Trump-Lai Call Remains Uncertain as U.S.-China Tensions Over Taiwan Intensify 
US Approves $108 Million Hawk Missile System Support Package for Ukraine 
Trump-China Summit Yields Limited Progress on Trade and Tech Cooperation 
Gaza Ceasefire Failure Risks Permanent Division, U.N. Warns 
Chicago U.S. Attorney Drops Charges Against Broadview Protest Defendants 
Xi Jinping Orders Full Rescue After Shanxi Coal Mine Gas Explosion Kills Eight 
Trump Weighs Taiwan Arms Deal as U.S. Denies Iran War Caused Delays 
U.S. Sanctions Tanzanian Police Official Over Human Rights Violations 
Trump Announces 5,000 Additional U.S. Troops to Poland Following Nawrocki Election Victory 
Taiwan Says No Notice of U.S. Arms Sales Pause Amid Iran Conflict Concerns 
Israel Faces Global Backlash Over Gaza Flotilla Activists’ Treatment 
Trump Signals Tough Stance on Iran Uranium Stockpile as Nuclear Talks Show Limited Progress 
Trump to Swear In Kevin Warsh as New Federal Reserve Chair Amid Inflation Concerns 
Rubio Pressures NATO Allies as Trump Questions Alliance Commitment 
House Republicans Delay Vote on Iran War Powers Resolution Amid Growing Congressional Debate 
Pentagon Expands AI Model Testing as It Seeks Alternatives to Anthropic’s Claude 
First Trump, now Putin – all roads lead to Xi Jinping 
The British minister for Northern Ireland ruled out renegotiations over the new post-Brexit trade deal between the United Kingdom and the European Union over Northern Ireland. The comments follow calls from the region’s largest political party for amendments to the deal.
Speaking to supporters in Belfast on Thursday, British Northern Ireland minister Chris Heaton-Harris ruled out renegotiating any part of the post-Brexit trade deal for the region following the meeting with the region’s main political parties.
“That deal is done. There is no renegotiating of that deal,” said Heaton-Harris. “I will always talk to every single member of Northern Irish political parties but the time for negotiation on the Windsor Framework is over.”
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak secured near-unanimous support for the key provision of the new deal known as the Windsor Framework, the Stormont Brake, despite opposition by the region’s Democratic Unionist Party’s lawmakers and some Conservatives. The DUP has previously said it will not drop its year-long boycott of the region’s assembly until “further clarification, re-working, and change” is made to the deal that was brokered in February.
The DUP is at odds based on an opinion poll that found 45 percent of Northern Irish voters supporting the Windsor Framework while only 17 percent were opposed. The DUP has raised concerns over the continued authority of EU law and the region’s place in the UK’s internal market. The deal, formerly known as the Northern Ireland Protocol, was established when the UK left the bloc to also avoid a hard border with EU-member Ireland.
Negotiators feared that a hard border would have put the 1998 peace deal at risk, but an internal trade border with the rest of the UK has drawn the ire of pro-British unionists.
On the same day, Sunak told reporters that he was pleased with the amount of support for the Windsor Framework following parliament’s vote to back the Stormont Brake provision of the new agreement with the bloc.
“I was really pleased yesterday that there was very strong support for the Windsor framework and that’s because it’s the right deal for Northern Ireland,” said Sunak.
