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Evidence of far-right extremism within the German armed forces is growing following the arrest Friday of four students at a military university in Munich. Police are trying to establish whether they have links to another soldier accused of plotting to frame refugees in a terror attack. As Henry Ridgwell reports, the allegations remain sensitive in a country where the 20th century Nazi history casts a long shadow. …

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During President Donald Trump’s first overseas trip, he will meet in Brussels with the other leaders of NATO member states. Some of them are nervous about the president’s commitment to the defense alliance in which the United States has played a central role since NATO’s formation at the start of the Cold War. VOA White House Bureau Chief Correspondent Steve Herman reports. …

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The U.S. State Department said a clash in Washington this week in which Turkish security personnel apparently attacked demonstrators was “deeply disturbing.” A State Department statement Friday promised a “thorough investigation’’ to hold those responsible accountable. Tom Shannon, the acting deputy secretary of state, met Wednesday with Turkish Ambassador Serdar Kilic to discuss the altercation. “The State Department has raised its concerns about these events at the highest levels,” the statement said. Watch: Turkish President Erdogan Watched Violent Clash Near Embassy The clash broke out Tuesday between Turkish security personnel and protesters outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence during Turkish President …

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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says he cannot “forgive or forget” what Sweden has put him through, following an announcement by Swedish prosecutors that they have dropped their rape case against him. Assange has been living at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London since 2012 under virtual house arrest to avoid being detained in connection with the Swedish rape investigation, which began seven years ago. He said he has suffered a “terrible injustice,” without ever being charged with a crime. Despite Friday’s announcement in Sweden, the Australian-born former journalist and computer programmer remains at the Ecuadorean Embassy. British police say they will …

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French President Emmanuel Macron made his first official trip outside Europe on Friday, visiting French troops stationed in Mali and pledging to be uncompromising in the fight against Islamist terrorism. Macron said at a joint news conference in Gao with Malian counterpart Ibrahim Boubacar Keita that terrorists in West Africa were “clearly a risk for Europe.” He vowed that French troops would remain in Mali until the extremists were eliminated. He also praised an “exemplary” relationship with the United States on counterterror efforts in Africa’s Sahel region. Without it, “we would not be able to operate in the area,” he …

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A group of top French officials and ministers from President Francois Hollande’s outgoing government drafted an emergency plan to manage the consequences of a win by Marine Le Pen in the recent presidential election and to weaken her, if she were elected, according to French media. The secret plan, which was seen as a bid to protect France’s Fifth Republic and to keep public order by the officials who drew it up, included delaying the handover of power from Hollande to Le Pen and keeping the outgoing president as head of state until after next month’s parliamentary elections. That way, …

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Swedish prosecutors have dropped their investigation into a rape allegation against Julian Assange, almost seven years after it began and five years after the WikiLeaks founder sought refuge inside Ecuador’s London embassy.   Assange’s Swedish lawyer Per E. Samuelson declared Friday that “this is a total victory for Julian Assange. He is now free to leave the embassy when he wants.”   But the picture is more complicated than that.   Has Assange been exonerated?         No. The investigation began after two women accused Assange of sexual offenses during a 2010 visit to Stockholm. Sweden asked Britain to …

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Donald Trump begins his maiden international trip as U.S. president Friday, leaving the White House awash in a slew of controversies that has some politicians invoking comparisons to the Watergate scandal that brought down the presidency of Richard Nixon. “We look forward to getting this whole situation behind us,” Donald Trump told reporters Thursday. The controversies include the firing of former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey amid allegations Trump wanted Comey to stop investigating former national security adviser Michael Flynn. The president is also facing questions about his ties with Russia during the presidential election and allegations he …

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Emerging from her crushing defeat in France’s presidential contest, far-right leader Marine Le Pen said Thursday she will run for a parliamentary seat in June elections and that her National Front party has “an essential role” in a new political landscape. Le Pen will run for a seat in a district in her northern stronghold of Henin-Beaumont, a hardscrabble former mining region where she lost a similar bid in 2012. A new failure could jinx her bid to unite the National Front and to make it France’s leading opposition party. “I cannot imagine not being at the head of my …

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After years of stagnation and high unemployment, the eurozone countries appear to be bouncing back with growth in the shared currency bloc, soaring higher than in the United States and Britain. The eurozone grew at an annual rate of 1.7 percent during the first three months of 2017, while the bloc’s trade surplus doubled in March from the previous month. Unemployment is falling, albeit still stubbornly high at 9.6 percent. “For a change, Europe is leading this upswing. It’s partly because of the connection between Europe and China, demand from China. But at the same time, we have also some …

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