The two towns share a language and a history of solidarity dating back to the Nazi occupation of Belgium during the Second World War. But the election of a mayor from Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration National Front party in the French town of Beaucare has brought an abrupt end to the decades-long ties.

Tolerated for much of the postwar period, the mob is finally being brought to heel by the authorities

Any mention of Ms Putin has now been deleted from the Kremlin website

Rebel leader Jamal Maarouf is seen as a bulwark against extremists, but he has some unsavoury friends

'This is a very large, very capable and very ready force' 

It’s tough to be neighbourly when you live in a place like Manhattan. Just the people living on my block would make for a decent-sized town on the high plains. Still, I will be sure to make a habit of waving in the direction of one home  I walk by each day on my way to work. Morning Rupert, hope all is well. If you can see me.

US Secretary of State John Kerry left frustrated as deal to release prisoners from both sides falters

Foreign ministers for the 28-member body consider bolstering its military presence in eastern Europe as Moscow sharply hikes cost of natural gas it supplies to Ukraine

His statement came before the Romanian President said the US plans to increase the number of troops stationed at the Mihail Kogalniceanu base

Malaysia Airlines have released the transcript of exchanges before MH370 vanished

Malaysian authorities have released a new version of the last communication as the search for the missing flight continued today

The latest shocking death at the hands of Albuquerque’s Police Department has sparked protests

A history involving surveillance by Hitler’s Gestapo and the communist Stasi secret police means that most Germans are unusually sensitive about spying. Berlin was outraged by disclosures last year that Chancellor Angela Merkel’s mobile phone was being bugged by the US National Security Agency. But even the Germans have to spy. Yesterday, the first 170 of 4,000 spooks moved into a new  €912m (£755m) Berlin headquarters of Germany’s main intelligence service, the BND.

New PM Manuel Valls given three missions: to restore the French economy; to improve social justice; and to reduce taxes for ordinary people

After years of seismic calm, recent earthquakes have awakened a city to the prospect of devastation

Japan hunts around a thousand whales in the Southern Ocean each year

Nigel Farage has named Vladimir Putin as the world leader he most admires. He praised the Russian president’s skills as an “operator”, citing his “brilliant” handling of the civil war in Syria.

Enumerators fanned out across Burma yesterday for the first census in three decades – a poll that has been widely criticised after the government denied members of a Muslim minority the right to identify themselves as “Rohingya”. Administrators in some areas said they were barring census-takers because they worry it will be used for political purposes.