Brexit talks in peril as May balks at draft agreement

Compiled from news services

BritishPrime Minister TheresaMay vowed she will neveraccept a draft Brexit agreement published Wednesdayby the European Union,raising the prospect thatthe negotiations are headingfor a breakdown.

The EU commission set out in detail how it wanted to arrange Britain’s withdrawal, but key passages on avoiding new customs checks at the border with Ireland made the 118-page draft impossible for Ms. May to support. It proposes keeping Northern Ireland in the bloc’s customs union, under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice — both of which Ms. May wants the whole of the U.K. to leave.

Withtime running out to reacha solution before the U.K.leaves in March 2019, Ms.May gave her verdict: theplan would undermine the integrity of the British economyand constitution.

WhileMs. May fights Brussels,her room to negotiateis being squeezed by parliamentary rebels on each endof the Brexit spectrum.

Taliban offered amnesty

KABUL, Afghanistan — AfghanPresident Ashraf Ghanion Wednesday extendedan olive branch to theTaliban, offering amnestyfor alleged war crimesand recognition of theinsurgent group as a politicalparty in a bid to end the 16-year conflict.

It was Afghanistan’s most significant peace overture to the large, fractious militant organization that currently controls more territory than at any time since the 2001 U.S.-led military invasion, but whose political aims have become unclear as the war has devolved into a bloody stalemate and its top leaders have been killed.

TheTaliban surprised manyobservers two weeks agowhen the group wrote inan open letter that it wanted“a peaceful resolution” to the conflict. The groupdid not immediately respondto Mr. Ghani’s proposal, delivered at the start ofa multinational conferenceto promote peace talks.

Mr. Ghani called for a cease-fire and prisoner release, and offered insurgents who renounced violence and recognized the Afghan government a place in the country’s political institutions.

Ghouta civilians remain

BEIRUT — The Russiaordered brief humanitarian pause was in effect for a second day Wednesday in rebel-held Damascus suburbs but no civilians used the corridor manned by Syrian and Russian forces to leave the enclave. Government forces, meanwhile, tried to push their way into the area, setting off ground battles.

Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed the rebels, saying they were preventing civilians from leaving the area known as eastern Ghouta, and suggested Russia would not “endlessly tolerate” the situation there.

Russiahas ordered a five-hourdaily humanitar-ianpause to allow civilians toexit the region that startedTuesday. But no humanitarianaid has gone in andno civilians have left.

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