Europe

KIEV, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- The National Police of Ukraine detained suspects in the murder of famous journalist Pavel Sheremet, Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on his social media page on Thursday.

"The National Police have just detained and, with the consent of the Prosecutor General's Office, served suspects in the murder of journalist Pavel Sheremet with the notice of charges," Avakov wrote.

BRUSSELS (AP) — EU leaders broke a deadlock early Friday and claimed a deal over a key climate target by committing to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, sidestepping the objections of Poland, one of the blocs biggest economies.

Two days after the EU’s new commission chief unveiled her “European Green Deal” to fight climate change, heads of state and government cried victory during a summit in Brussels, calling it a major step forward in the continent’s ambition to remain a global climate leader.

LONDON (AP) — The Latest on Britain’s Brexit general election (all times local):

6 a.m.

Veteran Labour Party left-wing firebrand Dennis Skinner has lost his seat in the British election, one of many Labour lawmakers ousted by a Conservative challenger in Boris Johnson’s landslide victory.

The 87-year-old Skinner would have been the longest serving lawmaker in Parliament’s next term – known as the Father of the House -- if he had won Thursday. He was beaten in the traditional Labour stronghold constituency of Bolsover.

LONDON (AP) — The Latest on Britain’s Brexit election (all times local):

6:40 a.m.

The American president has taken to Twitter — where else? — to congratulate British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on “his great WIN” in the U.K.’s general election.

Donald Trump also wrote that “Britain and the United States will now be free to strike a massive new Trade Deal after BREXIT.”

LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party has won a solid majority of seats in Britain’s Parliament — a decisive outcome to a Brexit-dominated election that should allow Johnson to fulfill his plan to take the U.K. out of the European Union next month.

With 640 of the 650 results declared, the Conservatives had 358 seats and Labour 202.

Johnson said it looked like the Conservatives had “a powerful new mandate to get Brexit done.”

MOSCOW, December 12. /TASS/: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's talks with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo were pragmatic and constructive, Russian Foreign Ministry's official spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Rossiya-1 TV channel.

MOSCOW, December 12. /TASS/: Russian Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets hopes that Russia will be allowed to host the 2023 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship despite the sanctions by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) against Russian sports.

"We expect that we will keep the world championship in Russia," Golodets, who oversees sports and culture, told reporters at the World Hockey Forum in Moscow.

MOSCOW, December 12. /TASS/: Many accomplices in terrorist attacks committed in Russia are in hiding in European countries and Russia keeps pressing for their extradition, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media on Thursday.

MOSCOW, December 12. /TASS/: The Kremlin hopes that the expulsion of two German diplomats in retaliation for Berlin’s decision won’t become a negative factor for Russia’s relations with Germany.

"We expect and we hope that this [the expulsion of two staff members of the German Embassy from Russia] won’t become a negative factor for further cultivating and expanding our rather constructive dialogue with the Federal Republic of Germany," Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.

MOSCOW, December 12. /TASS/: Unidentified individuals reported that bombs had been planted in 13 district courts of Moscow on Thursday, the press service of the Moscow City Court told TASS.

"Unknown people reported that explosive devices had been planted in 13 Moscow courts by e-mail on Thursday morning. Evacuations have begun in these courts, and emergency services are going there to check the bomb threat information," the press service said.