Mamadu Bassir sits eating a breakfast of warm milk and cookies in a migrants’ shelter in Rome – one of nearly 65,000 lone youngsters who have survived the perilous sea journey from North Africa to Italy in the past four years. His meal finished, the gangly 17-year-old tells the story of his trip from Guinea, via a Libyan prison where …

Catalonia’s leader, Carles Puigdemont, said Tuesday (3 October) that the region will soon declare independence, while the Spanish King accused Catalan leaders of breaking up the country. The region will declare independence 48 hours after all the official results are counted, Puigdemont told the BBC in an interview, adding that this will happen “over the weekend or the beginning of …

Unemployment in Germany hit a surprise new low in September, newly-released official data show, the latest in a string of sunny indicators as the upswing continues in Europe’s top economy. The proportion of people out of work fell to 5.6 per cent this month, the Federal Labour Agency said, while analysts had expected the figure to hold steady at 5.7 …