Publishing date: May 24, 2021 • 1 hour ago • 4 minute read • European Council President Charles Michel gives a press briefing ahead of a Special EU summit in Brussels, on Monday, May 24, 2021. EU leaders will discuss foreign policy issues among them strategic debate on Russia and the incident involving the forced landing of a Ryanair flight in Minsk, Belarus. Photo by OLIVIER HOSLET / POOL /AFP via Getty Images
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KYIV/BRUSSELS Several airlines said on Monday they would avoid Belarusian air space after Belarus scrambled a warplane to intercept a Ryanair jetliner and arrest a dissident journalist in an act denounced by Western powers as “state piracy.”
Politics latest news: No 10 denies Boris Johnson missed emergency Covid meetings to write Shakespeare biography
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Boris Johnson did not miss crucial meetings on the Government s emergency response to the coronavirus pandemic because he was working on a book, Downing Street has insisted.
The Prime Minister s official spokesman said he was not aware of Mr Johnson doing any work on a biography of William Shakespeare while in office.
No 10 faced questions today after a
Sunday Times report suggested Government officials are concerned Dominic Cummings will use an appearance before MPs on Wednesday to accuse Mr Johnson of missing key meetings on the crisis because of the biography.
by Tyler Durden
Monday, May 24, 2021 - 12:15 PM
As we reported last night, it didn t take long for a flurry of condemnations from both EU and US officials in the hours after the Ryanair incident over Belarus, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken calling for opposition journalist Raman Pratasevich s immediate release. Multiple EU leaders described Sunday s detention of Pratasevich after his commercial aircraft with 170 international passengers on board (including Americans, apparently) was intercepted en route between Greece and Lithuania and a Belarusian warplane forced it to land in Minsk where the dissident journalist was arrested, as tantamount to hijacking a civilian plane and “state piracy.