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A8 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 21 September 2019
At least they're talking: EU, UK push on with Brexit meets

By JILL LAWLESS that there is a fully work-
LORNE COOK able and legally opera-
LONDON (AP) — British and tional solution" included in
European Union negotia- the legally binding Brexit
tors agreed Friday to press divorce agreement.
on with talks in search of After months of stalemate,
an elusive Brexit deal, as and with less than six weeks
Ireland's deputy leader to go until Brexit is due,
warned that the two sides the two sides are sound-
remain far apart despite an ing slightly more optimis-
improvement in the "mood tic. Commission President
music." Jean-Claude Juncker told
After weeks spent de- Sky News on Thursday that
manding that Britain pro- "we can have a deal,"
vide concrete proposals for though he wouldn't say
ending the deadlock, the whether the odds of get-
European Commission said ting an agreement were
that technical meetings better than 50-50.
are focusing on "a first set Irish Deputy Prime Minister
of concepts, principles and Simon Coveney told the
ideas that the United King- BBC on Friday that there
dom has put forward." were still "serious problems"
The announcement came Britain's Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay, second left, sits along with his team during a meeting over how to handle the Irish
after talks in Brussels be- with European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, second right, at the European Com- border issue once Britain
tween Britain's Brexit Secre- mission headquarters in Brussels, Friday, Sept. 20, 2019. leaves the EU.
tary, Stephen Barclay, and Associated Press He said Johnson had con-
EU chief negotiator Michel vinced Irish leaders he is se-
Barnier, as the U.K. and the the meeting had overrun — said. "We were getting into due to meet EU Council rious about seeking a new
EU struggle to strike a last- a sign of progress. the detail." President Donald Tusk at deal, but had not provided
minute deal before Britain's "There's a common pur- Barclay said the two sides' the U.N. General Assembly realistic alternatives to the
scheduled departure date pose both in Dublin, in Lon- technical teams would in New York. "backstop," a contentious
of Oct. 31. don and here in Brussels to meet next week, and Prime But the commission cau- measure for maintaining an
Barclay was upbeat, saying see a deal over the line," he Minister Boris Johnson was tioned that "it is essential open Irish border.q

Zimbabwe doctor is found alive after alleged abduction

By FARAI MUTSAKA critics, and some have nev-
Associated Press er been found.
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) "We are relieved Dr. Peter
— A Zimbabwean doc- Magombeyi was released
tor whose alleged abduc- and wish him a speedy re-
tion led to days of protests covery from this ordeal,"
has been freed, activists the U.S. Embassy said on
announced on Friday, as Twitter. "All abductions
the government asserted must stop."
he had simply been miss- He was seized Saturday af-
ing. The disappearance ter calling for a pay strike
had raised fresh concerns as Zimbabwe's health care
about dozens of abduc- system collapses along with
tions of government critics the southern African na-
this year alone. tion's economy. This week a
The president of the Zimba- growing number of health
bwe Hospital Doctors Asso- workers said they would
ciation, Peter Magombeyi, not return to work until he
was released overnight was found, bringing many
into the custody of his law- health care efforts to a halt.
yers, the Zimbabwe Human Many health workers say
Rights NGO Forum said. A they can no longer afford
police statement said he even the commute to work
had "been found by po- Zimbabewean medical staff march on the streets of Harare, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2019. as their salaries are some
lice." There were no imme- Associated Press $100 or less a month.
diate details of his condi- Some Zimbabwean officials
tion, and Magombeyi was More than 50 government One woman was forced to government of President have blamed a "third force"
being treated at a hospital critics and activists have drink raw sewage, Human Emmerson Mnangagwa linked to Mugabe for the
in the capital, Harare. The been abducted in Zim- Rights Watch has said. is becoming more repres- recent abductions, assert-
government's information babwe this year, at times Magombeyi's case led to sive than that of longtime ing that they are bid to tar-
ministry said police efforts tortured and warned by expressions of concern leader Robert Mugabe, nish the president's image
to debrief him were not suspected state security from diplomats and oth- who died earlier this month. abroad and hurt efforts to
working "as he prefers not agents to back off from ers as some in Zimbabwe Mugabe was accused of have sanctions imposed by
to speak to the authorities." anti-government actions. openly worried that the using abductions to silence the West removed.q