Europe

GENEVA, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- China asks for the authorization from the World Trade Organization (WTO) to impose an annual trade sanction of 7 billion U.S. dollars on U.S. goods, as a result of the failure of the United States to comply with a WTO's ruling, according to documents published on Tuesday by the WTO.

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on Tuesday called for promoting sub-national cooperation to cement bilateral relations and benefit the two peoples.

The two heads of state made the remarks while attending a roundtable meeting on regional cooperation between the two countries on the sidelines of the fourth Eastern Economic Forum (EEF), which is running from Tuesday to Thursday in Vladivostok in Russia's Far East.

PARIS, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- A poll released Tuesday showed that seven out of ten French people have an unfavorable opinion of President Emmanuel Macron, marking a record low approval rating likely to weigh on the reform ambitions of France's youngest head of state in modern history.

Less than a quarter of respondents view the 40-year-old president favorably, down by 12 percentage points from June's survey, according to the latest survey by pollster Odoxa, commissioned by France Inter, L'Express and regional media.

VLADIVOSTOK, September 11. /TASS/. Pre-clinical studies to create a new domestic drug based on the yttrium-90 isotope to treat liver cancer can be completed within the next few months, Andrei Kaprin, Director General of Russia’s National Medical Research Radiology Center and full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told TASS on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum.

"Pre-clinical studies of a potential pharmaceutical drug based on the yttrium-90 isotope could be completed within the next two or three months. We have very good results there," he said.

VLADIVOSTOK, September 11. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin expects that the volume of trade turnover between Russia and China in 2018 will reach $100 bln.

"Last year the volume of trade turnover amounted to $87 bln, this year we will almost certainly reach $100 bln," Putin said opening the meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

According to him, annual growth of the figure reaches more than 30%.

MOSCOW, September 11. /TASS/. Washington’s threats to use force against Syria are part of its ongoing blackmail policy, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told reporters on Tuesday.

"This is absolutely the policy of threats and blackmail," Ryabkov stressed.

Chemnitz; 9 Sep 2018; DW: The reported attack on a Jewish restaurant in the eastern German city of Chemnitz has shocked the Jewish community in Germany. The government's anti-Semitism commissioner has spoken of a "new quality" of offense.

MOSCOW, September 9. /TASS/. Phosphorous bombs were used by the US air force warplanes to deliver a strike on the settlement of Hajin in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor governorate on September 8, chief of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Parties Vladimir Savchenko said on Sunday.

"On September 8, 2018, two F-15 warplanes of the US air force delivered airstrikes on the settlement of Hajin with the use of phosphorous bombs. The airstrikes caused heavy fires. Information about casualties and damages is being verified," he said.

GENEVA, September 10. /TASS/. High-ranking Russian diplomats have begun consultations with United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura on the formation of a Syrian constitutional committee in Geneva. The Russian delegation includes Special Presidential Envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentyev and Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin.

DUBLIN, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- The number of British nationals becoming Irish citizens stood at 529 persons in 2017, more than five times higher than the figure of 98 recorded in the previous year, reported local media on Sunday.

The Irish Times, a local daily newspaper, quoted Senator Neale Richmon of the Irish parliament as saying that the 2016 number of British nationals giving up their citizenship for Irish passports was almost doubled than the 2015 figure which stood at 54.