Thursday, July 5, 2018

                  NEWS SUMMARY AT THIS HOUR




The entire British cabinet of the Conservative Party government meets at the Prime Minister's country home Checkers Friday to find a common approach to Brexit negotiations with the European Union.

British Prime Minister Theresa May flew to Berlin Thursday to get the blessing of German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her 'third way' plan to handle goods at customs in the UK after Brexit is supposed to occur in March of next year.

The Brexit Minister in her cabinet has written a letter saying the customs plan is unworkable and Brexit supporters see it as a betrayal of the voters who approved Brexit in the 2015 referendum.

As details leaked out tonight it became clear in the eyes of Brexiteers that Prime Minister May's "Brexit plan" threatens a good trade deal with the United States because it keeps the UK entangled in EU regulations

British Home Secretary Sajid Javid, said to be a leading candidate to replace Mrs. May if she falls, chaired the national security COBRA committee today and later told Parliament Russia was to blame for a British couple becoming ill and going unconscious last weekend.

Javid said the nerve agent Novichok was to blame just as in the March incident involving Russian defector Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

Police say the ill couple, Charlie Rowley and Dawn Sturgess, are in a coma and in critical condition after they handled an unknown contaminated item.

There's late breaking news from Japan that seven members of a doomsday cult responsible for a deadly nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway have been executed.

Shoko Asahara and six of his followers were put to death after all legal appeals in their cases had been exhausted.     The 1995 subway attack killed 13 and injured thousands.

The European Parliament voted against a controversial copyright law that opponents say would censor the flow of information on the internet.  They will come back to the issue again in September.

But as one opponent, United Kingdom Independence Party leader and Member of European Parliament Gerard Batten noted on Twitter,  "The EU is not democratic. MEP's cannot propose or repeal a law.  If we amend a Directive in a way the Commission doesn't like they can choose not to implement it..."

President Trump spoke to thousands of supporters at an election year rally in Great Falls, Montana tonight where he supported Republican candidates for the general election including  State Auditor Matt Rosendale for US Senate.

But Trump was welcomed to the state by Rosendale's opponent incumbent Democrat US Senator Jon Tester in full page ads in more than a dozen newspapers.    In those ads Tester pointed out issues that he and the President agree on.   Radio ads of a similar nature are also running in the state.

President Trump announced the resignation of Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt in a tweet Thursday afternoon.   The President said that Pruitt did an  "outstanding job" and that the Deputy EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler will take over Monday.   Pruitt cited "unrelenting attacks on me personally" in his resignation letter.

The Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar held a media conference call today to get the word out that children are being reunited with their parents and guardians who entered the United States illegally.   Azar said that HHS is complying with a federal court order that sets a July 26th deadline.

Numerous protests have been staged across the country demanding that the children of those who entered the country breaking the law be reunited with their parents.

In Berlin Thursday German Chancellor Angela Merkel lectured the visiting Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban during a joint news conference.   Merkel said protection of borders should not be "just walling ourselves off and talking about a kind of fortress".   But Orban noted that Hungary's tight border controls keep 5,000 migrants from passing through to Germany every day saying "That's what we are defending you from.  That is solidarity, strong solidarity I think".

Azar said that any confusion in the situation is the result of Congress and the courts dealing with the nation's immigration problem the way they have or haven't.

Syrian forces backed by airstrikes, including many by Russian aircraft, continue to drive forward with an offensive in southwestern Syria.   Airstrikes were reported on southern portions of the city of Deraa tonight by social media supporting the Assad regime.   They also report a drive southeast of Deraa city to take positions along the Jordanian border.

The latest UN reporting on Syria now says there are some 325,000 refugees as a result of the offensive.

And the man elected last Sunday as the new President of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador says he is inviting President Trump to his December 1st inauguration.   Lopez Obrador is also inviting other heads of state including Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

And the National Hurricane Center says that Tropical Storm Beryl has formed in the Atlantic Ocean, but it is still some 1200 miles to the east of the Lesser Antilles and the Carribean Sea.  As of 11pm Eastern Daylight Time wind speeds had picked up to 65 miles per hour, though, and strengthening into a hurricane is expected Friday.


No comments:

Post a Comment