Belgian prosecutors have begun the country's biggest-ever terrorism trial, accusing 46 men of being members of a terrorist organisation that indoctrinated young men to fight in Syria. Nine of those charged were present in court in Antwerp on Monday, including the alleged ringleader Fouad Belkacem. The others were allegedly still in Syria, with many possibly dead in the fighting there. Prosecutors said the accused belonged to Sharia4Belgium, a group disbanded two years ago, which prosecutors say was led by the 32-year-old Belkacem. The court heard that members approached young men and a few teenage women in Antwerp and Vilvoorde, north of Brussels, to invite them to their centre in Antwerp where they were indoctrinated and readied for their trip to Syria. ‘The clear aim was to prepare them for armed combat,’  Luc Festraets, a prosecutor, told the court.

Around 60 towns in the south of France have been officially declared natural disaster sites following severe flooding caused by torrential downpours, French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve announced on Tuesday. Flood waters inundated roads and highways, engulfing cars after the Lez river, which flows by the coastal city of Montpellier and burst its banks. More than 4,000 people across the rain-soaked region spent the night in emergency centres, schools, train stations or the airport, the local government said in a statement. According to the authorities, emergency workers were called out more than 1,200 times, backed by three helicopters. ‘We will put in place natural disaster measures for about 60 towns,’ Cazeneuve told local media, adding he would head to the flood-hit region later on Tuesday. Rains were expected to ease by Tuesday and meteorologists downgraded the maximum red alert to orange in the region.

Ukranian officials have said that government troops and pro-Russian rebels are withdrawing forces and artillery from frontline positions in eastern Ukraine in line with a peace agreement. Monday's withdrawal leaves a 30km buffer between the two sides as part of a nine-point memorandum signed on Saturday. The agreement came after a truce signed on September 5 was hampered by violations, leading to the deaths of 39 Ukrainian troops and civilians. However, reduced fire from pro-Russian rebels in recent days has allowed Ukranian forces to begin to pull back troops, said Anriy Lysenko, a Ukranian military spokeswoman. Although the withdrawal has begun, it is ‘not as large as expected’, added Lysenko. ‘We are seeing a trend that [the rebels] are reducing their use of heavy armed weaponry.’ Neither side has completed their withdrawal. The Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko, said that a continued Ukrainian offensive risked alienating support from the US and other Western governments.

The Belgian Justice Department has leads that jihadists from The Hague have plans to attack the office of the European Commission in Brussels.  In August, a man and a woman of Turkish origin were arrested at Brussels airport where they had returned from Turkey.  They had most probably been in Syria.  Apparently the Belgian Justice Department is searching for additional jihadists in the Netherlands.  All of these jihadists are Dutchmen of Turkish descent who are suspected of having connections to jihadist networks.

Traffickers are accused of ramming a boat carrying more than 500 migrants sailing from Egypt, causing it to sink in the Mediterranean off the coast of Malta, an inter-governmental agency reports. The account is based on reports from two survivors who were rescued and taken ashore in Sicily after spending a day and a half in the water clinging to flotation devices. The two Palestinian men, aged 27 and 33, were picked up by a Panamanian merchant ship. They told staff from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) that they had fled Gaza through Egypt and were requesting asylum. They said that the migrants were forced to change boats several times, but resisted moving to a boat that they did not think was safe or big enough to carry them. When they refused to cooperate, the traffickers, in a separate boat, reportedly rammed the boat the migrants were in, causing it to sink 300 miles southeast of Malta on September 10.

Ukraine's parliament has granted self-rule to parts of eastern regions held by pro-Russian rebels, as well as an amnesty for the fighters themselves. A senior Ukrainian rebel leader has told the BBC that a new law granting self-rule to parts of the east will not sway the demand for independence. Andrei Purgin said there were no plans to develop any political relationship, federal or otherwise, with Ukraine. But he said there were ‘positives’ in the move by MPs to grant self-rule and an amnesty to pro-Russian rebels. He said it could be used as the basis for dialogue but rebels would not give up on a desire for ‘the Russian world’. The new law, which affects Donetsk and Luhansk regions and is in line with the 5 September ceasefire, was condemned by some Ukrainian MPs as ‘capitulation’. The truce halted months of conflict between separatists and government forces. It has held despite sporadic fighting between the two sides over the past 12 days.

The UK is to offer France the security fences used at the NATO summit in Wales to help tackle migrants trying to get into the country illegally from Calais. James Brokenshire the Immigration Minister, said the 9ft-high steel barricade could ‘replace and enlarge inadequate fencing’ at the French port. Increasing numbers of migrants have flocked to Calais in recent months. Earlier this week scores of illegal migrants were able to get past security and tried to run up the main ramp of a ferry bound for the UK, but they were foiled when the crew raised the ramp and turned a fire hose on them.  Mr Brokenshire said: ‘We would like to establish secure parking areas where legitimate hauliers and travellers can wait without being hassled by would-be illegal immigrants.’ He added that the UK was ‘no soft touch’ when it comes to illegal immigration and highlighted the government's efforts to tackle the issue.

Six EU countries have joined a US-led coalition to ‘degrade and destroy’ the IS in Iraq and Syria. The ‘Core Group’ came together at the NATO summit in Wales last Thursday and Friday (5-6 September). On the EU side, it includes, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and the UK. The other members are Australia, Canada, Turkey, and the US. US president Barack Obama told the press: ‘We are going to degrade and ultimately destroy IS the same way we’ve gone after al-Qaeda, and the same way we’ve gone after its affiliates in Somalia’. It is considered a threat to EU countries because hundreds of European Muslims have joined it and might come home to carry out terrorist attacks. But Core Group leaders at the NATO event ruled out, sending ground troops, negotiating with IS on hostages; or forming an alliance with IS adversary, Syrian leader Bashar al,Assad.

Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko says he has agreed with Russian President Putin by phone on a ‘ceasefire process’ for the east. His office initially reported that a ‘permanent ceasefire’ had been agreed but later revised its statement. The earlier version of the statement on the Ukrainian presidential website read: ‘Their conversation resulted in agreement on a permanent ceasefire in the Donbass region [the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk].’ However, this has now been changed to: ‘Their conversation resulted in agreement on a process for ceasing fire in the Donbass region.’ The statement adds that the two presidents ‘reached a mutual understanding on steps leading to peace’. More than 2,600 civilians and combatants have been killed and more than a million people have fled their homes since fighting erupted in eastern Ukraine in April, when pro-Russian separatists there declared independence.

Several thousand people - many of them from different walks of life and faiths, but all organised by a group of Norwegian Muslims - rallied on Monday evening in Oslo against the Islamic State militant group, which has recently spread terror and committed atrocities in Iraq and Syria. The rally was also aimed at groups in Norway that have voiced support for IS. Co-organiser Yousuf Gilani said the protest was ‘an initiative of young, terrific Muslims’ and described the initiative as ‘historic’. ‘We do not accept terrorism in the name of religion,’ he said, adding that protesters rejected the Norwegian Islamist group Prophet‘s Ummah, which earlier this month expressed support for the Islamic State. Protesters gathered in the inner city area of Gronland - known for its diverse, multi-ethnic immigrant population - before marching to the parliament building. Faten Mahdi Al-Hussaini, 19, who had called for a rally against Islamic extremism, was the first speaker. ‘It is important that the Norwegian society can see the difference between ordinary Muslims and people who call themselves Muslims, but lack Muslim views,’ she said.  Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, the last speaker at the rally, said, ‘We are gathered against extremism, violence, and killings’.