Page 8 - AT

A8 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 29 OcTOber 2019
EU delays Brexit to Jan. 31; Johnson election bid fails

Associated Press have no discretion . to do
LONDON (AP) — Britain got anything other than con-
Brexit breathing space but firm the U.K.'s formal agree-
no clarity on Monday when ment to this extension."
the European Union grant- But he called the delay
ed a three-month delay to "unwanted" and said it was
the U.K.'s departure from "imposed on this govern-
the bloc, postponing it until ment against its will."
Jan. 31. Johnson urged the 27 other
British politicians immedi- EU countries "to make clear
ately began using the extra that a further extension af-
time to do what they have ter 31 January is not pos-
done for more than three sible."
years: bicker about Brexit. Johnson took office in
Prime Minister Boris Johnson July vowing to "get Brexit
pushed for an early elec- done" after his predeces-
tion as a way of breaking sor, Theresa May, resigned
the political deadlock over in defeat. Parliament had
the country's stalled depar- rejected her divorce deal
ture from the EU, only to be with the bloc three times,
rebuffed by lawmakers. and the EU had delayed
Legislators voted by 299- Britain's scheduled March
70 for Johnson's motion to 29 departure, first to April,
hold a Dec. 12 election — and then to October.
short of the two-thirds ma- Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks to lawmakers during the election debate in the House Johnson has faced similar
jority of the 650 members of of Commons, London, Monday Oct. 28, 2019. political gridlock, as Parlia-
Parliament needed for it to Associated Press ment blocked his attempt
pass. to push through his Brexit
Still, an election appears his opponents of betraying ever to leave the 28-nation endum to leave the bloc. deal before the October
inevitable well before the voters' decision to leave bloc. The decision was wel- deadline and made him
next scheduled one in the EU by thwarting the After a short meeting of comed by politicians in the ask the EU for more time.
2022 if Britain is to move on government's Brexit plans. diplomats in Brussels, Eu- U.K. and the EU as a tem- Johnson hopes voters will
from the stasis caused by a He said that unless there ropean Council President porary respite from Brexit give his Conservative Par-
prime minister who vowed was an election, the gov- Donald Tusk tweeted that anxiety — but not by John- ty a majority if there is an
to deliver Brexit "do or die" ernment would be "like the EU's 27 other countries son, who said just weeks election, so that he can
and a Parliament that has Charlie Brown, endlessly would accept the U.K.'s re- ago that he would "rather push through the divorce
repeatedly thwarted him. running up to kick the ball quest for a "flextension." Un- be dead in a ditch" than deal he struck with the EU
Johnson said he would try only to have Parliament der the terms of the agree- postpone the U.K.'s leaving and — finally — take Britain
again Tuesday, using a dif- whisk it away." ment, the U.K. can leave date past Oct. 31. out of the bloc.
ferent procedure: a bill, "We cannot continue with before Jan. 31 — on Dec. In the end, the choice was Opposition parties also
which only needs a simple this endless delay." 1 or Jan 1 — if the British not in his hands. The U.K. want an election, though
majority to pass. Yet further delay stretched and European parliaments Parliament forced Johnson not on Johnson's terms.
"We will not allow this pa- ahead after the EU agreed both ratify a Brexit divorce to ask for a delay to avoid Kirsty Blackman of the Scot-
ralysis to continue, and one to postpone Brexit until Jan. agreement. a no-deal Brexit, which tish National Party said her
way or another we must 31, acting to avert a chaot- It's the third time the would hurt the economies party favored a slightly ear-
proceed straight to an ic U.K. departure just three Brexit deadline has been of both Britain and the EU. lier Dec. 9 vote and "we
election," Johnson said. days before Britain was due changed since British vot- In a letter to Tusk, Johnson will not be dancing to Boris
Earlier, he had accused to become the first country ers decided in a 2016 refer- said that under U.K. law "I Johnson's tune on this."q

Libya coast guard intercepts dozens of Europe-bound migrants

CAIRO (AP) — Libya's coast Libya has emerged as a Alan Kurdi and the mi-
guard said Monday it inter- major transit point for mi- grants it was rescuing on
cepted dozens of Europe- grants fleeing war and pov- Saturday, firing shots into
bound migrants off the erty to Europe. In recent the air and water.
country's Mediterranean years, the EU has partnered The group's spokesman
coast the previous day. with Libya's coast guard Gorden Isler told The Associ-
A rubber boat with 53 Afri- and other local groups to ated Press that the incident
can migrants, including 14 stem the dangerous sea shocked the rescue crew
women and two children, crossings. but that they managed to
was stopped off Libya's Rights groups, however, bring all the roughly 90 mi-
western town of Abu-Kem- say those policies leave grants on board.
mash, about 25 kilome- migrants at the mercy of The gunmen on the speed-
ters (15.5 miles) from Tuni- armed groups or confined boats fired "warning shots"
sia, said the coast guard in squalid detention cen- and pointed mounted guns
spokesman, Ayoub Gassim. ters rife with abuses. at the rescuers and the mi-
The migrants were returned The humanitarian aid group grants, some of whom had
to shore late on Sunday Sea-Eye has said that gun- jumped into the water, be-
In this photo taken on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2019, migrants stand on and taken to a detention men on Libya-flagged fore pulling away. The ship
a dinghy boat off the coast of Libya. center in the capital, Tripoli, speedboats threatened later headed north, toward
Associated Press he added. the crew of its rescue ship Europe, Islaer added.q