VILNIUS, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- The European Union will not consider lifting its sanctions on Russia until the implementation of Minsk agreements, however, the EU's dialogue with Russia must be maintained, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said here Friday.

"Ukraine's territorial integrity has not been restored and this remains to be a key topic. We will not consider lifting sanctions on Russia until the Minsk agreements are implemented," Merkel told a joint press conference with Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaite.

New Delhi, Sep 14 (PTI) Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh Friday said negotiations are underway with the United States (US) over 25 per cent tariff it had imposed on steel imports.

US President Donald Trump had earlier imposed a 25 per cent import tariff on steel and 10 per cent on aluminium.

However, the minister said there would not be any immediate impact on domestic steel exports as India sends a marginal amount of alloy of its shipment to the US.

US House of Representatives have passed a measure on Wednesday, which will become law, to provide $38 billion defence aid to Israel.

Called U.S.-Israel Security Assistance Authorization Act of 2018, the law cannot be repealed by future US Presidents.

MOSCOW, September 13. /TASS/. US actions in Syria are leading the world to the brink of an abyss, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news briefing on Thursday.

"We see the current events involving Syria as an attempt by the Americans to test a new mechanism of maintaining their own world supremacy," she said. "Its gist is to create some kind of strike coalition of the leading western powers with the aim to demonstrate force and determination to press for military solutions of problems emerging in this or that part of the world."

ANKARA, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- The Qatari emir has given Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a Boeing 747-8 aircraft as a gift, reportedly the world's largest and most expensive private jet, a local newspaper reported Thursday.

The luxurious jet, worth about 367 million U.S. dollars, landed in Istanbul's Sahiba Gokcen International Airport from France, Daily Yeni Safak reported.

MOSCOW, September 13. /TASS/. The main stage of the Vostok-2018 strategic drills was held at the Tsugol firing range in the Trans-Baikal Region. The Vostok-2018 maneuvers are the biggest in the history of the Russian army, unparalleled since 1981, when the Soviet Union held drills involving about 100,000 people.

RAMALLAH, Sept 14 (NNN-Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that the Palestinian people are still committed to making just peace with Israel.

Abbas made the remarks during a Thursday meeting at his headquarters in Ramallah with the leaders of three main religions, Islam, Christianity and Judaism, in the Palestinian territories.

He stressed on the necessity of making peace with Israel based on international resolutions related to the establishment of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Jammu: Two Kashmiri separatist were killed by Indian security forces in Reasi district of J&K. Five CRPF jawans and three policemen were injured.

It is alleged that the two Kashmiris belonged to JeM, which calls for Kashmir’s independence from India.

Security forces, comprising CRPF, police and Army personnel, were on a search operation near a house in the district's Kakriyal area.

MOSCOW, September 14. /TASS/. Turkey has not backed out of purchasing Russia’s S-400 anti-aircraft missile defense systems despite threats from the US, and Russia will fulfil the contract in 2019, according to schedule, said Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov.

The US Department of State earlier reported that it might launch sanctions against any country that purchases S-400s from Russia.

WASHINGTON, September 13. /TASS/. The US Treasury is considering the possibility of introducing sanctions against Russian company "Sukhoi", allegedly because its planes may have been used in Syrian chemical attacks, Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing Marshall Billingslea stated on Thursday during a session of the US House of Representatives.

MOSCOW, September 13. /TASS/. Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev and Israeli National Security Advisor Meir Ben-Shabbat have held a meeting in Moscow, discussing the situation in the Middle East, particularly in Syria, the council said in a statement on Thursday.

NEW DELHI, September 13. /TASS corr. Evgeny Pakhomov/. Washington’s policy concerning Russia threatens to destabilize international relations, Indian expert in the sphere of international relations Kanwal Sibal told TASS on Thursday. Sibal served as India’s Foreign Secretary and was India’s ambassador to several countries, including Russia (in the years 2004-2007).