The next seven days look set to be one of the most tumultuous weeks in more than three years of Brexit drama. Get ready for nail-biting diplomacy and high-stakes politics — with a dash of regal pomp thrown in for good measure.
With Britain due to leave the EU on Oct. 31 and talks about securing a divorce deal hanging in the balance, here's a look at what could happen in the week ahead.
MONDAY, OCT. 14
Two anti Brexit people hold EU, Ireland and Union Flags as they wait for the departure of UK Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay during his meeting with European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Friday, Oct. 11, 2019. The European Union said Friday that talks with the United Kingdom to find an amicable divorce with the United Kingdom are back on track, despite huge challenges and a tight end-of-month deadlime looming large. (AP PhotoFrancisco Seco)
The week opens with the comforting trappings of British political tradition, featuring a monarch in a horse-drawn carriage, a diamond-studded crown and lords in ermine capes.
Parliament returns from a brief break for the State Opening of Parliament, a mix of politics and pageantry at which Queen Elizabeth II, seated on a golden throne, reads a speech written by the government outlining its plans for the year ahead.
After three years in which Brexit has dominated British politics to the exclusion of other vital issues, Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants the speech to give a vision of his plans for the U.K. after it leaves the European Union. It will include a Brexit bill to ratify any divorce deal with the EU, but also legislation on crime, immigration, health care, the environment and Britain's railways.
The Union flag of Great Britain and Northern Ireland flies in front of the clock face of the Queen Elizabeth Tower, that holds the bell known as 'Big Ben", part of the Houses of Parliament in London, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019. Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson is to meet the Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar later Thursday for talks on Brexit. The Houses of parliament are undergoing restoration works. (AP PhotoAlastair Grant)
Johnson's opponents say the speech is little more than a stunt because the Conservative government lacks a majority in Parliament, making an election likely in the next few months, before most of the proposed bills can become law. Whoever won that vote would start again with a new program and a fresh queen's speech.
"What we have got in effect is a party-political broadcast from the steps of the throne," opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said Sunday.
In Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron is due to meet European Council President Donald Tusk.
TUESDAY, OCT. 15
As British lawmakers hold a debate on the queen's speech, scheduled to last several days, EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier will update ministers from the 27 other member states on the progress of Brexit talks at a meeting in Luxembourg.
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 16
Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merke, two of the most important EU leaders in determining the course of Brexit, meet as their two governments hold a joint meeting, a day before a crunch EU summit.
THURSDAY, OCT. 17
With two weeks to go until the Brexit deadline, leaders of all 28 EU countries gather in Brussels for a two-day summit with Brexit at the center of the agenda.
Johnson won't be in the room when the 27 other leaders discuss whether to strike a deal with his government. The key stumbling block has been finding a way to keep the border between the U.K.'s Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland free of customs checks and other barriers once Britain leaves the EU. In recent days, both sides have moved towards compromise, but it may not be enough to bridge the gap between their positions.
EU leaders may also consider whether to grant a delay to the U.K.'s departure date — already twice-postponed — if Britain asks for one. Many are reluctant to prolong the Brexit saga, but also want to avoid the economic pain of a no-deal Brexit.
FRIDAY. OCT. 18
The EU leaders' Brexit discussion is likely to stretch into Friday. By some point that day, the British government and public should know what the 27 have decided.
SATURDAY, OCT. 19
Thousands of pro-EU demonstrators are due to gather outside Parliament in London to call for a new referendum on whether to leave the EU or remain.
Inside, British lawmakers will meet on a Saturday for the first time since the Falklands War in 1982. If the government and the EU have struck a deal, legislators will be asked to approve it. If there is no divorce agreement, Johnson could ask Parliament to back a no-deal Brexit on Oct. 31 — something it is highly unlikely to do.
Most lawmakers fear leaving the EU without an agreement would hurt the British economy, and Parliament has several times voted to reject a no-deal Brexit. But so far lawmakers haven't agreed on what to do instead: some favor a Brexit deal, others want a new referendum and still others would like to cancel Brexit altogether.
The main opposition Labour Party says it might try to make support for Johnson's divorce deal contingent on a new referendum on whether to leave the EU or remain.
Parliament has already passed a law saying that if there is no Brexit deal by Saturday, the government must ask the EU to delay Britain's departure date. Johnson says he won't do that, but also promises to obey the law.
That contradiction could mean Johnson plans to challenge the legislation in court. His opponents say they will seek a court order compelling Johnson to comply with the law if he doesn't send a letter to the EU by Monday Oct. 21.
Opposition parties are also contemplating a no-confidence vote in the government. If Johnson lost, the opposition could try to form a national-unity government, or there could be an election.
Follow AP's full coverage of Brexit and British politics at https://www.apnews.com/Brexit
PARIS (AP) —
Reuters photographer Mohammed Salem captured this year’s prestigious World Press Photo of the Year award Thursday with a depiction of loss and sorrow in Gaza, a heartrending photo of a Palestinian woman cradling the body of her young niece. The photograph, taken in Khan Younis just days after Salem’s own child was born, shows 36-year-old Inas Abu Maamar holding five-year-old Saly, who was killed along with her mother and sister when an Israeli missile struck their home.
Salem, who is Palestinian, described this photo filed Nov. 2 last year, as a “powerful and sad moment that sums up the broader sense of what was happening in the Gaza Strip.”
The image ”truly encapsulates this sense of impact,” said global jury chair Fiona Shields, The Guardian newspaper's head of photography. “It is incredibly moving to view and at the same time an argument for peace, which is extremely powerful when peace can sometimes feel like an unlikely fantasy,” she added.
The World Press Photo jury praised the shot’s sense of care and respect and its offering of a “metaphorical and literal glimpse into unimaginable loss.”
This is not the first time Salem has been recognized for his work on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; he received a World Press Photo award more than a decade ago for another depiction of the human toll of conflict in the Gaza strip.
In the three other global categories announced Thursday, South Africa’s Lee-Ann Olwage won Photo Story of the Year for her touching series “Valim-babena,” featured in GEO magazine. The project focused on the stigmatization of dementia in Madagascar, a topic she explored through intimate portraits of “Dada Paul” and his family. Lack of public awareness surrounding dementia means that people displaying symptoms of memory loss are often stigmatized.
In the series, “Dada Paul,” who has lived with dementia for 11 years, is tenderly cared for by his daughter Fara. One of the standout images in the series shows him preparing for church with his granddaughter Odliatemix, capturing moments of normalcy and warmth amidst the challenges of dementia.
Photographer Alejandro Cegarra, a Venezuelan native who migrated to Mexico in 2017, won the Long-Term Project award for “The Two Walls,” published by The New York Times and Bloomberg. Cegarra’s project, initiated in 2018, examines a shift in Mexico’s immigration policies, which have moved from being historically open to enforcing strict regulations at its southern border. The jury said the photographer's perspective as a migrant gave it a “sensitive," human-centered perspective, according to a press release.
Julia Kochetova of Ukraine won the Open Format award for “War Is Personal.” The project stood out from coverage of the ongoing conflict by offering a personal look at the harsh realities of war. On a dedicated website, she merged traditional photojournalism with a diary-like documentary style, incorporating photography, poetry, audio clips and music.
The Associated Press won the Open Format award in the regional Africa category with the multimedia story “Adrift,” created by journalists Renata Brito and Felipe Dana. The story investigates the fate of West African migrants who attempted to reach Europe via a treacherous Atlantic route but ended up on a ghost ship discovered off Tobago. The team’s compelling use of photography, cinematography and detailed narrative, enhanced by expert design and multimedia elements, highlights the perils faced by migrants and the human stories behind global migration issues.
The Associated Press' Ebrahim Noroozi won the Asia Stories award for his series “Afghanistan on the Edge,” which documents the country since the Taliban took over in August 2021.
World Press Photo is an independent, nonprofit organization based in the Netherlands, founded in 1955.
This image provided by World Press Photo is part of a series titled Afghanistan on the Edge by Ebrahim Noroozi, Associated Press, which won the World Press Photo Asia Series category and showsAn Afghan refugee rests in the desert next to a camp near the Torkham Pakistan-Afghanistan border, in Torkham, Afghanistan, Friday, Nov. 17, 2023. A huge number of Afghans refugees entered the Torkham border to return home hours before the expiration of a Pakistani government deadline for those who are in the country illegally to leave or face deportation. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
This image provided by World Press Photo is part of a series titled Afghanistan on the Edge by Ebrahim Noroozi, Associated Press, which won the World Press Photo Asia Series category and shows : Since the chaotic Taliban takeover of Kabul on Aug. 15, 2021, an already war-devastated economy once kept alive by international donations alone is now on the verge of collapse. There isn't enough money for hospitals. The World Health Organization is warning of millions of children suffering malnutrition, and the U.N. says 97% of Afghans will soon be living below the poverty line. Three Afghan internally displaced children look with surprise at an apple that their mother brought home after begging, in a camp on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Feb 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
This image provided by World Press Photo is part of a multimedia project by Associated Press' Renata Brito and Felipe Dana titled Adrift, won the World Press Photo Africa Regional Winner Open Format category and shows a mortuary technician opening the door of a refrigerator used to store the remains of migrants recovered from inside the Mauritania boat that appeared drifting near the island of Tobago, in Scarborough, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022. In May 2021 a boat from Mauritania full of dead men was found off the coast of the Caribbean Island of Tobago. Who were these men and why were they on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean? Two visual journalists sought answers, uncovering a story about migrants from West Africa who seek opportunity in Europe via an increasingly popular but treacherous Atlantic route. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
This image provided by World Press Photo is part of a multimedia project by Associated Press' Renata Brito and Felipe Dana titled Adrift, won the World Press Photo Africa Regional Winner Open Format category and shows young fishermen walk into the ocean to board an artisanal fishing boat in Nouakchott, Mauritania, Friday, Dec. 10, 2021. In May 2021 a boat from Mauritania full of dead men was found off the coast of the Caribbean Island of Tobago. Who were these men and why were they on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean? Two visual journalists sought answers, uncovering a story about migrants from West Africa who seek opportunity in Europe via an increasingly popular but treacherous Atlantic route. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
This image provided by World Press Photo is part of a multimedia project by Associated Press' Renata Brito and Felipe Dana titled Adrift, won the World Press Photo Africa Regional Winner Open Format category and shows Moussa Sako, an asylum-seeker from Mali, who survived 22 days aboard a Mauritanian boat drifting in the Atlantic Ocean covers his face during an interview with the Associated Press in Guadalajara, Spain, Sunday, Nov. 14, 2021. In May 2021 a boat from Mauritania full of dead men was found off the coast of the Caribbean Island of Tobago. Who were these men and why were they on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean? Two visual journalists sought answers, uncovering a story about migrants from West Africa who seek opportunity in Europe via an increasingly popular but treacherous Atlantic route. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
This image provided by World Press Photo and taken by Julia Kochetova is part of a series titled War is Personal which won the World Press Photo Open Format Award. Amidst tens of thousands of civilian and military casualties and an effective stalemate that has lasted for months, there are no signs of peace on the horizon for Russia's war in Ukraine. While news media updates its audience with statistics and maps, and international attention drifts elsewhere, the photographer has created a personal website that brings together photojournalism with the personal documentary style of a diary to show the world what it is like to live with war as an everyday reality. (Julia Kochetova/World Press Photo via AP)
This image provided by World Press Photo and taken by Julia Kochetova is part of a series titled War is Personal which won the World Press Photo Open Format Award and shows a stabilization point near Bakhmut, Ukraine, of the 5th assault brigade and 77th brigade. Hospitalliers battalion - volunteer battalion of combat medics are helping here. Amidst tens of thousands of civilian and military casualties and an effective stalemate that has lasted for months, there are no signs of peace on the horizon for Russia's war in Ukraine. While news media updates its audience with statistics and maps, and international attention drifts elsewhere, the photographer has created a personal website that brings together photojournalism with the personal documentary style of a diary to show the world what it is like to live with war as an everyday reality. (Julia Kochetova/Der Spiegel/World Press Photo via AP)
This image provided by World Press Photo and taken by Julia Kochetova is part of a series titled War is Personal which won the World Press Photo Open Format Award and shows the training of mobilized conscripts of 68th brigade in Donetsk region, not far from frontline. 68th brigade recently liberated Blagodatne village during the Ukrainian counter-offensive. The instructors came from US, working for NGO "Saber".Amidst tens of thousands of civilian and military casualties and an effective stalemate that has lasted for months, there are no signs of peace on the horizon for Russia's war in Ukraine. While news media updates its audience with statistics and maps, and international attention drifts elsewhere, the photographer has created a personal website that brings together photojournalism with the personal documentary style of a diary to show the world what it is like to live with war as an everyday reality. (Julia Kochetova/Der Spiegel/World Press Photo via AP)
This image provided by World Press Photo and taken by Alejandro Cegarra for The New Times/Bloomberg is part of a series titled The Two Walls which won the World Press Photo Long-Term Project Award and shows Carlos Mendoza, a Venezuelan migrant, crossing the Rio Grande river to seek asylum in the United States. Piedras Negras, Mexico, 7 October 2023. (Alejandro Cegarra/The New York Times/Bloomberg/World Press Photo via AP)
This image provided by World Press Photo and taken by Alejandro Cegarra for The New Times/Bloomberg is part of a series titled The Two Walls which won the World Press Photo Long-Term Project Award and shows a migrant walking atop a freight train known as "The Beast." Migrants and asylum seekers lacking the financial resources to pay a smuggler often resort to using cargo trains to reach the United States border. This mode of transportation is very dangerous; over the years, hundreds have fallen onto the tracks and have been killed or maimed. Piedras Negras, Mexico, 8 October 2023. (Alejandro Cegarra/The New York Times/Bloomberg/World Press Photo via AP)
This image provided by World Press Photo and taken by Lee-Ann Olwage for GEO is part of a series titled Valim-babena which won the World Press Photo Story of the Year Award and shows Dada Paul Rakotazandriny (91), who is living with dementia, and his granddaughter, Odliatemix Rafaraniriana (5), get ready for church on Sunday morning at his home in Antananarivo, Madagascar. 12 March 2023. (Lee-Ann Olwage/Geo/World Press Photo via AP)
This image provided by World Press Photo and taken by Lee-Ann Olwage for GEO is part of a series titled Valim-babena which won the World Press Photo Story of the Year Award and shows Joeline (Fara) Rafaraniriana (41) watches her father, Dada Paul Rakotazandriny (91) clean fish at home on Sunday afternoon. A typical Sunday consists of the family attending church in the morning and spending time together in the afternoon. Fara works during the week and as the sole provider and carer for her daughter and father struggles to manage all her responsibilities in the absence of assistance by her siblings who live close by. Mandrosoa Ivato, Antananarivo, Madagascar. 12 March 2023. (Lee-Ann Olwage/Geo/World Press Photo via AP)
This image provided by World Press Photo and taken by Mohammed Salem of the Reuters news agency won the World Press Photo Award of the Year and shows Palestinian woman Inas Abu Maamar, 36, embracing the body of her 5-year-old niece Saly, who was killed in an Israeli strike, at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, October 17, 2023. (Mohammed Salem/Reuters/World Press Photo via AP)
