Europe

Xing Er and Mao Er, two giant pandas from China, are unloaded from a cargo plane at Kastrup airport in Copenhagen, Denmark, on April 4, 2019.

After arriving in Copenhagen on Thursday, the pair of giant pandas Xing Er, a 5-year-old male, and Mao Er, a 4-year-old female, will head to their new home in Copenhagen Zoo for collaborative research.

They will live in Denmark for 15 years, according to the agreement signed between the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens and the zoo in 2017. (Xinhua/Li Pengfei)

LONDON, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Prime Minister Theresa May's plea Friday to European Council President Donald Tusk to delay Britain's departure from the EU until June 30 came as talks between the ruling Conservative government and Labour opposition entered their third day.

May's de facto Deputy Prime Minister David Lidington and Labour's shadow Brexit Secretary Keir Starmer, along with their negotiating teams, have yet to find a breakthrough to end a parliamentary impasse over a new deal with the EU.

5 Apr 2019; DW: The Supreme Court in Zagreb on Thursday increased former prime minister Ivo Sanader's jail term from four-and-a-half to six years for taking more than €2 million ($2.2 million) in kickbacks from a real estate deal while he was in power from 2003 to 2009.

Sanader was also told by the court to return more than €2 million in gains from corruption.

He was taken away by police to start his term in Remetinac prison.

5 Apr 2019; DW: British Prime Minister Theresa May has asked the European Union to extend the UK's divorce date from the bloc until June 30, according to a letter to European Council President Donald Tusk that was sent on Friday.

May has already secured one Brexit delay — currently slated for April 12 — to buy time to gain support for her Withdrawal Agreement, which British lawmakers have now rejected three times.

What May wrote in her letter to the EU:

LONDON, April 3. /TASS/. The UK’s Typhoon aircraft were scrambled on Wednesday from RAF Lossiemouth airbase in Scotland to monitor two Russian bombers that were in the UK area of interest, a Royal Air Force spokesman told TASS.

"We can confirm that RAF quick reaction alert Typhoon aircraft from RAF Lossiemouth scrambled to monitor two Blackjack bombers [NATO’s classification for the Tupolev Tu-160 long-range bomber - TASS] while they were in the UK area of interest. At no point did the Russian aircraft enter UK territorial airspace," he said.

KIEV, April 4. /TASS/. Servant of the People Party’s presidential candidate Vladimir Zelensky believes that if he becomes the head of state, he could be victorious in the Donbass conflict. To that end, he is willing to try every means possible.

"It is impossible to stop the war," he said to the Radio Liberty journalists. "You either win or lose the war. And we can win by means of diplomacy, economic growth and reinforcing the army."

MOSCOW, April 4. /TASS/. Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney will visit Moscow on April 10-11 and hold talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Thursday.

MOSCOW, April 4. /TASS/. The US is looking for excuses to undermine relations with Iran by claiming Iran’s involvement in the death of around 600 US troops in Iraq, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated during Thursday’s briefing.

MOSCOW, April 5. /TASS/. Russia’s Embassy in Lithuania views a sentence to Lithuanian citizen Roman Sesel accused of spying for Russia as part of Vilnius’ course on whipping up spy hysteria, the diplomatic mission said in a comment on its website.

MOSCOW, April 5. /TASS/. Moscow hopes that a military scenario won’t be implemented in Libya and the crisis will be ironed out by a political and diplomatic means, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

"We hope this scenario won’t be fulfilled," the diplomat stressed. "We believe that the crisis will be sorted out by a political and diplomatic means. We have been making every effort for this over the past several years," she noted.