Bid to topple British PM May falters

EVIDENCE is mounting that the plot to oust UK Prime Minister Theresa May is faltering.

To trigger a vote of no confidence in her leadership, a total of 48 Conservative lawmakers need to submit letters, texts or emails calling for one. Late last week, as the backlash against May’s Brexit deal gathered pace, there was speculation that the threshold could be reached at any moment.

But on Monday, the eurosceptic European Research Group, which has waged a concerted media campaign to keep up the pressure, appeared distinctly less ebullient. As a person familiar with the situation said the key number had not been reached, one Tory Brexiteer hinted that now might not be the best time to strike.

“My expectation is that the number will be reached and there will be a vote at some point,” Crispin Blunt said in an interview in his House of Commons office under a full-size union flag. “One could argue that it would be better that that vote comes after the vote on the deal. If one were to sequence this properly: one would wait until we had the vote on the deal and then have the vote on the prime minister’s position as leader of the Conservative Party.”

Parliament is due to debate May’s Brexit deal in early December, and politicians across the chamber say they will vote it down. The only person who knows for sure how many votes are in is Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee of rank-and-file Tory MPs. Tall and polite, the 51-yearold appeared calm as he enjoyed a leisurely coffee in Parliament Monday. So far, more than 20 Tory lawmakers have publicly declared they want May to go. Meanwhile, newspapers have been claiming for weeks the number is well over 40, with The Sun putting the number of letters at 42 on Monday. The required number represents 15 percent of the Conservative MPs.

Arch Brexiteer Iain Duncan Smith, a former Conservative leader who was himself deposed via this arcane process, led a group into Downing Street on Monday afternoon to ask for changes to the premier’s deal. Asked by reporters afterwards how the meeting had gone, Duncan Smith only replied that it had been “good” and “constructive”. — AP A WOMAN was killed when she was attacked by monkeys, just five days after a 12-day-old baby had died in a similar attack nearby.

Bhoomi Devi (58) was fatally injured by primates in the Indian city of Agra, The Mirror reports.

A relative reportedly said she bled to death after she was attacked by the monkeys.

Bhoomi had gone into a field just outside her house to pee when she attacked by monkeys. They reportedly bit her viciously until she collapsed, Fox News reports.

A relative found her bleeding in the field and rushed her to a nearby clinic but she succumbed to her injuries shortly after her arrival.

“She’d lost so much blood that doctors could do nothing to save her,” the relative said.

Th attack came just five days after a 12-day-old child named Arush died in a similar attack on the POPE Francis on Sunday prayed for peace in the warravaged Central African Republic, where two priests were killed in ethnic unrest last week.

“I learned with sadness the news of the massacre two days ago in a camp for the displaced in the Central African Republic, where two priests were also killed,” the pope said during Angelus prayers at the Vatican.

“Let us pray for the dead and the wounded and for all violence to end in this beloved country so much in outskirts of Agra, The Sun reports.

The baby’s father told local media his wife had left their front door open. She was breastfeeding Arush when a monkey suddenly ran into the house.

The monkey grabbed the infant by his neck and ran off before his mom could do anything.

The couple, who’ve been married for two years, chased the animal and found their firstborn child on a neighbour’s roof. Arush was rushed to hospital but was declared dead upon arrival.

Activists in India are now calling for the protected species to be moved to a sanctuary and funds to be raised to pay for sterilisation and victim compensation, The Mirror reports. Local environmental activist Shravan Kumar Singh said monkeys were becoming increasingly aggressive as they’d been displaced from natural habitats destroyed by urban expansion. — AP need of peace,” he said on the World Day of the Poor.

Sectarian clashes in the central town of Alindao claimed at least 37 lives last week, including those of two priests. The United Nations said that some 20 000 people were affected by the violence. “Thousands” were forced to flee.

The bloodbath began on Thursday when Christian militiamen killed Muslims, prompting revenge attacks. — AFP