ANKARA, December 29. /TASS/. The first group of American military servicemen has left Syria in the aftermath of US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from that country, Anadolu Agency reported on Saturday.

According to the news agency, on December 28, at least 50 troops left a warehouse with weapons and ammunition in Syria’s Al-Hasakah Governorate, heading towards Iraq in armored cars.

MOSCOW, December 29. /TASS/. Russia hopes that Western countries will not hinder the efforts of Moscow, Ankara and Tehran to set up a Syrian constitutional committee, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Saturday after the Russian-Turkish high-level talks.

"We are very hopeful that nobody will hamper our subsequent efforts, including our Western colleagues who have been urging the Astana troika so firmly and persistently in recent months to finish sooner the work on the constitutional committee," he said.

BEIJING, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- China's Chang'e-4 probe entered a planned orbit Sunday morning to prepare for the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced.

The probe has entered an elliptical lunar orbit, with the perilune at about 15 km and the apolune at about 100 km, at 8:55 a.m. Beijing Time, said CNSA.

BERLIN (AP) — The head of the European Union’s executive branch is urging Britain to “get your act together” and decide what exactly the country wants as Brexit looms.

Britain is due to leave the EU March 29 but its Parliament hasn’t approved the government’s divorce deal with the EU, which many lawmakers loathe. A vote is scheduled in mid-January.

30 Dec 2018; DW: Tens of thousands have turned out for a fourth week of anti-government demonstrations in Belgrade. The protesters accuse President Aleksandar Vucic of gagging mainstream media and sidelining critical voices.

MOSCOW, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- Russia's Aerospace Forces will get their first medium-range surface-to-air missile system S-350 Vityaz next year, the Defense Ministry said.

The troops will also be equipped with around a dozen Pantsir-S air defense missile-gun systems and S-400 Triumf long-range air defense weapons, the ministry said.

Russia has been modernizing its military equipment In recent years.

Russian troops stationed in the regions of Khabarovsk, Leningrad, Kaliningrad and Crimea were supplied with Pantsir-S and S-400 weapons earlier this year.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says “big progress” is being made in talks between the U.S. and China to head off further escalation in a yearlong trade war.

Trump says Saturday that he had a “long and very good call” with Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss the talks, which stemmed from their sit-down early this month in Argentina.

Trump tweets: “Deal is moving along very well. If made, it will be very comprehensive, covering all subjects, areas and points of dispute.”

MOSCOW, December 29. /TASS/. The high-level talks between Russia and Turkey on Syria were useful, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Saturday.

"We held a very useful meeting of our interdepartmental team: the foreign and defense ministers and the intelligence services’ chiefs," he said.

30 Dec 2018; DW: Robert Lloyd Schellenberg was set to begin a 15-year jail sentence for smuggling drugs. But the Canadian could now face the death penalty after a Chinese court ordered a retrial.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the Democrats shall be blamed for the latest deaths of the two children over the execution of U.S. immigration policy.

"Any deaths of children or others at the Border are strictly the fault of the Democrats and their pathetic immigration policies that allow people to make the long trek thinking they can enter our country illegally," he tweeted.

MOSCOW, December 29. /TASS/. Russia views Kiev’s remarks about an alleged seizure of the so-called "grey zone" in Donbass as a provocation, as it pursues a goal of blocking the peace process, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

"We are indignant at the remarks by Y. Biryukov, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, aired by Ukrainian … television channel on December 26. The politician said as follows, "Practically, the entire so-called ‘grey zone’ has been fully liberated and taken under control’," the ministry said.

MOSCOW, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Foreign Ministry said Saturday it regretted the position of French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on some aspects of Russia-Ukraine relations.

Macron and Merkel issued a joint statement Friday, saying they were deeply concerned with the "human rights situation in Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia, Russia's use of military force in the Kerch Strait, and excessive inspections in the Azov Sea."