INTERNATIONAL

At least 15 people have been killed in a suicide car bomb attack on a police checkpoint in Iraq’s capital Baghdad, officials say. They say more than 40 people were injured when the bomber detonated the vehicle – an oil tanker laden with explosives – at the checkpoint in the south of the capital. No group has so far claimed ...

Summary Theresa May triggers the official Brexit process in a letter to EU Mrs May tells MPs it’s a “historic moment… there is no turning back” The EU’s Donald Tusk says “missing you already” Two years of exit negotiations to follow BBC

Two UN experts who were missing in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been found dead, officials say. The bodies of US citizen Michael Sharp and Swedish national Zaida Catalan were discovered in the central Kasai region, a government spokesman said. They were abducted two weeks ago after going to Kasai to investigate reports of abuses after local rebels took ...

Theresa May has signed the letter that will formally begin the UK’s departure from the European Union. Giving official notice under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, it will be delivered to European Council president Donald Tusk later. In a statement in the Commons, the prime minister will then tell MPs this marks “the moment for the country to come ...

German Interior Minister Thomas De Maiziere has said Turkey will not be allowed to spy on Turks living in Germany. Reports say the head of Turkey’s intelligence service handed a list of people suspected of opposition sympathies to his German counterpart. The list is said to include surveillance photos and personal data. Germany and other EU states have banned local ...

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been jailed for 15 days for resisting police orders during mass protests on Sunday. Mr Navalny was among several hundred people who were detained in connection with the rallies across the country. The court in Moscow earlier fined him the minimum 20,000 roubles ($350) for organising the banned protests. On Monday the Kremlin accused ...

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been jailed for 15 days for resisting police orders during mass protests on Sunday. Mr Navalny was among several hundred people who were detained in connection with the rallies across the country. The court in Moscow earlier fined him the minimum 20,000 roubles ($350) for organising the banned protests. On Monday the Kremlin accused ...

More than 3,500 Australian residents have been evacuated as a cyclone carrying winds up to 240km/h (150 mph) moves towards the Queensland coast. Cyclone Debbie is expected to intensify into a Category 4 system before it arrives early on Tuesday local time. Some people have refused to leave despite warnings the destructive core could be as wide as 100km (62 ...

US-backed Syrian rebels say they have taken full control of a key airbase held by the Islamic State group (IS) near its stronghold, Raqqa. Its capture is seen as a significant step in the fight to drive the jihadists out of the city, which has become their self-declared capital. Talal Sello, a spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), said ...

Westminster attacker Khalid Masood acted alone and there is no information to suggest further attacks are planned, Metropolitan police say. Deputy assistant commissioner Neil Basu said: “There is a possibility we will never understand why he did this.” Four people died and 50 were injured when Masood drove his car into pedestrians before stabbing a police officer. He was shot ...