European Commission officials tell The Independent Ms May’s plan would be unacceptable and would go back on previous commitments made by British negotiators Brussels has rejected Theresa May’s new customs proposal less than 24 hours after the prime minister set it out in a bid to placate Brexiteers in her ...

China rebuffed U.S. concerns about its ties with Venezuela on Tuesday after Washington imposed new sanctions on the crisis-stricken oil-producing country following the re-election of its socialist President Nicolas Maduro. Maduro, the 55-year-old successor to late leftist leader Hugo Chavez, hailed his win in Sunday’s election as a victory against ...

Government must stop money laundering by ‘kleptocrats and rights abusers’, which is helping Putin subvert international rules A powerful committee of MPs has warned that the government is putting national security at risk by allowing “kleptocrats and human rights abusers to use the City of London to launder their ill-gotten ...

President set for victory as main opposition party urges voters to boycott controversial election Venezuela goes to the polls on Sunday, with incumbent president Nicolas Maduro expected to win a second term in spite of the country’s spiralling economic crisis. Mr Maduro is set to secure another six-year term on ...

Experts say action must be taken to control artificial intelligence tech Wanton proliferation of artificial intelligence technologies could enable new forms of cybercrime, political disruption and even physical attacks within five years, a group of 26 experts from around the world have warned. In a new report, the academic, industry ...

Growth will come mainly in India, China and Nigeria as rural dwelling declines and Delhi outstrips Tokyo to become biggest city by 2028 Two-thirds of people in the world will be living in cities by 2050 and the boom will be concentrated in India, China and Nigeria, according to United ...

President to meet with secretary general Jens Stoltenberg at White House to discuss Israel, Iran and Syria as inconsistent stance on international security raises concerns Donald Trump is set to meet with Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg at the White House, having regularly disparaged the military alliance in the past. ...

Coalition hopefuls Five Star Movement and League insist plans for massive financial relief in leaked document are no longer being considered Populist parties attempting to form a government in Italy have floated the idea of asking the European Central Bank (ECB) to write off €250bn (£218bn) of the country’s debt. ...

EU says it will refuse to negotiate with ‘sword of Damocles’ over its head French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Angela Merkel have rounded on Donald Trump over planned steel tariffs on EU producers, telling the US president to scrap his new policy if he wants to negotiate better ...

President brands special counsel investigation ‘the greatest witch hunt in American history’ Donald Trump has accused Barack Obama and the FBI of using an “imbedded (sic) informant” to spy on his presidential campaign. The US president made the claim following an earlier tweet branding the special counsel investigation into potential ...