FRANCE24 - Supreme Court judges have ruled against allowing ousted Catalan Vice President Oriol Junqueras out of jail while he is investigated for rebellion and other charges stemming from the restive region’s recent drive for independence from Spain.

In the decision, the Spanish judges said there was a risk that Junqueras might again commit crimes as there was no sign he intended changing his ways.

AFP - Lionel Messi has ensured he could become a free agent if Barcelona no longer plays in a major European league as a result of Catalan independence, Spanish media wrote on Friday.

AFP - Spain's Supreme Court on Friday decided not to release former Catalan vice president Oriol Junqueras, jailed while he is investigated for rebellion and sedition over the region's independence drive.

FRANCE24 - Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan travels to Paris on Friday for talks with France’s Emmanuel Macron aimed at improving relations with Europe, after a war of words in 2017.
The lunch and talks at the Elysee Palace are expected to take in Syria and EU-Turkey relations, but Macron is also expected to voice concern over Erdogan’s post-coup purges.

FRANCE24 - Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan travels to Paris on Friday for talks with France’s Emmanuel Macron aimed at improving relations with Europe, after a war of words in 2017.
The lunch and talks at the Elysee Palace are expected to take in Syria and EU-Turkey relations, but Macron is also expected to voice concern over Erdogan’s post-coup purges.

BBC - A hot air balloon carrying tourists has crashed near the Egyptian city of Luxor, with one person killed and several injured, officials say.

About 20 people were on board when the accident occurred on Friday. The tourist who died was South African.

Reuters - North Korea agreed on Friday to hold official talks with the South next week, the first in more than two years, hours after the United States and South Korea delayed a military exercise amid a standoff over the North’s nuclear and missile programmes.

APRNEWS - Andy Murray needed only a couple of days in Australia to realize the hip problem that has kept him out of competitive tennis since Wimbledon was not going to improve in time for the season’s first major.

Murray, a five-time finalist at the event, withdrew from the Australian Open on Thursday, two days after pulling out of a tuneup event in Brisbane before his first match.

Reuters - Former world number one Maria Sharapova cruised past Kazakhstan’s Zarina Diyas and into the semi-finals of the Shenzhen Open in China on Thursday.

AFP - US President Donald Trump said overnight that high-level talks set for next week between North and South Korea are “a good thing,” while also seemingly taking credit for them.