Brexit: UK will 'not pay €100bn divorce bill' says Davis
The UK will not pay a €100bn (£84.6bn) "divorce bill" to leave the EU, Brexit Secretary David Davis has insisted.
He told ITV's Good Morning Britain the UK would pay what was legally due, "not just what the EU wants".
It comes amid claims by the Financial Times that the financial settlement sought by the EU has risen from €60bn.
Mr Davis said the UK treated its EU "rights and obligations" seriously but it had "not seen any number", adding the EU was playing "rough and tough".
The EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier is due to publish his guidelines for the talks later although they are not likely to include any financial demands.
An EU source has told the BBC that officials in Brussels will not enter into a discussion about potential figures for a final bill, likely to be one of the hardest-fought and most sensitive areas of the Brexit process.
Aung San Suu Kyi rejects UN inquiry into crimes against Rohingya
Myanmar leader says resolution for the investigation is ‘not in keeping with what is happening on the ground’
Aung San Suu Kyi has rejected a decision by the UN’s rights council to investigate allegations of crimes by Myanmar’s security forces against minority Rohingya Muslims.
The UN body agreed in March to dispatch a fact-finding mission to the south Asian Asian country over claims of murder, rape and torture in Rakhine state.
“We do not agree with it,” Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s de facto leader, told a press conference on Tuesday with EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini during a visit to Brussels, when asked about the probe.
Denmark gives two-year ban to 6 foreign religious 'hate preachers'
The list includes five Islamic preachers and US pastor Terry Jones and is aimed at preventing hate speech and protecting public order. Defiance of the ban could lead to a three-year jail term.
On the list are six foreign religious authorities: five Islamic preachers who are nationals of Canada, Saudi Arabia, Syria and the United States and US Evangelical Pastor Terry Jones, who burned copies of the Koran in 2011.
"I am also very pleased that it is now clear to everyone that these people are not welcome in Denmark," Inger Stoejberg, the country's immigration and integration minister said on Tuesday while announcing the newly-published sanctions list.
The six religious leaders have been banned from entering Denmark for the next two years in order to prevent hate speech and protect public order.
China to launch own encyclopaedia to rival Wikipedia
SHANGHAI (AFP) -
China plans to launch its own online encyclopaedia next year, hoping to build a "cultural Great Wall" that can rival Wikipedia as a go-to information source for Chinese Internet users who Beijing fears are being corrupted by foreign influences.
China is under pressure to write its own encyclopaedia so it can guide public thought, according to a statement by the project's executive editor Yang Muzhi published last month on the website of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
He once listed Wikipedia, which is available in China, and Britain's Encyclopaedia Britannica as potential rivals and said the project aims to exceed them, according to an article he wrote late last year.
The project, which will be under the guidance of the state-owned China Publishing Group, "must have Chinese characteristics," he wrote, adding it would be a "symbol of the country's cultural and technological development" and increase its soft power and international influence.
Abe unveils plan to amend Constitution, put it into force in 2020
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday unveiled a plan to seek a first-ever change to the postwar Constitution, bidding to see the revision take effect in 2020, a specific time frame not publicly mentioned before.
In a video message to a gathering marking the 70th anniversary of the charter's coming into force, Abe, who is also head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, proposed making explicit the existence of the Self-Defense Forces in the language of the war-renouncing Constitution, which currently makes no mention of it.
Abe's remarks are likely to draw sharp responses from opposition forces that are against amending the Constitution, especially its Article 9, which stipulates that the Japanese people "forever renounce war" and that "land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained."
Taking Islamic State to CourtIraq's Challenging Path to Reconciliation
Just outside recently liberated Mosul, two judges have been tasked with punishing Islamic State followers who committed crimes and helping victims find justice. But without any way to gather evidence, the process often verges on farce -- and could lead to a new cycle of violence.
On an early morning in late March, a large truck drives through the streets of Qaraqosh carrying about 50 men with blindfolds, their hands tied and their heads pressed to their knees. "Murderers! Rapists!" a man on the street shouts as they pass by. The truck stops in front of the court of inquiry, a white villa with rust-colored iron gates and a garden. It's an inconspicuous location for a major project: This is where alleged supporters of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) in the Mosul region will be brought to justice.
Masked Iraqi army special forces open the tailgate. The men, their heads shaved, climb down from the truck, some of them groaning. Their clothing is torn. Black soil sticks to the soles of their feet. The prisoners hobble into the inner courtyard of the court building and kneel on the ground with their faces to the wall. A guard beats them with a metal stick, shouting "be quiet."
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