Europe

HELSINKI, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Monday that his country has remained committed to nuclear treaty and is willing to continue the dialogue.

Zarif and Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto talked to the media after their meeting in Helsinki.

Commenting in Helsinki about the chances of Finland becoming a mediator between the United States and Iran, Zarif said that "a mediation should have some ground" and warned that the window for a dialogue may be closing.

TBILISI, August 19. /TASS/: The export of goods from Georgia to Russia in value terms for the 7 months of 2019 amounted to around $303.8 mln, which is 26.1% higher than in the same period last year, the National Statistics Office of Georgia reported on Monday.

MOSCOW, August 19. /TASS/: About 70 people were injured in a series of explosions that shook the city of Jalalabad in the Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan. However, TOLO News reported that these terror attacks did not bar Afghan citizens from attending the Day of Independence celebrations on August 19.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the ultimate ousting of English invaders from Afghanistan in the Third Anglo-Afghan War. Afghanistan’s ruler Amanullah Khan established diplomatic relations with Soviet Russia in 1919, and in 1921 the first Soviet-Afghan treaty was signed.

MOSCOW, August 19. /TASS/: A group of Russian specialists will inspect a military facility in Portugal under the 2011 Vienna Document on confidence-building measures, Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a statement on its website on Monday.

MARSELLE, August 19. /TASS/: Two fighters of Switzerland’s Air Force for several minutes escorted a plane of the special air carrier Rossiya Airlines en route from Moscow to Marseille. On board the Ilyushin-96 liner there were members of the Russian delegation going to France for talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron, including Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov and presidential aide Yuri Ushakov and a group of journalists.

MOSCOW, August 19. /TASS/: A right hand of head of the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS, outlawed in Russia) Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was eliminated during an operation led by Iraqi intelligence services in the Al Anbar Governorate, the TV channel Al Arabiya reported on Monday, citing a statement made by the country’s Ministry of Defense.

The statement says that the eliminated militant used to be a "military emir" in the Iraqi city of Hit. Several of his sons are also IS members and were involved in a number of terror attacks.

SEVASTOPOL, August 19. /TASS/: The Black Sea Fleet’s forces stationed on the Crimean Peninsula and in the Krasnodar Region in south Russia have launched joint command and staff drills, the Fleet’s press office reported on Monday.

19 August 2019; AFP: Britain's Prince Andrew has said he was "appalled" by allegations of sexual abuse surrounding Jeffrey Epstein after a video was released purporting to show him at the home of the convicted paedophile in 2010.

"The Duke of York has been appalled by the recent reports of Jeffrey Epstein's alleged crimes," Buckingham Palace said in a statement on Monday.

19 August 2019; DW: A picnic in a meadow on the Hungarian-Austrian border: That was the plan. But the symbolic event, a show of support for a united Europe, enabled the first exodus from behind the Iron Curtain. Unintentionally — or not?

19 August 2019; DW: The anti-establishment, populist M5S closed ranks ahead of an upcoming no-confidence vote in parliament. They stopped short of completely cutting ties with Interior Minister Salvini's far-right League party, however.