Reconnaissance of a North Korean launch site indicates that Kim Jong-Un may be preparing to test a long-range ballistic missile, three U.S. intelligence officials who monitor North Korea in different agencies tell TIME. The intelligence comes ahead of a fast-approaching self-declared year-end deadline that Kim set in an April 12 speech for a nuclear deal with the U.S.

In recent weeks, North Korea has reopened its Sohae Satellite Launching Station and resumed testing what U.S. intelligence officials and private experts suspect may be a solid fuel rocket engine that could be used in an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching parts of the U.S. The analysts say the missile test could be thinly veiled as a launch of a satellite so as to avoid the appearance of direct military hostility.

Kim may be gambling, the officials say, that the launch will increase the pressure on Trump to negotiate an agreement to ease economic sanctions on North Korea, while allowing Pyongyang to ..

There are political wins, and then there are political triumphs. Boris Johnson and his Conservatives pulled off the latter as they demolished their fractured opposition to gain 47 seats and an absolute majority in Commons. Just as important as the majority they secured was the mandate they got from the British people to pursue their Brexit strategy.

Why It Matters:

In case you hadn’t noticed, the U.K. has been politically paralyzed ever since it voted to Brexit in June 2016. This was the country’s third general election in four years, and given the size of Johnson’s victory, it’s the first to provide any clarity on where the Brexit process goes from here. With a Commons majority firmly secured, the U.K. finally has a government empowered enough to take the difficult decisions needed—balancing the conflicting concerns of a domestic British audience against those of lawmakers in Brussels—to “get Brexit done.” While there remain plenty of people on both sides of the Channel who think Br..

Marginalized communities have expressed fears over their future in the U.K. after the recent general election campaign, in which Brexit led the debate and fears over racism were raised. The Conservative Party under the leadership of Boris Johnson won a majority victory in the results announced Friday.

As voters headed to the polls on Thursday, they were faced with a choice between two political parties which have faced accusations of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. The result of the general election was declared on Friday, with the Conservative party winning 365 seats—a land-slide majority and the party’s biggest victory since the 1980s under Margaret Thatcher.

“Among marginalized communities, there is a real angst and fear,” Dr Joe Mulhall, the head of research at Hope Not Hate, a charity campaigning against racism and facism tells TIME. “It was a really ugly campaign. It was very divisive and polarized.” The charity was set up in 2014 after the British National Party (BNP), a far..

(BRUSSELS) — European Union leaders are gathering Friday to discuss Britain’s departure from the bloc amid some relief that Prime Minister Boris Johnson has secured a parliamentary majority that will allow him to push the Brexit divorce deal he negotiated through parliament.

With or without an agreement, Britain is scheduled to leave on Jan. 31. It’s the first time that a country will have left the world’s biggest trading bloc. Though many EU leaders will be relieved that the Brexit saga is finally coming to an end, just as many are saddened at the departure of such a heavyweight member state.

When Britain voted to leave the EU in June 2016, there were fears that it could lead to other departures. However, those fears have dissipated as the process has been so politically divisive — two U.K. elections were held over it — and expensive.

Though the pathway to Britain’s departure by Jan. 31 is reasonably clear, the future relationship between the country and the EU is not. Discussions ..

(BEIJING) — China’s foreign minister on Friday labeled the United States the “troublemaker of the world,” citing the Trump administration’s withdrawal from a number of international treaties.

Wang Yi said the U.S. had conceded its right to international leadership and had “seriously damaged the foundation of the hard-won mutual trust between China and the U.S.”

“We are willing to resolve the contradictions and differences with the U.S. through dialogues and discussions based on equality and mutual respect, but we will never accept any unilateral sanction or bullying,” he said.

Washington’s departure from international agreements had ”brought many problems and troubles to the international community, and has made the US the troublemaker of the world today,” Wang said.

Wang’s remarks come amid heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing over trade, politics and allegations of the theft of intellectual property by China.

Addressing a conference on Chinese foreign policy, Wang ..

“Get Brexit Done.” That was the slogan repeated on every billboard, pamphlet and doorstep during the Conservative Party’s campaign for the U.K. election, held on Thursday.

And when the results came through overnight, it was clear those three words had helped win Boris Johnson’s party an overwhelming majority, with at least 364 seats in parliament up from 318 two years ago, the party’s biggest victory since the 1980s under Margaret Thatcher.

The “Get Brexit Done” slogan “obviously played a part” in Johnson’s victory, says Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary, University of London, “partly because it appealed to leavers but also because it appealed to some remainers who are sick to the back teeth of Brexit and want to get it over with.”

The additional seats won by the Conservatives largely came from the “red wall,” a swath of largely ex-industrial, working class areas traditionally held by the Labour Party — but also ones where people overwhelmingly voted to leave the Europea..