Six In The Morning Friday 29 March 2019

The Brexit deadline that wasn't: What happens now?

For two years, March 29 has been the deadline for Brexit. Amid debate over details, Britain's exit has been delayed. As Parliament prepares to vote on parts of Theresa May's exit deal for a third time Friday, we look at what the future might hold.

Ever since the UK voted to leave the EU in a close referendum on June 23, 2016, Parliament has been thrown into disarray over the terms of the divorce deal.

Debate has been raging over whether there should be a soft Brexit (Britain leaves the EU, but remains in the bloc’s single market and customs union) or a hard Brexit (Britain leaves the EU and its single market and customs union). Complicating matters are discussions of just how hard a "hard Brexit" should be.

12 months on

A year of bloodshed at Gaza border protests

Israeli fire on demonstrations at the frontier has devastated the lives of thousands

Oliver Holmes and Josh Holder

Friday 29 Mar 2019 06.00 GMT

One year ago, Palestinians trapped in Gaza began a protest movement at the frontier with Israel that was intended to last six weeks.

Men, women and children demanded recognition of the right of Palestinian refugees in Gaza and elsewhere to return to their ancestral homes in Israel and for an end to a punishing blockade that has made life unliveable.

Israeli snipers fired live ammunition, killing and maiming dozens. This lethal response on 30 March 2018 triggered anger and disbelief across the world but has not stopped.

Crisis-hit Ukraine desperate for savior in presidential election

Amid corruption woes and and conflict, voters in Ukraine are set to choose their next president. A TV comedian is currently leading the polls, but his victory is not a given. DW breaks down the election:

Seldom has the outcome of a presidential election in Ukraine been as unpredictable the one approaching on March 31. The country will go to the polls in what is the first regular election for the head of state since May 2014, when an early vote was triggered by the ouster of then-President Viktor Yanukovych. In the wake violent demonstrations in Kyiv, known as the Euromaiden revolution, he went into exile in Russia.

'Almost traitorous': Shooters slam One Nation over al-Jazeera gun exposé

By Lisa Visentin

March 29, 2019 — 1.53pm

Shooters, Fishers and Farmers leader Robert Borsak says his party has never had dealings with the National Rifle Association, as he slammed One Nation as "almost traitorous" for seeking millions of dollars in donations from the US gun lobby.

Mr Borsak used the Shooters' first press conference since the NSW election to position his party as "in the dead centre" when it came to gun laws, while claiming One Nation and the Liberal Democrats were more extreme.

"We have not been to the NRA ever looking for money," Mr Borsak said.

Mr Borsak's comment related to revelations that senior One Nation figures had sought millions of dollars in donations from the US pro-gun lobby to help them water down Australia's gun control laws.

The cartoonists who helped take down a Malaysian prime minister

Zunar and Fahmi Reza's art was a boon to protesters sick of the alleged corruption of former Prime Minister Najib Razak, but it nearly landed the two men in prison.

Written by:James Griffiths, CNN

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

A humongous pink gemstone perches on a woman's finger, matched only in extravagance by her hair, which is half the height of her body. A pendulous necklace and Hermès handbag hang from her other arm.

For Malaysians, the figure pictured is instantly recognizable as Rosmah Mansor, wife of disgraced former Prime Minister Najib Razak and -- according to prosecutors in the US and Malaysia -- a modern day Imelda Marcos who accrued luxury goods worth millions of dollars using money embezzled from the state investment fund, 1MDB.

Gov't held secret meetings in 2005 about allowing females to ascend throne, documents show

The government secretly considered the option of allowing females to ascend Japan's imperial throne from 1997, before officially starting a debate on the issue under a panel of experts in 2005, internal documents and other sources show.

While the plan was later dropped, the confidential talks helped lay the groundwork for the government of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who served between 2001 and 2006, to lean toward revising the Imperial House Law, which allows only male heirs who have emperors on their father's side to reign.

The secret meetings started in 1997 under then Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto and were attended by members such as Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Teijiro Furukawa. At that time, Emperor Akihito had no grandson.