Britain on Wednesday demanded a new deal to oversee post-Brexit trade involving Northern Ireland and warned the EU that London would be justified in unilaterally deviating from a deal it struck with the bloc just last year, news wires reported.

The UK will pay France €62.7m to prevent migrants from crossing the English Channel, under a deal hammered out on Tuesday. The plan includes also doubling the number of French officers deployed along the coast and improving intelligence sharing, news wires reported.

Turkish Cypriot authorities announced on Tuesday a partial reopening of an abandoned town for potential resettlement, drawing a strong rebuke from rival Greek Cypriots and global powers as well, news wires reported.

The Commission adopted today a recommendation for a Council decision authorising the opening of negotiations for an EU-UK agreement on Gibraltar. The Commission also presented its proposal for negotiating guidelines. It is now for the Council to adopt this draft mandate.

With a pair of binoculars, a German police officer working for the EU border agency Frontex scans an empty field crossed by the Belarus-Lithuania border on the lookout for migrants, AFP reported. "I arrived on 1 July and the situation has been interesting from the start because it is very tense," said the guard. He has found 80 migrants on his first night patrol.

A meeting on Monday between Serbia and Kosovo that is part of the European Union-brokered negotiations aimed at resolving a long-lasting dispute that remains a source of tensions in the volatile Balkans produced no progress, AP reported. The negotiations were headed by the EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who urged Serbia President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo PM Albin Kurti before the meeting in Brussels to achieve a “comprehensive legally-binding agreement.”

The EU and Ukraine launched today a strategic partnership on raw materials, with the aim of achieving a closer integration of raw materials and batteries value chains, the EU press service reported. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed by VP Maroš Šefčovič and Ukraine PM Denys Shmyhal during the dedicated high level conference.

The European Union tried on Tuesday to reassure Bosnians of its readiness to admit their country one day, after an unofficial EU diplomatic note raised doubts about Brussels' commitment, Reuters reported. That note, circulated among EU officials in April, proposed redrawing borders along ethnic lines in the Western Balkans in an attempt to unblock stalled reforms in the region. It caused anxiety in Bosnia, which aspires to join both the EU and NATO.

The EU Foreign Affairs Council on Monday announced the launch of a military mission to train Mozambican forces trying to stabilize the restive, gas-rich Cabo Delgado province. EU personnel should share expertise on counter-terrorism and civilian protection efforts. The mission is to "train selected Mozambican units to help armed forces in their efforts to bring back safety and security," top EU diplomat Josep Borrell said after the foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels.

EU announced it expected UK to fulfill its obligation to pay a total of 47.5 billion euros to the Union as part of its settlement over Brexit. EU consolidated budget for 2020 noted that the money was due under a series of articles which both sides agreed to as part of the Brexit withdrawal accord, Reuters elaborated.