Reuters, Canberra
Australia’s High Court ruled on Friday that Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce is ineligible to remain in parliament, a stunning decision that cost the government its one-seat parliamentary majority and forced a by-election.
The Australian dollar fell a quarter of a U.S. cent after the unexpected decision. Turnbull said he accepted the court’s ruling, even though it was “clearly not the outcome we were hoping for”.
Turnbull did not name a new deputy leader during a short news conference in Canberra after the court’s ruling.
Sturgeon seeks assurance of Brexit transition
Reuters, Edinburgh
Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon has sought confirmation that Britain is urgently seeking a transition agreement with the European Union before the end of the year, according to a letter sent to Prime Minister Theresa May and released by the Scottish government on Friday.
Sturgeon said she was increasingly concerned that Brexit talks would end in no deal and see Britain crash out. “The clarity of your intentions, and thus the confidence of business that there will be a sensible transition period agreed quickly, has been seriously undermined,” she wrote.
Taiwan President off to US visit
AP, Taipei
Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen is setting off for the United States and three South Pacific nations in an effort to crack the diplomatic isolation imposed by rival China.
Tsai will visit the Marshall and Solomon Islands along with Tuvalu starting Saturday, while transiting through Hawaii and the U.S. territory of Guam. The three are among just 20 countries that extend Taiwan formal diplomatic recognition.
Egypt forces kill 12 militants
Reuters, Cairo
Egyptian security forces have killed 12 armed militants in the country’s western desert, in an operation carried out after a deadly attack on a police convoy last week, MENA state news agency said on Friday.
“Security forces dealt a severe blow to the terrorist elements in revenge for the blood of the men who were martyred last week in the oasis,” MENA said citing a high-level security source. “Twelve terrorist elements were killed this morning in violent clashes.”
Torrential rain in Nicaragua leaves five dead
AFP, Teustepe
Torrential rains in Nicaragua have left at least five people dead as rivers burst their banks, flooding homes and damaging roads and bridges, the government said Thursday.
Two other people are missing in the violent weather of recent days, government spokeswoman Rosario Murillo said.
Four of the fatalities were young miners working in a pit that filled with water and the fifth a teenage girl who fell off a ravine.
