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I can’t believe we had to wait almost 24 hours for her to reply to yesterday’s White House letter. We live in the Netflix era. We should be able to binge-watch every episode of this pitiful melodrama in a day. “After President Trump revoked the use of military aircraft to travel to Afghanistan, the delegation was prepared to fly commercially to proceed with this vital trip to meet with our commanders and troops on the front lines,” [Pelosi spokesman Drew] Hammill said.Overnight, he added, a new State Department threat assessment indicated “that the President announcing this sensitive travel had...

Following the resounding defeat of U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal in the U.K. Parliament last night, the global media are giving their reactions to the vote - and they're not holding back. May's deal was roundly rejected by British members of Parliament (MP) with 432 MPs voting against it and 202 approving it, marking the worst political defeats in parliamentary history. The leader of the opposition Labour party, Jeremy Corbyn, tabled a motion of no-confidence in May's government following the vote on the contentious "Withdrawal Agreement", essentially it's blueprint for leaving the European Union. The U.K. government now...

MPs reject the EU withdrawal deal It is defected by 432 votes to 202 Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn tables a motion of no confidence in the government The UK is due to leave the EU on 29 March

Theresa May is heading for a crushing defeat on Brexit vote D-day in the Commons, despite a series of last-minute appeals to rebel Tory MPs to back her EU withdrawal agreement. Senior MPs are predicting a defeat for the prime minister of between 100 and 200 votes, which is likely to be followed by Jeremy Corbyn calling a vote of no confidence in the government. Mrs May's allies insist that whatever the scale of the defeat she has no intention of quitting or calling a general election, but she will come under enormous pressure to unveil a Brexit Plan B....

Prime Minister Theresa May warned on Monday that Britain’s planned exit from the EU could be derailed, a last-ditch effort to win over Brexit-supporting lawmakers who have repeatedly said they will vote down her divorce deal. The fate of the United Kingdom’s March 29 exit from the EU is deeply uncertain as parliament is likely to reject May’s deal on Tuesday evening, opening up outcomes ranging from a disorderly divorce to reversing Brexit altogether. Amid the deepest crisis in British politics for at least half a century, May and EU leaders exchanged letters giving assurances on her withdrawal agreement, though...

Parliament is more likely to block Britain's exit from the European Union than allow it to crash out without a deal, Theresa May is set to warn as she launches a last-ditch plea to MPs to back her Brexit deal. The Prime Minister will use a speech on the eve of the critical Commons vote on her exit plan to urge MPs to consider the "consequences" of their actions on the faith of British people in democracy. She is expected to reiterate her warning that "catastrophic harm" will be inflicted to trust in politicians if they fail to implement the...

A failure to deliver Brexit would be "a catastrophic and unforgivable breach of trust in our democracy", Prime Minister Theresa May has warned. Writing in the Sunday Express, Mrs May pleaded with MPs to back her Brexit deal in Tuesday's crunch Commons vote. Not doing so risks the UK leaving the EU with no deal or Brexit not happening at all, she said. Meanwhile, No 10 is said to be alarmed at the prospect of MPs taking control of Brexit if Tuesday's vote is lost.

Germany’s defence minister has confirmed that “a united EU military is becoming a reality,” after her ally and Chancellor Angela Merkel backed Emmanuel Macron’s call for a “real European army.” “Europe’s army is already taking shape,” Ursula von der Leyen wrote in an opinion piece for Handelsblatt on Thursday. “Germany and France are the driving forces in defense,” Ms von der Leyen boasted, adding that “We’re moving even further ahead with our close partner France” after the two countries agreed to sign a “new Elysèe Treaty” which, amongst other efforts to, in effect, merge aspects of the two countries, includes...

Swedish journalist Joakim Lamotte has spent time lecturing in schools across Sweden and claims that violence is on the rise because many teachers have simply given up on attempting to deal with the problem. “Threats, beatings, and stabbings now occur every day in Swedish schools and it increases dramatically. At the same time, teachers are getting less power while authorities and politicians are completely paralysed,” he noted. In a recent article on school violence, SVT revealed that within the last five years Sweden had seen 224 incidents involving various kinds of weapons including knives. In the last year alone, there...

Germany has told France to give its permanent seat at the UN Security Council to the European Union so that the bloc can “speak with one voice” as it advances its defence plans. German vice chancellor and finance minister Olaf Schloz made the proposal during a speech on the future of the EU in Berlin on Wednesday claiming it would be a “bold and smart goal,” reports The Brussels Times. “If we are to take the European Union seriously, the EU should speak with one voice within the UN Security Council. In the medium term, France’s seat could be converted...

Rebel Conservative MPs have joined forces with Labour to inflict a fresh blow on Theresa May's government in a Commons Brexit vote. It means the government will have to come up with revised plans within three days if Mrs May's EU withdrawal deal is rejected by MPs next week. It could also open the door to alternatives, such as a referendum.

The New York Times is quick to the typeset to explain how Brussels is desperately offended because President Trump and Secretary Pompeo have lowered the importance of the EU. Officials from the European Union are apoplectic that U.S. officials have downgraded their status amid the official registry of diplomatic protocols. (snip) -- BRUSSELS — The Trump administration downgraded the diplomatic status of the European Union’s delegation to the United States last year without making a formal announcement or informing the bloc about the change, a European official said on Tuesday.

People in Germany believe their fellow citizens are happier to pay taxes for public spending than people in many other countries, a United Nations-backed study has found. The news comes as lawmakers call on the German government to increase public investment or cut taxes amid a budget surplus. […] Strong economic growth and low unemployment helped Germany record a €48.1 billion budget surplus in the first six months of 2018. That favorable position has split political opinion on what the government should do with the extra cash. Lawmakers from the Greens and the Left Party want more investment, while center-right...

Václav Klaus, former President of the Czech Republic talks with Echo TV about the Central European Visegrad Group and the future of Europe. Klaus fears democracy “is gone” in Europe and he lashes out at the European Union and the gap between elitist governments and their citizens. Around 6 minutes into the interview Klaus is asked: Do you think that there is a chance to talk frankly about the very serious issues that determine the future of Europe, which were also the subject of the conference? The former President answers: “Mass migration co-organized by the European political elite based on...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LraJw7zIR7c Elizabeth Carter discusses the future of UK as no-deal Brexit looms

French legal expert Gregor Puppinck has said that a recent European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruling in Greece could open up the door for limited aspects of Islamic sharia law to be adopted in Europe. Puppinck, who serves as director of the European Center for Law and Justice (ECLJ) and is a member of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Panel of Experts on Freedom of Conscience and Religion, said that the ECHR ruling in Greece earlier this month runs counter to a previous judgement in 2003 that found sharia incompatible with “the fundamental principles of...

The members of the European Parliament have just received a new rulebook. Officials and MEPs were given their “English Style Guide: A handbook for authors and translators in the European Commission” in which they are given rules for writing, including now a guide for gender neutrality. In other words, what words they can and can’t say, they have been asked to refrain for the “generic use of man” when they speak. According to the rulebook, “Gender-neutral or gender-inclusive language is more than a matter of political correctness. Language powerfully reflects and influences attitudes, behaviour and perceptions”. “Much existing EU legislation...

Army general inspector Eberhard Zorn said the forces had to "look in all directions in times of a lack of qualified personnel", such as doctors and IT specialists. The armed forces have been beset by years of under-investment. Germany aims to increase its military by 21,000 personnel by 2025. It has also pledged to raise its defence budget from 1.2% to to 1.5% of its gross domestic product by 2024, in the face of criticism from President Donald Trump that it does not meet the Nato target of 2% of GDP. Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said in an...

The European Union announced on Thursday it would commit a further €20 million ($23 million) to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in 2019, i24news reports. This will bring the EU’s contribution to €153 million, which is in line with how much the US contributed to the UN agency for “Palestinian refugees” in 2017. The United States, the largest single contributor to UNRWA, announced in August that it would end its $350 million a year funding for the agency, describing the organization as an “irredeemably flawed operation”. That announcement followed a previous US announcement in January that it...

He is the “Trump before Trump,” said Steve Bannon. During a presentation in Zurich this past spring, the ex-adviser of the U.S. President was not referring to Silvio Berlusconi or Viktor Orbán, veteran European populists well known on the international stage. Bannon was talking about Christoph Blocher, a man from a small, neutral country in the heart of Europe best known for its banks, cheese, and stability. “Actually everything began in Switzerland in 1992,” added the American populist mastermind. Bannon was not wrong. Of all places, it was Switzerland that, almost 30 years ago, hosted the dress rehearsal for what...