Europe

22 June 2019; DW: The foundation of American billionaire George Soros plans to expand operations in eastern Germany, where right-wing populists are strong, his Open Society Foundation said Friday.

22 June 2019; DW: Several people were injured in the German capital on Friday evening when a man urinated off a bridge onto a tour boat, the Berlin Fire Department said.

The sprinkle of urine from overhead caused a commotion on the boat as it passed under the low-clearance Jannowitz Bridge in Berlin-Mitte.

Several people jumped up and were injured on the head as the boat passed under the 4-meter-high (12-foot) bridge spanning the Spree River, the Fire Department said.

21 June 2019; DW: Freiburg, typically a tranquil town in Germany's Black Forest, has seen two mysterious deaths this week that have left police scrambling for answers, authorities reported on Thursday. The town's police department said they were searching for a group of four men who beat a 51-year-old so severely he died of internal bleeding.

LONDON, June 22/ TASS/: UK government’s accusations against Syria and Russia of striking civilian targets in Idlib are based on information from unreliable sources, the Russian Embassy in London has said in a statement.

MOSCOW, June 21. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree, which imposes a temporary ban on passenger flights with Georgia from July 8, the Kremlin press service reported.

"From July 8, 2019, Russian airlines are temporarily prohibited from carrying out air transportation (including commercial flights) of citizens from the territory of the Russian Federation to the territory of Georgia," the document says.

MINSK, June 22. /TASS/: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has officially declared the Minsk 2019 European Games open.

The opening ceremony took place at the Dynamo National Olympic Stadium and was attended by many high-ranking state officials, including Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Moldovan President Igor Dodon, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and State Secretary of the Union State of Russia and Belarus Grigory Rapota.

The honor of lighting the flame of the Games was bestowed on seven leading Belarusian athletes.

MOSCOW, June 21. /TASS/: The free trade zone agreement by and between Egypt and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) can be signed next year, Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov told reporters on Friday.

"I believe there is a chance to complete work and sign the agreement at the EAEU level next year," Manturov said.

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — The speaker of Georgia’s parliament stepped down Friday in the wake of violent clashes that left at least 240 people injured, but the move failed to assuage protesters, who returned to the streets demanding that the interior minister also step down over a brutal police response.

GROZNY, June 21. /TASS/: Head of the Memorial Human Rights Center’s Chechen office Oyub Titiyev, sentenced to four years for drug possession, has been released from prison on parole, a TASS correspondent reported, adding that Titiyev’s family members, colleagues and lawyers had welcomed him at the prison gate.

Chechnya’s Shali District Court had earlier upheld Titiyev’s parole application.

MOSCOW, June 21. /TASS/: Moscow keeps a close watch on the current tensions in the Persian Gulf and over Iran and calls on everybody to display restraint, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media on Friday.

"Tensions in the Persian Gulf are high and they cause extreme concern," he said when asked about another spiral of tensions between Iran and the United States.

"We keep a close watch on the situation and call on all countries concerned to display restraint," Peskov said.