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Britain on Tuesday gave its most detailed indication yet of how its future trade with the European Union might work after Brexit, laying out proposals to replace membership in the bloc's customs union with new mechanisms designed to allow "frictionless" trade to continue.

The plans were dismissed as "a fantasy" by one senior EU official. And anti-Brexit campaigners in Britain said they would merely replace EU regulations with new ones that could be even more onerous.

The Department for Exiting the European Union said there could be "a temporary customs union between the U.K. and the EU" to avoid border chaos when Britain officially leaves the bloc in March 2019.

Brexit Secretary David Davis said the transition period could last about two years.

In the long term, the department said, a "customs partnership" could eliminate the need for a border for goods traveling between Britain and the EU. The partnership would see Britain impose the exact same requirements as the EU on goods from outside the bloc destined for member states.

Alternately, it suggested "a highly streamlined customs arrangement" could be set up, using technology to ease border procedures.

The proposals drew a cool response from Brussels.

"To be in & out of the Customs Union & 'invisible borders' is a fantasy," tweeted Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament's Brexit coordinator.

Some British businesses have accused the government of being vague about whether there will be economic barriers with the EU after Brexit. The persistent uncertainty 14 months after Britain voted to leave the EU is weighing on the economy.

Trade Secretary Liam Fox and Treasury chief Philip Hammond wrote in the Sunday Telegraph that in 2019 Britain will leave both the EU's single market in goods and services and its customs union.

The single market ensures tariff-less trade in goods and services and is linked closely by the EU with other rights, such as the right of EU citizens to cross borders. The customs union allows goods to move within the EU without checks, but also imposes tariffs on imports from outside the EU. That would prevent Britain striking new free trade deals while it remains inside the arrangement.

The British proposal says the U.K. should be free to negotiate new trade relationships during the transition period, something EU officials are likely to find problematic.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who favors Britain's staying in the single market and customs union, accused the government on Twitter of having a "daft 'have cake and eat it' approach" to Brexit.

Pro-EU Labour lawmaker Chuka Umunna said the proposals "are offering a red tape bombshell for British business."

The customs proposals are the first in a series of papers covering thorny issues in the negotiations, which are due to resume in Brussels at the end of this month. Another, on the status of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, is due to be published this week.

The European Commission said it took note of Britain's suggestions, "but we will only address them once we have made sufficient progress on the terms of the orderly withdrawal" from the bloc.

The EU says negotiations on its future relations with Britain can't start until sufficient progress has been made on three initial issues: how much money the U.K. will have to pay to settle its outstanding commitments to the bloc; whether security checks and customs duties will be instituted on the Irish border; and the status of 3 million EU nationals living in Britain.

Michel Barnier, the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, tweeted that the quicker the two sides "agree on citizens, settling accounts and Ireland, the quicker we can discuss customs & future relationship."

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UK says it may seek 'temporary' customs union with EU - ABC News

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Sharkbanz Shark Deterrent Now Available in the European Union - Surfer Magazine (blog)

Wall Street Journal (subscription)

UK Government Open to Temporary Customs Union With EU After Brexit Wall Street Journal (subscription) LONDONThe U.K. government on Tuesday will formally signal it is open to creating a temporary customs union with the European Union after Brexit as it prepares for fresh talks on its separation from the bloc later this month. In a statement, the U.K ...

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UK Government Open to Temporary Customs Union With EU After Brexit - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

Patience is a virtue, and one that will stand us in good stead as we disentangle ourselves from our complex and multi-layered ties to the European Union.

The separation cannot and should not be achieved at a click of the fingers. In order to complete a deal that is effective and mutually beneficial, it may take years rather than months to tie up the lose ends in a satisfactory way.

To put our own administrations and organisations in place to handle the new arrangements could take even longer.

That is why I welcome Government proposals for a future customs relationship. They are achievable as well as practical and they are an excellent point from which both sides can negotiate.

So I am encouraging fellow Eurosceptics who campaigned so hard for a Leave vote last year to remain patient now and not make life more difficult still for our negotiators.

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Nobody wants Brexit more than me, but it should not be done in a click of the fingers - Telegraph.co.uk

Militia backed by Iran on the Iraq-Syria border blames U.S. for an attack that killed 36 of its fighters, including some Iranian Revolutionary Guards. U.S. denies responsibility, and IS claims responsibility. Iraqi PM Abadi also says that preliminary investigation indicates IS was responsible.

Exodus of physicians and other highly educated professionals from Iraq causes shortage, threatens the country's future.

An Iraqi Civil Defense commander says some 3,000 corpses remain buried in rubble in Mosul.

Next target appears to be Tal Afar as coalition air strikes soften up defenses and a French artillery battalion prepares to advance on the city.

An Iraqi armored division also reaches the town.

In yet another indication of ethnic tensions, Kurdistan president Barzani claims most of the Turkmen residents of Tal Afar are loyal to IS. The participation of Iranian-backed Shia militia in the fight for Tal Afar remains controversial. Barzani also wishes for Iraqi government forces, rather than the militia, to exclusively conduct the operation.

Iraq sentences 27 to death for the Speicher massacre in which IS killed as many as 1,700 captured Iraqi soldiers.

One hundred additional U.S. Marines are deployed to Afghanistan to bolster forces in Helmand.

Taliban capture a village in Sar-e-Pul. Details of the attack are unclear and disputed, with some officials claiming that the the Taliban and IS cooperated in the assault. Fifty civilians are said to have been massacred in the assault .Some civilian prisoners who have been released seem to corroborate this. Locals criticize the slow response by the security forces.

If indeed the Taliban and IS are cooperating it would appear even stranger that Iran is supporting the Taliban.Iran has strongly condemned the attack in Sar-e-Pul, and separatelydenies any link to the Taliban or armed groups in Afghanistan.

I can't even . . . Trump administration considers a plan to contract out the war in Afghanistan to mercenaries. The idea is being pushed by Blackwater founder Erik Prince,who compares it to Britains colonization of India through the British East India Company.

Jake Johnson at Common Dreams comments on this idea.

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Today in Iraq and Afghanistan