Europe

London, Oct 13 (AP/PTI) The British government carved England into three tiers of coronavirus risk on Monday in a bid to slow a resurgent outbreak, putting the northern city of Liverpool into the highest-risk category and shutting its pubs, gyms and betting shops.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the three-level national system was designed to simplify and standardize a confusing patchwork of local rules, as the country enters a crucial phase.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices rebounded on Tuesday, drawing support from robust China data although concerns about waning demand elsewhere and supply resumptions in Norway, the Gulf of Mexico and Libya weighed.

Brent crude futures rose 60 cents, or 1.4%, to $42.32 a barrel by 0916 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 63 cents, or 1.6%, to $40.06 a barrel.

China, the world’s top crude oil importer, took in 11.8 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil in September, up 5.5% from August and up 17.5% from September last year, customs data showed on Tuesday.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Two police officers were killed on Tuesday in a shootout with militants in the capital of Russia’s southern region of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, the republic’s leader, wrote on social media.

The National Anti-Terrorism Committee had reported the incident earlier, saying the militants had been planning to launch unspecified attacks.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union will impose duties of up to 48% on imports of aluminium extrusions from China midway through an investigation into whether Chinese producers are selling at unfairly low prices.

The EU official journal said on Tuesday that the duties, ranging from 30.4 to 48.0%, would apply from Wednesday. The duties are provisional, meaning they will apply until the investigation’s expected completion by April.

At that point, the bloc could apply duties for five years.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union’s unity on Brexit is strong and the bloc will continue to work in the coming days and weeks for a fair deal on its future relationship with the United Kingdom, the EU’s chief negotiator said on Tuesday.

“Strong EU unity confirmed ahead of European Council,” Michel Barnier tweeted after briefing European Affairs ministers in Luxembourg. “The EU will continue to work for a fair deal in the coming days and weeks.”

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Germany on Tuesday demanded “substantive” movement from Britain on fisheries, dispute settlement and fair competition guarantees in post-Brexit trade talks with the European Union, which it said were “at a very critical stage”.

Britain, home to the world’s sixth-biggest economy, in January became the only country to leave the EU. It has since been locked in painstaking talks with the world’s largest trading bloc to keep trade flowing freely despite Brexit.

GENEVA (AP) — In the wake of heat waves, global warming, forest fires, storms, droughts and a rising number of hurricanes, the U.N. weather agency is warning that the number of people who need international humanitarian help could rise 50% by 2030 compared to the 108 million who needed it worldwide in 2018.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s population has contracted slightly for the first time in nearly a decade because immigration shrank as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, official data showed Tuesday.

Some 83.1 million people lived in Germany at the end of June, with the population declining by 40,000, or 0.05%, in the year’s first half, according to the Federal Statistical Office.

LONDON (AP) — Unemployment across the U.K. spiked sharply in August, a clear signal that the jobless rate is heading towards levels not seen in nearly 30 years when a British government salary-support scheme ends this month and new local restrictions are imposed to suppress a resurgence of the coronavirus.

The Office for National Statistics said Tuesday that unemployment rose by 138,000 in the three months to August from the previous three-month period. The unemployment rate jumped to 4.5%, its highest rate since early 2017, from 4.1% in the previous quarter.

LONDON (AP) — The British government carved England into three tiers of coronavirus risk on Monday in a bid to slow a resurgent outbreak, putting the northern city of Liverpool into the highest-risk category and shutting its pubs, gyms and betting shops.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the three-level national system was designed to “simplify and standardize” a confusing patchwork of local rules, as the country enters a “crucial phase.” Johnson said hospitals are now filling up with more COVID-19 patients than in March, when he ordered a national lockdown.