'Tragedy': Up to 150 people feared drowned in Mediterranean Sea - Aljazeera.com

Scores of refugees and migrants are feared drowned after the boats they were travelling in capsized off Libya's coast in the Mediterranean Sea, according to aid agencies and officials.

Ayoub Qasim, a spokesman for Libya's coastguard, told The Associated Press news agency that two boats carrying around 300 people sank around 120km east of the capital, Tripoli, before adding that 134 others were rescued.

However, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in a Twitter post on Thursday that more than 150 people were feared drowned while 145 were rescued and returned to Libya after the incident.

Charlie Yaxley, spokesman for the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), said the survivors were picked up by local fishermen and then taken back to shore by the Libyan coastguard.

"We estimate that 150 migrants are potentially missing and died at sea," he said. "The dead include women and children."

"The worst Mediterranean tragedy of this year has just occurred," Filippo Grandi, the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, said.

He called on European nations to resume rescue missions in the Mediterranean, halted after a European Union decision, and appealed for an end to migrant detentions in Libya. Safe pathways out of the North African country are needed "before it is too late for many more desperate people", Grandi said.

I don't want anything now except to go back to my country, Sudan, to die there

Sabah Youssef, survivor who lost her seven-year-old child

Qasim told AFP news agency that most of the rescued from the sea were from Ethiopia while others were Palestinians and Sudanese.

Sabah Youssef, from Sudan, lost her seven-year-old child after the boat sank. "I don't want anything now except to go back to my country, Sudan, to die there," Youssef, who was rescued, told Reuters news agency.

Some of the survivors shared their ordeal at the sea.

"In the afternoon, we started from Libya going to Italy, but when we went there, after one hour the ship started to sink and most of them (people) sank," an unnamed survivor from Eritrea told AP.

Another survivor from Eritrea added: "We rescued ourselves. No-one could help us and no one came to rescue us, and here we are in a big problem so we need your (International community) help."

🚨Urgent: tragic shipwreck may have occurred in the central mediterranean.
Nearly 150 migrants are reported missing and 145 more returned to Libyan shore.

— IOM Libya (@IOM_Libya) July 25, 2019

Libya is one of the main departure points for migrants and refugees fleeing poverty and war in the Middle East and Africa and attempting to reach Europe by boat via the Mediterranean.

Those who make the journey often travel in overcrowded and unsafe vessels.

Nearly 700 deaths have been recorded in the Mediterranean so far this year, according to the IOM, almost half as many as the 1,425 registered in 2018.

"If current trends for this year continue, that will see us pass more than 1000 deaths in the Mediterranean for the sixth year in a row," Yaxley, the spokesman for UNHCR told Al Jazeera.

"That’s a really bleak milestone. It comes just weeks after more than 50 people lost their lives in a detention centre following an airstrike in Tajoura, and really once again stresses the [need] for a shift in approach to the situation in Libya and the Mediterranean."

An estimated 6,000 refugees and migrants are held in detention centres across Libya, while some 50,000 registered refugees and asylum seekers reside elsewhere in the country, according to the UNHCR.

'Preventable deaths'

The UN has repeatedly warned that the conflict-wracked sprawling North African country is not a safe place for migrants and refugees to be held in and called for those in detention centres to be released.

It has also urged the European Union to drop its policy of backing the Libyan coastguard to intercept and forcibly return people caught while trying to cross to Europe from the country. 

The EU ended its naval patrols in the Mediterranean in March due to disagreements on how to divide those rescued among EU member states.

Italy's far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has objected to the existing arrangement because most of the rescued migrants and refugees were brought to Italian ports.

Salvini, who is also Italy's deputy prime minister, has barred charity rescue vessels from docking at Italy's ports, and threatened to fine transgressors tens of thousands of euros and impound their vessels.

Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in recent days slammed the EU's approach, saying the "suffering" of migrants and refugees in Libya and "deaths" of others in the Mediterranean were "preventable".

"Politicians would have you believe that the deaths of hundreds of people at sea, and the suffering of thousands of refugees and migrants trapped in Libya, are the acceptable price of attempts to control migration," Sam Turner, MSF's head of mission for search and rescue in Libya, said in a statement on Sunday.

"The cold reality is that while they herald the end of the so-called 'European migration crisis', they are knowingly turning a blind eye to the humanitarian crisis these policies perpetuate in Libya and at sea," he added.

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2019-07-26 07:19:00Z
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Chinese official urged Hong Kong villagers to drive off protesters before violence at train station - Reuters

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A week before suspected triad gang members attacked protesters and commuters at a rural Hong Kong train station last Sunday, an official from China’s representative office urged local residents to drive away any activists.

A front view of the village of Nam Pin Wai, where groups of suspected attackers at the Yuen Long train station were surrounded by police, in Hong Kong, China July 23, 2019. REUTERS/James Pomfret

Li Jiyi, the director of the Central Government Liaison’s local district office made the appeal at a community banquet for hundreds of villagers in Hong Kong’s rural New Territories.

In a previously unreported recording from the July 11 event obtained by Reuters, Li addresses the large crowd about the escalating protests that have plunged Hong Kong into its worst political crisis since it returned to Chinese from British rule in 1997.

Li chastises the protesters, appealing to the assembled residents to protect their towns in Yuen Long district and to chase anti-government activists away.

“We won’t allow them to come to Yuen Long to cause trouble,” he said, to a burst of applause.

“Even though there are a group of protesters trained to throw bricks and iron bars, we still have a group of Yuen Long residents with the persistence and courage to maintain social peace and protect our home.”

Repeatedly, Li spoke of the need for harmony and unity between the traditional villages and the government, “especially when there is wind and rain in Hong Kong”.

The banquet was attended by a Hong Kong government district officer, Enoch Yuen, and many of the city’s rural leaders. Yuen gave no immediate response to Reuters’ questions on Li’s speech and its impact on village representatives.

Last Sunday, after anti-government protesters marched in central Hong Kong and defaced China’s Liaison Office, over 100 men swarmed through Yuen Long train station, attacking black-clad protesters, passers-by, journalists and a lawmaker with pipes, clubs and lampstands.

When some protesters retaliated, the beatings escalated as men and women were hit repeatedly on their heads and bodies by the masked men, who wore white shirts.

Video footage showed victims fleeing the mayhem amid screams, and floors of the train station streaked with blood. Forty-five people were injured, one critically.

China’s Liaison Office did not immediately respond to Reuters questions about Li’s speech, and Li could not be reached for comment.

Johnny Mak, a veteran Democratic Alliance district councilor in Yuen Long who witnessed the train station bloodshed, said he believed Li’s remarks had been an explicit call to arms against protesters.

“If he didn’t say this, the violence wouldn’t have happened, and the triads wouldn’t have beaten people,” he told Reuters in his office close to the station.

Ching Chan-ming, the head of the Shap Pat Heung rural committee which hosted the banquet that night, said he thought Li’s speech was positive and held no malicious intent.

“How could he (Li) make such an appeal like that?,” Ching told Reuters. “I don’t think it was a mobilization call. His main message is that he hopes Hong Kong can remain stable and prosperous.”

TRIADS

The protesters are demanding Hong Kong’s leader scrap a controversial extradition law that many fear will extend China’s reach into the city.

The government’s refusal to do so - it has agreed only to suspend the bill so far - have led to two months of sometimes violent demonstrations across the city.

Beyond the extradition bill, many activists are demanding independent inquiries into the use of police force against them, and far-reaching democratic reforms - anathema to Beijing’s leaders.

China’s Foreign Ministry Office in Hong Kong said earlier this week that “the recent extreme and violent acts in Hong Kong have seriously undermined the foundation of the rule of law ... and trampled on the red line of “One Country, Two Systems” which underpins Beijing’s control of Hong Kong.

Two senior police sources told Reuters some of the men who attacked the protesters had triad backgrounds including from the powerful Wo Shing Wo, Hong Kong’s oldest triad society, and the 14K, another large, well-known triad.

Police spokespeople didn’t respond to Reuters questions about triad involvement or any aspect of their operation that night.

While Hong Kong’s triads - ancient secret societies that morphed into mafia-style underworld operations - no longer hold the high profile of previous decades they remain entrenched in some grittier districts and in rural areas, according to police.

Police told reporters in 2014 during the so-called “Occupy” democracy protests, that hundreds of triad members were suspected of mounting operations to infiltrate, beat and harass those in the movement. Several dozen people were arrested at the time.

NO POLICE IN SIGHT

Within hours of Sunday’s violence, police bosses battled criticism they had failed to protect the public given delays getting to the scene.

Police commissioner Stephen Lo said there had been a need to “redeploy manpower from other districts”.

Democratic Party district councilor Zachary Wong said Li’s message was having an impact in the days leading up to Sunday’s violence and he had received repeated calls from associates a day earlier saying something was brewing.

Wong said he called local police on Saturday, and then again on Sunday at 7pm when he heard of men gathering in a Yuen Long park.

“Some people called me and said, ‘We’re really scared, please do something,” Wong told Reuters.

Both Mak and Wong said they were told by police they were aware of the situation and were handling it.

During this time, pro-Beijing lawmaker Junius Ho was filmed laughing and shaking hands with some of the men in white shirts near the park. Giving them the ‘thumbs up’ sign, he said: “You are my heroes”. The men laughed and cheered in response.

Ho later told reporters he had no knowledge of or involvement in the violence, but was merely reaching out to his constituents.

Ho was not immediately available at his office and could not be reached on his mobile phone.

Several hours later, when the most violent assaults took place at the train station, there were still no police present to prevent the bloodshed.

“It doesn’t make sense that for many hours, there wasn’t a single police car in sight,” said Mak.

Two senior police officers involved in controlling demonstrations and a senior government security official told Reuters privately they were incensed at public perceptions the police somehow acted in concert with triads at Yuen Long.

After the attacks in Yuen Long train station, some of the assailants fled to the traditional walled village of Nam Pin Wai nearby.

There, riot police and other officers surrounded and questioned scores of men in white shirts for several hours, live media coverage showed.

Sometime after 4 a.m., the men in white began to leave. No arrests were made at the time, although a dozen men have since been arrested over the incident, according to a police statement.

A police commander told reporters at the scene that no arrests were made as the police couldn’t prove the men were the assailants, and no weapons were found.

Public anger over the incident has built in the days since, and tens of thousands of people are expected to march through Yuen Long on Saturday.

A rare open letter signed by a group of civil servants criticized authorities’ handling of the violence.

Slideshow (3 Images)

“The police’s lack of response on July 21 had made people suspect the government colluded with triads,” wrote a group of 235 civil servants from 44 government departments including the police force.

“This had not only caused citizens to lose confidence in the police, but also made civil servants suspect that the government departments are not aimed to serve citizens faithfully.”

At a press conference, Police Commissioner Lo denied any collusion between his force and triads but acknowledged the need to restore public confidence.

Additional reporting by Jessie Pang, Felix Tam and Vimvam Tong. Editing by Lincoln Feast.

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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2019-07-26 06:14:00Z
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Father of Canada highway murder suspect says son on 'suicide mission,' wants to die in 'blaze of glory' - Fox News

The father of one of the suspects who have spurred a nationwide manhunt in Canada after the killings of an American woman, her Australian boyfriend, and a third man said Wednesday he expects the search to end in his son's death, as former classmates have revealed he had a history of making disturbing statements in school.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Wednesday that Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, were charged with second-degree murder in the death of Leonard Dyck, who was found dead on July 19 in Dease Lake, British Columbia. A burned-out vehicle recovered Monday in the remote Manitoba town of Gillam more than 2,000 miles from the region where the killings took place in British Columbia was linked to the suspects on Wednesday.

"Based on this information, we have sent a number of resources to the Gillam area. There will be a heavier police presence in the community," the RCMP said. "We have also set up an informational check-stop at the intersection of PR 280 and PR 290, the road leading into Gillam."

3RD PERSON ALLEGEDLY KILLED BY MISSING CANADIAN MEN IS IDENTIFIED AS MANHUNT GROWS

Schmegelsky's father, Alan Schmegelsky, said in an emotional interview Wednesday with the Canadian Press that his son had a troubled upbringing and is in "very serious pain." The 18-year-old had struggled through his parents' divorce in 2005 and his main influences became video games and YouTube, according to this father.

Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky are now considered suspects in the killings of three people across British Columbia. (Royal Canadian Mounted Police)

"A normal child doesn't travel across the country killing people. A child in some very serious pain does," Schmegelsky told Canadian Press, adding that he expects his son will die in a confrontation with police.

"He's on a suicide mission. He wants his pain to end," he said, breaking into tears. "Basically, he's going to be dead today or tomorrow. I know that. Rest in peace, Bryer. I love you. I'm so sorry all this had to happen."

Bryer Schmegelsky (left) and Kam McLeod (right) were reported missing after their camper van was found burnt out on Friday and their families lost contact with them, according to police. (Dease Lake RCMP)

The father said he and his wife separated when their son was 5. She moved with the boy to the small Vancouver Island community of Port Alberni, where he met McLeod. They attended the same elementary school and quickly became inseparable best friends who never got into trouble.

But the elder Schmegelsky described his son as someone who had problems at home. After briefly moving to Victoria to live with him, Alan Schmegelsky said the boy returned to  Port Alberni to live with his grandmother.

When he graduated from high school earlier this year, he worked at the Port Alberni Walmart before growing disappointed with the job. He told his father he was going with McLeod to look for work in Alberta. Even if his son is caught by police, Alan Schmegelsky said his life will be over.

"He wants his hurt to end," he told the Canadian Press. "They're going to go out in a blaze of glory. Trust me on this."

CANADA MURDER SUSPECTS COULD ALREADY BE 1,800 MILES FROM SLAYINGS, DESCRIBED AS 'BEST FRIENDS' WHO WERE 'OUT ON ADVENTURE'

Former classmates of Schmegelsky said he would make troubling statements in school describing murder and suicide.

“I don’t want to be rude, but he was kind of a weird kid,” Madison Hempsted told Global News. “He didn’t really talk to anyone, super into himself. But when he did talk to people, the things he said were kind of scary. All he ever said to me was how he wanted to kill me and ways he would do it."

Another former classmate who declined to give his name described Schmegelsky to the news outlet as an “angry kid.” Hempsted, who said she thought he was just making jokes and never took his words seriously, said Schmegelsky would discuss even more gruesome situations.

“[Schmegelsky] would say things about how he would cut our heads off and then he would take a gun and put it in his mouth and shoot himself in front of us," she told Global News. "Pretty detailed stuff."

Security camera images of Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, and a Toyota RAV4 SUV are placed on display before an Royal Canadian Mounted Police news conference in Surrey, British Columbia, on Tuesday, July 23, 2019. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

In Port Alberni, signs with "No Trespassing" were staked outside McLeod's large waterfront family home. His father, Keith McLeod, released a written statement Wednesday.

"This is what I do know — Kam is a kind, considerate, caring young man (who) always has been concerned about other people's feelings," McLeod said. "As we are trapped in our homes due to media people, we try to wrap our heads around what is happening and hope that Kam will come home to us safely so we can all get to the bottom of this story."

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The separate discoveries of three bodies and a burning car have shaken rural northern British Columbia.

McLeod and Schmegelsky, from Port Alberni, British Columbia, also have been suspected in the killing of 23-year-old Australian man Lucas Fowler, and his American girlfriend, Chynna Deese, 24, of North Carolina. The couple was discovered shot to death on July 15 along the side of the remote Alaska Highway near Liard Hot Springs, British Columbia.

Investigators said they believed the couple had been killed the day before.

Police on Tuesday said the men left British Columbia and had been traveling in northern Saskatchewan in a gray 2011 Toyota Rav 4. The Toyota was found burning in Gillam, northern Manitoba, more than 2,000 miles from where the initial burned vehicle was found. Investigators in the neighboring province of Ontario have warned people living there about the two men. They initially had been listed as missing persons after their burning truck was discovered July 19.

The mounted police warned the public not to approach the pair, but to contact local law enforcement instead. They said the men may have been traveling on foot or separately.

Fox News' Louis Casiano and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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2019-07-25 12:45:14Z
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Boris Johnson’s Brutal Cabinet Reshuffle Puts Brexit Hard-Liners on Top - The New York Times

LONDON — After one of the most brutal political reshuffles in recent memory, the new cabinet appointed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain met on Thursday to sign up to his hard-line pledge to complete Brexit — without any agreement if necessary and whatever the cost — in less than 100 days.

Mr. Johnson’s cabinet dispenses with around half the top team of his predecessor, Theresa May — a cull that shocked many with its scope and blunt political messaging.

The prime minister told the new cabinet that it was “wonderful” to see them assembled, adding, “We have a momentous task ahead of us, at a pivotal moment in our country’s history.”

“We are now committed, all of us, to leaving the European Union on Oct. 31 or indeed earlier — no ifs, no buts,” he said.

Mr. Johnson made the same promise outside Downing Street on Wednesday, and he has insisted that all members of his cabinet are signed up to that objective whether or not it means a damaging, potentially chaotic, no-deal exit.

But the purge of the cabinet seemed to go further, dispensing even with some longtime supporters of Brexit, like Penny Mordaunt, who lost her role as defense secretary, and Liam Fox, who had supported Mr. Johnson’s leadership rival, Jeremy Hunt, and was ditched as trade secretary. Mr. Hunt, who had been foreign secretary, also left, after refusing a demotion. He was replaced by Dominic Raab, a hard-line former Brexit secretary who resigned in November in protest at Mrs. May’s proposed withdrawal agreement.

Mr. Johnson’s reshuffle seemed intended to send a clear message to the European Union that his government meant what it said when it insisted that it would quit without any agreement if necessary. Optimists hope that this show of resolve might persuade the European side to offer the sort of concessions to Mr. Johnson that it has so far steadfastly refused to contemplate.

Image

One of the big winners in the reshuffle was Sajid Javid, second from right, who became chancellor of the Exchequer, Britain’s finance chief.CreditChris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images

Some of Mr. Johnson’s allies say they have not given up hope of striking a deal in Brussels, and they express belief that an agreement is possible if both sides make concessions.

Those hopes depend on the European Union agreeing to renegotiate the withdrawal agreement, and there has been no sign of that so far. On Thursday, a spokesman for the European Commission, its executive arm, said, “We will not reopen the withdrawal agreement.”

Some commentators see in the makeup of Mr. Johnson’s new team a cabinet that is battle-ready for a general election, if the prime minister is blocked by Parliament from leaving the European Union without a deal.

The new cabinet also looked like a group assembled to combat the electoral threat from Nigel Farage, the leader of the Brexit Party, which advocates a total break from the European Union.

Sajid Javid was among the big winners in Mr. Johnson’s reshuffle. Mr. Javid, whose father, a bus driver, was an immigrant from Pakistan, took charge of the country’s finances as chancellor of the Exchequer.

Mr. Javid’s old job as home secretary was taken by the Brexit supporter Priti Patel, who resigned as international development secretary in Mrs. May’s government in November 2017 because she had held meetings with officials in Israel without informing cabinet colleagues.

Some lawmakers who have been less enthusiastic about Brexit survived, including Amber Rudd, the work and pensions secretary. And there was a reprieve for Gavin Williamson, who was blamed for leaking information while secretary of state for defense (a charge he denied) and was subsequently fired by Mrs. May. He returned as education secretary.

But Brexit supporters are in the driving seat. Michael Gove, who, together with Mr. Johnson, led the pro-Brexit referendum campaign in 2016, will be in charge of preparations for a no-deal exit.

Image

Priti Patel, a Brexit backer, returned to the cabinet as home secretary. She resigned from Prime Minister Theresa May’s government in 2017.CreditTolga Akmen/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

And Jacob Rees-Mogg, who led the most hard-line group of Conservative lawmakers pushing for the European Union withdrawal, became leader of the House of Commons. Stephen Barclay remained as Brexit secretary.

Perhaps nothing illustrated Mr. Johnson’s desire to shake up the system as much as his decision to bring Dominic Cummings into Downing Street as an adviser. Mr. Cummings is the divisive strategist who helped plan the official Leave campaign’s tactics in the 2016 referendum.

Famously sharp-tongued, Mr. Cummings has described Mrs. May’s pursuit of Brexit as a “train wreck,” and he once called a former Brexit secretary, David Davis, “thick as mince and lazy as a toad.”

After three years during which Mrs. May tried to balance the diversity of opinion on Brexit among Conservatives, juggling hard-liners and those determined to stop a “no deal” withdrawal, Mr. Johnson’s change in tack was blunt and has horrified some in the party.

Though Parliament rejected Mrs. May’s Brexit deal three times, the legislature has also voted in nonbinding motions against a no-deal Brexit and a clash over the issue is certain.

By ejecting so many of Mrs. May’s team, Mr. Johnson has freed many of them to oppose a no-deal exit.

That has increased speculation about a general election, possibly as soon as the fall. There is also growing talk of a second referendum, fueled in part by statements from Mr. Cummings that the outcome of any repeat would mirror the first vote and reinforce the decision to leave.

Asked on Sky News what he thought about the new government, Nicholas Soames, a veteran Conservative lawmaker who is a grandson of one of Mr. Johnson’s heroes, Winston Churchill, replied, “Not a lot.”

“I won’t support a no-deal Brexit and nor will a very large number of people on my side in the House of Commons,” Mr. Soames said. “By firing a lot of very good senior cabinet ministers yesterday, he has created a whole wall of opposition.”

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2019-07-25 11:58:05Z
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Kamikaze Boris Johnson Risks Becoming Britain's Shortest-Serving PM - The Daily Beast

LONDON—Boris Johnson’s first act as British prime minister was to launch himself on a spectacular collision course with reality.

Instead of pivoting towards conciliation as he stood on the steps of Downing Street, the new Conservative leader lashed out at the “doomsters” and “gloomsters” who have failed to extricate Britain safely from the European Union over three agonizing years of negotiation at home and abroad.

Even before the Queen formally invited him to become Britain’s next prime minister, a raft of anti-Johnson Conservative lawmakers had quit the government in protest. The new PM chose to respond with a purge of his opponents in the most savage cabinet reshuffle in decades and the appointment of one of the most controversial bomb-throwers in Westminster as his senior adviser.

Johnson, who led the Leave campaign during the Brexit referendum, claims he can solve the Brexit conundrum in just three months. It’s either a pledge of great bravery or colossal hubris. Either way it is very likely that it will lead to Johnson putting the keys to No. 10 on the line in an early general election.

Twice on Wednesday he repeated the campaign pledge made to Conservative Party members, who selected him to replace Theresa May, that he would have Brexit wrapped up by Halloween. He says he wants Britain to leave the European Union with a new deal, which means either convincing Europe to abandon the red lines it's stuck to since 2016 or forcing the House of Commons to change its mind and approve a version of May’s deal that was brutally rejected by lawmakers on three occasions.

The only other option is to take Britain out of the E.U. without a deal, which parliament also has voted against repeatedly. He could try and force a No-Deal Brexit through against the will of Parliament, but that would break with centuries of political precedent.

Johnson finds himself in an almost impossible position. It’s going to take more than optimism to secure Britain’s exit from the E.U., but he made it clear that he would take personal responsibility for doing just that. “The buck stops here,” he said, as crowds of protesters booed and shouted over his first speech as prime minister.

If Parliament won’t let him deliver what he has promised to deliver, he’s going to need a new Parliament—and that means an election.

The big strategic question facing Johnson on the first night in the apartment above his new offices at No. 10 is whether to face up to reality before he crashes headfirst into the obstinacy of EU leaders and parliamentary opponents, or wait until after the damage has been done.

If he spends the three months trying to negotiate a new deal with Europe and convince a skeptical parliament to accept it, he runs the risk of being forced into an election soon after October 31 when he has failed to deliver his trademark pledge. Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party is waiting in the wings and ready to crush the Conservatives just as they did in this year’s European elections.

The alternative would be Johnson calling a snap election ahead of the deadline and asking the nation to back his vision by returning a more strongly pro-Brexit set of lawmakers to rubberstamp his approach.

Either of those scenarios could leave him at risk of usurping George Canning, who was Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister—in office from April 1827 for 119 days until his premature death at the age of 57.

Johnson’s best chance of avoiding that ignominy is to convince the current parliament to back whatever deal he can eke out of Brussels. Unfortunately for him, May has handed over a tiny working majority of just two lawmakers in the House of Commons, which means Johnson will be sweating over every vote.

The parliamentary arithmetic makes Johnson’s cabinet reshuffle all the more surprising. By losing at least half of the cabinet of lawmakers he inherited from May, Johnson has created a whole host of new enemies.

He fired Jeremy Hunt, his final opponent for the leadership, as well as Hunt’s backers Liam Fox and Penny Mordaunt, even though they were arch-Brexiteers. The Remain-leaning lawmakers have also been booted out of a cabinet that May had tried to balance between the rival factions.

Johnson has disregarded that notion and appears to be rebuilding the Vote Leave organization inside No. 10.

One outgoing minister told The Daily Beast: “It’s the Brexiteers’ wet dream of a Cabinet. The test is whether securing, as they have, every office of state they can now deliver Brexit. Backs to the wall, Dunkirk spirit, underdog rhetoric won’t be enough. The clock is ticking and all hinges upon success—the prime minister, the government, the party, the country.”

Perhaps the clearest sign that Johnson is planning a scorched earth policy rather than looking to build consensus is his choice of Dominic Cummings as senior adviser. Cummings was portrayed as the genius behind the Brexit referendum win—played by Benedict Cumberbatch in a recent HBO movie—but he is also known as one of the most abrasive characters in politics.

He became one of the few people in modern times to be found in contempt of parliament earlier this year for refusing to appear at a committee hearing, and former Prime Minister David Cameron once reportedly described him as a “career psychopath.”

Cummings has been scathing not just about his Brexit opponents but many of those on the same side. He attacked the group of hardline Brexiteers whom May struggled to control, saying they should be “treated like a metastasizing tumor and excised from the U.K. body politic.”

He described the pro-Brexit lawmaker tasked with negotiating the May deal as “thick as mince and lazy as a toad.”

Cummings is also renowned as an electoral strategist, raising the prospect that he has been appointed to help oversee an impending election, or perhaps even a second referendum, if that becomes the only option left on the table. 

Johnson has sidelined the party’s big beasts and surrounded himself with a cadre of political outsiders like Cummings and his new Home Secretary (interior minister) Priti Patel, who was forced out of May’s cabinet when it emerged that she had been holding secret meetings with the Israeli government behind the prime minister’s back.

Johnson likes to ham up comparisons between himself and Winston Churchill, but after writing a biography of the leader who prevailed against Hitler in World War II he should know that Churchill’s over-ambitious and under-prepared early forays did not always end in success.

In World War I, Churchill drew up a bold plan to open a second front by attacking the Ottoman Empire, but he was not granted the number of troops he requested. In a fit of blind optimism over reality, Churchill ordered an amphibious attack on what is now Turkey to go ahead anyway. The result was the notorious bloodbath at the Battle of Gallipoli.

Additional reporting by Jamie Ross.

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2019-07-25 11:51:00Z
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Father of one of 2 teens wanted in 3 killings in Canada says son plans to go out 'in blaze of glory' - CNN

The comments came the same day authorities charged Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, with one count of second degree murder in the death of Leonard "Len" Dyck of Vancouver, British Columbia.

Dyck's body was found Friday, though authorities were unable to identify him and released a composite sketch of the man.

"As a result of the charges, Canada-wide warrants have been issued," the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Department said in a news release. "... RCMP investigators across the country continue to share information with other law enforcement agencies as the suspects remain at large."

There are concurrent investigations underway in Saskatchewan and Manitoba into reported sightings of the two teens, the news release said.

Authorities have been searching for McLeod and Schmegelsky since last week. Initially, the two were believed to be missing. Now, the RCMP say they are suspects in the shooting deaths of Dyck, as well as Chynna Noelle Deese, a 24-year-old American, and Lucas Robertson Fowler, her 23-year-old Australian boyfriend.

Go out in a 'blaze of glory'

In an emotionally charged interview with CNN news partner CTV News, Alan Schmegelsky said his son has been dealing with mental anguish and plans to go out in "a blaze of glory."

"A normal child doesn't travel across the country, killing people. A child in some very serious pain does," he said.

Schmegelsky described his son as an introvert, saying he played a lot of video games.

He said McLeod and his son were good friends, who hung out a lot together.

Both had jobs at Walmart, but said they weren't making enough money and decided to go to Alberta to look for work, he said.

"I believed that's what they were going to do, and I was absolutely flabbergasted to learn that two days later, and I found this out from the paper," he said.

Schmegelsky said he believes the RCMP will "shoot first and ask questions later."

"Basically, he's going to be dead today or tomorrow. I know that," he told CTV. "Rest in peace, Bryer. I love you. I'm so sorry all this had to happen. I'm so sorry that I couldn't rescue you."

Police say the two are 'armed and dangerous'

McLeod and Schmegelsky are considered armed and dangerous, and members of the public should not approach them, authorities said. They were last seen in northern Saskatchewan — about a day's drive east of where the bodies were found — driving a gray 2011 Toyota RAV4, authorities said. The pair may now be in Manitoba, east of Saskatchewan, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.

The Manitoba RCMP confirmed Wednesday they had recovered the Toyota the suspects had used. They found it near the town of Gillam.

"The two may being using a different vehicle, on foot or even traveling separately. If they are spotted, do not approach, call 9-1-1 or your local police immediately," the RCMP said.

The RCMP have dispatched more officers to the area and set up an informational checkpoint at the road leading into town, RCMP Cpl. Julie Courchaine said.

McLeod is 6 feet, 4 inches tall, 169 pounds and has dark hair, facial hair and brown eyes. Schmegelsky is 6 feet, 4 inches tall and 169 pounds with sandy hair, police said.

They are suspected in the shooting deaths of Deese and Fowler, whose bodies were found on July 15 about 12 miles south of Liard Hot Springs in northern British Columbia, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.

Fowler was living in British Columbia, and they were exploring the area while Deese was visiting him, RCMP Sgt. Janelle Shoihet said. Deese's mother, Sheila Deese, said the couple had been on a road trip through Canada up to Alaska.

'His death has created unthinkable grief'

Police found Dyck's body several days later about a mile from where a vehicle and camper belonging to McLeod and Schmegelsky were found burning on the side of Highway 37.

Authorities declined to say what new information led them to name the two as suspects. But it came just a day after the RCMP said it was a "possible" that their disappearance was related to the couple's death.

The teens, both from Port Alberni, were traveling through British Columbia to the Yukon Territory to look for work, the RCMP had said.

The RCMP did not say how Dyck was identified, but his family has been notified.

"We are truly heart broken by the sudden and tragic loss of Len," a statement from his family said. "His death has created unthinkable grief and we are struggling to understand what has happened. While we understand there will be interest in knowing more about him and the impact he had during his life, we are asking for the public and the media to please respect our privacy during this difficult time."

CNN's Patrick Cornell, Eric Levenson, Emanuella Grinberg and Chuck Johnston contributed to this report.

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/24/americas/canada-couple-murder/index.html

2019-07-25 10:20:00Z
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Boris Johnson's new-look cabinet meets for first time - BBC News

Boris Johnson's new cabinet ministers are meeting for the first time, before the new prime minister addresses the House of Commons.

Mr Johnson told the cabinet they had "a momentous task ahead", as he repeated his commitment for the UK to leave the EU on 31 October.

On Wednesday, Mr Johnson gave key roles to leading Brexiteers.

The appointments saw Sajid Javid as chancellor, and Dominic Raab and Priti Patel return to government.

Mr Raab was made foreign secretary and Ms Patel is home secretary.

More than half of Theresa May's old cabinet, including leadership rival Jeremy Hunt, quit or were sacked.

BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg said there were whispers there could be a big offer for European citizens coming out of cabinet this morning.

What has Mr Johnson said?

Speaking to his cabinet Mr Johnson said: "As you all know we have a momentous task ahead of us, at a pivotal moment in our country's history.

"We are now committed, all of us, to leaving the European Union on October 31 or indeed earlier - no ifs, no buts.

"But we are not going to wait until October 31 to get on with a fantastic new agenda for our country, and that means delivering the priorities of the people."

He also told the room it was "wonderful to see this new team assembled here" which respects the "depth and breadth of talent in our extraordinary party".

Mr Johnson also used his first speech as prime minister to reiterate his determination to take the UK out of the EU by the 31 October "no ifs, no buts".

The UK was originally supposed to leave the EU on 29 March but the deadline was moved to 31 October, after MPs rejected Mrs May's withdrawal deal three times.

Who is in Cabinet?

As well as Mr Javid, Mr Raab and Ms Patel, other key appointments included:

• Stephen Barclay: Brexit secretary (retains post)
• Michael Gove: Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and no-deal Brexit planning
• Ben Wallace: Defence secretary
• Liz Truss: International trade secretary
• Matt Hancock: Health secretary (retains post)
• Gavin Williamson: Education secretary
• Nicky Morgan: Culture secretary
• Andrea Leadsom: Business secretary
• Amber Rudd: Work and pensions secretary (retains post)
• Jacob Rees-Mogg: Leader of the Commons

See the full cabinet here

Following his appointment as Leader of the House, Jacob Rees-Mogg, who led the pro-Brexit Tory European Research Group (ERG), denied there had been a "Leave" takeover of the cabinet.

"Boris is bringing the country together, the party together, through his cabinet appointments," he said.

Getty

The cabinet in numbers

• 48average age - down from 51

• 26%female - down from 31%

• 12Leave supporters (in 2016) - up from six

Source: PA

And who lost out?

Mr Johnson's new cabinet saw 17 of Mrs May's former senior ministers being axed or stepping down.

Former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he had been offered an alternative role but had turned it down, while leading Brexiteers Penny Mordaunt and Liam Fox were also replaced as defence secretary and international trade secretary respectively.

Both supported Mr Hunt in the Tory leadership contest.

'A prime minister in a hurry'

These are the decisions of a prime minister in a hurry.

One who is aware that he's up against the clock.

One who has to pull off - within a few months - what his predecessor could not manage over years.

The team surrounding Boris Johnson has been put together with one goal in mind - to help him keep the promise he's made, to see the country leave the European Union in good time.

Number 10 believes it shows strength of purpose - a new administration determined and willing to take decisions after years of drift and disappointment.

Brexit believers have the top roles. But it is not a cabinet made up purely of the most burning Eurosceptics.

Read more from Laura

What has been the response?

Labour's shadow chancellor John McDonnell said if Mr Johnson campaigned on the platform of a no-deal Brexit in any forthcoming general election, his own party would "almost certainly be Remain".

However, he told ITV that Labour would still look at any new deal Mr Johnson negotiated with the EU.

"But at the moment I can't see him stitching up a deal that's acceptable either to Labour or to quite a bit of his own side as well - so it looks as though we will then be in a straight situation between a no deal and Remain," he added.

Meanwhile, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has written to the new prime minister to say it is "essential" Scotland has an alternative option to his Brexit plan - and to indicate she would continue to press for a referendum on Scottish independence.

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Independent MP Nick Boles - who resigned the Conservative whip - criticised the cabinet appointments arguing that "the Conservative Party has now been fully taken over top to bottom by the hard right."

"The few elements remaining of the liberal one nation Conservative style are are neutered captures in this cabinet," he said.

Conservative Iain Duncan Smith defended the appointments saying it was important to have ministers in the cabinet who "believe in the project".

When asked about the possibility of an early election he replied "any government worth its salt would prepare for that eventuality".

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https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-49107417

2019-07-25 08:11:35Z
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