Trump says he did not want 'wasted meeting' after plan for Putin talks shelved
Donald Trump has said he did not want a "wasted meeting" after a plan to have face-to-face talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin about the war in Ukraine were put on hold, BBC reported.
The US president indicated that a key sticking point remained Moscow's refusal to cease fighting along the current front line, in remarks at the White House on Tuesday.
Earlier, a White House official had said there were "no plans" for a Trump-Putin meeting "in the immediate future", after Trump said on Thursday that the two would hold talks in Budapest within two weeks, according to BBC.
Poland warns Russia's Putin against crossing its airspace for Trump summit
Poland warned Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday against travelling through its airspace for a summit in Hungary with U.S. President Donald Trump, saying it could be forced to execute an international arrest warrant if he did, Reuters reported.
Bulgaria, however, would be willing to let Putin use its airspace if the summit is held in Hungary, Foreign Minister Georg Georgiev was quoted as saying.
Trump said last week he planned to meet Putin in Budapest as he tries to broker an end to Russia's war in Ukraine, according to Reuters.
French ex-president Sarkozy begins jail sentence for campaign finance conspiracy
Nicolas Sarkozy has become the first French ex-president to go to jail, as he starts a five-year sentence for conspiring to fund his election campaign with money from late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, BBC reported.
Not since World War Two Nazi collaborationist leader Philippe Pétain was jailed for treason in 1945 has any French ex-leader gone behind bars.
Sarkozy, who was president from 2007-2012, has appealed against his jail term at La Santé prison, where he will occupy a small cell in the jail's isolation wing, according to BBC.
Sanae Takaichi wins historic vote to become Japan's first female prime minister
Sanae Takaichi has been elected Japan's prime minister by its parliament, making her the first woman to hold the office, BBC reported.
The 64-year-old won a clear majority on Tuesday - 237 votes in the powerful Lower House and another 125 in the Upper House - as leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
A staunch conservative and admirer of the late former UK PM Margaret Thatcher, Takaichi takes over at a challenging economic moment as Japan grapples with a rising cost of living and a frustrated public.
It's also been an uncertain time for the world's fourth-largest economy. She is the fourth PM in just five years, after her predecessors' terms were cut short by plunging ratings and scandals, according to BBC.



