Europe

LONDON, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- The United Kingdom (UK) signed a continuity Free Trade Agreement with its major trade partner the Republic of Korea (ROK) on Thursday to ensure businesses keep trading freely in the event of a no-deal Brexit on Oct. 31, in a fresh effort to protect post-Brexit trade.

The deal, signed by Secretary of State for International Trade (DIT) Liz Truss and ROK Minister of Trade Yoo Myung-Hee in London, replicates, as far as possible, the effects of the EU-Korea trade deal, allowing businesses to continue to benefit from preferential terms, the DIT said.

GENEVA, Aug 22 (APP): As communication blackout in Indian occupied Kashmir entered its 19th day on Thursday, the human rights experts of the United Nations called upon India to end the crackdown on freedom of expression, access to information and peaceful protests.

PYATIGORSK /Stavropol region/, August 22. /TASS/: Moscow, backed by Beijing, has requested the United Nations Security Council to hold a briefing on the United States’ development of intermediate-range missiles, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

PYATIGORSK /Stavropol Territory/, August 22. /TASS/: Russia and the United Nations will organize the second international Safeguarding Sport from Corruption Conference to be held in Vienna on September 3 and 4, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

MOSCOW, August 22. /TASS/: A Sukhoi Su-24MR (NATO reporting name: Fencer-E) reconnaissance plane has entered service with an air regiment in Russia’s Central Military District, the District’s press office reported on Thursday.

"The Su-24MR has arrived for the composite air division of the 14th Air Force and Air Defense Army of the Central Military District stationed in the Chelyabinsk Region," the press office said in a statement.

MOSCOW, August 22. /TASS/: Russia is not desperate to be back in the Group of Eight, the more so because many problems can be resolved more efficiently within the Group of Twenty format, Russian president’s Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

"Return to the G7, the former G8, is not a goal in itself for Russia," he stressed. "In any case, Russia thinks that now it is not very efficient to discuss global problems in geopolitics, security or economy without China and India."

PYATIGORSK /Stavropol region/, August 22. /TASS/: Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky makes bold statements on international affairs while he doesn’t have enough understanding of these matters, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, commenting on Zelensky’s remark that Russia could return to the G8 once Crimea reunited with Ukraine and the conflict in Donbass ended.

PYATIGORSK /Stavropol Territory/, August 22. /TASS/: Russia is in contact with the Turkish side on the situation in Syria’s Idlib, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a briefing on Thursday.

When asked about Moscow’s possible steps to settle frictions between Turkey and Syria and ensure the implementation of the Sochi agreements on Idlib, she said, "We are committed to them [agreements with the Turkish side — TASS]. Not everything is proceeding as we planned but we are in contact with the Turkish colleagues to adjust the agreements we have."

ULAN UDE, August 22. /TASS/: Troops from Russia and Mongolia worked on perfecting a new tactic during their first joint training in a live-fire exercise at the Selenga-2019 joint drills, the press office of Russia’s Eastern Military District reported on Thursday.

"Units of the all-arms army of the Eastern Military District stationed in Buryatia and of the armed forces of Mongolia held the first joint training with a live-fire exercise at the Munkh Khet practice range as part of the Selenga-2019 Russian-Mongolian drills," the press office said in a statement.

KIEV, August 22. /TASS/: Russian citizens Maxim Odintsov, Alexander Baranov and Yevgeny Mefedov are undergoing the legal procedure for swapping detainees with Russia, their defense attorney Valentin Rybin told TASS on Thursday.