Day: July 20, 2017

    France insisted that the U.K. pay a Brexit bill of as much as 100 billion euros ($115 billion), underlining the hurdles to substantial progress in negotiations toward a new relationship with the European Union. As the second round of talks wraps up in Brussels, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire used a hearing in the French parliament in Paris on Wednesday evening to take a hard line on what the EU believes the U.K. owes the bloc in terms of liabilities and obligations. To drive his point home, he evoked the spirit of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher when she won a rebate on Britain’s payments to the central EU budget, complaining that the U.K. was losing out despite being one of the biggest contributors. I will say what Margaret Thatcher used to say: We want ou...

    Former London postman charged with murdering Syrian captives in Isis mass execution. Harry Sarfo, who is already serving three years in a German prison for terror offences, was not accused of murder until footage of the massacre emerged last year. The federal public prosecutor’s office said he was charged with six counts of murder and violating human rights law at a specialist state security court in Hamburg. In mid-June 2015 the so-called Islamic State had six prisoners executed on Palmyra’s market square, a spokesperson said. Sarfo belonged to the six-member squad that carried out the execution and he was armed with a pistol. Together with other members of his group, he guarded the prisoners and prevented them from escaping. Prosecutors said Sarfo led one of the captives...

    A German judge has told a Syrian woman that she cannot wear her Islamic headscarf during a divorce hearing in court, claiming religiously-motivated attire is prohibited. Najat Abokal, a lawyer representing the woman, said the order was made for divorce proceedings in the district court in Luckenwalde, Brandenberg, reports The Independent. She said the letter warned of legal action against the woman if she does not comply, but also ordered her to appear in person to present her case against her husband. Abokal has accused the judge of acting ‘unconstitutionally’, the Tagesspiegel newspaper reported, saying she would contest the order amid fierce debate over Islamic dress in Germany. One of her colleagues confirmed the information to The Independent but said no further comme...