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Pressure is growing on Prime Minister Theresa May to announce her intention to resign in the next few months. Senior Conservatives told VOA it is only a matter of time before May, who’s scrambling to hang on to power, has to go. They say she faces the choice between either agreeing to go quietly or facing an immediate leadership challenge, which will throw the party into an internecine war between those who want a sharp rupture with the European Union and those championing a so-called softer Brexit that would see Britain remaining inside Europe’s Single Market and accepting continued European …

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One of the first police officers on the scene of the London Bridge attack says he was met by pandemonium, as people fled in panic and the wounded lay on sidewalks.   But he also described how, within minutes, police had killed the attackers, ushered bystanders to safety and begun treating and evacuating the wounded.   Inspector Jim Cole, who was scrambled from his south London police station, said the response was “like something out of a Battle of Britain film” as officers piled into vehicles and raced to the scene. ​Triage, shelter inside a pub   In an account …

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British Prime Minister Theresa May was seeking a deal with a small Northern Irish party Sunday to stay in power after losing her party’s parliamentary majority in a catastrophic electoral gamble just days before Brexit talks are set to start. But with May’s personal authority in tatters, there were reports that moves were afoot within her Conservative Party to dislodge her, while opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was insisting she could be ousted and he could replace her. May’s Downing Street office said Sunday she had spoken with Northern Ireland’s pro-Brexit, socially conservative Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to discuss finalizing …

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Kosovo votes in an early parliamentary election Sunday. The election was called in May when the government lost a confidence vote after the opposition accused it for not fulfilling promises to improve the country’s standard of living. Public opinion polls indicate a coalition of three former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) is in the lead. The coalition, led by former prime minister Ramush Haradinaj, is made up of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) of Kadri Veseli, the Initiative for Kosovo, NISMA, of Fatmir Limaj, and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AKK), Haradinaj. The three party …

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Danger lurks at Dracula’s castle.   Romanian authorities have closed a 13th-century fortress connected to Vlad the Impaler after a mother bear and her cubs were found roaming in the area.   The citadel, atop a mountain in central Romania, can be reached only by climbing 1,480 steps. It was shut in late May “for the safety of visitors,” its website said Saturday.   Local prefect Emilian Dragnea says the Environment Ministry had agreed to capture the four bears and relocate them elsewhere. Authorities blame people for leaving food in the area.   The citadel was repaired by 15th-century Romanian …

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Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told Bahrain’s Foreign Minister that the dispute between Qatar and other Arab states should be resolved by the end of the holy month of Ramadan, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Saturday. In a joint news conference with Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed al-Khalifa, Cavusoglu said Turkey would continue its efforts to resolve the dispute, as Qatar faces isolation imposed by fellow Arab states over its alleged support for terrorism. Cavusoglu also said Turkey’s military base in Qatar, to which Erdogan approved legislation on deploying Turkish troops, was aimed at contributing …

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A boat belonging to a Spanish aid organization has rescued 391 migrants attempting the dangerous crossing of the Mediterranean Sea.   Laura Lanuza, spokeswoman for Spain’s Proactiva Open Arms aid group, says that its ship Golfo Azzurro on Saturday took on board 243 migrants from two smugglers’ boats it intercepted in international waters off the coast of Libya.   Lanuza says the migrants included one baby, a pregnant woman and several children.   The aid boat also saved another 148 migrants that it transferred to an Italian coast guard vessel.   Lawless Libya is one of the prime spots for …

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The Great British public has spoken. But as journalist Ian Hislop quipped Friday on a television comedy show, “no one knows what they said.” Hardly had the votes been counted in Britain’s indecisive election, in which no party got an outright parliamentary majority, than politicians took to airwaves and tapped away on Twitter to spin what the result meant. And crucially they debated whether the voters had rejected Brexit — or at least Prime Minister Theresa May’s hard version of a break with the European Union, which would see Britain not only relinquish EU membership but leave the single market …

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Friday she assumed Britain would stick to its plan for leaving the European Union after the country’s election upset, and that she wanted to work quickly on talks over Brexit. British voters failed to deliver a widely expected parliamentary majority for the Conservative party in Thursday’s general election, dealing a major blow to Prime Minister Theresa May just days ahead of difficult Brexit talks with the EU. Speaking during a visit to Mexico City, Merkel said Germany was ready for the Brexit talks, which May said would begin June 19 as scheduled, although she now …

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