Europe

London, Jan 24 (AFP/PTI) Britain on Friday rebuked the United States for refusing to extradite a diplomat's wife charged over a car crash that killed a British teenager, calling it a "denial of justice".

The case of Anne Sacoolas has been a thorn in London's close relations with Washington, stirring up debates over the limits of diplomatic immunity in cases unrelated to national security.

MOSCOW, January 24. /TASS/: The Russian Defense Ministry will make competitions of the International Army Games even more fascinating and entertaining this year, increasing complexity of tracks and judges’ demands, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told a meeting of the games’ organizing committee.

"To make combats even more entertaining, we raised the complexity of tracks and the judges’ demands, combined certain challenges and introduced new elements to the competitions," he said.

MOSCOW, January 24. /TASS/: The personnel of the Central Military District’s artillery large unit stationed in the Kemerovo Region in southwestern Siberia destroyed a notional enemy force from concealed fire positions at maximum ranges during drills, the District’s press office reported on Friday.

The troops were assigned the task to perform a 100 km forced march to get to the designated area at the required time, assume, camouflage and fortify their fire positions, the press office said in a statement.

MOSCOW, January 24. /TASS/: The crews of Caspian Flotilla ships employed the latest sonars to detect hostile underwater drones in the areas of the ships’ naval bases, the press office of Russia’s Southern Military District reported on Friday.

"The Flotilla’s minesweepers dropped robotized deep-water submersibles, after which the ships’ crews and sonar-operating teams were given the command for their search and detection," the press office said in a statement.

DAVOS /Switzerland/, January 24. /TASS/: The US-China trade agreement poses threat for international trade and may trigger trade disputes starting 2021-2022, Russian Presidential Aide Maksim Oreshkin said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 TV news channel following the World Economic Forum in Davos.

"The European reaction on the US-China deal, in which China commits to boosting purchases of US goods, raises fears," he said.

MOSCOW, January 24. /TASS/: The armored division of the Central Military District employed a new method of shielding the armor while on the move against drone strikes during the drills that ended in the Chelyabinsk Region in the Urals, the District’s press office reported on Friday.

Under the drills’ scenario, a notional enemy planned to employ strike drones to attack a column of the tank regiment making a march to the designated area.

MOSCOW, January 24. /TASS/: Russian citizens’ voting for or against the constitutional amendments proposed by President Vladimir Putin will be the determining factor, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday.

Responding to a question about whether the nationwide vote can take place before or after the president signs a relevant bill on the amendments, he said, "The order and schedule of this vote will be specified — they are actually being drafted now."

24 January 2020; AFP: The United States' financial chief on Thursday told Swedish teen Greta Thunberg to go study before calling for a fossil fuel halt, prompting the climate campaigner to reply it doesn't "take a degree" to understand the science.

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif skipped this year’s Davos, but Tehran was still a hot topic for many Western and Middle Eastern powers hoping for detente less than three weeks after the United States killed Iran’s top general.

Zarif, normally a regular at the World Economic Forum, canceled on Monday, with his ministry citing program changes. Organizers of the annual gathering in the Swiss ski resort did not comment on the reason given.

PRAGUE (Reuters) - The Czech Republic could face U.S. counter-measures if it introduces a planned 7% digital tax aimed at global internet giants, the U.S. embassy in Prague said on Friday, after the Czech parliament gave initial support to the new tax.

Several European countries are considering such a tax to raise more money from the local businesses of companies such as Google (GOOGL.O) and Facebook (FB.O), leading the United States to threaten retaliation in support of its tech industry.