Europe

LONDON/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices edged lower on Thursday as fresh tensions between the United States and China over protests in Hong Kong fueled concern that a deal to end a trade war between the world’s top two economies may be further delayed.

Brent crude LCOc1 fell 44 cents, or 0.7%, to $61.96 a barrel by 0951 GMT, while West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 was down 36 cents, or 0.6%, at $56.65.

Both benchmarks had risen strongly on Wednesday due to bullish data on U.S. crude inventories.

BIRMINGHAM, England (Reuters) - Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will unveil his opposition party’s election manifesto on Thursday, setting out how in government he wants to transform Britain with “the most radical and ambitious plan” in decades.

Voters faces a stark choice at the Dec. 12 election: Corbyn’s plan for a socialist Britain, including widespread nationalisation and free public services, or Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s drive to deliver Brexit within months and build a “dynamic market economy”.

PARIS (Reuters) - The global economy is growing at the slowest pace since the financial crisis as governments leave it to central banks to revive investment, the OECD said on Thursday in an update of its forecasts.

The world economy is projected to grow by a decade-low 2.9% this year and next, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said in its Economic Outlook, trimming its 2020 forecast from an estimate of 3.0% in September.

VIENNA (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog and Iran will discuss the discovery of uranium traces at an undeclared site in Tehran next week, the agency’s acting chief said on Thursday, adding that Iran had not provided any more information about the origin of the particles.

Reuters first reported in September that the International Atomic Energy Agency found the uranium traces at the site that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu drew attention to in a speech last year, calling it a “secret atomic warehouse”. Tehran has said the site is a carpet-cleaning facility.

BRUSSELS, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- "The European Union (EU) and China must work together... I believe China is open to do business with the European Union on trade, but also on like-minded issues like the reform of the WTO (World Trade Organization)," Phil Hogan, the European commissioner in charge of agriculture and trade commissioner-designate of the new European Commission, said on Tuesday.

20 Nov 2019; MEMO: The European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini said on Monday that the EU’s position on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank remains “unchanged” adding that the settlements are “illegal” under international law.

MOSCOW, November 20. /TASS/: Russia is making a significant contribution to the regulation of the refugee issue, head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) mission to Russia Vanno Noupech said at the opening of the exhibition dedicated to refugees at the Russian State Duma (lower house of parliament).

MOSCOW, November 20. /TASS/: Russia and Bahrain have established partner relations based on trust, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday during a meeting with his Bahraini colleague Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa.

"We value our relations very much, the relations based on trust and partnership in accordance with the agreements reached between [Bahraini] King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and [Russian] President Vladimir Putin," he stated.

MOSCOW, November 20. /TASS/: Russia expects the intra-Afghan meeting in Beijing to be held before the end of this year, Special Presidential Envoy for Afghanistan and Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Second Asian Department Zamir Kabulov told TASS on Wednesday.

"Yes, we believe that this can happen in the immediate future, perhaps, this month. I am ready to participate."

He added that a date for the meeting had not been agreed on yet, because China had problems with coordinating the list of participants from Kabul.

MOSCOW, November 20. /TASS/: The Russian Foreign Ministry has confirmed the reports that two Russian staff correspondents were refused British visas necessary to work in the United Kingdom.

"We can confirm that British authorities did not issue visas to two Russian staff correspondents," the ministry told TASS on Wednesday.