Europe

ISTANBUL, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- The latest Syria summit among the Turkish, Russian and Iranian leaders has achieved no major progress as the priorities of the three countries diverge, while Ankara appears to have persuaded its partners to defer a looming military operation in Idlib, analysts told Xinhua.

"The Sochi summit has achieved no concrete results," said Cahit Armagan Dilek, director of the Ankara-based 21st Century Turkey Institute, who argued that the leaders' statements revealed nothing new.

Munich, Feb 16 (AFP) German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday labelled as "frightening" tough US trade rhetoric planning to declare European car imports a national security threat.

"If these cars... suddenly spell a threat to US national security, than that is frightening to us," she said.

"All I can say is it would be good if we could resume proper talks with one another," she said at the Munich Security Conference.

"Then we will find a solution."

PARIS; 16 Feb 2019; AA: France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Friday the U.S policy on Syria is a "mystery".

“How can one be very firm against Iran and at the same time abandon northeast Syria, when one knows that in the end it favors Iranian activities in the region?” Le Drian said at the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

"It's a mystery to me," he added.

16 Feb 2019; DW:  As Mauricette Rouffignat stood before yet another desecrated Jewish site on a recent sunny morning, it seemed like a playback to darker days. "I experienced World War II and all the suffering, the Jews who were deported," said 84-year-old Roussignat, who is not Jewish, but a resident of Saint-Geneviève-des-Bois, a quiet town on the outskirts of Paris. "We cannot remain unresponsive to these events, to this growing racism and insensitivity."

16 Feb 2019; DW: Following a brief but harsh row between France and Italy, Christian Masset had been recalled. But despite the ambassador's impending return, relations between the two country are likely to remain tense.

France is redeploying its ambassador to Italy on Friday, French officials said, in an apparent bid to heal the rift that saw its envoy Christian Masset recalled eight days ago.

SOCHI, February 14. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that the European countries do not wish to see the emergence of US missiles on their territory, but do not dare to argue with Washington.

"Do you think that any of the European countries wants US medium-range missiles to be deployed in Europe? Nobody wants this, but they prefer to keep quiet," he said. "Where is their sovereignty?"

MUNICH, February 15. /TASS/. Increasing activity of NATO in the Black Sea aggravates the region’s security situation, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said in response to a TASS request for comment on the statement of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who mentioned a possible expansion of the alliance’s presence in the region.

MOSCOW, February 15. /TASS/. The Moscow Garrison Military Court has sentenced nine defendants from Central Asian republics detained in Moscow in December 2016 for their involvement in a terrorist organization to prison sentences from 11 to 16 years, one of the defendant’s lawyers told TASS on Friday.

The court sentenced three defendants to 16 years behind bars, one to 12 years, and the rest to 11 years, the lawyer informed.

The court proceedings began in November 2018. Earlier, three of the defendants who pleaded guilty received prison sentences from 10 to 12 years.

WASHINGTON, February 15. /TASS corr. Vladislav Pavlov/. Russian spacecrafts "Soyuz" have a "tremendous benefit" for operating the International Space Station, and can be useful as a backup transportation system for lunar exploration, a NASA spokesperson told TASS on Thursday.

SOCHI, February 15. /TASS/. Seven citizens over the age of 100 continue to work in Moscow, head of the Russian Pension Fund Anton Drozdov said on Friday in an interview with TASS on the sidelines of the Russian Investment Forum.

"There are seven working pensioners over the age of 100 in Moscow. These are the people involved in science, journalism that are still in demand," Drozdov said.

"We have some information that there is also a woman over the age of 120, but I would double-check this data," he added jokingly.