UK Prime Minister Theresa May (left) and German Chancellor Angela Merkel (right)
A former senior British minister called on Monday for a second referendum to solve a parliamentary stalemate on Brexit, saying Prime Minister Theresa May's proposals for new ties with the European Union were a fudge that satisfied no one.
Justine Greening, an ex-Education Secretary who quit the government in January, said May's negotiating strategy would neither please those who wanted a clean break with the EU nor those who opposed Brexit altogether.
Hours before he was due to sit down for his first ever summit with Vladimir Putin, U.S. President Donald Trump blamed "U.S. foolishness" for bad relations between Washington and Moscow, while the Kremlin said it expected a tough meeting.Trump's comments show how much domestic political pressure he is under over the meeting in the Finnish capital Helsinki, while the Kremlin's low expectations reflect its belief that the fact the summit is even happening is a Russian win.Critics and his own advisers have urged Trump to use the summit to press Putin hard about election meddling and other "malign" activities. But hours before he was due to meet the Russian president, Trump focused his ire on his own country and the investigation into possible links between his 2016 campaign and Russia. The president has denied any collusion took place."Our relationship with Russia has NEVER been worse thanks to many years of U.S. foolishness and stupidity and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt!" wrote Trump on Twitter, referring to the investigation into possible collusion.During a breakfast meeting with Finland's president before the meeting with Putin in the Finnish capital, Trump appeared upbeat. Asked what he would say to Putin, Trump said: "We'll do just fine, thank you."Trump and his wife Melania returned to their hotel after the breakfast and were expected to remain there for a few hours before the afternoon summit. Putin was due in Helsinki around lunch time.The two leaders will first meet one-on-one with only their interpretors, followed by a working lunch accompanied by advisers, and a joint news conference.While Trump has been abroad since last week, the special prosecutor investigating allegations that Russia interfered to help him win the 2016 presidential election indicted 12 Russians on Friday for stealing Democratic Party documents.Trump's foes at home have been scathing about his apparent refusal to criticise Putin. His 2016 opponent Hillary Clinton tweeted: "Great World Cup. Question for President Trump as he meets Putin: Do you know which team you play for?"Neither side expects major breakthroughs from the talks and the outcome is uncertain given sharp differences between Washington and Moscow over everything from Syria to Ukraine.For Putin, the fact that the summit is even happening despite Russia's semi-pariah status among some Americans and U.S. allies is a geopolitical win because, in Russian eyes, it shows that Washington recognises Moscow as a great power that cannot be isolated or ignored.The Kremlin made clear beforehand it did not expect an easy meeting, taking Trump to task over his criticism of a planned Russian gas pipeline to Germany and suggesting it would be hard to find common ground on Syria because of differences over Iran.First StepRussia hoped however that the summit would be "the first step" in overcoming a crisis in relations, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russia's RT TV station. "Presidents Trump and Putin respect each other and they get along well. There is no clear agenda. It will be determined by the heads of state themselves as they go along."Trump wants Russia to help Moscow to use its influence in Syria, where it is backing President Bashar al-Assad militarily, to push Iranian and Iranian-allied forces out."Of course Syria will be discussed by the two presidents," said Peskov. "We all know what Washington thinks of Iran. But at the same time Iran is a good partner to us in terms of trade, economic cooperation and political dialogue. So this will not be an easy exchange of views."Trump has predicted he will be accused of being too soft on Putin no matter how the summit goes. "If I was given the great city of Moscow as retribution for all of the sins and evils committed by Russia...I would return to criticism that it wasn’t good enough – that I should have gotten Saint Petersburg in addition!" he tweeted on Sunday.He has said he will raise the issue of Russian election meddling, but does not expect to get anywhere.Beyond warm words, the summit could yield an agreement to begin repairing battered U.S.-Russia relations, and maybe a deal to start talks on issues such as nuclear arms control and Syria.The Helsinki summit is the capstone to a nearly week-long trip for Trump during which he has sown doubts about his commitment to the NATO military alliance, Washington's so-called special relationship with Britain and U.S. relations with the European Union that he called "a foe" on trade.China looks to get cozy with EU in annual talks as Trump tariffs biteKremlin takes Trump to task over his gas pipeline commentsTrump says Obama did nothing about Russian election meddling
Trump says US-Russia ties have 'never been worse'
"We'll be dragging Remain voters out of the EU for a deal that means still complying with many EU rules, but now with no say on shaping them," Greening wrote in the Times newspaper.
"It's not what they want, and on top of that when they hear that Leave voters are unhappy, they ask, 'What's the point?'. For Leavers, this deal simply does not deliver the proper break from the European Union that they wanted."
May has ruled out a rerun of the 2016 vote in which Britons voted 52-48 percent to leave the bloc.
The European Union will open an annual meeting with China on Monday, and will be looking to fend off overtures for an anti-U.S. alliance as China seeks a European counterbalance to U.S. tariffs.Premier Li Keqiang will host European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Beijing, where the two sides could reinvigorate long-running investment treaty talks with the expected exchange of markets access offers for the first time.The meeting is expected to produce a modest communique affirming the commitment of both sides to the multilateral trading system. Leaders failed to find sufficient consensus for such a joint statement after meetings in 2016 and 2017.Turkey's 2nd anniversary of coup attempt marked in USThis year's talks come with the United States and China increasingly mired in a trade dispute with no sign of negotiations on the horizon.U.S. President Donald Trump has warned he may ultimately impose tariffs on more than $500 billion worth of Chinese goods - nearly the total amount of U.S. imports from China last year.China has sworn to retaliate at each step.European envoys say they have sensed a greater urgency from China since last year to find like-minded countries willing to stand up against Trump's "America First" policies.Indonesian villagers kill nearly 300 crocodiles in revenge attackChina's ambassador to the European Union, Zhang Ming, said in a commentary in the ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily newspaper on Sunday that the focus of the meeting would be how China-EU relations could become a "standard of stability" amid the "din of unilateralism and protectionism".China and Europe are "two major forces of stability and responsibility" that support inclusive globalisation, Zhang said.But the world's largest trading bloc, while sharing Trump's concern over Chinese trade abuses if not his prescription of tariffs, has largely rebuffed efforts by China to pressure it into a strong stance against Trump.EU's Tusk calls on China, US, Russia not to start trade warsThere is deep scepticism in the EU about China's actual commitment to opening its market further, as well as concern that it seeks to divide the bloc with its economic influence in Eastern Europe.Nonetheless, European officials suggest that Trump, who has also targeted Europe with tariffs, has created a widow of opportunity to show that EU-China relations can be a bulwark for global trade.China and the EU are also expected to set up a working group on reforming the World Trade Organization during the talks.European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said on Friday that discussions with China would focus on "trade and investment, on the commitment to combating climate change and investing in clean energy and on foreign and security issues, including the situation on the Korean peninsula".Schinas said the two sides' leaders would also talk about their joint commitment to preserving the Iran nuclear deal.
China looks to get cozy with EU in annual talks as Trump tariffs bite
Her Brexit negotiating strategy, which aims for a close relationship with the EU after Britain leaves the bloc in March 2019, was only agreed with her cabinet earlier this month after two years of wrangling. Two senior ministers resigned in protest shortly afterwards.
May is now facing a possible rebellion from Brexit supporters in her Conservative Party who want her to ditch her plan when lawmakers vote on amendments to legislation on the government's post-Brexit customs regime on Monday.
However, she has told unhappy lawmakers that they needed to back her or risk there being no Brexit at all.
Thailand gave diplomatic immunity to three Australians who helped a boys' soccer team escape from a flooded cave, in case "something went wrong", its foreign minister said on Monday.The 12 boys of the "Wild Boars" soccer team and their coach are recovering from their ordeal and are to be discharged on Thursday from a hospital in the northern town of Chiang Rai.Dozens of foreign divers and rescue personnel joined the 17-day rescue that captivated people around the world.Thailand's cave boys to be discharged from hospital next weekBut immunity was granted only to Australian doctor Richard Harris and two medical assistants, said Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai."Doctor Richard Harris did his utmost on the medical mission he was responsible for, but if something went wrong he needed protection," he told Reuters."We provided this only to Dr. Richard Harris and two medical assistants. Only to the Australian medical team," he said."We knew there were risks involved in this mission...so there was an understanding reached between the Thai government and the Australian government," Don added.Thai soccer team planned to be inside the cave for only an hour"The Thai government would like to thank Dr. Harris."A spokeswoman for Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade declined to comment.The success was tinged with bitterness, however, as Harris learnt his father, Jim, died in Australia shortly after the three-day rescue was completed last week.Harris, an anaesthetist, went into the Tham Luang cave to assess the boys' health and was one of the last rescuers out of the cave after the boys, aged 11 to 16, and their 25-year-old coach were brought to safety.There have been reports the boys were sedated for their trip out through narrow, flooded passageways, though officials said only that some had been given medicine to calm their nerves.Make the most of your lives, rescued Thai cave boys toldThe soccer team was exploring the cave on June 23 when monsoon rains trapped them deep inside the 10-km (6-mile mile) cave complex.Thai navy SEALs and an international team of cave-diving experts played a key role in bringing them to safety.Thais have flooded social media with grateful messages for mission participants, including Harris and the only casualty, Samarn Kunan, 38, a former member of Thailand's elite SEALs unit.Samarn, who died after delivering oxygen tanks in the cave, was cremated on Saturday in a ceremony broadcast live on Thai television.The boys wiped away tears as they signed a portrait of Samarn, in photographs released by the hospital on Sunday.
Thailand gave diplomatic immunity to Australian medical team in cave rescue
Greening said that with divisions in the Conservatives and the opposition Labour Party over how to proceed with Brexit, there should be another vote, with the public able to choose between May's plans, a "no-deal" break with the EU or remaining in the bloc.
"The only solution is to take the final Brexit decision out of the hands of deadlocked politicians, away from the backroom deals, and give it back to the people," she said.