Europe

    Russian President Vladimir Putin said Sunday the United States would have to cut its embassy and consulate staff in Russia by 755, heightening tensions between Washington and Moscow three days after the U.S. Congress approved sanctions against Russia. In response, the U.S. State Department deemed it a regrettable and uncalled for act. Russian's Foreign Ministry on Friday ordered a reduction by Sept. 1 in the number of U.S. diplomatic personnel in Russia. It said it is ordering the U.S. Embassy to limit the number of embassy and consular employees in the country to 455 in response to approval of the new package of American sanctions. The White House has said U.S. President Donald Trump would sign those sanctions into law. Russian President Vladimir Putin looks on attending ...

    Brexit is already damaging Germany’s trade with the UK and it is set to get worse, the European power-house’s leading business group has warned. Speaking to HuffPost UK, the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) - which represents more than three million business and entrepreneurs - cautioned that even if the UK strikes a free trade deal with the EU, the impact of trade barriers would only be “reduced” - not completely neutralised. The warning comes as Brexit talks between the UK and EU appear on the brink of collapse as both sides want the other to make the first sign of compromise on the size of the divorce bill. With fewer than 20 months before the UK officially leaves the EU, there is precious little time for delays to the negotiations, and if ...

    One person has been killed and three others injured in a shooting at a nightclub in southern Germany. Witnesses told German news agency dpa that the attacker had a machine gun and shot at the crowd inside the building indiscriminately, local media reported. Terrified revellers fled the music venue or hid as the shooter opened fire at around 4.30am (local time). The 34-year-old Iraqi gunman exchanged fire with police before he was shot at the scene by armed officers. The critically injured shooter was taken to hospital where he later died. A police officer was also injured in the gunfight outside Club Grey in the southern German city of Konstanz. His injury is not thought to be life-threatening. Officials said special commando forces and helicopters had been deployed to the...

    Russia told the United States on Friday that some of its diplomats had to leave the country in just over a month and said it was seizing some U.S. diplomatic property as retaliation for what it said were proposed illegal U.S. sanctions. Russia's response, announced by the Foreign Ministry, came a day after the U.S. Senate voted to slap new sanctions on Russia, putting President Donald Trump in a tough position by forcing him to take a hard line on Moscow or veto the legislation and anger his own Republican Party. President Vladimir Putin had warned on Thursday that Russia had so far exercised restraint, but would have to retaliate against what he described as boorish and unreasonable U.S. behavior. Relations between the two countries, already at a post-Cold War low, have d...

    At least 48 people have been injured after a commuter train crashed into the buffers at a station in Barcelona. Emergency services in Spain said one person was seriously hurt while the rest, including the driver, were treated for minor injuries following the collision at the Estacio de Franca in the north of the city. No deaths have been reported. The train, travelling from the southern coastal town of Sant Vicenc de Calders, some 44 miles from Barcelona, crashed at the station, at 7.15am local time. Estacio de Franca in Barcelona Rail services were not disrupted as a result of the accident.

    France insisted that the U.K. pay a Brexit bill of as much as 100 billion euros ($115 billion), underlining the hurdles to substantial progress in negotiations toward a new relationship with the European Union. As the second round of talks wraps up in Brussels, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire used a hearing in the French parliament in Paris on Wednesday evening to take a hard line on what the EU believes the U.K. owes the bloc in terms of liabilities and obligations. To drive his point home, he evoked the spirit of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher when she won a rebate on Britain’s payments to the central EU budget, complaining that the U.K. was losing out despite being one of the biggest contributors. I will say what Margaret Thatcher used to say: We want ou...

    Former London postman charged with murdering Syrian captives in Isis mass execution. Harry Sarfo, who is already serving three years in a German prison for terror offences, was not accused of murder until footage of the massacre emerged last year. The federal public prosecutor’s office said he was charged with six counts of murder and violating human rights law at a specialist state security court in Hamburg. In mid-June 2015 the so-called Islamic State had six prisoners executed on Palmyra’s market square, a spokesperson said. Sarfo belonged to the six-member squad that carried out the execution and he was armed with a pistol. Together with other members of his group, he guarded the prisoners and prevented them from escaping. Prosecutors said Sarfo led one of the captives...

    A German judge has told a Syrian woman that she cannot wear her Islamic headscarf during a divorce hearing in court, claiming religiously-motivated attire is prohibited. Najat Abokal, a lawyer representing the woman, said the order was made for divorce proceedings in the district court in Luckenwalde, Brandenberg, reports The Independent. She said the letter warned of legal action against the woman if she does not comply, but also ordered her to appear in person to present her case against her husband. Abokal has accused the judge of acting ‘unconstitutionally’, the Tagesspiegel newspaper reported, saying she would contest the order amid fierce debate over Islamic dress in Germany. One of her colleagues confirmed the information to The Independent but said no further comme...

    Divisions over the UK’s Brexit divorce bill were laid bare on Tuesday as British negotiators pushed back against a mooted €75bn (£66bn) Brexit charge-sheet. On the second day of detailed Brexit negotiations, the British team peppered the Brussels side with questions over how to pay for unwinding 44 years of the UK’s European Union membership. An earlier session of talks on Monday was so intense officials did not take a coffee break and were running out of water. Both sides think the mood has improved after the British government admitted last week it had debts to the EU. A statement to parliament on Thursday that the UK has financial obligations from its EU membership helped defuse a potentially toxic row that was brewing, after the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, said B...

    Russia is demanding the immediate return of diplomatic properties seized by the Obama administration after claims Moscow hacked the US election. The Kremlin has accused the United States of setting conditions on the return of the compounds in New York and Maryland. Former president Barack Obama ordered their seizure in December as well as the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats. Russia has vehemently denied any involvement in election hacking. Deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov will meet US undersecretary of state Thomas Shannon to try to thrash out a solution on Monday. His boss, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, was also reported as saying on a visit to Belarus that anti-Russian feeling in the United States meant it was not certain that Moscow and Washington coul...