Europe

MOSCOW, February 4. /TASS/: Units of the Syrian armed forces entered the village of Ternaba west of Saraqib in the Idlib governorate, cutting the Latakia-Aleppo highway used as a resupply route for militant groups, the SANA news agency reported.

According to the agency, Syrian troops are now stationed eight kilometers from Idlib, the administrative center of the eponymous governorate captured by militants in 2015.

MINSK, February 4. /TASS/: The chill in relations between Minsk and Washington has come to an end, said Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday.

"I wouldn’t say that the Americans are such great friends of ours. However, the period of that chill when we looked at each other through some porthole, [over] a thick concrete wall, is over," the BelTA news agency quotes him as saying.

According to Lukashenko, no one needs to worry about that. "We are mending ties with the greatest empire, the leading country in the world," he pointed out.

MOSCOW, February 4. /TASS/: Russia’s Foreign Ministry has released a collection of documents on the 1945 Yalta Conference of the Big Three, the first one in a series of such collections compiled for the 75th anniversary of the Victory in World War II.

CHEREPOVETS, February 4. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to China is still planned for the latter half of 2020, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, answering a question on whether the coronavirus outbreak has affected the Russian leader’s plans to visit China this year.

Peskov noted that the year had just begun, "so it is too early to discuss any changes to the president’s plans." "[Putin’s] visit [to China] was outlined for the latter half of the year, and this visit is on the agenda," the spokesman said.

CHEREPOVETS, February 4. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin did not propose amendments to the Russian constitution to prolong his stay in power, he said during a meeting with members of the public in Russia’s Cherepovets.

4 February 2020; AFP: Britain on Monday promised an urgent overhaul of the law regarding convicted terrorists after police shot dead an extremist on early release from prison who stabbed two people in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group.

KIEV, Feb 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, discussed the increase of bilateral trade and investment with Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during the eighth meeting of bilateral High-Level Strategic Council held in Kiev, the Ukrainian president’s press service said.

The two leaders talked about the growth of bilateral trade and discussed signing an agreement on a free trade zone between the two countries. They expressed the hope for strengthening cooperation in various fields, including trade, energy and investment.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union will extend indefinitely the time limit to resolve disputes in the Iran 2015 nuclear accord to avoid having to go to the U.N. Security Council or triggering new sanctions, the EU’s top diplomat said during a visit to Tehran.

Britain, France and Germany formally accused Iran on Jan. 14 of violating the terms of the 2015 arms control agreement aimed at curbing Tehran’s nuclear program. Violations could lead to the reimposing of U.N. sanctions lifted under the 2015 deal.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will visit Venezuela on Friday in a show of support for President Nicolas Maduro, a socialist who Washington wants out of power.

Russia has helped Maduro weather a political crisis as the United States has targeted Caracas with sanctions and, like dozens of other countries, recognizes opposition politician Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s legitimate interim leader.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission will propose changes to the system for letting new countries into the EU to give existing members more say, in a bid to mollify France which has vetoed expansion of the bloc to six countries in the Balkans.

In October, President Emmanuel Macron halted the process of admitting Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and North Macedonia. The Commission hopes to persuade France to lift its objections before a Zagreb summit with the Balkan states in May.