Europe

MOSCOW, December 17. /TASS/: The Russian Pacific Fleet’s task force arrived on a business call in the port of Busan to meet with the South Korean Navy’s command and the city authorities and hold friendly sports competitions, the Fleet’s press service said on Tuesday.

MOSCOW, December 17. /TASS/: Russian scientists are ready to build a reusable space launch system with a single-stage-to-orbit carrier rocket in eight years, the director of the Polytechnic Institute of the South Urals State University, which takes part in the project, said.

MOSCOW, December 17. /TASS/: Russian and Laotian troops switched to the active phase of the Laros-2019 joint drills at the Ban Peng training ground in Laos, the press office of Russia’s Eastern Military District reported on Tuesday.

MOSCOW, December 17. /TASS/: A large batch of methadone, a drug banned in Russia, worth more than 5.8 bln rubles ($93 mln) was seized by customs officers at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport, the Federal Customs Service said on Tuesday.

"A large batch of undeclared drug methadone, which was shipped from Germany to Tajikistan, was discovered in early December 2019 by the Vnukovo customs. The price of this cargo on the black market could exceed 5.8 bln rubles," the service said.

LONDON (Reuters) - British cabinet office minister Michael Gove said on Tuesday that the government was committed to securing a trade deal with the European Union by the end of 2020.

Britain is due to leave the EU on Jan. 31 and Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to legislate to prevent any extension to the transition period beyond the end of next year.

“We are going to make sure that we get this deal done in time,” Gove told BBC TV. “We will get a deal, and the political declaration commits both sides to that.”

BRUSSELS, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- China and Europe are partners, not rivals, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a speech here on Monday evening.

"In recent years, we have heard an argument suggesting that China has become a rival of Europe in the economic field and should be subjected to all sorts of restrictions," Wang said while speaking at an event hosted by the European Policy Center, a think tank.

LONDON, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson started to re-assemble his front bench team Monday night as deadline of Brexit is approaching.

Conservative Nicky Morgan, who decided not to seek re-election in last week's general election, has been kept on by Johnson as a member of his cabinet as Culture Secretary, even though she no longer sits in the House of Commons.

It came after Queen Elizabeth II conferred a peerage on Morgan which entitles her to sit in the unelected House of Lords, and to serve in the government as a minister.

BRUSSELS, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- China and the European Union (EU) see eye to eye on multilateralism and free trade, which serve as a major stimulus to world peace and development, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here Monday.

In contrast, unilateralism and protectionism deviate from the trend of global development, run counter to the norms and rules governing international relations, and cause disruptions to the global governance system, Wang said at an event hosted by the European Policy Centre, a Brussels-based think tank.

Guwahati, Oct 15 (PTI) People of the Assamese community in London was joined by other Indians to protest against the amended Citizenship Act outside the Indian High Commission.

Demanding revocation of the law, they held a protest gathering against the Act that threatens the linguistic and cultural identity of the Assamese people in Assam, Karuna Sagar Das, a prominent face in the diaspora in London, told PTI.

MOSCOW, December 16. /TASS/: In order to weaken US presence in Syria, it is necessary to strike terrorist groups active in the area and persuade local groups cooperating with the US to support the Syrian government instead, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview with the SANA news agency published on Monday.

"First, the Americans rely on terrorists. The terrorists must be attacked, this is a priority for us in Syria. Striking the terrorists weakens the American presence one way or another," al-Assad said.