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18 October 2019; AFP: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson launched a charm offensive on Friday to sell his Brexit deal to sceptical MPs, with a looming vote in parliament resting on a knife-edge.

The Conservative leader pulled off a major coup in agreeing a new divorce deal with the European Union on Thursday, paving the way for him to deliver his promise to leave the bloc on October 31.

Brussels, Oct 18 (AFP) European Union leaders endorsed a hard-fought Brexit deal with Britain on Thursday, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces an uphill battle getting it through the British parliament.

"It looks like we are very close to the final stretch," EU Council President Donald Tusk told reporters after the other 27 leaders approved the accord.

BRUSSELS (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s career of disdain for the European Union was a thing of the past on Thursday as he and the bloc’s leaders celebrated their long-sought Brexit deal. He now faces an opponent closer to home: his own Parliament.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday he hoped the British parliament would approve the new Brexit deal agreed between his government and the European Union so that Britain could exit the bloc on Oct. 31 with no more delay.

“I hope very much ... that my fellow MPs (lawmakers) in Westminster do now come together to get Brexit done, to get this excellent deal over the line and to deliver Brexit without any more delay,” Johnson said in a brief statement in Brussels.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU leaders met for a two-day summit on Thursday and Friday, dominated by Brexit but also with other pressing issues including Turkey’s invasion of Syria, possible enlargement and the bloc’s budget.

The following are comments from the leaders and senior EU officials on their arrival.

SWEDEN PM STEFAN LOFVEN

“We have always supported an orderly exit.”

“We will continue the process with this deal.”

EUROPEAN COUNCIL PRESIDENT DONALD TUSK:

“A deal is always better than a no-deal.”

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Britain clinched a last-minute Brexit deal with the European Union on Thursday, but still faced a challenge in getting it approved by parliament.

“Where there is a will there is a deal - we have one. It’s a fair and balanced agreement for the EU and the UK and it is a testament to our commitment to find solutions,” European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said in a tweet a few hours before an EU summit in Brussels.

He said he would recommend that leaders of the other 27 member states approve the deal.

BRUSSELS (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his 27 counterparts from across the European Union are converging on Brussels for a summit they hope will finally lay to rest the acrimony and frustration of a three-year divorce fight.

Yet high anxiety still reigned on Thursday morning with the last outstanding issues of the divorce papers still unclear and Johnson uncertain whether his allies at home will back the compromises he needs to make a deal.

16 October 2019; AFP: France's Emmanuel Macron will hold talks Wednesday with Germany's Angela Merkel for the second time in a week to chart a united front on issues ranging from Brexit to Syria ahead of this week's EU summit.

Macron goes into the two-day meeting in Brussels starting Thursday still smarting from the rejection of his pick for European commissioner, Sylvie Goulard.

BRUSSELS/DUBLIN (Reuters) - Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Wednesday that last-ditch talks between the European Union and Britain had so far failed to resolve issues standing in the way of an amicable Brexit, with EU sources reporting a “standstill”.

Difficulties centred on trade and the status of the Irish border, although the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, was quoted as saying he was optimistic about a deal.

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union officials hoped to sketch out a Brexit deal with Britain within hours, but negotiations stretched into early Wednesday in the latest effort at producing an agreement in more than three years of false starts and sudden reversals.

The bloc said it might be possible to strike a divorce deal by Thursday’s EU leaders’ summit, which comes just two weeks before the U.K’s scheduled departure date of Oct. 31. One major proviso: The British government must make more compromises to seal an agreement in the coming hours.