Link: https://voca.ro/1moaJaApzjiB

Text: A judge in Belfast on Friday suspended an order by Northern Ireland's agriculture minister to halt border checks on goods from the rest of the United Kingdom that were imposed under the Brexit agreement struck between the U.K. and the European Union.

High Court Judge Adrian Colton made the interim order pending a full hearing into the legality of the decision by Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots, who sparked a political crisis when he ordered officials to stop checks on agri-food products at midnight on Wednesday.

A full court hearing is expected to be held next month.

The border checks were imposed as part of the divorce deal agreed on when Britain left the European Union in 2020.

The two sides agreed to keep Northern Ireland inside the EU's tariff-free single market for goods to maintain an open border on the island of Ireland -- a key pillar of Northern Ireland's peace process.

That created a new customs border in the Irish Sea for goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the U.K. even though they are part of the same country.