The National:

GERMAN chancellor Angela Merkel has warned against nationalism in Europe as she and her French counterpart signed a pact renewing their countries’ friendship.

The new accord was inked in the ancient western German city of Aachen exactly 56 years after the 1963 Elysee Treaty, which set the tone for the two countries’ close ties after the Second World War.

“Populism and nationalism are strengthening in all of our countries,” Merkel said.

Citing Brexit and international protectionist tendencies, Merkel noted that international co-operation is going through a rocky period.

“Seventy-four years, a single human lifetime, after the end of World War II, what seems self-evident is being called into question again,” she said. “That’s why, first of all, there needs to be a new commitment toward our responsibility within the EU, a responsibility held by Germany and France.”

Emmanuel Macron noted the “growing anger” within European societies.

The National:

ELSEWHERE, Sudan’s embattled president has flown to Qatar as he faces protests sparked by economic woes but which have shifted to calling on him to resign.

President Omar al-Bashir will meet emirate ruler, Sheikh Tamim, to discuss bilateral relations and efforts to cement peace in Darfur, the western Sudanese region where security forces have brutally crushed a rebellion. Al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court for genocide in Darfur. His visit is widely interpreted as a bid to secure financial aid to Sudan, which lost three-quarters of its oil wealth when the south seceded in 2011.

The secession plunged Sudan into its worst economic conditions in decades. A recent attempt to raise the price of bread, which is subsidised by the states, sparked the latest bout of unrest.

The National:

MEANWHILE, the EU and African Union have committed to work closely with the Democratic Republic of Congo’s president-elect Felix Tshisekedi, backing off reservations about the disputed vote.

Speaking after EU-AU talks, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini urged Tshisekedi to “engage in a dialogue inside the country as well as abroad”. Rwandan foreign minister Richard Sezibera said the AU would work with DR Congo’s people “to continue to surmount the challenges that may remain”.

DR Congo’s Constitutional Court refused runner-up Martin Fayulu’s request for a recount and upheld Tshisekedi’s victory, despite leaked electoral commission data showing rival Martin Fayulu won.

AND finally, police in Russia have detained a drunken man who threatened the crew of a passenger plane flying from Siberian city Surgut to Moscow, forcing it to land shortly after take-off. The man is said to have told the Aeroflot crew he was armed and demanded the diversion of the plane after take off.

The plane landed 145 miles to the west, in Khanty-Mansiysk, and stood on the runway for more than an hour before law enforcement officials boarded. The airport was evacuated and the area cordoned off. Aeroflot said no one was hurt.

The investigators said the man has been identified as a Surgut resident who has a past conviction for property damage. He will now face charges of hijacking.