Europe

LONDON, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Britain's new Prime Minister Boris Johnson named the first of his new front bench ministers on Wednesday night, just hours after moving into 10 Downing Street.

In what has been the biggest political reshuffle since the early 1960s, more than half of government ministers who served under former Prime Minister Theresa May were either sacked or resigned.

BERLIN (AP) — Europeans cooled off in public fountains Wednesday as a new heat wave spread across parts of the continent and was already breaking records.

Belgium and Germany registered their highest-ever temperatures, while the Netherlands saw its hottest day in 75 years.

And the mercury is expected to rise even further.

Paris and other parts of France could see temperatures exceeding 40 C (104 F) on Thursday along with Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Switzerland.

LONDON (AP) — The latest on Boris Johnson officially becoming Britain’s new prime minister (all times local):

3:15 a.m.

Australia’s prime minister has congratulated Boris Johnson and hopes to ink one of Britain’s first bilateral trade deals after Brexit.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday he and Johnson are both looking forward to meeting at the Group of 7 summit in France next month and to “moving very quickly, when the opportunity presents” to reach a trade deal.

LONDON (AP) — Boris Johnson took over as Britain’s prime minister Wednesday, vowing to break the impasse that defeated his predecessor by leading the country out of the European Union and silencing “the doubters, the doomsters, the gloomsters” who believe it can’t be done.

But the brash Brexit champion faces the same problems that flummoxed Theresa May during her three years in office: heading a government without a parliamentary majority and with most lawmakers opposed to leaving the EU without a divorce deal.

MOSCOW, July 24. /TASS/: Russia rejects new allegations by FBI Director Christopher Wray of meddling in US elections, there are no grounds for that whatsoever, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters on Wednesday.

"Our stance has remained unchanged. There are no grounds whatsoever for asserting that Russia tried or is going to meddle [in US elections], as the FBI head said recently," Ryabkov stressed.

MOSCOW, July 24. /TASS/: Russia fully discharged its commitments in 2018 under the Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (the new START Treaty), First Deputy Head of the Russian General Staff’s Main Operational Department Lieutenant-General Viktor Poznikhir said on Wednesday.

"In 2018, Russia fully discharged its commitments and reached the threshold levels for strategic offensive arms stipulated by the treaty," the general said at a session of the International Affairs Committee in the upper house of Russia’s parliament.

KHABAROVSK, July 24. /TASS/: The children’s camp at the Kholdomi recreation center in Russia’s Far Eastern Khabarovsk Region where a deadly fire killed four children, will be closed, Minister of Education and Science of the Khabarovsk Region Alla Kuznetsova said on Wednesday.

"It was decided to close the camp, the children are being evacuated. Currently, there are 11 psychologists there who help evacuate them," Kuznetsova said.

The Ministry of Education did not specify when the camp would be closed.

MOSCOW, June 24. /TASS/: The return of the Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft with the android robot Fedor, which is due to travel to the International Space Station (ISS) on August 22, has been rescheduled for September 7, Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos told TASS on Wednesday.

"The landing of the Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft has been rescheduled from September 3 for September 7," the federal space agency said.

MOSCOW, July 24. /TASS/: Russia has launched an operation to deliver the 2nd regiment set of S-400 surface-to-air missile systems to China by sea, a source in military and diplomatic circles told TASS on Wednesday.

"A transport vessel with the first batch of hardware from the second S-400 regiment set for China has taken to the sea from the port of Ust-Luga on the Baltic coast. Therefore, like in the case with Turkey, the deliveries of the systems have started several months ahead of the term stipulated in the contract," the source said.

24 July 2019; AFP: The EU is ready to hit the United States with extra tariffs on goods worth 35 billion euros if Washington slaps duties on its cars, its trade chief said Tuesday.

The warning by EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom came as she said a plan by Europe and United States to reach a limited trade deal was at a standstill.