United States President Donald Trump will meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on Monday, ending a tumultuous European tour in which he criticised his allies.
Mr. Trump said he had “low expectations” ahead of the talks in the Finnish capital, Helsinki, but added that “maybe some good” would come of them.
The highly anticipated meeting comes after 12 Russians were charged with hacking in the 2016 US elections.
Mr. Trump said he would raise the issue, but the summit has no formal agenda.
There have been calls in the U.S. for Mr. Trump to cancel the meeting altogether over the indictments, announced on Friday by U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
Russia denied the allegations and said it was looking forward to the talks as a vehicle for improving relations.
US National Security Adviser John Bolton said both sides had agreed the meeting would have no set agenda.
But he said he found it “hard to believe” Mr Putin did not know about the alleged election hacking and the subject would be mentioned.
“That’s what one of the purposes of this meeting is, so the president can see eye to eye with President Putin and ask him about it,” he told ABC News.
Mr. Trump has also been urged to raise the poisoning of two people in the UK who came into contact with the nerve agent, Novichok.
Investigators believe the incident is linked to the poisoning of a former Russian spy in March.
Mr. Trump elaborated on what will be discussed at the summit during a joint press conference with UK Prime Minister Theresa May last week.
“We’ll be talking about Syria,” he said. “We’ll be talking about other parts of the Middle East. I will be talking about nuclear proliferation.”
Iran nuclear deal: US rejects EU plea for sanctions exemption
The US has rebuffed high-level pleas from the European Union to grant exemptions to European companies from its sanctions against Iran.
In a letter to European nations, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the US rejected the appeal because it wanted to exert maximum pressure on Iran.
It said exemptions would only be made if they benefited US national security.
The EU fears that billions of dollars’ worth of trade could be jeopardised as a result of Washington‘s new sanctions.
“We will seek to provide unprecedented financial pressure on the Iranian regime,” the letter, which was also signed by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, said, according to reports.
It added that the US “is not in a position to make exceptions to this policy except in very specific circumstances.”
The strict sanctions were imposed in May after President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 international agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme.
The US withdrawal meant sanctions that were in place prior to the agreement were re-imposed.
Its opposition to the deal is at odds with that of France, Germany and the UK, which have pledged their commitment to it.
Some of Europe’s biggest firms rushed to do business with Iran after the nuclear deal took effect three years ago.
In 2017, EU exports to Iran (goods and services) totalled €10.8bn (£9.5bn; $12.9bn), and imports from Iran to the bloc were worth €10.1bn.
The value of imports was nearly double the 2016 figure.
Now, European businesses are worried that their ties with the US could be damaged if they continue doing Iranian deals.
But earlier this year, the EU began reviving legislation that it said would allow its companies to continue doing business with Iran.
The so-called “blocking statute” was introduced in 1996 to circumvent US sanctions on Cuba but was never used.
An updated version of the measure should be in force before 6 August, when the first sanctions take effect.
Italy allows migrants to land in Sicily
Italy will allow 450 migrants who were picked up from an overcrowded boat on Saturday to disembark in Sicily.
The decision was taken after Italy said that France, Germany, Malta, Portugal and Spain had each agreed to take 50 migrants.
Malta and Italy had earlier each insisted that the other country should allow the boat to dock.
Italy’s new government has toughened its policies in an effort to stem the flow of arrivals on its shores.
So far, only women and children, 57 people in all, have been allowed to land in the Sicilian port of Pozzallo.
The migrants were rescued from a boat in the Mediterranean by two vessels of the EU’s Frontex mission, but Italy was unwilling to allow them to land at its ports.
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Before the migrants were rescued from their wooden boat on Saturday, Malta had refused calls to allow them to be landed in Valletta, saying that the boat was much closer to the Italian island of Lampedusa.
But Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said that the Frontex boats should “head south, to Libya or Malta” once the migrants had been rescued.
The Italian position changed after Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte had written to all European Union member states asking them to accept some of the refugees.
“In this context which always sees Italy in the frontline of saving lives at sea, I ask you for a clear sign on sharing the responsibility of managing the migrant issue,” Mr. Conte wrote.
France and Malta said on Saturday they would take 50 each, with Germany, Spain and Portugal making a similar pledge on Sunday.
But Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis dismissed the request, saying relocating the migrants would “lead down the road to hell.”
And Libya restated its refusal to take in anyone from the ship.
“No, we will not accept any illegal migrants after they are rescued by rescue ships,” a coast guard spokesman told Reuters news agency.
In June, two rescue boats struggled to find a port at which to dock, after Italy refused permission.
The Aquarius finally sailed to the Spanish port of Valencia with 630 migrants after being blocked by Italy and Malta.
A second ship, the Lifeline, docked in Malta with 230 migrants.
In both cases, a number of European countries agreed to accept the migrants.
Nicaragua troops raid towns in south
Nicaraguan government forces have launched raids to clear protesters’ barricades in towns in the south-east of the country, leaving at least 10 dead.
Human rights organisations say at least six civilians were killed along with four members of the security forces.
The operation targeted the city of Masaya and several smaller communities and neighbourhoods in the area.
The EU, Colombia, Chile and Ecuador criticised the government’s actions.
Alvaro Leiva, the head of Nicaraguan Association For Human Rights (ANPDH), said at least 22 vehicles carrying government security forces had arrived in the area.
Labelled “Operation Clean-up” by the government, it concentrated on the city of Masaya, nearby Niquinohomo and Catarina villages and the neighbourhood of Monimbo.
Mr. Leiva warned people in the city of Masaya to stay indoors, saying “there are sharpshooters stationed at different places around the city.”
Earlier he said police had not been allowing the wounded to reach hospitals in the area.
One resident in Masaya told the French news agency AFP: “We are being attacked by the national police and paramilitaries armed with AK-47s.”
The latest government action came a day after dozens of students in the capital Managua were besieged by pro-government forces for hours in a parish church next to the National Autonomous University of Managua (UNAN) before finally being allowed to leave after the intervention of Catholic Bishops.
Two students died in the action and many said they felt the security forces had been shooting to kill.
The UNAN was the last bastion of student resistance in the capital after months of nationwide anti-government protests in which over 300 people have been killed.
Also on Sunday, there were reports of attacks on members of the National Dialogue conference trying to resolve the differences between the government and the opposition.
Paramilitaries attacked the car of Abelardo Mata, the Roman Catholic bishop of Esteli, breaking windscreens and windows and damaging the tyres.
The bishop was held for a time in a house and then transferred to Managua by the police.
He is one of the mediators for the Nicaraguan Episcopal Conference overseeing talks between the government and protesters.
In Managua a peasant leader, Medardo Mairena, who was arrested last week, and is also a member of the National Dialogue conference, appeared before a judge in a closed court accused of terrorism.
A police statement said he was “responsible for the massacre and murder of four policemen and a primary school teacher as a result of his terrorist actions”.
Mr. Mairena’s brother was shot in the chest on Friday by snipers as he led a protest to highlight his arrest.
The Inter-American Commission for Human Rights, EU and Peru, Chile Colombia, Spain, and Argentina have all published statements rejecting the actions of the Nicaraguan government over the past few days.
