Meat and cod pie may suffer from a ‘hard Brexit’

BRITAIN: Following Tuesday’s defeat in Parliament of Prime Minister Theresa May’s plan to exit the European Union, on an unequivocal 391-242 vote, lawmakers voted Wednesday not to leave the EU without a formal agreement and will vote Thursday on whether to seek a delay, meaning a no-deal Brexit remains a distinct possibility. Farmers, in particular, would have much to lose in a so-called “hard Brexit,” facing high import duties for British products (“everything from Scottish salmon and Welsh oysters to English beef and frozen cod pie”) in the closed markets of Europe, currently open to them under EU trade policy.

U.K.: Police warned that a fifth explosive device, possibly sent to a British army post, remains undiscovered after four such devices were found last week. The IRA, or “New IRA,” claimed responsibility for the devices—recovered unexploded at the University of Glasgow, two London airports, and the Waterloo train station in London.

ETHIOPIA: Canada’s transportation minister on Wednesday grounded all Boeing 737 Max 8 jets. U.S. airlines had continued to fly the model after nearly all international carriers suspended them, but President Donald Trump Wednesday afternoon ordered a grounding of the planes. Among the 157 killed in Sunday’s crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 were at least 19 UN staff members, the founder of an Italian charity, and four staff members from U.S.-based Catholic Relief Services.

MEXICO: The Arizona Diamondbacks major league baseball team played two games last weekend in Monterrey, part of MLB’s effort to globalize its fan base. The city became a focal point for gun-running and part of a botched U.S. investigation during the Obama administration that lost track of hundreds of firearms, now destroyed.

NIGERIA: Vigilant young cadets on patrol outside a Catholic church in Adamawa state prevented two suicide bombers from gaining entry into the church. Instead, they detonated themselves outside the facility and were the only victims in Sunday’s attack.

Elections for governor held Saturday are too close to call in seven states, while 13 states appear to have elected governors from the ruling party of President Muhammadu Buhari, who was reelected last month. Election violence since last November has killed 600 people, according to international monitors.

TURKEY has expelled three prominent German journalists in a growing crackdown on foreign reporters covering the Recep Tayyip Erdogan regime.

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