Europe

SEVASTOPOL, January 9. /TASS/: Russian President and Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces Vladimir Putin has overseen the joint drills of Russia’s Black Sea and Northern Fleets from the Russian cruiser Marshal Ustinov belonging to the Northern Fleet.

MOSCOW, January 9. /TASS/: Super apps, cloud gaming, artificial intelligence and the growing consumption of paid video content will determine the trends in the IT sphere in Russia in 2020, experts told TASS.

MOSCOW, January 9. /TASS/: US President Donald Trump’s gamble to urge other countries to abandon the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran’s nuclear program and hammer out a new deal will hardly garner their support, Ivan Timofeev, Program Director of the Valdai Discussion Club and Director of Programs at the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC), told TASS on Thursday.

MOSCOW, January 9. /TASS/: Employees of the Amur Shipbuilding Plant in eastern Russia have been evacuated amid a bomb threat, a source in the Khabarovsk Region’s emergencies services told TASS on Thursday.

"A warning of a bomb at the Amur Shipbuilding Plant has been received. Some 3,500 people have been evacuated," the source said.

The plant’s press service has confirmed the evacuation, without revealing the reason. "People have been evacuated, necessary events are being conducted," it informed.

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is “one of Europe’s bravest politicians” and the European Union should aim for strong strategic relations with Britain after it leaves the bloc, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Thursday.

“I believe a generous and strategic cooperation is needed with the British in the coming period when they are no longer members of the EU,” Orban told a news conference.

LONDON (Reuters) - British lawmakers are expected later on Thursday to approve legislation which will allow the country to leave the European Union on Jan. 31 with an exit deal, ending more than three years of wrangling over the terms of the unprecedented divorce.

At around 1700 GMT, Prime Minister Boris Johnson will turn the page on one of Britain’s deepest political crises in decades when parliament’s lower house votes to approve legislation that will implement an exit deal agreed with the EU last year.

MADRID (Reuters) - The Unidas Podemos alliance of hard-left parties is set to take a deputy premiership and four ministries in Spain’s first coalition government in decades led by the Socialists of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, according to sources.

Sanchez is expected next week to announce the cabinet line-up of around 20 posts, up from 17 previously.

Following are snapshots of the likely ministers from Unidas Podemos (Together We Can), including Pablo Iglesias who is set to become one of three deputy prime ministers.

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - A comprehensive agreement on the future relationship between the European Union and Britain will take longer to agree than the 11-month transition period that begins when the UK leaves the EU at the end of January, the EU’s chief negotiator said on Thursday.

Britain is due to leave the bloc on Jan. 31 and the sides will then have until the end of the year to negotiate a new trade relationship - a short period given the complexity of the discussions.

ROME (Reuters) - World food prices surged for the third consecutive month to reach a five-year high in December, lifted by strong rises in vegetable oils, sugar and dairy as well as rebounding cereal prices, the United Nations food agency said on Thursday.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) food price index, which measures monthly changes for a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy products, meat and sugar jumped to its highest point since Dec. 2014, averaging 181.7 points, up 2.5% on the previous month.

VALLETTA, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Close to 500 migrants who are being detained in a reception center in Malta had to be evacuated on Wednesday after a massive fire broke out here.

The fire, which created a large plume that could be seen from all over the island, broke out at around 1:00 p.m. local time. Sources said preliminary indications showed that the fire was not the result of a riot, but other sources said the fire broke out after an altercation between some of the detainees.