New world news from Time: British Officials Push for Canada-Style Free Trade Agreement With E.U.

(LONDON) — Two days after Brexit, British officials pushed the European Union on Sunday for a Canada-style free trade arrangement as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson geared up for a key speech to spell out his government’s negotiating stance.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told Sky News that Britain will seek a deal that imposes very few tariffs even though he said Britain will not seek to align its regulations with the EU.

“We are taking back control of our laws, so we are not going to have high alignment with the EU and legislative alignment with their rules,” Raab said. “We will want to cooperate and we expect the EU to follow through on their commitments to a Canada-style free trade agreement. That’s what we are pursuing. There is a great opportunity here for win-win.”

EU officials, despite offering friendly words to the British public over the weekend after the divorce that took effect Friday night, warn that Canada only achieved largely tariff-free trade status by bringing many of its rules into line with EU regulations. EU officials fear that the U.K. could water down its environment or health and safety precautions, undermining EU businesses.

The trade talks are vital because now that Britain has officially left the bloc — the first nation ever to do so — Johnson hopes to have a wide-ranging new deal in place by the end of the year.

After celebrating Brexit by banging on a gong in the final seconds before it took effect, Johnson plans to detail Britain’s trade stance in a speech Monday.

The early battle lines in what will be a contentious process have now been drawn.

European leaders have said that Britain will not be able to get a deal like Canada’s if it breaks significantly with EU rules on food safety, environmental standards, worker’s rights and other matters impacting on public well-being.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar on Sunday urged Johnson’s Conservative government not to follow the mistakes of his predecessor by establishing “rigid red lines” that make it much more difficult to reach an agreement.

Varadkar did say he believes Johnson’s reassurances that Britain “will not seek to undercut” the European Union when it comes to labor standards, environmental standards, product standards and health and safety.

“I don’t believe that the U.K. is going to try to engage in a race to the bottom on issues like pay and workers rights and so on,” Varadkar told the BBC.

Britain will also start reaching out to other countries about new trade arrangements now that it is out of the EU, even though EU rules remain in effect during an 11-month transition period. Raab plans trips to Japan and Australia this week to ramp up this effort.

Johnson spent the weekend out of the public eye ahead of a week that will mark a turning point in his government, which won a major election victory in December. Officials need to shift from “getting Brexit done” — Johnson’s campaign slogan — to getting trade deals and actually governing the country.

Brexit’s first few days have passed without any major incidents, but British police are investigating a poster pinned on the Winchester Tower apartment block in Norwich, warning residents that “we do not tolerate people” speaking any language but English in the building.

Norfolk Police said they have seized copies of the poster, which has been taken down, and are treating it as a “racially aggravated” incident. The signs were titled “Happy Brexit Day.”

New world news from Time: Nigeria to Address Security Issues That Led to U.S. Visa Restrictions

(LAGOS, Nigeria) — Nigeria’s government pledged Saturday to try to address security issues the Trump administration cited in its decision to stop granting immigration visas to people from Africa’s most populous nation.

Immigrants from Nigeria and three other countries no longer will be eligible for visas allowing them to live in the United States permanently, the White House said Friday.

They would still qualify for tourist and business visas, but Nigerians rarely are granted those now because the U.S. says too many visitors from the West African country overstay their visas.

Nigerians, who have long decried the visa application processes in both the United States and Europe as racist, expressed disbelief and anger after the Trump administration announced the new policy, which takes effect Feb. 21.

Okorafor Chimedu, a 29-year-old teacher in Warri, Nigeria, called it a “collective punishment.” Chimedu has a university degree and relatives already living in the United States to sponsor him but knows his odds of relocating are now slim unless something changes.

“I hope the two nations will rectify their differences soon so that the ban can be lifted,” he said. “We need each other to progress in this world. No man is an island of his own.”

The U.S. government said it decided to impose new visa restrictions on a total of six more countries that failed to meet minimum security requirements for verifying travelers’ identities and whether individuals posed a national security threat.

Immigrant visas were targeted because people with those visas are the most difficult to remove after they arrive in the United States, U.S. officials said.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhar has established a committee “to study and address the updated U.S. requirements,” presidential spokesman Femi Adesina said Saturday.

“The committee will work with the U.S. government, Interpol and other stakeholders to ensure all updates are properly implemented,” Adesina said in a statement.

Others, including the opposition candidate who finished second in official results from Nigeria’s presidential election last year, blamed Buhari for the U.S. move.

People’s Democratic Party candidate Atiku Abubakar said the United States instead should “consider adopting measures that individually target those in government who have failed in their duties, rather than target the entire Nigerian population.”

The U.S. travel restrictions come at a time of growing insecurity in Nigeria. The country’s military is still battling a decade-long insurgency by with the Islamic extremist group Boko Haram in the northeast, and also now confronts a breakaway faction that has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.

Nigeria, the seventh-most populous nation in the world with more than 200 million people, is expected to see that figure double by 2050.

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Associated Press writer Krista Larson in Dakar, Senegal contributed.

New world news from Time: 30 Descendants of Extinct Tortoise Species Found on Galapagos Islands

(QUITO, Ecuador) — Conservationists working around the largest volcano on the Galapagos Islands say they have found 30 giant tortoises partially descended from two extinct species, including that of the famed Lonesome George.

The Galapagos National Park and Galapagos Conservancy said Friday that a young female has a direct line of descent from the Chelonoidis abingdonii species of Pinta Island. The last of those tortoises was Lonesome George, who died in June 2012 and was believed to be over 100 years old.

Another 11 males and 18 females were from the Chelonoidis niger line of Floreana Island.

The 45-member expedition was working around the Wolf Volcano on Isabela island. It said pirates and whalers had taken tortoises from other islands in the archipelago and left them near the volcano.

Those found during the new expedition were hybrids descended from both the extinct and other species.

The Galapagos, whose variety of endemic species helped inspire Charles Darwin, held 15 closely related species of tortoise, according to the Conservancy, which estimates that 20,000–25,000 wild tortoises live on the islands today. At least four of the species are now considered extinct.

New world news from Time: New Iraqi Prime Minister-Designate Named After Weeks of Deadlock

(BAGHDAD) — Former communications minister Mohammed Allawi was named prime minister-designate by rival Iraqi factions Saturday after weeks of political deadlock, three officials said.

The choice comes as the country weathers troubled times including ongoing anti-government protests and the constant threat of being ensnared by festering U.S.-Iran tensions.

The selection of Allawi, 66, to replace outgoing Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi was the product of many back-room talks over months between rival parties.

On Wednesday, President Barham Saleh gave parliamentary blocs until Feb. 1 to select a premier candidate, or said he would exercise his constitutional powers and choose one himself.

In a pre-recorded statement posted online, Allawi called on protesters to continue with their uprising against corruption and said he would quit if the blocs insist on imposing names of ministers.

“If it wasn’t for your sacrifices and courage there wouldn’t have been any change in the country,” he said addressing anti-government protesters. “I have faith in you and ask you to continue with the protests.”

Allawi was born in Baghdad and served as communications minister first in 2006 and again between 2010-2012. He resigned from his post after a dispute with former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Parliament is expected to put his candidacy to a vote in the next session, after which point he has 30 days to formulate a government program and select a cabinet of ministers.

According to the constitution, a replacement for Abdul-Mahdi should have been identified 15 days after his resignation in early December. Instead, it has taken rival blocs nearly two months of jockeying to select Allawi as their consensus candidate.

Abdul-Mahdi’s rise to power was the product of a provisional alliance between parliament’s two main blocs — Sairoon, led by cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, and Fatah, which includes leaders associated with the paramilitary Popular Mobilization Units headed by Hadi al-Amiri.

In the May 2018 election, neither coalition won a commanding plurality, which would have enabled it to name the premier, as stipulated by the Iraqi constitution. To avoid political crisis, Sairoon and Fatah forged a precarious union with Abdul-Mahdi as their prime minister.

Until Allawi’s selection, al-Sadr had rejected the candidates put forward largely by Fatah, officials and analysts said. Sairoon appears to have agreed to his candidacy following a tumultuous two week after the radical cleric held an anti-U.S. rally attended by tens of thousands and withdrew support for Iraq’s mass anti-government protest movement, only to reverse the decision later.

“Sairoon has approved and Fatah has approved,” a senior Iraqi official said.

If elected by parliament, Allawi will have to contend with navigating Iraq through brewing regional tensions between Tehran and Washington. Tensions skyrocketed after a U.S. drone strike near Baghdad’s airport killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and senior Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. The tumultuous event brought Iraq close to the brink of war and officials scrambling to contain the fallout.

The presence of U.S. troops on Iraqi soil has become the focus of Iraqi politics in the wake of the strike. Parliament passed a non-binding resolution for their ouster and Abdul-Mahdi had openly supported withdrawal.

Abdul-Mahdi’s resignation was precipitated by ongoing mass protests in Baghdad and southern Iraq. Protesters are calling for new executive leadership, snap elections and electoral reforms. They have said they would not accept a candidate chosen by the political establishment.

New world news from Time: Watch U.S. Citizens Document What It’s Like to Live in Wuhan During the Coronavirus Lockdown

Early Wednesday morning, a U.S. plane evacuated around 240 Americans from Wuhan, China. Justin Steece, Priscilla Dickey and their families were not on that plane.

Steece and Dickey, both U.S. citizens, are current residents of Wuhan, where the pneumonia-like virus “novel coronavirus,” originated. As of Saturday morning, the total number of confirmed cases of infection is 12,024 and the death toll is at 259, according to a virus tracker maintained by researchers at Johns Hopkins University. The city of approximately 11 million people is on lockdown, and some U.S. citizens there are struggling to get home. In a new video for TIME, Steece and Dickey explain what it’s like to be in Wuhan and why they were unable to leave.

Steece, who lives in Wuhan with his wife and newborn son, says he could not board the plane because his son and wife did not have their paperwork processed. Additionally, he said tickets to board the plane inflated to $1,000 per seat.

Priscilla Dickey, a student living in Wuhan with her 8-year-old daughter, says they were also not permitted to board the plane because they only had a photo of her daughter’s passport.

Steece and Dickey describe the usually “bustling” city as eerily empty and quiet.

“The only places open right now are small supermarkets…and shops for basic pharmaceutical supplies,” Steece said while documenting his journey home from the grocery store.

Face masks are in high demand in Wuhan, and Steece and Dickey worry about the supply in a locked down city.

“The mask situation is definitely an issue,” Dickey said.

Watch the video above for a glimpse into a day in the life in the city of Wuhan during the coronavirus lock-down.

New world news from Time: Secretary of State Pompeo Says U.S. Can Supply Belarus With Oil and Gas After Russia Cut Off Supplies

(MINSK, Belarus) — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Saturday that the United States is willing and able to provide Belarus with 100% of its oil and gas, taking a slap at Russia which recently cut off supplies.

Pompeo is the first secretary of state to visit Belarus in 26 years and arrived in Minsk amid new tensions between Minsk and Moscow over energy. In a meeting with authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, Pompeo said he hoped to help provide an opportunity for Belarus to achieve the “sovereignty” and “independence” it seeks.

“The United States wants to help Belarus build its own sovereign country,” Pompeo said at a joint news conference with Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei. “Our energy producers stand ready to deliver 100% of the oil you need at competitive prices. We’re the biggest energy producer in the world and all you have to do is call us.”

Belarus fears Russia is trying to absorb it and last month began purchasing gas from Norway after Russian supplies were cut off. Last week, Lukashenko accused Russia, the country’s main provider of cheap oil and gas, of stopping supplies “to dissolve Belarus.”

Pompeo said the U.S. wants to help fill the vacuum and will continue to boost staffing at its embassy in Minsk, which was severely reduced 12 years ago when the U.S. imposed significant sanctions on the country over human rights abuses. The two countries agreed in September to exchange ambassadors for the first time since 2008. Pompeo said a new U.S. ambassador would be named soon.

Noting the recent history of poor relations, Lukashenko lamented the “absolutely groundless misunderstandings of the past authorities” and welcomed Pompeo’s visit.

Belarus had been a candidate to be included in the Trump administration’s expanded travel ban that was announced on Friday but avoided it by taking measures to improve security cooperation and potential traveler threat information with the United States.

In addition to trying to boost American influence in Belarus, Pompeo urged economic and political reforms as well as improved human rights conditions — a message similar to those he will be bringing to his next stops in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan later this weekend. At each stop, Pompeo will warn of attempts by Russia and China to aggressively assert themselves in Europe and Central Asia.

Russia stopped supplying oil to Belarus after Dec. 31. The two nations had failed to renegotiate an agreed oil price for this year during drawn-out negotiations on deepening the integration of their economies.

Moscow argues that Belarus should accept greater economic integration if it wants to continue receiving energy resources at Russia’s domestic prices.

This has prompted fears in Belarus that the Kremlin is plotting to form a single state with Belarus to keep Russian President Vladimir Putin in power well past the end of his term in 2024.

Lukashenko has repeatedly rejected the idea, saying that Belarus would never become part of Russia.

The Russian suspension did not affect oil crossing Belarus to Europe or the supply of natural gas, but had consequences for Belarus, which relies on Russia for more than 80% of its energy needs.

Lukashenko has since vowed to find alternative oil suppliers and said Friday that Belarus is currently negotiating additional supplies with the United States, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

In the news conference, Pompeo also said Belarus has made “real progress” in reforms, including on human rights, but that more needs to be done to bring about a lifting of U.S. sanctions. “Further progress in those areas and others is the only path towards lifting U.S. sanctions,” he said.

Makei acknowledged that Belarus recognized the necessity of making changes. “Belarus is probably not a most ideal country in this regard, and we do understand that we must implement some reforms in many areas, including the area of human rights — and we are doing this,” he said.

Since Lukashenko came to power in 1994, Belarus has suppressed opposition and its human rights record has been widely criticized. Then-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in 2005 called Belarus “Europe’s last dictatorship.”

New world news from Time: Trump Administration Curbs Immigration for Additional 6 Countries in Election-Year Push to Restrict Visas

(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration announced Friday that it was curbing legal immigration from six additional countries that officials said did not meet security standards, as part of an election-year push to further restrict immigration.

Officials said immigrants from Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Eritrea, Nigeria, Sudan and Tanzania will face new restrictions in obtaining certain visas to come to the United States. But it is not a total travel ban, unlike President Donald Trump’s earlier effort that generated outrage around the world for unfairly targeting Muslims.

Trump was expected to sign a proclamation on the restrictions as early as Friday.

The announcement comes as President Donald Trump tries to promote his administration’s crackdown on immigration, highlighting a signature issue that motivated his supporters in 2016 and hoping it has the same affect this November. The administration recently announced a crackdown on birth tourism and is noting the sharp decline in crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border and citing progress on building the border wall.

Immigrant visas were restricted for Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Eritrea, Nigeria, and are given to people seeking to live in the U.S. permanently. They include visas for people sponsored by family members or employers as well as the diversity visa program that made up to 55,000 visas available in the most recent lottery. In December, for example, 40,666 immigrant visas were granted world-wide.

Sudan and Tanzania have diversity visas suspended. The State Department uses a computer drawing to select people from around the world for up to 55,000 diversity visas.

Nonimmigrant visas were not affected. Those are given to people traveling to the U.S. for a temporary stay. They include visas for tourists, those doing business or people seeking medical treatment. During December, for example, about 650,760 nonimmigrant visas were granted world-wide.

Wolf said Homeland Security officials would work with the countries on bolstering their security requirements to help them work to get off the list.

“These countries for the most part want to be helpful, they want to do the right thing, they have relationships with the U.S., but for a variety of different reasons failed to meet those minimum requirements,” said acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf.

Rumors swirled for weeks about a potential new ban, and initially Belarus was considered. But Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was headed to the Eastern European nation as the restrictions were released and Belarus was not on the list. Wolf said some nations were able to comply with the new standards in time.

The current restrictions follow Trump’s travel ban, which the Supreme Court upheld as lawful in 2018. They are significantly softer than Trump’s initial ban, which had suspended travel from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen for 90 days, blocked refugee admissions for 120 days, and suspended travel from Syria. The government suspended most immigrant and nonimmigrant visas to applicants from those countries. Exceptions are available for students and those with “significant contacts” in the U.S.

Trump has said a travel ban is necessary to protect Americans. But opponents have argued that he seeks to target Muslim countries, pointing to comments he made as a candidate in 2015 calling for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.”

The seven countries with considerably more restrictions include nations with littler or no diplomatic relationship to the U.S. They include five majority-Muslim nations: Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen.

Sudan and Kyrgyzstan are majority-Muslim countries. Nigeria is about evenly split between Christians and Muslims but has the world’s fifth-largest population of Muslims, according to the Pew Research Center.

Wolf said immigrant visas were chosen because people with those visa are the most difficult to remove after arriving in the United States.

The initial ban was immediately blocked by the courts and led to a monthslong process to develop clear standards and federal review processes to try to withstand legal muster.

The announcement of new countries banned was expected leading up to the third anniversary of the Jan. 27, 2017, enactment of the first order.

Wolf said officials spent about six months working on revised criteria. They examined countries for compliance with minimum standards for identification and information-sharing, and assessed whether countries properly tracked terrorism or public safety risks. Officials looked at whether countries used modern passports, shared information that the U.S. could validate on travelers and identified possible criminal suspects in a way that the U.S. could see before entry. They evaluated responses and ranked nations on where they fell.

Government agencies then discussed whether countries had different, but important, contacts with the U.S. and then decided on restrictions.

“Really the only way to mitigate the risk is to impose these travel restrictions,” Wolf said.

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Merchant reported from Houston