Europe

MOSCOW, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Russia will take necessary measures if the United States implements its plans to conduct anti-missile tests, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Friday.

The ministry said it noted recent reports by U.S. media about Pentagon's intention to test the SM-3 Block IIA interceptor against intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) in 2020 and recalled similar plans announced in U.S. Missile Defense Review published in January.

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders worried about China’s growing power are devising plans to counter the ambitions of a country they describe as a “systemic rival.”

The European Council will discuss on Friday a 10-point strategy set out by the European Commission before an EU-China summit next month.

The EU wants to “fully address the distortive effects of foreign state ownership” and “achieve a more balanced and reciprocal economic relationship.”

22 Mar 2019; AFP: Around four in 10 British adults have been left feeling powerless, angry or worried by Brexit in the past year, according to a poll out Friday.

The Mental Health Foundation (MHF) charity commissioned the survey to look at the impact of Britain's impending departure from the European Union on how people feel, their sleep and their relationships.

The poll found that Brexit had made 43 percent feel powerless, 39 percent feel angry and 38 percent feel worried.

22 Mar 2019; DW: On a visit to fellow EU member Croatia, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he is convinced that Europe needed to "speak with one voice" to still be relevant internationally.

In a jibe at recent nationalist tendencies across Europe, he said that "a withdrawal into the national shell that some are dreaming of cannot be the answer to Europe's past."

22 Mar 2019; DW: Around 45 percent of migrants taking part in language and integration courses in Germany do not pass, according to media reports citing the response to a request for information by the far-right AfD party.

Of the roughly 202,000 people taking a course in 2018, 93,500 failed, according to government data cited in the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung daily. One in four failed even after doing additional classes.

MOSCOW, March 22. /TASS/. The NATO airstrike on the Chinese embassy in Belgrade on May 7, 1999, could have been deliberate, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview for NTV’s "U-Turn Above the Atlantic" documentary.

"I think it was an accident but I am not completely sure," Lavrov said when asked to comment on the airstrike.

MOSCOW, March 21. /TASS/. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg at last month’s meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Munich failed to present a single shred of evidence that Russia was in breach of the Intermediate Nuclear Force Treaty, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, responding to Stoltenberg’s claims that NATO was certain about Moscow’s violations of the agreement.

LONDON, March 21 (Xinhua) -- An operations room in an underground bunker at the Ministry of Defense (MoD)'s Central London headquarters has been readied to handle a no-deal Brexit, reports said Thursday.

The nuclear bunker, said to be deep in the bowels of the MoD offices in Whitehall, will be used as a control center to coordinate efforts if Britain leaves the European Union without a deal.

BRUSSELS, March 21 (Xinhua) -- European Union's (EU) 27 members unanimously agreed to Art. 50 extension until May 22 if Withdrawal Agreement is approved next week by Britain's House of Commons, President of the European Council Donald Tusk said on Twitter Thursday.

If the Withdrawal Agreement is not approved next week, then extension will go to April 12, said Tusk.

The EU27 also approved the Strasbourg Agreement on Thursday and will continue no-deal preparations, said Tusk.

ROME, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's upcoming visit to Italy would boost the prospects of stronger bilateral cooperation within the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) framework, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told Chinese media on Wednesday.

"The tradition of our relationship is very ancient, as our two cultures can be traced back to one or two thousand years ago," Conte said, noting that Xi will be the first Chinese president to visit Italy in a decade.