Europe

    The EU has accused the British government of chasing a fantasy and warned that it will not negotiate under threat, after a fraught week of Brexit talks in Brussels that have raised serious concerns about the future of the negotiations. The whole approach of the UK government to the discussions was castigated by a senior EU official involved, who further warned that the bloc would not be forced into positions that were against its interests. The UK’s suggestion that it would seek to recover more than €1bn of contributions to the Galileo satellite project unless the European commission lifted a block on British firms being involved received a particularly strident response, with an implicit threat that such posturing could unravel the discussions. The EU doesn’t nego...

The plane was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17 2014 when it was shot down over eastern Ukraine. Workers transport a piece of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 wreckage at the site of the plane crash in 2014 All 283 passengers and 15 members of crew were killed. Prosecutors investigating the incident said on Thursday they had identified that the missile used to shoot down the plane came from Russia's armed forces. Wilbert Paulissen, head of the crime squad of the Netherlands' national police, said the missile was fired from Russia's 53rd Anti-Aircraft Brigade. All the vehicles in a convoy carrying the missile were part of the Russian armed forces, he told a televised news conference. Russia has denied involvement in the incident. The investigators have analysed ...

    In the green hills above Budapest, a train line runs between stations buried deep in the woodland. It's not the rail fastest service in the world, but it's one of the cutest. Like any other railway it has ticket offices, diesel locomotives, signals, guards and a timetable. Unlike any other, this one is run by children. Sponsor Content Learning English opens new doors for billions around the world David Crystal, the British linguist and academic, has calculated that there are three times more people learning English than there are native speakers of the language. Why? Content provided by WeSpeke With their smart red, blue and white uniforms, the youngsters of the Gyermekvasút railway, which marks its 70th anniversary in 2018, look the part. They efficiently sell...

    Emily Faulkner is in central Dublin, handing out leaflets featuring fetuses in various stages of development, when she's pelted by an egg. Covered in yolk, she turns to her fiancé, Nathan Berning, who has a GoPro video camera mounted on his chest. "Did you get that on tape? Is it on, babe? Turn it on," she says. As Faulkner wipes the mess from her face, a fellow anti-abortion campaigner approaches her, saying she'll be calling the police to have a look. "Ok," Faulkner says with a smile. "I'm excited." With just days until Ireland votes in a referendum on whether to repeal the Eighth Amendment to the constitution -- which places the right to life of an unborn child on equal footing with that of the mother -- campaigners have become increasingly confrontational in their...

    Sweden is sending an updated version of a Cold War era advice booklet on how to cope with an outbreak of war to around 4.8 million households. The 20 page pamphlet, titled If Crisis or War Comes, contains advice about where to find bomb shelters and how to secure basic necessities such as food, clean water and heat. It tells Swedes they have a duty to act if their country is threatened for total defence, and was first published during the Second World War and subsequently during the Cold War. If Sweden is attacked by another country, we will never give up, the booklet says. All information to the effect that resistance is to cease is false. The Scandinavian nation has also accused Russia of repeated violations of their airspace, an assertion Moscow has either dism...

    Italy’s populist leaders sealed a coalition agreement that aims to ramp up spending on the poor and slash taxes in a direct challenge to the European Union establishment. After 10 days of negotiations, 31-year-old Five Star leader Luigi Di Maio said Friday that he’s settled the final issues with Matteo Salvini, 45, of the anti-immigrant League and their policy platform is ready for party members to vote on. The program, posted online, demands a review of EU budget rules, an end to economic sanctions on Russia and pledges to roll-back pension reforms that raised the retirement age. The program may cost as much as 126 billion euros ($149 billion) according to an estimate by former International Monetary Fund official Carlo Cottarelli based on an earlier draft. The p...

    Drivers entering car parks could soon have their tyres automatically scanned for tread depth, after a Finnish company announced the expansion of its tyre-checking speed bumps. Nokian’s SnapSkan system features a ‘smart’ ramp that can be installed in public car parks and similar locations. When driven over, the speed bump uses 3D scanning to measure the tread depth of all four tyres. The system is free to use, and drivers wanting to make use of it can opt in via text message or email, signing up either before or after they have driven over the ramp. Those who decide not to opt in to the SnapSkan system will see their vehicle’s data automatically deleted, while those signing up will be sent a report on how much tread their tyres have left. The report will also includ...

    Yet quietly, officials were congratulating themselves on Thursday about making incremental progress on a closely interlinked issue the Irish border. After media reports overnight, Theresa May issued a carefully worded statement as she arrived in Sofia, Bulgaria, on Friday, repeating the familiar statement that Britain will be leaving the customs union. But Whitehall sources confirmed that away from the deadlocked Brexit war cabinet her strategy and negotiations subcommittee a fresh proposal has been agreed that Britain hopes would avoid a hard border in Northern Ireland, if all else fails. This backstop was written into the December agreement between London and Brussels, at the request of Ireland. It commits Britain to maintain full alignment with those rules of th...

    Britain, France and Germany have pledged to remain in the Iranian nuclear deal despite Donald Trump pulling America out of the agreement . In a joint statement the countries expressed “regret and concern” over the decision and urged Iran to “show restraint” in its response. Hassan Rouhani, the president of Iran, said that the country would remain in the deal as discussions with allies take place over the next few weeks. However he said if talks fail with other partners to the deal then Iran was prepared to restart its uranium enrichment programme. Middle Eastern allies of America welcomed Mr Trump’s decision, with leaders in Israel and Saudi Arabia issuing messages of support. But Federica Mogherini, the EU foreign affairs chief, said that no one would be allowed...

    Galileo is Europe’s rival to the global positioning system developed and controlled by the US in the multibillion-dollar satnav market Philip Hammond wants to sabotage the EU’s €10bn Galileo satellite navigation project by attempting to disrupt the transfer of sensitive encryption technology from Britain. In an escalation of a row over UK participation in Galileo after Brexit, the chancellor told cabinet colleagues last week that the government could seek retribution after Brussels proposed banning British companies from sensitive parts of the project. The move comes as Downing Street confirmed that Britain would seek to launch its own satellite navigation system by the mid-2020s, as revealed by the Financial Times, should the European Commission maintain its stance...