Top European Union leaders joined Chinese President Xi Jinping in Paris in stressing multilateralism to address issues from peace and security to climate change and trade.

The Paris meeting with Xi, which came ahead of a key EU-China summit planned for April 9, brought together some of the bloc’s biggest heavyweights: President Emmanuel Macron of France, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker.

At a joint press conference following the talks, Macron stressed what he described as areas of convergence between the European Union and China, two of the world’s biggest economic powers. Among them: intensifying the fight against climate change, denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and development and security in Africa.

Both sides, Macron said, want to construct a renewed multilateralism that is more just and balanced.

President Xi said the world is facing major challenges and peace and development were key. He described the growing threat of protectionism and unilateralism.

The cooperation through which China hopes to expand its ambitious ‘Belt and Road’ infrastructure and investment initiative initiative, however, is controversial and divisive within the European Union. As Germany’s Merkel said, “Europe wants to join the Belt and Road plan, but it demands reciprocity.”

Several areas stressed by the two sides, including EU and Chinese support for the Paris climate agreement and the Iran nuclear deal, contrast with positions taken by U.S. President Donald Trump.

The Chinese leader’s visit to France is the last leg of a European trip marked by multibillion dollar deals, including a major Chinese purchase of Airbus planes.

Earlier during Xi’s visit to in Rome, Italy became the first G-7 nation to sign on to China’s Belt and Road project.

Xi’s visit was greeted by some rights protests. Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders also released a new report on China’s alleged efforts to stifle media freedom abroad, as well as at home.

Cedric Alviani, the group’s East Asia Bureau director, said, “What we expect from that report is that, all around the world, journalists would start investigating in their city, in their region, in their country on the way Chinese authorities are pushing their influence.”

Alviani said China’s Belt and Road initiative is one way Beijing is spreading not only its economic, but also its ideological influence.

 
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Airbus signed a deal worth tens of billions of dollars on Monday to sell 300 aircraft to China as part of a trade package coinciding with a visit to Europe by Chinese President Xi Jinping and matching a China record held by rival Boeing.

The deal between Airbus and China’s state buying agency, China Aviation Supplies Holding Company, which regularly coordinates headline-grabbing deals during diplomatic visits, will include 290 A320-family jets and 10 A350 wide-body jets.

French officials said the deal was worth some 30 billion euros at catalogue prices. Planemakers usually grant significant discounts.

The larger-than-expected order, which matches an order for 300 Boeing planes when U.S. Donald Trump visited Beijing in 2017, follows a year-long vacuum of purchases in which China failed to place significant orders amid global trade tensions.

It also comes as the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX has left uncertainty over Boeing’s immediate hopes for a major jet order as the result of any warming of U.S.-China trade ties.

There was no evidence of any direct connection between the Airbus deal and Sino-U.S. tensions or Boeing fleet problems, but China watchers say Beijing has a history of sending diplomatic signals or playing off suppliers through state aircraft deals.

“The conclusion of a big (aviation) contract … is an important step forward and an excellent signal in the current context,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a joint address with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

The United States and China are edging towards a possible deal to ease a months-long tariff row and a deal involving as many as 200-300 Boeing jets had until recently been expected as part of the possible rapprochement.

Long-term relationship

China was also the first to ground the newest version of Boeing’s workhorse 737 model earlier this month following a deadly Ethiopian Airlines crash, touching off a series of regulatory actions worldwide.

Asked if negotiations had accelerated as a result of the Boeing grounding or other issues, Airbus planemaking chief and designated chief executive Guillaume Faury told reporters, “This is a long-term relationship with our Chinese partners that evolves over time; it is a strong sign of confidence.”

China has become a key hunting ground for Airbus and its leading rival Boeing, thanks to surging travel demand.

But whether Airbus or Boeing is involved, analysts say diplomatic deals frequently contain a mixture of new demand, repeats of older orders and credits against future deals, meaning the immediate impact is not always clear.

The outlook has also been complicated by Beijing’s desire to grow its own industrial champions and, more recently for Boeing, the U.S.-China trade war.

French President Macron unexpectedly failed to clinch an Airbus order for 184 planes during a trip to China in early 2018 and the two sides have been working to salvage it.

Industry sources have said the year’s delay in Airbus negotiations, as well as a buying freeze during the U.S. tariff row, created latent demand for jets to feed China’s growth.
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British lawmakers voted on Monday to wrest control of Brexit from Prime Minister Theresa May for a day in a bid to find a way through the European Union divorce impasse that a majority in parliament could support.

Lawmakers should now vote on a range of Brexit options on Wednesday, giving parliament a chance to indicate whether it can agree on a deal with closer ties to Brussels, and then try to push the government in that direction.

The move underlined to what extent May has lost her authority, although she said the government would not be bound by the results of the so-called indicative votes on Wednesday.

Monday’s vote was put forward by Oliver Letwin, a lawmaker in May’s Conservative Party, and came after the prime minister admitted that the deal she had agreed with the EU after two years of talks still did not have enough support to pass.

Lawmakers backed Letwin’s proposal by 329 votes to 302, and were almost certain to confirm their decision in the final vote of the evening on the overall “motion as amended.”

Earlier, May said the proposal would set an unwelcome precedent and could lead to support for an outcome to which the EU itself would not agree.

“No government could give a blank cheque to commit to an outcome without knowing what it is,” May said before the vote. “So I cannot commit the government to delivering the outcome of any votes held by this house.”

Last week, the EU agreed to delay Britain’s original March 29 departure date because of the deadlock. Now, it will leave the EU on May 22 if May’s deal is approved by parliament this week. If not, it will have until April 12 to outline its plans.

Monday’s vote was an attempt to find a way to come up with such a plan European Council President Donald Tusk said last week that all Brexit options were still open for Britain until April 12, including a deal, a departure with no deal, a long extension – or even revoking Article 50 and remaining in the EU.

But nearly three years after the 2016 EU membership referendum and four days before Britain was supposed to leave the bloc, it was still unclear how, when or if Brexit would take place, with parliament and the nation still bitterly divided.

May’s deal was defeated in parliament by 149 votes on March 12 and by 230 votes on Jan. 15, but she had signaled that she would bring it back a third time this week.

To get her deal passed, May must win over at least 75 MPs who voted against her on March 12 – dozens of rebels in her Conservative Party, some opposition Labour Party MPs and the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which props up her minority government but has voted against the deal so far.

“Why would the prime minister ever expect us to give support to an agreement which is based on a lie?” DUP Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson told BBC television.
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The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots warns chances of achieving a U.N. treaty banning the development, production and use of fully autonomous lethal weapons, also known as killer robots, are looking increasingly remote.  Experts from some 80 countries are attending a weeklong meeting to discuss the prospect of negotiating an international treaty. 

Representatives from about 80 countries have been meeting on lethal autonomous weapons systems since 2014.  They have to decide by November to begin negotiations on a new treaty to regulate killer robots. 

Nobel peace laureate Jody Williams says Russia has been in the forefront of a group of countries, including the United States and Australia, trying to block movement in this direction.  At the opening session, she tells VOA that Russia argued for drastically limiting discussions on the need for meaningful human control over lethal autonomous weapons.

“It is very unlikely as they finish up this year that there will be a mandate to meaningfully deal with meaningful human control, which is fundamental in our view to how you deploy such systems,” Williams said. “There would be no utility in continuing to come here and hear the same blah, blah, blah over and over again.” 

Williams said the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots may have to resort to civil activism to get an accord banning killer robots.  She said such tactics successfully achieved international treaties banning land mines and cluster munitions outside the United Nations framework.

But for now, the activists are not giving up on persuading U.N. member countries to take the right course.  They said delegating life-and death decisions to machines crosses what they call a moral red line and should not be allowed to happen.  

They said they have strong support for their stance from U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. In a statement to delegates attending the meeting, he warned of the dangers of giving machines the power and discretion to take lives without human involvement.

He called this morally repugnant and politically unacceptable.  He said these weapons should be prohibited by international law.

 

 
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U.S. sportswear maker Nike was hit with a 12.5 million euro ($14.14 million) fine on Monday for blocking cross-border sales of soccer merchandise of some of Europe’s best-known clubs, the latest EU sanction against such restrictions.

The European Commission said Nike’s illegal practices occurred between 2004 to 2017 and related to licensed merchandise for FC Barcelona, Manchester United, Juventus, Inter Milan, AS Roma and the French Football Federation.

The European Union case focused on Nike’s role as a licensor for making and distributing licensed merchandise featuring a soccer club’s brands and not its own trademarks.

The sanction came after a two-year investigation triggered by a sector inquiry into e-commerce in the 28-country bloc. The EU wants to boost online trade and economic growth.

European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said Nike’s actions deprived soccer fans in other countries of the opportunity to buy their clubs’ merchandise such as mugs, bags, bed sheets, stationery and toys.

“Nike prevented many of its licensees from selling these branded products in a different country leading to less choice and higher prices for consumers,” she said in a statement.

Nike’s practices included clauses in contracts prohibiting out-of-territory sales by licensees and threats to end agreements if licensees ignored the clauses. Its fine was cut by 40 percent after it cooperated with the EU enforcer.

($1 = 0.8839 euros)
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Jordan’s King Abdullah II has canceled a visit to Romania to protest its prime minister’s support for recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

The Royal Hashemite Court said Monday that the decision came “in solidarity with Jerusalem.” Abdullah was scheduled to visit Romania later in the day.|

On Sunday, Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dancila told a conference in Washington that her country was moving its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

However, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, a rival who’s in charge of the East European nation’s foreign policy, said the prime minister hadn’t consulted with him over the decision.

Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its capital.

Palestinians seek east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in 1967, as their capital.

Jordan is the custodian of Muslim holy sites in east Jerusalem’s Old City.

 

 
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will visit Russia for talks this spring or summer, RIA news agency cited Russian lawmaker Alexander Bashkin as saying on Monday.

The exact date of the trip has not been set yet, Bashkin said.

The United States last week imposed new sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear weapons program, the first such steps since a U.S.-North Korean summit collapsed last month.

The Kremlin confirmed on a conference call that a trip by Kim to Russia was being worked on but said that it was not able to provide further details.

“As soon as there is a concrete agreement on time, place and the form of the meeting, we will present the relevant information,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping has found one country in Europe that isn’t worried about China’s growing global clout or its ambitions to dominate the future of technology: Monaco.

 

Xi visited the tiny Mediterranean principality Sunday as part of a European tour that is clouded by mixed feelings about how to engage with China and benefit from its trade — while setting limits on its appetite for greater economic and diplomatic influence.

Xi’s appearance alongside Monaco’s Prince Albert and Princess Charlene marks the first state visit by a Chinese president to the principality. The palace said Monaco is seeking to boost its trade and economic cooperation with China, without providing details on eventual contracts to be signed.

 

Monaco last year clinched a deal with Chinese tech company Huawei to develop its 5G telecommunications network — a thorny issue for several European countries.

 

The U.S. government says Huawei’s 5G network could give Chinese security services a backdoor to spy on consumers, and has pressed European partners to shun it. Huawei says the fear is unfounded.

 

Monaco banned all flights in its airspace during Xi’s brief visit and any sailing in its waters or mooring in its luxury yacht-filled harbor.

 

The Chinese leader will dine Sunday with French President Emmanuel Macron in the French Mediterranean resort town of Beaulieu-sur-Mer. A police boat and police divers worked to secure the area before his arrival, and security cordons blocked several roads in Nice, where Xi will stay overnight.

 

Xi will sign energy and other contracts with Macron on Monday, then meet in Paris on Tuesday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

 

The European Union is China’s biggest trading partner, but many in Europe worry about unfair competition from Chinese companies that benefit from government financial backing.

 

Xi comes to Monaco and France from Italy, which just endorsed a vast Chinese transport infrastructure project, the Belt and Road Initiative. Macron criticized Italy’s move, calling for a concerted European approach to China instead.

 

“There is this bad European habit to have 28 different policies, with countries competing against each other to attract investment,” a top French official said. “We need to speak with a common voice if we want to exist. We have the same approach on the 5G issue: avoiding 28 different decisions.”

 

 

 

 
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Rescue helicopters airlifted 479 people from a disabled cruise ship off Norway’s western coast before it regained engine power Sunday and was escorted by three vessels to the nearby port of Molde.

Twenty people were injured in the ordeal as the Viking Sky ship tossed in winds gusting to 38 knots and rough seas with eight-meter waves. When the cruise ship regained power, 436 guests and 458 crew members remained on board.

The Norwegian Red Cross said those injured sustained broken bones and cuts.

The Viking Sky crew issued a mayday call Saturday as the engines failed with the ship within 100 meters of striking underwater rocks and 900 meters offshore.

Passengers reported horrifying scenes on the swaying ship.

One American passenger, Rodney Horgen, 62, of Minnesota, said he knew something was very wrong when the guests were all brought to the ship’s muster point. The Associated Press reported that Horgen was certain the end was nigh when a huge wave crashed through glass doors and swept his wife, Judie Lemieux, 10 meters across the floor.

“When the windows and door flew open and the two meters of water swept people and tables 20 to 30 feet, that was the breaker. I said to myself, `This is it,” Horgen recalled. “I grabbed my wife but I could not hold on. And she was thrown across the room. And then she got thrown back again by the wave coming back.”

“I was afraid,” Janet Jacob, one of the first passengers to be air-lifted, told Norwegian public broadcaster NRK. “I have never experienced anything so scary.”

“The evacuation is proceeding with all necessary caution,” operator Viking Ocean Cruises said on its website before the ship regained power.

Most of the passengers on the ship were from the United States, Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
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Prime Minister Theresa May faces growing pressure from within her own party either to resign or to set a date for stepping down as a way to build support for her Brexit agreement with the European Union, British media reported Sunday.

Senior Conservative Party figures were urging May to recognize her weakened political position and leave the prime minister’s post. However, there was no indication from Downing Street a resignation was near.

 

May thus far has been unable to generate enough support in Parliament for the withdrawal deal her government and the EU reached late last year. Lawmakers voted down the Brexit plan twice, and May has raised the possibility of bringing it back a third time if enough legislators appear willing to switch their votes.

 

The U.K.’s departure from the EU long was set to take place on March 29, but the absence of an approved divorce agreement prompted May last week to ask the leaders of the 27 remaining member nations for a postponement.

 

The leaders rejected May’s request to extend the deadline until June 30. Instead, they agreed to delay Brexit until May 22, on the eve of EU Parliament elections, if the prime minister can persuade Parliament to endorse the twice-rejected agreement.

If she is unable to rally support for the withdrawal agreement, the European leaders said Britain only has until April 12 to choose between leaving the EU without a divorce deal and a radically new path, such as revoking the decision to leave the bloc or calling another voter referendum on Brexit.

 

Parliament may take a series of votes this week to determine what proposals, if any, could command majority support.

 

Conservative Party legislator George Freeman tweeted Saturday night that the U.K. needs a new leader if the Brexit process is to move forward.

 

“I’m afraid it’s all over for the PM. She’s done her best. But across the country you can see the anger. Everyone feels betrayed,” Freeman tweeted. “This can’t go on. We need a new PM who can reach out & build some sort of coalition for a Plan B.”

 

Under Conservative Party rules, May cannot face a formal leadership challenge from within her own party until December because she survived one three months ago. But she may be persuaded that her position is untenable if Cabinet ministers and other senior party members desert her.

 

Her bid for fresh support for her withdrawal plan has so far failed to win backing from Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, which usually provides crucial votes for May’s minority government.

 

She also faces pressure from groups demanding a second Brexit referendum. Huge crowds turned out Saturday for an anti-Brexit protest march in London. Organizers claimed more than 1 million people attended.

 

 

 

 
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