Europe

MOSCOW, March 27. /TASS/. The annual Russian-Chinese Maritime Cooperation-2019 naval exercise will be held in late April and early May, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

MOSCOW, March 27. /TASS/. Russian Space Systems (RSS) has developed a space system capable of taking hold of decommissioned satellites in the Earth’s orbit to grind and process them into fuel, Project Developer and RSS Research Engineer Marina Barkova told TASS on Wednesday.

The space debris disposal system will be able to capture "decommissioned small satellites in low orbits (from 500 to 700 km)," the engineer said.

MOSCOW, March 27. /TASS/. Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied on Wednesday media reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu allegedly handed over to President Vladimir Putin some plan regarding the resolution of the ongoing conflict in Syria.

"I cannot confirm this information," Peskov said. "In this case details must be apparently clarified to establish what plan we are talking about here and what [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu meant when he spoke about it."

MOSCOW, March 27. /TASS/. Unilateral approaches of the US and its allies increase tensions in the world and defy international law, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a session of the Alexander Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Fund’s Board of Trustees.

Efforts taken by public diplomacy "play a major role in maintaining trust and mutual understanding between the peoples, between the civic societies," the top diplomat stressed.

MOSCOW, March 27. /TASS/. The Kremlin is not commenting on the issue of anti-satellite weapon tests held by India and on whether Russia possesses such weapons, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday.

Responding to a question about whether Russia has tested anti-satellite weapons as the US intelligence reported earlier, the Kremlin spokesman said as follows: "You should address this question to US intelligence, the Americans should explain what they mean."

MOSCOW, March 27. /TASS/. The Russian Navy will get over 180 warships and vessels of new Projects under the state armament plan for 2018-2027, Defense Minister Army General Sergei Shoigu said at a meeting with defense chiefs on Wednesday.

"We will begin today’s meeting with the discussion of the draft program on the development of the moorage space of the Navy’s bases through 2030. In accordance with the 2018-2027 state armament program, the Navy is to get over 180 ships and vessels of new Projects," the defense minister said.

LONDON, March 28. /TASS/. British lawmakers rebuffed all eight alternative proposals on a deal with the European Union on Brexit conditions during the vote in the House of Commons on Wednesday evening.

MOSCOW, March 27. /TASS/. The Basmanny Court of Moscow took into custody ex-minister of open government affairs Mikhail Abyzov with charges of criminal community creation and theft of 4 bln rubles ($62 mln), TASS reports from the court room.

"The request of the investigation on selection of custodial restraint as the restrictive measure for Abyzov is satisfied," Judge Natalia Dudar said in the ruling.

According to the court decision, Abyzov will be under arrest until May 25. Attorneys will appeal against the court decision.

DUBLIN, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Ireland has become a globally recognized centre for specialist international financial services (IFS) with over 200 foreign-owned IFS companies having established their presence in the country, said an Irish minister here on Wednesday.

LONDON, March 27 (Xinhua) -- British lawmakers on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted to change original Brexit departure date in law to April 12 or May 22 as British Prime Minister Theresa May was in an 11 hour appeal to Tory MPs to back her Withdrawal Agreement.

MPs voted 441 to 105 in the House of Commons to bring the new Brexit date into law and remove the original plan for Britain to leave the European Union (EU) on March 29.