Europe

3 July 2019; DW: The European Council proposed German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen to become European Commission president, European Council President Donald Tusk said Tuesday.

Von der Leyen, a member of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives (CDU/CSU), would be the first female Commission president if confirmed by the European Parliament. Her nomination needs an absolute majority of the chamber's 751 members to be ratified.

Brussels, Jul 3 (AFP/PTI) Senior EU chiefs on Tuesday warned Britain the bloc's new leadership would not change course and offer concessions on the Brexit deal struck with London.

European Council President Donald Tusk said Tuesday he was "absolutely sure" the new leaders chosen after marathon summit talks would not waver.

Both men running to succeed British Prime Minister Theresa May -- Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt -- say they want to renegotiate the divorce agreement thrashed out with the EU.

Kochi, Jul 2 (PTI) Pope Francis will declare Mariam Thresia Chiramel Mankidiyan, an Indian nun, a saint on October 13, her congregation said here Tuesday.

The Pope has formally approved the canonisation of Mariam Thresia, foundress of the Sisters of the Holy Family, at an ordinary public consistory of cardinals on causes of canonisation at the Vatican on July 1, it said.

He has decreed that the canonisation will take place in St Peters Square on October 13 this year, the congregation said.

ROME (AP) — The sea captain who rammed a police boat while bringing 40 rescued migrants to an Italian port she’d been warned to stay out of must be freed from house arrest, a judge ruled Tuesday in a decision that angered the Italian government minister who had declared the defiant mariner an outlaw.

Carola Rackete, 31, was arrested after she docked the rescue ship of German nonprofit group Sea-Watch at Italy’s tiny Lampedusa island early Saturday, 17 days after taking the migrant passengers aboard off Libya.

VIENNA, July 2 (Xinhua) -- Ten non-OPEC oil producing countries led by Russia endorsed on Tuesday the decision by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to extend production cuts until next March.

They made the agreement during the 6th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting held here in Austrian capital.

MINSK, July 2. /TASS/: The situation along the contact line in Donbass is rapidly spiraling into critical, Natalya Nikonorova, the foreign minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and the DPR envoy to the Minsk peace talks, said at the Tuesday meeting of the Contact Group’s security subgroup.

"The cases of shelling and the caliber of the weapons used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces have multiplied in the past month," the DPR Foreign Ministry quoted Nikonorova as saying in its Telegram channel.

MOSCOW, July 3. /TASS/: The Russian Industry and Trade Ministry has signed special investment contracts (SPICs) with automobile companies Volkswagen, GM-Avtovaz, PSA, Volvo, Toyota and Avtotor, the ministry said in a statement.

"The SPICs that were signed will allow to attract over 100 billion rubles to the Russian economy in the form of private investment by the world’s leading automobile concerns and to localize the production of key elements: engines, transmissions and car control systems," the statement quoted Russian Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov as saying.

MOSCOW, July 3. /TASS/: A full-fledged discussion on reforming the World Trade Organization (WTO) within the framework of the G20 group of nations will be possible only after a ‘position paper’ is prepared by the G20 chair country, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak has told TASS in an interview.

MOSCOW, July 2. /TASS/: The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday it had not notified the Norwegian authorities about a ‘gas explosion’ on board a Russian Navy research submersible.

"Thanks to self-sacrificing actions of the crew, the fire at the submersible vehicle was put out. No notifications regarding the Russian deep-sea research submersible have ever been sent to the Norwegian side," the ministry said.

MOSCOW, July 3. /TASS/: Engines of Russia’s Zvezda module of the International Space Station have been switched on to raise the orbital outpost’s average altitude, a spokesperson for the Central Research Institute of Machine-Building (TsNIImash), which is in charge of the Mission Control Center, told TASS on Wednesday.

"The orbit adjustment proceeded normally," the source said.

Earlier, a TsNIImash source said the average altitude of the station was to be raised by 900 meters, to 413.7 km.