Page 8 - ARUBA TODAY

A8 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 8 June 2017
French president Macron creates new counterterrorism unit

By SYLVIE CORBET police officer in front of The unit, composed of have denounced a lack out an attack. It will also fo-
Associated Press Notre Dame Cathedral in about 20 people, will su- of coordination between cus on the issue of French
PARIS (AP) — French Presi- Paris. pervise all counterterrorism foreign and domestic intel- citizens who joined the Is-
dent Emmanuel Macron The “national center of efforts. ligence services. lamic State group in Syria
held a special meeting counterterrorism” was for- It will be based at the Ely- A top official at the French and Iraq before trying to
Wednesday to create a mally presented Wednes- see, will operate 24 hours presidency said the new come back to national ter-
new counterterrorism unit day during a defense a day and will act directly unit will notably determine ritory.
to improve intelligence- council at the Elysee pal- under the president’s au- strategies to fight against The official spoke anony-
sharing and elaborate se- ace, in the presence of thority — an unprecedent- radicalization on the inter- mously in line with the
curity strategies, one day government members and ed situation in the coun- net and diffusion online of presidency’s customary
after a man attacked a top security officials. try, where some observers instructions on how to carry practice.q
UK contenders trade blows on last day of election campaign

By JILL LAWLESS of a Tory government, un-
Associated Press derfunding of services all
LONDON (AP) — After a across the UK ... or a Labour
seven-week election cam- government that invests for
paign that veered from the all, all across Britain.”
boredom of staged sound- The deadly attacks in Man-
bites to the trauma of two chester on May 22 and
deadly attacks, Britain’s London on Saturday twice
political leaders asked vot- brought the campaign to
ers Wednesday to choose: a temporary halt — and
Who is best to keep the U.K. put the threat from inter-
safe and lead it out of the national terrorism front and
European Union? center.
Conservative Prime Minister As May vowed to bring in
Theresa May and opposi- new anti-terror measures,
tion Labour Party leader Corbyn criticized cuts to
Jeremy Corbyn crisscrossed the police under the Con-
the country on the final day servatives, which saw the
of campaigning, trying to number of officers plum-
woo voters with rival plans met by almost 20,000 be-
for Brexit, building a fairer tween 2010 and 2016.
society and combating a May responded by assail-
terrorist threat made all too ing Corbyn’s security re-
immediate by attacks in Britain’s Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn waves at an election event on the Promenade in cord. He opposed British
Manchester and London. Colwyn Bay, Wales, Wednesday June 7, 2017, ahead of the general election on Thursday. military interventions in Af-
May promised to crack (Peter Byrne/PA via AP) ghanistan, Iraq and Libya,
down on extremism if she rights and our democracy,” strengthen Britain’s hand in poor, then by the attacks in wants to scrap Britain’s nu-
wins Thursday’s vote — he said. divorce talks with the Euro- Manchester and London. clear arsenal and shared
even if that means water- Polls will be open Thurs- pean Union. Regarding the former, a platforms with Irish republi-
ing down human rights day from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. “Get those negotiations Conservative victory would cans in the years when the
legislation. “We are seeing (0600GMT to 2100GMT), wrong and the conse- mean continued cuts to IRA was setting off bombs
the terrorist threat chang- with all 650 seats in the quences will be dire,” she public spending in a bid to in Britain.
ing, we are seeing it evolve House of Commons up for warned Wednesday. reduce the nation’s deficit; Conservative-supporting
and we need to respond to grabs. A party needs to win Brexit negotiations will take Labour says it will pump mil- newspapers went on the
that,” May said. 326 seats to form a majority up much of the incoming lions more into education attack against Corbyn on
Corbyn argued that the government. government’s time over the and health care and raise Wednesday. The Daily Mail
real danger comes from May called the snap elec- next two years. But it has income tax on the highest branded him and senior
Conservative cuts to police tion — three years early — taken a back seat in the earners. colleagues “apologists for
budgets. in a bid to boost the Con- election — initially to de- Corbyn said Thursday’s vote terror,” while the Daily Ex-
“We won’t defeat terror- servative majority in Parlia- bates about how to narrow offered a clear choice be- press exhorted: “Vote May
ists by ripping up our basic ment, which she says will the gap between rich and tween “another five years or we face disaster.”q
Russia denies reports of hacking Qatar’s state news agency

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian another fake, another lie.” mined its reputation as an tar and Saudi Arabia — a region ignored Qatar’s de-
officials on Wednesday Saudi Arabia, United Arab independent and objec- Middle East heavyweight nial and continued to re-
angrily rejected allega- Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt tive media outlet.” — bubbled to the surface port the comments. Saudi
tions that Russian hackers and Yemen cut diplomatic “CNN and some other me- two weeks ago when Qa- Arabia, the United Arab
breached Qatar’s state ties with the tiny Gulf state, dia sit and wait for any kind tar said its state-run news Emirates, Bahrain and
news agency and planted accusing Qatar of harbor- of scandal ... to automati- agency and its Twitter ac- Egypt blocked access to Al
a fake news story that led ing extremists and backing cally and without any evi- count were hacked to Jazeera and launched an
to a split between Qatar Saudi Arabia’s regional ri- dence blame it on Russia publish a fake story claim- aggressive campaign ac-
and the other Arab nations. val, Iran. Qatar has denied or Russian hackers,” he said ing the emir, Sheikh Tamim cusing Qatar of supporting
Dmitry Peskov, spokesman the allegations. at a news conference fol- bin Hamad Al Thani, had terrorist groups like al-Qa-
for President Vladimir Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Ser- lowing his talks with Span- called Iran “a regional and ida and the Islamic State,
on Wednesday dismissed gey Lavrov also dismissed ish Foreign Minister Alfonso Islamic power that cannot destabilizing the region
Tuesday’s CNN report con- CNN’s report on Tuesday, Dastis. be ignored.” and stabbing its allies in the
taining the claim as “yet saying it “further under- Tensions between Qa- State-linked media in the back.q