Europe

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU countries must take urgent action to diversify their 5G suppliers, the European Commission said on Friday, amid U.S. pressure on the bloc to follow Britain and ban China’s Huawei [HWT.UL] from 5G networks.

In November last year, the EU agreed to take a tough line on 5G suppliers to reduce cybersecurity risks to next-generation mobile networks, seen as key to boosting economic growth and competitiveness.

LONDON (Reuters) - The British parliament’s Treasury Committee said on Friday it had approved the appointment of Nikhil Rathi, a senior executive at the London Stock Exchange, to head the Financial Conduct Authority regulator from October.

Rathi, a former finance ministry official, told legislators on Wednesday that he wanted to focus on keeping high regulatory standards rather than prioritising competitiveness now Britain was no longer bound by European Union rules.

LAMPEDUSA, Italy (Reuters) - About 100 migrants who crossed the Mediterranean in small boats landed on the southern island of Lampedusa during the night, the latest in a wave of arrivals straining an already overcrowded holding centre.

Officials said the migrants, arriving from Libya, were either rescued at sea or managed to avoid detection and reach the island.

The arrivals of small boats, some carrying as few as eight people, brought to nearly 1,000 the number of migrants who have reached the island from Libya in the last three days.

ZAGREB, July 24 (Xinhua) -- The Croatian parliament, officially constituted on Wednesday, approved a new government led by incumbent Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Thursday.

In the parliamentary elections held on July 5, the center-right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) led by Plenkovic won 66 out of the total of 151 seats in the parliament.

The HDZ formed the new coalition government with the support from two liberal parties and the representatives of the national minorities.

BRUSSELS, July 23 (Xinhua) -- The European Union's (EU) chief negotiator for relations with the United Kingdom (UK), Michel Barnier, said Thursday that the UK's approach was making a post-Brexit trade deal "unlikely" as the sixth round of talks ended with little progress.

Barnier told a news conference in London that the UK was refusing to move on its red lines and was not showing "the same level of engagement and readiness to find a solution" as the EU.

LONDON (AP) — Allegations that President Donald Trump’s envoy to Britain made inappropriate remarks about women and minorities and may have violated federal ethics rules are roiling the U.S. Embassy in London.

Current and former U.S. officials say the charges against U.S. Ambassador to the Court of Saint James’s Robert “Woody” Johnson surfaced during a routine inspection of operations at the embassy and are to be addressed in a report by the State Department’s inspector general.

MOSCOW, July 23. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent greetings to participants in an event dubbed The United Russia - Communist Party of China Dialogue. The president’s message has been published on the Kremlin’s website.

MOSCOW, July 23. /TASS/: Reports alleging that some Russian business people and politicians were inoculated against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus this spring are a myth, Russian Federation Council (upper house of parliament) Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said on Thursday.

MOSCOW, July 23. /TASS/: Two Tupolev Tu-22M3 bombers carried out an air patrol over the Black Sea, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Thursday.

"Two Tu-22M3 long-range bombers of the Aerospace Force carried out a scheduled flight in the airspace over the neutral waters of the Black Sea," the ministry said in a statement.

At some sections of the route, "the long-range aircraft were escorted by Romanian Air Force MiG-21 planes," the statement says.

MOSCOW, July 23. /TASS/: The Severodvinsk-based Zvyozdochka Ship Repair Plant (part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation) has prepared five warships, submarines and boats of Russia’s Northern Fleet for their participation in the Main Naval Parade in St. Petersburg and Kronshtadt on July 26, the Shipyard’s press office reported on Thursday.