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Boris Johnson toasts during an event on November 13, 2020. House of Commons Committee of Privileges 

 

British partygate  

Johnson is fighting for his political life after new report  

 

A new report on the party scandals in the UK has the ground shaking under former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.  

 

The parliamentary inquiry, published on Friday, shows that Johnson gave incorrect information about the Downing Street parties during the pandemic. The investigators determined that Johnson must have understood that they were violating the restrictions. 

 

- This is probably the least socially distanced event in the whole of Britain, Johnson said during a party at the Prime Minister's residence in November 2020. 

 

Sources tell The Times that the allegations against Johnson are so powerful that he risks being suspended from Parliament for over a month. In the long run, this could mean that there will be a re-election in his constituency of Uxbridge and South Ruislip.  

 

Meral Aksener, leader of IYI. AP  

The elections in Turkey 2023 

Kalabalik in the opposition before the elections in Turkey  

 

There is disarray within the Turkish opposition ahead of the May 14 election. Attempts to find a common candidate to challenge President Erdogan have led to divisions within the six-party bloc.  

 

Five of the parties agreed earlier this week to nominate Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the Republican People's Party (CHP). This sparked discontent within the nationalist IYI party, which announced on Friday that it was leaving the opposition bloc. 

 

The Kalabalik fits Erdogan like a glove, says analyst Atilla Yesilada to Reuters. 

 

- This unexpected development means a great psychological victory and underlines the idea that the opposition is not capable of governing Turkey, he says. 

 

Olaf Scholz and Joe Biden. Susan Walsh/AP  

Scholz met Biden during a quick visit to the White House  

 

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz met US President Joe Biden during a quick visit to Washington DC on Friday evening, several media reports.  

 

The last time the two leaders met was in February 2022, and Joe Biden stated that Russia then mobilized its forces at Ukraine's borders. 

 

- Since then you have offered critical military support and I know it has not been easy for you. But I would like to say that the moral support you have offered Ukraine has been fundamental, Biden said of Scholz. 

 

- We will continue to support Ukraine as long as it lasts and as long as it is needed, the German leader continued. 

 

Merrick Garland and former Chief Prosecutor of Ukraine Iryna Venediktova in June. Nariman El-Mofty / AP 

 

US Attorney General on unannounced visit to Ukraine  

 

US Attorney General Merrick Garland visited Ukraine on Friday, according to USA Today. The visit was not announced in advance and as of Friday evening had not yet been officially confirmed.  

 

"The Attorney General held several meetings and assured Ukraine of the United States' determination to hold Russia accountable for war crimes committed during their unprovoked invasion of an independent neighboring country," a source within the US Department of Justice told the newspaper.  

 

The visit to Ukraine was Garland's second since Russia's full-scale invasion began just over a year ago. According to CNN, Garland has, among other things, met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyi.  

 

 

 

Mohammad Eslami and Mariano Grosso before the press conference in Tehran today. Vahid Salemi / AP  

The nuclear agreement with Iran 

"Constructive dialogue" after the discovery of highly enriched uranium  

 

This week, highly enriched uranium was found in an underground facility in Iran. The uranium in question was measured to have a purity close to the limit needed to manufacture nuclear weapons, several news agencies state.  

 

On this occasion, the head of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, visited Iran today.  

 

Rafael Mariano Grossi has met several high representatives of the regime, including the head of Iran's nuclear program 

 

- Mohammad Eslami, to bring clarity to the country's work on nuclear technology. - Through the constructive dialogues we have now, and through good agreements, I am sure that we can pave the way for important deliberations, Rafael Mariano Grossi later said at a press conference, according to AFP.

 

A Chinese-flagged vessel is fishing off the Galapagos Islands. Joshua Goodman / AP  

 

UN ocean negotiations  

The UN wants to regulate the world's oceans - negotiated all night  

 

UN member states have been negotiating all night on an agreement that is supposed to protect the world's oceans against exploitation, pollution and overfishing, writes AFP.  

 

According to the news agency, almost 99 percent of the world's oceans are currently unprotected, which is, among other things, a consequence of the fact that they lie outside the economic zones of various countries. 

 

This means that it is, for example, free to fish in international waters.  

 

There is great concern about what might happen if individual countries decide to explore and commercialize deposits that are outside the country's economic zones.  

 

The goal of the negotiation is, according to the environmental organization Greenpeace, to protect 30 percent of the world's land and seas by 2030, something the participating countries decided on as recently as December.