Europe

GENEVA (Reuters) - Iran has test fired a new missile, the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Major General Hossein Salami, said on Saturday, according to the Tasnim news agency.

“Our country is always the arena for testing a variety of defense and strategic systems and these are non-stop movements towards the growth of our deterrent power,” Salami said. “And yesterday was one of the successful days for this nation.”

He did not provide any additional information about the missile.

BIARRITZ, France (Reuters) - Leaders of the G7 nations began arriving in France on Saturday for a summit as a U.S.-China row over protectionism highlighted President Emmanuel Macron’s tough task in delivering real results on trade, Iran and climate change.

The three-day meeting in the Atlantic seaside resort of Biarritz takes place amid sharp differences over a clutch of global issues that risk further dividing a group of countries already struggling to speak with one voice.

LONDON (Reuters) - The British government on Saturday welcomed the release of an employee at its consulate in Hong Kong who had been detained in mainland China.

Simon Cheng was held for 15 days for violating public security management regulations, police in Shenzhen, across the border from Hong Kong, said on Saturday.

“We welcome the release of Simon Cheng and are delighted that he can be reunited with his family. We will continue to provide support to them,” a spokesman for Britain’s foreign ministry said.

LONDON, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday talked with U.S. President Donald Trump on foreign policy and global trade issues in a phone call before the coming G7 meeting.

A statement from the prime minister's office said they "looked forward to speaking further" at the G7 summit in France.

It will be their first meeting since Johnson became British prime minister.

The G7 summit comes nearly two months ahead of the Brexit deadline on Oct. 31.

BERLIN, Aug. 23 (Xinhua) -- A hard Brexit would negatively affect prosperity levels among member states of the European Union (EU), a study published by the German Institute for Economic Research (Ifo) on Friday showed.

In Europe's largest economy Germany, prosperity levels are expected by the Ifo institute to decline by 0.72 percent as a consequence of a no-deal Brexit.

However, "a hard Brexit would impact different EU member states to varying degrees," said Marina Steininger, researcher at the German Ifo institute and co-author of the study.

BIARRITZ, France (AP) — In a sharp escalation of tensions over fires ravaging the Amazon, France on Friday accused Brazil’s president of having lied to French leader Emmanuel Macron and threatened to block a European Union trade deal with South American states including Brazil.

MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian military on Friday to work out a quid pro quo response after the test of a new U.S. missile banned under a now-defunct arms treaty.

In Sunday’s test, a modified ground-launched version of a U.S. Navy Tomahawk cruise missile accurately struck its target more than 500 kilometers (310 miles) away. The test came after Moscow and Washington withdrew from the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.

BIARRITZ, France (AP) — President Donald Trump heads into a summit with global economic powers confronting the consequences of his preference for going it alone in a polarized nation and an interconnected world.

The Group of Seven nations are gathering in a French beach resort town at one of the most unpredictable moments in Trump’s tenure, with his public comments and decision-making increasingly erratic and acerbic of late.

OSLO, Aug 22 (NNN-IRNA) — Chairwoman of the Commission on Foreign Affairs and Defense of the Norwegian Parliament Anniken Huitfeldt said on Thursday that although her country is a close ally of the US, it strongly supports the JCPOA or Iran’s Nuclear deal and promoting trade between Oslo and Tehran.

She added after a meeting with the visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, “Direct communications between me and the Iranian side was useful and we discussed various issues.”

Chantilly (France), Aug 22; GANASHAKTI: India and Pakistan should resolve the Kashmir issue bilaterally and no third party should "interfere or incite" violence in the region, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday after his marathon one-on-one talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi