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Library picture: Donald Trump speaks to press at the White House on 16 April 2018. Image credit: Official White House Photo/Joyce N. Boghosian via Flickr 

Trump on migrant children policy

“The United States will not be a migrant camp and it will not be a refugee holding facility,” said Donald Trump, according to the Guardian. He was speaking at the White House about his controversial policy of separating children from their parents who have been charged with illegal migration at the US border. Trump also said: “You look at what’s happening in Europe... you look at what’s happening in other places... we can’t allow that to happen to the United States. Not on my watch.”

Trade talks Down Under

Australia and the EU have started negotiating a new trade deal, as reported by DW. Canberra hopes the revised accord will open the European market to its cheese, meat and wine producers. Talks could conclude in July.

EU to boost military research & development

The European Commission proposed starting a €13bn European Defence Fund for military R&D, as reported by Science magazine. Federica Mogherini, the European foreign policy chief, told a news conference last week: “Both Europeans and our partners in the world expect the EU to be more and more a security provider, in our region and beyond.” The plan needs to be approved by the European Parliament and member state governments.

Kaspersky Labs stops working with EU police agency

The Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Labs has frozen its work with Europol after a European Parliament report called the company, by name, “malicious”. The story from New York magazine’s Select All blog.

Tax increase may fund NHS budget increase

Theresa May, the British prime minister, has given Philip Hammond, the chancellor, authority to break their Conservative party election pledge not to raise taxes, according to the Financial Times. That’s to pay for the £20.5bn increase to the National Health Service budget that May announced over the weekend. She had told the BBC that the extra money would, at least partially, come from a “Brexit dividend”. Sky News cast doubt on her figures.

UK transition from coal

Britain plans to stop burning coal for electricity by 2025. PRI looked at the cultural and economic shifts that led to England, “a country built on coal”, taking the decision.

Train strike in Belgium

Belgian train staff plan to hold a 24-hour strike on Wednesday 27 June. Unions, protesting a proposed personnel reorganisation plan, had planned 12 days of industrial action in June and July, but management rejected the other strike dates for procedural reasons. Details from The Bulletin and Brussels Times in English and L’Echo and Le Soir in French. French railway workers have been holding rolling strikes since April; that action is expected to finish at the end of this month.

Today’s Breakfast Briefing was written by @aarongrunwald.