Page 12 - ARUBA TODAY

A12 WORLD NEWS
Monday 13 noveMber 2017

UK’s May under pressure from 2 sides as Brexit crunch looms

By JILL LAWLESS country by the time of the The government’s negotia-
Associated Press next election” in 2022, the tions with the EU have been
LONDON (AP) — British Mail on Sunday newspaper slowed by a lack of agree-
Prime Minister Theresa May reported. ment on the terms of the
is caught in a vise of pres- The note published by the U.K.’s withdrawal, including
sure from both sides of the newspaper accused some how much Britain must pay
Brexit debate as she tries to ministers of not preparing to meet its financial com-
get a key plank in the gov- for Brexit with “sufficient en- mitments to the bloc.
ernment’s plans for leaving ergy.” EU chief negotiator Michel
the EU through Parliament. May, weakened by the Barnier says there must be
The European Union (With- Conservatives’ poor show- major progress in the next
drawal) Bill returns this week ing in a snap June election, two weeks if EU leaders are
to the House of Commons, has little room to maneu- to agree at a December
where it will face a flurry ver. She relies on a small summit to move on to dis-
of amendments from law- Northern Ireland party to cussing trade and future
makers. In this file photo dated Friday, Oct. 27 2017, Britain’s Foreign prop up her minority gov- relations.
Secretary Boris Johnson gestures during a joint news conference
The bill is designed to pre- with Portuguese Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva following ernment and is caught be- U.K. Brexit Secretary David
vent a legal vacuum by their meeting at the Necessidades palace, the Portuguese tween warring factions in Davis said Sunday that Brit-
converting some 12,000 EU foreign ministry, in Lisbon. her Cabinet. ain is not about to commit
laws into British statute on Associated Press She also faces a sexual ha- to a firm figure for its Brexit
the day the U.K. leaves the ments to water down those not to give ground by com- rassment scandal involving bill.
bloc in 2019. powers. promising with the EU or a growing number of poli- “It’s taking time, and we
Legislators are scheduled And opponents of Brexit — with anti-Brexit lawmakers. ticians and the resignation will take our time to get to
to hold several days of both from the opposition Foreign Secretary Boris of two Cabinet ministers so the right answer” he told
debate and votes starting and from May’s Conser- Johnson and Environment far this month. Sky News.
Tuesday. vative Party — will seek to Secretary Michael Gove, Businesses, meanwhile, are Davis denied the talks had
But many lawmakers claim give Parliament a binding leading euroskeptics in clamoring for clarity on stalled and said,
the bill gives the govern- vote on the final divorce May’s Cabinet, warned the what the future relationship “There has actually been a
ment too much power to deal between Britain and prime minister in a note to between Britain and the huge amount of progress”
amend legislation without the EU. stand firm in the ambition bloc will be, as economists on what he called “the
parliamentary scrutiny. Meanwhile, supporters of of making Britain “a fully in- warn that the uncertainty is most complex negotiation
They will try to pass amend- Brexit are pressuring May dependent self-governing slowing Britain’s economy. probably in history.”q
Human rights group accuses

Guatemalan courts of delays

By SONIA PEREZ D. are undermining the anti- Roxana Baldetti. They re-
Associated Press corruption work by taking signed and were jailed to
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — An too long to process ap- await trial, but more than
international human rights peals and pretrial motions. 100 defense filings have de-
group says Guatemalan In a report released Sun- layed the trial.
courts are foot- dragging day, the group accuses the Daniel Wilkinson, managing
on high-profile cases and courts of trying to run out director of the Americas
threatening the work of the the clock on prosecutions division at Human Rights
country’s prosecutors and by keeping defendants Watch, said Guatemala
a U.N. anti-corruption com- from ever making it to trial. has made progress on hold-
mission. Among the cases is a cus- ing officials accountable
In this Sept. 8, 2015 file photo, Guatemala’s former President
Otto Perez Molina, photographed through a window, sits in Human Rights Watch ana- toms fraud scandal that al- for abuses of power, but still
court for a third hearing on corruption allegations that led him lyzed eight major cases legedly sent kickbacks to needs to “move forward
to resign, in Guatemala City. that have bogged down then President Otto Perez and close those circles with
Associated Press and concluded the courts Molina and Vice President trials.” q