The U.K.'s Conservative Party announced in its election manifesto published Sunday that if it wins a majority on Dec. 12, its government will seek to pass Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Brexit deal by Jan. 31 and negotiate a free trade agreement with the European Union before December 2020.
Why it matters: The manifesto rules out extending the Brexit transition period, during which the country will continue to follow EU rules as the two sides hammer out a permanent trade deal. EU politicians have expressed skepticism that a comprehensive free trade agreement could be negotiated in such a short time period, meaning that the U.K. could crash out of the bloc in 2020 without a deal.
Pope Francis traveled to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, on Sunday to ask world powers to renounce their nuclear weapons, calling the possession and use of atomic bombs wasteful and “immoral," AP reports.
The big picture: Standing with survivors of the 1945 U.S. atomic bombings, Francis also criticized countries for dismantling Cold War-era nuclear arms control agreements. His visit was the first day of his three-day Japanese campaign for a global ban on atomic weapons.
Two days after the attorney general's decision to indict him for bribe, fraud and breach of trust, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces growing opposition from within his own Likud party.
Driving the news: Gideon Sa'ar — a former minister and a popular member of Knesset from Likud — called Netanyahu on Saturday and requested snap primaries for the party chairmanship.
Kremlin-spawned influence campaigns that falsely accuse Ukraine of interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election have successfully furthered Russia's yearslong geopolitical battle against its largest European neighbor.
Why it matters: In addition to deflecting blame for its own well-documentedmeddling in American politics, the Kremlin has an interest in making support for Ukraine a more polarizing, partisan issue in the U.S. American military assistance is critical to Ukraine's efforts to defend itself against Russian aggression and territorial incursion.
