Write for rights plea

LONDON: Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has joined an Amnesty International campaign to encourage people to write messages supporting 11 people, including former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, the rights group has said.

In its Write for Rights campaign, Amnesty International is asking supporters to write to authorities to highlight human rights cases. – Reuters

Big win for LibDems

LONDON: The Pro-EU Liberal Democrats party won a parliamentary seat previously held by the Conservatives in a major upset it hailed as a rejection of a “hard Brexit” that would pull the country out of the single market.

Sarah Olney’s victory in Richmond overturned the Conservatives’ 23 000 majority, and illustrated the deep divisions running through the country. – Reuters

UK OK to Euro army

LONDON: Britain will not block attempts by the EU to forge a closer common defence policy as it negotiates its exit from the bloc, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said yesterday.

Defence Minister Michael Fallon had previously said he would stop the creation of an EU army for as long as Britain remained inside the EU as the new force would undermine the Nato alliance. – Reuters

Bird flu outbreak

PARIS: France has detected a case of highly contagious H5N8 bird flu on a duck farm in the southwest, the first on-farm outbreak of the virus in the EU’s biggest poultry breeder.

The outbreak follows a case of H5N8 confirmed among wild ducks in northern France this week and is the latest of a series of outbreaks in Europe.

The virus killed 2 000 out of a flock of 5 000 ducks on a farm in the Tarn region. – Reuters