Europe

20 July 2019; DW: Tourists and a helicopter pilot have reported dozens of dead whales to authorities in Iceland.

David Schwarzhans and his American passengers, who were on a sightseeing tour, counted 50 long-finned pilot whales washed up on a remote beach in the west of the Nordic island.

The group took a video of their discovery on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula and alerted police on Thursday but the details were only made public on Saturday.

20 July 2019; DW: Germany's Catholic Church lost 216,078 members and Protestant churches lost some 220,000 in 2018, according to data published on Friday by the German Bishops' Conference and the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD).

In total, around 23 million German citizens are still members of the Catholic Church and 21.14 million are members of the Protestant churches. The two groups account for 53.2% of the country's total population of over 83 million.

20 July 2019; MEMO: Russia is ready to discuss supplying Su-35 fighter jets to Turkey, the head of the state-owned Rostec corporation said in a statement yesterday.

“If our Turkish colleagues express a desire, we are ready to work out deliveries of Su-35 fighter jets,” Sergei Chemezov said, according to the statement.

MOSCOW, July 20. /TASS/: Russia should ensure that the rights of Russian citizens on board of the detained British tanker Stena Impero are observed, chairman of the Russian Federation Council's International Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev said on Saturday.

MAGNITOGORSK, July 19. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin put into operation the second stage of the sintering plant No. 5, a new unit of the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK). The plant thereby achieved its total production capacity.

"Yes, let’s do it," the head of state said in the central control room, responding to a request to give the start to plant operation.

The newly constructed sintering plant that applies the best available technologies is to replace the obsolete plant, making it possible to significantly reduce the adverse impact on environment.

MOSCOW, July 20. /TASS/: The market assessment of Russia's sovereign credit rating considerably surpasses those provided by rating agencies, Russian Economic Development Minister Maxim Oreshkin told Rossiya-24 TV channel on Friday.

"It is much more important for Russia how the market assesses us, what is happening on the domestic credit market, what is happening on foreign markets. Here we see that the market assessment of Russia's risk is much better than that made by rating agencies," Oreshkin said.

LONDON, July 20. /TASS/: Birtish transport company Norbulk Shipping UK has confirmed that the Liberian registered tanker Mesdar was allowed to continue its voyage after being "boarded by armed personnel" when crossing through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian news agency Tasnim earlier reported that Mesdar was allowed to continue its voyage after receiving warnings over security and water pollution.

MOSCOW, July 20. /TASS/: Twenty-five residential houses remain flooded in the Irkutsk region's town of Tulun, the press service of the Russian Emergencies Ministry's regional department told TASS on Saturday.

"One settlement remains flooded — the town of Tulun. Twenty-five residential houses remain flooded, with 62 people affected by the floods, including 12 children," the press service said.

A total of 345 people remain in places of temporary stay, including 80 children.

MAGNITOGORSK, July 19. /TASS/: The summits of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) and SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) under Russia's chairmanship will be held in St. Petersburg, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday with Chelyabkinsk Region's acting governor Alexey Teksler.

The summits were earlier planned to be held in Chelyabinsk. Putin noted that other events in the framework of Russia's chairmanship in BRICS and SCO will be held in Chelyabinsk.

MOSCOW, July 19. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed concern over the confrontation between the United States and Iran. He said this to US director Oliver Stone in an interview published on the official Kremlin website on Friday.

"This worries us because this is happening near our borders. This may destabilize the situation around Iran, affect some countries with which we have very close relations, causing additional refugee flows on a large scale plus substantially damage the world economy as well as the global energy sector," Putin said.