UK Parliament Votes to Delay Vote on Brexit Deal
Last week the United Kingdom (UK) reached a new deal with the European Union (EU) that would allow the UK to leave the EU more smoothly. On Saturday, the UK Parliament held a special session in which members were expected to simply accept or reject the new deal.
Instead, Parliament voted to delay voting on the deal for three months, allowing more time to study and perhaps change the deal.
(Source: Jessica Taylor, [Parliamentary Copyright], UK Parliament, via Flickr.com.)
The delay was a big setback for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has promised to take the UK out of the EU by October 31.
Because of the vote, Mr. Johnson was required to ask the EU for more time. Mr. Johnson obeyed, but in a tricky way.
He sent the EU a copy of a request for more time, but he didn’t sign it. Mr. Johnson also included a second letter, which he signed, explaining that he didn’t think the UK needed more time.
If the EU doesn’t give the UK more time, Parliament will need to accept the deal or leave the EU with no deal by the end of the month.
As Parliament was meeting, hundreds of thousands of people gathered in London. They want UK voters to be able to vote on Brexit a second time.
Students in Chile Protest Rising Subway Costs
Chile’s capital, Santiago, is under a state of emergency in response to violent student protests over the increase in the costs of Metro (subway) rides.
Metro leaders say the price increase, which raise the cost of a ride from $1.12 to $1.17, is needed because of increases in costs of running the subway.
(Source: Pablo Castillo Quezada [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons.)
The price rise doesn’t actually affect students, who pay a special rate. Many people believe the increases were just a trigger, and that protesters are really unhappy about many other increases in the costs of living in Chile in recent years.
Students began protesting by jumping over barriers to ride the subways for free. Later, the protests became more violent as students clashed with police and began setting fires and blocking Metro stations.
Under an emergency, the government has greater control over how people get together. Chile’s president, Sebastian Pinera, said, “We all have the right to express ourselves, but not to destroy.”
Kim Jong-un Shown Thinking on a Horse on a Mountain
North Korea’s official news group recently released several pictures of the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un riding a white horse on a snowy mountaintop.
Normally, something like that might not make much news. But the news group suggests that the Korean leader’s ride on Paektu Mountain is a sign that an important decision is coming.
(Source: KCNA via ColdNoodleFan/Twitter.)
The group said that after seeing the “great moments of his thinking”, the government leaders with Mr. Kim were sure that “there will be a great operation to strike the world with wonder again.”
In the past, Mr. Kim has visited the mountaintop before making other big decisions.
Some people wonder if the “great operation” has to do with North Korea’s nuclear weapons – some of the deadliest weapons ever. Recent talks between the US and North Korea to limit the country’s nuclear weapons have broken down.