Europe

MOSCOW, January 28. /TASS/: Relations between Moscow and Kiev are far from improving despite some positive signs between the two countries’ leaders, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

BRUSSELS, January 28. /TASS/: The European Union has decided to expand its blacklists on Ukraine by seven more Russian nationals deemed responsible for holding an election in Crimea in September 2019, a representative of the European Union Council told TASS on Tuesday.

"Yes, I can confirm that the EU Council approved this decision," he said.

According to the EU representative, the council will soon officially announce the decision after which it will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union and enter into force.

28 January 2020; AFP: With just days to go before Brexit, European diplomats are already hard at work for the next phase: negotiations to hammer out a future with Britain after its EU divorce.

In the words of EU negotiator Michel Barnier, during the next phase of Brexit, Brussels and London will "have to rebuild everything".

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - French and German ministers warned there was little time to agree a new trade deal with Britain as they arrived on Tuesday for the last senior European Union meeting in Brussels at which the United Kingdom is represented as a member state.

Britain leaves the EU on Friday after more than four decades, setting the clock ticking to agree a new relationship encompassing areas from trade to security by the end of 2020.

28 Jan 2019; MEMO: British prosecutors revealed that the oil and gas consultancy company Unaoil paid nearly $6 million in bribes to obtain deals in Iraq worth $800 million, between 2005 and 2011.

WARSAW (Reuters) - The door to a dialogue between Poland and the European Union on judicial reform is open and the EU hopes to find a long-term solution to tensions between Warsaw and Brussels, EU Values and Transparency Commissioner Vera Jourova said on Tuesday.

Since coming to power in 2015, Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party introduced a series of judicial reforms which critics and EU officials say may breach the rule of law.

(Reuters) - Airbus (AIR.PA) faces billions of dollars of fines after agreeing in principle to a settlement with French, British and U.S. authorities following a crippling three-year investigation into allegations of bribery and corruption.

A settlement would allow it to avoid criminal charges which, if proven, could have led to the company being disbarred from public contracts in the United States and European Union - a massive setback for one of Europe’s top defense and space firms.

28 Jan 2019; MEMO: Germany on Monday urged UN Security Council members to adopt a resolution on Libya to stop continuing military attacks and violations of arms embargo in the war-torn country, Anadolu Agency reports.

Speaking at a news conference in Berlin, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas deplored violations of the cease-fire despite pledges made by conflict parties and regional actors at the Berlin Conference on January 19.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will allow Chinese telecoms giant Huawei [HWT.UL] a limited role in building its 5G networks, the government said on Tuesday.

It said high-risk vendors would be excluded from the sensitive core of networks, and there would a 35% cap on their involvement in the non-sensitive parts.

The United States wanted Prime Minister Boris Johnson to ban Huawei completely, arguing that Beijing could use the company’s equipment to steal Western secrets. Huawei has denied any involvement in espionage.

MOSCOW, Jan 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Russian tour operators have stopped selling package holidays to China due to the coronavirus outbreak there and are only bringing Russian tourists home, Dmitry Gorin, vice president of the Association of Russian Tour Operators, said. 

The move was taken at the recommendation of Rosturizm, Russia’s state tourism agency, he said, as the death toll from the new virus in China rose to 106 with more than 2,740 people infected.