The PM and Brexit Secretary David Davis are meeting European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and EU negotiator Michel Barnier.

Details of an agreement are expected to be set out at a joint news conference within the hour.

If the border question has been settled, talks can move on to the future of trade after Brexit.

The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg was told last night that there were “serious ideas” on the table that the different parties were broadly content with.

Additional wording is understood to have been added to reassure the DUP, whose opposition on Monday led to talks breaking down.

The leader of Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, Arlene Foster, said on Friday she was “pleased” to see changes which mean there is “no red line down the Irish sea”.

On Thursday evening, European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas tweeted: “We are making progress, but not yet fully there,” adding: “Tonight more than ever, stay tuned.”

In the early hours of Friday, the prime minister’s chief of staff, Gavin Barwell, tweeted: “Home for 3 hours sleep then back to work”, without offering any further details.

All sides want progress on the issue ahead of a crucial summit next week, so talks can move on to the future relationship between the UK and the EU after Brexit.

What happens to the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland has been among the key sticking points in Brexit negotiations.

On Monday, the DUP – whose support the UK prime minister needs to win key votes in Westminster – objected to draft plans drawn up by the UK and the EU.

They included aligning regulations in Northern Ireland with those in the Republic so as to avoid border checks.

The DUP insists it will not accept any agreement in which Northern Ireland was treated differently from the rest of the UK.

The Republic of Ireland, on the other hand, which is an EU member, wants a guarantee that there will be no hard border between it and Northern Ireland after Brexit.

The UK, which is due to leave the EU in March 2019, wants to open talks on a new free trade deal as soon as possible.

The EU will only agree to discuss this when it judges that enough progress has been made on the “separation issues” – the “divorce bill”, expat citizens’ rights and the Northern Ireland border – that have been the subject of negotiations so far.

So the UK is trying to settle the Northern Ireland border issue before EU leaders meet next week.

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Source: BBC

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The poll, published in the Mail on Sunday newspaper, found 50 percent of people supported another vote on the final terms of Britain’s exit deal, 34 percent rejected another referendum and 16 percent said they did not know.

The newspaper said it was the first major opinion poll since last week’s media reports that Britain is preparing to pay about 50 billion euros ($59 billion) to help to pave the way for talks on a future trade pact with the EU.

The poll found 35 percent of those surveyed said they would be worse off financially after Brexit, while 14 percent said they would be better off.

The online poll, carried out by research firm Survation, interviewed 1,003 adults in Britain between 30 November and 1 December.

Mike Smithson, an election analyst who runs the www.politicalbetting.com website and a former Liberal Democrat politician, said on Twitter it was “the first time any pollster has recorded backing” for a second Brexit referendum.

Since the referendum in 2016, high profile opponents of Britain’s exit – from French President Emmanuel Macron, to former British prime minister Tony Blair and billionaire investor George Soros – have suggested Britain could change its mind and avoid what they say will be disastrous for the British economy.

Blair told the BBC on Sunday that Britain could change its mind about leaving the EU.

“It’s reversible. It’s not done until it’s done,” he said.

Blair said what the government was seeking to negotiate was not possible.

“They are trying to negotiate getting out of the single market while recreating all of its benefits,” Blair said. “That’s not going to happen.”

Survation said it carries out polls for media organizations including the BBC, Sky News, the Daily Telegraph and the Guardian.

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Source: Reuters

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The visit was to inspect the progress of the Construction of Housing and Social Infrastructure project, in Kasunya, near Asutsuare in the Shai-Osudoku district of the Greater Accra Region.

The € 5.9 million project is funded by the European Union and will provide 224 housing units for workers of the Golden Exotics Limited banana plantation.

A social centre will also be constructed.  Approximately, 800-1000 people will live in this new neighborhood in the near future.

The EU funding is provided in the framework of the Banana Assistance Measures (BAM), which provides financial assistance to facilitate trade between banana-producing countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and Pacific.

Ghana is one of eleven countries receiving financial assistance for the banana trade.

The houses will ease accommodation and transportation cost of GEL employees, who now have to commute long distances, thereby saving travel time and costs on one hand and providing decent housing on the other hand.

Ambassador Hanna inspected the site together with the Member of Parliament for the Shai-Osudoku constituency Hon. Linda Ocloo.

The Contractor, KO&G expects to deliver the houses in the last quarter of 2018.

After the visit Ambassador Hanna said ” I am pleased to see work progressing well on the new houses for banana workers. Providing decent work and working conditions is one of the reasons why Ghana’s banana exports all obtain the Fair Trade label. It’s also encouraging to see that, one year after Ghana’s ratification of the EPA, producers are investing more and more in organic production, which gives added value and secures jobs for thousands of workers. This is an excellent example of sustainable production and consumption in the agricultural sector.”

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The draft guidelines, announced by European Council President Donald Tusk in Malta, advocate a “phased approach”.

They will be sent to the 27 member states for approval and will set the tone for two years of negotiations.

In Brussels, the EU’s foreign policy chief suggested the EU could manage without the UK in defence matters.

The UK formally triggered the Brexit process on Wednesday after calling for simultaneous talks on exit terms and future trade ties.

At a news conference, Mr Tusk said: “Starting parallel talks on all issues at the same time as suggested by some in the UK will not happen.

“Only once we have achieved sufficient progress on the withdrawal can we discuss the framework for our future relationship.”

Talks would be “difficult, complex and sometimes even confrontational”, he predicted, but the EU would not “pursue a punitive approach”.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May formally triggered the Brexit process by sending the Article 50 notification letter to Mr Tusk on Wednesday.

The two are to meet in London ahead of an EU summit on Brexit, which will not include her, on 29 April.

So what’s the ‘divorce’ bill?

The draft says the EU’s overall objective is “to preserve its interests, those of its member states, its citizens and its businesses”.

Calling for a “phased approach giving priority to an orderly withdrawal”, it suggests starting with discussions on the separation arrangement. They could then move on to talks about a future trade relationship between the EU and the UK.

The draft raises the issue of the UK financial bills with the EU, estimated to be as much as €60bn (£51bn; $64bn).

In a sign of the bloc’s determination to secure a “divorce bill”, it says that a “single financial settlement should ensure that the Union and the United Kingdom both respect the obligations undertaken before the date of withdrawal”.

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Source: BBC

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He said this would be done through the regional envelope of the 11th European Development Fund.

Mr Salvia made this remark at the final Steering Committee Meeting of the Trade Related Assistance and Quality Enabling Programme (TRAQUE) in Accra.

He also said, “At the national level, important programmes are already ongoing to support decentralisation, stimulate job creation and improve social protection schemes. Future programmes are being prepared to support investments in the agricultural sector and public finance management.”

Since its inception in 2011, the TRAQUE Programme has supported the Ministry of Trade and Industry in private sector development and trade facilitation as well as reviewed Ghana’s Quality Policy to enable attain a National Quality Infrastructure which functions in line with international best practices.

With the Programme ending in March, the 6th Steering Committee Meeting was used to gather relevant stakeholders to evaluate the challenges and impact TRAQUE had made in trade and quality sectors in Ghana.

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Source: GNA

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Tuesday’s announcement comes after similar decisions earlier this month by South Africa andBurundi to abandon the institution, set up to try the world’s worst crimes.

The ICC was set up in 2002 and is often accused of bias against Africa and has also struggled with a lack of cooperation, including from the US, which has signed the court’s treaty but never ratified it.

The court had been used “for the persecution of Africans and especially their leaders” while ignoring crimes committed by the West, Sheriff Bojang, Gambia’s information minister, said on state television.

He singled out the case of Tony Blair, former British prime minister, who the ICC decided not to indict over the Iraq war.

“There are many Western countries, at least 30, that have committed heinous war crimes against independent sovereign states and their citizens since the creation of the ICC and not a single Western war criminal has been indicted,” Bojang said.

The withdrawal, he said, “is warranted by the fact that the ICC, despite being called International Criminal Court, is in fact an International Caucasian Court for the persecution and humiliation of people of colour, especially Africans”.

Gambia has been trying, without success, to use the ICC to punish the EU for the deaths of thousands of African refugees and migrants trying to reach its shores.

The decision will also come as a personal blow to the court’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, a former Gambian justice minister.

Burundi had said earlier this month it would leave the court, while Namibia and Kenya have also raised the possibility.

Over the weekend, the ICC asked South Africa and Burundi to reconsider their decisions, which came as a major blow to the institution.

“I urge them to work together with other states in the fight against impunity, which often causes massive violations of human rights,” Sidiki Kaba, president of the assembly of state parties to the ICC founding treaty, said in a statement.

Alleged war crimes

South Africa’s decision followed a dispute last year when Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir visited the country despite being the subject of an ICC arrest warrant over alleged war crimes.

Kaba said he was concerned that South Africa and Burundi’s decisions would pave the way for other African states to leave the court.

The tribunal is entrusted with “prosecuting the most serious crimes that shock the conscience of humanity, namely genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of aggression”.

Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union on South Africa and Burundi and the ICC https://t.co/9hzZ59dfOO

— Sidiki Kaba (@ICC_PASP) October 25, 2016

Luis Moreno Ocampo, the former ICC chief prosecutor, criticised Burundi and South Africa, accusing them of giving leaders on the continent a free hand “to commit genocide”.

“Burundi is leaving the ICC to keep committing crimes against humanity and possible genocide in its territory. Burundi’s president wants free hands to attack civilians,” he said.

He said Nelson Mandela, the former South African president, had “promoted the establishment of the Court to avoid new massive crimes in Africa. Now under the [Jacob] Zuma leadership, South Africa decided to cover up the crimes and abandoned African victims. The world is going backward.

“The chaos is coming. Genocide in Burundi and a new African war are in motion.”

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Source: Aljazeera

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