European Commission officials tell The Independent Ms May’s plan would be unacceptable and would go back on previous commitments made by British negotiators Brussels has rejected Theresa May’s new customs proposal less than 24 hours after the prime minister set it out in a bid to placate Brexiteers in her ... Read More »
China rebuffs U.S. concerns about ties with Venezuela
China rebuffed U.S. concerns about its ties with Venezuela on Tuesday after Washington imposed new sanctions on the crisis-stricken oil-producing country following the re-election of its socialist President Nicolas Maduro. Maduro, the 55-year-old successor to late leftist leader Hugo Chavez, hailed his win in Sunday’s election as a victory against ... Read More »
Russian ‘dirty money’ is damaging UK security, MPs say
Government must stop money laundering by ‘kleptocrats and rights abusers’, which is helping Putin subvert international rules A powerful committee of MPs has warned that the government is putting national security at risk by allowing “kleptocrats and human rights abusers to use the City of London to launder their ill-gotten ... Read More »
Maduro set to win second term as Venezuela slips further into economic crisis
President set for victory as main opposition party urges voters to boycott controversial election Venezuela goes to the polls on Sunday, with incumbent president Nicolas Maduro expected to win a second term in spite of the country’s spiralling economic crisis. Mr Maduro is set to secure another six-year term on ... Read More »
Italy: Populist parties attempting to form government consider asking ECB to write off £218bn of country’s debt
Coalition hopefuls Five Star Movement and League insist plans for massive financial relief in leaked document are no longer being considered Populist parties attempting to form a government in Italy have floated the idea of asking the European Central Bank (ECB) to write off €250bn (£218bn) of the country’s debt. ... Read More »
Macron and Merkel round on Trump as Europe rages over steel tariffs
EU says it will refuse to negotiate with ‘sword of Damocles’ over its head French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Angela Merkel have rounded on Donald Trump over planned steel tariffs on EU producers, telling the US president to scrap his new policy if he wants to negotiate better ... Read More »
Trump accuses Obama of embedding spy in his campaign, in angry, misspelled early morning tweet
President brands special counsel investigation ‘the greatest witch hunt in American history’ Donald Trump has accused Barack Obama and the FBI of using an “imbedded (sic) informant” to spy on his presidential campaign. The US president made the claim following an earlier tweet branding the special counsel investigation into potential ... Read More »
Turkey Tells Israel’s Envoy: Return to ‘Israel’ for Some Time
Turkish Foreign Ministry told Israel’s consul general in Istanbul to return to occupied Palestine “for some time”, state-run Anadolu news agency said on Wednesday, after Israeli occupation forces killed more than 60 Palestinians during protests on the Gaza border. Ministry officials were not available to comment, Reuters said. On Tuesday, ... Read More »
Europe offers no guarantees but vows to keep Iran deal alive
European powers vowed to keep the 2015 nuclear deal alive without the United States by trying to keep Iran’s oil and investment flowing, but admitted they would struggle to provide the guarantees Tehran seeks. British, French and German foreign ministers, along with the EU’s top diplomat, discussed the next steps ... Read More »
North Korea threatens to pull out of US summit if pushed to give up nuclear programme
Pyongyang has already proposed and then scrapped high-level talks with South Korea this week, and continues to harden its stance as planned US summit draws closer North Korea might not go through with a planned summit with Donald Trump after all, an official has warned, if it is pushed to ... Read More »