Irish PM Varadkar rejects May’s plans to change backstop

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar reiterated the Irish and EU position on the Withdrawal Agreement and the backstop. (Reuters)
Updated 30 January 2019
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Irish PM Varadkar rejects May’s plans to change backstop

  • Leo Varadkar told British Prime Minister Theresa May he would not accept her plans to renegotiate a post-Brexit arrangement for the Irish border
  • Parliament voted late on Tuesday to order May to return to Brussels to replace the so-called Irish backstop

LONDON: Ireland’s Prime Minister Leo Varadkar told British Prime Minister Theresa May he would not accept her plans to renegotiate a post-Brexit arrangement for the Irish border and said the so-called Irish “backstop” needed to be legally robust.
Parliament voted late on Tuesday to order May to return to Brussels to replace the so-called Irish backstop, an insurance policy that aims to prevent the reintroduction of a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.
“The Taoiseach set out once again the unchanged Irish and EU position on the Withdrawal Agreement and the backstop, noting that the latest developments had reinforced the need for a backstop which is legally robust and workable in practice,” a spokesman for Irish government said after the two leaders spoke by phone.


Column of smoke seen, loud noises heard in Venezuelan capital

Updated 9 sec ago
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Column of smoke seen, loud noises heard in Venezuelan capital

Airplanes, loud noises and at least one ​column of smoke were being heard and seen in Venezuelan capital Caracas in the early hours ‌of Saturday morning, ‌according ‌to ⁠Reuters ​witnesses, ‌and the southern area of the city, near a major military base, was without electricity.
US President ⁠Donald Trump has ‌repeatedly promised land operations ‍in ‍Venezuela, amid efforts ‍to pressure President Nicolas Maduro to leave office, including expanded ​sanctions, a ramped-up US military presence in the ⁠region and more than two dozen strikes on vessels allegedly involved in trafficking drugs in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea.
The Pentagon did ‌not immediately respond to request for comment.