Europe

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson denied wrongdoing Sunday over his links to an American businesswoman who allegedly received money and favorable treatment because of their friendship during his time as mayor of London.

Asked during a BBC interview about his ties to tech entrepreneur and model Jennifer Arcuri, Johnson sought to suggest that political motivations were behind the decision Friday by the Greater London Authority to refer a conduct matter to a police watchdog agency.

TBILISI, September 29. /TASS/: Georgian Airways welcomes the statement made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov regarding possible lifting of a ban on direct flights between the two countries and supports resumption of flights with consideration of Georgia’s interests, CEO of the Georgian air carrier Roman Bokeriya said in a statement released on Saturday.

MOSCOW, September 29. /TASS/: President Vladimir Putin congratulated Russian Jews on Rosh Hashanah holiday, which symbolizes the beginning of the year in the Jewish calendar, praising the role of Jewish organizations in maintaining interethnic and interreligious dialogue in Russia.

LUGANSK, September 29. /TASS/: Ukraine’s authorities have tightened the rules of crossing the contact line in Donbass, a spokesperson for the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic in the Contact Group’s humanitarian subgroup and head of a working group on a prisoner swap Olga Kobtseva said on Sunday.

YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK, September 29. /TASS/: The release of the transcript of the notorious telephone conversation between US and Ukrainian presidents, Donald Trump and Vladimir Zelensky, has demonstrated that it is dangerous to conducts talks with Washington as the very fact of such release changes the format of relations between states, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Sunday.

SEVASTOPOL, September 29. /TASS/: The crew of the Black Sea Fleet’s Admiral Makarov frigate took part in the Russian Week forum’s events during its port call at the Greek island of Corfu, the Fleet said in a statement on Sunday.

"The crew of the Black Sea Fleet’s Admiral Makarov frigate took part in the events of the 17th public forum, The Russian Week, on the Ionic Islands at the Greek port of Kerkyra on Corfu Island," according to the statement.

PRAGUE, September 29. /TASS/: Slovakia’s Air Force command has made a decision to temporarily suspend training flights of Mikoyan MiG-29 supersonic fighter jets, Defense Ministry Spokeswoman Danka Capakova said on Sunday.

"Training flights of the MiG-29 have been temporarily halted after one of the jets crashed on Saturday evening near Zlate Moravce in the Nitra region [in western Slovakia," the spokeswoman was quoted by the Slovak radio as saying. "This decision won’t affect the airspace’s security," she noted.

KIEV, September 29. /TASS/: A petition demanding that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky release the transcripts of his phone calls with Russian leader Vladimir Putin was published on the president’s website on Sunday.

29 September 2019; AFP: While the US banned Huawei for alleged espionage and asked its allies to do the same, Moscow has rolled out the red carpet for the Chinese tech company, letting it develop 5G networks in Russia.

Analysts say the move is as much a show of solidarity with Beijing against the US as it is a drive to bring ultra high-speed internet to Russian tech users.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian opposition leaders expect thousands of people to attend a rally on Sunday demanding the release of protesters jailed in what Kremlin opponents says is a campaign to stifle dissent.

The protesters were arrested in demonstrations against the exclusion of many opposition candidates from a local election, and allegations of police brutality and what many Muscovites saw as harsh jail sentences have sparked an unusual public outcry.