Barnier open to brief extension of Brexit talks
AFP, Berlin
The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Sunday opened the door to a brief extension of talks to nail down a deal with London saying that they must be completed “by mid-November”. Britain is set to leave the bloc on March 30, but the two sides want to strike the divorce agreement by the October 18-19 EU summit to give their parliaments enough time to endorse a deal.
Pakistan gets its first ever woman HC Chief Justice
AP, Islamabad
Justice Tahira Safdar was sworn in as the first woman chief justice in Pakistan’s Balochistan High Court on Saturday. She is the first woman ever to take the position of a chief justice in a Pakistan high court, the Dawn reported.
She was sworn in at a ceremony held at the Governor House in Balochistan. Senior judges and lawyers were present during the ceremony.
Two US citizens hurt in Dutch ‘terrorist’ attack
AFP, Amsterdam
Dutch officials Saturday said a knife-wielding attacker who wounded two US citizens at Amsterdam Central Station a day before “had a terrorist motive”, as a police probe widened to Germany. “Following an initial statement by the suspect it has emerged that the man had a terrorist motive,” Amsterdam City Hall announced after police questioned the suspect.
Duterte eyes arms deals on Israel trip
AFP, Manila
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday left for a visit to Israel and Jordan, pursuing a pivot away from his nation’s long-time reliance on American military hardware and support.
The four-day visit to Israel will be the first by a Philippine leader in more than 60 years of diplomatic ties between the two nations, even though the links between their people go back to Manila’s sheltering of Jews during the Holocaust.
US Gen assumes NATO command in Afghanistan
AP, Kabul
U.S. Army Gen. Austin Scott Miller assumed command of the 41-nation NATO mission in Afghanistan in a handover ceremony on Sunday.
Miller took over from Gen. John Nicholson, who held the post for more than two years, at a ceremony at NATO headquarters in Kabul attended by senior Afghan officials and foreign ambassadors.
Kuwait Emir to visit Washington
Reuters, Cairo
Kuwait’s ruler will travel to Washington on Monday and hold talks with U.S. President Donald Trump, the state news agency KUNA announced on Sunday.
It was not immediately clear what the leaders would discuss, but Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah has led mediation efforts to resolve a year-long dispute between Gulf Arab neighbors after Saudi Arabia.
, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic, trade and transport ties with Qatar.
