European Union

"The magnitude of the fires on the territory of the Amazon is frightening and threatening, not only for Brazil and the other countries concerned, but for the whole world," German chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert told press in Berlin on Friday. "The chancellor fully supports the French president," he added, after Emmanuel Macron said the issue ought to be discussed at this weekend's G7 summit in France.

Just 16 percent of British people believe the UK can leave the EU in an orderly way on 31 October, according to a poll by YouGov out Friday. Some 68 percent said it was "not very likely" or "not likely at all". The pessimism comes amid leaked government warnings of food, medicine, and fuel shortages if there is a crash-out with no deal in place.

The UK should tie its payment of €43bn of EU obligations to developments in post-Brexit EU trade and seek a "sunset clause" for the validity of EU court rulings, senior Tory MP David Davis told The Telegraph. "We'll be governed for years by the other 27 member states under the existing draft withdrawal agreement ... even with the backstop [Irish border plan] removed," another MP Bill Cash said.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has threatened to vote against a trade deal between the EU and South American trade bloc Mercosur unless Brazil, where wildfires continue to devastate the Amazon rainforest, takes its environmental obligations more seriously.

After German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron has also voiced optimism that it should be possible to find a solution for preventing a no-deal Brexit within 30 days. However, he was less open to compromise regarding the backstop. Were British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's visits to Berlin and Paris a success?

On the evening of August 23, 1989, roughly two million Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians formed a human chain more than 600 kilometres long that stretched from Tallinn across Riga to Vilnius. Fifty years after the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact people in the three states stood side by side in pursuit of freedom and independence in one of the biggest non-violent protests the world has ever seen: the Baltic Way.

The worst fires in many years are now raging in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. President Bolsonaro has accused environmental groups of starting the blazes. Researchers counter that cattle breeders have dramatically increased slash and burn agriculture since Bolsonaro took office in January. Must the world look on helplessly as the rainforest goes up in flames?

The fighting has intensified in the Syrian province of Idlib, which had been declared a de-escalation zone. Supported by Russia, Assad's army is advancing through the rebel-held territory towards the city of Khan Shaykhu, prompting tens of thousands to flee the area. Meanwhile the tensions between Ankara and Moscow have escalated after a Turkish military convoy was hit by an airstrike. Europe's press looks at the reasons for the escalation.