Europe

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain pledged to end the “era of retreat” by announcing a major increase in military spending, despite the coronavirus crisis pummelling the economy, as it seeks to define its post-Brexit role on the world stage.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the extra spending reflected the need to upgrade military capabilities, with plans for a new space command and artificial intelligence agency.

BERLIN (Reuters) - The German EU presidency is still seeking a solution to the row in the European Union over a budget and recovery fund that aim to unlock billions of euros to help economies hit by the pandemic, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Thursday.

“Many countries in Europe are waiting for the money to be released,” Maas said on Thursday ahead of a meeting with his EU counterparts. “There’s a lot of pressure on all sides to find a solution quickly.”

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil futures dipped on Thursday as a surge in coronavirus cases and tighter economic restrictions around the globe weighed on fuel demand expectations, also dragging down equities globally.MIWD00000PUS.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 were down 27 cents to $44.07 a barrel by 0911 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 slipped 43 cents to $41.39 a barrel. A rising dollar.DXY made oil more expensive for holders of other currencies.

BRUSSELS, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission is working to avoid the risk of a double-dip recession in Europe, Paolo Gentiloni, the European Commissioner for Economy, said on Wednesday.

Explaining the priorities of the commission's guidance for the member states of the European Union (EU) in its autumn semester package, Gentiloni underlined that "emergency response and transformation should go hand in hand."

MOSCOW, November 18. /TASS/: Russia’s Investigative Committee (IC) has charged four members of the terrorist organization Jabhat al-Nusra (outlawed in Russia) in absentia with the death of Russian air pilot Roman Filipov and put them on the international wanted list, IC spokeswoman, Svetlana Petrenko told the media on Wednesday.

NOVO-OGARYOVO, November 18. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin notes the complicated situation in the country due to the spread of the coronavirus. The head of state has assured that this issue is always closely monitored by the authorities.

"Unfortunately, our situation is not a simple one," Putin said at the beginning of his video conference with cabinet members on Wednesday. He proposed to discuss the issues of fighting the coronavirus infection. "By all means, lately this always remains in our field of attention, in our field of vision," the head of state emphasized.

MOSCOW, November 18. /TASS/: The Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament, has approved a law on raising personal income tax rate from 13% to 15% for incomes that exceed 5 mln rubles ($66,123) a year. The bill was initiated by the Russian government.

The law was drafted by the order of President Vladimir Putin to create an additional source of funding for the treatment of children with severe life-threatening and chronic diseases, including rare ones.

MOSCOW, November 18. /TASS/: Russia’s coronavirus cases rose by 20,985 over the past day, the lowest figure since November 11, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told reporters on Wednesday.

Russia’s coronavirus case tally grew to 1,991,998, according to its data.

The lowest growth rates over the past day were recorded in the Dagestan Republic, the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region (0.6%), Kalmykia and Tatarstan (0.7%).

MOSCOW, Nov 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Russian President Vladimir Putin defended a ceasefire deal he brokered between Azerbaijan and Armenia after France called for him to fix “ambiguities” in the text.

Putin said the deal laid the basis for “long-term normalisation” for the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

However, he admitted that the ceasefire, which allowed Azerbaijan to consolidate major territorial gains after several weeks of bitter fighting, had not solved the “problem” of the final status of Karabakh.

LONDON (Reuters) - British counter-terrorism police said on Wednesday they had arrested a man over the 1974 pub bombings in the city of Birmingham which killed 21 people, the deadliest attack on the British mainland in 30 years of Northern Irish violence.

The bombings took place in the crowded Mulberry Bush pub and The Tavern in Birmingham, central England, on Nov. 21, 1974. Although the Irish Republican Army (IRA) was believed to have planted the explosives, it never claimed responsibility.