Europe

7 January 2020; AFP: The French government and unions are to resume talks Tuesday over a pensions overhaul that has unleashed the longest transport strike in decades, with the premier saying both sides need to "budge a little".

As the standoff escalated, with police deployed to oil refineries and fuel depots to prevent a blockade by unions, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said he remained open to discussion.

PARIS (Reuters) - Exports of mid-range French wines have dropped due to tariffs imposed by the United States in October over disputed aircraft subsidies, a French minister said on Tuesday.

French wine was among European Union products, including Scotch whisky and Italian cheese, targeted with a 25% duty after the World Trade Organization gave Washington the green light to impose tariffs in a long-running case over subsidies to European planemaker Airbus (AIR.PA).

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain keeps the protection of its armed forces under constant review, a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday when asked whether his government would withdraw troops from Iraq over tension in the Middle East.

At a meeting of his cabinet team of top ministers, Johnson reiterated his view that parties should work to ease tensions in the region after Iranian General Qassem Soleimani was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Iraq on Friday.

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson welcomed the decision by a court in Cyprus to hand a suspended sentence to a British teenager accused of faking a gang rape allegation, allowing the 19-year-old to return home, his spokesman said.

The spokesman also said Britain would work with Cyprus and other countries to ensure that such a case could not happen again.

VIENNA, January 6./TASS/: The Iranian nuclear program will remain under strict international control after Tehran’s announcing a new stage of reducing commitments to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOR), Russia’s Permanent Representative to international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov said on Sunday.

SOFIA, January 6. /TASS/: North Macedonia and Greece have begun receiving Russian gas through Strnadzha-2 new checkpoint in Bulgaria, Bulgartransgaz EAD Executive Director Vladimir Malinov said in an interview with Bulgarian National Radio on Sunday.

"Gas from Russia is successfully supplied through a new entry point (gas compressor station - TASS) of Strnadzha-2 via Turkey. The advantages of this project are security and economic viability. Both North Macedonia and Greece are receiving gas through Strandzha-2," Malinov said.

BERLIN, January 6. /TASS/: German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson expressed concern in a joint statement over a "negative" role that Iran plays in the Middle East, urging it to refrain from the moves going against the nuclear deal.

PARIS (Reuters) - French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire on Monday warned the United States against any retaliation to France’s new digital services tax.

“If the Americans decide to go ahead and impose sanctions against the digital tax ... in this case we would retaliate,” Le Maire told France Inter radio.

“If there were to be sanctions, and it is a possibility that we will take sanctions, we would immediately contact the WTO (World Trade Organization)”, he added.

LONDON (Reuters) - Tensions in the Middle East after the killing of a top Iranian general by the United States erased new year gains for a gauge of world shares on Monday as investors pushed safe-haven gold to a seven-year high, and oil jumped to its highest since September.

The United States detected a heightened state of alert by Iran’s missile forces, as President Donald Trump warned the U.S. would strike back, “perhaps in a disproportionate manner”, if Iran attacked any American person or target.

MILAN (Reuters) - An investigation by Italy’s transport ministry into the deadly collapse of a bridge operated by Atlantia has shown “serious and unforgivable acts of negligence”, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte was quoted as saying on Monday.

Conte told la Repubblica newspaper in an interview the government was nearing a decision on whether to revoke Atlantia’s motorway concession after a highway bridge collapsed in August 2018 killing 43 people in the city of Genoa.