Europe

    David Davis is reportedly facing an investigation by the Cabinet Office after spending thousands of pounds travelling back and forth to Europe. Newly released data shows the Brexit Secretary's department spent almost £50,000 in less than a year shuttling him to EU meetings. The Independent claims to have seen a letter from the Cabinet Secretary, Sir Jeremy Heywood, asking whether Mr Davis's trips break the ministerial code's rules on cost-effectiveness. Britain's Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union David Davis (L) and European Union's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier talk to the media in Brussels The letter is said to read: After seven years of austerity, the British people rightly expect those who govern our country to do everything they can t...

    Christmas came early for a French homeless man at Paris's main airport when he found an unlocked door at the offices of a cash handling company ... and walked away €300,000 ($350,000) richer. The man was rummaging through bins at Charles de Gaulle airport northeast of Paris last Friday when he checked a door at the Loomis cash management company and found it had been left open. Authorities have pored over surveillance footage that captured the incident, according to Le Parisien newspaper, which was the first to report the story on Wednesday. He pushes on the door … and appears surprised when it opens, the French daily recounted. Then the homeless man sets his suitcase down and enters the company’s offices. A picture taken on June 21, 2012 at Roissy-Charles-de-Gaull...

    The EU has told Theresa May that it will not start discussing the terms of a trade relationship with the UK until February at the earliest and only then if the British prime minister has taken a grip of her divided cabinet and come forward with an agreed vision of the future. While May was being lauded by her ministers in London on Friday, EU officials in Brussels said that when leaders do move the Brexit talks on, the first negotiations will have to be limited to the terms of a time-limited transition period. The EU is unable to talk about a future trade deal without “more clarity” from May on her cabinet’s vision of a free trade agreement with the EU, a senior EU official said. Michel Barnier made it clear that Britain could only expect a post-Brexit trade deal a...

    Theresa May and the Irish government have failed to reach a deal on the crucial Brexit issue of the Northern Ireland border ahead of a crunch meeting on Monday lunchtime with the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker. Despite intense efforts over the weekend to agree a proposal on how to avoid a hard border in Ireland, Irish officials revealed at midnight on Sunday that “there is still a way to go” to achieve a meeting of minds on the issue. The Irish government remains hopeful but at this stage it is very difficult to make a prediction, said an official. The failure to seal a deal threatens to put back the progression of the Brexit negotiations to the second phase covering trade and the UK’s future relationship with the EU. May will meet Juncker with...

    A late-night kebab could soon be a thing of the past, according to legislation which has been put forward by the European Union. According to Metro, the legislation would make doner kebabs – which originated in Turkey — illegal across Europe, because of the phosphates that they contain and their links to cardiovascular disease. The popular dish often consumed after a night out is made up of shaved kebab meat in a pita, usually with shredded lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and a variety of dressings. An estimated 1.3 million doner kebabs are sold every day in the UK from more than 20,000 outlets, according to The Guardian, while 200,000 people work in the multi-billion euro industry across Europe. Meanwhile, according to German daily newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau, there are ar...

    Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has received the full backing of his European counterparts as he warned he was prepared to stand firm on the Brexit Irish border issue. European Council president Donald Tusk said if the UK’s offer was unacceptable to Ireland then it would also be unacceptable for the rest of the EU states. Only a few days remain before a deal can be agreed between the EU and UK to allow talks to go on to post-Brexit trade issues and the future of the open Irish border remains a key concern. Donald Tusk, right, has warned that the UK's Brexit offer must be acceptable to Ireland, with the country's president Leo Varadkar, left, warning he is prepared to stand firm. Tusk said: The key to the UK’s future lies in some ways in Dublin, at least as long as Brexit nego...

    Evacuated Christmas market in the German city of Potsdam Experts on Friday defused an explosive device found near an outdoor Christmas market in the German city of Potsdam near Berlin, local police said on Twitter. Germany is on high alert for potential militant attacks nearly a year after a Tunisian Islamist hijacked a truck, killed its driver, and then rammed the vehicle into a Christmas market in central Berlin, killing 11 people there. Evacuated Christmas market in the German city of Potsdam In Potsdam, police cordoned off the area including the market after being alerted about a suspicious object that had been delivered to a pharmacy. The suspicion of an (improvised explosive device) has been confirmed, police said on Twitter. No additional details were immediately av...

    The UK could be required to follow new rules implemented by the European Union during a Brexit transition period according to leaked plans reportedly drawn up by Brussels’ chief negotiator. The position set out by Michel Barnier would make the application of new EU rules a condition of a transitional deal, meaning Britain could be subject to further Brussels’ regulations for about two years after leaving the bloc. Theresa May hopes to secure an implementation period between the UK’s formal exit date and the commencement of any post-Brexit trade deal in order to give businesses time to adjust to the new arrangements, but accepting the imposition of new rules could trigger a revolt by Eurosceptics. It would also go against the approach to an implementation period set out by ...

    Theresa May has been given 10 days to offer further concessions on issues including the Brexit divorce bill and the complex matter of the Northern Irish border if she wants European Union leaders to agree to trade talks, reports the Press Association. The Prime Minister hopes a crunch summit in Brussels next month will give the green light to move on to the next stage of the Brexit process, covering future trading arrangements and a possible implementation period to avoid a cliff-edge for businesses. Talks on trade will not be allowed to begin until European Union leaders are satisfied that sufficient progress has been made on the first round of issues being discussed including the divorce bill the UK will pay to Brussels and the Northern Irish border. After talks with the...

    South Korea's spy agency told lawmakers Monday that North Korea has punished two of its top military officers, including one widely seen as its second-most powerful official, during a highly unusual inspection of the military's powerful political bureau. According to a lawmaker who attended the closed-door briefing by the National Intelligence Service, it said the inspection of the North Korean military's General Political Bureau was the first of its kind in 20 years and occurred because of its impure attitude, which it did not describe. The spy agency said it obtained intelligence that the head of the bureau, Vice Marshal Hwang Pyong So, his top deputy, Kim Wong Hong, and other officers were punished, according to the lawmaker, Kim Byung kee. Hwang's position as the milit...