Germany

The prosecutors in the western city of Mainz said they had not found sufficient evidence to continue the inquiry against Jan Boehmermann.

In March, Boehmermann recited a satirical poem on TV which made sexual references to Mr Erdogan.

Mr Erdogan then filed a complaint alleging that he had been insulted.

In a statement on Tuesday, the prosecutors said that "criminal actions could not be proven with the necessary certainty".

The men - aged 17, 18 and 26 - were detained after a series of pre-dawn raids in the states of Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony on Tuesday.

Police are reported to have seized "extensive material".

But no concrete missions or orders had so far been found, the Federal Public Prosecutor's office said.

In a statement, it said investigations so far suggested the three had come to Germany in November 2015 with the intention of "carrying out a previously determined order [from IS] or to await further instructions".

Visa-free access to the EU is seen as a reward for Turkey's role in halting an influx of migrants into Europe.

But the move has been delayed because of a row over anti-terror legislation following Turkey's failed coup.

"It's up to Turkey whether there can be visa-travel or not," Mr Gabriel said.

He said Turkey was drastically distancing itself from Europe by "moving towards reintroducing the death penalty" which was a "flagrant contravention of the EU's charter of fundamental rights".

Antoine Griezmann, the tournament's top scorer, made the decisive contributions in each half to set up a final against Portugal at the Stade de France on Sunday.

Griezmann scored from the penalty spot right on half-time when Germany's Bastian Schweinsteiger was penalised for handball by Italian referee Nicola Rizzoli in an aerial challenge with Patrice Evra.

The Volkswagen emission cheating scandal that affects up to 11 million diesel cars globally has spurred investigations, lawsuits and a major leadership shakeup at the company since it was first discovered in September.

The China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation said in a three-sentence statement on its website that it has filed a public interest suit in a court in the eastern port city of Tianjin.

"We have to find out where they came from... and how they were financed," Francois Molins told reporters.

He said seven attackers had been killed, and that all had been heavily armed and wearing explosive belts.

Friday's attacks, claimed by Islamic State militants, hit a concert hall, a major stadium, restaurants and bars.

Mr Molins also said the arrests of three men in Belgium on Saturday were linked to the attacks.

The German football federation (DFB) says Podolski travelled with a swollen ankle from his club Galatasaray and was diagnosed upon arrival in Frankfurt with "a painful capsule irritation of the left upper ankle joint."

The DFB says Podolski left the German team's base Tuesday and was returning to his club for further treatment.

Coach Joachim Loew still has 22 players in his squad, though Bayer Leverkusen winger Karim Bellarabi was laboring with a shoulder problem.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke by phone Wednesday. The government said Merkel praised the "enormous Turkish efforts" to take care of nearly 2 million Syrian refugees in Turkey. It added that the two leaders agreed to increase cooperation on resolving the refugee crisis, with an emphasis on combatting traffickers.

Before dawn, they clambered off a fleet of Hungarian buses at the Austrian border to find a warm welcome from charity workers offering beds and hot tea. Within a few more hours of rapid-fire aid, many found themselves whisked by train to the Austrian capital, Vienna, and the southern German city of Munich.

This was reported on Monday by the official IRNA news agency.

Hassan Rouhani, who met visiting German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel, said he hopes Germany plays a "positive role" in improving relations between Iran and the EU, "as it played a positive role in nuclear talks."

Gabriel is heading a delegation of representatives from German companies, one of the first overt signs of a thaw following a deal with world powers over the Islamic Republic's nuclear program.