Europe

LONDON (AP) — The chief executive of Airbus warned Thursday that the aviation giant could move its U.K. operations out of the country if Britain leaves the European Union without a deal on trade relations.

Tom Enders’ sharply worded statement comes as business leaders increasingly express their frustration at the lack of progress in securing a Brexit deal ahead of Britain’s scheduled March 29 exit from the bloc.

24 Jan 2019; AFP: Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a meeting in Moscow on Wednesday vowed to coordinate their actions more closely in Syria.

"Cooperation between Russia and Turkey is a touchstone for Syrian peace and stability," Erdogan said in translated comments at a joint press conference after their talks, which lasted around three hours.

"With our Russian friends we intend to strengthen our coordination even more."

23 Jan 2019; DW: Germany will not be sending any more ships to take part in the anti-people smuggling operation Sophia in the Mediterranean Sea, according to a senior military officer.

The decision means frigate Augsburg, currently stationed off the coast of Libya, will not be replaced early next month, Bundeswehr Inspector General Eberhard Zorn told members of the defense and foreign affairs committees in the German parliament.

24 Jan 2019; DW: The Italian government evicted over 500 people from the country's second-largest refugee center on Tuesday and Wednesday, taking people away in buses to undisclosed locations. The mayor of Castelnuovo di Porto, a small suburb north of Rome, said the migrants were removed from his town with little warning or further information.

24 Jan 2019; DW: AfD lawmakers in Bavaria's state parliament were sharply criticized for leaving during a speech by Jewish community leader Charlotte Knobloch. The Holocaust survivor had accused the party for downplaying Nazi atrocities.

Lawmakers with Bavaria's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) staged a walkout on Wednesday during a memorial service honoring the victims of the Holocaust.

KUBINKA /Moscow Region/, January 23. /TASS/. The United States’ demand for Russia’s verifiable elimination of all cruise missiles 9M729 are absolutely unacceptable for Russia, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told a joint news briefing by the Foreign Ministry and Defense Ministry devoted to the 9M729 missile on Wednesday.

MOSCOW, January 23. /TASS/. Israel’s practice of spontaneous strikes on Syria must be brought to an end, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters on Wednesday.

"The practice of spontaneous strikes on the territory of a sovereign state, in this case Syria, must end," the diplomat said, commenting on Israel’s recent strikes on the Arab Republic.

MOSCOW, January 23. /TASS/. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and US Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security Andrea Thompson will attend a meeting of five main nuclear states in Beijing on January 30-31, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing answering a TASS question.

"Next week on January 30-31, Ryabkov and Thompson are scheduled to be in Beijing to attend a meeting of the so-called ‘nuclear five’," she said.

MOSCOW, January 23. /TASS/ The Federal Agency of Maritime and River Transportation has confirmed that two tankers on fire in the Black Sea are in Russia's territorial waters, the agency's press service told TASS on Wednesday.

"The two tankers on fire are drifting and have already entered Russia's territorial waters, its 12-mile zone," the press service said.

MOSCOW, January 24. /TASS/. Developments in Venezuela show West's real attitude toward international law, Russian Foreign Ministry's official spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on her Facebook page on Thursday.

"The developments in Venezuela show very well how progressive Western society really treats international law, sovereignty and non-interference into internal affairs of other states, by manually changing the power there [in Venezuela]," Zakharova said.