Theresa May has been told by European leaders that an attempt to protect the UK’s industrial base by gaining single market access for goods alone after Brexit is a nonstarter, as the Irish prime minister warned: “We are not going to let them destroy the European Union.”

After being given a “broad brush approach” presentation at a Brussels summit of May’s long-awaited paper, yet to be signed off by her warring British cabinet, the taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, told her that unless the final document presented a departure from the UK government’s thinking over the last two years, it would be dead on arrival. The British government is continuing to push the idea of keeping frictionless trade on goods, claiming that it would be a good deal for Europe, given the large trade surplus it enjoys.(theguardian)…[+]

National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden has delivered his most trenchant criticism yet of the Russian government, describing it unequivocally as “corrupt”. His comments mean the proposed US-Russia summit in Helsinki on 16 July is potentially risky for him if Donald Trump was to request Vladimir Putin to hand him over. Snowden is wanted in the US on three charges under the Espionage Act, carrying a minimum of 30 years in jail. Putin could balance the propaganda value of having Snowden in Russia against providing Trump with an easy gift.

In an interview with the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung Snowden, who has lived in Russia since 2013, said: “The Russian government is corrupt in many ways, that’s something the Russian people realise. Russian people are warm. They are clever. It’s a beautiful country. Their government is the problem not the people.” Snowden faced criticism in the first couple of years after he arrived in Russia of not criticising the Putin government but he has gradually become more outspoken, including in his defence of journalists.(theguardian)…[+]

The alleged gunman who killed five people at a Maryland newspaper was investigated in May 2013 after threats were made against the paper, police said on Friday. Timothy Altomare, chief of Anne Arundel county police, said Jarrod Ramos was looked into over “online threatening comments” directed at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, but the newspaper management decided not to pursue criminal charges.

“There was a fear that doing so would exacerbate an already flammable situation,” Altomare said at a press conference. Ramos, 38, appeared by video at a county district court accused of murdering five people at the newspaper as part of a years-long feud that began when it reported on his harassment of a woman. He was held without bail.

Wes Adams, the county prosecutor, told the court Ramos barricaded a back entrance to the newspaper’s office before entering through the front door and shooting people as they tried to flee through the barricaded door.Speaking outside the court, Adams said this was “evidence that suggested a coordinated attack”. Police said evidence of planning for the shooting was found at Ramos’s apartment in the city of Laurel, about 25 miles from the newspaper office.(theguardian)…[+]