Europe

PARIS, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- France-based European Space Agency (ESA) on Saturday announced that it had successfully launched BepiColombo, a joint European-Japanese spacecraft on a seven-year journey "to study the mysteries of the solar system's innermost planet."

Europe's first mission to Mercury, BepiColombo, in cooperation with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), blasted off on an Ariane 5 from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, in French Guiana, at 01:45:28 GMT on Oct. 20.

DUBLIN, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Irish police on Friday launched a 24-hour nation-wide operation to crack down on speeding to mark the country's National Slow Down Day.

The operation, which kicked off at 7:00 a.m. Friday morning, is aimed at reducing the number of speed-related collisions on the Irish roads.

The operation consists of high visibility speed enforcement over 1,000 enforcement zones across the country as well as the delivery of road safety messages to motorists through the use of the national, local and social media, said the police.

ANKARA, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Turkish foreign minister on Friday said they have not shared any audio recording of Khashoggi case with anyone, amid reports that Ankara had given a recording related to the missing Saudi journalist to the United States.

"Turkey did not give anyone or any country the recording. It is out of question for Turkey to give any kind of audio tape to Pompeo or any other U.S. official," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told media during a visit to Albania, Turkish meida Hurriyet quoted as saying.

MOSCOW, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend a summit on Syria with leaders of Turkey, Germany and France, the Kremlin said Friday.

"The parties plan to exchange views on the Syrian problems, including promotion of the political settlement process, further steps in the interests of strengthening security and stability, creating conditions for the return of refugees and restoring the socio-economic infrastructure," it said in a statement.

THE HAGUE, October 10. /TASS/. Russia considers the UK’s insinuations over Russian chemical weapons as direct disrespect for the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and member states of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Russian Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Georgy Kalamanov said on Wednesday.

Kalamanov who is heading the Russian delegation made this statement at the 89th session of the OPCW Executive Committee.

THE HAGUE, October 10. /TASS/. Russia is urging the United States to eliminate its chemical weapons stockpiles ahead of the established deadline, Russia’s chief delegate, Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Georgy Kalamanov told the 89th session of the OPCW Executive Council.

"We insistently call upon Washington to consider its capabilities regarding the elimination of declared chemical weapons and to follow in our footsteps to do that ahead of the declared deadline in strict accordance with the Chemical Weapons Convention," he said.

KOKTEBEL / Republic of Crimea/, October 10. /TASS/. Russia finds worrisome the situation in the eastern bank of the Euphrates, where the United States is creating some special administration with support from the Kurds, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news briefing on Wednesday.

"Regrettably, the situation in the eastern bank of the Euphrates is causing growing alarm," she said. "As a matter of fact the Americans rule the roost in this zone with reliance on their Kurdish allies."

MOSCOW, October 10. /TASS/. Russia by the end of April 2019 will deploy in Cuba a mobile receiver of data from remote sensing satellites in the optical and infrared wavelength ranges, as follows from information available at the government purchases website.

The receiver, created in 2015, has passed government certification tests. The station is to go operational before April 30, 2019. It will be receiving data from the satellites Resurs-P, Kanopus-V and Kanopus-V-IK with an infrared camera and transmit them to Russia via Luch data relay satellites.

KIEV, October 10. /TASS/. About fifty houses were destroyed as a result of the explosions at the ammunitions depot in the Avgustovka settlement (Ichnya District) in northern Ukraine's Chernigov Region, the TSN (Television News Network) website of the Ukrainian 1+1 channel informed on Wednesday.

"About 50 houses only in the Avgustovka settlement are fully unfit for living. Four houses caught fire after a direct projectile hit. Other houses were smashed. The people evacuated have no home to return to," the message informs.

KOKTEBEL /Crimea/, October 10. /TASS/. The British special services’ instructions authorizing agents to commit crimes in foreign countries make the United Kingdom look like ‘the Evil Empire,’ Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Wednesday.

"The British public start asking questions about activity of their special services," she said. "Documents have been made public about the MI5 policy authorizing its agents to commit criminal acts."