'There is no plan' for Brexit, leaked memo says
The government has no overall Brexit plan and a strategy may not be agreed for six months, a leaked memo prepared for the Cabinet Office suggests.
The memo - obtained by The Times and seen by the BBC - warns Whitehall is working on 500 Brexit-related projects and could need 30,000 extra staff.
However, there is still no common exit strategy "because of divisions within the cabinet", the document adds.
The government said it "didn't recognise" the claims made in the memo.
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said he had "no idea" where the report came from.
Prime Minister Theresa May hopes to invoke Article 50 - beginning the formal two-year process for leaving the EU - by the end of March next year.
Hong Kong court bans pro-democracy politicians from office
Yau Wai-ching and Baggio ‘Sixtus’ Leung banned from parliament after criticising China during swearing-in ceremony
A Hong Kong court has banned two pro-democracy politicians from the city’s parliament, after Beijing intervened to rewrite local laws.
Yau Wai-ching and Baggio “Sixtus” Leung were disqualified from holding office, the high court judge, Thomas Au, said in his ruling on Tuesday.
During a swearing-in ceremony in October, Yau and Leung altered the text of their oaths, declaring allegiance to the “Hong Kong nation”, unfurling banners that said “Hong Kong is not China”, and using an expletive to refer to China.
The protest enraged officials in Beijing and led Hong Kong’s chief executive to launch an unprecedented legal challenge, seeking to remove the pair from office. Yau had previously said she would appeal against the ruling if she was disqualified.Aleppo offensive is just the next step in Russia's Syrian mission
Kremlin officials say aim is to ensure the threat of Jabhat al-Nusra and its allied rebel forces is extinguished, Kim Sengupta reports
Russian warships and aircraft are in place, as are a contingent of Iranian and Hezbollah militias; the Syrian regime has been reinforced; key strategic points have been seized: all signs that the long-awaited battle for Aleppo is due to start very soon.
But recapturing the opposition-held half of what was once Syria’s largest city and commercial capital is just the next step in Moscow’s mission. It will not end either when Isis loses Mosul and Raqaa, the capital of its “caliphate”. The aim, say senior Kremlin officials, is ensuring that al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra and its allied rebel battalions are finished as a threat.
The coalition including al-Nusra, of which several rebel groups supported by the West are also members, has been the most effective against the regime and has also, at times, fought Isis. There have been repeated charges by the US, UK and European allies that Russian bombing of the rebel coalition has been aimed at destroying, not just the Islamist extremists, but all resistance against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Subway Therapy to soothe post-election stress
The American election has been nothing if not contentious. The shock result that saw Donald Trump elected the next president of the United States has been followed by huge protests erupting across the nation and a reported rise in racist incidents.
But commuters in New York have been given an outlet for their post-election stress. Subway Therapy is an immersive art pop-up inviting passers-by to share their post-election thoughts and messages of support on Post-It notes.
Artist Matthew Chavez, who goes by the name of Levee, created Subway Therapy nine months ago. In its original incarnation, it involved Levee sitting in New York subway stations and inviting strangers to get rid of negativity they carried around with them by writing down their secrets in a book. In the days after the election, the project made a reappearance in a different form – and this time the messages left by strangers covered the walls of the subway stations.
Thousands stranded in New Zealand after earthquakes
Updated 0826 GMT (1626 HKT) November 15, 2016
After being rocked by a deadly 7.8-magnitude earthquake, a wave of powerful aftershocks, thousands are now stranded in a New Zealand town near the quake's epicenter.
A local state of emergency has been declared for the region of Canterbury, which is home to the areas hardest hit by the quake.
Helicopters are being sent to airlift trapped tourists and locals from cut-off communities in the Hurunui and Kaikoura districts, according to the New Zealand Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management.
A pair of ships, the HMNZS Canterbury and HMNZS Wellington, have also been sent to waters off the coast of Canterbury to assist.
For S. Koreans, presidential scandal tests faith in their young democracy
HOW OTHERS SEE IT Amid massive protests, South Koreans are calling for the ouster of President
Park, caricaturing her as a puppet of an associate who held sway over everything from public speeches to national security issues.
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — Hundreds of thousands of South Koreans have staged protests demanding the resignation of President Park Geun-hye in recent weeks, in an escalating corruption scandal that has deeply eroded their trust in one of Asia’s most successful democracies and a key US ally.
The crisis, which is dramatic even by South Korean political standards, centers on revelations that Ms. Park let Choi Soon-sil, a longtime friend, meddle in state affairs without the knowledge of the public or any accountability. While corruption scandals have tainted earlier presidencies, the depth of Ms. Choi’s influence has forced many protesters to confront uncomfortable questions about the state of their young democracy, with current checks and balances on the powerful presidency appearing weaker than ever.
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