EU WARNS UK'S BREXIT BILL WOULD BREAK INTERNATIONAL LAW

The European Union Wednesday warned Britain that any breach, even the most

minor detail, of the withdrawal treaty both sides had signed would break

international law and undermine the little trust that is left between both

sides in negotiating a future post-Brexit trade agreement. The warning came

as the British government introduced legislation that intentionally breached

the treaty, amid an increasingly messy countdown to a full Brexit divorce.

Britain announced draft legislation that explicitly acknowledged that some

of its provisions would break international law "in a very specific and

limited way," according to a copy seen by Reuters.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen insisted that the age-old

diplomatic cornerstone of "agreements must be kept" continues to apply and

called the principle "the foundation of prosperous future relations," saying

that if the U.K. followed through on indications that it was prepared to

break an international agreement on EU-British relations, it "would break

international law and undermine trust."

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson defended the government's

plans to pass a bill breaking a treaty on the withdrawal from the EU.

Johnson insisted the bill was about "protecting jobs, protecting growth,

ensuring the fluidity and safety of our U.K. internal market."

"My job is to uphold the integrity of the U.K. but also to protect the

Northern Ireland peace process and the Good Friday Agreement," he added,

calling the new bill a "legal safety net" if the EU made an "irrational

interpretation" of post-Brexit arrangements.

The government maintains its new U.K. Internal Market Bill is needed to

smooth trade between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and to

help power recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, once a post-Brexit

transition ends this year.

But under its EU Withdrawal Treaty, Britain is meant to liaise with Brussels

on any arrangements for Northern Ireland, which saw three decades of

bloodshed until the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, and will become the U.K.'s

only land border with the EU.

Scottish nationalist MP Ian Blackford argued the new bill was a power-grab

by London from the devolved administrations in Edinburgh, Cardiff and

Belfast, and he gave a withering assessment after Northern Ireland Secretary

Brandon Lewis had conceded the changes did "break international law in a

very specific and limited way."

"The prime minister and his friends, a parcel of rogues, are creating a

rogue state," he told the Westminster parliament.

Critics accused Johnson's government of engaging in bad-faith diversionary

tactics as it battles Brussels on key issues such as state subsidies and

fishing rights.

According to them, the bill - if approved - would give ministers the power

to ignore parts of the protocol by modifying the form of export declarations

and other exit procedures. It will be debated in both chambers of Parliament

and require their approval before becoming law.

UNITED STATES FORMALLY ANNOUNCES TROOP REDUCTION IN IRAQ

The United States military on Wednesday announced that it would be reducing

its presence in Iraq from 5,200 to 3,000 troops this month, formalizing a

move that had been long expected.

Last month, Reuters reported that the United States was expected to reduce

its troops presence in Iraq by about a third.

The United States has around 5,200 troops that were deployed in Iraq to

fight the Islamic State militant group. Officials in the U.S.-led coalition

say Iraqi forces are now mostly able to handle the remnants of Islamic State

on their own.

"We are continuing to expand on our partner capacity programs that enable

Iraqi forces and allow us to reduce our footprint in Iraq," Marine General

Frank McKenzie, the head of U.S. Central Command, said during a visit to

Iraq.

A senior administration official had said on Tuesday that President Donald

Trump would be announcing a reduction of U.S. troops from Iraq.

NORWEGIAN LAWMAKER NOMINATES DONALD TRUMP FOR NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

A Norwegian lawmaker has nominated Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize

for 2021 for helping broker a deal between Israel and the United Arab

Emirates, the second time he has put forward the U.S. president for the

honour.

Thousands of people are eligible to nominate candidates for the Nobel Peace

Prize, including members of parliaments and governments, university

professors and past laureates.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee, which decides on the award, declined to

comment.

"It is for his contribution for peace between Israel and the UAE. It is a

unique deal," Christian Tybring-Gjedde, a member of parliament for the

right-wing Progress Party, told Reuters.

Mr. Tybring-Gjedde, who nominated Trump for the 2019 award for his

diplomatic efforts with North Korea, said he also nominated him this year

because of the U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq.

Last year Mr. Trump said he deserved to be awarded the Peace Prize for his

work on North Korea and Syria, but he complained he probably would never get

the honour. Former President Barack Obama, a nemesis of Trump, won the prize

in 2009 just months into his first term in office.

Nominations for this year's award closed on Jan. 31 and the winner will be

announced on Oct. 9 in Oslo.

U.S. REVISES ITS TRAVEL ADVISORY FOR PAKISTAN, PLACES IT AT LEVEL 3

The United States has revised its travel advisory for Pakistan, bringing it

down to Level 3 category of 'reconsider travel' from the previous Level 4 of

'do not travel' category.

India, which was placed in the Level 4 category on August 6 due to the

increased cases of the novel coronavirus, continues to be in the "do not

travel" advisory of the State Department.

"Reconsider travel to Pakistan due to COVID-19 and terrorism," the State

Department said in its latest travel advisory on Tuesday, replacing the

August 10 travel advisory that had placed Pakistan in the highest Level 4

category.

It urged the U.S. citizens not to travel to Balochistan and Khyber

Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) provinces due to terrorism and kidnapping, and the

immediate vicinity of the Line of Control due to terrorism and the potential

for armed conflict. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has

issued a Level 3 Travel Health Notice for Pakistan due to COVID-19, it said.

The Pakistan government has lifted stay-at-home orders and allowed the

resumption of intercity domestic travel and mass transit services in most

cities, it said.

DONALD TRUMP KNEW ABOUT CORONAVIRUS' SEVERITY IN JANUARY, REVEALS BOOK

US President Donald Trump knew of the severity of the coronavirus even

before the first case hit the country, revealed a book.

According to news agency Associated Press, a book titled "Rage" written by

journalist Bob Woodward has revealed that Trump had "surprising level of

details" about the threat of the virus than previously known.

The revelations assume significance because Trump, during the course of

pandemic, has repeatedly played down the lethality of the virus in public,

at times insisting that the virus is going to "disappear" and "all (will)

work out fine".

"Trump never did seem willing to fully mobilize the federal government and

continually seemed to push problems off on the states," Woodward writes.

"There was no real management theory of the case or how to organize a

massive enterprise to deal with one of the most complex emergencies the

United States had ever faced."

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the president's words to

the public were designed to express confidence and calm at a time of

insurmountable challenges.

"The president has never lied to the American public on Covid. The president

was expressing calm and his actions reflect that," McEnany said.

In his book, Woodward held a series of 18 interviews with the US president

from December to July. The book also covers race relations, diplomacy with

North Korea and a range of other issues that have arisen during the past two

years.

"This is a deadly stuff." "Pretty amazing." The coronavirus maybe "five

times more deadly than flu". These were some of Trump's reactions on

coronavirus quoted in Woodward's book.

Trump not only knew about the virus but also admitted that he kept the

knowledge (about the virus) hidden from the public.

"I wanted to always play it down," Trump told Woodward on March 19, the CNN

report said. Trump justified his action saying that he did not want to

create a panic.

PALESTINIAN FM URGES ARAB STATES TO DISMISS ISRAEL-UAE DEAL

The Palestinian foreign minister has called on Arab states to dismiss a deal

between the United Arab Emirates and Israel to normalise relations,

describing the agreement scheduled to be finalised next week as "an

earthquake".

The Palestinians have repeatedly voiced their rejection of the US-brokered

Israel-UAE deal as trading away one of the few cards they have in moribund

peace talks with Israel to establish their own independent state -- the Arab

boycott of Israel.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki told the Arab League in

Wednesday's meeting that the Palestinian Authority called for an emergency

meeting following the announcement of the UAE-Israeli deal.

He said one Arab League member opposed a Palestinian request to add an item

to the meeting agenda, an apparent reference to a Palestinian-introduced

draft resolution on the deal.

Al-Malki did not name the country. The meeting was held online because of

the coronavirus pandemic.

Al-Malki described the deal between the UAE and Israel as "an earthquake"

that hit the Arab consensus over the Palestinian cause and he urged Arab

foreign ministers to reject the deal, "otherwise our meeting will be

considered a blessing or collusion with it, or a cover for it".

Hossam Zaki, the Arab League's deputy secretary general, told a news

conference in Cairo that the foreign ministers failed to reach a compromise

on a resolution on the UAE-Israeli deal because of differences between the

Palestinians and Emirates on the wording of the Palestinian-introduced

draft.

"A draft resolution needs more time and extensive consultations... we hope

in the future to reach an agreed form," he said.

'SUBSTANTIAL CHANCE' RUSSIAN OFFICIALS BEHIND NAVALNY POISONING: POMPEO

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday there was a "substantial

chance" that the suspected poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was

ordered by senior Russian officials.

"There is a substantial chance that this actually came from senior Russian

officials," Pompeo told the Ben Shapiro radio program, according to a

transcript released by the state department.

Pompeo said the United States was evaluating how it would respond.

"We'll make sure we do our part to do whatever we can to reduce the risk

that things like this happen again," he said.

Navalny, who is being treated in a Berlin hospital, was airlifted to Germany

after falling ill on a Russian domestic flight last month.

Germany says he was poisoned with a Soviet-style Novichok nerve agent in an

attempt to murder him. Russia has said it has seen no evidence that Navalny

was poisoned.

"I think the world has matured and come to an understanding that this is not

how normal countries operate, and this will prove costly for the Russians,"

Pompeo said.

The Group of Seven (G7) foreign ministers issued a statement on Tuesday

condemning the "confirmed poisoning" of Navalny.

KABUL BOMB TARGETS VICE-PRESIDENT, KILLS 10 CIVILIANS: AFGHAN OFFICIALS

A bombing in the Afghan capital on Wednesday targeted the convoy of the

country's first vice president, killing 10 people and wounding more than a

dozen others, including several of the vice president's bodyguards, the

Interior Ministry said.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the bombing and the Taliban

quickly denied they were behind the attack.

First Vice President Amrullah Saleh suffered minor burns in the blast.

Saleh, who is also Afghanistan's former intelligence chief, said in his

first television appearance immediately after the attack that he was fine

and had sustained only slight burns. He appeared in the TV footage with

bandages on one hand.

His spokesman, Razwan Murad, called the attack a "vicious terrorist attempt"

on Saleh's life. The roads in the vicinity of the bombing were closed off.

The Interior Ministry says the bomb went off as Saleh's convoy was passing

through a section of Kabul with shops that sell gas cylinders for use in

heating homes and cooking. The blast ignited a fire that set ablaze a number

of the shops.

The explosion left behind a scene of destruction.

The Interior Ministry's spokesman, Tariq Arian, confirmed to The Associated

Press earlier that the bombing targeted Saleh's convoy.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed was quick to deny the insurgents were

involved in any way, saying that "today's explosion in Kabul has nothing to

do with the Mujahedeen of the Islamic Emirate", as the Taliban call

themselves.

SRI LANKAN TEA KICKS UP A STORM IN LEBANON

Lebanon's President Michel Aoun has come under fire after it emerged that

tea donated by Sri Lanka for victims of the Beirut blast was distributed

instead to families of his presidential guards.

Critics see it as yet another example of official corruption in a country

reeling from the August 4 explosion that killed more than 190 people,

wounded thousands and ravaged central Beirut.

Sri Lanka, many of whose expat community in Lebanon work as housemaids, was

one of several nations that rushed to show support in the wake of Lebanon's

worst peace-time disaster.

The President's office on August 24 released a picture of Mr. Aoun receiving

the Sri Lankan Ambassador, and quoted her as saying Colombo had "donated

1,675 kg of Ceylon tea to those affected by the Beirut blast".

After Lebanese media and social media asked what happened to the donation,

it issued a second statement on Tuesday.

The presidency said Mr. Aoun had written to his Sri Lankan counterpart to

thank him for "a gift of Ceylon tea that had been received by the Army...

and distributed to the families of soldiers in the presidential guard".

Social media erupted in criticism, with the hashtags "tea thief" and "Ceylon

tea" trending on Twitter.

"The tea was sent to the Lebanese, particularly those affected by the

explosion. Of course it wasn't a present for those who don't need it," wrote

Paula Yacoubian, a former MP who resigned after the blast many blame on

official neglect.

"Distributing the aid to your entourage is shameful," she wrote.

NAWAZ SHARIF FILES REVIEW PETITION AGAINST IMMEDIATE RETURN TO PAKISTAN TO

FACE CORRUPTION CHARGES

Embattled former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday filed a

petition in the Islamabad High Court (IHC), stating that his health

condition would not allow him to return home from London and surrender in a

corruption case by September 10, according to a media report.

Last week, the IHC gave a "last chance" to the former premier to surrender

and appear before it on September 10 for hearing in the AL-Azizia corruption

case. The court had warned of legal action for absconding.

Sharif, 70, has been in London since November last year after the Lahore

High Court granted him permission to go abroad for four weeks for treating a

heart disease and an immune system disorder. The three-time premier was

sentenced to seven years in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills case.

Nawaz's lawyer, Khawaja Haris Ahmed, filed the review petition on Wednesday

and submitted the former premier's latest medical files attested by

London-based consultant cardiothoracic surgeon Dr David Lawrence, The Dawn

newspaper reported.