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Scottish mum stuck abroad after baby falls foul of UK dual nationality rules

Sarah Schloegl was unable to board flight home from Spain as 11-month-old lacked documents needed under new rules

A British woman from Aberdeen has been stranded abroad after her 11-month-old baby was prevented from boarding a flight because of new rules regarding dual nationals.

Sarah Schloegl was unable to board a Ryanair flight from Alicante last week after she went to Spain for a short break with her Austrian husband, Philipp, their three-year-old daughter and 11-month-old baby.

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© Photograph: Schloegl family

© Photograph: Schloegl family

© Photograph: Schloegl family

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Trump tears up part of EU tariff deal to raise import duties on cars and lorries

US president says tariff on vehicles imported from EU will rise to 25% and accuses bloc of non-compliance

Donald Trump has said he is tearing up part of the tariff deal he struck with EU leaders at his golf course in Scotland last summer, criticising Brussels for taking so long to ratify the deal.

Blindsiding Brussels late on Friday, a public holiday in much of Europe, he announced that he would be increasing tariffs on cars and lorries imported into the US from the EU from 15% to 25% from next week.

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© Photograph: Krisztian Bocsi/Getty Images

© Photograph: Krisztian Bocsi/Getty Images

© Photograph: Krisztian Bocsi/Getty Images

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Iran war may cause food shortages in Africa, world’s largest fertiliser firm says

Yara CEO warns of global auction that would leave poorest countries scrambling for supplies they can ill afford

The Iran war could have “dramatic consequences”, causing food shortages and price rises in some of Africa’s poorest and most vulnerable communities, the head of the world’s largest fertiliser company has said.

Svein Tore Holsether, the chief executive of Yara International, said world leaders needed to guard against soaring prices and shortages of fertiliser causing a de facto global auction that would leave the poorest countries, particularly in Africa, scrambling for supplies they could ill afford.

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© Photograph: Julian Lott/Alamy

© Photograph: Julian Lott/Alamy

© Photograph: Julian Lott/Alamy

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EU farmers and hauliers to get up to €50,000 to cover extra costs of Iran war

Fishing companies can also access subsidies in loosening of state aid rules to cover fuel and fertiliser price rises

The EU is to subsidise up to 70% of the extra cost of fuel and fertilisers caused by the Iran war for farmers, fishing businesses and road hauliers as part of a package of emergency measures.

Individual companies can claim up to €50,000 each between now and the end of the year with minimum paperwork, a measure the EU hopes will remove what it sees as an existential threat to hauliers and farmers.

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© Photograph: Dpa Picture Alliance/Alamy

© Photograph: Dpa Picture Alliance/Alamy

© Photograph: Dpa Picture Alliance/Alamy

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EU faces ‘China shock’ as EV imports drive Beijing’s record surplus with bloc

China sold goods worth about $148bn to EU in first quarter of year, but imported just $65bn

The EU is experiencing a prolonged “China shock” as a flood of Chinese EVs into Europe helped push Beijing to a record surplus with the bloc.

New data showed China’s trade surplus – where its exports to the EU exceeded imports from the bloc – was $83bn (£61bn) in the first three months of 2026.

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© Photograph: BYD/PA

© Photograph: BYD/PA

© Photograph: BYD/PA

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Britain should seek to rejoin EU, says civil servant who led Brexit department

Philip Rycroft says promises on issues from economics to immigration have not lived up to expectations

Britain should start talking about rejoining the EU, according to a former senior civil servant who ran the Brexit department.

Philip Rycroft, who was permanent secretary of the Department for Exiting the EU, said the “argument was there to be won” about going back into Europe, adding that a “clear-headed appraisal of what is in the country’s best interests” was needed. However, he said rejoining the bloc could be a “long and windy” road.

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© Photograph: James Veysey/Shutterstock

© Photograph: James Veysey/Shutterstock

© Photograph: James Veysey/Shutterstock

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UK agriculture deal with EU will not remove all red tape, peers told

Lords told sales of Scottish shellfish among areas that may benefit – but agreement will not erase all paperwork

A new agriculture agreement with the EU will not wipe out all Brexit paperwork but might pave the way for sales of Scottish langoustines and oysters, the House of Lords has heard.

The UK and EU are close to finalising a sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement to reduce Brexit trade barriers, and while it will have “modest” impact on the UK economy the agreement will be significant, peers on the European affairs committee were told on Tuesday.

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© Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

© Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

© Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

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Electric car sales soar 51% in mainland Europe as Iran war drives up fuel prices

Data shows 224,000 new EVs were registered in March, with Norway leading way in terms of switching

Sales of electric cars soared 51% in continental Europe last month, amid a rise in petrol and diesel costs driven by the Iran war.

Data shows that 224,000 new electric vehicles (EVs) were registered in March, and 500,000 across the first three months of the year – a 33.5% increase on a year earlier, according to analysis of national sales data in 15 countries by New AutoMotive and E-Mobility Europe, a trade body.

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© Photograph: Thomas Lohnes/Getty Images

© Photograph: Thomas Lohnes/Getty Images

© Photograph: Thomas Lohnes/Getty Images

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More than half of Britons support rejoining EU 10 years on from Brexit vote

Experts say Labour’s ‘halfway house’ approach risks losing support from progressives and ‘red wall’ voters

Support for rejoining the EU rather than simply rejoining the single market is growing among British voters, with more than 80% of Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green party supporters favouring this option, according to research mapping voter attitudes 10 years after the Brexit referendum.

Labour’s “muted” approach to the issue means it risks losing support among progressive voters and in “red wall” constituencies, experts have said as part of research by Best for Britain.

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© Photograph: James Veysey/Shutterstock

© Photograph: James Veysey/Shutterstock

© Photograph: James Veysey/Shutterstock

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Home Office ‘red flag’ error leaves German mother separated from toddler in UK

Liza Tobay was told settled status had been ‘red flagged’ when she tried to fly home from Germany to Scotland

A German woman has been separated from her two-year-old daughter in Edinburgh after a Home Office mistake left her stranded in Dusseldorf earlier this week.

Liza Tobay, who has lived in the UK for 15 years, had taken her oldest child, a six-year-old boy, to visit his grandfather and some other relatives over Easter when confronted with what she said appeared to be “a serious administrative error”.

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© Photograph: Liza Tobay/Copyright: Liza Tobay family

© Photograph: Liza Tobay/Copyright: Liza Tobay family

© Photograph: Liza Tobay/Copyright: Liza Tobay family

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