Europe

SOFIA, December 5. /TASS/: Russia’s Foreign Ministry has declared a Bulgarian embassy employee persona non grata in response to the October expulsion of a Russian diplomat, Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

MOSCOW, December 5. /TASS/: More than 10 Moscow schools received anonymous messages containing bomb threats, and more than 10,000 pupils and teachers were evacuated out of security concerns, an emergency source told TASS on Thursday.

"An unknown person is disseminating reports again about explosives having been planted in schools. More than 10 schools received this information. Teachers and school students are being evacuated for security concerns - approximately more than 10,000 people have vacated the general educational facilities," he said.

BAKU, December 5. /TASS/: The foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia, Elmar Mammadyarov and Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, agreed to hold their next meeting on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement early next year, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry’s press service said on Thursday.

The two top diplomats met in Bratislava on the sidelines of the OSCE Ministerial Conference in the Slovak capital.

"The ministers agreed to continue the negotiations and to hold another meeting early next year," the ministry said in a statement.

BERLIN, December 5. /TASS/: A deputy chairman of the Free Democratic Party of Germany’s parliamentary faction, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, believes that his country’s authorities have made a hasty decision when they expelled two Russian diplomats from the country.

"It’s hard to understand without any clear information why the government expels two Russian diplomats when the investigation is still ongoing," the lawmaker, whose party is part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, told AFP. "Evidence that justifies this step must be presented."

MOSCOW, December 5. /TASS/: The latest Project Yasen-M multirole nuclear-powered submarine Kazan test-fired torpedo weapons from its submerged position in the White Sea, the press office of Russia’s Northern Fleet reported on Thursday.

"The crew of the nuclear-powered submarine Kazan made a salvo of two torpedoes from its submerged position against an underwater target. According to a preliminary estimate, the torpedo test-fire passed successfully," the press office said.

The test-fire was held as part of the sub’s sea trials, the Fleet’s press office specified.

MOSCOW, December 5. /TASS/: Continuous doping abuse accusations of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) against Russian sports look like an ‘endless anti-Russian soap opera,’ Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview with Russian television channels on Thursday.

"Everything that is connected with a doping scandal reminds me already of an endless anti-Russian soap opera as they have made a decision, introduced punishments and declared suspensions," Medvedev said.

LISBON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday rejected a report laying out the Democratic case for President Donald Trump’s impeachment as “just all wrong”.

A 300-page report released by Democrats leading the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee earlier this week leveled allegations of sweeping abuse of power by Trump. It also suggested that Pompeo was among senior officials who either knew about or were involved in an effort to gain political benefits from a foreign power.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s Brexit Party said on Thursday that four of its elected members of the European parliament (MEPs) had left the party to support the governing Conservatives in the British election on Dec. 12.

The Brexit Party was set up in early 2019 by Nigel Farage, whose years of relentless campaigning against membership of the European Union played a major part in delivering the 2016 referendum, in which Britons voted to leave the bloc.

LONDON (Reuters) - A top Ukrainian presidential aide on Thursday said Ukraine would wall off the rest of the country from occupied territories if Russia failed to agree to a ceasefire and prisoner swap at a summit in Paris next week.

If Russia doesn’t want to agree to a deal “in this case we will be building a wall and life will go on,” Andriy Yermak said at a forum in London. “We will be living unfortunately in a scenario of a frozen conflict.”

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Netherlands aims to rake in at least 900 million euros ($992 million) from its first auction of bandwidth for 5G networks, it said on Thursday, adding some equipment suppliers could be banned from the new networks if they raise security concerns.

European governments are grappling with how to treat Huawei Technologies Co Ltd after the United States alleged the Chinese telecoms supplier’s equipment could be exploited by Beijing for spying. Huawei strongly denies the allegations.