LONDON: British MPs on Friday rejected Prime Minister Theresa May’s EU divorce deal for a third time, opening the way for a long delay to Brexit — or a chaotic “no deal” withdrawal in two weeks.
The pound sank as MPs defied May’s plea to end the deadlock that has plunged Britain into a deep political crisis, defeating her withdrawal agreement by 344 votes to 286.
It is yet another blow to a prime minister who has all but lost control of her government and the Brexit process — particularly after she offered to quit if MPs backed the deal.
Britain had been due to leave the EU on Friday, the long-heralded March 29 “Independence Day,” but faced with deadlock in parliament, May asked European leaders last week for a little more time.
She now faces having to return in the coming days to explain what happens next, after EU Council President Donald Tusk immediately called a Brussels summit for April 10.
The EU has set a deadline for April 12 for a decision, with two likely options: Britain leaves with no deal at all, or agrees a lengthy extension to allow time for a new approach.
May has said it would be “unacceptable” to ask voters to take part in forthcoming European Parliament elections, three years after they voted in a 2016 referendum to leave the EU, a decision that has sharply divided the country.
“No deal” remains the default legal option, and the European Commission said after the vote that this remained the “likely scenario.”
However, MPs have repeatedly voted against this, fearing catastrophe if Britain severs ties with its closest trading partner with no plan in place.
“I fear we are reaching the limits of this process in this House,” May said after the vote, which she described as a “matter of profound regret.”
“The implications of the House’s decision are grave,” she said, adding: “This government will continue to press the case for the orderly Brexit that the result of the referendum demands.”
The failure by parliament to agree the terms of its exit from European Union has left Britain in limbo, with business leaders and trade unions warning of a “national emergency.”
Voters are divided, many of them anxious and angry, and May blames MPs — but they in turn accuse her of refusing to countenance any alternative to her unpopular deal.
“It is clear that this House does not support the deal. This deal now has to change. There has to be an alternative found,” opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said.
“And if the prime minister can’t accept that then she must go, not at an indeterminate date in the future but now.”
Tired of waiting, MPs this week gave themselves unprecedented powers to vote on a range of options for Britain’s future relationship with the EU.
A proposal for a new customs union got close to passing in a first round, as did a plan for a referendum on May’s deal, with more voting planned next Monday and Wednesday.
The risk that MPs decide to agree closer ties to the EU, or even stop the departure process altogether, focused the minds of some Brexit supporters, who reluctantly agreed to back May’s deal.
Her offer on Wednesday to quit if it passed also helped persuade some of her staunchest critics, including former foreign minister Boris Johnson.
But 34 of the 314 Conservative MPs voted against the deal, as did the 10 MPs in May’s Northern Irish allies, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).
The party says planned arrangements to keep open the Irish border after Brexit — the hated “backstop” plan — is unacceptable.
“We are not prepared to see our constitutional position altered by Brussels in a fit of pique for daring to leave the EU,” said MP Sammy Wilson, the DUP’s Brexit spokesman.
May’s offer to quit fired the starting gun on an informal race for the leadership of her Conservative party.
Her resignation was dependent on getting the divorce deal passed — and she might try one last time to get her deal through.
Even so, her days are numbered, as increasing numbers of Conservative MPs are openly talking about when, not if, she will step down.
Getting another vote on a deal would be tricky, as parliament speaker John Bercow has already warned he will not let her bring the same deal back again and again.
Under an agreement struck with EU leaders last week, Britain would have left on May 22 if MPs approved the deal this week.
Officials believe there is still a chance that, if she can get it through before April 12, this date is still possible.
However, speculation is also growing that the only way out of the impasse is a snap election.
UK MPs reject Theresa May’s Brexit deal for third time
UK MPs reject Theresa May’s Brexit deal for third time
- Pound plunges as MPs defied May’s plea to end the deadlock that has plunged Britain into a deep political crisis
- Prime minister has all but lost control of her government and the Brexit process
Vaccines save at least 154 million lives in 50 years: WHO
- That is the equivalent of six lives saved every minute of every year of the half century, the UN health agency said
- “Vaccines are among the most powerful inventions in history, making once-feared diseases preventable,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said
GENEVA: Global immunization efforts have saved at least 154 million lives in the past 50 years, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, adding that most of those to benefit were infants.
That is the equivalent of six lives saved every minute of every year of the half century, the UN health agency said.
In a study published in the Lancet, WHO gave a comprehensive analysis of the impact of 14 vaccines used under the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI), which celebrates its 50th anniversary next month.
“Vaccines are among the most powerful inventions in history, making once-feared diseases preventable,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.
“Thanks to vaccines, smallpox has been eradicated, polio is on the brink, and with the more recent development of vaccines against diseases like malaria and cervical cancer, we are pushing back the frontiers of disease,” he said.
“With continued research, investment and collaboration, we can save millions more lives today and in the next 50 years.”
The study said infants accounted for 101 million of the lives saved through immunization over the five decades.
“Immunization was the single greatest contribution of any health intervention to ensuring babies not only see their first birthdays but continue leading healthy lives into adulthood,” WHO said.
Over 50 years, vaccines against 14 diseases — diphtheria, Haemophilus influenza type B, hepatitis B, Japanese encephalitis, measles, meningitis A, pertussis, invasive pneumococcal disease, polio, rotavirus, rubella, tetanus, tuberculosis, and yellow fever — had directly contributed to reducing infant deaths by 40 percent, the study found.
For Africa, the reduction was more than 50 percent, it said.
The vaccine against measles — a highly contagious disease by a virus that attacks mainly children — had the most significant impact.
That jab accounted for 60 percent of the lives saved due to immunization, according to the study.
The polio vaccine means that more than 20 million people are able to walk today who would otherwise have been paralyzed.
The study also showed that when a vaccine saves a child’s life, that person goes on to live an average of 66 years of full health on average — with a total of 10.2 billion full health years gained over the five decades.
“These gains in childhood survival highlight the importance of protecting immunization progress,” WHO said, pointing to accelerating efforts to reach 67 million children who missed at least one vaccination during the Covid pandemic.
Sunak, Scholz vow support for Ukraine for ‘as long as it takes’
- “We’re defending the values that are incredibly important to us,” the UK leader added
- Sunak embarked on a two-day trip to Europe designed to get the spotlight back on Ukraine after months of world attention on Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza
BERLIN: The leaders of Britain and Germany pledged Wednesday to back Ukraine in its war with Russia for “as long as it takes,” but the German chancellor doubled down on his refusal to deliver long-range Taurus missiles to Kyiv.
UK Premier Rishi Sunak was on his first trip to the German capital since becoming prime minister 18 months ago, after visiting Poland on Tuesday where he pledged additional money for Kyiv and announced plans to boost UK defense spending.
“We’re united on wanting to support Ukraine for as long as it takes,” Sunak told reporters, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression must “end in failure.”
“We’re defending the values that are incredibly important to us,” the UK leader added, standing alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during a press conference at Germany’s chancellery.
Sunak embarked on a two-day trip to Europe designed to get the spotlight back on Ukraine after months of world attention on Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
In Poland, he pledged an additional £500 million ($617 million) for Ukraine, taking the amount of money the UK has contributed to Ukraine’s war effort to £12 billion.
Kyiv has been pleading with allies to ramp up supplies of ammunition and air defenses desperately needed to repel relentless Russian attacks.
US lawmakers eased the pressure last weekend by unblocking a $61-billion military aid package for Kyiv following six months of political wrangling.
But EU defense and foreign ministers insist that Europe must still speed up its deliveries of arms to Ukraine.
Germany has answered Kyiv’s call in recent days by saying it would send an extra Patriot air defense system to Ukraine.
But Scholz again resisted calls to send long-range Taurus missiles, which Ukraine desperately wants but which Germany fears would escalate the conflict.
“My decision is very clear” on not sending the Taurus, said Scholz.
“But my decision is also very clear that we will continue to be the biggest supporter of Ukraine in Europe,” he added.
Sunak hailed “a new chapter” in relations between Britain and Germany as they announced plans for a joint endeavour to develop remote-controlled Howitzer artillery systems that will be fitted to Boxer armored vehicles.
“At this dangerous moment for the world, the UK and Germany are standing side by side to preserve security and prosperity at home and across our continent,” Sunak said before landing in Berlin.
In Warsaw, the UK PM pledged to gradually increase UK defense spending to 2.5 percent of GDP by 2030 as NATO countries face pressure to raise defense expenditure in the face of these global threats.
Sunak said that the West was facing its most dangerous period since the end of the Cold War, with Russia’s assault on Ukraine in its third year, but also the threat of escalation in the Middle East.
More of NATO’s European members — including heavyweights France and Germany — have increased their defense spending recently to meet the alliance’s two percent of GDP target.
Sunak refused to say that NATO should increase its target to 2.5 percent but added: “We recognize we need to do more,” adding: “I do believe we are in a world where defense spending is rising.”
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen recently warned that European countries need to boost defense budgets and Brussels is set to come up with further proposals by a summit of EU leaders in June.
It has put forward a 1.5-billion-euro ($1.6-billion) strategy to step up defense production, but officials say this is nowhere near sufficient.
The UK, which quit the European Union in early 2020, is among some 20 countries to have signed up to Germany’s air defense project called the European Sky Shield Initiative.
The project would involve joint procurement for short-, medium- and long-range systems, including the German-made Iris-T, the American Patriot system and the US-Israeli Arrow 3.
France has so far declined to sign up to the pact, with officials there arguing instead for an air defense system using European equipment.
Germany charges six suspected Daesh-K members over attack plots
- The suspects are charged with founding a terrorist organization, among other things
- They intended to carry out high-profile attacks in Germany and Western Europe
BERLIN: Germany has charged six foreign nationals for allegedly plotting terrorist attacks on behalf of the Daesh Province of Khorasan (Daesh-K), the federal prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday.
The suspects, identified as Tajik citizens Mukhammadshujo A., Nuriddin K., Shamshud N., Said S., Raboni Z., and Kyrgyz citizen Abrorjon K., are charged with founding a terrorist organization, among other things.
They intended to carry out high-profile attacks in Germany and Western Europe but had no concrete plan when law enforcement intervened, according to the statement.
The suspects, who were arrested in July last year, had been in touch with Daesh-K, the Afghan offshoot of Daesh, which claimed responsibility for a mass shooting in Moscow last month in which at least 137 people were killed.
According to investigators, the suspects arrived in Germany via Ukraine after war broke out there in spring 2022, and formed a terrorist cell together with another member from the Netherlands.
They met regularly to discuss their intentions and scouted potential locations in Germany, the prosecutors’ statement said.
UK police arrest three over migrants’ deaths in Channel
- The men, two Sudanese nationals aged 22 and 19, and a South Sudan national aged 22, were detained
- Suspects were arrested on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration and entering the UK illegally
LONDON: British police said on Wednesday they had arrested three men over the deaths of five migrants including a child who died attempting to cross the Channel from France the day before.
The deaths occurred when a small overcrowded boat carrying 112 people set out to cross one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world and panic took hold among the passengers not far from the shore.
Rescuers picked up about 50 people, with four taken to hospital, but others stayed on the boat, determined to get to Britain.
Three men, two Sudanese nationals aged 22 and 19, and a South Sudan national aged 22, were detained on Tuesday night on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration and entering the UK illegally, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.
“This tragic incident once again demonstrates the threat to life posed by these crossings and bring into focus why it is so important to target the criminal gangs involved in organizing them,” said NCA Deputy Director of investigations Craig Turner.
“We will do all we can with partners in the UK and France to secure evidence, identify those responsible for this event, and bring them to justice.”
French police are also continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident, alongside their British counterparts, the NCA said.
It added 55 people who were believed to have been on board the boat which arrived in Britain had also been identified.
More than 6,000 people have arrived in Britain this year via small, overloaded boats — usually flimsy inflatable dinghies — that risk being lashed by the waves as they try to reach British shores.
The deadly crossing on Tuesday took place just hours after the British parliament passed a bill paving the way for asylum seekers who arrive in Britain without permission to be deported to Rwanda, a policy which Prime Minister Rishi Sunak argues will deter people from making the dangerous cross-Channel journey.
New agreement to safeguard rights of Bangladeshi workers in Qatar
- 350,000 Bangladeshis are employed in Qatar, mostly in construction sector
- MoU signed during Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani’s visit to Dhaka this week
Dhaka: A new agreement between Qatar and Bangladesh includes commitments to establish protections for migrant workers, a top official said on Wednesday, as the Gulf state has been under harsh criticism over failing to safeguard the rights of laborers who constructed its 2022 FIFA World Cup infrastructure.
Migrant workers from South Asia, especially Bangladesh and Nepal, were indispensable to Qatar as it prepared to host the world’s biggest football event, and have been an important part of its economy. Some 350,000 Bangladeshis are employed by Qatar’s government, semi-government and private sector.
The jobs have enabled them to send remittances back home to their families, but many have reported contract violations and illnesses linked to unsafe working conditions. The problems entered the spotlight between 2010, when FIFA granted Qatar the World Cup, and 2022, when the event took place.
During the decade, seven new stadiums, an airport expansion, a new metro and hotels were constructed by 30,000 foreign laborers, according to the Qatari government. Rights groups and investigative journalists have estimated that more than 6,000 of them died in work-related deaths.
A new memorandum on Bangladeshi migrant workers — 80 percent of whom are employed in Qatar’s construction industry — was signed this week as Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, visited Dhaka.
“A joint working group will be formed for solving labor rights issues,” Khairul Alam, additional secretary at Bangladesh’s Ministry of Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment, told Arab News.
“Our Ministry of Expatriates Welfare and Overseas Employment will lead the joint working group from the Bangladeshi side.”
The agreement commits the Qatari and Bangladeshi sides to discuss “ways to develop legislation relevant to areas of labor” and includes plans for a review to ensure that worker rights are in place.
“Labor rights protection, safety and healthy environment issues have also been emphasized in the MoU, and mentioned several times,” Alam said.
“The agreement also said that in case of any issues regarding migrants both countries will sit together and solve the issues amicably.”
The signing of the agreement was welcomed by the Migration Program and Youth Initiatives of BRAC — Bangladesh’s largest development organization, which estimated that more than 1,300 workers from the country died in Qatar during the World Cup construction spree, with many deaths attributed to heart attacks.
“Most of our migrant workers prefer the Middle Eastern countries, and after Saudi Arabia, UAE and Oman, Qatar is the preferred destination for the Bangladeshi migrants. In this context, such a type of MoU on labor employment is helpful for the protection of migrant workers’ rights,” said Shariful Hasan, the program’s associate director.
Hasan told Arab News it was an “expression of interest from both sides to ensure the welfare of the migrants,” who were playing a significant role in Qatar’s development.
“If the migrant-receiving country like Qatar focuses on the welfare and protection of the migrants, it will create a win-win situation for both countries. I think the signing of this MoU is a big development toward this.”
