US President Donald Trump’s pivot away from Ukraine has triggered fresh questions about his attachment to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, the man a top American envoy flattered on Wednesday as a “humanitarian”. Trump has cast his dealings with Putin as part of a mega-deal that has secured the release of American detainee Stephen Hubbard – and which Trump says will end Russia’s war on Ukraine. At the same time, he has repeatedly berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and called for him to...

The images of France’s riots posted and broadcast around the world have cast a pall on the country’s important tourism sector, with many fearing worse consequences if violence returns. “The surge of violence in the centres of Nice, Paris, Lyon – it’s catastrophic,” said Christelle Cassagne, head of the ADN Tourisme body covering the country’s tourism institutions. “When you book a hotel for a week, it’s not so you stay stuck in the hotel,” she said. The scenes of clashes with police, public...

President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday criticised world leaders for making “stupid” comments about the rioting on the sidelines of protests in France, in an apparent swipe at US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Macron said the leaders were taking aim at France in the context of coming elections in their countries and added that they had been influenced by fake videos generated by artificial intelligence about the riots. Some of the worst urban violence to hit...