Europe

MOSCOW, February 18. /TASS/: More than 2.5 tonnes of narcotics were seized by Russian transport police last year, the Interior Ministry told TASS.

"In 2019, [transport police] officers seized more than 2.5 tonnes of drugs, which is 2.6 times more than a year before," the ministry said.

Throughout the year, the officers escorted more than 550,000 trains, including more than 150,000 inter-regional trains and 400,000 commute trains.

"As a result, the amount of crime on trains shrank," the ministry noted.

THE HAGUE, February 18. /TASS/: The Hague Court of Appeal overturned a previous decision of the district court and announced that Russia is obliged to pay more than $50 bln to former shareholders of Yukos. This is according to the documents published on the court’s website on Tuesday.

MOSCOW, Feb 18 (NNN-TASS) – Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, raised doubts about the efficiency of the U.S. plan for a peaceful settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, known as the “Deal of the Century.”

Washington’s proposal for a solution through unilateral concessions favour Israel, Lavrov said, in an interview with Italian newspaper, La Stampa, which was published by the Russian Foreign Ministry, Monday (yesterday).

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Britain’s negotiator with the European Union said on Monday that London was prepared to accept an “Australia-style” free trade agreement with the bloc if its member states continue to have doubts about the terms of a no-quotas, no-tariffs deal.

The EU does not have a free trade agreement with Australia, and so such an arrangement would effectively be a trade relationship governed by World Trade Organization rules.

LONDON (Reuters) - An adviser to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson who had discussed the benefits of forced contraception quit on Monday, saying “media hysteria” about his old online posts meant he had become a distraction for the government.

Earlier, Johnson’s spokesman repeatedly refused to comment when asked about Andrew Sabisky, whose appointment drew widespread criticism after the Mail on Sunday newspaper reported statements made in his name online in 2014 and 2016.

PARIS, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- French lawmakers on Monday began debating the government's draft bill on pension reform, which had brought crowds into the streets and disruptions to transport services in December and January.

Defending a reform "whose ambition is great, even immense," the newly-appointed Solidarity and Health Minister Olivier Veran argued that an universal system "is the pillar of social protection."

"Today is the time for responsibility towards the French through a discussion that will take the time it needs," he addressed the National Assembly.

LONDON (AP) — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg met top European Union officials on a visit to Brussels on Monday, days before the bloc is expected to release new proposals on regulating artificial intelligence.

The billionaire social network founder is the latest U.S. tech executive to make the trip to the headquarters of the EU, which is becoming an increasingly important player in technology regulation. Zuckerberg’s visit came as the company warned that potential regulation risked stifling innovation.

BRUSSELS (AP) — No NATO ally should succumb to the temptation of letting Chinese tech giant Huawei into their next-generation cellular networks, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday at Allied headquarters, turning U.S. opposition to Huawei into a bipartisan effort.

Pelosi said the invasion of privacy that would result from having Huawei integrated into Europe’s 5G communication networks would be “like having the state police, the Chinese state police, right in your pocket.”

DONETSK, February 17. /TASS/: Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s new initiative on joint patrols of the border with Russia are an attempt to waste time talking instead of enacting the Minsk Agreements, Head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, Denis Pushilin, said in a statement on Monday.

MUNICH, February 17. /TASS/: Russia would negotiate the moratorium on intermediate and shorter-range missiles deployment with France, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told journalists.

Following Washington’s unilateral abandonment of the Intermediate and Shorter-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent detailed letters to all Western leaders, in which he outlined Russia’s assessment of the situation and called on the foreign leaders to prevent the agreements on these types of nuclear forces from disappearing, the minister recalled.