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Monday, May 1, 2017

Report of frosty Brexit talks is 'Brussels gossip', PM insists

Theresa May has dismissed reports that last week's working dinner with EU officials went disastrously as "Brussels gossip".

During a campaign stop in the Lancashire town of Ormskirk, the Prime Minister rejected a newspaper's claims that Jean-Claude Juncker thinks Brexit talks will collapse.

She told a reporter: "Just look at what the European Commission themselves said immediately after the dinner took place which was the talks had been constructive.

"But it also shows these negotiations are at times going to be tough. In order to get the best deal for Britain, we've got to make sure we've got that strong and stable leadership."

Her denial follows a German newspaper article which claimed Brussels officials thought Theresa May was from a "different galaxy" to other EU member states on Brexit.

The leaked account portrayed Jean-Claude Juncker's private dinner with the Prime Minister last week as a disaster.

According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper, European Commission officials were astonished at Mrs May's ambition for the talks.

They accused her of having "no plan" and that it was unrealistic to reach a rapid resolution on the status of expatriates, an exit strategy and a trade deal within two years.

The article quotes Mr Juncker as saying that he left the dinner "10 times more sceptical that I was before".

The FAZ newspaper reported that Mrs May used the dinner to push for an early deal to secure the rights of British workers across the continent.

But Mr Juncker made clear that this could not be settled by June as suggested, given the complex negotiations on topics such as healthcare.

Trump Says U.S. 'Can't Allow' North Korea's Missiles to Improve

(SEOUL, South Korea) — President Donald Trump said after North Korea's latest failed rocket launch that communist leader Kim Jong-Un will eventually develop better missiles, and "we can't allow it to happen."

In a taped interview broadcast Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation," the President would not discuss the possibility of military action, saying: "It is a chess game. I just don't want people to know what my thinking is."

Separately, Trump's national security adviser, Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, said North Korea's most recent missile test represents "open defiance of the international community." He said North Korea poses "a grave threat," not just to the U.S. and its Asian allies, but also to China.

Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," McMaster said it is important "for all of us to confront this regime, this regime that is pursuing the weaponization of a missile with a nuclear weapon."

"This is something that we know we cannot tolerate," McMaster said.

On Saturday, a North Korean mid-range ballistic missile broke up a few minutes after launch, the third test-fire flop this month. The program's repeated failures over the past few years have given rise to suspicions of U.S. sabotage.

In the CBS interview, the president was asked why the North's rockets keep blowing up.

"I'd rather not discuss it," he said. "But perhaps they're just not very good missiles. But eventually, he'll have good missiles."

He added: "And if that happens, we can't allow it to happen."

Trump also called North Korea's leader "a pretty smart cookie" for being able to hold onto power after taking over at a young age. "People are saying, 'Is he sane?' I have no idea," the president said.

North Korean ballistic missile tests are banned by the United Nations because they are seen as part of the North's push for a nuclear-tipped weapon that can hit the U.S. mainland.

Trump Says U.S. 'Can't Allow' North Korea's Missiles to Improve

(SEOUL, South Korea) — President Donald Trump said after North Korea's latest failed rocket launch that communist leader Kim Jong-Un will eventually develop better missiles, and "we can't allow it to happen."

In a taped interview broadcast Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation," the President would not discuss the possibility of military action, saying: "It is a chess game. I just don't want people to know what my thinking is."

Separately, Trump's national security adviser, Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, said North Korea's most recent missile test represents "open defiance of the international community." He said North Korea poses "a grave threat," not just to the U.S. and its Asian allies, but also to China.

Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," McMaster said it is important "for all of us to confront this regime, this regime that is pursuing the weaponization of a missile with a nuclear weapon."

"This is something that we know we cannot tolerate," McMaster said.

On Saturday, a North Korean mid-range ballistic missile broke up a few minutes after launch, the third test-fire flop this month. The program's repeated failures over the past few years have given rise to suspicions of U.S. sabotage.

In the CBS interview, the president was asked why the North's rockets keep blowing up.

"I'd rather not discuss it," he said. "But perhaps they're just not very good missiles. But eventually, he'll have good missiles."

He added: "And if that happens, we can't allow it to happen."

Trump also called North Korea's leader "a pretty smart cookie" for being able to hold onto power after taking over at a young age. "People are saying, 'Is he sane?' I have no idea," the president said.

North Korean ballistic missile tests are banned by the United Nations because they are seen as part of the North's push for a nuclear-tipped weapon that can hit the U.S. mainland.

Trump Says U.S. 'Can't Allow' North Korea's Missiles to Improve

(SEOUL, South Korea) — President Donald Trump said after North Korea's latest failed rocket launch that communist leader Kim Jong-Un will eventually develop better missiles, and "we can't allow it to happen."

In a taped interview broadcast Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation," the President would not discuss the possibility of military action, saying: "It is a chess game. I just don't want people to know what my thinking is."

Separately, Trump's national security adviser, Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, said North Korea's most recent missile test represents "open defiance of the international community." He said North Korea poses "a grave threat," not just to the U.S. and its Asian allies, but also to China.

Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," McMaster said it is important "for all of us to confront this regime, this regime that is pursuing the weaponization of a missile with a nuclear weapon."

"This is something that we know we cannot tolerate," McMaster said.

On Saturday, a North Korean mid-range ballistic missile broke up a few minutes after launch, the third test-fire flop this month. The program's repeated failures over the past few years have given rise to suspicions of U.S. sabotage.

In the CBS interview, the president was asked why the North's rockets keep blowing up.

"I'd rather not discuss it," he said. "But perhaps they're just not very good missiles. But eventually, he'll have good missiles."

He added: "And if that happens, we can't allow it to happen."

Trump also called North Korea's leader "a pretty smart cookie" for being able to hold onto power after taking over at a young age. "People are saying, 'Is he sane?' I have no idea," the president said.

North Korean ballistic missile tests are banned by the United Nations because they are seen as part of the North's push for a nuclear-tipped weapon that can hit the U.S. mainland.

Trump Says U.S. 'Can't Allow' North Korea's Missiles to Improve

(SEOUL, South Korea) — President Donald Trump said after North Korea's latest failed rocket launch that communist leader Kim Jong-Un will eventually develop better missiles, and "we can't allow it to happen."

In a taped interview broadcast Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation," the President would not discuss the possibility of military action, saying: "It is a chess game. I just don't want people to know what my thinking is."

Separately, Trump's national security adviser, Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, said North Korea's most recent missile test represents "open defiance of the international community." He said North Korea poses "a grave threat," not just to the U.S. and its Asian allies, but also to China.

Speaking on "Fox News Sunday," McMaster said it is important "for all of us to confront this regime, this regime that is pursuing the weaponization of a missile with a nuclear weapon."

"This is something that we know we cannot tolerate," McMaster said.

On Saturday, a North Korean mid-range ballistic missile broke up a few minutes after launch, the third test-fire flop this month. The program's repeated failures over the past few years have given rise to suspicions of U.S. sabotage.

In the CBS interview, the president was asked why the North's rockets keep blowing up.

"I'd rather not discuss it," he said. "But perhaps they're just not very good missiles. But eventually, he'll have good missiles."

He added: "And if that happens, we can't allow it to happen."

Trump also called North Korea's leader "a pretty smart cookie" for being able to hold onto power after taking over at a young age. "People are saying, 'Is he sane?' I have no idea," the president said.

North Korean ballistic missile tests are banned by the United Nations because they are seen as part of the North's push for a nuclear-tipped weapon that can hit the U.S. mainland.

Sunday, April 30, 2017

Pope Francis warns North Korea situation 'too hot'

Pope Francis has called for a third country, such as Norway, to mediate between North Korea and the US, saying the situation has become "too hot".

Speaking as he departed from a visit to Cairo, the Pope warned that "a good part of humanity" would be destroyed in any war between the two sides.

He said: "I call on - and will call on - all leaders, as I have called on leaders of various places, to work to seek a solution to problems through the path of diplomacy.

"There are so many facilitators in the world, there are mediators who offer themselves, such as Norway for example."

:: Trump: North Korea missile test 'disrespects' China

Norway brokered a deal between Israel and the Palestinians in the early 1990s known as the Oslo Accords.

The Pope also called on the United Nations to re-assert its leadership, saying it had become "too watered down".

He added that he was willing to meet US President Donald Trump when he is in Europe next month but he is not aware of the President having requested this.

North Korea recently test fired a ballistic missile, the third in the past few weeks, and this was described by Mr Trump as being "disrespectful" to China.

Mr Trump also said late last week that there was a chance of "major, major conflict" with North Korea, adding that finding a diplomatic solution was "very difficult".

But Pope Francis warned: "This question of missiles in (North) Korea has been brewing for more than a year but now it seems the situation has become has become too hot.

"We are talking about the future of humanity.

"Today, a widespread war would destroy - I would not say half of humanity - but a good part of humanity, and of culture, everything, everything.

"It would be terrible. I don't think that humanity today would be able to withstand it."

David Cameron buys luxury hut for writing but his children have other ideas

While Theresa May grapples with Brexit and fights to win a General Election, her predecessor has pressing matters of his own to get to grips with.

David Cameron has just bought a £25,000 custom-made hut which he had planned to turn into a writing den for his garden in the Cotswolds.

But the former PM has revealed his children have their own plans for the Farrow and Ball-painted hut.

Mr Cameron, who left Downing Street after Britain voted to leave the EU in a referendum last year, said: "Well, there's been a bit of a fight already.

"My children want to use it as a Wendy House, I want to use it as a book-writing room and my son also wants it as an alternative bedroom. So, quite a lot of competition.

"When it first arrived there was great excitement - who was going to spend the first night in it?

"Who won? That was my son ... I wasn't going to take him on!"

The 16ft x 7ft hut is no ordinary garden shed. It boasts sheep's wool insulation as well as mod cons such as a dimmer light, classic Bakelite switches, a corner-set wood-burning stove and a pull-out double sofa bed.

Mr Cameron and his wife Samantha decided to buy the hut after admiring one owned by his mother-in-law in her garden in Scotland.

He googled the hut and found a company in Oxfordshire called Red Sky Shepherds Huts.

Its founder, Paul Bennett, took a phone call from Mr Cameron saying he wanted to buy a hut.

Mr Bennett says Mr Cameron's policy of allowing people to cash in their pensions at 55 that provided him with the money to set up his business.

He had been in a stressful job and had dreamed of becoming an artisan cabinet maker.

Mr Bennett said: "The new rules allowing people my age to release the money tied up in pensions was like a gift from heaven for me."