Europe

LONDON (Reuters) - Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage said on Monday that he felt Donald Trump would win the U.S. presidential election as his support base was so enthusiastic and he had gathered momentum in the final days of the campaign.

“He’s not just the president of the USA, he is a human dynamo,” Farage, whom Trump calls a friend, told Talk Radio from Pennsylvania. “I have never seen a support base as enthusiastic as they are for this man. These crowds chant ‘we love you’.”

LISBON (Reuters) - Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa asked the country’s president on Monday to declare a state of emergency as a preventive measure to fight the spread of coronavirus at a time when infections are soaring.

The last COVID-19 state of emergency, which under Portuguese law is limited to 15 days but can be extended indefinitely in 15-day periods if necessary, was declared by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa in March and lasted six weeks.

MOSCOW, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden said Monday he wishes to apply for dual U.S.-Russian citizenship in a post on his Twitter account.

"After years of separation from our parents, my wife and I have no desire to be separated from our son. That's why, in this era of pandemics and closed borders, we're applying for dual U.S.-Russian citizenship," Snowden expressed on Twitter.

"And I look forward to the day I can return to the States, so the whole family can be reunited," he added.

FRANKFURT, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese market has continued to unleash potential for European multinational firms gradually recovering from the early impact of the coronavirus pandemic, a reassuring factor amid uncertainties still surrounding the global economic outlook.

Over the past week, German automakers have been posting upbeat data for their Chinese market performances while growth in other major markets remained below prior-year levels.

02 Nov 2020; MEMO: France is to return its ambassador to Turkey, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said yesterday, one week after recalling him.

France summoned its official after weeks of increasing tensions between the two countries over French President Emmanuel Macron’s support for a satirical magazine which insulted Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

Kyiv, Nov 2 (AP/PTI) Thousands of protesters in Belarus swarmed the streets of the capital to demand the resignation of the country's longtime president for the 13th straight Sunday and encountered police using stun grenades to break up the crowds and making warning shots in the air from what authorities said were "non-lethal weapons".

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Prince William tested positive for the coronavirus in April, around the same time as his father Prince Charles, BBC reported.

The report cited unidentified palace sources and The Sun newspaper, which said William kept his telephone and video engagements without revealing his diagnosis because he didn’t want to worry anyone.

Kensington Palace declined to comment Sunday but did not deny the report.

The newspaper said William was treated by palace doctors and followed government guidelines by isolating at the family home Anmer Hall.

LYON, France (AP) — French police on Sunday released an initial suspect in the shooting of a Greek Orthodox priest and widened their search for the gunman who critically wounded the priest as he closed the door to his official residence at a church in the city of Lyon.

The Lyon prosecutor’s office said a man who was arrested shortly after Saturday’s shooting was released after they found no evidence of his involvement, suggesting that the clergyman’s assailant remained at large.

PARIS (AP) — The pressure rises with each gruesome attack. After three in five weeks, France’s Muslims are feeling squeezed.

A spotlight of suspicion was trained on them again even before the latest acts of extremist violence, including two beheadings. President Emmanuel Macron has forged ahead with his effort to rid Islam in France of extremists, part of a project he labels “separatism,” a term that makes Muslims wince.

LONDON (AP) — A new national lockdown in England may have to last longer than the planned four weeks if coronavirus infection rates don’t fall quickly enough, a senior government minister said Sunday.

The lockdown announced Saturday by Prime Minister Boris Johnson is to run from Thursday until Dec. 2. Johnson says it’s needed to stop hospitals from becoming overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients within weeks.

Cabinet minister Michael Gove said it was the government’s “fervent hope” that the lockdown would end on time, but that could not be guaranteed.