Europe

MOSCOW, October 9. /TASS/: A Proton-M carrier rocket with a Breeze-M booster blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to deliver a European Eutelsat-5WB and a US MEV-1 satellite into orbit, according to an online broadcast on the website of Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos.

The upper part of the Proton-M rocket with the booster and the two satellites is set to separate from the third stage 582.3 seconds (about ten minutes) after the liftoff.

MOSCOW, October 9. /TASS/: There is no political aspect to courts’ verdicts in cases related to the summer’s protest rallies, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

When asked if the Kremlin saw a political aspect to the verdicts, he answered in the negative. "You know, we don’t comment on them. There is and can be no political aspect," Peskov pointed out.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said on Wednesday he believed that reaching an exit deal with Britain was “very difficult but possible”.

“The EU will remain calm, vigilant, respectful and constructive. The technical talks continue,” Barnier said in footage played by Sky News on Twitter.

Asked by a reporter if a deal was possible, he said: “I think the deal is possible. Very difficult but possible.”

9 Oct 2019; MEMO: Spain has announced its support for Turkey’s planned military operation into northern Syria, making it the first European country to do so.

Spain’s official North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Twitter account made the announcement in a series of tweets on Monday. “NATO Support to Turkey is aimed at contributing to a de-escalation of the crisis along the Alliance’s border.”

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany’s position on Brexit has not changed, a government spokesman said on Wednesday, declining to comment on the content of a telephone conversation between Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday.

Germany would strive until the last minute to reach a deal between the European Union and Britain, spokesman Steffen Seibert told a regular government news conference.

PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron met on Tuesday with Jihane Ahmed, the spokeswoman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), to express France’s solidarity with them in their fight against Islamic State in the region, said Macron’s office.

The meeting was also an opportunity to reiterate that France remains “very worried” about the prospect of a Turkish military operation in Syria, added Macron’s office on Wednesday.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Two people were killed in a shooting in the eastern German city of Halle on Wednesday and police said they were looking for suspects who fled the scene.

Mass-selling daily Bild said on its website the shooting took place in front of a synagogue. Bild reported that a hand grenade was also thrown onto a Jewish cemetery.

DUBLIN (Reuters) - It will be very difficult to secure a Brexit agreement by next week with big gaps remaining in the British position, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Tuesday following a phone call with his British counterpart, Boris Johnson.

“I’ll certainly work until the very last moment to secure that (a deal) but not at any cost... I think it will be very difficult to secure an agreement by next week, quite frankly,” Varadkar told Irish national broadcaster RTE.

LONDON (Reuters) - Anti-Brexit campaigners claimed victory after Scotland’s highest court decided on Wednesday to wait before ruling whether to force Prime Minister Boris Johnson to seek a delay to Britain’s EU divorce date if he has not struck a deal in the next 10 days.

An alliance of rebels in Johnson’s Conservative Party and opposition lawmakers voted through a law, known as the Benn Act, last month which requires him to ask for a Brexit delay if there is no deal in place by Oct. 19.

PARIS, Oct 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — French Pres Emmanuel Macron vowed an “unrelenting fight” against extremists as he paid tribute to the four Paris police staff members stabbed to death last week by a radicalised colleague.