Author: RT

Risk of no-deal Brexit still exists, EU’s negotiator Barnier says The European Union’s Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said on Wednesday that the risk of Britain’s chaotic departure from the bloc without a divorce agreement still existed. Barnier spoke as Britain was headed for a December 12 national election that PM Boris Johnson hopes will unlock the Brexit stalemate after the parliament refused to swiftly ratify his divorce deal with the EU, Reuters reports. “The risk of Brexit happening without a ratified deal still exists,” Barnier said in Brussels. “We still need to prepare.” He said a no-deal split could happen at the end of January, if the British parliament failed to ratify Johnson’s deal and London did not get another delay on the divorce. It could also happen at th...

Hungary nixes NATO statement on Ukraine over minority rights spat Hungary has vetoed a joint NATO statement about Ukraine because it didn’t mention the “deprivation of rights” of the Hungarian minority in the neighboring country. However, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto rejected criticism that Budapest’s relationship with Russia is too cozy or that Hungary advocates for “pragmatic relations” with Moscow because “we are Russian spies,” AP reported. Such comments are “laughable insults on part of our Western friends,” Szijjarto said. Hungary says that changes to Ukrainian education and language laws curtail minority rights. PM Viktor Orban’s government is also at odds with Ukraine because it rejects allowing ethnic Hungarians there to hold dual citizenship. Szijjarto’...

Lebanon’s President Aoun asks Hariri to head caretaker cabinet Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun on Wednesday accepted the government’s resignation but asked it to stay on until a new cabinet is formed, AFP reports. Aoun said the measure followed the constitutional provision for cases in which the government steps down, his office said in a statement. PM Saad al-Hariri announced his cabinet’s resignation on Tuesday, on the 13th day of a wave of protests triggered by a proposed tax on calls via free phone applications. That proposal was then scrapped, but the demonstrations swelled into a broad cross-sectarian call for an end to a political system viewed as corrupt and inefficient. Many of the country's ruling elite hail from political parties or families that have been in power ...