The European Union has rejected Donald Trump’s offer to renegotiate the Paris climate agreement and pledged instead to bypass Washington to work with US business leaders and state governors to implement the historic accord’s commitments.

Less than 24 hours after the US president announced his decision to withdraw from the 2015 agreement and strike a new, less ambitious deal with the rest of the world, Brussels declared its outright refusal to engage in such talks. EU officials will instead cut out the White House to deal directly with the US states and major corporations, many of whom have already pledged to live by the terms forged in Paris.

In Britain, Theresa May faced criticism for not signing up to a joint declaration by Germany, France and Italy in opposition to the US move. A Downing Street source defended the prime minister, pointing out that other countries including Japan and Canada had not signed up to the letter either.(guardian)…[+]

Danish lawmakers have repealed a 334-year-old blasphemy law that forbids public insults of a religion, such as the burning of holy books. Only a handful of blasphemy trials have taken place in the past 80 years, and several high-profile cases have been dropped, including one involving a caricature of the prophet Muhammad published in the Jyllands-Posten newspaper in 2005.

Denmark was the only Scandinavian country with a blasphemy law, which called for up to four months in prison upon conviction, although most people were fined instead.

Politicians who wanted to repeal the law introduced in 1683 “do not believe that there should be special rules protecting religions against expressions”, the Danish parliament said on its website. But remarks and acts that threaten or demean certain groups of people because of their religious beliefs will still be punishable.(guardian)…[+]

George Soros has accused the Hungarian president Viktor Orbán of building a “mafia state”, as he warned the fate of the Central European University he founded still hangs in the balance. The Hungarian-born financier and philanthropist said he was confident the university’s defence of its freedom would ultimately “bring the slow-moving wheels of justice into motion”, but said it and other organisations he had backed were still at risk under the Orbán-led government.

Hungary’s populist prime minister has introduced tough measures for the registration of foreign-registered universities that could force the closure of the CEU, one of the top academies in the region. Thousands of people protested in Budapest in April against a bill seen by many as targeting the university.

In a wide-ranging speech on European integration, where he recalled how his Jewish family fled the Nazi occupation of Hungary, Soros hit back at Orbán for casting him as a scheming “currency speculator” in an “unrelenting propaganda campaign”.(guardian)…[+]

Spain’s top anti-corruption prosecutor has resigned following weeks of pressure that culminated in an admission that he holds a stake in an offshore company in Panama. Manuel Moix stepped down “for personal reasons” on Thursday, shortly after it emerged that he has a quarter-share in a company in the Central American tax haven that was apparently set up as part of an inheritance from his parents. The public prosecutor, José Manuel Maza, told reporters that Moix had resigned even though there was no suggestion “of any irregular or illegal behaviour” on his part.However, Moix’s brief tenure has been dogged by controversy over his alleged attempts to interfere in corruption investigations involving the governing People’s party (PP).

The Spanish socialist party (PSOE), which had argued that Moix’s business affairs in Panama made him unfit to pursue corruption, said his resignation had come too late.The PSOE’s newly re-elected leader, Pedro Sánchez, said Moix had been forced out “by media pressure and public opinion”, adding that the decisions and actions of prime minister Mariano Rajoy, who leads the PP, were “seriously damaging the health of our democratic system”.(guardian)…[+]