The Kremlin has said Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump may not issue a joint statement following what is set to be a “difficult” summit in Helsinki on Monday, suggesting that a conflict over Russian interference in the US election was tripping up the talks before they even began.

The newspaper Kommersant reported last week that Moscow had passed a draft statement to Washington, where officials demanded that it include a guarantee that Russian intelligence agencies’ meddling in the 2016 election would not be repeated.

On Friday, Mr Putin’s spokesman walked back expectations of a statement, saying a “joint communique is not a mandatory attribute of such meetings”.

The day before, he had admitted…

When a senior aide of Emmanuel Macron was filmed assaulting a young man and a woman on the fringe of a May Day protest in Paris, the president was visiting Australia.

Now accused of a cover-up, Mr Macron appears to have had no inkling that the beating would trigger the most damaging crisis of his presidency.

The approval rating of the president, who promised “a new morality in public life”, sank to a record low this week after the footage was published, instead of an anticipated bounce from France’s World Cup victory.

The Elysée said that the president was told of the assault in May but was not shown the footage, implying that he might not have been in a position to appreciate the seriousness of the incident.

Filmed and posted on social media by a bystander, the video shows Alexandre Benalla, who served as Mr Macron’s security chief, dragging a woman and trying to throw her to the ground, and dragging and hitting a young man.

Mr Benalla was only sacked and taken into police custody on Friday, two days after the scandal flared up when Le Monde newspaper published the video, and some 10 weeks after the assault.

Officials are now playing down Mr Macron’s role in deciding in May that a two-week suspension and a demotion were sufficient punishment for Mr Benalla.

The Elysée has briefed journalists that his suspension was ordered by Patrick Strzoda, the president’s ‘directeur de cabinet’, who runs his office. The move was approved by his superior, Alexis Kohler, the Elysée secretary-general, or chief of staff, one of Mr Macron’s most trusted aides.

Mr Strzoda, 66, was questioned by police as a witness on Friday. Le Parisien newspaper speculated that he could be “the ideal lightning rod to protect Mr Macron”, particularly as he is reportedly due to retire in October. According to the Elysée, however, there is currently “no question” of Mr Strzoda’s departure.

When the Elysée eventually sacked Mr Benalla, a spokesperson explained that “new facts” had emerged. Mr Benalla had allegedly colluded with police officers to remove CCTV footage of the assault. Three officers were suspended and were detained for questioning Saturday.

Mr Benalla, nicknamed “Mr Security,” faces possible charges of violence by a public official, impersonating a police officer, illegal use of police insignia, and complicity in illegally attempting to obtain surveillance video of the assault.

The mobile phone footage shows the 26-year-old former law student wearing a police helmet and insignia. He was accompanying police at the anti-government demonstration as an “observer”. Police are seen standing by without intervening.

Mr Benalla had been due to get married Saturday, but instead remained in custody while police searched his home. A bodyguard, Vincent Crase, who worked for Mr Macron’s party, was also in custody. Mr Benalla took charge of Mr Macron’s security during his election campaign last year and rose to a senior post in the president’s office.

Less than two weeks ago, he moved into a grace-and-favour apartment in a chic Paris building where President François Mitterrand once housed his mistress and illegitimate daughter at the state’s expense.

After his suspension, he was put in charge of organising events at the Elysée, including a presidential reception for the victorious football team last Monday.

A parliamentary committee investigating the scandal over the beating is to question Gérard Collomb, the interior minister, Monday. After a row over whether the committee hearings should take place in closed session, MPs from Mr Macron’s party yielded to opposition demands for them to be broadcast.

Laurent Wauquiez, leader of the conservative opposition party, The Republicans, said: “The real scandal isn’t Benalla, it’s the presidency. This is a disaster for the president’s authority. His word is discredited.”

Seven immigrant children who’d been separated from their families left a New York City social services centre Friday holding their mothers’ hands and carrying balloons, backpacks and stuffed animals.

A woman from Guatemala held her 5-year-old son in her arms, more than two months after they were separated. He and his 15-year-old brother have been staying with a New York foster family.

"I want to thank everyone who made this possible, because for me it seemed impossible at one point," said Rosayra Pablo-Cruz, speaking in Spanish. "When it’s in God’s plans, everything is possible."

They left the Cayuga Centre in East Harlem, which has a federal contract to place unaccompanied immigrant children in short-term foster care.

Yeni Gonzalez, another Guatemalan mother, was given custody of her three sons, ages 6, 9 and 11.

"I feel very happy," she said.

She thanked elected officials, her attorney, and volunteers who paid her bond through crowdfunding and drove her from the Eloy Detention Centre in Arizona to New York.

She had a message for mothers still in detention near the Mexican border: "Fight because with the help of all these people you will succeed, and the help of God."

Julie Schwietert Collazo was one of the people. She organized the caravan that brought Gonzalez to New York after her volunteer group paid $7,500 bond so Gonzalez could be released from detention. They raised a total of nearly $200,000 and so far have bonded six women out of the Arizona facility, with three more expected to be released.

Asked whether she had anything to say to President Donald Trump, Gonzalez shook her head, no.

On Friday, a Honduran mother also left Cayuga quietly with her two children – one carrying a big stuffed bear and smiling. 

Australia has barred foreign university students from interning in MPs’ offices following concerns about alleged Chinese espionage and interference in domestic affairs.

The internships are arranged by the Australian National University, which gives course credits to participating students. 

But foreign citizens have been barred from taking up the internships following complaints by some MPs about “behind-the-scenes access enjoyed by Chinese students”, according to a report in The Australian Financial Review.

Individual MPs will still be able to offer informal internships and work experience to foreign students.

Australia is one of the world’s most popular destinations for international students.

In April, there were more than 500,000 foreign students at Australian educational institutions, about 30 per cent of whom were from China.

But there have been growing concerns in Australia about alleged meddling by China in domestic politics and at university campuses. 

Malcolm Turnbull, Australia’s prime minister, recently passed tough measures to combat foreign interference, including  a ban on foreign political donations and a requirement that lobbyists from abroad register their interests. 

This followed Mr Turnbull’s expression of concerns about alleged Chinese interference after the resignation last year of an opposition MP who adopted a pro-China stance on tensions in the South China Sea after accepting donations from a wealthy Chinese businessman.

Australia has also been concerned about efforts by China to expand ties across the South Pacific. 

Mr Turnbull this week signed an agreement with the leaders of the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea to build an undersea cable between the three nations, a move designed to block Chinese firm Huawei from developing the project.

Australia and New Zealand are also reportedly planning to sign a new security pact with South Pacific island nations later this year.

This prompted a denunciation on Monday by China’s state-owned newspaper Global Times, which warned Australian and New Zealand to “avoid misleading the region on China’s role”.

The decision to restrict the parliamentary internships reportedly followed complaints by some MPs to the Speaker of Australia’s House of Representatives, Mr Tony Smith, and the President of the Senate, Mr Scott Ryan, about the possibility that Chinese students may exploit their access to MPs and ministers’ affairs.

Malcolm Davis, a defence analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, supported the move, saying foreign nationals should not be allowed behind-the-scenes access.

"Why should we allow foreign nationals to have access to sensitive material, potentially classified material in Parliament House?" he told The Australian Financial Review.

The university said it accepted international students into its internship programs but host institutions could advise of criteria, such as whether they accept non-Australians.

According to a report last week in the Australian media, the university’s computer system was last year infiltrated by Chinese hackers. 

Ivanka Trump is shutting down her fashion business, which has struggled after she moved to Washington to work full time for her father.

Abigail Klem, who took over as president of the brand last spring, informed its 18 employees on Tuesday that the company would be shutting down.

Ms Trump is set to address the staff later in the day, according to The Wall Street Journal.

She told the paper that she was uncertain whether she would return to the retail industry once she leaves Washington.

“After 17 months in Washington, I do not know when or if I will ever return to the business, but I do know that my focus for the foreseeable future will be the work I am doing here in Washington,” she said.

“So making this decision now is the only fair outcome for my team and partners.”

Ms Trump founded the brand in 2011, and saw a surge in sales during the 2016 election campaign.

In the year ended January 31, 2017, net sales of Ivanka Trump-licensed apparel rose 61 per cent, to $47.3 million, from the prior year.

When her father won the presidential election, and she decided to work with him in the White House, she had to step aside from operational duties at the company, and sales reportedly began to fall.

In February 2017 e-commerce site Lyst reported that transactions for the brand were up more than 700 per cent compared to February 2016.

But the volume of sales has steadily declined since then, with order growth dropping to 288 per cent in March, then to 114 per cent in May, and then to 6 per cent in July.

By August 2017, order volume was down negative one per cent compared to August of the previous year.

American retailer Nordstrom dropped Ms Trump’s line last year – leading Donald Trump to lash out at the company for treating his daughter “so unfairly.”

Kellyanne Conway, a senior adviser to Mr Trump, then told shoppers to “go buy Ivanka’s stuff” in a televised interview from the White House briefing room – comments which were widely criticised.

Nordstrom denied ending its sale of the brand due to Mr Trump’s policies, and insisted instead that sales had deteriorated to the point where “it didn’t make good business sense for us to continue with the line.”

Neiman Marcus Group and T.J. Maxx have also, in the last 18 months, scaled back or changed the way they display Ivanka Trump products.

It is still sold at Lord & Taylor,  Saks Off 5th, and at Bloomingdales, as well as online through Zappos and Amazon.

In recent months Ms Trump, growing frustrated at the restrictions placed on the company, had mulled over shutting the firm.

Ms Klem said she was “incredibly proud” of the brand.

“I know that this was a very difficult decision for Ivanka and I am very grateful for the opportunity to have led such a talented and committed team,” she said.