Europe

LONDON (AP) — Britain announced new post-Brexit immigration rules Tuesday that will make it tougher for European Union citizens, but easier for people from many other nations, to move to the U.K. starting next year.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative government said the new rules would “open up the U.K. to the brightest and the best from around the world” while ending “the reliance on cheap, low-skilled labor coming into the country.” But U.K. employers said the radical changes could bring about a labor crisis for sectors such as health and social care.

MOSCOW (AP) — In October 2016, the head of Russia’s largest oil company traveled to the birthplace of Hugo Chávez, in the empty, sweltering plains of Venezuela, to unveil a giant bronze statue of the late socialist leader that he and his longtime friend, Russian President Vladimir Putin, commissioned from a prominent Russian artist.

GENEVA (AP) — The U.N.-supported government in Libya said Tuesday it has suspended its participation in talks in Geneva aimed at salvaging a fragile cease-fire in the North African country following an attack on Tripoli’s strategic port.

The country’s warring sides had resumed their U.N.-brokered military negotiations earlier Tuesday, however the forces of military commander Khalifa Hifter stepped up their attacks on the Libyan capital, hitting its seaport.

18 Feb 2020; MEMO: Luxembourg has “stepped up efforts to coordinate an EU reaction to the risk Israel will annex Palestinian territories in the West Bank”, reported EUobserver. 

18 Feb 2020; MEMO: Italy’s Foreign Minister said on Monday that he and his counterparts across the European Union have agreed to form a special mission to enforce the UN arms embargo on Libya.

Luigi di Maio explained that the mission would include a naval ship to ensure that the embargo is effective.

The Deputy Special Representative of the UN Support Mission to Libya, Stephanie Williams, told reporters on Sunday that “the arms embargo has become a joke.”

MOSCOW, February 18. /TASS/: Moscow hopes to get a clearer picture of the recent clash in Donbass before making any conclusions, says Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

"We hope that we would be able to clarify the details shortly, before jumping to any conclusions," he said.

He admitted that the Kremlin indeed "saw the information that in the early hours [of Tuesday] a clash occured between Lugansk People’s Republic Militia and Ukrainian Armed Forces."

MOSCOW, February 18. /TASS/: New revelations about the MH17 crash in Ukraine in 2014 just go to prove that the Russian side was right, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday, commenting on the leaked document of the Dutch Military Intelligence and Security Service saying that the incident took place in the region where no Buk missile systems were deployed at the time of the tragedy.

MINSK, February 18. / TASS /: President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus will meet with Rosneft's Chief Executive Office Igor Sechin later on Tuesday, according to the country's BelTA news.

The meeting will take place against the backdrop of difficult negotiations between Moscow and Minsk on the terms of oil supplies from Russia to Belarus.

NIZHNEVARTOVSK, February 18. /TASS/: Russia and Syria have been taking steps to counter the Western-imposed economic blockade of the Arab republic, Syria’s Ambassador to Moscow Riyad Haddad told a forum Tuesday in the Western Siberian city of Nizhnevartovsk.

"It’s noteworthy that Russia together with the Syrians is fighting the economic blockade imposed by Western powers and is also providing our people with all kinds of support and humanitarian assistance," the Syrian diplomat told a plenary session of the Third International Youth Research and Practical Forum "Oil Capital."

MOSCOW, February 18. /TASS/: Russia will use a new upper stage developed for the Angara-A5 heavy carrier rocket also for the Soyuz-5 launch vehicle to deliver payloads into orbit, a source in the domestic space industry told TASS on Tuesday.

"The upper stage for the Angara will also be used for the Soyuz-5," the source said.