
‘Massive step forward' for post-Brexit youth visa scheme
The European Union has given approval to begin detailed discussions with the UK regarding post- Brexit youth visas.
Campaigners have hailed this decision as a "massive step forward" for young people in the UK, aiming to restore opportunities lost after Brexit.
The proposed scheme would allow 18 to 30-year-olds from the UK to work in EU countries and young EU citizens to work in the UK for short periods.
Conditions for the youth visa scheme include no access to benefits, no accompanying family members, and payment of an immigration health surcharge.
This development follows a recent poll indicating that a majority of Britons now desire the UK to rejoin the European Union.

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Sky News
30 minutes ago
- Sky News
Sir Keir Starmer tries to contain rebellion among Labour MPs over welfare reforms
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Times
33 minutes ago
- Times
Florian Wirtz: Liverpool sign Bayer Leverkusen star on five-year deal
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'So it was not easy for me to decide, but the talks with the coach [Arne Slot] and Richard [Hughes, sporting director] and everybody were, from the very first time, so good and it just kept going like this. 'Every time I spoke to one of the [people from] the club I felt like, 'This is the place I want to be,' and so in the end I was really 100 per cent convinced I want to join Liverpool and it was the best choice. 'I can remember the first time, he [Slot] already showed me some scenes of how we want to play and how I could fit in the team. He was just telling me that I'm a player he really wants to have in his team and can bring the team a step forward. I just could imagine it [being] good to be in the team and to make it better because I have to make my performances every week — but I'm here for this. 'I was the first one in my family who was really into this club when they spoke to us or told us that they are interested in signing me. For sure, I didn't expect that Liverpool will be my next club but my family was supporting me and I didn't have to convince them about the club or something. 'I'm not coming [to] have fun here. I want to achieve something and give the fans what they deserve. Last season they won the Premier League so my goal is, for sure, to win it again and also to go further in the Champions League. I'm really ambitious.' Wirtz referenced the defeat Leverkusen endured last season and said he had watched both the title celebrations against Crystal Palace and the end-of-season parade and had been wowed by the joyous scenes. He had flown into Manchester airport on Thursday before beginning a medical that he completed on Friday. Wirtz will return for pre-season training on July 8. 'It was really tough to play here,' Wirtz continued, during an interview with Liverpool's website. 'I was still thinking about the game when I spoke to the coach or the other guys. It was an example [of] how it can be here. We lost 4-0 and we had to run so much and lost almost every duel. I just wanted to be part of this team. 'Inside me, I was feeling this quality of the team and also the size of the club. Inside me, I was always thinking about this game. I could remember how it was playing here.' Should the bonuses be triggered, the Wirtz transfer would outstrip the present British record of £115million, paid by Chelsea to Brighton & Hove Albion for Moisés Caicedo in 2023. Liverpool will look to finalise Kerkez's transfer next week and have already spent £29.5million on signing Jeremie Frimpong, who was Wirtz's team-mate at Leverkusen and taught him to speak English. A similar fee has been paid for the Valencia goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili and £1.5million has been spent on another goalkeeper, Armin Pecsi of Puskas Akademia. 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The Guardian
35 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Iran says diplomacy with US only possible if Israeli aggression stops
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But he said Iran was 'seriously concerned over the failure of the three countries to condemn Israel's act of aggression' and would continue to exercise its right to 'legitimite defence'. He also said Iran's capabilities, including its missile capabilities, are non-negotiable, and could not form part of the talks, a rebuff to the French president, Emmanuel Macron, who in an earlier statement said they should be included in the talks. With Israeli diplomats and military commanders warning of a 'prolonged war,' the route to direct talks between the US and Iran remains blocked, leaving the European countries as intermediaries. After Friday's talks between Araghchi and his British, French, German counterparts, the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, said: 'This is a perilous moment, and it is hugely important that we don't see regional escalation of this conflict.' 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Late on Friday, Trump suggested that European efforts would not be enough to bring any resolution, telling reporters: 'Iran doesn't want to speak to Europe. They want to speak to us. Europe is not going to be able to help in this.' The European ministers said they had expressed their longstanding concerns about Iran's expansion of its nuclear programme 'which has no credible civilian purpose and is in violation of almost all provisions in the nuclear deal agreed in 2015'. The EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said: 'Today the regional escalation benefits no one. We must keep the discussions open.' Earlier on Friday, Macron said that the European offer to end Israel's war would include an Iranian move to zero uranium enrichment, restrictions on its ballistic missile programme and an end to Tehran's funding of terrorist groups. The proposals were surprisingly broad, spanning a range of complex issues beyond Iran's disputed nuclear programme, and appeared likely to complicate any solution unless an interim agreement can be agreed. One proposal recently aired is for Iran to suspend uranium enrichment for the duration of Donald Trump's US presidency. The concept of uranium enrichment being overseen by a consortium of Middle East countries – including Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – remains on the table. Macron, already accused by Trump of publicity-seeking this week, set out a daunting agenda. 'It's absolutely essential to prioritise a return to substantial negotiations, including nuclear negotiations to move towards zero [uranium] enrichment, ballistic negotiations to limit Iran's activities and capabilities, and the financing of all terrorist groups and destabilisation of the region that Iran has been carrying out for several years,' he said. In the previous five rounds of talks, the US insisted that Iran end its entire domestic uranium enrichment programme, but said it would allow Iran to retain a civil nuclear programme, including by importing enriched uranium from a multinational consortium. Iran claims that as a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, it has an absolute legal right to enrich uranium, a position neither the European or American powers have ever endorsed. In the past, European negotiators have proved more adept than their US partners in finding compromises, including the temporary suspension of domestic enrichment, a principle Tehran reluctantly endorsed in 2003-4.