Europe

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that France is reinforcing its border controls after a series of attacks that hit the country in recent weeks.

Macron said the number of police and troops in charge of border controls will double from 2,400 now to 4,800. They will focus on fighting illegal immigration and smuggling activities, he said, during a visit to a frontier post in Le Perthus, at the border with Spain.

MOSCOW, November 5. /TASS/: An erroneous COVID-19 test does not affect a patient’s treatment if they have symptoms of the disease and the corresponding clinical picture, Sergei Avdeev, head of the Department of Pulmonology at the First Moscow State Medical University, informed.

Earlier, he said that a COVID-19 test can give a false negative result in about 30-40% of cases due to faulty extraction of biological material. He added that during the early stages of the disease, a positive test is more likely.

MOSCOW, November 5. /TASS/: Russia’s coronavirus cases rose by 19,404 in the past day, and the total case tally reached 1,712,858, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told reporters on Thursday.

The average growth rate dropped from 1.2% to 1.1%. For a second day in a row more than 19,000 COVID-19 cases were recorded.

The lowest growth rates in the past day were registered in Dagestan (0.5%), the republics of Tatarstan, Chuvash and Mari El (0.6%), the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region and the Moscow Region (0.7%).

MOSCOW, November 5. /TASS/: A batch of upgraded T-72B3 main battle tanks arrived for Russian troops, the press office of Uralvagonzavod defense manufacturer announced on Thursday.

"Uralvagonzavod (part of the state corporation Rostec) has dispatched a batch of upgraded T-72B3 tanks to the Defense Ministry of Russia," the press office said in a statement.

"The combat vehicles have received a new powerful engine, an advanced fire control system, a rear view camera and the driver mechanic’s display complex," the statement reads.

MOSCOW, November 5. /TASS/: Uncertainty over the US presidential election outcome could negatively affect global affairs, mostly the economy, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.

"Any uncertainty in the most powerful world economy in one of the largest countries has and could potentially have negative consequences for global affairs, first of all for global economy," Peskov said. "Meanwhile, we will see how long this uncertainty period lasts and how strong this influence is," he noted.

05 Nov 2020; MEMO: Austria’s chancellor has called for a European front in a “war on Islamism” after four people were killed in a terror attack in Vienna on Monday night.

Sebastian Kurz, 34, said he would seek to form a continent-wide alliance against political Islam at the next summit of European Union (EU) leaders later this month.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Thursday as Democrat Joe Biden edged closer to the White House in a nail-biting U.S. presidential election, though doubts remain over further huge stimulus to bolster the ecomony in the face of the coronavirus crisis.

Brent crude fell 17 cents, or 0.4%, to $41.06 a barrel by 1135 GMT and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down 28 cents, or 0.7%, at $38.87. Both contracts had jumped about 4% on Wednesday.

PRISTINA (Reuters) - Kosovo President Hashim Thaci resigned with immediate effect on Thursday after learning that the Kosovo war crimes tribunal had confirmed his indictment for war crimes.

“I resign today from the position of president,” Thaci told a news conference in the Kosovo capital Pristina, adding that his sources had informed him that the judge at the Kosovo Specialist Chamber in The Hague had confirmed his indictment.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian ex-presidents’ immunity from criminal prosecution could be extended to any offences committed in their lifetimes, not merely while in office, under a bill submitted to parliament on Thursday.

The bill, published on a government website, is one of several being introduced following constitutional reforms that, among other things, allow President Vladimir Putin to run again when his term ends in 2024.

LONDON (Reuters) - The Bank of England increased its already huge bond-buying stimulus by a larger-than-expected 150 billion pounds ($195 billion) as it braced for more economic damage from new coronavirus lockdowns and damage from Brexit, too.

On the day England began a four-week lockdown to curb a second wave of COVID-19, which is killing as many Britons each day as in May, the BoE said it was still looking into the pros and cons of taking interest rates negative, but gave no update on the process.