BRUSSELS: Leaders of European Union gave Britain six more months to leave the bloc, media reports said.

The time is more than Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May has sought.

The summit deal in Brussels on Thursday meant Britain will not crash out on Friday without a treaty to smooth its passage. However, the EU offers clarity on when, how or even if Brexit will happen.

Britain’s PM Theresa has been struggling to build support in parliament for withdrawal terms agreed with the EU last year.

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been insisting that Britain would not be forced out. (Agencies)

BRUSSELS: The European Union said it will grant UK Prime Minister Theresa May a second delay to Brexit at an emergency summit on Wednesday, media reports said.

Leaders, however, said they will debate a longer extension with conditions to prevent any future British leader jeopardizing the bloc.

PM Theresa dashed to Berlin and Paris on the eve of the summit to ask Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron to allow her to postpone a divorce that was supposed to have been Britain’s ‘liberation’.

May requested the EU defer Friday’s exit until June 30. However, in Brussels a “flextension” until the end of the year or until March 2020 was being discussed. (Agencies)

PARIS: Society General Bank of France on Tuesday decided to cut its as many as 1,600 staffers working in different branches of the company across the globe.

Among those laid off  are 750  staffers from France alone. The bank took a decision to this effect in order to implement its two big restructuring projects.

“To ensure profit-oriented and sustainable growth at the international banking and financial service is the main goal of the move,” said the bank.

The staffers from France are given voluntary retirement while those from other countries dealt with in line with the local regulations and laws.

A total of 148,000 staffers are currently working in this multinational investment bank worldwide.

(Agencies)

LONDON: British Prime Minister Theresa May is meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron today to ask for a Brexit delay, media reports said.

Her ministers in London hold talks with the opposition lawmakers to try to break the deadlock.

UK’s departure from the EU has been delayed once. However, PM Theresa is asking for yet more time.

May will travel to Berlin and Paris ahead of an emergency EU summit in Brussels on Wednesday, British lawmakers will hold a debate on Theresa’s proposal to delay Britain’s EU departure date to June 30. (Agencies)

LONDON: Prince William spent three weeks on work placements with Britain’s three security and intelligence agencies.

The Duke of Cambridge said the MI5, MI6 and GCHQ intelligence agencies were full of people doing the most extraordinary work to keep people us safe.

The GCHQ’s head of counter-terrorism said that Prince William worked “exceptionally hard”.

Prince William also learned about risks to the UK’s national security and economy, according to the Kensington Palace.

Reports said the Duke of Cambridge also observed counter-terrorism teams analyzing intelligence as well as carrying out investigations.

The Prince said working and spending inside the security and intelligence agencies was a truly humbling experience. (Agencies)

QUITO: Ecuador’s government has rejected reports that it would imminently expel Wikileaks founder Julian Assange from its London embassy, Reuters reported.

Assange was “prepared” for expulsion from the building, a British friend of his said on Tuesday after Ecuador’s President Lenin Moreno said he had “repeatedly violated” the terms of his asylum.

Assange has lived in an asylum for nearly seven years.

LONDON:  British passports are being issued without the words ‘European Union’ on the cover, a BBC report said.

The new burgundy passports were introduced from 30 March, the day after the UK was supposed to leave the EU. However, some Britishers may still receive the old version until stocks run out.

One recipient said she was “truly appalled” at the change.

Dark blue passports resembling the pre-EU British design are due to be issued from the end of the year.

Susan Hindle Barone, who received her new passport on Friday, opined that she thought the design should not change for as long as the UK remains an EU member.

She said: “I was just surprised – we’re still members of the EU. I was surprised they’ve made the change when we haven’t left, and it’s a tangible mark of something which I believe to be completely futile.

The decision to remove the ‘European Union’ label was made in the expectation that the UK would be leaving the EU at the end of last month, as scheduled.

(Agencies)

DINARD: Foreign ministers from the world’s seven most developed nations met on Friday in northern France.

They sat together to push the fight against global inequality and cyber-crime despite the conspicuous absence of US top diplomat Mike Pompeo.

The two-day Group of Seven (G7) meeting took place under cloudy skies in the Breton resort of Dinard against the background of a litany of global troubles ranging from Libya to Brexit.

LONDON: British Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday wrote to European Council (EC) President Donald Tusk asking to delay Brexit until June 30, media reports said.

This is to give some more time to the divided British lawmakers to agree a withdrawal deal.

In the letter written to Tusk, Theresa said that the United Kingdom proposes that this period should end on 30 June 2019.

She added that if an agreement was reached before this, then the extension should be ended early. (Agencies)

BRUSSELS: The European Commission has recommended a disbursement of around 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) in a grant to Greece as part of its post-bailout program.

The move will boost Greece’s large cash buffers and make it easier for the country borrow at more favorable rates. The recommendation, however, has to be endorsed by euro zone finance ministers on Friday.

Greece exited its last bailout in August last year. (Agencies)