NEWS BRIEFING
EU, U.K. inch closer to a deal as Brexit hangs in the balance
Britain leaves the EU on March 29, but a deal must be sealed in the coming weeks to leave enough time for the U.K. and European Parliaments to sign off. May faces increasing domestic pressure over her proposals for an agreement following the resignation of another government minister last week.
The British leader had been hoping to present a draft deal to her Cabinet this week. But no Brexit breakthrough was announced Monday after talks between European affairs ministers. The two sides are locked in technical negotiations to try to bridge the final gaps in a move laden with heavy political and economic consequences.
The main obstacle to a deal is how to keep goods flowing smoothly across the border between EU member Ireland and Northern Ireland in the U.K.
Both sides have committed to avoid a hard border with costly and time-consuming checks that would hamper business.
Any new customs posts on the border could also re-ignite lingering sectarian tensions. But Britain and the EU haven’t agreed on how to achieve that goal.
In recent days there have been signs of progress behind the scenes, but all parties have remained tight-lipped about the developments, given the politically charged atmosphere.
U.N. nuclear watchdog says Iran abiding with 2015 deal limits
In a quarterly report, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran has been abiding with key limitations set in the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
The issue has grown more complicated since the U.S. withdrew unilaterally in May from the deal and then re-imposed sanctions. The other signatories — Germany, Britain, France, Russia and China — are continuing to try and make it work.
In the report, the IAEA said it had access to all sites in Iran that it needed to visit and that inspectors confirmed Iran has kept within limits of heavy water and low-enriched uranium stockpiles.
Report: President tells advisers he’s firing Nielsen from DHS
Trump canceled a planned trip with Nielsen this week to visit U.S. troops at the border in south Texas and told aides over the weekend he wants her out as soon as possible, these officials said.
The president has grumbled for months about what he views as Nielsen’s lackluster performance on immigration enforcement.
The announcement could come as soon as this week, three of these officials said.
Democrat Sinema wins Senate seat in Ariz. vacated by Flake
The three-term congresswoman won after a slow vote count that dragged on for nearly a week after voters went to the polls on Nov. 6.
She becomes Arizona’s first Democratic U.S. senator since 1994.
Sinema portrayed herself as a moderate who works across the aisle to get things done.
McSally, a former Air Force pilot who embraced President Donald Trump after opposing him during the 2016 election campaign, had claimed that Sinema’s anti-war protests 15 years ago disqualified her.
50 nations, 150 tech firms vow to fight cybercrime
The group of governments and companies pledged in a document titled the “Paris call for trust and security in cyberspace” to work together to prevent malicious activities like online censorship and the theft of trade secrets.
The push is supported by EU countries, Japan and Canada as well as Facebook, Google and Microsoft, among others.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who had pushed for the initiative, told the the Internet Governance Forum organized at the Paris-based U.N. cultural agency UNESCO that it’s urgent to better regulate the internet.
Trudeau: Canada intel heard audio of writer’s death
“Canada has been fully briefed up on what Turkey had to share,” Trudeau said from Paris, where he was attending the Peace Forum after the World War I armistice centenary.
His comments come just two days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he had given recordings “to Saudi Arabia, to America, to the Germans, the French, to the British, to all of them.”
Trudeau said that he himself had not heard the shared audio, which is the latest move by Turkey to maintain international pressure on Saudi Arabia to stop a cover up of the Oct. 2 killing. He declined to give details on the audio’s contents
Many of the migrants boarded waiting buses at the Jalisco state line that carried them to a shelter in an Auditorium.