Europe

17 Sep 2020; MEMO: Four ex-directors of a Shia Muslim centre in France have been arrested over concerns they continued to run the organisation despite it being disbanded by authorities in March last year, Agence France Presse (AFP) reports.

17 Sep 2020; MEMO: Britain’s largest trade union, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) , has passed a motion identifying Israel as a state practicing apartheid and called for the continued support of the Palestinian people.

London, Sep 17 (PTI) A 23-year-old Indian-origin man who stopped a police officer in the street and made comments implicating himself in an attack on his estranged partner has been sentenced to life imprisonment for her brutal murder by a UK court.

Jigukumar Sorthi was sentenced to serve a minimum of 28 years behind bars before being considered for parole after he was found guilty of the murder of 21-year-old Bhavini Pravin, who was found stabbed at her home in the city of Leicester in March.

MOSCOW, September 17. /TASS/: The Palestinian problem remains acute despite normalizing ties between Israel and a number of Arab states, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

"Taking into account the ongoing progress in the process of normalizing relations between Israel and a number of Arab countries, we state that the Palestinian problem remains acute. It would be wrong to think that without its settlement it will be possible to achieve reliable stabilization of the Middle Eastern region," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

MOSCOW, September 17. /TASS/: The Northern Fleet will get 179 weapon systems this year, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Thursday.

"This year the fleet will receive 179 pieces of weapons," Shoigu said at the Defense Ministry’s board meeting. He recalled that the Northern Fleet had already been reinforced by the ballistic missile cruiser Knyaz Vladimir (of the project Borei), frigate The Admiral Kasatonov, fuel tanker The Akademik Pashin and hydrographic vessel The Nikolai Skosyrev.

MOSCOW, September 17. /TASS/: Russian MiG-31 fighter jet intercepted two US B-1B strategic bombers over the Bering Sea and escorted the planes until they turned away from the Russian border, the National Defense Control Center told journalists Thursday.

According to the military, on September 17, Russian radars detected two airborne targets, approaching the Russian border, over the neutral waters of the Bering Sea.

MINSK, September 17. /TASS/: Servicemen participating in the "Slavic Brotherhood 2020" military drills near Belarus’s Brest performed a number of firing tasks during the initial stage of the exercise, Belarusian Defense Ministry announced Thursday.

"The airborne troops of both countries crossed a water obstacle and performed a number of firing tasks using D-30 howitzers, guided anti-tank missiles and mortars. Russian Guardsmen supported their Belarusian colleagues with 2S-9 Nona-S 120mm self-propelled artillery," the ministry disclosed.

BRUSSELS, September 17. / TASS /: The European Court of Justice has rejected an appeal by Rosneft, which challenged the legality of imposing EU sanctions against the company in connection with the situation in Ukraine, according to the court ruling published on Thursday.

"The European Court of Justice rejected in full the appeal [of Rosneft to the EU Council] against the court decision of September 13, 2018," the decision reads.

GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organization’s top emergency expert, asked on Thursday about contradictory remarks by President Donald Trump and U.S. health officials on COVID-19, said it was important for all countries to have “consistent messaging” for their public.

Trump took exception on Wednesday to comments from the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Robert Redfield, who said a vaccine could be broadly rolled out in mid-2021 and masks might be more effective.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union’s Brexit negotiator told the bloc’s 27 national envoys to Brussels that he still hoped a trade deal with Britain was possible, stressing that the coming days would be decisive, diplomatic sources with the bloc told Reuters.

Michel Barnier addressed the gathering on Wednesday and the three sources either participated in the discussion behind closed doors or were briefed on its content.

“Barnier still believes a deal is possible though the next days are key,” said one of the EU diplomatic sources.