World Briefs: Ukip lawmaker feeling better after passing out

Ukip lawmaker feeling better after passing out

LONDON • Mr Steven Woolfe, who collapsed yesterday after an altercation with fellow members of the UK Independence Party (Ukip) in the European Parliament, said in a statement that he was feeling better but staying in hospital overnight for observation.

"The CT scan has shown that there is no blood clot in the brain," he said in an e-mail statement sent by a Ukip spokesman. "At the moment, I am feeling brighter, happier."

The spokesman said Mr Woolfe had passed out and had two "epileptic-like fits", but tests had shown no bleeding in the brain.

REUTERS


Merkel delivers tough line on Brexit

FRANKFURT • Britain cannot be allowed access to the European Union's single market without accepting free movement of people, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday, warning she would not allow a free-for-all.

She said: "If we don't say full access to the internal market is linked to full freedom of movement, then a movement will spread in Europe in which everyone just does whatever they want."

Dr Merkel urged German firms to back Berlin's tough line on Brexit, even in the face of potential economic harm or risk undermining the EU.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE


10 hurt in motorbike bomb blast in Istanbul

ISTANBUL • At least 10 people were wounded yesterday when a bomb concealed in a motorbike exploded near a police station in Istanbul, local authorities said. The explosion rocked the district of Yenibosna, close to the city's Ataturk International Airport. There were no immediate claims of responsibility.

There have been several bomb attacks in Turkey in recent months, some blamed on the Kurdistan Workers Party militant group and some on the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE


Australia to share cost of US military presence

SYDNEY • Australia and the United States have agreed to share the cost of the US military's presence in Australia's north, a critical part of US President Barack Obama's "pivot" to Asia, Australian Defence Minister Marise Payne said yesterday.

She met US Defence Secretary Ash Carter in Washington this week to discuss plans to double the number of US Marines in the city of Darwin from 1,250 by 2020, a goal that was delayed earlier this year from 2017 as originally planned.

REUTERS

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on October 07, 2016, with the headline World Briefs: Ukip lawmaker feeling better after passing out. Subscribe