French President Francois Hollande speaks with journalists as he arrives for an EU summit at the EU Council building in Brussels. (Photo: AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
BRUSSELS (AP) — Prime Minister David Cameron faced off Thursday against the 27 other European Union leaders, telling them to grant his country a new deal to settle the festering issue of their relationship or face a possible divorce as soon as this summer.
Cameron said he was "battling for Britain" at a Brussels summit — and for a less intrusive EU that would benefit other countries, too. But French President Francois Hollande struck a cautionary note, warning that no individual leader should be allowed to stop closer European cooperation.
"It's the EU in question, not just one country in the EU," Hollande said as he arrived. "I want Britain to stay in the EU. But I hope most of all that Europe can advance, can be stronger."
Cameron is seeking changes to the U.K.-EU relationship that will let him urge Britons to vote "yes" to continued membership in a referendum that could come as early as June.
He told his fellow leaders that he needed a substantial deal that would be "credible for the British people." The British referendum on EU membership is bound to be hard-fought, since few issues in Britain have as much resonance as its relationship with the EU.
"The question of Britain's place in Europe has been allowed to fester for too long," Cameron said, arguing that this was a chance to settle the issue for a generation.
"If we can get a good deal, I will take that deal. But I will not take a deal that doesn't meet what we need," Cameron said.
A British official said the 28 leaders' first discussion session Thursday ended without a breakthrough.
"I don't think there was any sense that gaps in key issues had narrowed," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks. "There's a lot of hard work to do overnight."
Talks among diplomats and lawyers to nail down the final details of a U.K. deal were expected to go into the early hours Friday before a hoped-for agreement.
Britain, which has one of the strongest economies in Europe, has been a magnet for hundreds of thousands of workers from eastern EU nations who are seeking higher-paying jobs. Britain has no power to stop immigration from other EU nations, leading some in Britain to say that immigrants are taking their jobs. The EU immigrants can also claim unemployment, child care and other benefits in Britain, which Cameron's government says is straining the country's social services budget.
Since none of the 27 other leaders wants to see Britain leave, there is broad consensus, if not agreement, on a deal which Cameron says he needs to win the referendum. It would give Britain more powers to limit benefit payments to workers from other EU countries for several years — something Britain says will slow the pace of immigration. The draft deal also offers guarantees to countries, including Britain, that do not use the shared euro currency, and makes tweaks aimed at boosting competitiveness and giving national parliaments more power.
But differences remain on key details, including Britain's wish to be exempted from the EU's longstanding aim of "ever closer union."
One European official said a main source of tension was the length of time Britain's limit on welfare benefits would last, with the Czech Republic opposing the U.K.'s aim of seven years. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, since the discussions were not public.
The lingering disputes belie the fact that the other member states cherish Britain as an economic and diplomatic giant in a struggling EU.
"I'm going into this debate with the position that we would like to do everything to create the conditions so that Great Britain can remain part of the European Union," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.
But continuing differences remain. Cameron argues for a "live and let live" union in which some countries move ever closer together while others remain semi-detached. That grates against the wishes of France, Germany and others who believe strongly in an "ever closer union" among as many members as possible.
Britain has long been a half-hearted member of the EU, staying out of both the euro currency and the passport-free Schengen travel zone. The perception of increasing Brussels meddling in affairs many Britons considered sovereign issues made the time ripe for a U.K. referendum.
Cameron said he would not stop other EU members striving for more unity, but insisted Britain should have ironclad guarantees that it could stay on the sidelines.
Cameron has lobbied relentlessly for months, visiting 20 EU nations and speaking to all the other leaders to bring the EU to the cusp of an agreement many had thought impossible. But even if he gets a deal, he will face loud opposition from anti-EU forces at home, including many members of his own Conservative Party.
U.K. Independence Party leader Nigel Farage, who wants Britain to leave the EU, said the changes Cameron was seeking were trivial.
As she arrived for the summit, Lithuanian Prime Minister Dalia Grybauskaite saw a long meeting ahead.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration told a U.S. magistrate judge on Friday it would be willing to allow Apple Inc. to retain possession of and later destroy specialized software it has been ordered to design to help the FBI hack into an encrypted iPhone used by the gunman in December's mass shootings in California.
The government made clear that it was open to less intrusive options in a new legal filing intended to blunt public criticism by Apple's chief executive, Tim Cook, who said the software would be "too dangerous to create" because it would threaten the digital privacy of millions of iPhone customers worldwide.
Trump made the comment during a question-and-answer session in Pawleys Island, South Carolina, where he's campaigning ahead of Saturday's first-in-the-South Republican presidential primary. Trump says Cook wants to prove "how liberal he is" and told the crowd to "boycott Apple until such time as they give up that security."
In the latest volley between the federal government and one of the world's most respected companies, the Justice Department argued that Apple has the technical ability to comply with a court order issued this week — but won't do so because of its marketing strategy.
"Apple has attempted to design and market its products to allow technology, rather than the law, to control access to data which has been found by this court to be warranted for an important investigation," the filing states.
The Justice Department's motion, which seeks to force Apple to comply with Pym's order, appears aimed at rebutting some of the key objections of Apple and its supporters. It says that the software the government seeks, contrary to Apple's assertions, is not akin to a "master key, capable of opening hundreds of millions of locks." And it also rejects the idea that the court order placed an unreasonable burden on the company, saying Apple already has the technical wherewithal to satisfy it.
"To the extent that Apple claims that the order is unreasonably burdensome because it undermines Apple's marketing strategies or because it fears criticism for providing lawful access to the government, these concerns do not establish an undue burden," the government wrote.
Apple's written objection, already signaled by Cook in a message to Apple customers, is due next Friday.
Senior Apple executives said during a phone call with reporters Friday that the company had worked for hours, even days, with federal officials and investigators to try to gain access to Farook's iPhone. The executives, who insisted on anonymity to speak freely amid ongoing legal proceedings, said they went to the FBI in early January with four suggestions, including a workaround using iCloud. Prosecutors noted the four methods and their "deficiencies" in a footnote in their Friday court filing.
The magistrate on Tuesday ordered Apple to provide the FBI with highly specialized software that could be loaded onto the work-issued iPhone 5C used by Syed Farook, who died with his wife in a gun battle with police after killing 14 people in December in San Bernardino, California. The U.S. has said the attacks were partly inspired by the Islamic State terror group.
The specialized software would bypass a security time delay and self-destruct feature that erases all data after 10 consecutive, unsuccessful attempts to guess the unlocking passcode. This would allow the FBI to use technology to rapidly and repeatedly test numbers in what's known as a brute force attack. In their filing Friday, prosecutors explained that investigators would be willing to work remotely to test passcodes, while Apple retained both possession of the phone and the technology itself.
That's a good "compromise position" because "they're giving all the power to Apple," said Jason Healey, a former director on cyber policy at the White House.
"They're telling Apple, 'You hold the software, we're not asking you to put a backdoor in the encryption, we just want to be able to brute force this thing,'" Healey said. "If the precedent is this, that they deliver the phone to Apple and Apple does it, I think that's a pretty good precedent that can't be done en masse on the next thousand iPhones."
Two other personal phones were found crushed beyond investigative value in the trash behind the couple's home.
Cool Christmas story to share with y’all... Known my “Uncle Tonga” since I was 5yrs old. My grandfather, High Chief Peter Maivia helped train him to become a professional wrestler in the 70’s.
Throughout Tonga’s illustrious wrestling career he changed his name to “King Haku” and became one the WWE’s most sought after “bad guys” and still known to this day for being one of the toughest and legit most vicious man in wrestling history.
Years later and I get a call from WWE saying “Vince McMahon wants to see you wrestle immediately. He’s flying you to RAW tomorrow and you’ll have a tryout match.” I thought holy sh*t that’s awesome, buuuut there’s a few problems: For me, I wasn’t just having “a tryout match”, because I had never actually HAD a real match in my life. Ever.
WWE thought that I already had multiple matches under my belt, but little did they know. What they also didn’t know was that I was broke as hell and didn’t actually own wrestling gear - no boots, knee pads or most importantly… wrestling trunks.
I went to Sports Authority and bought some bright ass white volleyball knee pads, called my Uncle and asked if he had ANY trunks I could use for my tryout. He said all I have is a pair of shiny purple trunks (purple was his signature color), I told him I don’t care if the trunks are all the colors of Skittles, I’ll happily wear them.
When I picked the trunks up from him I’ll never forget the monster hug he gave me, look me in the eyes and said, “I’m so proud of you.
Go get ‘em nephew!” Here’s the picture of me wrestling my FIRST MATCH EVER in Corpus Christi, TX in front of 15,000 people - proudly in my lucky purple trunks. And the rest... was history. My Uncle Tonga is a family man, humble man and champion.
Most importantly one of the greatest human beings I know. So we walk outside and I said “Uncle how do you like my truck?”
He said, “Whoooaaa nephew it’s beautiful... I love it!” I said “Good ‘cause it’s yours.” He was speechless. Thru tears (manly of course;) we monster hugged ‘cause I’ll never forget what he did for me when I had nothing. Merry Christmas Uncle and ofa atu.