Europe

17 Feb 2021; MEMO: Russia and the United States are interested in constructive cooperation to promote the peace process in the Middle East, the Foreign Ministry in Moscow said on Monday.

This came after talks between the Ministry's Envoy for the Middle East, Vladimir Safronkov, and US Deputy Assistant Secretary for Israeli and Palestinian Affairs Hady Amr.

17 Feb 2021; MEMO: The International Criminal Court (ICC) has responded to Israel's allegations that it is biased and even anti-Semitic following the announcement that the court is to investigate possible war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories, Quds Press reported on Tuesday.

BRUSSELS, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- China became the main trade partner of the European Union (EU) in 2020, with exports and imports both increasing despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Eurostat said on Monday.

According to the EU's statistical service, the bloc's imports from China throughout the year 2020 grew by 5.6 percent year-on-year to 383.5 billion euros (465 billion U.S. dollars), and exports grew by 2.2 percent to 202.5 billion euros.

MOSCOW, February 16. /TASS/: Russia will not be able to release blogger Alexey Navalny, convicted over the Yves Rocher case under the so-called interim measures on the EU’s demand, because this would be a flagrant intervention in operation of judicial system of a sovereign state, Russian Ministry of Justice told TASS Tuesday.

SOCHI, February 16. /TASS/: The United States refused to participate in an international meeting on Syria in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi though it had been invited, Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentyev told reporters on Tuesday.

"We also sent an invitation to the conference to our American partners… but unfortunately, it was rejected. The Americans are occupied with domestic affairs and apparently, they haven’t determined their Syria policy yet," he pointed out.

MOSCOW, February 16. /TASS/: Russia recorded 13,233 coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, the lowest number since October 10, the anti-coronavirus crisis center said on Tuesday. The total case tally has reached 4,099,323.

According to data from the crisis center, the coronavirus growth rate stands at 0.32%.

The rate is the lowest in the Tuva Region (0.01%) and the Altai Region (0.03%).

MOSCOW, February 16. /TASS/: Russia’s Energia Space Rocket Corporation has come back to the idea of sending a manned mission to the Moon with the help of four Angara-A5V rocket launches, a source in the domestic space industry told TASS on Tuesday.

"As part of the research work, the Energia Space Rocket Corporation is now working on the option of sending a manned mission to the Moon with the help of a four-launch flight scheme," the source said.

MOSCOW, February 16. /TASS/: Russia seeks a solution to the most complicated issues in its relations with the West through dialogue, while the European Union and the United States keep talking about sanctions with maniacal persistency, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media on Wednesday, when asked for a comment about the possibility of new restrictions against Moscow.

LONDON, Feb 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Britain’s High Court dismissed Sierra Leone’s challenge of a 2020 International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) decision over claims by SL Mining after a dispute over its iron ore mining operations in the country.

The miner, a subsidiary of US commodity trader Gerald Group, filed for arbitration with the ICC in August 2019 and suspended its Marampa mine the following month.

Later that year, Sierra Leone cancelled the company’s mining licence, saying it had breached its contractual obligations. SL Mining denied the accusation.

BRUSSELS, Feb 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the alliance will not withdraw its troops from Afghanistan “before the time is right”, ahead of a discussion by defence ministers on the deployment.

The ministers of the 30 NATO member states will on Wednesday and Thursday hold their highest-level talks since United States President Joe Biden took office vowing to work closer with allies after four years of tensions under Donald Trump.