Europe

15 June 2019; MEMO: Belgian State Council decided on Friday to suspend the licenses of arms exports to Saudi Arabia fearing their use against civilians in Yemen, media sources reported.

In recent months Belgium’s Foreign Minister Didier Reynders has been a vocal advocate against arms sales to the kingdom because of its human rights violations in Yemen.

15 June 2019; MEMO: The United Nations’ highest court for inter-state disputes on Friday rejected a United Arab Emirates request for immediate measures against Qatar in a dispute over alleged discrimination between the Arab neighbours, Reuters reports.

15 June 2019; AFP: Mediterranean countries say they have taken a key step towards finding out the fate of thousands of migrants -- many fleeing Syria's war -- who have gone missing while trying to reach Europe.

At a meeting of the International Commission for Missing Persons in The Hague this week, Cyprus, Greece and Malta pledged to coordinate and beef up their efforts to trace nearly 18,500 migrants who have disappeared since 2014 while making the perilous journey across the Mediterranean.

15 June 2019; AFP: The EU has sealed a deal to end a long-running row with Washington over US beef imports, a statement said on Friday, with hopes that the agreement can ease transatlantic trade tensions.

"With this step, the European Union reaffirms its commitment to bring about a new phase in the relationship with the United States," said EU Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan in a statement.

15 June 2019; DW: Moldova's Democratic Party, led by powerful oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc, announced its resignation on Friday, ceding power to a new coalition.

However, the Democrats consider the new Moldovan government to be illegal and that a snap election should be held to decide who leads the impoverished ex-Soviet republic out of a political crisis.

15 June 2019; DW: An unexploded 100-kilogram (220-pound) bomb from World War II was unearthed at a construction site near Berlin's Alexanderplatz and later defused, police said on Twitter in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Police said there were "unexpected technical problems" but that they were "quickly taken care of."

Authorities had closed off an area within a 300-meter (1,000-foot) radius of the bomb as it was being defused but said only part of the area needed to be evacuated.

15 June 2019; DW: The first group of Ukrainian nationals claimed their Russian passports under a simplified procedure on Friday as part of a Russian program condemned by the Ukrainian government in Kyiv and the country's Western allies.

NEVINNOMYSSK /Stavropol Region/, June 15. /TASS/: The Interstate Aviation Committee’s report about the May 5 accident involving the SSJ 100 plane at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport confirmed that all systems of the ill-fated aircraft worked normally, Russian Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov told journalists.

DONETSK, June 14. /TASS/: As many as 125 ceasefire violations by Ukrainian troops were reported in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) over the past week, Eduard Basurin, a spokesman for the DPR’s defense ministry, said on Friday.

CHISINAU, June 15. /TASS/: Vladimir Plahotniuc, the leader of Moldova’s ruling-turned-opposition Democratic Party left the country "for a couple of days," the party’s press service said on Saturday.

"Due to media speculations about the alleged disappearance of the Moldova Democratic Party leader, we announce that Vladimir Plahotniuc left the country for a couple of days to visit his family," the press service said in a statement.