Europe

    Donald Tusk says the EU won't pursue a punitive divorce settlement with the UK because Brexit is punitive enough. The European Council President said the UK will have to wait to start negotiating a trade deal until after the divorce deal has made sufficient progress. And he said the idea Theresa May sought to use international terror security as a bargaining chip in the negotiations must be a misunderstanding. In draft negotiation guidelines issued to the 27 remaining member states today, Mr Tusk announced a phased approach to negotiations. He spoke firmly in a press conference in Valetta, Malta, insisting parallel negotiations will not happen. He said: We treat [the principles announced today] as fundamental and will stand by them. And he said reciprocal, enforceable guar...

    Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn Donald Trump's former national security adviser Mike Flynn has told officials he is willing to be interviewed in an ongoing probe into possible links between the President's team and Russia, according to a US newspaper report. Mr Flynn, who was fired for failing to disclose talks with Russia's ambassador about US sanctions on Moscow, has also informed the House and Senate intelligence committees that he will cooperate with the investigation into the Trump campaign's potential ties to the Kremlin. The report in The Wall Street Journal cited unnamed officials with knowledge of the matter. It said Mr Flynn had agreed to be interviewed in return for the promise of immunity from prosecution. His lawyer reportedly made the offer to ...

    Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo stands past a bust presented during a ceremony where Madeira's airport in Funchal is to be renamed after Cristiano Ronaldo, on Madeira island, on 29 March, 2017. Ronaldo had an international airport renamed in his honour on Wednesday but it was a newly unveiled bust of him that soon became a major talking point. Five thousand screaming fans, the Portuguese talisman himself and the country’s prime minister and the president were all in attendance at the airport of Madeira, the island where Ronaldo was born. To see this airport bear my name is a very special thing, said Ronaldo, 32, who skippered Portugal to victory in the European championships last year. Everyone knows I am proud of my roots. Real Madrid star Ronaldo, speaking at a n...

    At least three people, including a teenager, have been hurt in a shooting near a metro station in northern France, say reports. Witnesses said a number of shots were fired, possibly as many as 10, in the attack in the city of Lille. A 14-year-old boy was shot in the leg, while a second victim was hit in the neck and was described as more seriously injured. A third wounded person was also taken to hospital following the shooting close to the Porte d'Arras metro station in the south of the city. None of the injuries are thought to be life-threatening, according to French news website La Voix Du Nord. The motive for the attack has not been confirmed but there is speculation that it could be a "settling of accounts" by the gunman, who is said to be on the run. Media reports, c...

    A strong relationship with the United States is a bedrock of German foreign policy, so when Chancellor Angela Merkel met President Trump on Friday, German journalists and analysts scrutinized their body language and the tone of their remarks for clues about how they might work together. Not warm, but not distant, wrote the left-leaning newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung in its online edition on Saturday. It could have been a lot worse, Germany’s mass-circulation daily, Bild, wrote of the relationship that is the cornerstone of the NATO alliance and vital to global security. Sign Up For the Morning Newsletter Briefing The initial reaction from Ms. Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, emphasized the positives. Mr. Seibert welcomed Mr. Trump’s support of efforts to resolve the cri...

    A police source says the man shot dead after stealing a soldier's gun at Paris Orly Airport was a radicalised Muslim known to security services. The suspect is believed to have shot a police officer earlier in the day at a checkpoint in northern Paris. The first shooting came at around 7am local time (6am GMT) in Stains, when a man was stopped by police at a security checkpoint. It turned bad and the individual shot at the officers before fleeing, a police source told Reuters This same man a radicalised Muslim known to intelligence services and the justice system then took a Famas (assault weapon) from a soldier at Orly's southern terminal ..before being shot dead by a soldier. The car stopped in Stainswas a Renault Clio, which was later abandoned for a Citroen Picasso fou...

    In its first ruling on an issue that has become highly charged across Europe, the Court of Justice (ECJ) found a Belgian firm which had a rule that employees who dealt with customers should not wear visible religious or political symbols may not have discriminated against a Muslim receptionist it dismissed for wearing a headscarf. The judgement on that and a French case came on the eve of a Dutch election in which Muslim immigration is a key issue and weeks before a similarly charged presidential vote in France, where headscarves are banned in public service jobs. French conservative candidate Francois Fillon hailed the ECJ ruling as an immense relief to companies and workers that would contribute to social peace. But a group backing the fired employees said the ruling may...

    Turkey told the Netherlands on Sunday that it would retaliate in the harshest ways after Turkish ministers were barred from speaking in Rotterdam, as a row over Ankara's political campaigning among Turkish immigrants escalated. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the Netherlands was the capital of fascism as it joined other European countries in stopping Turkish politicians holding rallies due to fears that tensions in Turkey might spill over into their communities. The Dutch government barred Cavusoglu from flying to Rotterdam on Saturday and later stopped Family Minister Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya from entering the Turkish consulate there, before escorting her out of the country to Germany. Dutch police used dogs and water cannon on Sunday to disperse hundreds of proteste...

    Sweden's Trade Minister Ann Linde has been forced to defend herself, and her government colleagues, after they wore headscarves during an official visit to Iran. The Director of United Nations Watch in Geneva has called it the walk of shame: The BBC reports that among those attacking the self-described first feminist government in the world is Jan Björklund, the leader of the opposition Liberal party. He said the headscarf represents patriarchal oppression, and goes against feminist foreign policy. Björklund suggested that the Swedish government should have requested that the female visitors not be required to wear a headscarf. He said if their request was refused, they shouldn’t have signed any trade agreements. Linde responded that Iran requires women to wear the headsca...