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French senators will start debating President Emmanuel Macron’s contested pension plan on Thursday, as the centrist government hopes to find a compromise with the conservatives at the upper house of parliament to be able to push the bill through.

The Northern Irish question has caused endless headaches in Belfast, London and Brussels throughout the Brexit saga. Now analysts say the deal Prime Minister Rishi Sunak struck with the EU Commission this week offers genuine resolution of the problem. However, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP)’s backing will be needed to get the Northern Irish parliament functioning again – and, true to form, their support is elusive.

Finland edged closer to joining NATO Wednesday after its parliament approved its accession and Hungary’s ruling party said it would support the bid being ratified.

The plans could also see the introduction of a common, digital driving licence.

It’s a sinister heritage: tens of thousands of skulls and other human remains are stored in German museums and research institutes. Many were taken during the colonial era and researchers are now trying to source them in order to send them back to their countries of origin, mostly in Africa. Other European countries, such as Belgium and France, have similar collections. The French government is now planning to legislate on the issue later this year. Our Berlin and Brussels correspondents report.

The parliamentary Rugby World Cup will be held in Paris in September.

EU funds related to agriculture and cohesion programmes saw the largest share of expenditure fraud, the prosecutor said in its annual report.

More than 35 people were killed when two trains collided overnight near the Vale of Tempe. Greek Transport Minister Kostas Karamanlis resigned on Wednesday, saying it was his “duty” to step down out of “respect for the memory” of those who were killed. A stationmaster for the city of Larissa has been arrested, although the cause of the crash remains unknown.

Sixteen people were killed and at least 85 injured in a collision of two trains near the city of Larissa in Greece late on Tuesday, fire brigade spokesperson Vassilis Varthakogiannis said in a televised address early on Wednesday.