EU gives Britain two months to pay 2.7b euros over China fraud
AFP
The EU on Monday gave Britain two months to recover 2.7 billion euros ($3.3 billion) in lost customs duties or risk referral to the EU’s top court after London allegedly ignored a scam by Chinese importers.
The demand, part of a so-called infringement action launched by Brussels, threatens to further inflame tensions amid fraught Brexit negotiations just days after an EU summit in Austria ended in acrimony.
“The United Kingdom now has two months to act; otherwise the Commission may refer the case to the Court of Justice of the EU,” said a statement by the commission, the European Union’s executive arm.
The case follows an investigation last year by the EU fraud watchdog that found Britain turned a blind eye to the rampant use of fake invoices and customs claims by Chinese importers for textiles and footwear.
UK PM May will change her mind on Brexit, says leading eurosceptic
Reuters, London
British Prime Minister Theresa May will eventually decide to abandon her strategy for maintaining close trade ties with the European Union because it lacks support, a leading eurosceptic lawmaker in her Conservative Party said on Monday.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, chairman of the European Research Group of anti-EU lawmakers in May’s ruling Conservative party, said the so-called Chequers plan is opposed by European politicians and large parts of the British public.
“The prime minister is a lady of singular wisdom and therefore is likely to recognize the reality that Chequers does not have much support either in this country or abroad,” Rees-Mogg said.
Last week, EU leaders rejected May’s proposal to seek a free trade area for goods with the EU and some rebels in May’s party have threatened to vote down a deal if she clinches one.
Kenyan troops kill 10 al Shabaab fighters
Reuters, Nairobi
Kenyan soldiers killed 10 fighters from the Somalian militant group al Shabaab in a clash on Monday in eastern Kenya, the military said.
Three soldiers were wounded in the morning attack launched by the army in coastal Lamu county, a Kenya Defence Forces statement said.
“Following the incident, 10 al Shabaab fighters were killed. The soldiers are in pursuit of other militants who fled with injuries,” the statement said.
Al Shabaab, whose aim is to topple Somalia’s U.N.-backed government and impose its own strict interpretation of Islam, intensified attacks in Kenya since Nairobi sent troops into Somalia in 2011. It wants the soldiers, who are part of an African Union peace-keeping mission, to leave Somalia.
But the frequency and severity of their attacks in Kenya has reduced in the past six months.
Kenyan security officials say the militants have used the Boni forest straddling the Kenya-Somalia border as a hideout.
