Europe

GENEVA, April 3 (Xinhua) -- The World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Roberto Azevedo on Tuesday stressed the urgency of resolving trade tensions and meeting challenges facing the global economy.

Azevedo made the remarks at a press conference after the WTO announced it lowered its forecast for global trade growth this year from 3.7 percent to 2.6 percent, due to economic uncertainties stemming significantly from trade tensions.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — There’s no escape from the long arm of the law in Sweden. Not even sitting naked in a sauna.

Police spokewoman Carina Skagerlind says an off-duty police officer found himself sitting in the same sauna in Rinkeby, a Stockholm suburb, as a fugitive who had dodged a jail sentence for aggravated assault, among other offenses.

Skagerlind says after recognizing each other, “the naked police officer calmly told the man that he should consider himself arrested.”

1 Apr 2019; DW: German authorities registered a significant drop in attacks on Muslims and mosques in 2018 compared to the previous year. That's according to Interior Ministry data quoted by the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung Tuesday. 

A total of 813 incidents were recorded last year, down from 950 Islamophobic crimes in 2017.

1 Apr 2019; DW: There arguably would never have been a good moment for Berlin to renege on its planned increase in defense spending. But to do it in the run-up to NATO celebrating its 70th anniversary in Washington is particularly bad timing.

MOSCOW, April 1. /TASS/. Members of the first crew of the US Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft have arrived at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in the Moscow Region in order to complete training, the center’s website informed on Monday.

"Today, NASA astronauts Nicole Mann, Mike Fink and Barry Whitmore were introduced to the leadership and the employees of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. The astronauts are getting ready for the first test flight of the International Space Station within the crew of the Starliner spacecraft," the message informed.

KIEV, April 2. /TASS/. Comedian and leader of the Servant of the People political party Vladimir Zelensky leads the Ukrainian presidential race with 30.26% of the vote, almost double the number of incumbent President Pyotr Poroshenko, who secured 15.92%, with 97.77% of ballots counted, the Central Election Commission said.

KIEV, April 1. /TASS/. The frontrunner in the first round of the Ukrainian presidential election, comedian Vladimir Zelensky, has not made any alliance deals with anyone in the run-up to the second round of the race, a spokesperson for Zelensky’s election headquarters, Dmitry Razumkov, said on Monday.

LONDON, April 1 (Xinhua) -- People in Britain who marry before they turn 30 are now in a minority, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said Monday.

Nick Stripe, head of life events at ONS, has carried out a detailed analysis of the changing face of matrimony across the country over almost half a century.

It followed the latest ONS statistics showing that most people are now aged 30 or above before wedding bells ring out.

LONDON, April 1 (Xinhua) -- British lawmakers on Monday voted to turn down all the four proposed Brexit options on the table, the second time since Friday that none of MPs' proposed Brexit options wins clear backing in the House of Commons.

MPs voted down all the four Brexit proposals chosen by House Speaker John Bercow in a bid to break the current Brexit deadlock. The British government has until April 12 to decide how Britain will leave the European Union (EU).

MOSCOW, April 1. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have discussed military cooperation issues over the phone, the Kremlin press service reported following telephone conversation initiated by Israel.

"[The parties] discussed pressing bilateral issues, including military contacts, and the situation in the Middle East region," the press service said.