Briefly

EUROPE

EU strikes accord with UK on fishing

The European Union and Britain have reached an agreement on fishing rights for 2021, the European Commission said. The accord was finalized in a phone call on Wednesday. The agreement guarantees the rights of EU and UK fishing fleets in EU and British waters until the end of this year. It fixes the total allowable catches for 75 shared fish stocks as well as for some deep-sea stocks for 2021 and 2022. It also provides clarity on access limits for non-quota species. Access to Britain's rich fishing waters was a major sticking point in post-Brexit talks.

RUSSIA

Lawmakers back arms control treaty exit

The Russian Federation Council, the upper house of parliament, passed a bill on Wednesday to withdraw the country from the Treaty on Open Skies, an arms control treaty. The decision was made in response to the United States' withdrawal from the pact in November 2020, the head of the chamber's International Affairs Committee, Grigory Karasin, said in a statement. He criticized the US move for significantly undermining the balance of interests and hurting the treaty's key role in building confidence and transparency. Russia has presented concrete proposals aimed at preserving the treaty, but the US has not responded. Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to soon sign the bill into law.

UNITED STATES

Trump shuts down social media site

Former US president Donald Trump has shut down his personal social media platform launched less than a month ago in lieu of Twitter. Trump's senior aide Jason Miller confirmed to media on Wednesday that the webpage, dubbed "From the Desk of Donald J. Trump", has been shuttered permanently. Miller replied to a tweet asking whether the move was a "precursor" to the former president joining "another platform", saying:"Yes, actually, it is." Launched on May 4, the platform much resembles Twitter, which alongside Facebook banned Trump in the aftermath of the Jan 6 Capitol riot that he was accused of inciting. On May 5, Facebook's Oversight Board decided to uphold the ban on his account.

Xinhua - Agencies