Her huddles with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin and French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris come on the eve of another tension-packed summit in Brussels focused on the fate of the 46-year-old partnership.

May asked EU leaders on Friday to delay Brexit until June 30 to give her time to strike a compromise with the opposition that lets Britain’s hung parliament back an orderly divorce plan on the fourth attempt.

But the 27 European leaders have already signed off on one extension — the original deadline was March 29 — and have serious doubts that May will somehow break through the political gridlock now.

    May’s predicament is complicated by growing EU fears that the chaos will soon carry political and economic costs even heavier than those potentially incurred in case of a messy “no-deal Brexit”.

This view is being promoted publicly by Macron and is also believed to be backed by Belgium and Spain.

“We’d need a strong political reason to delay,” a diplomat from this camp said.

EU Council president Donald Tusk’s office last week floated a compromise proposal that gives Britain a “flexible” extension of up to a year — which ends earlier should some way forward emerge in London.

But a diplomatic source insisted that this was “Mr. Tusk’s position, not the position of the Council”.

Merkel takes a more conciliatory approach backed by EU member Ireland — a crucial player whose politically sensitive border with Britain’s Northern Ireland is holding up May’s deal in parliament.

“I will do everything in order to prevent a no-deal Brexit,” Merkel said Friday.

“Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

   – Paralysis and disarray –

The diplomatic disarray in Brussels is mirrored by political paralysis in London that has forced May to promise to resign as soon as she gets this first stage of Brexit over the line.

The weakened British leader had been hoping to come to Brussels with either her deal approved or some sort of alternative way forward drafted that could convince the likes of Macron.

But her talks with the opposition Labour Party have made no tangible progress and seem unlikely to find common ground before she flies to Brussels seeking a second delay in three weeks.

“The problem is that the government doesn’t seem to be moving off the original red lines,” Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said Monday.

The government will instead present a plan to parliament Tuesday to outline how long it intends to delay Brexit.

This is part of legislation passed into law late Monday to force May to postpone Brexit if the only other alternative is a no-deal scenario.

May’s talks with Labour have stumbled over Corbyn’s demand that Britain join some form of European customs arrangement once the sides formally split up.

EU officials are ready to include such a promise in the outlines of the sides’ future relationship that was agreed alongside the binding withdrawal deal.

But May knows that the prospect of close post-Brexit economic relations could further fracture her government and party ahead of possible snap elections.

Almost any form of European customs arrangement would keep Britain from striking its own global trade agreement and leave one of the biggest perceived advantages of Brexit unfulfilled.

It is a take-no-prisoners battle on the election trail in this selfie-mad nation, where few shots count more than a close up with “everyman” leader Joko Widodo, a former furniture salesman who rose from a

riverside slum to high office.

Hastirini was among some 10,000 other desperate housewives, mostly aged between 20 and 50, who braved searing heat as they screamed and jostled, pushing past security guards to reach Joko at an event in Sragen on Java island this week.

“I’m sad, I couldn’t get a picture with him,” the 37-year-old said as she sobbed and wailed.

“He seems like such a nice person, kind of fatherly.”

The lanky, heavy-metal music-loving 57-year-old, best known as Jokowi, seems happy to oblige housewives and other key voters – including millenials who account for about one-third of the electorate – as he fights to keep a wide lead in the race for the presidency on

April 17.

Some 192 million Indonesians are set to cast their ballots in the world’s third-biggest democracy, with a record 245,000 candidates vying for positions from the presidency and parliamentary seats all the way down to local council jobs.

And garnering support on social media is essential. Indonesia is one of Instagram and Facebook’s biggest markets globally, with some 62 million and 130 million users, respectively.

Jokowi’s sole rival is Prabowo Subianto, a retired military general and son-in-law of the late dictator Suharto, who has ditched his trademark suit and tie for a campaign-casual khaki safari suit with sunglasses.

Prabowo, as he is known, is also trying to win over women voters and fans online, balancing his strongman image with an Instagram account of him and his cuddly cat, Bobby.

The 67-year-old and vice-presidential candidate Sandiaga Uno – a youthful 49-year-old business magnate – have generated online fan clubs including the Housewives Party in Support of Prabowo-Sandiaga, the Militant Housewives’ Force and even the Voluptuous Housewives Who Fight for Prabowo-Sandi.

Both candidates are regularly mobbed by adoring female fans – though Jokowi appears more at home performing in front of the crowds.

Back in Sragen, Hastirini almost reached Jokowi as he was exiting the arena when someone stepped on her seven-year-old daughter’s foot.

In leaping to help her little girl, she had missed her moment with Jokowi.

Also empty-handed was high school teacher Mariana Wahyu, who said she never bothered to get a selfie with her-then neighbour Jokowi back when he was mayor of Solo city.

“O Allah, had I known then that he would become president, I would have taken a lot of pictures with him,” she said in Central Java’s Sukoharjo city.

The foreign minister, while addressing a press conference in Multan, announced that the government has “reliable intelligence that India is devising a new plan”.

“Preparations are being made, and there are chances of another attack against Pakistan. According to our information, the action could be taken between April 16-20,” he added.

“A new mishap could be staged in Indian-occupied Kashmir, just like [the] Pulwama [ attack]. And its purpose will be to justify their [India’s] offensive against Pakistan and to increase diplomatic pressure against Islamabad,” he explained. “If it happens, you can imagine the impact of the occurrence on the peace and stability of the region.”

He said that Pakistan has already briefed the United Nations Security Council P5 member countries over the issue and stated Pakistan’s apprehensions.

“We want the international community to take notice of this irresponsible behaviour and reprimand them [India] for taking this route,” he said.

Qureshi also criticised the global community for remaining silent over Indian aggression against Pakistan on Feb 26. He said that international powers did not reprimand India despite blatant violation of international laws on the part of India due to geopolitics.

“The international community, given the sensitivity of this flashpoint, should not remain silent,” he stated, adding that the global community should and would have to play their role in this regard.

Last week, the Indian government faced embarrassment when a Foreign Policy magazine report citing senior US defence officials stated that none of Pakistan’s F-16 jets had been shot down by the Indian Air Force ─ contrary to India’s claims ─ on Fen 27, when tensions between both countries had spiked in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack.

On February 14, at least 40 Indian security personnel were killed in a suicide attack targeting a military convey in Indian-occupied Kashmir. Although the attack was initially claimed by a Kashmiri youth, the Jaish-e-Mohammad later took responsibility for it.

On February 26, Indian warplanes violated Pakistani airspace and allegedly struck what New Delhi claimed was a JeM training camp, a claim rejected by Pakistan and never proved by India.

The next day, Pakistani jets fired at various targets from across the Line of Control. As the Indian Air Force engaged the Pakistani jets, the PAF show down two Indian warplanes ─ one of which crashed in Azad Jammu and Kashmir ─ and captured an Indian pilot. Wing Commander Abhinandan. The pilot was released on March 1 as a gesture of peace by the Pakistani government.

As Modi, 68, seeks a second term in India’s almost six-week mega-election beginning on Thursday, AFP looks at how he has delivered on his main economic pledges.

Jobs, jobs, and more jobs 

Young people voted for Modi in droves in 2014 after he said he would create 10 million jobs a year.

Many, however, have been left disappointed — and jobless.

A newspaper recently published what it called an official report buried by Modi’s government showing unemployment at its highest since the 1970s.

Last year a staggering 19 million people applied for 63,000 positions at Indian Railways.

The opposition has used unemployment as one of its main lines of attack in the campaign, with Congress chief Rahul Gandhi attacking Modi for creating a “national disaster”.

Analysts say that the economy has failed to expand at the rate required to employ the one million Indians who enter the workforce every month.

Corruption crackdown 

In 2014, Modi projected himself as an anti-corruption crusader who would eradicate graft and so-called “black money”.

While Modi has been widely credited with ending a culture of crony capitalism throughout government his overall record on corruption is mixed.

He has been lauded for toughening anti-corruption laws, including one outlawing “benami” property, where owners purchase real estate through third parties to hide money.

India has risen three places to 78th in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index under his watch, five places behind South Africa but nine ahead of China.

However, Modi’s first term will perhaps most be remembered for a shock cash ban that rendered 86 percent of the high-currency bank notes void overnight and hit growth.

Modi said “demonetisation” would root out illegal money but almost all notes returned to the banking system, while the move caused untold suffering to millions of poor who operate outside of India’s formal economy.

‘Make in India?’ 

Modi promised to boost foreign investment by making it easier for companies abroad to do business in India.

To a large extent he has succeeded. The government has relaxed stringent foreign direct investment rules in many sectors including in infrastructure, aviation and single-brand retail.

Foreign capital inflows into India have increased as a result. FDI in India rose to nearly $62 billion for 2017-18 and the government hopes it can register $100 billion annually within two years.

One of the most high-profile investments was US retail giant Walmart’s purchase of a 77-percent stake in Indian e-commerce behemoth Flipkart last year for $16 billion.

Investors have expressed concern about recent protectionist measures in e-commerce though. The government announced surprise restrictions in December that would limit how companies like Amazon and Walmart could operate.

Analysts are in general agreement that Modi’s much-trumpeted “Make in India” initiative failed to turn the Asian giant into a manufacturing hub, despite an advertising blitzkrieg.

Taxing 

Modi delivered on one promise that previous governments had said they would achieve but never did — pushing through a single national goods and services tax (GST) designed to make conducting business in India easier.

The tax, which came into effect on 1 July 2017, was designed to replace more than a dozen state and national levies and transform India’s $2 trillion economy into a single market for the first time.

First proposed in 2006, it got the backing of most economists as being long overdue and was hailed as the biggest tax reform since independence.

It has been credited with helping India soar up the World Bank’s “ease of doing business ranking”, with the institution saying India had jumped 23 places to 77th position between 2017 and 2018.

The government has been forced to announce several changes to the GST however, after small-scale businesses complained they were being unfairly hit by high tax rates.

Bad debt 

Indian banks are saddled with some of the highest levels of bad debt anywhere in the world and Modi made tackling them a key priority.

The government has given the central bank greater powers to intervene in cases of bad loans and in 2017 approved a $32 billion recapitalisation plan to help state-owned banks clean up their books.

Analysts say progress is being made but the difficulty of recovering dues from alleged offenders, such as fugitives Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi, show that there is still a long way to go.

In 2016 Modi’s government overhauled archaic bankruptcy laws by passing the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code which sought to make it easier to wind down companies and help banks recover soured loans.

The law set a 180-day deadline to resolve bankruptcy cases, which previously took over four years on average. However, the Supreme Court issued a verdict this week which could again delay some insolvency proceedings.

The government unveiled a bill last week containing tough measures, including powers for ministers to order social media sites like Facebook to put warnings next to posts authorities believe to be false and in extreme cases take them down.

If an action is deemed malicious and damaging to Singapore’s interests, companies could be hit with fines of up to Sg$1 million ($740,000). Individuals could face jail terms of up to 10 years.

Authorities in the tightly-controlled country — long criticised for restricting civil liberties — insist the measures are necessary to stop the circulation of falsehoods which could sow divisions in the multi-ethnic city-state.

But press freedom groups condemned the proposals, saying they could stifle online discussion, as did tech companies which have big investments in the ultra-modern city.

“As the most far-reaching legislation of its kind to date, this level of overreach poses significant risks to freedom of expression and speech,” said the Asia Internet Coalition, an industry association whose members include Facebook, Google and Twitter.

Simon Milner, Facebook’s vice president of public policy in Asia-Pacific, said the social media giant was concerned about potentially being compelled to remove content.

“Giving people a place to express themselves freely and safely is important to us and we have a responsibility to handle any government request to remove alleged misinformation carefully and thoughtfully,” he said in a statement.

The internet is a relatively free space in Singapore and there are some local alternative news sites, which are typically more critical of the authorities than the traditional, pro-government newspapers and TV.

Singapore is among several countries pushing legislation to fight fake news, and the government stressed ordering “corrections” to be placed alongside falsehoods would be the primary response, rather than jail or fines.

A government decision can also be appealed to the courts.

‘Courts will decide’ 

K. Shanmugam, law and home affairs minister, said in a Facebook post that “the proposed law targets false statements of fact — not opinions, not criticisms.

“Ultimately, disagreement over truth and falsity will be decided by the courts”.

Google, Facebook and Twitter have their Asia headquarters in Singapore, a city of 5.6 million which is popular with expats as it is developed, safe and efficient.

But there were already signs of tensions with tech companies as the government prepared to unveil the laws. During parliamentary hearings last year about tackling online falsehoods, Google and Facebook urged the government not to introduce new laws.

In November, Facebook refused a request to remove an article linking Singapore to a financial scandal in Malaysia which the government said was untrue — prompting the law ministry to say the firm “cannot be relied upon to filter falsehoods”.

Critics say one of the most worrying aspects of the new legislation is that it is up to authorities to decide what is false and what is not.

While authorities insist decisions can be appealed, Kirsten Han, the Singapore-based editor of regional news site New Naratif, said most people do not have the resources or will to fight the government.

“Even if you are convinced that your Facebook post is in the right, how many average Singaporeans would appeal to the minister, and then spend thousands of dollars to hire a lawyer and file an application in the court?” she told AFP.

Human Rights Watch has described the bill as “sweepingly broad” while critics note Singapore already has tough laws against sedition, defamation and disturbing racial harmony, that can be used to police the web.

But it is not yet clear how the legislation — which is likely to pass easily through the ruling party-dominated parliament — will be used in practice, and some believe authorities will wield it cautiously.

“I think that the government will be very careful in their implementation of the law,” said Professor Ang Peng Hwa, from the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information in Singapore.

“I think, in general, there’s a very high level of trust in the government and its institutions by foreign entities, and so I don’t see them… being too trigger-happy about the implementation of this bill.”

Bolstered by his reputation as guarantor of Israel’s security and economic growth, Netanyahu has spent more than 13 years as premier and opinion polls show that he could well win again.

He would be on track to surpass founding father David Ben-Gurion as Israel’s longest-serving prime minister if he wins.

In a last-minute appeal to right-wing voters, Netanyahu said Saturday he was planning on annexing Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank if he wins.

The deeply controversial move could end hopes for a two-state solution with the Palestinians if done on a large scale.

Netanyahu is fighting for his political life while facing a dual threat in this year’s election.

The possibility of indictment hangs over him while a centrist alliance headed by political novice Benny Gantz is battling his Likud neck-and-neck in opinion polls.

Some surveys have shown that Netanyahu’s party could win fewer seats than Gantz’s Blue and White, but still be best placed to form a governing coalition based on support from other right-wing parties allied to him.

Through much of the acrimonious campaign, polls have shown Likud and Blue and White with around 30 seats each in the 120-seat parliament — far short of an outright majority and necessitating a coalition, as is usual in Israel.

Netanyahu heads what is already seen as the most rightwing government in Israel’s history, and if polling trends hold, his next coalition could be even further to the right.

But analysts caution against drawing conclusions just yet, pointing to the number of undecided voters and the possibility that smaller rightwing parties fail to win the 3.25 percent required to enter parliament.

“The Likud bloc seems to have a majority,” said Gideon Rahat of the Israel Democracy Institute think tank.

But “it still can change because opinion polls cannot really tell you whether a party will pass the threshold”.

Essential statesman? 

Victory seemed sure for Netanyahu when he decided in December to call for early elections even though they were not due until November 2019.

The move by the 69-year-old known for his deft political skills was widely seen as a tactic to face the corruption allegations with a fresh electoral mandate behind him.

But since then, Gantz has emerged as a serious contender.

He has been helped by his decision to ally with two other former military chiefs as well as with ex-finance minister Yair Lapid and his Yesh Atid party, which currently holds 11 seats in parliament.

The attorney general’s announcement in February that he intends to indict Netanyahu on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust pending a hearing gave the premier’s opponents a further boost.

Netanyahu has employed divisive populism throughout the campaign in what critics say has amounted to the demonisation of Arab Israelis and others.

Citing a law passed last year declaring Israel the nation state of the Jewish people, he said recently the country was “not a state of all its citizens”.

He has also brokered a deal that could see the entry into parliament of a member of an extreme-right party many view as racist.

But he has bet on his experience as well, portraying himself as Israel’s essential statesman, while denouncing Gantz’s alliance as leftist and “weak” despite its security credentials and the fact that many of its policy ideas are similar to his.

In the weeks ahead of the election, the prime minister has met with his close ally US President Donald Trump, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

 ‘No leader is king’ 

Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, as well as Putin’s help in returning the remains of an Israeli soldier missing since the 1982 Lebanon war, have played in his favour.

“What is important is who leads, the diplomatic navigator,” Netanyahu said in an interview with Israel Hayom newspaper on Friday.

“I’m working against Israel’s greatest enemies. They aren’t.”

Voters could again be drawn to the right-wing leadership of a man some have referred to as “King Bibi” due to his long tenure at the top, using his nickname since childhood.

Gantz, a former paratrooper who was armed forces chief of staff from 2011-2015, has highlighted his security background while offering a centrist vision on social issues.

He has argued that he can heal divisions he says Netanyahu has exacerbated.

“I do think that the time for him to end his job in a dignified manner has arrived,” Gantz said in a recent interview.

When launching his campaign, he said: “No Israeli leader is a king.”

With the election expected to be close, much will likely depend on post-poll negotiations to form a coalition.

“Whatever the results are, the formation of a coalition will probably be the most complicated one since 1961,” said political scientist Abraham Diskin, referring to when it took David Ben-Gurion months to form a government.

More than six million Israelis are eligible to vote in Tuesday’s polls, which open at 7:00 am (0400 GMT).

The staple menu item at Giang Cafe in Hanoi’s pulsating Old Quarter is made with ice cold beer topped with creamy egg yolks whipped with sugar and a touch of butter to boost richness.

Owner Nguyen Chi Hoa said he came up with the recipe in 1999, curious how the combination might turn out.

“I made egg beer just for myself … I thought it was good, so I decided to give it a try to see if anyone agreed,” he told AFP in his packed terracotta-tiled cafe.

The creamy beer concoction wasn’t such a dramatic departure from his most popular menu item: Vietnamese coffee topped with sweetened egg froth, now enjoyed in cafes across Hanoi among locals and tourists alike.

Hoa claims it was his father who came up with the recipe in 1946 as an affordable alternative to the cappuccinos sipped by French colonial occupiers, who made them with cow’s milk — a luxury ingredient for most Vietnamese under French rule.

“Poor people could also drink egg coffee because they had lots of chickens, so they just cracked an egg, added sugar and mixed it together — then we had egg coffee,” he said in the cafe where black-and-white photos of his family hang on the walls.

Hoa didn’t stop at coffee and beer, and he also offers frothy eggs drinks made with rum, matcha, chocolate and even Coca Cola.

To keep up with demand for his whipped delights his daughter cracks 1,000 eggs every morning to be beaten by machine throughout the day.

Though many of Hoa’s customers have never heard of egg beer, he said he has won most over — especially those from beer-guzzling Germany — and sells up to 20 mugs a day.

“It’s very special, it tastes like dessert, plus the beer,” said Malaysian visitor ST Lim.

In a city better known for its ubiquitous open-air beer markets called “bia hoi”, Hoa said his unique beer beverage is still met with scepticism by some.

But he’s hoping to sway them — even beauty-conscious drinkers: “This is very good for your skin, bright skin,” Hoa said with a smile.

The Group of Seven (G7) ministers, at their meeting in the northern French resort of Dinard to prepare a summit meeting under French presidency in August, also called on greater mobilisation worldwide to “prevent sexual and gender-based violence in conflict”.

“Women rarely sit at the negotiating table,” the final statement of the meeting said, adding that only rarely do peace agreements include provisions that protect women’s human rights.

“At the same time, we know that when women are meaningfully included and play an influential role in peace processes, peace agreements are more likely to last,” it said.

According to the UN Women’s agency, between 1990 and 2017, women constituted only two percent of mediators, eight percent of negotiators, and five percent of witnesses and signatories in all major peace process.

France has placed gender inequality at the heart of its presidency of the G7, though a plan to create a new mechanism to warn about sexual violence being used as a weapon during war was not included in a final joint statement.

Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said that the countries had agreed a “roadmap” to adopt the mechanism.

The ministers vowed to enhance coordination to support “women’s participation in peace processes including in their roles as negotiators, mediators and peacebuilders.”

A final statement said the international community must be “mobilised to prevent sexual and gender-based violence in conflict” but also better help survivors and assist children born as a result of sexual violence in conflict.

Efforts to respond to survivors and victims’ specific medical, psychological and social needs must be continued it said, hailing the efforts by 2018 Nobel Peace Prize laureates Nadia Murad and Denis Mukwege.

Meanwhile, the G7 ministers said they committed to deepen coordination among members of the group to “enhance our rapid response support to survivors and victims”.

Led by human rights activist Peter Tatchell, up to 100 people gathered outside the Park Lane hotel, many armed with rainbow flags, placards and banners calling for homophobia to be stamped out.

A tough penal code in the tiny country on tropical Borneo island — ruled by the all-powerful Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah — came fully into force last Wednesday after several years of delay.

It has sparked a storm of global criticism from politicians, celebrities and rights groups, with actor George Clooney and pop star Elton John calling for Brunei-owned hotels to be boycotted.

Tatchell argued if Brunei failed to revoke the laws, the British government — which has a military garrison there — should sever ties with its former protectorate.

“If the Sultan will not listen to reason and compassion we believe the British government should sever all diplomatic, economic and military ties with the regime,” he said at the protest.

Britain’s government on Thursday described the new laws, which also include the amputation of hands and feet for thieves, as “a backward step” for Brunei.

However, it has resisted calls for a stronger response over the penal code, including for the Commonwealth — a bloc of former British colonies — to consider expelling Brunei.

Mark Fields, a junior foreign minister, told the House of Commons: “Rather than making threats… a more positive way is to try to hold them close, recognise that there are very some strong connections there.”

Elsewhere, pressure has continued to build on Brunei.

The University of Oxford said Saturday it would reconsider its decision to award an honorary degree to the Sultan.

It added it shared the “international revulsion” of the laws and that the decision to confer the honorary degree of civil law by diploma to Bolkiah in 1993 would be reconsidered through its “established process”.

Meanwhile Deutsche Bank on Thursday said it had removed the Brunei-owned Dorchester Collection group from the list of hotels its employees use.

The Collection said in a statement earlier this week it emphasises “equality, respect and integrity in all areas of our operation”.

“Inclusion and diversity remain core beliefs as we do not tolerate any form of discrimination,” it added.