Europe

MOSCOW, January 23. /TASS/. A perpetrator who tried to break into the cockpit on an Aeroflot flight en route from the Siberian city of Surgut to Moscow did not seem drunk and was behaving adequately, which is why his threats were taken seriously, air hostesses told reporters on Wednesday.

MOSCOW, January 22. /TASS/. Russia’s media watchdog (Roskomnadzor) has unblocked 2.7 mln IP addresses belonging to Amazon, says a statement from the watchdog.

"Roskomnadzor experts have figured out that the Telegram messaging service stopped using those subnets to ensure its functioning a long time ago," the statement reads.

According to the RNS news agency, the Ariston company earlier reported that owners of Ariston water heaters and gas boilers were facing issues using the Ariston Net app for remote control purposes.

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- The opening of China's market is likely to increase the competitiveness of the Chinese economy, which could serve as a future driver of global growth, experts attending the ongoing World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting said Tuesday.

Attending a penal discussion titled "Rethinking Global Financial Risk," Fang Xinghai, vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said that the Chinese economy may slow down in 2019 but "it won't be a collapse."

22 Jan 2019; AFP: The Davos elite say they are more worried than ever about climate change. But that isn't stopping them chartering private jets in record numbers.

The convenience and comfort of flying privately rather than commercially appears to outweigh any concerns about the outsized carbon footprint it involves, judging by a number-crunching exercise by the company Air Charter Service (ACS).

It forecast nearly 1,500 private jet flights over the week of the World Economic Forum (WEF) to airports near Davos in the Swiss Alps.

23 Jan 2019; AFP: Cristiano Ronaldo avoided jail on Tuesday but was ordered by a Spanish court to pay 3.57 million euros ($4.1 million) for committing tax fraud when he was at Real Madrid.

The court sentenced him to a two-year jail sentence that it immediately reduced to a fine of 365,000 euros, which adds on to another penalty of 3.2 million euros, the sentence read.

23 Jan 2019; AFP: British MPs frustrated with Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit strategy are seeking to force a new approach, which could include delaying Britain's exit from the EU and holding a second referendum.

The House of Commons rejected May's withdrawal deal last week, leaving Britain on course to exit the EU on March 29 with no deal.

She has promised to try once again to amend the agreement, but critics say she will not succeed -- and that parliament must now take control.

23 Jan 2019; AFP: Sony will shift its European headquarters from Britain to the Netherlands to avoid Brexit-related customs issues, but operations at its current UK company will remain unchanged, a company spokesman said Wednesday.

"We are moving the location of our European headquarters' registration to the Netherlands" by the end of March, company spokesman Takashi Iida told AFP.

The relocation is aimed at avoiding cumbersome customs-related procedures after Britain leaves the European Union, he said.

22 Jan 2019; DW: Some 80 police officers stormed the apartment of a 73-year-old German in the eastern city of Görlitz on Tuesday, after he stole 600 meters of train tracks and sold them for scrap. The pensioner made some 16,000 euros ($18,160) selling the disused track to scrap yards.

Police in Görlitz said that the unusually high number of officers taking part in the operation was due to the man's criminal record, which included a violation of Germany's weapons laws.

22 Jan 2019; DW: UK billionaire and Brexit campaigner James Dyson announced on Tuesday that he is moving the headquarters of his company, famous for its cordless vacuum cleaners, to Singapore. Dyson insisted that the move had nothing to do with the UK's exit from the European Union.

"An increasing majority of Dyson's customers and all of our manufacturing operations are now in Asia; this shift has been occurring for some time and will quicken as Dyson brings its electrical vehicle to market," the company said in a statement.

22 Jan 2019; DW: US Ambassador Richard Grenell says months of pressure from the United States led Germany to ban Iran's Mahan Air. But German officials say they've cut off the carrier as part of their own security policy.

US Ambassador Richard Grenell is claiming a diplomatic victory after German officials decided to ban the Iranian airline Mahan Air from operating within the country.