Europe

ATHENS (Reuters) - Police on the Greek island of Lesbos fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of people protesting on Wednesday against the creation of a new close detention center for migrants, the latest outburst of unrest over the matter.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis indicated on Wednesday he would not be visiting Iraq this year as he had hoped to do.

His improvised comments to a group of visiting Iraqis during his general audience in St. Peter’s Square were his clearest yet that the potentially dangerous trip had been indefinitely postponed.

“To you citizens of Iraq, I say I am very close to you. You are (in) a battleground. You suffer war, from one side and the other,” he said. “I pray for you and I pray for your country, where a visit by me had been programmed for this year.”

GENEVA (Reuters) - China expects U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet to visit the country this year, including its restive Xinjiang region, its Geneva ambassador said on Wednesday.

U.N. experts and activists say at least 1 million ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims are held in detention centers in Xinjiang. China describes them as training centers helping to stamp out terrorism and extremism and give people new skills.

LJUBLJANA (Reuters) - Slovenian President Borut Pahor on Wednesday named a former prime minister Janez Jansa, the head of the largest party in parliament, as a candidate for a new prime minister and asked parliament to confirm him.

The parliament is expected to confirm Jansa, head of the center-right Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), next week. He will replace center-left Prime Minister Marjan Sarec who resigned last month.

PARIS (Reuters) - A police employee who fatally stabbed four colleagues in the force’s Paris headquarters ran an online search for “how to kill infidels” an hour before he rampaged through the building, a judicial source said on Wednesday.

Data on the cell phone of Mickael Harpon, a 45-year-old IT worker who converted to Islam a decade before last October’s attack, supported suspicions his motive was terrorism-related, the judicial source and a police source told Reuters.

AMMAN, Feb 26 (NNN-PETRA) – Britain’s Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, and the Duchess of Cornwall, will start an official visit to Jordan on Mar 23, over bilateral ties, said a statement by the Jordanian Royal Court.

During the visit, the two will meet King Abdullah II and Queen Rania Al Abdullah.

The two sides will discuss ties between Jordan and Britain, and areas of mutual interest, according to a statement by the Royal Court.

The visit will be the third by Prince Charles in seven years.

LONDON, Feb 25 (APP): The United Kingdom (UK) has condemned Israel’s announcement to move forward with the construction of 1,077 housing units in Givat Hamatos, southern Jerusalem, urging Israel to reverse the decision.

MINSK, February 25. /TASS/: Belarus and Russia signed a protocol providing compensations for supplies of contaminated oil over the Druzhba oil pipeline, deputy head of Belneftekhim holding Vladimir Sizov told reporters on Tuesday.

"The protocol was signed that the Russian side is ready to compensate," Sizov said.

MOSCOW, February 25. /TASS/: Non-oil and gas exports from Russia to China increased by 19% year-on-year in monetary terms in 2019 and amounted to $14.5 bln, the Russian Export Center (REC) said in a statement on Tuesday.

According to the results of 2019, non-resource exports to Kazakhstan amounted to $12.04 bln, which is up 10% year-on-year.

Non-oil exports to Belarus grew by 2% to $10.56 bln, exports to Turkey grew by 10% to $ 7.79 bln, to the Netherlands - by 17% to $7.67 bln, to the UK - by 229%, up to $7.58 bln.

MOSCOW, February 25. /TASS/: The Industry and Trade Ministry is to suspend the work of Russia’s trade missions in the U.S. and the Baltic States, Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said in an interview with the NTV television channel on Tuesday.