Diplomats handling Brexit talks for EU member states in Brussels were summoned to an urgent meeting by EU negotiators on Monday, diplomats and officials said, amid speculation about an interim deal ahead of a summit later this week.

“There could be a deal,” one senior EU diplomat said. Another however played down talk that good progress in negotiations with Britain over the weekend had reached the point of assuring London of a transition deal after Brexit.

Russia has announced the expulsion of 23 British diplomats amid tensions over the nerve agent attack on a former spy and his daughter in the UK.

The Russian foreign ministry said staff from the UK's Moscow embassy would be expelled within a week.

It also said it would close the British Council in Russia, which promotes cultural ties between the nations, and the British Consulate in St Petersburg.

UK police have launched a murder investigation after the death of Russian businessman Nikolai Glushkov in south-west London.

Mr Glushkov was found dead at his home in the New Malden area of London on 12 March.

Police say Mr Glushkov, whose family has been informed, died from "compression to the neck".

Russia Elections: Polls Expected To Usher In Putin's Fourth Term

Russians are heading to the polls to vote in a presidential election that is expected to usher in President Vladimir Putin's fourth term.

Seven other candidates are also running in Sunday's election, with the incumbent leading in the polls by a wide margin.

Due to the time difference, voting started in the Russian Far East regions of Chukotka and Kamchatka on Saturday at 20:00 GMT and will end today in Kaliningrad at 18:00 GMT.

Sweden's top diplomat said Friday that her country stands ready to assist the United States and North Korea in moving forward a historic dialogue between the two nations.

Briefing reporters between meetings with her North Korean counterpart, Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said that the "security situation (on) the Korean Peninsula is of interest to the whole world" and that the Swedish government "values this opportunity to arrange a meeting" between the traditional foes.

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho is in Stockholm for two days of talks with Wallstrom.

United Nations staff in Geneva have called a strike for Friday after winning backing from 90 percent of more than 1,000 employees who cast ballots, the staff council said. The rare move will shut down the Human Rights Council and other meetings held at the U.N. European headquarters in the Swiss city, it said on Thursday.