Theresa May has no plans to help liberalise abortion rights in Northern Ireland following the Irish referendum result, Downing Street has said, insisting any change can only be made by the region’s devolved assembly, which collapsed 16 months ago.

The prime minister has faced intense political pressure over the law in Northern Ireland, where abortion remains illegal except in exceptional circumstances, after voters in the Republic of Ireland strongly backed liberalisation. But while May indicated her support for the Irish referendum decision in a tweet over the weekend, she would risk alienating the Democratic Unionist party MPs who support her government and who back the existing law if she sought to move on the matter from Westminster.

Asked what might happen to Northern Ireland’s abortion laws, which do not make exceptions for conceptions by rape or incest and which allow for a maximum sentence of life in jail, May’s spokesman said it was a matter for the devolved Northern Ireland government. “The prime minister said on Sunday that the Irish referendum was an impressive show of democracy, which delivered a clear result, and she congratulated the Irish people on the decision,” he said. “But it’s important to recognise that the people of Northern Ireland are entitled to their own process, which is run by locally elected politicians.(theguardian)…[+]

A gunman has killed two police officers and a passerby before being shot dead in the centre of the Belgian city of Liège, public broadcaster RTBF has said. La Libre Belgique newspaper quoted a police source as saying the gunman shouted Allahu Akbar – “God is greatest” in Arabic – and had taken a woman hostage at some point in the attack.

The national anti-terrorist crisis centre, which interior minister Jan Jambon said was monitoring the situation, said terrorism could not be excluded as a motive though it was also looking into other possible reasons. “It is one of the questions on the table, but for the moment all scenarios are open,” a spokesman for the crisis centre said.

Two other police officers had been injured, Belga news agency said. A spokeswoman for the Liège public prosecutor’s office said two police officers had been shot dead and the gunman “neutralised” but could not confirm other details. Images on social media showed people scurrying for safety on Liège’s central Boulevard d’Avroy, with shots and sirens being heard in the background.(theguardian)…[+]

Italy risked careening into a new financial crisis amid a warning from the Bank of Italy that the country’s leaders could not “disregard” fiscal constraints and its treaties.

The remarks by Ignazio Visco, chairman of the Bank of Italy, who said the country was at risk of losing the “asset of trust”, came as markets were hit once more, with investors and senior politicians in Brussels growing more alarmed that the mood against the euro in Italy is strengthening. The yield on two-year bonds rose to 2.442%, the highest level in four years. The political crisis was set off late last week when the leaders of the country’s biggest populist parties – Luigi Di Maio of the the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) and Matteo Salvini of the far-right Lega – insisted that the Italian president, Sergio Mattarella, approve their choice of a finance minister, Paolo Savona, who is a fierce critic of the euro. Mattarella vetoed the nomination – a power that he is given in the Italian constitution – but faced an immediate backlash and the collapse of the incoming populist government before it even took power.(theguardian)…[+]