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[ad_1] LONDON: Britain's former ambassador to the European Union has called Prime Minister Theresa May 's blueprint for Brexit a "pipe dream" that has no chance of being accepted by the bloc. As May prepared to update key Cabinet ministers on progress toward a deal, Ivan Rogers said that, more than two years after voting to leave the EU, Britain is "on fantasy island" about what kind of divorce agreement is possible. Rogers, who quit his post last year, said both May's plan, which would keep Britain in the EU single market for goods, and rival Boris Johnson's vision of a looser free-trade deal have "precisely zero" chance of being accepted by the bloc. "Nearly two and a half years on from the (EU membership) referendum, we are, both on the EU deal and on other post-Brexit trade deals, still lost in campaign mode on fantasy island," Rogers said in a highly critical speech Wednesday in Cambridge. "But the time for these fant...

[ad_1] Image copyright AFP Image caption AfD are hoping to enter Bavaria's state parliament for the first time in elections on 14 October German justice minister Katarina Barley has sharply condemned an online scheme launched by the far-right AfD party to get schoolchildren to inform on teachers who are politically partial. The far-right party entered parliament for the first time this year, becoming the biggest opposition party. Its informant site started in Hamburg and is likely to be launched elsewhere. Ms Barley said it was "a method of dictators" and one union leader likened it to a "tool from the Middle Ages". Comparisons have also been drawn with spying practices by the Nazis in World War Two and afterwards by the Stasi security service in communist East Germany. In the south-western s...

[ad_1] Image copyright AFP Image caption ActionAid said Pakistan's "hard-won democracy" was under threat with moves of this kind The Pakistani government has ordered international NGOs to end their operations and leave the country within 60 days. One of the charities affected, ActionAid, said the move was part of a "worrying escalation of recent attacks on civil society" in Pakistan. The Pakistani Interior Ministry would not comment on the cases. But in a letter to ActionAid, seen by the BBC, it was told it could "re-apply for registration" in six months time. Eighteen charities have been expelled from the country, ActionAid told the BBC. The move comes amidst increasing concerns by human rights activists and press freedom campaigners about freedom of expression in the country. Pak...

[ad_1] BIRMINGHAM: British Prime Minister Theresa May defended her Brexit plans on Wednesday, but cautioned that she would rather leave without a deal than accept the carve up of the United Kingdom. May, who received a standing ovation after dancing onto the stage to Dancing Queen by ABBA, said she was confident that she could clinch a deal with the EU. There would, she said, be no second referendum. "Britain isn't afraid to leave with no deal if we have to," May said. "But we need to be honest about it. Leaving without a deal, introducing tariffs and costly checks at the border, would be a bad outcome for the UK and the EU." [ad_2]

[ad_1] BIRMINGHAM: Britain's Boris Johnson on Tuesday launched a blistering attack on Prime Minister Theresa May 's Brexit plan at a fractious party conference that came as Brussels pressed London for a compromise on leaving the EU. Mixing jokes with biting one-liners that always stopped short of attacking May herself, the former foreign minister called her strategy "dangerous and unstable", as well as a "political humiliation". "My fellow Conservatives, this is not democracy. This is not what we voted for. This is an outrage," he said in a 35-minute address that was interrupted by repeated bursts of laughter and cheers. The wide-ranging speech, which many saw as Johnson's audition for May's job, was attended by some 1,500 people who packed a conference hall room after queueing for hours. Johnson did little to douse suspicions of an eventual leadership bid, using his characteristic swagger and wit to pick apart the faults of May's pro...

[ad_1] BIRMINGHAM, UNITED KINGDOM: While Prime Minister Theresa May is doggedly defending her Brexit plan, delegates at her party's annual conference have joined the EU in writing it off — and suggest her own time in office is limited. Conservative party members queued for two hours on Sunday to see leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg denounce May's "Chequers plan" for close economic ties with the EU, one of half a dozen events he is addressing in Birmingham . Across town, several Tory Eurosceptic MPs joined former UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage in demanding a clean break with the EU, at a rally attended by around 500 people waving British flags. Similar crowds are expected at a conference event on Tuesday with former minister Boris Johnson , a rival for May's job who has condemned her plan as "deranged". "The prime minister is completely out of touch with the majority of party members," Michael Wilkins, 53, told AFP at the r...