Europe

MOSCOW, September 26. /TASS/: A Russian military satellite separated from the upper stage of the Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket that blasted off from the Plesetsk spaceport in north Russia on Thursday, the press office of Russia’s Defense Ministry reported.

"The payload assembly of the Soyuz-2.1b medium carrier rocket comprising the Fregat booster and the satellite separated from the rocket’s third stage in the normal regime at the designated time - 10:55 a.m. Moscow time," the press office said.

MOSCOW, September 26. /TASS/: Moscow is preparing its response to the US failure to issue visas for some members of the Russian delegation to the UN General Assembly, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has told Channel 1.

"There will be a [response]. <...> We will prepare some measures. Don’t deprive us of a chance to make a surprise," Lavrov said in a statement, published on the Foreign Ministry’s website on Thursday.

MOSCOW, September 26. /TASS/: Moscow accuses Washington of violating the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, and remains committed to the spirit and letter of the document, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.

"As far as NATO is concerned, we absolutely disagree with any accusations against Russia. The Russian side has not violated the letter and spirit of the INF Treaty, and on the contrary, it continues consistently accusing the US of violating the INF Treaty, and there are grounds for that," Peskov said.

LONDON (Reuters) - British lawmakers voted on Thursday against adjourning parliament until Oct. 3 for the governing Conservative Party to hold their annual conference.

Parliament began sitting again on Wednesday after the Supreme Court ruled Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend it for five weeks was unlawful.

Usually parliament has a break during the party political conferences but opposition parties said it should not be adjourned during such a crucial period ahead of Britain’s exit from the European Union at the end of October.

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday defended his decision to use the term “surrender act” when speaking about a new law that forces him to seek a Brexit delay if he fails to secure a deal to leave the European Union.

At a meeting of the 1922 Committee of Conservative lawmakers on Thursday, Johnson won support for his argument that the law undermined his negotiating position in Brussels and that he was within his rights to describe is as a “surrender act”.

ARGUINEGUIN, Spain (Reuters) - Dozens of African migrants attempting to reach the Canary Islands in a battered wooden canoe were rescued in waters off the Spanish archipelago on Thursday, emergency services said.

The 37 migrants, including a child, were rescued by the Spanish coastguard six miles off the island of Gran Canaria after attempting to make the dangerous crossing from North Africa, the Canary Islands emergency services said on Twitter.

The sub-Saharan migrants were all male, they added.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union will impose economic sanctions on another seven people close to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Friday, three EU diplomats said, in a decision that may disappoint opposition leaders looking for sweeping action.

The move is the first time in almost a year that the EU has widened its travel bans and asset freezes to more people close to Maduro. The bloc until now has instead sought to help mediate peace talks with Norway and Latin American countries.

KIEV (Reuters) - Opponents of Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday they were worried that the Ukrainian president’s criticism of European leaders in a call with Donald Trump could damage the country’s international standing.

Zelenskiy, a former television comedian and political novice who was elected president in April, has been thrust into the center of a U.S. domestic political storm after the White House released a reconstruction of his July 25 phone call with Trump.

VILNIUS, Sept 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United States will move 500 troops to Lithuania in October for a six-month deployment, returning to the Baltic region where it first sent soldiers after Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014.

The US military presence, part of a broader NATO deterrent, is likely to reassure Baltic allies that U.S. President Donald Trump remains committed to Europe’s eastern flank despite recent Pentagon cuts to European defence projects.

LONDON (AP) — An unrepentant Prime Minister Boris Johnson brushed off cries of “Resign!” and dared his foes to try to topple him Wednesday at a raucous session of Parliament, a day after Britain’s highest court ruled he acted illegally in suspending the body ahead of the Brexit deadline.

Amid shouts, angry gestures and repeated cries of “Order!” in the House of Commons, Johnson emphatically defended his intention to withdraw Britain from the European Union on Oct. 31, with or without a separation agreement with the EU.