Europe

LEIGH-ON-SEA, England (AP) — A long-serving member of Parliament was stabbed to death Friday during a meeting with constituents at a church in England, in what police said was a terrorist incident. A 25-year-old man was arrested in connection with the attack, which united Britain’s fractious politicians in shock and sorrow.

ST. PETERSBURG, October 15. /TASS/: Non-resource non-energy exports from Russia by the end of 2021 may set a new historical record - $180 bln, Head of the Russian Export Center Veronika Nikishina said on Friday.

"This month, Russia's non-resource non-energy exports will surpass $141 bln - the figure for the entire 2020. By the end of the year, Russia's non-resource non-energy exports will set a new historical record - it may reach $180 bln," Nikishina said.

MOSCOW, October 15. /TASS/: Russia is already holding consultations with Germany on concluding a new contract for gas transit with Ukraine after 2024, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told reporters on the sidelines of the Russian Energy Week.

"We are meeting with [Georg Graf] Waldersee, Germany’s representative [on gas transit through Ukraine]. We are already consulting on this situation," he said in response to a question on when negotiations on a new gas transit contract through Ukraine after 2024 will be held.

MOSCOW, October 15. /TASS/: Russia sees as extremely dangerous US pressure on the Central Asian countries, being exerted with the aim of making them accommodate military and intelligence facilities, the director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s third department of the CIS countries, Alexander Sternik, told a conference entitled Afghanistan in the System of Regional Relations at the MGIMO University on Friday.

MOSCOW, October 15. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin is not planning to meet with the Taliban radical militant group (outlawed in Russia) who is expected to arrive in Moscow in October for consultations, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

When asked by TASS if a meeting between Putin and Taliban representatives was being planned, the Russian presidential spokesman replied "No."

The Russian leader said at a CIS summit on Friday that it was necessary to interact with the Taliban but there should be no haste to officially recognize them.

BERLIN, Oct 15 (Reuters) - The leader of Germany's centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), Olaf Scholz, took a major step towards succeeding Angela Merkel as chancellor on Friday, announcing that he and the leaders of two smaller parties aimed to move into formal coalition talks.

The leaders of the SPD, who came first in last month's election, the Greens and the business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP) said exploratory talks had been constructive and allowed them to establish a road map for more formal negotiations.

KONGSBERG, Norway, Oct 15 (Reuters) - The man who killed five people with a bow-and-arrow and other weapons in Norway was probably suffering from mental illness, police said on Friday.

The attacker went on a half-hour rampage in the southern town of Kongsberg on Wednesday, assaulting people in the streets and forcing his way into houses and one supermarket. 

Police arrested a suspect the same day - Espen Andersen Braathen, a 37-year-old Danish citizen who has lived in Kongsberg for most of his life.

MOSCOW, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Russia said one of its military vessels chased away a U.S. naval destroyer that attempted to violate Russian territorial waters during Russian-Chinese naval drills in the Sea of Japan on Friday.

There was no immediate comment from the U.S. side.

The Russian defence ministry said the crew of a Russian anti-submarine vessel, the Admiral Tributs, had radioed a warning to the USS Chafee that it was "in an area closed to navigation due to exercises with artillery fire".

LEIGH-ON-SEA, England, Oct 15 (Reuters) - A British lawmaker was stabbed to death in a church on Friday by an assailant who lunged at him during a meeting with voters from his constituency, a killing police are investigating as a possible terrorist attack.

David Amess, 69, from Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative Party, was knifed repeatedly in the attack at about midday in the Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea, east of London.

PARIS, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The French government will lay out additional measures to tackle the ongoing surge in energy prices, French President Emmanuel Macron announced Thursday.

"In the coming days, the government will supplement its response in line with the developing situation ... in order not to leave anybody behind," Macron said during a visit to Seine-Saint-Denis, a suburb of Paris, stressing that it is also "a question of sovereignty."