MOSCOW, January 16. /TASS/. Russia urges Western powers to refrain from blackmail, threats and provocations in international politics and to build the dialogue on the basis of principles enshrined in the UN Charter, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with Serbia’s Politika newspaper in the run-up to his visit to Belgrade.

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s foreign minister says that the U.S. has ignored Moscow’s proposal to inspect a Russian missile that Washington says has violated a nuclear arms treaty.

Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday that Russia offered during talks in Geneva earlier this week that U.S. experts see the missile. He said the U.S. negotiators stonewalled the offer, repeating Washington’s demand that Russia destroys the weapon it claimed violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

ANKARA, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that his country will set up a 32-km safe zone in northern Syria, following a consensus with U.S. President Donald Trump.

During a speech to the lawmakers of his ruling Justice and Development Party in the parliament, Erdogan said that he held a "quite positive" phone conversation with Trump late Monday, discussing the possibility of creating a safe zone in northern Syria.

Washington, Jan 15; PTI: Donald Trump has sent a letter to Kim Jong-un, a media report said Tuesday, days after the US President said he received a "great letter" from the reclusive North Korean leader, amid talks about a second summit between them on denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.

Kim and Trump held a historic meeting in Singapore on June 12 last year where they issued a vague goal for the "complete denuclearisation" of the Korean Peninsula without describing when and how it would occur.

BRUSSELS, January 16. /TASS/. The European Commission will have to step up preparations for a no-deal Brexit after the UK parliament voted to reject the withdrawal agreement between London and Brussels, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said in a statement.

MOSCOW, January 16. /TASS/. Attempts of the United States and some other Western nations to assert their dominant role in the Balkan region have become a serious destabilizing factor, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with Serbia’s Vecernje Novosti newspaper ahead of his visit to Belgrade.

GAZA, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- Three Italians working for the Italian embassy were released by Hamas on Tuesday night after being held at an office of the United Nations (UN) in Gaza for two days, local media reported.

The Italians are security guards who arrived in Gaza on Monday to ensure the visit of the Italian Ambassador to Israel Gianluigi Benedetti on Wednesday, local media quoted sources close to the UN as saying.

MOSCOW, January 16. /TASS/. The second contract to manufacture 13 Su-57 fighter jets for the Russian Aerospace Forces is to be signed next year, a source in Russia’s aircraft-making industry told TASS on Wednesday.

"In 2020, we plan to sign the second contract to manufacture and deliver 13 Su-57 fighter jets, some of them equipped with the second-stage engines," he said. "The preliminary timeframe for the new contract is five years."

The first contract envisages the delivery of two fifth-generation aircraft in 2019-2020.

Seoul, Jan 15; AP: South Korea has stopped calling North Korea an "enemy" in its biennial defense document in an apparent effort to continue reconciliation with Pyongyang.

The development comes as US and North Korean leaders are looking to set up their second summit to defuse an international standoff over the North's nuclear program.

South Korea's defense white paper published Tuesday doesn't include its typical term labelling North Korea its "enemy, "present enemy" or "main enemy."

Adelaide, Jan 15 (PTI) India captain Virat Kohli called it an "MS classic" after Mahendra Singh Dhoni, with sixes that reminded of his heydays, hammered home the point that the finisher in him is still alive.

Dhoni slammed an unbeaten 55 off 54 balls after Kohli laid the foundation for India's series-levelling six-wicket victory over Australia in the second ODI with a fluent century.

SYDNEY, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Around 2,500 lightning strikes have ignited dozens of fires across Australia's southern island State of Tasmania on Tuesday, adding to a number of dangerous blazes which crews are already battling.

Berlin, Jan 15 (AFP) Germany on Tuesday detained a German-Afghan man on suspicion he was spying for Iran while working for the German army as a linguistic and cultural adviser.

The 50-year-old identified as Abdul Hamid S. was arrested in western Germany, federal prosecutors said in a statement.

"The accused was a language evaluator and cultural issues adviser of the German armed forces. In this capacity, he is believed to have passed on information to an Iranian intelligence service," they added.