Europe

19 January 2020; AFP: World leaders gather in Berlin on Sunday to make a fresh push for peace in Libya, in a desperate bid to stop the conflict-wracked nation from turning into a "second Syria".

Chancellor Angela Merkel will be joined by the presidents of Russia, Turkey and France and other world leaders for talks from around 2:00 pm (1300 GMT) held under the auspices of the United Nations.

PRAGUE, Jan 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A highly contagious bird flu has been confirmed at a Czech farm, officials said after a French farm union warned of the risk of a new outbreak in Europe.

Czech official Petr Vorlicek said “the highly pathogenic H5N8 subtype lethal for birds” was found at a small farm 150km southeast of the capital Prague.

Vorlicek, spokesman for the State Veterinary Administration (SVS), said the infection at the farm in Stepanov nad Svratkou was most likely imported by wild water birds.

PRAGUE (Reuters) - Eight people were killed and 30 were injured in a fire early on Sunday at a Czech home for people with disabilities, fire and rescue officials told public broadcaster Czech Television.

The fire occurred in Vejprty on the country’s northwest border with Germany in a home where mostly men with mental and other disabilities lived.

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland’s main opposition party, Fianna Fail, surged into a 12-point lead over the governing Fine Gael party according to an opinion poll that was published on Sunday but conducted mainly before Prime Minister Leo Varadkar called a snap election.

Varadkar called the Feb. 8 poll on Tuesday, kicking off a campaign that will pit his party’s record on Brexit and Ireland’s fast growing economy against a struggling public services and a high cost of living, particularly in housing.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday that he opposes the idea of an unlimited term in office for the country’s leader like the system that existed in the Soviet Union.

Putin’s comment at a meeting with World War II veterans in St. Petersburg came days after he called for constitutional changes that could help him remain in power once his presidential term ends in 2024.

LONDON (AP) — The British government has announced plans for special events on the night of Jan. 31 when the country officially leaves the European Union but the country’s treasury chief has admitted that some U.K. business sectors will suffer as a result.

Sajid Javid told the Financial Times in an interview Saturday that Britain’s regulations will not be aligned with the EU in the future and that those changes may hurt some businesses. Currently the EU is Britain’s largest trading partner.

LONDON, Jan 18 (APP): Pakistani, Kashmiri, Sikh diaspora have announced to jointly organize a massive protest outside Indian High Commission London on January 26, 2020, and mark republic day of India as a “Black day”.

Announcement to this effect was made in Birmingham (UK) at a joint Press conference on Friday convened by Raja Fahim Kayani President Tehreek-E-Kashmir and leaders of the World Sikh Parliament.

MOSCOW, January 17. / TASS /: Construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline will be completed despite outside pressure and US sanctions against the project, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a response on its website following Acting Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's press conference on summing up the results of Russian diplomacy in 2019. The relevant question was not voiced at the conference.

"Despite ongoing pressure, North Stream 2 will be completed. To the clear-thinking Europeans, the benefits of creating an additional gas export route are obvious," the ministry said.

KIEV, January 17. /TASS/: Ukraine’s new National Security Strategy, which was presented at the Friday session of the National Security and Defense Council, stipulates measures to curb tensions with Russia, the Ukrainian presidential press office said in a statement.

"There were proposals to take measures aimed at easing a possibility of escalation with Russia and tensions in bilateral relations," the statement says.

MOSCOW, January 18. /TASS/: Rosneft Deutschland GmbH, a subsidiary of Rosneft in Germany, has completed the deal to acquire a 3.57% stake in Bayernoil Raffineriegesellschaft mbH from the British BP increasing its shareholding in the refinery to 28.57% from 25%, Russia’s top oil producer said in a statement.

The company will increase its share in the refinery capacity of the Bayernoil to almost 3 mln tonnes per year following the deal.