Pink Floyd release first new song since 1994 for Ukraine

Yahoo – AFP, April 7, 2022 

David Gilmour: 'We, like so many, have been feeling the fury and the frustration of this vile
act of an independent, peaceful democratic country being invaded and having its people
murdered by one of the world's major powers' (AFP/JOHN D MCHUGH) (JOHN D MCHUGH)

Pink Floyd have written their first new song in almost 30 years to support Ukrainians, the band announced on Thursday. 

"Hey, Hey, Rise-Up!" will be released on Friday, and be used to raise funds for humanitarian causes linked to the war. 

It samples Andriy Khlyvnyuk, from one of Ukraine's biggest bands BoomBox, singing in Sofiyskaya Square in Kyiv in a clip that went viral. 

Khlyvnyukh abandoned a world tour to return to Ukraine and help defend his country. 

"We, like so many, have been feeling the fury and the frustration of this vile act of an independent, peaceful democratic country being invaded and having its people murdered by one of the world's major powers," Pink Floyd said on their official Twitter feed. 

In a press release, band leader David Gilmour said he had been moved by Khlyvnyuk's video: "It was a powerful moment that made me want to put it to music." 

He was able to speak with Khlyvnyuk from his hospital bed in Kyiv, where the singer was recovering after being hit by shrapnel in a mortar attack, the record company said. 

"I played him a little bit of the song down the phone line and he gave me his blessing. We both hope to do something together in person in the future," Gilmour said. 

The image accompanying the song is of a sunflower, and was inspired by a viral video showing a Ukrainian woman insulting two armed Russian soldiers. 

In it, she tells the soldiers: "Take these seeds and put them in your pockets. That way sunflowers will grow when you all rest here." 

It is the first original music from Pink Floyd since 1994's "The Division Bell". 

Gilmour tweeted his opposition to the war soon after Russia's invasion, saying: "Putin must go". 

The band has also pulled their music from Russian and Belarusian streaming sites in protest at the invasion.

Gridlock in Poland as thousands protest abortion ban

Yahoo – AFP, October 26, 2020 

Thousands have been protesting in Warsaw over a ban on abortions

Thousands of people took to the streets of Poland for a fifth straight day of protests against a constitutional court ruling that would impose a near-total ban on abortion in the EU country. 

Protesters in Warsaw occupied several key roundabouts in the city centre to block traffic and chanted anti-government slogans, brandishing the protest symbol -- a red lightning bolt. 

There were similar demonstrations across Poland, a day after rarely seen protests targeting churches in what is still a predominantly Catholic country. 

Poland already has some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the European Union and many women travel abroad to terminate their pregnancies. 

But Poland's constitutional court last week ruled in favour of further restrictions, stating that an existing law allowing the abortion of damaged foetuses was "incompatible" with the constitution. 

The verdict is in line with the position of Poland's powerful Catholic Church and the governing nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party.

It has ignited anger against the ruling party, which is already under pressure over its handling of the pandemic and reforms that critics say undermine the independence of the judiciary. 

Opponents of the ruling say it puts women's lives at risk by forcing them to carry unviable pregnancies but supporters insist it will stop the abortion of foetuses diagnosed with Down Syndrome. 

There are already fewer than 2,000 legal abortions per year in Poland and the vast majority of those are carried out due to damaged foetuses. 

But women's groups estimate that up to 200,000 procedures are performed illegally or abroad. 

Another symbol of the protests is the coat hanger -- a reference to illegal abortions. 

The ruling cannot be appealed but only comes into force if it is published in the journal of laws.

Belarus opposition wins EU parliament rights award

Yahoo – AFP, Alex PIGMAN with Antoine LAMBROSCHINI in Moscow, October 22, 2020 

The ex-Soviet nation has been gripped by protests after since Lukashenko
claimed victory in an August 9 election

The European Parliament on Thursday awarded the Sakharov Prize for human rights to the movement opposing President Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus, led by the exiled Svetlana Tikhanovskaya. 

"It is an honour to announce that the women and men of the democratic opposition in Belarus are the 2020 Sakharov Prize laureates," tweeted European Parliament President David Sassoli.  

"They have on their side something that brute force can never defeat: the truth. Do not give up on your fight. We are by your side." 

The choice is likely to meet with disapproval of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who staunchly supports his embattled Belarusian counterpart. Russia already denounced the choice of the 2018 winner, Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, who was jailed at the time. 

Belarus has been gripped by unprecedented protests since Lukashenko claimed victory in an August election over Tikhanovskaya. 

Every Sunday, tens of thousands of Belarusians, despite the risk of arrest and the threat of live ammunition, take to the streets to oppose Europe's longest serving leader. 

Waving white-red-and-white banners they march peacefully, despite a daunting police presence, beatings and the use of water cannons and anti-riot grenades. 

Tikhanovskaya, who was granted shelter in EU member Lithuania after the vote, has called on Lukashenko to quit power before October 25, warning he would otherwise face a crippling general strike. 

Belarus opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya is living in exile

Double-edged sword 

The protest movement is largely unconnected with traditional political life and is especially led by women and young people who have no recollection of the Soviet era. 

Almost all the figures linked to Tikhanovskaya -- or the opposition Coordination Council set up to begin a transition of power -- have been imprisoned, placed under house arrest or forced into exile. 

Supported by Putin, Lukashenko has ruled out any major concessions, promising only a vague constitutional reform to get out of the crisis and staged a sham of a dialogue with opponents by visiting them in prison. 

Tikhanovskaya meanwhile has won the support of the EU's biggest players, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron. 

Europe's support is a double-edged sword for the opposition, as Moscow and Minsk have constantly denounced a Western conspiracy. 

The Sakharov Prize, set up in 1988 and named after Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, is awarded every year to individuals or organisations that "have made an important contribution to the fight for human rights or democracy". 

Last year's award of the 50,000 euro ($58,000) prize went to Uighur intellectual Ilham Tohti, who is sentenced in China to life imprisonment for "separatism". 

The prize is to be handed out at a plenary session of parliament on December 16. 

The other finalists for the prize were environmental activists in Honduras, including the murdered  Berta Cáceres, and Father Najeeb Michael, the Archbishop of Mosul in Iraq.

Tens of thousands of Belarus opposition supporters march in Minsk: AFP

theSundaily – AFP, 16 Aug 2020

Demonstrators take part in a protest against the presidential election results
demanding the resignation of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko
and the release of political prisoners, in Minsk, Belarus August 16, 2020. The
banner reads: "Fair elections. Tribunal. Freedom for political prisoners". - Reuters

MINSK: Tens of thousands of Belarusian opposition supporters gathered in Minsk on Sunday to join a “March for Freedom” over President Alexander Lukashenko’s disputed re-election.

Chanting “Leave!”, the protesters marched down Independence Avenue following an opposition call for the biggest rally yet in a week of demonstrations since the vote.

Columns of demonstrators raised victory signs and held flowers and balloons. Many wore white, the colour that has come to symbolise the opposition movement. Those marching included a group of veteran paratroopers in uniform berets.

Demonstrators held placards with slogans such as “We are against violence” and “Lukashenko must answer for the torture and dead”.

Protesters walked through the city carrying a 100-metre-long red-and-white flag, once the state flag and now used to represent opposition to the current regime.

They chanted “Long live Belarus!” and called for Lukashenko to “Leave!” as cars honked horns in support.

The protests came as Lukashenko held a rally for supporters in central Minsk, urging them to save the country from destruction.

EU parliament declares 'Black Lives Matter'

Yahoo – AFP, June 20, 2020

Racial justice protests have spread from the United States to Europe, including this
mid-June 2020 demo in Strasbourg, eastern France (AFP Photo/PATRICK HERTZOG)

Brussels (AFP) - The European Parliament voted Friday to declare that "Black Lives Matter" and to denounce racism and white supremacism in all its forms.

The resolution has no legal consequences but sends a signal of support to anti-racism protesters, and it follows a UN call for a probe into police brutality and "systemic racism."

And, one day before President Donald Trump is to hold a rally in Tulsa, a city that saw one of the worst racist massacres in US history, the lawmakers condemned American police brutality.

Point number one of the text of the resolution takes up the slogan US campaigners painted on the street leading to the White House, when it "Affirms that Black Lives Matter."

The resolution, passed by 493 votes to 104, "strongly condemns the appalling death of George Floyd", an unarmed suspect killed by US police in May.

The EU parliament resolution also rebuked President Donald Trump for his "inflammatory 

rhetoric" and for threatening to deploy the army against protesters (AFP Photo/Angela Weiss)

It rebukes Trump for his "inflammatory rhetoric" and for threatening to deploy the army against protesters.

And EU member states themselves, many of which have seen protests in recent days about modern racism and previous colonial crimes, are not spared in the motion.

EU capitals are urged to denounce "the disproportionate use of force and racist tendencies in law enforcement."

The EU institutions and the member states should officially acknowledge past injustices and crimes against humanity committed against black people, people of colour and Roma.

And the resolution declares the slave trade a "crime against humanity."

Earlier Friday, the UN Human Rights Council demanded a report on "systemic racism", but left out any direct mention of the United States in the resolution.

Related Article:

"Barriers & Filters-1 Fear”, New York City, New York, June 6, 2020 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (>14:36 Min - Reference to the Global Protests regarding the death of African American George Floyd)

Pope meets with embattled Malta PM despite plea to cancel

Yahoo – AFP, December 7, 2019

Pope Francis and Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat meet at the Vatican,
despite calls from academics for the pontiff to cancel the event (AFP Photo/Handout)

Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis held a private audience with outgoing Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat on Saturday, despite a plea to cancel the meeting over a scandal-hit investigation into the murder of a journalist.

The Argentine pontiff met Muscat and his family for an event the Vatican said had been scheduled months ago.

Muscat said Sunday he will step down in January after mass protests over a much-criticised probe into the 2017 murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, which has also led to the resignations of his chief of staff and tourism minister.

Twenty-two Maltese academics sent the pope a letter, dated before Muscat's decision to step down, asking Francis to cancel a meeting they slammed as a "propaganda exercise" for the prime minister.

They said it would be "totally unwise, and pastorally undesirable" for the audience at the Vatican to take place, "given the serious and grave nature of the accusations and allegations which are plaguing" the government in Valletta.

Caruana Galizia, a mother of three described as a "one-woman WikiLeaks", was blown up in a car bomb attack near her home in October 2017.

The reporter had become known for exposing cronyism and sleaze within the country's political and business elite, including among Muscat's inner circle.

Francis joined the cries of outrage across the globe over her slaying, sending a rare formal note of condolences, which are usually reserved for the deaths of prominent world leaders rather than private citizens.

Related Articles:

Malta PM to step down over slain reporter case: party sources

Malta PM to step down over slain reporter case: party sources

Yahoo – AFP, Matthew Xuereb, November 30, 2019

Malta's Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has faced mounting criticism over his
government's handling of the murder of Caruana Galizia (AFP Photo/Christof STACHE)

Valletta (AFP) - Malta's Prime Minister Joseph Muscat will step down on January 18, party sources told AFP Saturday, following mounting criticism of his response to the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Party insiders said he would step down once those behind the killing had been charged and once his Labour Party has chosen a new leader.

"He always said that he will be leaving soon and he feels that now is the time to go," said one party source.

First however, he wanted to see that the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder was solved on under his watch, as he had promised, sources added.

"After the mastermind or masterminds are arraigned in court, he plans to announce that he will be stepping down and that there will be a leadership election on January 18," a party source told AFP.

The sources did not say when 45-year-old Muscat would announce his decision -- or whether it would be via a televised announcement -- but they stressed that he would not stay beyond January 18.

The news came amid mounting pressure from Caruana Galizia's family and protesters on the streets, who have cried foul over his handling of the affair.

Mounting pressure

The escalating murder investigation has rocked the tiny Mediterranean island and reached the highest rungs of the country's politics, with two ministers and Muscat's chief of staff Keith Schembri stepping down from their posts this week.

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of the capital Valletta Friday evening 

after Muscat refused to give immunity to the main suspect in the 2017 murder to 

disclose what he knows about the case (AFP Photo/STRINGER)

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of the capital Valletta Friday evening after Muscat refused to give immunity to the main suspect in the 2017 murder, tycoon Yorgen Fenech, to disclose what he knows about the case.

It was the sixth such demonstration in two weeks.

Fenech has identified Schembri as the mastermind behind Caruana Galizia's 2017 car bomb killing, according to sources.

Schembri was arrested on Tuesday, but his release on Thursday sparked accusations of a cover-up.

Muscat, who has vowed to resign if links were found between himself and the murder, said Friday he would remain in power, telling reporters he wanted "this case to be closed under my watch".

But Caruana Galizia's family, who have accused the prime minister of protecting his long-time chief of staff have called for him to go.

"We share Malta's shock and anger at the release of Keith Schembri," the family said in a statement.

"At least two witnesses and multiple pieces of physical evidence implicate Schembri in the assassination of our wife and mother."

They accused Muscat of playing "judge, jury, and executioner in an assassination investigation that so far implicates three of his closest colleagues".

'Disgraceful'

Muscat said Friday he had recused himself from the decision on whether to grant immunity to Fenech.

Protesters reacted angrily after Yorgen Fenech, a tycoon whose business interests
span the energy and tourism sectors, was released (AFP Photo/STRINGER)

The prime minister later said he had reported Fenech to the police for attempted blackmail, saying the mogul had threatened to implicate him in the affair if he was not given a pardon.

Fenech, a tycoon whose business interests span the energy and tourism sectors, was arrested on his yacht last week after an alleged middleman in the murder, taxi driver Melvin Theuma, was offered a pardon to identify those involved.

That arrest was followed swiftly by the resignation of Schembri and tourism minister Konrad Mizzi, while economy minister Chris Cardona said he was "suspending himself".

Caruana Galizia, a popular journalist and blogger described as a "one-woman WikiLeaks", exposed cronyism and sleaze within the country's political and business elite.

Before she was killed, she had alleged that Schembri and Mizzi had been involved in corruption. She had named Cardona in a separate case.

Leaked emails revealed in court appeared to show both Schembri and Mizzi stood to receive payments from a Dubai company called 17 Black, owned by Fenech.

The Caruana Galizia family said Schembri and Fenech have the same doctor, who reportedly served as an intermediary, passing secret notes between them.

'Fear for my life'

A Maltese court is expected to rule Monday on a request by Fenech for the chief investigator in the case, Keith Arnaud, to be removed, amid allegations he also had close ties to Schembri and the prime minister.

After his release on bail Fenech told journalists he feared for his life.

"This is happening in the EU, right now. Where is the voice of the European Commission or other EU leaders?" Robert Barrington, former head of Transparency International in the UK, said on Twitter.

The European Parliament is planning to send a mission to Malta, a parliament source told AFP.

Thousands in Brussels protest violence against women

Yahoo – AFP, 24 November 2019

Protesters placed red shoes on the ground as a symbol of the victims of
violence against women

Around 10,000 people took part in a protest march in Brussels on Sunday calling for an end to violence against women, police said, a day after similar demonstrations in France and Italy.

The protesters in the Belgian capital paid homage to women killed by partners or ex-partners, then marched to the Palace of Justice where they placed pairs of red shoes as a symbol of femicide victims.

"Belgium is a very complex country with many levels of power; federal, regional and communal and all these levels of powers do little things to tackle violence against women. But the main thing we are demanding is a national plan," said Celine Caudron, one of the organisers of the protest.

"It is important to punish the perpetrators but what we want most is that the violence doesn't happen in the first place."

The marchers held up placards bearing messages such as "That's enough" and "Not one more life".

Also prominent were the names of the 22 women killed by men in Belgium this year.

Outside the law courts building the demonstrators set off alarms and made noise as a "protest against the silence" which surrounds the deaths of battered women.

According to Mirabal, a Belgium umbrella group of organisation opposing violence against women, there have been 98 femicides in the country since 2017, a figure "which, in proportion to the population, is well above the average for European nations".

Tens of thousands marched in France and Italy on Saturday calling for an end to violence against women.

The marches came ahead of the UN-recognised International day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on Monday.

Czech PM regrets communist past on Velvet Revolution anniversary

AFP – Bangkok Post, 17 NOV 2019

Babis is facing calls to resign over allegations of graft and that he was once
a communist secret agent. He denies the claims

PRAGUE - Billionaire Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis expressed remorse over his communist past on Sunday at a ceremony in Prague celebrating 30 years since the Velvet Revolution toppled communism in then-Czechoslovakia.

The populist mogul, who was a Czechoslovak Communist Party member in the 1980s, paid tribute to the 1989 peaceful uprising that ushered in democratic reform to the former Soviet satellite.

His comments come after a quarter-million Czechs flooded central Prague on Saturday, in demonstrations to mark the anniversary that saw protesters demand Babis resign over allegations of graft and that he was once a communist secret agent. He has strongly denied the accusations.

"As you surely know, I was a Communist Party member. I'm not proud of that," Babis said at a ceremony attended by the prime ministers of Hungary, Poland and Slovakia and by German parliament speaker Wolfgang Schaeuble.

He said he "wasn't as brave" as Vaclav Havel, the dissident playwright elected the president of Czechoslovakia in 1989, and thanked those behind the Velvet Revolution protests.

"I'm standing here today as the prime minister elected in a free, democratic election, and therefore I want to, at least now, express my gratitude and humility," said Babis, whose minority government now relies on the tacit support of Communist party lawmakers to survive in parliament.

Graft allegations

Babis took office after his ANO (YES) party won the 2017 general election, campaigning on an anti-corruption ticket in the EU and NATO country of 10.6 million.

The fifth wealthiest Czech according to Forbes, Babis himself now faces a string of graft allegations and a conflict-of-interest probe by the European Commission centred on Agrofert, his sprawling farming, media and chemicals holding.

He is also tagged as an agent in secret police files from the 1980s. He has strongly denied knowingly cooperating.

ANO still tops opinion polls with around 30 percent support, but the scandals have stoked a public outcry against Babis.

On Saturday the CTK Czech news agency quoted Interior Minister Jan Hamacek as saying some 250,000 people had rallied at Letna park -- the site of some of the biggest 1989 rallies -- matching a similar protests against Babis in June.

Toppling Soviet rule

Thirty years ago the Velvet Revolution saw unprecedented demonstrations and a general strike end four decades of Soviet-imposed totalitarianism in the former Czechoslovakia, just weeks after the Berlin Wall crumbled.

On November 17, 1989, Communist police brutally crushed a students' march, sparking a student strike and the creation of an opposition movement which then negotiated the Communist Party's departure from politics.

In late December 1989, Havel, then the opposition leader, was elected president of Czechoslovakia, which went on to peacefully split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993.

The neighbours joined NATO and the EU, with Bratislava also joining the eurozone in 2009.

Thousands march for Scottish independence

Yahoo – AFP, November 2, 2019

Nationalists argue Brexit means another independence referendum is necessary
because a majority of Scots voted to stay in the EU (AFP Photo/ANDY BUCHANAN)

Glasgow (AFP) - Thousands rallied in Glasgow on Saturday calling for Scotland to become an independent country, with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon telling the crowds that their goal was "within touching distance".

The Scottish National Party (SNP) leader was the headline speaker at the event in George Square, the first time she has addressed an independence rally since the 2014 referendum campaign, with a crucial general election looming next month.

"Make no mistake, the general election we face now on December 12 is the most important election for Scotland in our lifetimes," she told the crowds.

Supporters waved the St Andrews cross and Catalan flags in solidarity with

the fellow independence campaign in Spain (AFP Photo/ANDY BUCHANAN)

"The future of our country is on the line.

"We must come out in our numbers and vote in this election," she added, insisting that the "prize" of independence was "within touching distance."

"We must seize that prize," she urged.

Sturgeon is expected, before Christmas, to formally ask Johnson for a Section 30 order, which would give Scotland's devolved government permission to stage a referendum.

The protest came ahead of Britain's crucial general 

election next month (AFP Photo/ANDY BUCHANAN)

Supporters waved the St Andrews cross emblazoned with the word "Yes" and Catalan flags in solidarity with the fellow independence campaign.

Others wore kilts and played bagpipes, including one musician who had flames leaping from his instrument.

Scotland voted against independence in a 2014 referendum by 55 percent.

But nationalists argue that the 2016 British referendum in favour of Brexit means another independence referendum is necessary -- because Scotland voted by 62 percent to stay in the European Union.

Scotland voted against independence in a 2014

referendum by 55 percent (AFP Photo/ANDY BUCHANAN)

Nationalists also argue that some people voted against independence thinking it would guarantee their place inside the EU.

Sturgeon promised supporters on Saturday to "lead you to an independence reference next year".

"It's time for Scotland to choose our own future, time for Scotland to be an independent country," she added.

Pro-union supporters organised a counter protest near the rally calling for 

Scottish independence in Glasgow (AFP Photo/ANDY BUCHANAN)

A small number of pro-Union protesters carrying Union Jack flags staged a counter-demonstration.

German farmers stage tractor protest over climate measures

Yahoo – AFP, October 22, 2019

Convoys of tractors held up traffic in Berlin (AFP Photo/Tobias SCHWARZ)

Berlin (AFP) - Thousands of farmers drove their tractors into German cities on Tuesday, in protest at the government's new agricultural policies which they say will hurt their livelihoods and make them scapegoats for climate change.

Long convoys of tractors held up traffic at the main protest sites in Berlin and Bonn, both home to federal government offices, while thousands more honked their horns and blocked roads in cities including Munich, Hanover and Stuttgart.

"Agricultural regulations are becoming ever more strict... and threatening our existence," said 19-year-old Tom Hollstein, who hung a doll dressed as a farmer from a makeshift gallows on the back of his vehicle.

The protesters are furious at a new package of regulations introduced by Chancellor Angela Merkel's government last month, which includes plans to ban the controversial weedkiller glyphosate by 2023 and limits the use of fertiliser to reduce nitrate levels in groundwater.

The protesters are furious at new regulations introduced by the German government, 

which include plans to ban the controversial weedkiller glyphosate by 2023 and limits 

the use of fertiliser (AFP Photo/Ina FASSBENDER)

Glyphosate, sold under the trade name Roundup, has been blamed for plummeting insect populations and according to some studies causes cancer in humans, but supporters of the widely used product insist it is a safe and effective tool to ensure agricultural productivity.

The new restrictions "mean we would have to start working as an organic company, which is very difficult in our region," said Bernard Kalies, a fruit and vegetable farmer near the border with Poland.

One of the demonstrators in Bonn held up a sign that read "Tuesdays for Farmers", DPA news agency reported, in a play on the "Fridays for Future" strikes calling for action against climate change.

Many farmers have said they are fed up with "farmer bashing" by environmental activists, who they say have made agricultural businesses the bogeyman in the climate debate.

German Agriculture Minister Julia Kloeckner voiced support for the farmers.

"They make the food we eat, they work hard, but they are seen by some as nothing more than 'polluters' or 'animal abusers'. And that is neither right nor fair," she told the Bild daily.

Angry farmers took to the streets in similar protests in France on Tuesday, while Dutch farmers have staged two nationwide demonstrations in recent weeks.

EU pursues Brexit ratification despite delay request

Yahoo – AFP, Dave CLARK, and Martin Trauth, October 20, 2019

Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators joined an anti-Brexit march in
central London on Saturday (AFP Photo/Niklas HALLE'N)

Brussels (AFP) - Brussels officials on Sunday pressed on with plans to ratify the divorce deal as European leaders considered Prime Minister Boris Johnson's reluctant request for a Brexit delay.

Ambassadors and senior officials from the other 27 member states met Sunday after British MPs forced Johnson to send EU Council president Donald Tusk a late request to postpone the withdrawal.

"The EU is keeping all options open and has therefore initiated the ratification process so that it can be handed over to the European Parliament on Monday," an EU diplomat told AFP.

"The EU will probably pursue this strategy until there is clarity on the British side," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Tusk will spend a "few days" canvassing member state leaders, and diplomats said this would mean the British parliament will have to vote on Brexit again before hearing their decision on the October 31 departure.

"It was a very short and normal meeting of the EU ambassadors to launch the next steps of the EU ratification of the agreement," EU negotiator Michel Barnier told reporters after Sunday's talks.

Diplomats told AFP the ambassadors' meeting lasted only 15 minutes and had dealt simply with EU ratification, although a participant said they had "taken note" of Johnson's letter.

Asked whether he thought EU leaders would grant a delay, Barnier said: "President Tusk will consult in the next days."

Previous deal torpedoed

On Saturday, MPs pushed through an amendment obliging a furious Johnson to ask for an extension until the British legislation governing the withdrawal is drafted and passed.

Johnson, who refused to sign the letter and insists no delay is necessary, plans to bring the Brexit agreement he reached with Barnier last week to a vote on Monday.

MPs will thus have to vote without knowing whether EU leaders will allow an extension -- and if so whether they will delay Brexit as far as January 31 next year, as the British letter requested.

"Further developments on the British side will have to be taken into account," another European diplomat confirmed.

"What was decided on Thursday stays on the table. The British parliament didn't reject the deal, so no need to change course."

And one diplomat took to Twitter to complain that his Sunday morning had been disrupted by British political manoeuvres.

Gregor Schusterschitz, Austria's deputy permanent representative to the EU, sent a picture of the meeting agenda.

"What better way at to start a Sunday morning than with a meeting on Brexit... and this in all the uncertainty yet again created by the House of Commons," he added.

European sources were not sure how any decision on an extension will be made. Tusk could call a special summit next week, but diplomats said he is more likely to use a written procedure.

Diplomats suggested a summit would only be necessary if British MPs reject the deal next week and overturn the whole process. Any decision either way must be unanimous.

"If the parliament says it needs more time, then there could be a 'technical extension' for some weeks. This would probably be agreed. We certainly do not want to risk a no deal because of a few days more," one EU diplomat said.

Election prospects

If the House of Commons rejects the withdrawal agreement, however, the EU leaders would probably want to hold a meeting to discuss whether it is worth giving a longer extension to allow Britain to hold an election or second Brexit referendum to break the impasse.

Last week, EU and UK negotiators announced an agreement to govern Britain's departure from the bloc at the end of the month and European leaders endorsed it at a summit on Thursday.

The EU parliament will begin its own ratification procedures on Monday but Britain's House of Commons, which torpedoed an earlier agreement signed a year earlier, still has its doubts.