Europe

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — A 34-year-old transport minister and lawmaker has been tapped to become Finland’s youngest prime minister ever and its third female government leader.

Finland’s ruling Social Democratic Party council voted 32-29 late Sunday to name Sanna Marin over rival Antti Lindtman to take over the government’s top post from incumbent Antti Rinne.

Having emerged as Finland’s largest party in the April election, the Social Democrats can appoint one of their own to the post of prime minister in the Nordic nation of 5.5 million.

MINSK, December 8. /TASS/: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has congratulated his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on the 20th anniversary of signing the Treaty on the Creation of a Union State of Russia and Belarus, voicing confidence that the two countries would be able to step up this document’s implementation.

KIEV, December 8. /TASS/: Ukraine will adhere to the "red lines" in its position that it will outline in Paris at the Normandy Four meeting with the leaders of Russia, Germany and France, Verkhovna Rada Speaker Dmitry Razumkov said on Sunday.

"On that day [Paris meeting - TASS] there should be no politics and struggle, there should be only a state position for the sake of Ukraine. "Red lines" will be observed and our territories will be returned," Razumkov wrote on his Facebook page, giving no further details.

KIEV, December 8. /TASS/: The death toll in the December 4 fire at the economics, law and hospitality business college in the Ukrainian port city of Odessa has reached 10, the State Emergency Service reported on Sunday.

"A total of 10 people have been killed in the fire," the statement published on its website said. Earlier on Sunday, rescuers discovered two more bodies under the rubble. Earlier reports said eight people had died in the blaze.

KALININGRAD, December 8. /TASS/: Russia and Ukraine are discussing the total allowable fish capture level in the Sea of Azov within the framework of the protocol on quotas, head of the Russian Federal Agency for Fisheries Ilya Shestakov told reporters.

"We held the commission meeting. We are discussing with them [with Ukraine - TASS] the total allowable capture level that can be in the Sea of Azov," the official said.

MOSCOW, December 4. /TASS/: The latest Atlet armored vehicle developed by Military Industrial Company will enter state trials in the spring of 2020, the company’s press office told TASS on Wednesday.

"The Atlet is completing preliminary tests and the stage of state trials is scheduled to begin for it in the spring of next year. One prototype is currently in disassembly and will probably go for state trials. The second prototype will undergo tests for its resistance to shelling and explosions," the company said.

KIEV, December 7. /TASS/: Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council has approved a scenario of Donbass reintegration on Saturday at a closed-door meeting held ahead of the Normandy Four summit, the council’s Secretary Aleksei Danilov said.

"Today, the National Security and Defense Council’s meeting approved one of the scenarios which will be implemented as the main one at the moment," he said quoted by the Ukrainian daily Gazeta as saying.

MOSCOW, Dec 8 (NNN-TASS) – Russia will not reopen its gas supplies to Ukraine, until both sides agree on all essential points of a gas deal, Russian Prime Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, said, in a television interview.

“We need to agree on all the essential points of this deal. Then we can resume cooperation, including our gas supplies to Ukrainian territory. This, by the way, will really be beneficial for Ukrainian citizens,” Medvedev said, in the interview.

VIENNA, Dec 8 (NNN-IRNA) – European parties to the 2015 nuclear deal, demanded that Iran stop taking steps away from the accord, but stopped short of triggering a mechanism that could renew United Nations sanctions, during a rare meeting between the pact’s remaining signatories. 

8 December 2019; AFP: The International Monetary Fund said Saturday it had reached an agreement in principle with Ukraine on a new $5.5 billion, three-year aid program for the war-scarred country.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva welcomed the deal, adding it was subject to IMF management approval.