Europe

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday he hoped the British parliament would approve the new Brexit deal agreed between his government and the European Union so that Britain could exit the bloc on Oct. 31 with no more delay.

“I hope very much ... that my fellow MPs (lawmakers) in Westminster do now come together to get Brexit done, to get this excellent deal over the line and to deliver Brexit without any more delay,” Johnson said in a brief statement in Brussels.

17 Oct 2019; MEMO: At least 60 Israelis have been arrested in Europe on charges of smuggling large amounts of khat, local media revealed yesterday.

The Jerusalem Post reported that seven Israelis were arrested in France, three in Sweden, two in Spain and two in Ireland.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU leaders met for a two-day summit on Thursday and Friday, dominated by Brexit but also with other pressing issues including Turkey’s invasion of Syria, possible enlargement and the bloc’s budget.

The following are comments from the leaders and senior EU officials on their arrival.

SWEDEN PM STEFAN LOFVEN

“We have always supported an orderly exit.”

“We will continue the process with this deal.”

EUROPEAN COUNCIL PRESIDENT DONALD TUSK:

“A deal is always better than a no-deal.”

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Britain clinched a last-minute Brexit deal with the European Union on Thursday, but still faced a challenge in getting it approved by parliament.

“Where there is a will there is a deal - we have one. It’s a fair and balanced agreement for the EU and the UK and it is a testament to our commitment to find solutions,” European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said in a tweet a few hours before an EU summit in Brussels.

He said he would recommend that leaders of the other 27 member states approve the deal.

LONDON, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- London police officers do not sit on their hands in the face of hardened environmental protesters who reportedly had an intention to cause serious disruption over the past 10 days in the center of the British capital.

IMPORTANT VENUES TARGETED

Hundreds of protesters, organized by Extinction Rebellion, descended on Trafalgar Square again on Wednesday afternoon in defiance of a police "ban" on their "autumn uprising" protests in London.

BRUSSELS (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his 27 counterparts from across the European Union are converging on Brussels for a summit they hope will finally lay to rest the acrimony and frustration of a three-year divorce fight.

Yet high anxiety still reigned on Thursday morning with the last outstanding issues of the divorce papers still unclear and Johnson uncertain whether his allies at home will back the compromises he needs to make a deal.

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — Kate Nash says the time known as “The Troubles” never really ended in Northern Ireland.

While the 1998 Good Friday Agreement brought an era of relative peace and prosperity to the U.K. region, paramilitary groups still exist and lower levels of violence continue to plague the community, says the 70-year-old grandmother who lost a brother in the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre.

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Rioting raged in Barcelona and several other Catalan towns for a third straight night Wednesday, with police fighting running street battles with protesters angered by lengthy prison sentences for nine leaders of the wealthy region’s drive for independence from Spain.

Tens of thousands of protesters faced off against police in Barcelona. Some set up flaming barricades in the streets, torching cars and trash cans. They chanted, “The streets will always be ours!”

LONDON, Oct 16 (APP): The speakers including High Commissioner of Pakistan to the United Kingdom Mohammad Nafees Zakari and members of the British Parliament at a conference on Kashmir have called upon the international community and peace-loving nations, to put diplomatic pressure on India to implement the United Nations Security Council resolutions on Kashmir for ensuring lasting peace and prosperity in the region.

16 Oct 2019; MEMO: Russian President Vladimir Putin has described US President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan the “deal of the century” as “pretty vague”, news agencies reported.

Before leaving to the Saudi capital Riyadh, Putin said Russia “will support any deal that will bring peace,” stressing that any deal must first be understood.

America “has been pretty vague about the details of the deal,” he added.