Europe

UK Prime Minister Theresa May's 12-point plan for Brexit has met with a variety of responses from European capitals exposing deep flaws in the EU machine as well as divisions between member states and fears of a Donald Trump US Presidency after he gave his firm backing to Brexit.

Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni on Wednesday charged the Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti to boost the military presence in the ares affected by the earthquake which happened earlier in the day, local media reported, citing sources in the government.

With a growing number of Chinese tourists being robbed on the streets of Paris, Chinesea’s tour companies are now turning to Russia where “Chinese visitors feel safe.”

Athens has to cooperate with Brussels on the issues related to asylum seekers, including on accepting refugees from other EU states, because of Greece's financial dependence on the European Union, Germany in particular, a spokesman for the Berlin branch of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party told Sputnik on Tuesday.

A world-known Russian exhibition company EXPOCENTR is holding an exposition of member-companies of the Association of the entities of the furniture and woodworking industry of Russia at the largest international furniture exhibition "IMM Cologne" which will take place on January 16-22 at the Koelnmesse GmbH to Cologne center in Germany.

Sweden's National Centre for Terrorist Threat Assessment (NCT) considers that the attacks inspired by radical Islamist ideologies are the biggest terror threat to the country in 2017, local media reported, citing the NCT report on Wednesday.

French Presidential candidate Manuel Valls isn’t having the best week ever as he almost gets slapped by a young man during a visit to France’s Brittany region, BFMTV channel reported.

Almost everything in life is constantly weighed, counted, measured and recorded. Nothing escapes the state's keen interest, and Sweden is no exception. Nothing except immigrant crime, which is rather strange, considering Swedes' propensity for transparency.

Moscow favors the OSCE involvement in the Ukrainian crisis settlement, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday.

The idea to deploy a OSCE police mission in Donbass contradicts the Minsk agreements on the Eastern Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday.

The OSCE chairman wants to increase the number of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine members in order to boost security in the region.

A RIA Novosti correspondent reported that a new earthquake hit central Italy with tremors felt in the historical part of Rome. Evacuation is underway in the city's metro.

A statue of the former chief of OSCE Verification Mission to Kosovo, William Walker, was unveiled in the village of Racak, where 45 Albanian civilians were reportedly massacred by Serbian forces on January 15, 1999.

Russia is ready to help Austria to implement its early proposed OSCE chirmanship program, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday.

UK Prime Minister favours the EU trade deal on single market instead of an actual membership, the Downing Street press release said Wednesday.

Russia's United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) is poised to begin production of sea ferries, cruise liners and yachts for Arctic tourism at its Helsinki shipyard, which is currently loaded with orders for the construction of icebreakers for the Russian shipping company Sovkomflot.

Ukraine is giving up the southeastern region known as Donbass as evidenced by its full blockade of the region, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said that London will try to broker a free trade agreement with the European Union once the UK withdraws from the bloc, but Brussels is unlikely to accept this proposal since it resembles a "hidden trade war," Professor Panicos Demetriades told Sputnik.

Imagine giving birth in a car stuck in the middle of nowhere, on an empty road between snow drifts amid winter darkness with no mobile coverage. Although it might sound more like a survival film, this is a reality for those who live in vast and sparsely populated regions of northern Sweden.