Page 8 - ARUBA TODAY

A8 WORLD NEWS
Friday 2 March 2018
Ex-Catalan leader Puigdemont withdraws bid to regain power

MADRID (AP) — Catalonia's can find another candi- repeatedly blocked the Spain's Constitutional Court announcement did little to
fugitive ex-leader dropped date to form a regional region's secession attempts that he can't take office increase the chances of
a political bombshell Thurs- government that presses and used the courts and because he is not in Spain. ending the stalemate.
day, unexpectedly an- ahead with deadlocked ef- police to crack down on Puigdemont suggested The confrontation in recent
nouncing that he is tem- forts to win independence. separatists. the Catalan parliament months prompted the na-
porarily withdrawing his bid Puigdemont is a charis- Catalonia's future has been pick Jordi Sanchez, a po- tional government to im-
to get back his old job as matic leader of the inde- deadlocked since defiant litical ally in the secession pose direct rule over Cata-
president of the indepen- pendence movement and secessionists gained a slim bid who is currently in jail in lonia from Madrid.
dence-minded northeast- is the preferred candidate majority in the Catalan Madrid while a court mulls The Supreme Court is look-
ern Spanish region. of most Catalan secession- parliament in December's formal charges against ing into whether two dozen
Carles Puigdemont said in ists to head the regional regional election. him, as president. But the Catalan separatists — in-
a video message posted government. By escaping Separatist parties in the re- Spanish government says it cluding Sanchez — should
from Brussels, where he fled to Belgium, he was widely gional parliament insisted will not allow anybody fac- be charged for rebellion
to escape arrest in Spain, seen in Catalonia as hav- earlier Thursday that Puig- ing legal action over seces- and sedition, which can be
that he is standing aside ing outsmarted the nation- demont is their legitimate sion to become Catalan punished with decades in
so the Catalan parliament al government, which has leader despite a ruling by president, so Puigdemont's prison.q
May and Tusk meet as UK and EU differ on Irish border, trade

By JILL LAWLESS will enable us to begin
LORNE COOK building an ambitious fu-
Associated Press ture partnership based on
LONDON (AP) — Britain the foundation of realism,"
urged the European Union he told a business gather-
to be constructive and the ing in Brussels.
EU told the U.K. to get real- British aims have been left
istic, as the divorcing part- vague so far — more than
ners differed Thursday over 18 months after the coun-
the Irish border and their try voted to leave the EU
post-Brexit economic rela- — because May's Conser-
tionship. vative government is di-
Conservative British Prime vided. Some ministers want
Minister Theresa May met a clean break with the EU,
European Council President while others hope to retain
Donald Tusk at 10 Downing close economic alignment
St. in London, a day before with the bloc to cushion the
the British leader makes a shock of Brexit.
speech she said will outline British ambiguity collided
"our proposals for the future this week with the hard
economic partnership" with Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May meets EU Council President Donald Tusk at 10 Downing Street problem of the border be-
in London, Thursday, March 1, 2018.
the EU. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, pool) tween Northern Ireland and
In a statement after her the Irish Republic, which will
meeting with Tusk, May's But Tusk and other top EU lines," which include leav- Chief EU negotiator Michel be the only land frontier
office said she "hoped that officials have expressed ing the EU's single market Barnier said Thursday that between the U.K. and the
European leaders would increasing frustration with and customs union. British officials should stop EU after Brexit.
engage with this thinking Britain's stance, which The U.K. is due to leave the pretending "that the U.K. Britain and the bloc agreed
constructively." many in the bloc see as EU in March 2019, but the could obtain a free trade in December that there
Downing St. characterized vague and unrealistic. Tusk two sides have yet to ne- deal with the EU with all the would be no customs posts
the meeting, over a lunch said as the meeting started gotiate new arrangements benefits of the single mar- or other impediments along
of poached lemon sole, as that he was "not happy" for trade, security, aviation ket without the obligations." the all-but-invisible border.
"positive and constructive." with May's negotiating "red and a host of other fields. "Abandoning such ideas q

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen charged over IS photos

PARIS (AP) — French pros- 75,000-euro ($90,000) fine. said she would consider a cases targeting Le Pen or apparent effort to distance
ecutors filed preliminary Le Pen’s December 2015 potential conviction as a the National Front. it from past problems and
charges Thursday against tweets showed executions “medal of patriotism and In one high-profile investi- stigma. The party could
Marine Le Pen for tweet- by IS extremists, including defense of the French gation, she and the party also end the honorary pres-
ing brutal images of Islamic the killing of American re- people.” The preliminary have to respond to charg- idency of Le Pen’s father
State violence. porter James Foley. She charges were made pos- es over the misuse of Eu- and National Front founder
The prosecutor’s office in posted them in the wake sible after the French par- ropean funds. She denies Jean-Marie Le Pen, as part
the Paris suburb of Nan- of the November 2015 IS at- liament lifted her immunity wrongdoing. of a protracted family feud.
terre said the charges tacks on Paris, accusing the from prosecution in the Le Pen, who was a distant Marine Le Pen’s French-
were issued for “distribution government of not doing case late last year. runner-up to Emmanuel first, Islam-skeptic national-
of violent images.” If the enough to protect France. Lawyer Rodolphe Bosselut, Macron in last year’s presi- ism resonated widely in the
case eventually reaches Le Pen told BFM television representing Le Pen in the dential run-off, plans to wake of Donald Trump’s
trial and she’s convicted, Thursday “it’s clearly aimed case, confirmed the charg- propose a new name for election and Britain’s vote
Le Pen could face up to at silencing me. Yet I will es but wouldn’t comment. the National Front at a con- to leave the European
three years in prison and a not be silenced”. Le Pen It’s one of multiple legal gress later this month, in an Union.q