Mumbai stampede, Amit Shah, Hafiz Saeed, Ind Vs Aus: Top trending stories

OVERBRIDGE'S STRUCTURAL STRENGTH NOT A FACTOR IN STAMPEDE: MANOJ SINHA

Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha ruled out the structural strength of the foot overbridge connecting Mumbai's Parel-Elphinstone Road stations being a factor in Friday's horrific stampede but later said his remarks were being ‘distorted’."The incident has occurred due to stampede. So I don't think that any question over the foot overbridge's strength arises."A large number of people in Mumbai commute daily. The railway has already been undertaking task of strengthening the overbridges in a serial wise manner. And we are trying to strengthen all the bridges one after the other," he said after 22 commuters were killed and many more injured in a stampede on the narrow railway foot overbridge.

Later, in a statement, Sinha said that he was deeply saddened by the deaths of innocent people in the "unfortunate incident", and that his remarks were being "distorted"."A high level probe has been ordered into the unfortunate incident. But nobody should do politics over such incidents. Some people are trying to present my statements in a distorted form. This is not right," he said.

AMIT SHAH TO LAUNCH MARCH IN KER TO EXPOSE CPI(M)'S 'RED TERRORISM'

BJP president Amit Shah would launch a 15-day statewide "padayatra" (foot march) from Payyannur in Kannur district of Kerala on October 3 to expose the ruling CPI(M)'s "red terrorism" and "political fascism" in the state, a senior leader of the saffron party said today. Besides Shah, Union ministers and other senior party leaders would also take part in the "janaraksha yatra", to be led by state party chief Kummanam Rajasekharan, said BJP national executive member V Muraleedharan.

Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman, Smriti Irani, Ananth Kumar, Dharmendra Pradhan, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Mahesh Sharma, V K Singh and Alphons Kannanthanam were among those expected to take part in the yatra on different days, he added. The march would crisscross through 11 of the 14 districts of the southern state, Muraleedharan, the coordinator of the yatra, said. He alleged that the CPI(M) was promoting "red terrorism" in Kerala.

HAFIZ SAEED SENDS PAKISTAN FOREIGN MINISTER RS 100 MN DEFAMATION NOTICE

Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed's legal team has sent a Rs 100 million defamation notice to Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif for his remarks at the Asia Society forum in New York earlier this week. Asif, who told the forum that Pakistan was not to blame for militant outfits in the country, had said: "Don't blame us for the Haqqanis and don't blame us for the Hafiz Saeeds. These people were your darlings just 20 to 30 years back. They were being dined and wined in the White House and now you say 'go to hell Pakistanis because you are nurturing these people.

"The notice, served by Advocate AK Dogar claimed that Saeed, the chief of banned Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) party was "respected as a deeply religious and devout Muslim", Dawn online reported on Saturday. It accused Asif of speaking "an absolute lie and falsehood that Hafiz Muhammad Saeed was one of those persons who had been the darlings of Americans and had been dining and wining in the White House". The notice stated that Asif made a "defamatory statement punishable under Section 500 of the Pakistan Penal Code to five years imprisonment and with (a) fine".

BSF DETECTS 14-FEET-LONG TUNNEL ON INTERNATIONAL BORDER IN JAMMU

A 14-feet-long tunnel, dug from from the Pakistan side across the international border, was discovered on Saturday in Jammu and Kashmir's Jammu district, the BSF said. The tunnel from which, the Border Security Force (BSF) troopers said they have recovered war-like stores, was discovered a day after the its field commanders and those of Pakistan Rangers held a flag meeting in which it was mutually agreed that peace and tranquility would be maintained on the international border by both sides.


"An under construction tunnel was discovered during sanitisation operation along the international border between Vikram and Patel posts near Damana in Arnia sector. The tunnel was 14-feet-long when it was detected."The tunnel contained war-like stores those were recovered from it during the search of the tunnel indicating the presence of armed infiltrators who, however, managed to flee back," said a BSF official.

INDIA AIMING FOR TOP SPOT IN 5TH ODI AGAINST AUSTRALIA

India will aim for a return to the top spot in One-Day International (ODI) rankings when they face Australia in the fifth and final match at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground here on Sunday. The hosts, who have already clinched the five-match ODI series with an unassailable 3-1 lead, slipped to the second spot after losing the fourth tie in Bengaluru by 21 runs on Thursday. Australia rode on an all-round show, with openers Aaron Finch and David Warner starring with the bat along side pacer Kane Richardson's three-wicket haul to clinch their first victory in the series.

India will look to get back to winning ways banking on in-form batsmen Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav. The hosts, who played pacers Mohammad Shami and Umesh Yadav in place of Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar will be forced to make changes in the bowling department which failed to look lethal in the last match. Spinners Axar Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal will be the key in the middle overs to provide important breakthroughs.

President Ram Nath Kovind appoints Governors for 5 states

BJP leader Satya Pal Malik will hold charge in Bihar, where Ram Nath Kovind was Governor before he became President.

President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday appointed new Governors for five states, including Tamil Nadu, which got its first full-time Governor in a year amid the continuing political crisis. Banwarilal Purohit, Congress-turned BJP leader, will occupy the Raj Bhavan in the southern state.

According to a Presidential statement, BJP leader Satya Pal Malik will hold charge in Bihar, where Kovind was Governor before he became President, former Delhi BJP MLA Jagdish Mukhi is Governor in Assam, Bihar BJP leader Ganga Prasad in Meghalaya and Brigadier (retd) BD Mishra, a war veteran, in Arunachal Pradesh.

Former Navy chief Admiral (retd) DK Joshi was named as the new Lt. Governor of Andaman and Nicobar islands.

Purohit, a former national Vice President of the BJP, will be taking over as Governor at a time when Tamil Nadu is going through a political crisis due to infighting in the ruling AIADMK.

There has been demand for a full-time Governor in the state where Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao was holding additional charge since K Rosaiah retired in August last year. Purohit - a long-time social and political activist from Vidarbha in Maharashtra - was elected to the Lok Sabha thrice from Nagpur.

He won the elections twice on a Congress ticket in 1984 and 1989 and once as a BJP member in 1996.

Last year, Purohit was appointed Governor of Assam, where he is being replaced by Jagdish Mukhi, veteran BJP leader.

Mukhi was earlier Lt Governor of Andaman and Nicobar islands. Admiral Joshi, who takes over in the Union Territory, had resigned in the middle of his tenure as Navy chief after a fire broke out aboard Kilo-class submarine INS Sindhuratna on February 26, 2014. He was to retire in August 2015.

Bihar also got a full-time Governor in Satya Pal Malik - a former Janata Dal MP from Aligarh and BJP Vice President. Bihar politician Ganga Prasad, the new Governor of Meghalaya, had been part of BJP's national executive after Amit Shah took over as party President. He has been a member of Bihar's legislative council for 18 years.

Brigadier Mishra, a war veteran who served the Indian Army in three major wars in 1962, 1965 and 1971, will be handling Arunachal Pradesh.

tamil bigg boss winner

The first season of the Tamil series Bigg Boss Tamil started broadcasting on 25 June 2017 on Star Vijay. The first season of the show is hosted by Kamal Haasan.

As from the source, this season of Big Boss Tamil title winner is Aarav

Bigg Boss Tamil Aarav

Arav is an Indian model who has worked in the Tamil film industry. After making his acting debut through the Vijay Antony-starrer Saithan, he rose to fame after appearing in the Tamil reality television show Bigg Boss hosted by Kamal Haasan

  

The runner-up is Snehan

Bigg Boss Tamil Snehan

Snehan is an Indian poet, lyricist and actor who has worked in the Tamil film industry. After serving as an assistant to poet Vairamuthu, he began working as a lyricist in the film Putham Pudhiya Poove.

Bigg Boss Tamil finale: Live updates

The most-awaited grand finale of the first season of Bigg Boss Tamil began at 8:30 pm. Snehan, Aarav, Ganesh Venkatraman and Harish Kalyan are the final four contestants competing for the title in the first season of Bigg Boss Tamil, which is hosted by Kamal Haasan.

The first season of Bigg Boss Tamil, which marked the television debut of Ulaganayagan Kamal Haasan, comes to an end on Saturday. The winner of the show will be announced at a grand finale which will also see some interesting dance performances from former contestants.

Earlier this week, Bindhu Madhavi was evicted in the mid-week elimination round in run-up to the finale. Snehan, Aarav, Ganesh Venkatraman and Harish Kalyan are the final four contestants competing for the title in the first season of Bigg Boss Tamil.

Some online polls, including the one carried out by Indian Express, have suggested different outcomes. However, all the polls suggest that the tough competition is between Ganesh, Snehan and Aarav, while Harish seems to be already out of the race.

The promo videos of grand finale show Harathi, Gayathri, Suja Varunee and Juliana giving individual performances. Meanwhile, all the evicted contestants will also be in attendance at the finale event.

Director Shankar along with producer Dil Raju will also attend the finale, where he will announce his next project Indian 2 starring Kamal in the lead role.

Watch this space for live updates of Bigg Boss Tamil grand finale:

11:01 pm: Kamal Haasan reveals that Bigg Boss Tamil received a total of 767653065 votes in its first season.

10:54 pm: Kamal Haasan interacts with children, who are fans of Bigg Boss Tamil and played a game to check their knowledge about the show. He gave them popular one-liners and asked to guess who said that. All the children got it right and even mimicked Kamal.

10:36 pm: Kamal Haasan plays a slideshow of some creative memes that trolled contestants on social media. He said many meme creators have made a great contribution to the success of the show and thanked them.

10:29 pm: Another clip showing the highlights of 100 days of Bigg Boss Tamil is played.

10:23 pm: Juliana gives a dance performance to a mix of folk songs.

10:15 pm: Kamal Haasan invites director Shankar and producer Dil Raju to the stage. Shankar announces that they will be making the sequel to 1996 blockbuster Indian.

10:13 pm: Oviya also thanks her fans. Oviya says she realised her plus and minus after she took part in the Bigg Boss Tamil. She runs into the audience and handshakes with her fans.

10:08 pm: Bharani tells the audience that he was invited by Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia to present him with the ‘people’s favourite’ award. But, he chose to be at the Bigg Boss Tamil finale for Kamal Haasan. He thanked all his fans from around the world.

10:04 pm: Kamal asks the evicted contestants to come onto the stage. And Oviya remains the centre of attraction. She is welcomed with thunderous applause from the studio audience.

9:46 pm: Kamal Haasan speaks to everyone inside the house through plasma TV and asks them to share their thoughts on the grand finale of Bigg Boss Tamil.

9:35 pm: Except for Namitha and Shree, rest of the evicted contestants have come for the grand finale.

9:30 pm: The bad blood created between the current and ex-contestants during their time together in the house are still fresh. And, it is very visible.

9:22 pm: Riaza and Shakthi Vasudevan tell Aarav about the popularity of Oviya among the audience. And suggest him to brace himself for trolls when he steps out of the Bigg Boss house.

9:16 pm: Oviya walks up to Aarav. After a firm handshake and friendly hug, she walks away. Gayathri advises to Snehan on how to deal with audience reactions outside the Bigg Boss house.

9:02 pm: All housemates and ex-contestants exchange pleasantries. Oviya greets everyone. She is yet to meet Aarav.

8:57 pm: On the last day of the show, contestants wake up to Aalaporaan Thamizhan song from Vijay’s Mersal even as all the evicted contestants enter the house. And, yes, Oviya is also there.

8:53 pm: Kamal Haasan plays a ‘Kurumpadam’ (short film) about what audience think about the Bigg Boss Tamil. Most of the viewers strongly opined that their favourite contestant was Oviya. It also had bytes from celebrities such as Gautham Karthik, Sibiraj and others. Public and celebrity viewers unanimously gave thumbs up for his anchoring skills.

8:43 pm: Kamal Haasan thanks the audience for making the show such a big hit. He said the show viewership was 6.5 crore impressions worldwide. “Bigg Boss Tamil has written a new chapter in the history of South Indian television entertainment and that still would be an understatement. Thanks for giving me such a big success in my career as a television host. I consider it as a big fortune,” Kamal said.

8:35 pm: The grand finale of Bigg Boss Tamil opens with a rocking performance from choreographer Sandy to a mix of songs based on the highlights of the show mainly consisting of popular episodes and one-liners from contestants.

HOLD THE FINAL CHAPTER

A new kind of shopping in which you can enjoy stylish architecture and snazzy interior design as you buy stuff, or down cups of coffee as you read, is staving off the demise of bookshops

The streets around Chunxi Road in downtown Chengdu help make up one of the wealthiest and swankiest areas you will find in Southwest China. In the hustle and bustle of the sprawling low-rise Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li shopping center, exquisitely dressed young women pose for photos that, with the glass-clad Gucci store or the pastel blue walls of a Tiffany store as their glamorous backdrop, will no doubt shortly adorn the pages of social media or websites. It is quite likely that the car that roars by now and again will be a Ferrari or a Porsche.

In short, everything here seems to be designed to charm the eye — but you can almost guarantee that it will also tax your pocket.

Just across from the Gucci shop, on the basement floor of the SinoOcean Taikoo Li shopping complex, the cup of fruit juice that had set you back 40 yuan on the other side of Shamao Street will cost as little as 10 yuan. So here at least Chengdu lives up to its reputation for its comfortable weather, delicious food and affordability.

At 10 pm, when the commercial areas of most of China’s biggest cities empty out as people make their way home, it seems that Chengdu’s citizens simply begin another shift of their relaxed lives. On Shamao Street between 100 meters and 200 meters away from the luxury shops, long lines, made up predominantly of young people, form in front of tea shops or shops selling local delicacies such as roasted pigs’ feet or spicy dumplings.

Fashion, food and luxuries are not the only attractions here. Among the others are the 1,700-year old Daci Temple, where the Buddhist monk, traveler and translator Xuan Zang was ordained in 622 AD, and Fang Suo Commune on the basement level of Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li offers a shopping experience that is out of the ordinary in what the website architecturaldigest.com listed last December as among the 17 most beautiful bookstores in the world.

Walking into Fang Suo Commune is like entering a cavernous subterranean world that is all but in-visible from the outside. Once you are through the small, dark entrance you are struck by the airy space, which covers 5,500 square meters and is eight meters high, and a welllit, clean and cozy atmosphere that offers both intimate tranquility and a buzz of excitement.

In fact coming here is like being with Harry Potter on his first visit to Diagon Valley. The place is a repository not only for a huge range of books, but also goods such as clothing, tea pots, cups, accessories, jigsaws, aromatherapy oils and other cultural and creative products such as bags printed with quotes from well-known authors and notebooks. You can peruse these as pleasant background music and the hum of the assembled masses waft into your ears.

Tucked in the corners of the store are at least two cafes, which could be categorized as regular and large, where shoppers can grab a coffee and relax, read, meet friends, work or study. At one point a shop assistant gently reminds a reader that books can be taken to the cafes only after having been paid for. A cup of apple and kiwifruit juice costs 42 yuan, and a cup of coffee about 50 yuan.

Holding a book in their hands, some readers sit on the steps that lead to the lounge bridges, where shelves of books occupy whole walls. For others the urge to have their photos taken in one of the world’s most beautiful bookstores is irresistible.

There are about 300,000 books, or about 100,000 titles, in the store, and the owners say book sales account for half the store’s revenue, but if it is bestsellers you are looking for you will not find them in the most conspicuous spots of the store.

Books are organized according to theme, knowledge system and lines of thought: literature, arts, cookbooks, decoration and lifestyle, and so on.

At the entrance are albums of paintings by masters such as PierreAuguste Renoir and Leonardo da Vinci. Walking into the store, you can see the newly published Chinese edition of the novel the Hag-Seed, by the Canadian Margaret Atwood, and the Chinese edition of Das Buch der verbrannten Buecher, about

Nazis burning books in Hitler’s Germany, by Volker Weidermann.

The shop’s multipurpose function is alluded to in the name Fang Suo Commune. The idea is of a third space, an alternative to home and the workplace, a haven that is different to a public library or a shopping mall where people can read, drink, date, hang out with friends, attend a lecture or an exhibition, buy interesting things, or just wander about the place.

In short, it is a lifestyle, Fang Suo Commune being just one of the answers to why people still need bookstores and what kinds of bookstores they need in an age when buying books online is more convenient and cheaper.

In early September bookstore owners from 10 countries and regions gathered in Fang Suo Commune to discuss how to run a bookstore. They were from Librairie Avant-Garde, of Nanjing; Tales on Moon Lane Children’s Bookshop, London; Livraria Cultura, Sao Paolo, Brazil; La Feltrinelli, Milan; Actes Sud, Arles, France; Do You Read Me?!, Berlin; The Last Bookstore, Los Angeles; JXJ Books, Taipei; Avid Reader, Brisbane, Australia; and B & B, Tokyo.

For them, building beautiful and creative bookstores is a strategy aimed at helping them survive and a social responsibility that will bring changes in neighborhoods and cities, because books are not merely goods, they say, and generally there is little or no money to be made in selling them, especially given the influence of e-commerce.

A presentation and question and answer session given by the owner of B&B, Shintaro Uchinuma, an audience laughing, and that reaction extended to his explanation of his shop’s name, which he said stands for Book and Beer. For 500 yen (30 yuan; $4,50) you get a cup of beer, and the right to read any book in the 100 sq m shop.

The aim is to tap into a large target market, given the propensity of many Japanese for a beer after work and the fact that the shop is close to a railway station. In the store, Uchinuma and its co-founder, Koichiro Shima, also sell bookshelves and furniture, including tables and chairs. In fact any piece of furniture you see in the shop is for sale.

Another way of increasing takings is to invite writers to give lectures and charge for admission.

In addition, the shop’s owners sell food and English training, make television programs about books and publish their own books.

“But we don’t want to run a bar, a furniture store or a space specifically for hosting events,” Uchinuma says. “The shop is very small. To sell the best books we are trying to survive in other ways so we can help people find interesting books. They come to our store to read and drink beer.”

Qian Xiaohua, founder of Librairie Avant-Garde in Nanjing, which also deserves to be called one of the most beautiful bookstores in the world, says it is very important for a book to keep the spirit of a time.

“A bookstore is as equally important as clean air, sufficient sunshine and green plants for a city. The accumulation of knowledge drives the progress of human beings, and books are our best food.

“So we, as bookstore proprietors, should have the awareness and bear the social responsibility to create good bookstores and sell the best books.”

Qian now has 13 bookstores in Nanjing and other cities. While the Nanjing store bears the name Librairie Avant-Garde, the other 12 have their own names, and Qian says a 14th store will open in Nanjing this year.

Creativity is one important factor in Qian’s success. He never replicates what he is doing, all the other 12 shops having their own distinct styles, not just architecturally, but also in book categories, he says.

“A good bookstore is the fruit of all book lovers’ imagination.”

Some of the bookstores are devoted to poetry, which Qian says is his favorite literary genre.

In fact in Librairie Avant-Garde in Nanjing, which opened 21 years ago, the best spot in the shop is reserved for poetry. Qian has strict dictates on what he will sell, reserved to humanities such as arts and literature, and in the shop you will find no bestsellers, children’s books or textbooks.

“Each book on our shelves represents the history of writers’ souls from a certain country, so that you can see the country’s soul from that book,” he says.

He predicts that mainstream bookstores will eventually be a combination of cafe and bookstore, a model similar to that of Starbucks. However, he says, there will be a lot of bestsellers in these bookstores, which “will be detrimental to the nation’s soul being nourished”.

Librairie Avant-Garde is located in what was a 4,000 sq m underground parking lot and has couch seating for 300 people. To some extent it has become a kind of public place, some customers popping in for just a few minutes, perhaps to buy a book, and others who can spend the whole day there reading.

Katherine Orphan, manager of The Last Bookstore in Los Angeles, says it also opens its doors to various kinds of readers, including the homeless and the down and out.

Bookshops should not reject these people, she says, and Last Bookstore allows them to buy books at $1 apiece. She hopes that for those who are homeless or who have little money, the shop can be a haven.

The Last Bookstore started as a second-hand bookstore in 2009, was on architecturaldigest.com’s list of world’s most beautiful bookstores last year, and every year attracts thousands of visitors from around the world.

‘Europe is supporting Spain like a zombie’

Europe “cannot keep looking the other way” over the independence referendum in Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, the Catalan president, said yesterday, insisting the bloc must confront the “abuses” unfolding within its borders.

In an interview with The Daily

Telegraph ahead of the vote on Sunday, Mr Puigdemont insisted the referendum would go ahead despite Spanish attempts to block it.

If the referendum returned a “Yes” for secession, the Catalan government would stick to its pledge to declare independence 48 hours later, he said.

But the Catalan leader dismissed the idea of an abrupt split from Spain, saying there would be “no alternative” but dialogue with Madrid, and Europe, on a stable and agreed transition to an independent state. This, he said, would be “a moment for Europe”.

“Europe that is looking the other way, staying silent, supporting Spain like a zombie – in that moment, Europe cannot keep looking the other way,” Mr Puigdemont said. He added: “The whole world is seeing it, that there is a problem”.

The EU has until now largely avoided making statements, restricting itself to expressions of support for the Spanish constitution. But pressure is mounting on Brussels, with Manuel Valls, the former French prime minister, yesterday urging “important voices” in the EU to weigh in, warning that Catalan independence would mean “the end of what is Europe”.

The United Nations meanwhile signalled concern over the Spanish crackdown, with human rights experts warning Spanish authorities of their responsibility to protect civilians’ democratic rights.

Spanish police have seized millions of ballot papers and been given orders to cordon off facilities intended for use as polling centres.

A huge security contingent has been deployed, with more than 4,000 Guardia Civil officers stationed in hulking cruise ships moored in Barcelona, and Tarragona to the south.

Mr Puigdemont, who has been threatened with arrest by the Spanish Attorney General, suggested that by ignoring what he described as serious abuses of fundamental rights, the EU was risking its moral authority. “How can we later criticise other countries outside the EU for adopting such measures to repress opponents, when we are tolerating this inside the EU, with European citizens? To me, the EU says there is a charter that protects you, you have fundamental rights, and they are staying silent when they are violating my fundamental rights.” Last week, police arrested 14 people – mostly high-ranking Catalan officials – in a sweeping round of raids, sparking angry protests across Spain. Warnings of prosecution have been issued to anyone facilitating the vote, with 700 Catalan mayors already summoned to court.

In the face of a popular backlash in Catalonia, Madrid defended its actions to the last, insisting its hand had been forced by those “in breach of the law”.

José Antonio Nieto, state security secretary, said yesterday that the government did not want to suppress freedom of expression but would act with “absolute determination” to prevent illegal acts. He added if the law was complied with, there would be no need for a “violent” response.

The question of legality and proportionality is much contested, with both sides offering differing interpretations. The government in Madrid, backed by top judges, insists there is no constitutional provision for such a referendum and the Catalan government is mounting “a coup” in the autonomous community. But the Catalan government – supported by its own experts – takes a different view.

Mr Puigdemont did not accept that the Spanish constitution definitively prohibited a referendum, claiming there were “formulas” that could enable a vote. He also insisted the law could be changed, if it were not for a “complete absence of political will”.

“We have to stay in Spain, just because? Because the law says so, because the police say so?” he asked. “In the 21st century it is unacceptable.”

The crackdown has only increased popular support for the vote, Mr Puigdemont claimed and latest polls appear to bear that out. While predictions vary considerably, recent surveys of likely voters forecast a win for the “Yes” camp of up to 70 per cent, though Madrid is trying to prevent as much voting as possible and it is unclear how many “No” voters will head to the polls. Observers will be watching closely – but the bigger concern is how much violence might spring from the result.

Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish prime minister, has accused the Catalan independence movement of suppressing a silent majority who oppose secession, and of sowing division and hate in the region.

Pressed by The Daily Telegraph on complaints that anti-independence Catalans have been labelled fascists and traitors, Mr Puigdemont acknowledged incidents on the fringes but insisted Catalan leaders and the mainstream opposed such views.

The Catalan leader said he would respect a “No” vote, promising to call fresh elections in that event. But even then, this dispute is unlikely to go away.

‘We have to stay in Spain, just because? Because the law says so, because the police says so?’

Barnier says Brexit talks could stall for months over Britain’s bill

Brexit negotiations could be in deadlock for months unless the UK agrees to honour all its financial commitments, the EU’s chief negotiator suggested at the end of the latest round of talks.

Michel Barnier said Theresa May had created a “new dynamic” with her speech in Florence last week, but it became clear from comments in Brussels and elsewhere that standout issues remained.

Barnier made the comments yesterday together with the Brexit secretary, David Davis, after the latest talks. He said Davis was, in his own words, not yet ready to specify what past financial commitments would be met by the UK. The British government has so far only offered to ensure that no country loses out in the two years after the UK leaves in 2019, at an estimated cost to the Treasury of €20bn (£17.5bn).

“The UK explained also that it was not in a position yet to identify its commitments taken during membership,” Barnier said. “For the EU, the only way to reach sufficient progress is that all commitments taken at [by] 28 [member states] are honoured at [by] 28.”

Davis said “decisive steps forward” had been made, in particular on citizens’ rights. “This round was a vital one,” he said, as he called for pragmatism. In a move that could inflame Tory Eurosceptics days before the Tory party conference, Davis acknowledged that European law would take “direct effect” when it came to protecting citizens’ rights. This means 3.5 million EU citizens living in the UK can appeal to British courts using European law enshrined in the withdrawal treaty, which will override British law.

The development marks a stark U-turn on the government’s previous claim that such measures were “inappropriate and unnecessary”.

But the two sides still disagree on the role of the European court of justice in securing citizens’ rights, and “this is a stumbling block for the EU”, as Davis put it. A big gap remained on family reunification, he added.

EU leaders insist talks must make sufficient progress on Britain’s financial settlement, the rights of citizens and the status of the Irish border before they can be broadened to encompass future relations between Britain and the bloc. The UK had hoped to get the go-ahead on talks about future relations next month.

“I think it’s positive that Theresa May’s speech made it possible to unblock the situation, to some extent, and give a new dynamic to the situation,” Barnier said. “But we are far from being at a stage – it will take weeks, or maybe even months – where we will be able to say ‘Yes, OK, there has been sufficient progress on the principles of this orderly withdrawal’.”

Barnier and Davis were speaking after it emerged that the UK’s potential liability for EU debts had increased by about €3bn. The EU’s latest annual accounts released yesterday showed a €239bn liability, up from €220bn. On top of this is a €67.2bn liability for staff pensions, up from €63.8bn in 2015. Together, both could add at least €3bn to the UK Brexit bill.

Davis declined to reveal what May meant in Florence when she said the UK would “honour [the] commitments we made during the period of our membership”. “We are not doing the negotiation standing here,” he said.

The Netherlands’ foreign minister, Bert Koenders, accused the UK of “daydreaming”. “I don’t think I’m the only one worried about the lack of realism we see on the British side,” he said. “The clock is ticking. Big Ben may be still for renovation, but in Europe time ticks on.”

The government will continue a charm offensive of member states. May will meet Angela Merkel in Tallinn, Estonia, today on the margins of an EU leaders’ summit, where she is expected to say Britain is unconditionally committed to the defence and security of Europe.

However, last night the European parliament’s chief Brexit coordinator, Guy Verhofstadt, said that Britain’s exit from the EU was a “waste of time and energy” and insisted that quitting the bloc was a “very negative project”. The former prime minister of Belgium said the move had fuelled a resurgence in the popularity of the union on the continent.

In a potentially significant move for a million British citizens in Europe, the government called on the EU to guarantee onward movement rights. This means, for example, a Briton living in Germany could move to any other EU country after Brexit. In return, the 3.5 million EU nationals in the UK would have an indefinite right of return, if they ever went abroad. The EU has yet to respond to the British offer.

Meanwhile, the European parliament is preparing to formally censure the government for discriminating against EU nationals since the Brexit vote.