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by Danny Kemp Agence France Presse BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — The EU and Britain clashed Monday after British Prime Minister Theresa May said the ball was in the EU’s court as Brexit negotiations entered a critical fifth round. Officials from both sides are meeting in Brussels, but chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier and British counterpart David Davis are not attending the start, underscoring low expectations for the talks. This round of divorce discussions is […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — British Prime Minister Theresa May will tell the European Union on Monday that “the ball is in their court” as her divided government resumes Brexit negotiations in Brussels. She will use a speech in the House of Commons to urge both sides to show “flexibility” in seeking a deal on Britain’s withdrawal from the EU, her Downing Street office said. “A new, deep and special partnership between a sovereign United […]
KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) – A surge of failed Afghan asylum seekers “forcibly” returned from Europe are at risk of torture, kidnapping and death in war-torn Afghanistan, Amnesty International said Thursday. Almost 9,500 Afghans went back to their homeland in 2016 after their applications for asylum in Europe were rejected, compared with nearly 3,300 a year earlier, the human rights group said. The figure covers asylum seekers who were detained and then deported from European countries, and those […]
by Marianne Barriaux with Roland Lloyd Parry in Madrid Agence France-Presse BARCELONA, Spain (AFP) – Spain’s government defiantly rejected calls for mediation Wednesday over Catalonia’s push for independence, which the country’s king warned was endangering national stability. As the European Union urged dialogue to ease the standoff between separatists in the northeastern region and Madrid, Catalan leaders said they could unilaterally declare independence as early as Monday. The tone of the crisis sharpened with Catalonia’s president denouncing […]
Barcelona, Spain (AFP) — Some 700,000 people took to Barcelona’s streets Tuesday, city police said, to protest against police violence during a banned weekend independence referendum in Catalonia, demanding to be heard. As the entire region went on general strike, Catalans protested throughout the day in various rallies, calling on the EU to intervene in an escalating face-off between Catalan separatist leaders and Madrid.
by Danny Kemp and Damon Wake Agence France Presse Brussels, Belgium (AFP) — EU leaders on Monday called for dialogue to solve the crisis over Catalonia’s banned independence referendum and urged an end to violence in a cautious first reaction to a thorny subject for the bloc. Breaking weeks of virtual silence on the subject after scores were hurt in clashes in Catalonia, the European Commission said the referendum was “not legal” under Spanish law […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — A shallow 3.5-magnitude earthquake which hit North Korea near the country’s nuclear test site on Saturday was not the result of a fresh nuclear test, China’s seismic service said, after initially reporting a “suspected explosion.” The China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC) said in a statement late Saturday that study of infrasonic data determined “the incident is not a nuclear explosion, but had the nature of a natural earthquake.” The Chinese Academy […]
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AFP) – Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Thursday launched a fresh attack on a European Union plan to share thousands of migrants around the bloc, saying that forcing his country to partake in the scheme bordered on “violence.” The comments came a day after the European Court of Justice, the bloc’s top court, rejected a legal challenge to the relocation plan lodged by Hungary and Slovakia. They also followed criticism by EU […]
BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — Germany, Italy and France on Sunday urged tougher European Union sanctions against North Korea, after Pyongyang “reached a new dimension of provocation” with its latest nuclear test. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed during a phone call “that North Korea has trampled on international law and that the international community must therefore react with determination against this new escalation,” the chancellery said in a statement. Both leaders […]
by Sebastien Berger Agence France Presse SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea appeared to carry out a sixth nuclear test Sunday, with seismic monitors measuring an “explosion” of 6.3 magnitude near its main test site, sending tensions over its weapons ambitions to new heights. The apparent test came just hours after it claimed to have developed a hydrogen bomb that could be loaded into the country’s new intercontinental ballistic missile. The South’s Joint […]
BUCHAREST, Romania (AFP) – Romania’s bid to overhaul its justice system could undermine the country’s efforts to stamp out rampant corruption, the European Commission’s representative in Bucharest said Wednesday. The reforms set out by Justice Minister Tudorel Toader last week would mean the president could no longer name senior prosecutors — including those attached to the anti-corruption directorate (DNA). They would also reduce the powers of the DNA itself, preventing it from investigating magistrates. “We are […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea fired three short-range ballistic missiles Saturday, the United States military said, following weeks of heightened tensions between Washington and Pyongyang. The missile launches come as tens of thousands of South Korean and US troops take part in joint military drills in the South, which Pyongyang views as a highly provocative rehearsal for an invasion of its own territory. Two of the missiles failed in flight and the third blew […]
