Europe correspondent Seamus Kearney

In France, it's been a rocky start for President Macron's newly-appointed prime minister, Elisabeth Borne. The start of the new government has been overshadowed by a storm over rape allegations against a new minister. And the French President and the German Chancellor have held a new phone call with Russia's Vladimir Putin, reportedly urging him to hold direct talks with the Ukrainian leader Zelensky. Meanwhile, Serbia's president, who is seen as Putin's closest ally in Europe, has struck a new three-year gas deal with Russia after a phone call with Putin.