News in Brief

Date: 15 September 2019 - 22:14

News ID: ۷۰۴۸۳

LONDON (Reuters) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson likened himself to the comic book character The Incredible Hulk in a newspaper interview where he stressed his determination to take Britain out of the European Union on Oct. 31.
The Mail on Sunday newspaper reported that Johnson said he would find a way to circumvent a recent parliament vote ordering him to delay Brexit rather than take Britain out of the EU without a transition deal.
"The madder Hulk gets, the stronger Hulk gets,” Johnson was quoted as saying. "Hulk always escaped, no matter how tightly bound in he seemed to be - and that is the case for this country. We will come out on October 31.”
Britain’s parliament has repeatedly rejected the exit deal Johnson’s predecessor Theresa May negotiated with the EU, and this month rejected leaving without a deal - angering many Britons who voted to leave the bloc more than three years ago.
Johnson wants to harness that anger to win a majority in an early national election, but his efforts to call one have so far been thwarted by opposition parties who want to first ensure Britain cannot leave the EU without a deal on Oct. 31.

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PARIS (Reuters) -- Former U.S spy agency contractor Edward Snowden hopes France will grant him asylum, according to a France Inter radio interview to be broadcast on Monday.
In excerpts made available on the French radio station’s Twitter account, Snowden says he would "love to see” French President Emmanuel Macron make a gesture enabling him to live in the country.
It was not immediately clear when or where the interview took place.
Snowden has been living in Russia since 2013 after he revealed details of secret surveillance programs by U.S. intelligence agencies.
Many civil rights activists see him as a hero, but at home in the United States authorities want him to stand trial for espionage.

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NASSAU (Reuters) -- Tropical Storm Humberto lashed already devastated parts of the Bahamas with heavy rain and strong winds before crawling northwest, and forecasters said it was likely to become a hurricane before the end of the weekend.
The storm, packing maximum sustained winds of 50 miles per hour (85 km per hour), is expected to move well offshore of the east coast of Florida and into the Atlantic Ocean through early next week, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.
Forecasters said the storm could drop up to six inches (15.24 cm) of rain in some areas of the Bahamas through Monday, but it did not produce a dangerous storm surge in the northwestern islands, which were hammered earlier this month by Hurricane Dorian.
Humberto could, however, complicate relief efforts in the area where thousands of structures were flattened and 70,000 people were left needing shelter, food and water and medical aid.

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LONDON (Reuters) -- Burglars have stolen a fully-functional 18-carat gold toilet from Britain’s Blenheim Palace, where it had been installed as an art exhibit, police said.
The toilet, valued at more than $5 million, was part of an exhibition of work by Italian conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan which opened two days ago at the stately home 60 miles west of London, a major tourist attraction.
The toilet, named "America”, was previously on display in a cubicle at New York’s Guggenheim Museum, where more than 100,000 visitors were able to use it.
Thieves with at least two vehicles broke into the palace, the birthplace of World War Two leader Winston Churchill, and removed the toilet some time before 5 a.m. (0400 GMT), Thames Valley Police said.
"Due to the toilet being plumbed in to the building, this has caused significant damage and flooding,” Detective Inspector Jess Milne added in a public statement.
Police said they had arrested one 66-year-old man in connection with the theft, but had not recovered the artwork.

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CHICAGO Reuters) -- More than 2,200 preserved fetal remains have been found on the Illinois property of a recently deceased doctor who performed abortions, the Will County sheriff’s office said in a statement.
The family and attorney of Ulrich Klopfer, who died on Sept. 3, discovered 2,246 medically preserved fetal remains on Thursday while going through the deceased doctor’s personal property and alerted the local coroner’s office, the sheriff’s office said.
"The family is cooperating fully with this investigation. There is no evidence that any medical procedures were conducted at the property,” the statement, issued on Friday, said.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Hamza bin Laden, a son of slain Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and himself a notable figure in the militant group, was killed in a U.S. counterterrorism operation, President Donald Trump said on Saturday.
In a statement issued by the White House, Trump said the operation took place in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, but he offered no further details.
"The loss of Hamza bin Ladin not only deprives Al-Qaeda of important leadership skills and the symbolic connection to his father, but undermines important operational activities of the group,” Trump said, using an alternative spelling for the group that carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
A U.S. official told Reuters Hamza had been killed months ago near the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Trump was briefed at the time on the operation.