Europe

BERLIN, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks in north of Berlin on Saturday, with the topics ranging from Syria, Ukraine, Iran as well as the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project.

The meeting came after Merkel's visit to Sochi in May. Before holding talks at the Schloss Meseberg outside Berlin, the two leaders addressed reporters.

"I am of the opinion that controversial issues can only be addressed in dialogue and through dialogue," Merkel said.

Moscow, Aug 18, IRNA – Russian Foreign Ministry in a Friday statement announced that the second nuclear fuel consignment has become ready to send to Iran.

By Bayram Altug

GENEVA; 17 Aug 2018; AA: The United Nations invited Yemen’s warring parties to Geneva for peace talks on Sept. 6, a UN spokeswoman confirmed on Friday.

“I can confirm that the office of UN special envoy to Yemen [Martin Griffiths] sent an invitation to the Yemeni government and Ansarullah [Houthi movement],” UN spokeswoman Alessandra Vellucci told a Geneva news briefing.

BERLIN, August 17. /TASS/. The German authorities need to change the policy towards Russia and discuss the possibility of continuing cooperation in the G8 format. For its part, Moscow should likewise make efforts to become a reliable partner again, leader of the liberal German Free Democratic Party (FDP) Christian Lindner told the Passauer Neue Presse daily.

MOSCOW, August 17. /TASS/. The Kremlin will not comment on reports claiming that Russian leader Vladimir Putin at his Helsinki meeting with US President Donald Trump allegedly supported the idea that Iran must withdraw from Syria, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"I will not comment on that," he said. "We have already said everything we had to say about the Helsinki summit, we have nothing to add," Peskov pointed out.

MOSCOW, August 17. /TASS/. Moscow has issued a note of protest to Washington over violations of international law with respect to Russia’s diplomatic missions, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday.

"In connection with persisting gross violations of international law by the US with respect to the Russian diplomatic and consular missions in the US, the Russian Foreign Ministry lodged strong protest to the US Department of State sending a corresponding note through diplomatic channels," the ministry said.

KOVROV. August 17. /TASS/. Russia’s state hi-tech corporation Rostec is developing stronger individual protection for soldiers, Rostec CEO Sergei Chemezov told TASS on the sidelines of a conference on diversification on Friday.

"We are developing new technology of forming aramid fibers for developing the next-generation armor. The research shows already now that the use of this technology helps increase the armor reliability by 12-15% compared to foreign analogs, with its weight remaining the same," Chemezov said.

MOSCOW, August 17. /TASS/. Russia’s Federal Protection Service (FSO) has trained bodyguards for Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and plans to provide training to Philippine navy officers, Philippine Ambassador to Russia Carlos Sorreta said in an interview with TASS.

According to the Philippine diplomat, training of military personnel is conducted under the military technical cooperation between Moscow and Manila. "It’s part of our defense cooperation agreement, the creation of working groups who will discuss the details and part of their agenda is training," he said.

By Alessandra Cardone

GENOA, Italy, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Italian government has declared the state of emergency in the Liguria region surrounding the northwest city of Genoa, a day after the dramatic collapse of a major motorway bridge that caused dozens of victims, the country's prime minister said on Wednesday.

A state of emergency request had been filed by the regional authorities earlier in the day.

DONETSK, August 14. /TASS/. Southern regions of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) came under intense mortar shelling by Ukrainian troops on Tuesday evening, a spokesman for the DPR’s operations command reported.

"The villages of Kominternovo and Leninskoye in the south of our republic came under shelling by Ukraine’s 36th brigade. More than a hundred mines of various caliber were fired. Shelling was also conducted from weapons of armored infantry carriers and grenade launchers," the Donetsk News Agency quoted him as saying.