause of death would be determined by the county medical examiner’s office.
One hundred million adults in the United States are now fully vaccinated, White House coronavirus response director Jeff Zients announced Friday.
“That’s a hundred million Americans with a sense of relief and peace of mind, knowing that after a long and hard year, they’re protected from the virus,” Zients told reporters at a White House Covid-19 briefing.
He continued: “Knowing their decision to get vaccinated protects not just themselves but also protects their families, their friends and their communities.”
“A hundred million Americans who can follow the new CDC guidance released this week and enjoy going to the park with their family, dining and socializing with their friends outside and many more outdoor activities without needing to wear a mask,” Zients said.
The news comes as CNN reported that Biden’s coronavirus advisers are moving into the next phase of their response, from ramping up availability of Covid-19 vaccines to reaching those who have not yet gotten the shot.
White House officials have three overarching goals for the next 100 days: increasing accessibility, combating misinformation and assisting those without the resources to get vaccinated.
The US has administered approximately 237 million shots of the three Covid-19 vaccines as of Friday morning, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Biden administration doubled and surpassed its initial goal of 100 million Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in its first 100 days, reaching the 200 million benchmark on April 21. It has been racing to get shots in arms as variants spread throughout the country.
The White House has poured resources into educating the American public about the safety and efficacy of the three Covid-19 vaccines that have received emergency use authorization by the US Food and Drug Association.
The Biden administration has launched TV ads to encourage vaccinations and increase public confidence in the vaccines as it ramps up distribution.
It also announced nearly $10 billion would be allocated toward increasing vaccine access and confidence in hard-hit communities across the country, which includes $3 billion of CDC funding to support outreach efforts in the states through community-based organizations and trusted community leaders.
Biden has said there will be enough vaccine for every adult American by the end of May. Every American over the age of 16 is now eligible for a Covid-19 vaccine across the country.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff looks to expand scope of Russia probe; Fox News contributor Trey Gowdy reacts.
One day after President Trump decried what he called “the politics of revenge” and “partisan investigations” in his State of the Union address, Democratic House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff announced a new, wide-ranging probe into the president’s foreign business dealings and Russian election meddling.
The move was fiercely condemned by Trump, who called Schiff a “political hack” on a partisan search-and-destroy mission.
The Intelligence Committee on Wednesday also voted to hand over a slew of interview transcripts to Special Counsel Robert Mueller that were generated by the panel’s previous Russia investigation, which was conducted under GOP leadership and concluded last March. That investigation found “no evidence” of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government in the 2016 election.
Although the precise nature of the new Democrat-led House probe is unclear, Schiff said the investigation will include “the scope and scale” of Russian intervention in the 2016 presidential election, the “extent of any links and/or coordination” between Russians and Trump’s associates, whether foreign actors have sought to hold leverage over Trump or his family and associates, and whether anyone has sought to obstruct any of the relevant investigations.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., now ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, exits a secure area to speak to reporters, on Capitol Hill last March. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Schiff, D-Calif., charged late last year that Trump’s financial records with Deutsche Bank and Russia might reveal a “form of compromise” that “needs to be exposed.” Schiff has long maintained that there had to be some reason that the German banking giant, which has what he called a “history of laundering Russian money,” was willing to work with the Trump Organization.
In response, Trump told reporters at the White House that Schiff was grandstanding.
“He has no basis to do that. He’s just a political hack who’s trying to build a name for himself,” Trump said. “It’s just presidential harassment and it’s unfortunate, and it really does hurt our country.”
Trump, who last November called Schiff “little Adam Schitt,” warned during his State of the Union that an “economic miracle is taking place in the United States — and the only thing that can stop it are foolish wars, politics or ridiculous partisan investigations.”
“We’re going to do our jobs and the president needs to do his,” Schiff said. “Our job involves making sure that the policy of the United States is being driven by the national interest, not by any financial entanglement, financial leverage or other form of compromise.”
While it was unclear whether Mueller had requested that the Intelligence Committee turn over the interview transcripts, Republicans unanimously voted in September to release the documents, pending a review for potentially sensitive contents. Democrats have long vowed to turn over the transcripts to Mueller.
President Donald Trump announces his nomination of David Malpass, under secretary of the Treasury for international affairs, to head the World Bank, during an event in the Rosevelt Room of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
That investigation, which Democrats said had been concluded prematurely, found “no evidence of collusion, coordination or conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russians.”
Since then, both former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen and Trump’s longtime adviser Roger Stone have been charged with lying to the panel. Cohen pleaded guilty in November to lying to the House and Senate intelligence committees about his role in a Trump business proposal in Moscow. He acknowledged that he misled lawmakers by saying he had abandoned the project in January 2016 when he actually continued pursuing it for months after that.
Stone pleaded not guilty to charges last month that he lied to the House panel about his discussions during the 2016 election about WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy group that released thousands of emails stolen from Democrats. Stone is also charged with obstructing the House probe by encouraging one of his associates, New York radio host Randy Credico, to refuse to testify before the House panel in an effort to conceal Stone’s false statements.
Schiff on Wednesday also announced a delay in an upcoming closed-door interview with Cohen, “in the interests of the investigation.” The interview was originally scheduled for Friday. It will now be held on Feb. 28, Schiff said.
Schiff said he could not speak about the reason for the delay. Hours after the meeting was pushed back, a document was filed under seal in the criminal case against Cohen brought by special counsel Robert Mueller’s office. The court’s docket did not contain any details about the nature of the document.
Special counsel spokesman Peter Carr declined comment, as did Lanny Davis, an attorney for Cohen.
Fox News’ Alex Pappas and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
“Don’t suffer like me, get the vaccine immediately. It’s not only protecting yourself, its protecting people like me,” says 72-year-old Joel Croxton. Croxton was fully vaccinated but had a weakened immune system. He died of COVID on September 14.
Alan Hawes/Medical University of South Carolina
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Alan Hawes/Medical University of South Carolina
“Don’t suffer like me, get the vaccine immediately. It’s not only protecting yourself, its protecting people like me,” says 72-year-old Joel Croxton. Croxton was fully vaccinated but had a weakened immune system. He died of COVID on September 14.
Alan Hawes/Medical University of South Carolina
Alan Hawes pulls up images on his computer that are raw and intimate, like the anguished eyes of a 72-year-old man in a hospital bed, trapped behind a mask.
“He was extremely scared, and I think that comes across in the photo,” says Hawes.
“He’s just kind of looking into the lens like, ‘help me.’ “
A photojournalist for nearly two decades, Hawes, 57, is used to taking pictures of people when they’re most vulnerable.
Alan Hawes, formerly a photojournalist and now a nurse at the Medical University of South Carolina, documented daily life for patients and hospital workers in the hospital’s intensive care unit.
Sarah Pack/Medical University of South Carolina
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Sarah Pack/Medical University of South Carolina
Alan Hawes, formerly a photojournalist and now a nurse at the Medical University of South Carolina, documented daily life for patients and hospital workers in the hospital’s intensive care unit.
Sarah Pack/Medical University of South Carolina
Now he works as a registered nurse at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, and the man in the picture was a patient.
“He told me, ‘I don’t ever want anyone to have to go through this.’ “
Neither does Hawes. That’s why he got the idea to start photographing his daily experiences with health-care workers and COVID patients in the critical care unit.
“If the public was more educated and could see what was going on and feel some of those emotions that I hope my photos show, I felt like it would make a bigger difference,” says Hawes, whose photographs have been published by the Chicago Tribune, Sports Illustrated and the Associated Press.
Hawes especially hopes the images can change the minds of the unvaccinated. To the frustration of health-care workers, most new patients turning up at his hospital’s emergency room have not been vaccinated, he says. And as the nation braces for another deadly wave due to the omicron variant, he expects the number of people seriously ill with COVID to go up.
With the permission of hospital officials, health-care workers and COVID patients, Hawes began taking photos on his own time. Many of the images are showcased on the hospital’s Facebook page and have been featured in local news.
Respiratory therapist Miriah Blevins peers out a window looking for assistance as she cares for a patient. When staffers are wearing personal protective equipment in a sealed room, they often need help.
Alan Hawes/Medical University of South Carolina
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Alan Hawes/Medical University of South Carolina
Respiratory therapist Miriah Blevins peers out a window looking for assistance as she cares for a patient. When staffers are wearing personal protective equipment in a sealed room, they often need help.
Alan Hawes/Medical University of South Carolina
Left: Patient care technician Kelly Burchette comforts intensive care unit nurse Andrea Crain as she breaks down in tears after calling a patient’s wife to tell her to come to the hospital because her husband is dying. “Everybody is dying and it just makes me so sad,” Crain said. Right: A patient’s prayer cloth is attached to an IV pole at the request of the patient’s family.
Alan Hawes/ Medical University of South Carolina
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Alan Hawes/ Medical University of South Carolina
Left: Patient care technician Kelly Burchette comforts intensive care unit nurse Andrea Crain as she breaks down in tears after calling a patient’s wife to tell her to come to the hospital because her husband is dying. “Everybody is dying and it just makes me so sad,” Crain said. Right: A patient’s prayer cloth is attached to an IV pole at the request of the patient’s family.
Alan Hawes/ Medical University of South Carolina
Those images include a respiratory therapist peering through the blinds from inside a patient’s window. She is trying to get another health-care worker’s attention. She needs help to care for the patient but can’t leave the room because she is in full protective gear. Dawes says he took this shot because “it just kind of shows how isolated we are when we’re in those rooms.”
Another is a close-up of a prayer cloth sealed in a plastic bag marked “do not throw away,” attached to an IV pole. The cloth was made by a family member to provide comfort and spiritual strength to their mother, a COVID patient. The woman died in October.
Another photo captures a nurse crying after calling a patient’s wife, urging her to come quickly because her husband is dying.
These are images fellow nurse Sarah Bucko, 40, knows all too well.
“I look at these pictures and I can tell you their names. I can tell you whether they lived or died, and how my coworkers were feeling that day,” she says.
Bucko has worked at the hospital for nearly 20 years. She says she loves caring for people. But like millions of health-care workers across the country, she is exhausted — physically, mentally and emotionally.
Hospital staff roll a COVID patient into the intensive care unit at the Medical University of South Carolina after being intubated in the emergency room. The patient’s wife was also hospitalized with COVID.
Alan Hawes/Medical University of South Carolina
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Alan Hawes/Medical University of South Carolina
Hospital staff roll a COVID patient into the intensive care unit at the Medical University of South Carolina after being intubated in the emergency room. The patient’s wife was also hospitalized with COVID.
Alan Hawes/Medical University of South Carolina
Left: registered nurse Crystal Foster dons her protective gear. She has had two mild COVID infections herself, the second time after being fully vaccinated. Right: ICU nurse Lauren Harfield writes information about blood oxygen levels on the window of the patient’s door so it can be easily seen by medical staff.
Alan Hawes/Medical University of South Carolina
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Alan Hawes/Medical University of South Carolina
Left: registered nurse Crystal Foster dons her protective gear. She has had two mild COVID infections herself, the second time after being fully vaccinated. Right: ICU nurse Lauren Harfield writes information about blood oxygen levels on the window of the patient’s door so it can be easily seen by medical staff.
Alan Hawes/Medical University of South Carolina
A team of nurses, patient care technicians and a respiratory therapist prepare to return a COVID patient to their back after 24 hours of lying on their stomach. That posture makes it easier to breathe and is a critical part of treatment for COVID patients in hospitals.
Alan Hawes/Medical University of South Carolina
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Alan Hawes/Medical University of South Carolina
A team of nurses, patient care technicians and a respiratory therapist prepare to return a COVID patient to their back after 24 hours of lying on their stomach. That posture makes it easier to breathe and is a critical part of treatment for COVID patients in hospitals.
Alan Hawes/Medical University of South Carolina
Even after she’s helped save a loved one’s life, she says, some family members have told her they’re still not sure they’ll get vaccinated – and that the coronavirus is a hoax.
“I’ve been told by patients’ families [who can’t come to visit] that we are making this up to drum up business at the hospital,” says Bucko.
“If anything,” she adds, “I think these pictures show this is real.”
Left: Tala’Shea Foster uses Facetime to see her newborn son, delivered by emergency cesarean section because her COVID was so severe. Foster says she didn’t know the vaccine was available for pregnant women. Right: Charles Roberts had a tube inserted in his nose to improve oxygen flow shortly after his hospital admission for COVID. By the end of the night, he was intubated.
Alan Hawes/Medical University of South Carolina
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Alan Hawes/Medical University of South Carolina
Left: Tala’Shea Foster uses Facetime to see her newborn son, delivered by emergency cesarean section because her COVID was so severe. Foster says she didn’t know the vaccine was available for pregnant women. Right: Charles Roberts had a tube inserted in his nose to improve oxygen flow shortly after his hospital admission for COVID. By the end of the night, he was intubated.
Alan Hawes/Medical University of South Carolina
Steven Lavender recovers from COVID in the ICU after spending weeks isolated in a specialized COVID unit on a ventilator until he was no longer contagious. Lavender was unable to talk due to a tracheotomy, so his fiancée Mary Moore made a page in her journal that he could use to point to his needs. According to Moore, Lavender said he was “too busy” to go for a vaccine prior to getting COVID.
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Alan Hawes/Medical University of South Carolina
Steven Lavender recovers from COVID in the ICU after spending weeks isolated in a specialized COVID unit on a ventilator until he was no longer contagious. Lavender was unable to talk due to a tracheotomy, so his fiancée Mary Moore made a page in her journal that he could use to point to his needs. According to Moore, Lavender said he was “too busy” to go for a vaccine prior to getting COVID.
Alan Hawes/Medical University of South Carolina
But there are some people who have changed their minds about the COVID vaccine and have allowed Hawes to document their stories.
Steven Murray is one such patient.
Murray, who was not vaccinated, believed he could fight off COVID like the flu when he reluctantly went to the emergency room just before Labor Day.
Hawes photographed him sitting in a chair with tubes up his nose.
“I was like no, not me. I’m tough. I’m 37 years old. I’m not going to die,” he says.
Steven Murray did not get the vaccine. “I thought that if I got COVID, I’d be able to fight it off like the flu. Boy was I wrong. There is nothing you could have told me to make me get the vaccine. After this experience, I’m telling everyone I know to get it now. The grim reaper was reaching out for me. I was scared.”
Alan Hawes/Medical University of South Carolina
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Alan Hawes/Medical University of South Carolina
But within an hour of being admitted, Murray says doctors told him he would likely not leave the hospital alive if he didn’t get intubated — inserting a tube into the trachea to maintain an airway.
Stubbornly, he refused and now admits he was scared he would die if put on a ventilator.
He survived.
When health care staffers asked he’d decided against getting vaccinated, Murray says he told them, “because I’m a dumbass.”
Murray says he bought into what he calls the misinformation and politics surrounding the pandemic. He goes out of his way to share his story whenever he can and “when I tell them, I’m like please, please, please get the vaccine. If you haven’t gotten it, please.”
“We need to give these people a break because eventually they are going to break,” says Murray.
Dr. Denise Sese (left) discusses a patient’s plan of care with nurse Ericka Tollerson in the COVID intensive care unit.
Alan Hawes/Medical University of South Carolina
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Alan Hawes/Medical University of South Carolina
Dr. Denise Sese (left) discusses a patient’s plan of care with nurse Ericka Tollerson in the COVID intensive care unit.
Alan Hawes/Medical University of South Carolina
The COVID ICU has a red zone that’s sealed with negative pressure air to keep the airborne virus particles from leaving the room. Staff are required to wear full PPE, including N-95 respirators and eye protection, for most of their 12-hour shifts.
Alan Hawes/Medical University of South Carolina
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Alan Hawes/Medical University of South Carolina
The COVID ICU has a red zone that’s sealed with negative pressure air to keep the airborne virus particles from leaving the room. Staff are required to wear full PPE, including N-95 respirators and eye protection, for most of their 12-hour shifts.
Alan Hawes/Medical University of South Carolina
Hawes doesn’t know how people will react to his photos, but he hopes the images will be educational.
“The more people see, the more they understand, and the better decisions people make,” says Hawes.
“That’s what journalism is about.”
Victoria Hansen covers the Charleston community for South Carolina Public Radio.
LONDON (Reuters) – British lawmakers were on Wednesday set to stave off the threat of a no-deal exit from the European Union on March 29 but the second defeat of Prime Minister Theresa May’s divorce treaty has left the country heading into the Brexit unknown.
After two-and-a-half years of tortuous divorce negotiations with the EU and two failed attempts to get her exit deal ratified by parliament, May said she would vote against a no-deal exit that investors fear would spook financial markets, dislocate supply chains and damage the world’s fifth largest economy.
Lawmakers will vote shortly after 1900 GMT on a government motion which states that parliament rejects leaving the EU without a deal on March 29 but notes that leaving without a deal remains the legal default unless a deal is agreed.
While the motion has no legal force and ultimately does not prevent a no-deal exit, if lawmakers support it as expected then they will get a vote on Thursday on whether to delay Brexit, probably by months.
Finance minister Philip Hammond said he could free billions of pounds for extra public spending or tax cuts if parliament spared Britain the shock of leaving the world’s biggest trading bloc without an agreement to smooth the transition.
“Leaving with no deal would mean significant disruption in the short and medium term and a smaller, less prosperous economy in the long term, than if we leave with a deal,” Hammond told parliament.
Sterling was unmoved during Hammond’s speech, holding its earlier gains on the back of hopes that lawmakers will vote against a no-deal Brexit.
After lawmakers crushed her deal for a second time on Tuesday, May said it was still the best option for leaving in an orderly fashion.
“I want to leave the European Union with a good deal, I believe we have a good deal,” she told parliament. May said the government would not instruct her Conservative Party’s lawmakers how to vote.
Lawmakers have submitted alternative proposals, including a plan for a “managed” no-deal exit, which could also be voted upon on Tuesday.
As the United Kingdom’s three-year Brexit crisis spins towards its finale, diplomats and investors see four main options: a delay, May’s deal passing at the last minute, an accidental no-deal exit or another referendum.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said: “We have not given up the goal of an orderly exit (for Britain) but yesterday’s events mean the options have become narrower.”
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BREXIT DELAY?
If Britain does seek a delay, all the bloc’s other 27 members must agree to it.
The EU would prefer a short extension, with the deadline of EU-wide parliamentary elections due May 24-26. It is unclear how such a short extension could solve the Brexit impasse in London.
EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said the bloc would need to know why Britain wanted to extend talks and it was up to London to find a way out of the deadlock.
“If the UK still wants to leave the EU in an orderly manner, this treaty is – and will remain – the only treaty possible,” Barnier told the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
As Brexit uncertainty spills into foreign exchange, stock and bond markets across the world, investment banks such as Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan are offering different probabilities on the outcomes.
“We continue to see a 55 percent chance that a close variant of the prime minister’s Brexit deal is eventually ratified, after a three-month extension of Article 50,” Goldman said. Its best guess was that a reversal of Brexit had a 35 percent probability and a no-deal Brexit a 10 percent probability.
Brexit minister Stephen Barclay said no-deal remained preferable to staying in the EU.
“If you pushed me to the end point where it’s a choice between no deal and no Brexit … I think no deal is going to be very disruptive for the economy and I think no deal also has serious questions for the union,” he told BBC radio.
“But I think no Brexit is catastrophic for our democracy. Between those very unpleasant choices, I think no Brexit is the bigger risk.”
The EU said there could be no more negotiations with London on the divorce terms.
Britons voted by 52-48 percent in 2016 to leave the bloc, a decision that has split the main political parties and exposed deep rifts in British society.
Slideshow (9 Images)
Many fear Brexit will divide the West as it grapples with both the unconventional U.S. presidency of Donald Trump and growing assertiveness from Russia and China, leaving Britain economically weaker and with its security capabilities depleted.
Supporters say it allows Britain to control immigration and take advantage of global trade opportunities, while keeping close links to the EU.
Additional reporting by Elisabeth O’Leary and Alastair Macdonald in Brussels; Writing by Michael Holden and Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Janet Lawrence
Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what’s clicking on Foxnews.com.
A 14-year-old Ohio girl drowned Tuesday at a Middletown theme park, authorities said.
The teen was identified as Mykiara Jones who was from Dayton, according to the Butler County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies were called to the Land of Illusion Adventure Park at about 5 p.m. after a report of a juvenile drowning.
A lifeguard spotted Jones about a half-hour after she first went under. The teenager was transported to Dayton Children’s Hospital where she was pronounced dead, the sheriff said.
The Associated Press reported that Jones was not wearing a life vest and fell into the water after being on a “jumping apparatus,” officials said.
“This is a tragedy no parent should have to endure,” stated Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones. “These are the calls first responders dread and have difficulty dealing with. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family.”
Life vests are available at the park, though guests are not required to wear them, reports said.
The park was closed Wednesday – out of respect for Jones, her family, and employees who were also “dealing with this tragedy,” according to a statement on its Facebook page.
“We are fully supporting state and local officials as they investigate the incident,” the park said.
Mykiara Jones, from Dayton, went underwater at 5 p.m. at Land of Illusion Adventure Park, according to the Butler County Sheriff’s Office ( Butler County Sheriff’s Office)
Middletown is about 40 miles northeast of Cincinnati.
Media captionYvette Cooper: “We’re in a very dangerous situation”
A cross-party group of MPs has put forward a bill to prevent a no-deal Brexit in 10 days’ time.
If passed into law, the bill would require the PM to ask for an extension of Article 50 – which mandates the UK’s exit from the EU – beyond the current 12 April deadline.
Labour MP Yvette Cooper presented the bill – which supporters hope they can pass through the Commons in one day.
The cabinet, which remains split over Brexit, met for eight hours in No 10.
The BBC’s John Pienaar said Theresa May’s ministers considered plans to “ramp up” no-deal Brexit preparations and a snap general election was also discussed.
Meanwhile, the EU’s chief negotiator has said a no-deal Brexit is now more likely but can still be avoided.
Michel Barnier said a long extension to the UK’s 12 April exit date had “significant risks for the EU” and a “strong justification would be needed”.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron and Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar are meeting in Paris to discuss the impact of Brexit.
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Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and France’s President Emmanuel Macron
President Macron told reporters that the EU “cannot be hostage to the political crisis in the UK”, and the government must come forward with “credible” reasons for an extension.
He said these could include an election, second referendum, or alternative proposals for the future relationship, such as a customs union.
Mr Varadkar said the UK was “consumed by Brexit”, but the EU should not be.
He said the EU “needs to be open” about any proposals the UK brings, including a longer extension, and they will do what they can to “assist”.
But he added: “We gave the UK some time, some space and some opportunity to come up with a way forward… [but] as things stand, they will leave on 12 April without a deal.”
Tory MP Sir Oliver Letwin, who supports Ms Cooper’s bill, said: “This is a last-ditch attempt to prevent our country being exposed to the risks inherent in a no-deal exit.
“We realise this is difficult. But it is definitely worth trying.”
Ms Cooper said the UK was “in a very dangerous situation” and MPs “have a responsibility to make sure we don’t end up with a catastrophic no deal”.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s World At One, she added: “We have been attempting to squeeze into just a couple of days a process that really should have been happening for the last two years – a process of trying to build a consensus around the best way forward.
“It is what the prime minister should be doing. It is the prime minister’s responsibility to ensure we don’t leave the country less safe.”
Why is this bill unusual?
Image copyright AFP/Getty Images
Normally the government chooses which bills to present to Parliament in order for them to become law.
But – much to the government’s disapproval – MPs voted to allow backbenchers to take charge of business in the Commons on Wednesday.
This gives backbenchers the opportunity to table their own bills, such as this one from Yvette Cooper.
A copy of the bill shows that they want to push it through the commons in one day.
As the backbenchers will be in charge, they will also be able to vote to set aside more time on another day, if they need to complete the process or hold further indicative votes.
However, the bill would also have to be agreed by the House of Lords and receive Royal Assent before it became law – which if the Commons agrees it on Wednesday, could happen as soon as Thursday.
Brexiteer Tory Sir Bill Cash said trying to go through these stages in one day made it a “reprehensible procedure”.
But Speaker John Bercow said that, while it was “an unusual state of affairs”, it was “not as unprecedented as he supposes” – citing recent bills on Northern Ireland that have been passed at the same speed.
In the latest round of indicative votes on Monday, MPs voted on four alternatives to the PM’s withdrawal deal, but none gained a majority.
MPs rejected a customs union with the EU by three votes. A motion for another referendum got the most votes in favour, but still lost.
The votes were not legally binding, but they had been billed as the moment when Parliament might finally compromise.
The Independent MP Chris Leslie tweeted that MPs would be seeking more time for indicative votes to take place on Monday.
Liberal Democrat MP Norman Lamb said he is considering resigning the whip after his party refused to back proposals for a customs union and Common Market 2.0 on Monday.
He told BBC News: “If you are seen to be unreasonable, not engaging to find solutions, I don’t think it is very attractive to the people.”
Earlier, Mr Barnier said: “No deal was never our desire or intended scenario but the EU 27 is now prepared. It becomes day after day more likely.”
Media captionBarnier: “No-deal Brexit has become more likely”
Mrs May’s plan for the UK’s departure has been rejected by MPs three times.
Last week, Parliament took control of the process away from the government in order to hold a series of votes designed to find an alternative way forward.
Eight options were put to MPs, but none was able to command a majority, and on Monday night, a whittled-down four were rejected too.
What next?
Tuesday 2 April: A five-hour cabinet meeting
Wednesday 3 April: Potentially another round of indicative votes, and Yvette Cooper’s bill to be debated
Thursday 4 April: Theresa May could bring her withdrawal deal back to Parliament for a fourth vote, while MPs could also vote on Ms Cooper’s bill
Wednesday 10 April: Emergency summit of EU leaders to consider any UK request for further extension
Friday 12 April: Brexit day, if UK does not seek / EU does not grant further delay
The nation’s capital ended a day full of Independence Day celebrations with fireworks. USA TODAY
WASHINGTON – Fourth of July festivities in the nation’s capital were anything but typical this year. It wasn’t just the military tanks, jet flyovers or the speech by President Donald Trump.
The president’s role in what is usually a nonpartisan celebration created what felt like three different events: Protesters who decried his administration and its policies; a campaign rally where supporters cheered for him to keep the White House for another term; and those who simply wanted to enjoy hot dogs and fireworks with their families for the annual Independence Day festivities.
On a holiday marking America’s birthday, the country’s divisions were on full display.
There was a giant blimp depicting the president as an orange infant. There was also a sea of red, “Make America Great Again” hats. And there were families spread out along the National Mall with blankets and children anxiously awaiting the fireworks display and not focused on politics.
When the protesters and Trump supporters clashed over a flag burning in front of the White House, there were two arrests, although most confrontations did not go beyond shouting matches.
Trump’s influence on the annual celebrations were easy to spot.
Supporters poured into the National Mall throughout the day, many waving “Trump 2020” flags or wearing “MAGA” hats. They passed by the heckling of protesters with disgust, some yelling “SNOWFLAKES!” to the crowds gathered in opposition of Trump.
In the afternoon at the National Independence Day Parade parade, thousands of people lined the streets of Washington to watch floats, drum lines and military units march by. As the parade marched on, the heat did too. Spectators migrated towards the shade, picking up ice-cold bottles of water from vendors, to watch the parade.
Hundreds of Trump supporters were part of the crowd that lined Constitution Avenue.
Trump’s new campaign slogan, ‘Keep America Great,’ also filled the surrounding streets of the parade. Vendor stands at nearly every corner pushed Trump hats and paraphernalia on energetic supporters.
Jim Sutton usually attends the parade each year with his wife, Gigi. But the couple, who sported head-to-toe Trump gear, said something felt different this year.
“It’s just fantastic,” Gigi Sutton said, in her white Trump T-shirt and flag pants. The pair said the criticism of Trump’s use of military equipment in the event was unwarranted.
“We’ve been having all these problems with Iran, North Korea. This says something,” Gigi Sutton said. Her husband chimed in, “It let’s the world know our nation’s defense is well at hand.”
After watching Trump’s speech and the military aircraft flyovers for each branch of the military, Amiee LeDoux was left in tears.
“That was the first time I ever cried during the Fourth of July,” LeDoux, who traveled with her family from New Hampshire, said as she started to tear up again. “I just felt like it really embraced who we are and it just felt like God was really honored, and America was honored and the military was honored.”
Wearing a blue Trump hat, LeDoux said she thought Trump’s speech helped bring the country together.
“I think there was a lot of unity and the mentioning of our history and how rich of a history we have, it was just so beautiful,” she said.
Blimps, toilet robots, burning flags
While the event was mostly peaceful, a fight broke out at a flag burning event in front of the White House that led to at least two arrests.
Trump supporters, some wearing hats emblazoned with Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan, charged a circle of protesters who were burning a flag, causing the protesters to topple over. The Trump supporters, some of whom were wearing attire identifying themselves as Proud Boys, a far-right organization, attempted to stamp out the fire.
But the flag burning was far from the only act of protest happening in the heart of Washington. Many wore shirts about impeaching Trump or supporting Hillary Clinton, Trump’s Democratic rival in the 2016 election. They carried balloons depicting Trump as a small, orange baby — a miniature depiction of a famous blimp that was briefly inflated on the National Mall.
Along with the Baby Trump blimp, the liberal activist organization Code Pink also parked a 16-foot-tall “Dumping Trump” robot featuring the president sitting on a golden toilet wearing a MAGA-style hat saying “Make America Great Again: Impeach Me.”
The robot sporadically shouted out some of Trump’s most-used lines, including “no collusion” and “witch hunt.”
Nearby, Noel Eldridge gathered with the nearly 100 protesters, holding a sign plastered with photographs of migrant detention centers. It read “Are you proud to be American? Today?”
Eldridge said he grew up in the same New York neighborhood as Trump. “I know the particular kind of bully and racist he is,” Eldridge said.
Just yards away, a miniature baby Trump balloon was locked inside of a metal cage. Linda Berns said she has traveled from her home in Bethesda, Md. each year for 40 years to watch the fireworks along the National Mall. This year, she came to protest.
She said she joined the protest against Trump’s immigration policies because of her family’s history. “This is a country of immigrants,” Berns said. “My grandparents were immigrants.”
Anne and Emily Balderson, both waving mini-Trump-baby balloons, came to D.C. from Texas to experience the holiday in the capital but said Trump role in the event was unnecessary and causing more division in the country.
“I think it’s making 4th of July more of a divisive holiday,” Emily Balderson said. “He’s making it about himself instead of the country and it should just be about how our country was founded.”
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Charlotte Stolz, center, 8, jumps with excitement as she is doused with red and blue colored powder while crossing the finish line in the 3rd annual Red, White, and Blue Color Run on Thursday, July 4, 2019, at Joe Mack Campbell Park in Jonesboro, Ark. The race was the culmination of the 4th Fest event which also included fireworks the previous night. Money from the race will be donated to benefit flooding victims in Arkansas. Quentin Winstine, The Jonesboro Sun via AP
At the opposite end of the National Mall, near the U.S. Capitol and Washington Monument, things were different. There were no protests. Scarcely anyone wore Trump attire.
Instead, families, wearing red, white and blue, sat on blankets, held up small American flags and enjoyed the music from the “A Capitol Fourth” concert.
After the last of the military jets flew over the crowd and many left, families were left camped out on picnic blankets, and kids huddled together under umbrellas eager to watch the fireworks display. Some came more prepared than others, with plastic bags to put under their blankets and rain ponchos with hoods.
David Portis was among those camped out. He said there were remarkably fewer people along the Mall than he remembered in past years, which he blamed on the rain and not the additions to the program.
Portis said he was neutral on Trump’s presence during the holiday. “I even brought my daughter and her friend,” he said, pointing to an open grassy area near the Washington Monument where a group of children were playing ball barefooted.
Others also weren’t preoccupied by the politics thrust into the event.
Mitchell Reed, the band director for a group of 99 Florida high school students who attended the concert and played during a parade earlier in the day, said the event took on a different meaning for his group.
“It’s been crazy,” he said as he watched the nearby concert. “But it’s a day everyone in our band will never forget.”
Image caption
Testigos han relatado las escenas de desesperación que vieron cuando el incendio crecía en la Torre Grenfell, en Londres.
Una mujer desesperada tenía a un bebé en sus brazos, recuerda Samira Lamrani, una testigo del devastador incendio que consumió este miércoles un edificio de 24 pisos en Londres, Reino Unido.
Desde una ventana en el “noveno o décimo piso”, la mujer hacía señales mientras sostenía al bebé y pedía ayuda para que alguien lo rescatara.
“Estaba a punto de arrojar a su bebé y pedía que alguien pudiera tomarlo”, recuerda Lamrani, en declaraciones a la agencia de noticias Press Association.
Image caption
Este miércoles se celebraron vigilias en Londres por los afectados.
Sus señales fueron entendidas por un hombre que, después de que la mujer lanzara al pequeño, “corrió y logró atraparlo” en la calle.
Y así se dio el milagroso rescate del menor en el fatal incendio que ha dejado al menos 12 muertos y decenas de heridos.
El incidente ocurrió en la torre de apartamentos Grenfell, en la cual vivían alrededor de 500 personas y que se encuentra en el oeste de la capital británica.
Image caption
Se cree que el incendio comenzó en el cuarto piso, pero las causas aún no están determinadas.
La escena de desesperación se repetía en otras partes en el edificio.
“Vi a otros niños siendo arrojados del edificio desde tan alto como el piso 15. Eran pequeños, probablemente entre 4 y 8 años. Vi a tres siendo arrojados”, explicó Lamrani, quien supo que había policías o bomberos intentando atraparlos.
Muchos residentes del edificio estaban “en las ventanas, golpeándolas frenéticamente y gritando”, según Lamrani.
“Queríamos tranquilizarlos, diciéndoles que habíamos hecho lo que podíamos, que llamamos al 999 (número de emergencias en Londres), pero obviamente la expresión de la muerte en sus cara”, explicó.
Derechos de autor de la imagen EPA
Image caption
Según algunos testigos, el incendio se propagó en cuestión de minutos por todo el edificio de 24 pisos.
Tamara, otra testigo del incendio, le dijo a la BBC que también otras personas estaban “lanzando a sus hijos”, pese a que los bomberos les pedían que se quedaran donde estaban.
“¡Solo salven a mis hijos, solo salven a mis hijos!”, gritaban.
Según Tamara, las llamas tomaron el edificio en cuestión de segundos.
“No había mucho que pudieras hacer. Acordonaron la zona y solo se veían las cosas caer desde la parte más alta del edificio”.
Michael Paramasivan dijo a la BBC que habló con una mujer que vivía en el piso 21: “Ella tiene seis hijos, se fue con los seis. Cuando bajó solo había cuatro con ella. Ahora su corazón está roto”.
Derechos de autor de la imagen EPA
Image caption
Las llamas consumieron casi todo en el interior del edificio ubicado en el centro-oeste de Londres.
Donald Trump, left, directed then-lawyer Michael Cohen, center, to help arrange payments to Stormy Daniels, right, and another woman, to silence them about alleged sexual relationships with Trump.
AP
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AP
Donald Trump, left, directed then-lawyer Michael Cohen, center, to help arrange payments to Stormy Daniels, right, and another woman, to silence them about alleged sexual relationships with Trump.
AP
Updated at 3:14 p.m. ET
Donald Trump took part in phone calls with his then-personal lawyer Michael Cohen as the attorney and other aides scrambled to arrange hush payments to a woman in 2016 to buy her silence about an alleged sexual relationship with Trump.
Those details come from hundreds of pages of court papers — warrant applications, affidavits and other related materials — made public on Thursday.
Federal Judge William Pauley of the Southern District of New York ordered the documents unsealed after prosecutors said they had concluded their investigation into the scheme and any related campaign finance violations.
Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance charges related to payments made shortly before Election Day in 2016 to former Playboy model Karen McDougal and adult film star Stephanie Clifford, whose stage name is Stormy Daniels.
Cohen has said that he made the payments in coordination with and at the direction of Trump. Cohen is now serving a three-year prison sentence after he admitted that and other crimes in court.
Cohen remains the only person to be charged in connection with the payments, although two individuals struck non-prosecution agreements with the government in exchange for their testimony.
Inside the room
While many details about the payments already were public, thecourt records released Thursday provide a behind-the-scenes look into how Cohen worked with executives from American Media Inc., the publisher of the National Enquirer tabloid, to make them happen — and prevent news of Trump’s alleged extramarital affairs from getting out ahead of Election Day.
Team Trump was particularly desperate to keep a lid on the alleged affairs after news broke of the Access Hollywood tape, in which Trump uses crude language about touching women.
One section of a warrant application filed in April 2018 states that Cohen exchanged a series of calls, text messages, and emails with Trump, Clifford’s lawyer, Keith Davidson, AMI’s David Pecker and Dylan Howard, as well as Trump campaign press secretary Hope Hicks in the days after the Access Hollywood tape appeared.
“Based on the timing of these calls, and the content of the text messages and emails, I believe that at least some of the communications concerned the need to prevent Clifford from going public, particularly in the wake of the Access Hollywood story,” the FBI agent wrote in an affidavit supporting the warrant.
The agent then details a flurry of calls on Oct. 8, 2016—one day after the Access Hollywood tape was revealed in The Washington Post. At around 7:20 P.M., the agent’s affidavit says, Cohen received a call from Hicks.
“Sixteen seconds into the call, Trump joined the call, and the call continued for over four minutes,” it says.
The documents then describe a string of calls over the next hour that Cohen made to Hicks, Pecker, Howard and again Trump.
“At 8:03 p.m., about three minutes after ending his call with Pecker, Cohen called Trump, and they spoke for nearly eight minutes,” the papers say.
After two more quick calls with Howard, Cohen received a text message from Howard that read: “Keith will do it. Let’s reconvene tomorrow,” referring to Clifford’s lawyer, Davidson.
In the days and weeks that followed, the agreement almost unraveled after Cohen failed to transfer the money. He was then left scrambling to finalize the deal in late October.
On the morning of Oct. 26, Cohen spoke with Trump twice over the phone. That same morning, Cohen set up a bank account for a shell company he had established earlier that month, Essential Consultants LLC, and transferred funds into the account from a home equity line of credit that he had open at the same bank.
The following day, Cohen transferred $130,000 to Clifford, care of Davidson, to buy her silence about her alleged extramarital affair with Trump.
Trump then repaid Cohen via a series of checks drawn from accounts he controlled or which were controlled by his business; Cohen revealed copies of some of the checks to Congress in March.
AMI, meanwhile, also has admitted arranging a separate payment to McDougal in a so-called “catch-and-kill” arrangement to keep her quiet about her alleged relationship with Trump.
End to the investigation?
Another document unsealed on Thursday was a July 15, 2019 letter to Judge Pauley from prosecutors.
They write that they have “effectively concluded” their investigations into whether anyone besides Cohen may also be criminally liable for the campaign finance violations, as well as whether certain individuals lied to investigators.
After news broke Wednesday that the probe had ended, Trump’s personal lawyer, Jay Sekulow, said in a statement that “we have maintained from the outset that the president never engaged in any campaign finance violation.”
On Thursday, Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny Davis, responded with a statement of his own.
“I challenge Jay Sekulow, who issued a misleading and false statement to answer the following two questions: Is it not a fact that SDNY prosecutors found President Trump to have ‘directly and coordinated’ the commission of a felony involving campaign finance federal laws? Is it not also a fact that upon his loss of purported immunity as president of the United States, he is subject to arrest, incarceration and a trial?”
Media captionA Royal Navy frigate can be heard warning Iranian armed forces, before the oil tanker is seized
A recording has emerged of radio exchanges between a Royal Navy frigate and Iranian armed forces vessels, moments before a British-flagged oil tanker was seized in the Gulf.
In the recording, what is thought to be an Iranian vessel tells HMS Montrose it wants to inspect the tanker for security reasons.
The Stena Impero was boarded by Iranian authorities on Friday.
The foreign secretary has urged Iran to reverse the tanker’s “illegal” seizure.
In the radio recording the Iranian vessel can be heard telling a ship – thought to be the Stena Impero – to change its course, saying: “If you obey you will be safe.”
HMS Montrose identifies itself in the recording, obtained by British maritime security firm Dryad Global.
It tells the Stena Impero: “As you are conducting transit passage in a recognised international strait, under international law your passage must not be impaired, impeded, obstructed or hampered.”
The frigate then asks the Iranian vessel to confirm it is not “intending to violate international law” by attempting to board the tanker.
What happened?
On Friday, the Stena Impero was seized by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route in the Gulf.
Tehran said the vessel was “violating international maritime rules”.
Video released by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard-affiliated Fars news agency on Saturday appeared to show the moment the tanker was raided.
It shows masked forces dropping down ropes on to the ship from a helicopter after it was surrounded by high-speed vessels.
Media captionFootage released by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard-affiliated Fars news agency appears to show Stena Impero being seized
HMS Montrose was alerted but it was too far away to stop the seizure.
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said the tanker was captured after it collided with a fishing boat and failed to respond to calls from the smaller craft.
But Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said it was seized in Omani waters in “clear contravention of international law” and then forced to sail into Iran.
The tanker’s owners, Stena Bulk, said it had been complying with regulations and had been in international waters.
It said it had requested access to the port of Bandar Abbas to visit crew members, who are Indian, Russian, Latvian and Filipino, and said to be in good health.
The seizure of the Stena Impero comes two weeks after Royal Marines helped seize Iranian tanker Grace 1 off Gibraltar, because of evidence it was carrying oil to Syria in breach of EU sanctions.
Speaking after a call with his Iranian counterpart on Saturday, Mr Hunt said Iran viewed this as a “tit-for-tat situation” but he added that “nothing could be further from the truth”.
Ministers have held emergency Cobra meetings and a senior Iranian diplomat was summoned to the Foreign Office.
Media captionJeremy Hunt says Iran views the tanker seizure as a ‘tit-for-tat situation’
Mr Hunt said MPs would be updated on Monday.
“Our priority continues to be to find a way to de-escalate the situation,” he said.
The government is advising UK shipping to stay out of the area.
He said Iran guarantees the security of the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, and insisted its action were to “uphold international maritime rules”.
Media captionWhy does the Strait of Hormuz matter?
Abbasali Kadkhodaei, spokesman of the state watchdog the Guardian Council, said on Twitter that “the law of retaliation is a recognised concept in international law”.
What’s the background to this?
The latest developments come against a backdrop of deteriorating relations between Iran and the UK and US.
Tensions between the US and Iran have risen since April, when the US tightened sanctions it had reimposed on Iran after unilaterally withdrawing from a 2015 nuclear deal.
Last week, Iranian boats attempted to impede a British oil tanker in the region before being warned off by HMS Montrose. Iran denied it was attempting to seize the ship.
International reaction
A White House National Security Council spokesman said Friday’s incident was the second time in over a week the UK had been “the target of escalatory violence” by Iran.
And US Central Command said it was developing a multinational maritime effort in response to the situation.
France, Germany, and the European Union called on the Iranian authorities to quickly release the Stena Impero.
The EU’s foreign affairs office, which represents 28 member states, expressed “deep concern”.
How ‘British’ is the tanker?
Ships must fly the flag of a nation state, explains Richard Meade, managing editor of maritime intelligence publication Lloyd’s List.
But that doesn’t need to be the same nation as its owners, its crew, or its cargo, he says.
The Stena Impero is Swedish-owned and those on board are Indian, Russian, Latvian and Filipino.
But it’s the UK flag that is important symbolically, he says. “Historically speaking it means that the UK owes protection to the vessel.”
“The UK has political responsibilities to anything that is flagged. And that’s why it’s much more serious than if there just happened to be a British captain on board.”
He says the impact on trade in the region had so far been minimal, but warns that if the international community began viewing the Strait of Hormuz as a dangerous place, it could create a “very different” scenario.
Highly volatile
The seizing of a British-flagged tanker in Omani waters, empty and inbound to a Saudi port, marks a serious escalation in a whole catalogue of recent incidents in the Gulf.
It comes on the back of the mysterious mining of tankers, the downing of both US and Iranian drones and the near capture of another British-flagged tanker only a few days ago.
Britain wants its response be two things: Measured and multinational.
The government is trying to send a robust message to Iran that this action is unacceptable, not just to the UK but to the rest of the world, but not so robust that it ends up being part of an avoidable US military strike.
This has become a highly volatile situation where not everyone believes in diplomacy. There are figures in Washington who have been pushing for an ever-tougher line with Iran.
And there are figures in Iran, notably in the Revolutionary Guards Corps and the security apparatus, who are quite prepared to push this right up to the brink of a conflict, yet probably stopping just short of one.
Yet if politics can sometimes make odd bedfellows, the Brexit Party is taking that principle to the extreme, running candidates from all over the political spectrum. The party has even recruited as candidates three former members of the Revolutionary Communist Party and its successor groups, which defended deadly bombings by the Irish Republican Army in the 1980s and 1990s.
Mr. Farage has defended his heterodox candidate slate as the seed of a nonpartisan pro-democracy movement. Analysts are dubious, however, saying he is more likely looking for ways to lure disaffected pro-Brexit Labour voters and provide a counterbalance to his history in the anti-immigration, largely right-wing 2016 Leave campaign.
“It’s rational party competition,” said Alan Wager, a research associate at the U.K. in a Changing Europe, a research institute. “It’s wearing the clothing of idealism and optimism, but it’s not an optimistic or idealistic message really.”
John Malcolm, 75, a lifelong Conservative voter sitting beside his wife, seemed to speak for many in the crowd in Willenhall when he said he did not terribly much care whom the Brexit Party would send to Brussels.
“I wasn’t looking for someone to represent me in Europe,” he said. “I’m looking for this party to do extremely well to show what we think on this issue to the other parties.”
Voters have used the European elections for protest votes before, but the Brexit Party, born in the wreckage of Mrs. May’s deal, is unusually empty of formal policies. Its candidates rarely venture beyond its signature issue and populist themes, leaning on phrases like a “clean Brexit” but mostly dodging questions about what that means — what arrangements they would make for Britain’s borders, its airlines or its financial services industry, for example.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced the lawsuit he is co-leading with Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, over the Trump administration’s plan to detain immigrant children indefinitely.
Rich Pedroncelli/AP
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California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced the lawsuit he is co-leading with Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, over the Trump administration’s plan to detain immigrant children indefinitely.
Rich Pedroncelli/AP
Nineteen states and the District of Columbia are suing the Trump administration over its plan to pull out of a decades-old court settlement that governs the care of migrant children in federal detention.
The federal government has abided by a court agreement known as the Flores settlement since 1997. It says migrant children should be detained in the least restrictive setting possible and only for about 20 days. Last week the Trump administration announced it will soon detain children with their families indefinitely.
The states, led by California and Massachusetts, argue that the government is already failing to provide detained children with safe and sanitary conditions. (Earlier this month the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that detained children should receive adequate food, clean water and basic hygiene.) Their suit also says the government plan will have a negative long-term impact on the detained children if they are held indefinitely.
“This new Trump rule callously puts at risk the safety and well-being of children,” said California Attorney General Xavier Becerra in a statement. “No child deserves to be left in conditions inappropriate and harmful for their age. We’re taking the Trump Administration to court to protect children from the irreparable harm caused by unlawful and unnecessary detention.”
The states also say the administration’s plan will result in an expansion of family detention centers that are not licensed by the states. The administration says it will set its own standards for care — in effect, licensing itself.
“With this rule, the Trump Administration is paving the way for [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] to imprison innocent children for indefinite periods of time and is attempting to take away the ability of states to stop them,” said Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey.
Becerra and Healey are Democrats.
The Justice Department has not yet responded for a request for comment.
WESTLAKE VILLAGE (CBSLA) — Rebecca Grossman, the co-founder of the famed Grossman Burn Foundation, was out on bail early Thursday after being arrested in connection with a suspected DUI crash that killed two young brothers in Westlake Village.
The boys were walking with their family in a crosswalk at the intersection of Triunfo Canyon Road and Saddle Mountain Drive at about 7:10 p.m. Tuesday. One of the parents was able to snatch one of their children off a scooter, and push a stroller out of the way, but Mark and Jacob were fatally struck.
Rebecca Grossman Grossman accepts the Betty Fisher Legacy Award at Evening of Hope 2017 at Sheraton Universal on May 18, 2017 in Universal City, California. (Photo by Rebecca Sapp/Getty Images for Haven Hills)
Nick Sarriedin is a senior at the campus and attends the same Coptic Christian church as the victims’ family.
“I found they were Egyptian. I’m Egyptian so they’re like family to me… because not a lot of Egyptian families live in Westlake,” he said.
Mark Iskander started at Oaks Christian just five weeks ago – and left a lasting impression.
He was just the most bubbly, lovely young man,” said Oaks Christian principal Garett Freeman. “It’s really hard to fathom that he’s gone.”
Grossman is a co-founder and chair of the Grossman Burn Foundation, the wife of the foundation’s president. She has received awards and acclaim for her philanthropy around the world.
Investigators say she was under the influence, speeding and took off after the crash. Her white Mercedes, which had front-end damage, was towed away about a quarter-mile from the crash scene.
According to Los Angeles County sheriff’s jail records, Grossman was released just after midnight. She is scheduled to make her first court appearance on Oct. 21.
The city of Westlake Village released a statement that said they share the concerns that residents have about unsafe driving in the area, but won’t comment further on the matter until the investigation is complete.
West Hills Hospital also released a statement on behalf of the Grossman Burn Center that said: “Like our entire community, the Grossman Burn Center family at West Hills Hospital is terribly saddened by this tragedy. Our sympathies are with all who have been affected.”
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