The Saudi-UAE military alliance says it is halting its offensive on the western Yemeni city of Hodeidah, after nearly two weeks of fierce air and ground assault to push out Houthi rebels from the strategic city.

A source in the military alliance told the Reuters news agency on Thursday that “the coalition has instructed forces on the ground to halt fighting inside Hodeidah” – which is the port of entry for most food, aid and commercial goods.

A non-military source with knowledge of the decision said the coalition was responding to international requests for a ceasefire to ensure the Houthis attend planned peace talks.

Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Adow, reporting from neighbouring Djibouti, said there had been limited reaction from the Houthis but the armed group was “prepared to continue fighting”.

“So far, there’s been a lull in fighting. The Houthis have not confirmed the ceasefire but have said that both sides are keeping to their positions.”

Between November 3 and 12, there had been more than 200 air attacks on the city, with the fighting killing at least 600 Houthis according to an AFP tally.

A number of countries had recently called for a cessation ahead of renewed UN-led peace efforts to end the war which has pushed Yemen to the brink of famine.

Among them were the United States, Britain and France, three countries that provide the coalition with military equipment, intelligence and logistics.

The UAE’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Anwar Gargash, said the Emirates supported UN plans to hold peace talks in Sweden by the end of the year.

“We welcome early convening of UN-led talks in Sweden,” Gargash, tweeted. He said the coalition would “urge all parties to take advantage of [the] window of opportunity to restart the political process” at a UN Security Council meeting on Friday.

We welcome early convening of UN-led talks in Sweden. At UNSC meeting on Friday, Coalition will urge all parties to take advantage of window of opportunity to restart political process.
We look forward to hosting Martin Griffiths this week in Abu Dhabi.

— د. أنور قرقاش (@AnwarGargash) November 14, 2018

Yemen’s president vows to liberate city

Yemen‘s exiled president said late on Wednesday that he backed UN-proposed talks to end the fighting but vowed to “liberate” the port city regardless of the peace process.

A spokesman for the president said via the official Saba news agency that Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi “has issued directives to back all efforts that guarantee the interests of Yemen in reaching sustainable peace” based on UN resolutions.

“The battle of the Yemeni people to liberate Hodeidah is inevitable, whether through peace or war,” the statement said.

The conflict in Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country, began when the government slashed fuel subsidies in the summer of 2014, prompting angry protests and forcing thousands onto the capital’s streets.

The Houthis seized the opportunity and marched south from their stronghold of Saada province to the capital, Sanaa, where they toppled Hadi’s government.

The US-backed Saudi-UAE military coalition intervened in 2015 with a massive air campaign aimed at reinstalling Hadi’s government.

Since then, data collected by Al Jazeera and the Yemen Data Project has found that more than 18,000 air attacks have been carried out in Yemen, with almost one-third of all bombing missions striking non-military sites.

Weddings, funerals, schools and hospitals, as well as water and electricity plants, have been targeted, killing and wounding thousands.

SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies

Roshen Silva hit a resolute 85 to frustrate England and give Sri Lanka a lead of 46 on day two of an evenly poised second Test in Pallekele.

Resuming on 26-1, Dimuth Karunaratne and Dhananjaya de Silva made half-centuries before England reduced the hosts to 165-6 shortly after lunch.

But Roshen negated England’s spinners and forged four defiant lower-order partnerships to take Sri Lanka to 336.

Nightwatchman Jack Leach played out the last over as England closed on 0-0.

The tourists were awarded five penalty runs during Sri Lanka’s innings after Roshen deliberately ran short. The runs were added to their first-innings total of 285.

On a testing pitch that is still producing sharp turn, England will have to bat with the concentration and determination Sri Lanka showed to post a challenging fourth-innings target.

England lead the three-match series 1-0 and are looking for their first away series win under captain Joe Root.

Superb Sri Lanka grab lead

With Sri Lanka six down and trailing by more than 100 runs, England were on top and would have been hopeful of securing a substantial lead, but the hosts’ lower order fought back superbly.

After just about surviving Adil Rashid’s testing post-lunch spell, Roshen calmly played with the spin to keep the scoreboard ticking along and received stoic support in compiling stands of 46, 41, 56 and 28 for the last four wickets.

Niroshan Dickwella emulated Jos Buttler’s approach on day one, using sweeps and reverse sweeps to knock the spinners off their length to make 25 before sweeping over a full Joe Root delivery that skidded into his pads.

Once Leach trapped Dilruwan Perera lbw for 15, Roshen opened up. He hit Moeen Ali down the ground for six and punished an increasingly ragged England alongside Akila Dananjaya, who made a fluent 31 off 39 balls before falling lbw to Moeen.

Added to Karunaratne and Dhananjaya’s patient partnership of 96 in the morning, this was comfortably Sri Lanka’s best day of the series.

England did not bowl particularly badly but their spinners were inconsistent, producing too many bad balls between the unplayable ones and allowing the hosts to alleviate the pressure.

Stokes and Rashid’s magic moments

England were laboured in the first hour of the day, their spinners bowling too full and taking only the wicket of nightwatchman Malinda Pushpakumara to show for their toil as he heaved Moeen Ali to mid-wicket.

Yet with Karunaratne and Dhananjaya smoothly accumulating, Ben Stokes produced two pieces of fielding brilliance.

First, Dhananjaya guided fine towards point and set off. Stokes swept in to gather, throw across his body and hit the one stump he had to aim at, with Karunaratne two yards short.

The all-rounder then took a fine one-handed catch to his left at slip as Jack Leach removed Kusal Mendis for the third innings in a row.

Rashid put the hosts in further trouble after lunch with a fine spell of 2-19 from 10 overs.

The leg-spinner found bite and bounce to have Dhananjaya caught behind before an equally exquisite delivery drew Angelo Mathews forward, with the impressive Ben Foakes taking a fine catch at the second attempt behind the stumps.

Rashid finished with 3-75, returning to end Roshen’s resistance as he picked out Moeen at mid-on.

Wait, didn’t England score 285?

They did. But the tourists were awarded five penalty runs following a bizarre moment in Sri Lanka’s innings.

Roshen cut Leach towards the boundary and, thinking he had picked up four, did not ground his bat at the non-striker’s end after jogging through for the first run.

However, Moeen prevented the boundary and Roshen set off back to the striker’s end from a yard outside the crease.

Umpire Marais Erasmus declared a dead ball and gave England five penalty runs, ruling that Roshen had deliberately run short, perhaps believing he had done so to guarantee he maintained the strike.

This post is part of our High-tech High series, which explores weed innovations, and our cultural relationship with cannabis, as legalization in several U.S. states, Canada, and Uruguay moves the market further out of the shadows.

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Marijuana-friendly video games require four main attributes: simplicity, beauty, weirdness, and whoaaa cooool.

Playing games while high can, like most high activities, either be a portal to magical awakenings or scar you for life. Choose the game you pair with your herb wisely! Luckily, we’re here to help guide you to Video Game Toke-halla.

Our selection is guaranteed to not harsh your vibe, but enhance it. For your convenience, we’ve even implemented a contact high rating system: Each game is ranked from one to five trees, depending on how toasted playing it under the influence will get you.

Just don’t look down at your hands mid-game, cause you’ll realize how weird it is that your fingers move like spider legs with little minds of their own and SHIT IT’S TURNING ON ME CALL MY MOM REALITY IS A LIE.

1. Kentucky Route Zero

Image: cardboard computer

The surrealist masterpiece: Few titles command the respect of both esoteric game critics and the 420 community. But Southern gothic Kentucky Route Zero is a sumptuous tour de force of magical realism, able to captivate anyone with a pulse. It offers non-sequitur humor — like a third-floor office building of bears, just bears — and meaningful dives into perception, entropy, creation, and this American life. Don’t worry about “Getting It.” KRZ is the rare piece of art that avoids going too far up its own ass. The fifth and final act has yet to release, but is still scheduled for 2018.

Contact High Rating:

Platforms: PS4 (soon), Xbox One (soon), Windows, Linux, Mac

Green: $24.99

2. Monument Valley 1 & 2

The impossible architect: Bringing M.C. Escher’s famed “Stairs” painting to virtual life, Monument Valley is the most mind-bending optical illusion puzzle game since Portal. And it’s more accessible, being playable on all iOS devices and with controls so intuitive they’re practically weed-proof. 

Contact High Rating:

Platforms: iOS, Android

Green: $3.99

3. Everything

The free-love philosopher: With as ambitious a title as Everything, you’d think this procedural life simulator couldn’t possibly hold up to its own promise. But Everything, a game where you can literally be anything from a bear to a microorganism to a galaxy, doesn’t exaggerate. Listen to the narration by Alan Watts and lose yourself in the vast randomness of mutual existence. Also, that floppy movement animation never gets less funny.

Contact High Rating:

Platforms: PS4, Windows, Mac, Linux

Green: $14.99

4. Journey

The unlikely hero: A return to the time of myths and legends, Journey awakens something ancient and eternal inside you. Bringing Joseph Campbell’s seminal hero’s journey story structure to games, this beautiful, wordless adventure embodies all that is universal about the human experience. You can go at it alone, or choose to play online with another person who remains totally anonymous, your only option for interaction with each other limited to little chirps and messages in the sand.

Contact High Rating:

Platforms: PS4

Green: $14.99

It’s just holes, man: A perfect metaphor for 2018, Donut County is all about watching everything you know and love be consumed by a deep, dark void create by a selfish asshole. Come for the satisfying hole-based puzzles, stay for the Weird Twitter-inspired humor.

Contact High Rating:

Platforms: PS4, iOS, Windows, Mac

Green: $4.99 – $12.99

6. Panoramical

The music in the machine: It’s hard to explain the technical marvel that is Panoramical. But you don’t need to understand to discover its trippy soundscape, which transforms based on your interactions. It’s perfect for group settings; your friends will either think you’re a god or that they’re on ecstasy, with you as the VJ manipulating an experimental world of procedural music and visuals.

Contact High Rating:

Platforms: Mac, Windows

Green: $9.99

7. The Stanley Parable

The existential crisis: The less you know about Stanley Parable before playing, the better. Just prepare to question every choice you’ve ever made in your life, including the one to buy this game. Be ready to fall through the Matrix, but like, in a fun way. And if you survive the abyss, be sure to check out co-creator Davey Wreden’s follow-up game, The Beginner’s Guide.

Contact High Rating:

Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux

Green: $14.99

8. Gardenarium

That guy who took one too many acid trips: Like a walkable kaleidoscope, the appeal of Gardenarium is simple yet undeniably pleasing. It’s an acid trip of bright pastel colors, weird asides, and moments where you go, “Wait, am I in a glitch or is this the game?” Don’t ask too many questions. Just tune in, turn on, and drop out.

Contact High Rating:

Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux

Green: $4.99

The mind-melting classic. Imagine if the most addictive puzzle game of all time went to an EDM concert, and you’ve got yourself Tetris Effect. Named after the real psychological phenomenon of how this game warps minds, this lit ass version of Tetris adds a soundtrack, visuals, and background worlds which respond to the way you play. Oh and there’s even the option to add VR, in case your face needs more help melting off.

Contact High Rating:

Platforms: PS4, PSVR

Green: $39.99

10. Goat Simulator

Image: coffee stain studios

Bleeeeeet: An embodiment of the phrase, “it’s a feature, not a bug,” this chaotic physics simulator asks you to push its glitch-filled antics to the absolute limit. Think of it as an interactive screaming goat Youtube video, where you can sink several hours of your life into the random hilarity of Goat Simulator. There are no rules or goals here. Only goats.

Contact High Rating:

Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android

Green: $9.99

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam – Pham Doan Trang strums softly on an acoustic guitar. She’s performing the Vietnamese folk song Water Ferns Drift Clouds Float Far. It’s a song permitted by Vietnam’s government. The authorities keep a close eye on any public performance.

Trang, 39, now suffers when she plays the song. Not because of its moving lyrics or melody but because she can barely strum the chords. Last August, Trang was arrested along with 50 others at a concert in a Ho Chi Minh City teashop.

“They raided the concert. They said the singer was singing unpermitted songs,” Trang said.

“They have a law that stipulates that every songwriter must register to perform and disseminate a song. That means if you compose a song and perform it somewhere without asking for permission, you are doing something illegal.”

Witnesses watched as police physically assaulted Trang who was seated in the audience. While in police custody, she sustained injuries to both hands. Many weeks later, bruises still cover her knuckles.

She was never charged with a crime but had her passport, phone and laptop confiscated.

It was not the first time Trang was arrested or assaulted. In 2015, she was participating in a protest against the felling of trees in the capital, Hanoi. Police descended on protesters and both her knees were broken.

This has left her with a debilitating limp.

“Since I became an activist, I [have been] attacked, physically attacked, many times by the police. Now I am disabled,” Trang said, looking down at her hands, knees and mobility aid by her side.

“Once you learn about freedom, it’s very hard for you to stop.”

Communist mindset

Trang is one of Vietnam’s most prolific dissident writers. Her most recent book Politics for the Masses got her briefly detained earlier this year. It’s a political primer for pro-democracy activists.

“Many people say this book can give me a prison sentence of 20 years. This book may give me a death sentence. It’s a logical deduction,” Trang said. “I don’t know what is their strategy or plan. I mean [a] status on Facebook may attract several likes, not hundreds or thousands, but people are still given 20 years [in prison]. I can’t understand the mindset of communists.”

Vietnamese environmentalist Le Dinh Luong had his 20-year prison sentence upheld last month – one of the longest handed down to an activist. He was convicted of “attempting to overthrow the state”.

Vietnamese blogger Mother Mushroom – Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh – was released and sent into exile in the United States after serving two years of a 10-year prison sentence. She was convicted in 2016 of writing “anti-state propaganda”.

Amnesty International says there are at least 97 prisoners of conscience in Vietnam. Human Rights Watch Asia deputy director Phil Robertson puts the total at more than 130.

This year alone, 55 Vietnamese activists, bloggers and Facebook users have been jailed, according to an AFP news agency investigation.

Many Vietnamese believe the government uses political prisoners such as Mother Mushroom as bargaining chips to gain concessions from the US and, most recently, to improve trade relations with the European Union.

Human rights lawyer Le Cong Dinh served five years in prison and was released in 2014 because of pressure placed on Hanoi.

“After that the US agreed not to protest against Vietnam’s involvement in the UN Human Rights Council. That’s why I got out of jail. They tried to force me out of the country at the time but I rejected and decided to stay and keep fighting,” he said.

Facebook overthrow?

From Facebook down to the Streets is a 2016 samizdat book by Pham Doan Trang. It raised the attention of Vietnamese authorities as it documented the country’s nascent environmental movement.

Trang is extremely careful with her online activity. She knows any comment she posts to Facebook could be used to prosecute her and send her to prison like many of her peers.

Vietnam’s government has stated it employs a 10,000-strong cyber “task force” to monitor activists.

“What are they thinking? Do they actually think that people writing on Facebook can overthrow the administration?” Trang asked.

Since last June, nationwide protests against Vietnam’s proposed Special Economic Zones and cybersecurity law have caught Hanoi off guard. Hundreds were arrested.

“Vietnamese Facebook users are close to 60 million,” said Vi Tran, co-director of Legal Initiatives for Vietnam. “Many large protests [against the government] around the country have started on Facebook.”

Inside Vietnam, historically information flowed from the top down via state-run media, but with the rise of blogging and social media platforms now the news flows horizontally with bloggers and journalists writing and sharing news independently.

Reporters Without Borders’ 2018 World Press Freedom Index ranks Vietnam 175 out of 180 countries – one point ahead of China. Freedom House says Vietnam is not free.

But unlike in China, access to Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter in Vietnam isn’t blocked. Under its new cybersecurity law, the Vietnamese government requested these US tech companies to open offices inside the country to store its data locally.

A song for freedom

The law will come into effect on January 1, 2019. Tech giants Facebook and Google have been given one year from this date to comply. Human Rights Watch has called it disastrous for freedom of expression in Vietnam.

“Observers are saying that the new cybersecurity law will give the government a tool to arrest more activists,” lawyer Le Cong Dinh said.

Vietnamese civil society groups are concerned Facebook has begun to block or shut down accounts requested by the authorities. This move could silence many dissidents currently using the platform to share independent news and opinions.

“I just feel worried for other people. I’m so familiar with violent suppression and political repression,” Trang said. “But for other people, it’s a real danger because now they can be arrested and given lengthy prison terms for a post.”

Trang is extremely worried about the deteriorating human rights situation in Vietnam. But she’s optimistic about the peaceful, non-violent, methods used by her compatriots to express their dissatisfaction with the regime in Hanoi.

In the meantime, she’ll continue her work offline.

“My hands are hurt but I can still type. I’m working on a new book. It’s a legal handbook for people with imprisoned family members,” Trang said. “I may even write a song.”

Chelsea allegedly face the threat of a two-year transfer ban following a Fifa investigation into their signing of foreign under-18 players, including former striker Bertrand Traore.

Based on documents from Football Leaks, French website Mediapart claims 19 Chelsea signings have been looked at in a three year-long investigation.

Mediapart alleges that 14 of those signings were under the age of 18.

In a statement, Chelsea said it had “fully co-operated with Fifa”.

The club also said it had “provided comprehensive evidence demonstrating its compliance with the applicable Fifa regulations”.

According to Mediapart, Fifa’s integrity and compliance unit has recommended Chelsea are handed a transfer ban covering four transfer windows, as well as a fine of £45,000.

It was first reported in September 2017 that Chelsea were being investigated.

“The proceedings are ongoing and, to date, no decision has been passed by the Fifa judicial bodies,” football’s world governing body Fifa said in a statement.

Burkino Faso international Traore – who now plays for Ligue 1 club Lyon – signed his first professional contract at Chelsea in 2013 at the age of 18 but wasn’t registered until January 2014.

Mediapart claims Fifa found evidence that Chelsea had misled them over the dates, while Traore was found to have made 25 appearances for the Blues (under-16, under-18 and first team) despite not being registered by the Football Association.

Chelsea have also admitted they paid his mother £155,000, as well as a further £13,000 to the club she chaired – AJE Bobo-Dioulasso – in April 2011 to allow them first refusal over his signature.

That deal, it is alleged, was for four-and-a-half years, despite the limit for under-18s being only three years.

In addition, it is also claimed Chelsea paid for Traore to attend the £20,000-a-year Whitgift School in Surrey.

Should they be handed a transfer ban, Chelsea will be the latest club to receive such punishment after similar incidences in La Liga.

Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid have both previously received bans for breaching rules over the signing of minors in early 2016, while Barcelona were given a 14-month ban after breaking rules for signing international under-18s in 2014.

What are Fifa’s rules?

Fifa bans the transfer of under-18s to different countries unless they meet strict criteria. It brought in the rules to help protect children from exploitation and trafficking.

Under-18s can only be transferred abroad if:

• The player’s parents move to the country in which the new club is located for non-footballing reasons.
• Both clubs are in the European Union or European Economic Area and the player is aged between 16 and 18. Even then, the buying club must meet more criteria relating to education, training, living conditions and support.
• They live within 100km of the club.

Thanksgiving is a time for family, and inevitably, getting stuck in traffic.

Google has released the worst and best times to drive in 25 U.S. metropolitan areas during Thanksgiving week, based on data which was compiled in 2017.

It goes without saying the night before Thanksgiving is a universally awful time to travel. But if you manage to get some time off earlier in the morning, it’s definitely a better time to travel.  

On the return, residents of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia will have a bit more trouble getting home on Sunday, but otherwise it’s no worse than normal in the majority of other metro areas.

Aside from traffic, Google has also put together data on what the crowds are like at various businesses.

Bakeries are particularly busy on Wednesday afternoon, and liquor stores reach a peak the night before Thanksgiving. After Thanksgiving, hitting the cinema is predictably a busy affair.

You can check out www.mappingthanksgiving.com to see the best and worst times to leave and return around Thanksgiving, plus other ways to avoid lines on the holiday.

A court in Bangladesh has granted bail to Shahidul Alam, an award-winning photographer who was arrested after he gave media interviews about student protests that gripped the country, his lawyer has told Al Jazeera.

The 63-year-old was arrested in August on suspicion of spreading “propaganda and false information” during widespread student protests shortly after he gave an interview to Al Jazeera.

The protests, he said, were the result of pent-up anger at corruption and an “unelected government … clinging on by brute force,” – accusations the government has dismissed.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government – since her Awami League party came to power in 2009 – has been marked by allegations of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and secret detentions of members of the political opposition and anti-government activists.

Last year, at least 25 journalists and hundreds of bloggers and Facebook users were prosecuted under the country’s ICT Act after their online content was deemed defamatory or blasphemous.

George Cox’s summer started with a call to train with Brighton’s first-team squad. Within a month he was lying on a hospital bed being told the heart surgery he was about to have could kill him.

Another four months on, the 20-year-old is trying to rebuild a career that saw him identified as a Premier League “wonderkid” last year, but was put on hold because of the diagnosis of a problem he did not know he had.

“I met the surgeon the day before my procedure,” said Cox. “He told me he could puncture an artery in my groin and it could affect me playing but he also said he had done a lot and had a 100% success rate.

“The next day another surgeon came down, about 15 minutes before I was due to go in. He said there was a chance I could die or have a heart attack. I thought, ‘are you joking?’ I nearly burst into tears. I was panicking so badly.”

It had been three weeks earlier – on 2 July – when Brighton got the first sign something was wrong with Cox’s heart.

Routine screening had picked up an irregular heartbeat; further scans and tests showed 18,400 of his 115,000 beats a day were abnormal.

Cox did not feel a thing. But without a corrective procedure, there was a very real risk he would have a heart attack during training or a match.

Adam Brett, Brighton’s head of medical services, said: “We cardiac screen all our players during pre-season. George had been screened in the morning and was due to join us for first-team training.

“We had to tell the manager George wasn’t coming out following the anomalies being highlighted – no risk could be taken, no matter how small.”

For Cox, the news was devastating.

Entering the final year of his contract, his plans for the next few months did not extend much beyond spending time with girlfriend Britney and agreeing a loan move that would be a crucial next step in his dream of becoming a Premier League player.

Emotions were running high.

“It was a mixture of disbelief and disappointment,” he said. “It was hard to comprehend I had been playing with this issue and not felt a thing.

“I was pretty frightened because so many different things go through your head.

“It is a big year for me, so on one level I was wondering whether I would be able to come back quicker and fitter because I was going to miss pre-season. On another I was concerned about my health in general and whether I would even be able to play again.”

Cox, a defender, had to remain awake during the procedure to allow the surgeon to find the inconsistent beats, as they went away when he was asleep.

He said: “I had something over my face and the bed sheets were pulled up so I couldn’t see down. I felt them cut my groin and I remember seeing the surgeon talking to someone and he had my blood all over his fingers. I was like, ‘nah, this isn’t happening’.”

Cox had to rest for two weeks before he returned to Brighton to start working on his fitness, initially in a very closely monitored environment.

Four weeks after that, on 14 September, came the treadmill test that would determine whether the procedure had been successful and his heart was working properly.

Cox said: “I was sweating before that test. Proper nervous. I was looking at the monitor to see if my heartbeat was OK.

“I had seen my previous scan and could tell I had the inconsistent beat because it would just stop and then carry on as normal. This one was consistent. Then I saw it change and I thought, ‘oh no, it’s not happened again has it?’”

It was one irregular beat. Not 18,400. The procedure had been a success.

Cox had been suffering from the same issue that affected Manchester United midfielder Michael Carrick.

Unlike Carrick, who was at the end of his career and played just four more times after revealing his diagnosis, Cox is at the start of his.

Had he been born even 10 years earlier, like former Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba, he may not have been so lucky.

Since Muamba suffered a cardiac arrest on the pitch at Tottenham in March 2012, screening has improved. Players are now checked every year, rather than at 16, 18 and 20 as was the case with Cox.

He is slowly getting his match fitness back – completing the full 90 minutes of Brighton’s 3-2 EFL Trophy win at MK Dons on Tuesday – and hopes January will bring the loan move he wanted in the summer.

“I like to consider myself as being pretty positive and I can’t thank my girlfriend and my parents enough for the support they have given me,” he said.

“It wasn’t ideal, but if you think about it it is a small amount of time for something that could change my career.”

Well, it’s that time of year again! Time for the John Lewis Christmas advert and, true to form, it’s a real tearjerker. Especially for fans of the legendary Elton John. 

As the familiar dulcet sounds of “you can tell everybody, this is your song” play, you watch the reverse trajectory of Elton John’s musical career, beginning in present day. 

As the end of the ad draws nearer, you’ll see a piano-loving schoolboy performing in his assembly hall and peeking over his shoulder to sneak a glance of his mum. 

Then you’ll see a little boy running down the stairs on Christmas morning and tearing open the wrapping paper to find a present that’ll change his life: a piano. 

Dominic Raab has resigned as UK’s Brexit Secretary over the proposed EU withdrawal agreement in a huge blow to British Prime Minister Theresa May.

“I regret to say that, following the Cabinet meeting yesterday on the Brexit deal, I must resign,” Raab said on Thursday. May’s plan threatened the integrity of the United Kingdom, he said.

“I cannot reconcile the terms of the proposed deal with the promises we made to the country in our manifesto at the last election. This is, at its heart, a matter of public trust,” he said in his resignation letter, published on his Twitter account.

European Union leaders will meet on November 25 to endorse the divorce deal that has been stalled over lack of consensus.

May will set out the terms of the draft withdrawal agreement on Thursday to the House of Commons, which must approve the deal before the UK leaves the European Union on March 29.

The PM secured the backing of her cabinet for the draft agreement on Wednesday, after a five-hour meeting.

“The collective decision of the government was that the cabinet should agree to the draft agreement and the outlying political declaration,” May said on Wednesday.

“This is a decisive step, which allows us to move on and finalise the deal in the days ahead,” she added. “These decisions were not taken lightly, but I firmly believe they were in the national interest.”

The main opposition Labour Party has also criticised the draft deal, saying it “breaches the prime minister’s own red lines”.

“This government spent two years negotiating a bad deal that will leave the country in an indefinite half-way house,” Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour Party leader, said.

SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies