Europe

GORKI, April 24. /TASS/. Research and development for the S-500 air defense system is in the final phase, Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov told the media on Wednesday.

"I’m talking about the completion of research and development and the subsequent beginning of batch production. I can now say that the R&D work is about to be completed," Manturov said.

Earlier, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the system would begin to be provided for the armed forces in 2020. The Aerospace Force Academy in Tver has been training operators for it since 2017.

24 Apr 2019; AFP: British Prime Minister Theresa May has given the go-ahead for China's Huawei to help build a 5G network, shrugging off security warnings from senior ministers and Washington, the Daily Telegraph reported Wednesday.

The country's National Security Council, which is chaired by May, agreed Tuesday to allow the Chinese technology giant limited access to build "non-core" infrastructure such as antennas, the report said.

24 Apr 2019; DW: German exports decreased again in the first quarter of this year — a decrease of 7.4 percent from the same point last year. Germany's Economy Ministry cites a "restrictive and responsible" export policy as the reason.

The German government approved arms exports worth €1.12 billion ($1.3 billion) in the first quarter of 2019, Germany's Economy Ministry reported on Tuesday.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Russia by train on Wednesday, a day before his much-anticipated summit with President Vladimir Putin that comes amid deadlocked diplomacy on his nuclear program.

Kim, dressed in a black coat and a fedora, met with Russian officials at Russia’s Khasan train station near its border with the North. The official website of the Primorye governor released pictures of Kim stepping off the train and given the traditional Russian bread and salt at the station.

Moscow, April 23, IRNA – Defense Minister Brigadier-General Amir Hatami said upon arriving in Moscow on Tuesday that he is going to talk about the dangers of Trumpism and the necessity to fight it.

SAMARA, April 23. /TASS/. Russian-developed system Neurochat, which allows the power of thought to control devices and go online and surf the world web, began to be batch-produced this year, the project’s director, Natalya Galkina, said at the presentation of the system in Samara on Tuesday.

23 Apr 2019; DW: Detectives investigating the murder of Northern Irish journalist Lyra McKee have arrested a 57-year-old woman under the Terrorism Act in connection with the incident, police said Tuesday.

The arrest came a day after police released two men without charge and hours after the armed republican group known as the New IRA told The Irish News newspaper that one of its members shot McKee in the city of Londonderry/Derry on Thursday.

LONDON, April 22 (Xinhua) -- Prime Minister Theresa May is to face an unprecedented vote of no confidence in her leadership, another one since December, from her grassroots supporters within the Conservative Party in an attempt to oust her over her handling of Brexit, British media reported on Monday.

According to the BBC, more than 70 bosses of local Conservative associations have signed a petition calling for an extraordinary general meeting, with May's position at the top of the agenda.

BERN, Switzerland, April 21 (Xinhua) -- China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a fundamental task crucial for generations to come, which, when implemented smoothly, will bring many benefits to both the economic development and the well-being of the people worldwide, President Ueli Maurer of the Swiss Confederation has said.

In a joint interview with Chinese media, Maurer said BRI has created a new dimension for the development of world economy, which as such a long-term strategic plan is rarely seen so far.

MOSCOW, April 22. /TASS/. A group of Russian inspectors will conduct an observation flight over the United States’ territory on April 22-27, Head of the National Nuclear Risk Reduction Center Sergey Ryzhkov said, according to Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper.

"In the framework of implementing the international Treaty on Open Skies a Russian group of inspectors plans to perform an observation flight on a Russian aircraft Tu-214ON over the United States’ territory," the newspaper writes on Monday.