Europe

PARIS, July 26 (Xinhua) -- French Minister of the Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, said on Friday that the digital tax on internet giants was "a national decision" that the government would put on the ground, defying U.S. threat of "a substantial reciprocal action".

"France will implement its national decisions," French newspaper Le Figaro quoted Le Maire as saying, in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's warning.

LONDON, July 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) – UK warships will accompany all British-flagged vessels through the Strait of Hormuz in a change of policy after the government earlier said it did not have the resources to protect every ship from Iranian aggression.

A British government spokesman said ships passing through the strategically important chokepoint would be accompanied either individually or in a convoy.

LONDON, July 25. /TASS/: The European Union is not going to revisit the agreement on the terms of Brexit reached by Theresa May’s government, TV channel Sky News reported on Thursday, disclosing the details of the telephone conversation between President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker and new UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

LONDON, July 26. /TASS/: British media regulator Ofcom has fined Russia’s RT news channel 200,000 pounds ($250,000) for breaking broadcasting rules, Ofcom said in a statement on Friday.

"Ofcom has today fined the news channel RT 200,000 pounds for serious failures to comply with our broadcasting rules - and required the channel to broadcast a summary of our findings to its viewers," the statement reads.

KRASNODAR, July 26. /TASS/: All crew members of the Nika Spirit tanker detained in Ukraine are in good health, a spokesperson for the vessel’s owner, Fos Shipping Management, told TASS. The crew members earlier returned to Russia from Ukraine.

"Everyone is fine, they didn’t suffer any injuries, no one used violence against them," the spokesperson said.

KIEV, July 26. /TASS/: Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky's Servant of People party is winning the snap parliamentary election with 43.16% of the votes, the Central Election Commission (CEC) says after all 100% of the ballots have been counted.

Four other parties have overcome the five-percent threshold. Opposition Platform - For Life received 13.05% of the votes, former prime minister Yulia Timoshenko's Batkivshchina - 8.18%, former president Pyotr Poroshenko's European Solidarity - 8.10%, and singer Svyatoslav Vakarchuk's Golos (Voice) - 5.82%.

26 July 2019; DW: Police stopped a man who was crossing the border to Belgium with grenades and guns packed into his car. A bomb disposal unit needed to be called in after they made an explosive discovery.

Police confiscated a stash of weapons including 150 kilograms (330 pounds) of explosives and around 300 grenades after they pulled over a car on the French-Belgian border in late June, the French government said Thursday.

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged the European Union on Thursday to rethink its refusal to renegotiate the Brexit deal, setting himself on a collision course with both the bloc and his own lawmakers over his vow to leave the EU by Oct. 31.

Addressing a rowdy session of Parliament for the first time since becoming prime minister a day earlier, Johnson pledged to deliver Brexit and a “broader and bolder future.”

MOSCOW, July 25. /TASS/: The Black Sea Fleet’s warships have lined up in a parade formation in the Sevastopol Bay ahead of Russia’s Navy Day celebrations, the Fleet’s press office reported on Thursday.

"The Black Sea Fleet’s warships have completed forming their parade lineup in the Sevastopol Bay," the press office said in a statement.

Sevastopol residents and guests will be able to view the submarine Novorossiysk, the air-cushion missile ship Samum, the frigate Admiral Makarov, the missile gunboat R-60 and other warships.

HELSINKI, July 25. /TASS/: The Finnish Border Guard issued a statement on Thursday that a foreign aircraft that allegedly violated its airspace on July 17 was a Russian plane.

"It was confirmed during the investigation that a state Russian plane violated the airspace of Finland at 09:23 local time (coincides with Moscow time) on July 17 near the city of Porvoo," the statement reads.

The Finnish Border Guard claimed that the plane had stayed in Finland's airspace for about two minutes, having flown one kilometer into its territory.