Sabtu, 06 April 2019

Brexit: I had no choice but to approach Labour - May - BBC News

Prime Minister Theresa May has insisted she had to reach out to Labour in a bid to deliver Brexit or risk letting it "slip through our fingers".

In a statement on Saturday night, Mrs May said there was a "stark choice" of either leaving the European Union with a deal or not leaving at all.

Some Conservatives have criticised her for seeking Labour's help after MPs rejected her Brexit plan three times.

Three days of talks between the parties ended without agreement on Friday.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he was "waiting to see the red lines move" and had not "noticed any great change in the government's position".

He is coming under pressure from his MPs to demand a referendum on any deal he reaches with the government, with 80 signing a letter saying a public vote should be the "bottom line" in the negotiations.

In the statement, Mrs May said that after doing "everything in my power" to persuade her own party - and their backers in Northern Ireland's DUP - to approve the deal she agreed with the EU last year, she "had to take a new approach".

"We have no choice but to reach out across the House of Commons," the prime minister said.

"The referendum was not fought along party lines and people I speak to on the doorstep tell me they expect their politicians to work together when the national interest demands it."

Getting a majority of MPs to back a Brexit deal was the only way for the UK to leave the EU, Mrs May said.

"The longer this takes, the greater the risk of the UK never leaving at all."

The UK is due to leave the EU on 12 April and, as yet, no withdrawal deal has been approved by the House of Commons.

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott told BBC Radio 4's Today programme Labour had engaged in talks "in good faith" and wanted them to continue.

However, she said there was concern the government has made "no movement" on her party's demand for changes to the political declaration - the section of Mrs May's Brexit deal which outlines the basis for future UK-EU relations.

The document declares mutual ambitions in areas such as trade, regulations, security and fishing rights - but does not legally commit either party.

Downing Street has indicated it was "prepared to pursue changes" in order to secure a deal, and Chancellor Philip Hammond said on Saturday that he was "optimistic" the talks could reach "some form of agreement".

'Open revolt'

However, Tory Brexiteers have reacted angrily to the prospect of Mrs May accepting Labour's demands, particularly for a customs union with the EU which would allow tariff-free trade between members but bar them striking their own trade deals.

Leaving the EU's customs union was a Conservative manifesto commitment, and former party whip Michael Fabricant predicted "open revolt" among Tories and Leave voters if MPs agreed to it.

Former Brexit minister Steve Baker hit out at efforts to recruit MPs to sign a "toxic" letter endorsing the PM's cross-party efforts, which he said had party members "recoiling in horror".

And the Sunday Telegraph reported some activists were refusing to campaign for the party, while donations had "dried up".

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Mrs May has written to European Council President Donald Tusk to request an extension to the Brexit process until 30 June but says if MPs agree a deal, the UK should be able to leave before European parliamentary elections are held on 23 May.

She says the UK would prepare to field candidates in May's European Parliament elections if MPs failed to back a deal.

But Education Minister Nadhim Zahawi told the Today programme it would be "a suicide note of the Conservative Party if we had to fight the European elections".

Labour is also split over its Brexit approach.

The letter organised by the Love Socialism Hate Brexit campaign contains the signatures of four shadow ministers and argues that any compromise deal agreed by Parliament will have "no legitimacy if it is not confirmed by the public".

As the political declaration is not legally binding, and with Mrs May having promised to stand down once a Brexit deal is passed, the letter points out that "any future Tory prime minister could simply rip up" assurances given to Labour over future relations with the EU.

However, a letter signed by 25 Labour MPs on Thursday argued against another public vote.

They warned it would "divide the country further and add uncertainty for business" and could be "exploited by the far-right, damage the trust of many core Labour voters and reduce our chances of winning a general election".

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https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-47842572

2019-04-07 01:25:21Z
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Israel PM vows to annex West Bank settlements if re-elected - BBC News

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will annex Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank if he is re-elected.

Israelis go to the polls on Tuesday and Mr Netanyahu is competing for votes with right-wing parties who support annexing part of the West Bank.

The settlements are illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.

Last month the US recognised the occupied Golan Heights, seized from Syria in 1967, as Israeli territory.

Israel has settled about 400,000 Jews in West Bank settlements, with another 200,000 living in East Jerusalem. There are about 2.5 million Palestinians living in the West Bank.

Palestinians want to establish a state in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

What happens to the settlements is one of the most contentious issues between Israel and the Palestinians - Palestinians say the presence of settlements make a future independent state impossible.

Israel says the Palestinians are using the issue of settlements as a pretext to avoid direct peace talks. It says settlements are not a genuine obstacle to peace and are negotiable.

What exactly did Netanyahu say?

He was asked during an interview on Israeli TV why he had not extended Israeli sovereignty to large settlements in the West Bank.

"You are asking whether we are moving on to the next stage - the answer is yes, we will move to the next stage," he said.

"I am going to extend [Israeli] sovereignty and I don't distinguish between settlement blocs and the isolated settlements."

A spokesman for Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas told Reuters: "Any measures and any announcements will not change the facts. Settlements are illegal and they will be removed."

Potentially explosive comments

By Sebastian Usher, BBC Arab affairs editor

These comments by Benjamin Netanyahu are potentially explosive over an issue that has helped stall peace efforts for years.

They will resonate with several parties with which he'll try to form a coalition government if he wins the biggest share of votes.

But the very idea of annexation will rouse new Palestinian fury, as well as international condemnation.

Mr Netanyahu may have been emboldened by the Trump administration, which just last month recognised Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

What is the political background?

Mr Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party is in a tight race with the new centre-right Blue and White alliance.

However other parties, some of which support annexation, could end up being kingmakers when they try to form a governing coalition.

In Mr Netanyahu's own Likud party, 28 out of the 29 lawmakers running for re-election are on record as supporting this approach. Until now the prime minister was the only exception.

What is the situation of peace negotiations?

Mr Trump's administration is preparing to unveil a long-awaited Middle East peace plan, which US officials say will be fair.

However the Trump administration has carried out a series of actions that have inflamed Palestinian opinion and generally pleased Israel.

In 2017 Mr Trump announced that the US recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital, overturning decades of official US policy.

In response Mr Abbas cut off relations with the US, saying the US could no longer be a peace broker.

Last year the US stopped contributing to the UN Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa), which has been looking after Palestinian refugees since 1949.

Last month President Trump officially recognised Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights.

Peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians have been at a standstill since 2014, when a US-brokered attempt to reach a deal collapsed.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-47840033

2019-04-06 21:35:16Z
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GNA head accuses Haftar of 'betrayal', vows to end Tripoli push - Aljazeera.com

The head of Libya's internationally recognised government has accused renegade General Khalifa Haftar of "betraying" him after the latter launched a military offensive aimed at capturing the capital, Tripoli, in a showdown that has sparked fears of a renewed war.

In a televised speech on Saturday, Fayez al-Sarraj said Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) would meet firm resistance from forces loyal to his United Nations-backed Government of National Accord (GNA). 

"We have extended our hands towards peace but after the aggression that has taken place on the part of forces belonging to Haftar and his declaration of war against our cities and our capital ... he will find nothing but strength and firmness," Sarraj said.

Sarraj and Haftar held talks in Abu Dhabi in late February, their first confirmed meeting since November 2018, during which they agreed that national elections were necessary, according to the UN.

"They also agreed on ways to maintain stability in the country and unify its institutions," the UN Libya mission said in a Twitter post after the Abu Dhabi meeting. 

Battle for airport

The GNA controls Tripoli, situated in northwestern Libya, while the LNA is allied to a parallel administration based in the east of the oil-rich country, which splintered into a patchwork of competing power bases following the overthrow of former leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Clashes between the rival forces escalated on Saturday, two days after Haftar ordered his eastern forces to storm their way into the capital, with fighting erupting in several areas on the southern outskirts of Tripoli.

Al Jazeera's Mahmoud Abdelwahed, reporting from the capital, said the city's disused international airport and a clutch of other nearby neighbourhoods on Saturday witnessed "military deployments and sporadic fighting".

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GNA officials told Al Jazeera they had taken "full control" of the airport just hours after the LNA said in a statement they were carrying out an operation to secure the site, which sits some 30km south of Tripoli.

The facility has been abandoned since 2014, after suffering extensive damage during heavy fighting between rival armed groups.

Its fall would be a largely symbolic development, even though the LNA said they planned to use the airport as a launching point for missions aimed at seizing key sites within the capital.

Pro-GNA forces have also amassed in the outskirts of city in a bid to push back the LNA offensive, including truckloads of fighters from different powerful militias arriving from Misrata.

"We are getting reports from the eastern outskirts of Tripoli saying that more military units and detachments from Misrata are joining the battle, moving towards the southern outskirts of Tripoli," Abdelwahed said.

In response to Haftar's drive, the GNA has also authorised air attacks against "any military activities by [LNA] forces trying to enter the capital", Abdelwahed said.

Haftar's spokesman, Ahmed al-Mesmari, said the LNA was targeted by four air raids on Saturday, including one in the al-Aziziya region, which sits about 50km south of Tripoli.

"Any fighter jet flying over Tripoli will not be allowed and will be targeted, the air base it came from will also be targeted," Mesmari said. He added that no LNA troops were wounded in the air raids.

UN, world leaders call for de-escalation

Amid growing alarm, human rights groups and a chorus of international powers called for a cessation of all hostilities, warning that civilians could suffer possible abuses if the fighting escalated.

Such a flare-up also threatens to torpedo a UN-led national reconcilation conference scheduled for next weekend aiming to hammer out a plan for the elections.

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The UN envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salame, who met Sarraj on Saturday, said he was determined that the conference scheduled for April 14-16 would be held on time.

In his televised address, Sarraj said that the reconciliation meeting offered the only way out of the country's political crisis, Abdelwahed said.

He added that said Sarraj had called on the international community to differentiate between "aggressors and those who are defending themselves, between those who want a military country and those who want civilian rule".

Haftar, who casts himself as a foe of "extremism" but is viewed by opponents as a new authoritarian leader in the mould of Gaddafi, has vowed to continue his offensive until Libya is "cleansed" of "terrorism".

Activisits accuse Haftar's forces of committing human rights violations, with Human Rights Watch saying in a statement on Saturday that LNA fighters "have a well-documented record of indiscriminate attacks on civilians, summary executions of captured fighters, and arbitrary detention".

But the right group's statement also noted that militias affiliated with the GNA and based in western Libya "also have a record of abuses against civilians".

The warning came after the G7 - a bloc comprised of the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom - and the UN Security Council called on Friday in separate statements for all parties to the conflict in Libya to end military activities.

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https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/04/gna-head-accuses-haftar-betrayal-vows-tripoli-push-190406195133847.html

2019-04-06 21:19:00Z
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Mummified Mice And Falcons Found In Newly Unveiled Egyptian Tomb - NPR

An archeologist holds an ancient mummified bird that was found in a burial site unveiled on Friday. Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters hide caption

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Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters

The recent discovery of mummified cats in a well-preserved tomb probably shouldn't be surprising. It's a long-established fact that ancient Egyptians loved cats.

What's perhaps more remarkable, however, is the fact that a tomb unveiled on Friday contained a sort of mummified menagerie of 50 animals — and there were mummified mice and falcons in addition to the cats.

The Tomb of Tutu in Sohag contained mummified mice and falcons. Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters hide caption

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Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters

The tomb is colorfully painted and well-preserved — and Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, called it "one of the most exciting discoveries ever in the area."

Waziri told Reuters the tomb contains a lobby and a burial room with two stone coffins. It is said to have been built for a man named Tutu and his wife. The area outside the burial chamber also contained mummies of a woman and a boy between 12 and 14 years old.

The newly discovered site also contains well-preserved wall paintings. On the walls of the tomb are depicted funeral processions; images of the owner, Tutu; and his family genealogy. Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters hide caption

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Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters

This animal-filled tomb is part of a series of recent archaeological discoveries in Egypt. According to Reuters, the tomb was one of seven burial sites found near the Egyptian town of Sohag last October. Smugglers had been illegally digging for artifacts in the area.

Another tomb was unveiled in Saqqara, outside of Cairo, in December. Dozens of cat mummies and 100 cat statues were also found in Saqqara in November. February 2018 saw the unveiling of another 4,400-year-old tomb.

As NPR's Laurel Wamsley reported, the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities sees the announcement of new discoveries as a way to attract tourists.

Tourism in Egypt slowed for years after the 2011 revolution. In December, The Associated Press reported that the industry has yet to recover, even though visits are gradually increasing. A new Grand Egyptian Museum, a project costing more than $1 billion and financed largely by Japan, is set to open in 2020.

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https://www.npr.org/2019/04/06/710634646/mummified-mice-and-falcons-found-in-newly-unveiled-egyptian-tomb

2019-04-06 19:20:00Z
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Israel's Netanyahu says he plans to annex settlements in West Bank - Reuters

FILE PHOTO: A general view picture shows houses in the Israeli settlement of Maale Adumim, in the occupied West Bank February 15, 2017. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday he would annex settlements in the occupied West Bank if he wins another term in office in a vote on Tuesday, a late pre-election promise that would enrage Palestinians and the Arab world.

In an interview to Israeli Channel 12 News, Netanyahu was asked why he hadn’t extended Israeli sovereignty to large West Bank settlements, as it has done in East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, other territory seized in the 1967 Middle East war.

“Who says that we won’t do it? We are on the way and we are discussing it,” Netanyahu said. “You are asking whether we are moving on to the next stage - the answer is yes, we will move to the next stage. I am going to extend (Israeli) sovereignty and I don’t distinguish between settlement blocs and the isolated settlements.”

Palestinian officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

The Palestinians want to establish a state in the occupied West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. Some 500,000 Israelis live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, areas that are also home to more than 2.6 million Palestinians. Israel pulled out of Gaza in 2005.

Some of the parties Netanyahu said he would seek to include in a coalition government if he wins the election advocate annexing parts of the West Bank. Netanyahu is competing with those parties for pro-settler voters in the April 9 election. His comments are likely to appeal to such voters, who object to ceding lands to the Palestinians.

Settlements are one of the most heated issues in efforts to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, frozen since 2014.

Most countries consider settlements that Israel has built in territory captured in the 1967 war to be illegal. Israel disputes this citing historical ties, and says the future of the land should be determined in peace talks with the Palestinians.

The United States broke with decades of international consensus last month by recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, territory Israel captured from Syria.

Reporting by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Peter Graff

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https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-settlements/israels-netanyahu-says-he-plans-to-annex-settlements-in-west-bank-idUSKCN1RI0JY

2019-04-06 17:53:00Z
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U.N. Urges An End To Fighting In Libya As Opposition Army Heads Toward Tripoli - NPR

Gen. Khalifa Hafter is Libya's former top army chief. He now leads the Libyan National Army, which is advancing toward the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli. Mohammed El-Sheikhy/AP hide caption

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Mohammed El-Sheikhy/AP

International concern is mounting over the situation in Libya. The Libyan National Army, led by Khalifa Haftar, says it has now advanced into the southern outskirts of the capital Tripoli, where the U.N.-backed government is located.

G7 foreign ministers have urged an end to the fighting. "We urge all involved parties to immediately halt all military activity and movements toward Tripoli," the body, which is composed of the foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S. wrote in a statement.

The U.N. Security Council, which met behind closed doors on Friday, has also called on Libyan National Army forces to cease their advances.

The fear, according to The Associated Press, is that the Libyan National Army's advances toward the capitol could lead to "a major showdown with rival militias." Both the Libyan National Army and the U.N.-backed government have various militias supporting them.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres left Libya on Friday. He met with Gen. Haftar and then told journalists he was leaving Libya "with a deep concern and a heavy heart." Guterres has insisted that Libya needs a political solution, not a military one, and said the U.N. is available to facilitate a peace process.

Libya has been extremely unstable since NATO-backed forces deposed its former dictator Moammar Ghadafi in 2011.

In a 2016 interview with Fox News, former President Barack Obama called his handling of the aftermath of that revolution the worst mistake of his presidency. Obama has said the U.S. should have done more to fill the vacuum left by Ghadafi.

By 2014, Libya had devolved into a civil war, and ISIS had become increasingly influential there. According to Reuters, the U.S. provided air support to Libyan forces fighting ISIS in 2016 and continued to launch strikes on suspected militants there after the end of that campaign.

A study conducted by the New America Foundation found that at least 2,158 airstrikes and drone strikes were conducted by foreign and domestic powers in Libya between September 2012 and June 2018. According to the study's estimates, between 242 and 395 civilians were killed in the strikes, and between 324 and 524 were wounded.

New America found that the Libyan National Army, led by Haftar, conducted 1,112 of those airstrikes. The United States conducted 524 of them.

In addition to political and military chaos in Libya, there have also been reports of gross human rights violations there. Last year, the United Nations human rights office found that the country contained "open slave markets" where migrants were bought and sold. According to Reuters, various armed groups control many of the country's ports and beaches.

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https://www.npr.org/2019/04/06/710619355/u-n-urges-an-end-to-fighting-in-libya-as-opposition-army-heads-toward-tripoli

2019-04-06 17:31:00Z
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Libya crisis: Fighting flares on outskirts of Tripoli - BBC News

Fresh fighting has flared near the Libyan capital, Tripoli, between pro-government forces and rebel fighters from the east of the country.

Reports say clashes between Gen Khalifa Haftar's rebels and pro-government groups are taking place in three suburbs to the south of the city.

Tripoli is the base of the UN-backed, internationally recognised government.

The UN's Libya envoy has insisted that a planned conference on possible new elections will still go ahead.

UN troops in the capital have been placed on high alert.

Libya has been torn by violence and political instability since long-time ruler Muammar Gaddafi was deposed and killed in 2011.

What's happening on the ground?

General Haftar - who was appointed chief of the Libyan National Army (LNA) under an earlier UN-backed administration - ordered his forces to advance on Tripoli on Thursday, as UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was in the city to discuss the ongoing crisis.

The Libyan air force, which is nominally under government control, targeted an area 50km (30 miles) south of the capital on Saturday morning.

It is unclear if there were casualties but the LNA has vowed to retaliate.

Fighting has taken place in several areas, including near the disused international airport south of Tripoli.

Gen Haftar spoke to Mr Guterres in Benghazi on Friday, and reportedly told him that his operation would not stop until his troops had defeated "terrorism".

Tripoli residents have begun stocking up on food and fuel, AFP reported.

LNA troops seized the south of Libya and its oil fields earlier this year.

What's been the reaction?

The G7 group of major industrial nations has urged all parties "to immediately halt all military activity". The UN Security council has issued a similar call.

Russia has also called on parties in the escalating conflict to find an agreement.

Speaking in Egypt, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov also warned against what he called foreign meddling in Libya.

Russia and Egypt have provided support to Gen Haftar.

UN envoy Ghassan Salame said on Saturday that the conference planned for 14-16 April would still be held in time, despite the escalation - "unless compelling circumstances force us not to".

Hope dashed for a political resolution?

By Sebastian Usher, BBC Arab affairs editor

It's still unclear how much this is a show of force to bolster Gen Haftar's position or a genuine effort to seize Tripoli.

He returned during the revolution and he's subsequently become the most powerful military leader in a country rife with militias, allied to a rival government in the east.

Despite the chorus of international concern over his actions, he has had support from powerful outside players, including the UAE and Egypt.

Efforts towards a political resolution for Libya have foundered time after time. The most recent hopes may once again have been dashed.

Who is Khalifa Haftar?

Born in 1943, the former army officer helped Colonel Muammar Gaddafi seize power in 1969 before falling out with him and going into exile in the US. He returned in 2011 after the uprising against Gaddafi began and became a rebel commander.

In December Haftar met Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj from the UN-backed government at a conference but refused to attend official talks.

He visited Saudi Arabia last week, where he met King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for talks.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-47840031

2019-04-06 16:02:53Z
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