Boris Johnson’s plan to enshrine a 2020 Brexit into law to demonstrate that he has no plans to extend the transition period has been met with a certain amount of eye-rolling in Brussels.
EU officials readily recall the British Prime Minister’s hard-charging start to the last round of Brexit negotiations which ended with Mr Johnson ditching his Irish border plan and accepting the EU’s idea of a special status for Northern Ireland de facto inside the EU single market.
The post-election rhetoric in London is seen in that vein. Theresa May also followed the same pattern, promising ‘frictionless’ trade outside the EU single market and customs union, but ultimately accepting the UK would follow many EU rules and join a temporary customs union.
“At this stage we take everything with a pinch of salt,” says one EU diplomat, noting that with his majority Mr Johnson is free to make laws – and remake them – as the circumstances require.
Mr Johnson’s does however provide one piece of clarity for the EU, which had harboured hopes in some quarters that a sizeable majority would open the door to extending transition for up to two years – at a cost of 10 billion euros or more a year.
It seems clear now that there is no chance of this happening, which sets up an “October crunch” in which Mr Johnson will have to make a series of difficult choices, with a range of four possible outcomes, from a hard ‘WTO-rules’ exit to a fudged ‘transition’ that goes by another name.
You can read the article here: The four possible scenarios of Boris Johnson’s Brexit negotiations
Source: The Telegraph
The super-massive black hole in the center of the galaxy Holm 15A is the largest astronomers have ever found. It’s incredibly gigantic.
The giant hole is as large as our solar system and has the same mass as 40 billion solar. The researchers believe that eight smaller spiral galaxies have fused together and formed the giant galaxy Holm 15A with its huge black holes.
Our nearest massive black hole is at the center of our own galaxy Milky Way, 26,000 light years away. That hole has about three million solar masses.
The super-massive hole in Holm 15A is several thousand times larger and is 700 million light years away. The discovery was made by researchers at the German Max Planck Institute.
The galaxy Holm 15A is named after the Swedish astronomer and galaxy scientist Erik Holmberg (1908–2000) from Skillingaryd who researched in Lund and then described the galaxy as early as the 1930s. He later became professor in Uppsala.
Malmo’s win, which ensured they topped Europa League Group B ahead of the more seasoned European contenders FC Copenhagen, was a story of journeys.
The Independent has a long and excellent article about the FCK Copenhagen vs Malmö FF derby fight for the win of the Europa League group in the final game of the groupstage last Thursday.
By the time the final whistle went in Copenhagen’s Parken stadium on Thursday night the Malmö fans hidden throughout the home section had long since given the game away. Their 1-0 away win was a victory seen as proof they can now fight for the title of best team in Scandinavia, and was celebrated raucously. “We’ll play you again, we’ll beat you again, bloody easy three points,” the refrain rang.
Malmö’s win, which ensured they topped Europa League Group B ahead of the more seasoned European contenders FC Copenhagen, was a story of journeys. Forty minutes is all it took for the Malmö fans to travel across the Øresund bridge to the fixture, the shortest away trip in European competition, and closer than any of Malmö’s domestic rivals in Allsvenskan.
By contrast, for their captain, Markus Rosenberg, his last game as a professional footballer brings to an end a journey started 32 years ago when he first joined the club. Though in England he is associated with a brief spell at West Bromwich Albion, to Malmö he is the home boy who did good. A man who went out and scored goals in the Bundesliga, LaLiga and Eredivisie before coming back to his boyhood club in 2014, elevating them to regular European competitors.
Since Rosenberg returned Malmö have seen their most successful period in Europe since their European Cup final appearance in 1979, making it through to European competition proper five times. And now, after Thursday’s win, they have reached the knockout stage of the Europa League twice in the last two years.
“When the final whistle went, chants of “Markus Rosenberg, Markus Rosenberg” rang out”
Zlatan Ibrahimovic may be the name associated with the Swedish club abroad, but in the eyes of the fans there is no doubt over who is king. Hammering that message home, in the late hours of Wednesday night, an attempt was made to saw down the huge statue of Ibrahimovic outside Malmö’s stadium.
That same night a statue paying tribute to Rosenberg’s career was placed outside Malmö Central Station ahead of his last game by his club.
You can read the entire article here: An inspirational captain, furtive fans and sawn down statues: When Malmo met Copenhagen
Source: TheIndependent
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