May warned over Brexit vote
Theresa May, the British Prime Minister, has been warned by Cabinet ministers she will have to quit if her Brexit deal is defeated in the Commons next week and she fails to secure better terms from the EU. Ministers believe the chances of her deal passing a Commons vote on Tuesday are zero after it was publicly criticised by more than 100 Tory MPs. One Cabinet minister said May would fall if she was defeated and failed to go back to Brussels to fundamentally renegotiate the EU Withdrawal Agreement.
Huawei exec held in jail
A Chinese executive will spend the weekend in jail while a Canadian judge weighs her proposed bail conditions. Meng Wanzhou is chief financial officer of telecommunications giant Huawei and daughter of its founder. She is facing possible extradition to the US, where officials allege Huawei used a Hong Kong shell company to sell equipment in Iran in violation of US sanctions. The US also says that Meng and Huawei misled American banks about its business dealings in Iran. Meng was detained during a layover at Vancouver airport last Saturday.
Paris in lockdown
Paris was braced for a day of “ultraviolent” unrest today as it went into lockdown before thousands descended on the capital for a fourth successive Saturday of “yellow vest” protests. Stores, museums and landmarks, including the Louvre, Eiffel Tower and Galeries Lafayette, shut for security reasons. Luxury boutiques, restaurants and businesses on the Champs-Elysees and around the presidential palace were ordered shut.
China’s moon mission
China has launched the first mission to land a robotic craft on the far side of the Moon, Chinese media says. The Chang’e-4 mission will see a static lander and rover touch down in Von Karman crater, on the side of the Moon which never faces Earth. The payload blasted off atop a Long March 3B rocket from Xichang Satellite Launch Centre. The mission will pave the way for the country to deliver samples of Moon rock and soil to Earth. The landing will be early January, when the probe will descend on thrusters and touch down on the rugged terrain of the lunar far side. Von Karman crater is of interest to scientists because it is within the oldest and largest impact feature on the Moon — the South PoleAitken Basin. This was probably formed by a giant asteroid impact billions of years ago.
£1.50 theft charge derided
A student in Taiwan has been charged with theft after her room-mate asked police to carry out DNA tests to find out who had taken a yogurt drink worth £1.50 out of the fridge at their university accommodation. The student who was charged lived with five other women studying at the Chinese Cultural University in Taipei, Taiwan. The police investigation and the student who filed the complaint have been derided by the Taiwanese public. According to a local broadcaster, she returned home last month to find her yogurt drink had been consumed and the empty bottle left in the bin. When none of her housemates owned up she asked police to investigate. The student asked them to use DNA forensics when no fingerprints were found.