Europe

    The federal investigation into alleged collusion between Donald Trump’s campaign team and Moscow, has now spread to include the President’s personal lawyer. Michael Cohen, who was previously employed by the Trump Organisation, told US media he had been asked by House and Senate investigators to provide “information and testimony” about any contacts he had with people connected to the Russian government. He said he had turned down the invitation. I declined the invitation to participate, as the request was poorly phrased, overly broad and not capable of being answered, he told ABC New The Associated Press said that a member of staff of the House Intelligence Committee said Mr Cohen had confirmed that Mr Cohen had been issued a subpoena. After Mr Cohen rejected the congressi...

    Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, has indicated Europe can no longer completely rely on its American and British allies in the wake of Brexit and the election of US President Donald Trump, declaring the continent's destiny is in our own hands. Her extraordinary comments followed meetings of European leaders with Mr Trump at Nato and the G7 . Mrs Merkel, speaking at an election campaign event in a Bavarian beer tent, said it had served as a wake-up call. She said: "The times in which we can fully count on others are somewhat over, as I have experienced in the past few days. And so, all I can say is that we Europeans must really take our destiny into our own hands. Referencing Brexit, she said: Of course we need to have friendly relations with the US, and with the UK, an...

    Chinese Foreign Ministry has strongly reacted over the report of the United Nations expressing concerns over the China Pakistan Economic Corridor Project. China has dismissed United Nations concerns on China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Chinese foreign ministry said. The report by UN’s Economic and Social Commission for Asia-Pacific (ESCAP), had warned that the CPEC could create tension with India and fuel political instability in the region Describing the United Nations as a partner in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Beijing on Thursday dismissed the report, saying this report was not specifically on the CPEC and had evaluated the BRI in a very positive way. The report, issued on Tuesday, said the CPEC could lead to further political instability in the region an...

    President Donald Trump met a sad-looking Pope Francis at the Vatican on Wednesday, along with his wife, Melania, daughter Ivanka and others. Melania and Ivanka both wore black dresses with long sleeves and black veils (Melania’s dress was Dolce & Gabbana, a possible nod to the host country). Although Pope Francis has not enforced traditional dress code rules for women at private Vatican audiences as strictly as his predecessors did, both women kept to old-school protocol. The president will return to Italy on Friday, attending the Group of 7… This traditional rule holds that most women wear long black dresses with sleeves and mantillas, and only a very select handful of women enjoy an exception. These ladies have the privilège du blanc, or privilege of the white, which...

    Two Chinese fighter jets intercepted an American military plane over the East China Sea, media in the United States reported Thursday, citing US officials. NBC News reported that the US aircraft, a WC-135 Constant Phoenix, was conducting a routine mission in international airspace Wednesday when it was intercepted over the East China Sea by two Chinese Sukhoi Su-30 fighter aircraft. The WC-135 is a so-called ‘sniffer plane’ designed to scan the atmosphere for signs of nuclear activity. NBC said the crew of the US plane described the encounter as unprofessional, although not necessarily dangerous. It said military officials insist the US plane was operating in accordance with international law. Officials told the US news network that the matter is being addressed with Beiji...

    The UK will pay a price if it moves to restrict EU immigration after Brexit, Angela Merkel said on Wednesday. In some of her toughest language on Brexit yet, the German chancellor warned that the EU would act to protect its own interests and could create obstacles for Britain. And in a barely veiled threat, she said there could be consequences for the British car industry. Related: May to charge companies £2,000 a year for each non-EU worker they employ If the British government ends the free movement of people, that will have its price in relations with Britain, Mrs Merkel told a meeting of trade union officials in Berlin. That's not malicious, she said. But you cannot expect to enjoy all the benefits and then say there will be an upper limit of 100,000 or 200,000 EU citi...

    Prince Philip famously gave up a promising naval career to be at the Queen’s side but the Dutch King Willem-Alexander has carried on co-piloting KLM passenger planes as often as twice a month. According to an interview he gave to the Dutch Telegraaf paper, to celebrate his wife Queen Máxima’s birthday on Wednesday, flying through the clouds leaves worldly cares behind, so he has quietly carried on. He welcomes customers on board on behalf of the captain and crew rather than revealing his true identity and said he is rarely recognised in pilot’s uniform anyway. Willem-Alexander became Europe’s youngest king when Dutch Queen Beatrix abdicated in 2013, in a ceremony attended by Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. It was known that he had been a guest pilot before...

    The threat from the cyber attack that crippled international services will continue to grow as people return to work on Monday, the head of Europol warned. Since Friday's breach more than 200,000 victims - including the NHS - across 150 countries have been infected by the Wanna Decryptor ransomware, also known as WannaCry. Speaking to ITV's Peston on Sunday, Europol director Rob Wainwright said the attack was indiscriminate across the private and public sectors. At the moment we are in the face of an escalating threat, the numbers are going up, I am worried about how the numbers will continue to grow when people go to work and turn their machines on Monday morning. The latest count is over 200,000 victims in at least 150 countries. Many of those will be businesses includin...

    In Limassol, on the southern coast of Cyprus, shop signs in Cyrillic outnumber those in Greek, the local language. Yachts emblazoned with Russian monikers fill berths in a newly built marina. And just past the office of radio station Russkaya Volna, restaurants lining the boardwalk serve pelmeni with, of course, vodka. This Moscow-on-the-Mediterranean has blossomed as Russians and their money flock to the tiny European Union outpost to become, in a sense, not Russian. Long known as a hub for offshore Russian finance and more recently as a focus of investigations into Russian links to President Donald Trump’s entourage Cyprus has enabled a more sophisticated way to camouflage those funds: If you can’t launder a Russian’s cash, the scheme goes, launder the Russian himself. T...

    Emmanuel Macron will be inaugurated as France’s youngest ever president on Sunday, facing daunting challenges to rejuvenate the economy and breathe new life into the beleaguered EU. Macron, a 39-year-old centrist, will take over from President Francois Hollande, the Socialist whose five years in power were plagued by stubborn unemployment and bloody terror attacks, in a ceremony at 0800 GMT. After ascending the red carpet at the Elysee Palace in central Paris, Macron and Hollande will have a private meeting in the president’s office where Macron will be given the codes to launch France’s nuclear weapons. Hollande is clearly delighted at the election of the former investment banker, who scored a clear victory over far-right candidate Marine Le Pen on May 7. The current pres...