Europe

MOSCOW, September 16. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a telegram to Yoshihido Suge, congratulating him with being elected as the new Prime Minister of Japan, Kremlin announced Wednesday.

"I would like to reiterate our readiness for a constructive interaction on pressing issues of bilateral and international agenda," the Russian leader said. "This, undoubtedly, would comply with the interests of people of Russia and Japan, and facilitate strengthening of stability and security in the Asian-Pacific region and the world in general."

MADRID, Sept 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The coronavirus crisis cost the global tourism sector $460 billion in lost revenue during the first six months of 2020 as the number of people travelling plunged, the UN said Tuesday.

Revenue lost between January and June amounted to “around five times the loss in international tourism receipts recorded in 2009 amid the global economic and financial crisis,” the Madrid-based World Tourism Organization said in a statement.

LONDON (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc’s main UK subsidiary, Amazon UK Services Ltd., paid just 6.3 million pounds ($8 million) in corporation tax in 2019 despite the group reporting over $17.5 billion in sales in Britain, accounts published on Wednesday show.

Amazon said the low figure reflected the underlying condition of its UK business.

“Corporation tax is based on profits, not revenues, and our profits have remained low given retail is a highly-competitive, low margin business and we continue to invest heavily,” the company said in a statement.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The EU’s chief executive chided European Union governments on Wednesday for an ineffective foreign policy and proposed U.S.-style sanctions on human rights abusers around the world.

Once able to boast of a soft power that helped transform communist neighbours into market economies, the EU increasingly finds itself unable to agree common positions to influence international diplomacy on issues ranging from Venezuela to Mali.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s minister for Northern Ireland said on Wednesday he was optimistic the government could find a way through its latest standoff with Brussels by using the joint committee set up to tackle issues with the divorce agreement.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government has introduced an Internal Market Bill which it says is needed in case the European Union makes a “material breach” of the divorce agreement. The EU has said Britain’s bill could collapse trade talks and must be scrapped.

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government sees a ‘way through’ the parliamentary maze for his bill that would break the Brexit divorce treaty as it talks with rebels in the Conservative Party, a minister said on Wednesday.

Johnson’s Internal Market Bill, which the EU has demanded he scrap by the end of September, is currently being debated in parliament, though he is facing a rebellion by some members of his Conservative Party.

London, Sep 15 (PTI) UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's controversial bill that aims to override parts of the Brexit divorce agreement struck with the European Union (EU) cleared its first parliamentary hurdle by winning the first House of Commons vote by 340 to 263 votes.

The Internal Market Bill, which has faced strong criticism from the Opposition parties and senior members of Johnson's own Conservative Party, is set for rebellions as it progresses through further stages in its parliamentary process despite Johnson's 80-seat majority in the Commons.

BRUSSELS, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Josep Borrell, the European Union (EU) high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, warned on Tuesday that EU's relations with Turkey were at a watershed moment in history.

At a European Parliament plenary, Borrell called for urgent and collective engagement to deal with the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The dispute over Turkish natural gas explorations off Greek islands in the Eastern Mediterranean has escalated in recent weeks.

ATHENS, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Security and stability in the Eastern Mediterranean is an issue that does not concern only Greece and Cyprus, but the European Union (EU) as a whole, European Council President Charles Michel said on Tuesday during joint statements with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis after their meeting in Athens.

GENEVA (AP) — A World Trade Organization panel ruled Tuesday that Trump administration tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods are illegal, vindicating Beijing even if the United States has all but incapacitated the WTO’s ability to hand down a final, binding verdict.

The decision marks the first time that the Geneva-based trade body has ruled against a series of high-profile tariffs that President Donald Trump’s government has imposed on a number of countries — allies and rivals alike. Trump has repeatedly claimed that the WTO treats the U.S. unfairly.