Europe

MOSCOW, November 18. /TASS/: Moscow police confirmed reports that Margarita Ignatova, an editor of Russia’s Interfax news agency, had been listed as missing.

"At present, the whereabouts of the young woman, born in 1990, are being established. Her mother has filed a missing person’s report to the police, the search for her is under way," a spokesperson for the Moscow police department told TASS.

BRUSSELS, November 19. /TASS/: The European Commission (EC) has recommended direct purchases of the Russian gas totaling around 15 bln cubic meters per year to Ukraine to reduce expensive reverse supplies, a source in the EU’s institutions close to trilateral gas talks told TASS on Tuesday.

19 November 2019; AFP: A Spanish court will give its verdict Tuesday in one of the biggest corruption cases in the country's modern history, involving top officials from the ruling Socialists in the Andalusia region.

The ruling, expected at noon (1100 GMT), comes as Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez struggles to secure enough support from other parties to be sworn in for another term.

19 November 2019; AFP: European car sales hit their highest October level in a decade, an industry body said Tuesday, as the sector recovers from a stall last year over tighter pollution regulations.

The 8.7 percent rise in registration to 1.18 million vehicles "marked the highest October total on record since 2009," said the European Automobile Manufacturers Association.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian court on Tuesday ruled to keep former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan in custody facing spying charges after it rejected his appeal against the extension of his detention until late December, Interfax news agency reported.

Whelan, who holds U.S., British, Canadian and Irish passports, was detained last December and accused of espionage. Moscow says he was caught red-handed, but he denies the allegations and says he was set up in a politically motivated sting.

MOSCOW, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Kremlin confirmed on Monday that leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany, known as the Normandy Four, will discuss the situation in Ukraine in Paris on Dec. 9.

"It is true. The preparations are underway and they have already entered the final stage," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Later on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold an international telephone conversation "largely related to preparations for the Normandy-format meeting," he added, giving no further details.

LONDON, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- As Brexit headlines continue to dominate British politics and the election campaign as the United Kingdom (UK) heads for a general election in December, business leaders say that the vote must break the Brexit gridlock in Parliament.

In their addresses at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) annual conference on Monday, the leaders of the country's three main national parties sent vastly different Brexit messages to a room filled with business leaders.

PEACHTREE CORNERS, Ga. (AP) — Growth and urbanization, along with President Donald Trump’s struggles among previously GOP-leaning white college graduates, have put Georgia on the cusp of presidential battleground status.

The question is how close.

Republicans acknowledge demographic change but are skeptical the state will swing to Democrats.

As with any competitive electorate, Georgia’s direction will turn on a combination of variables within an electorate that now exceeds 7 million registered voters.

MOSCOW, Nov 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Russia is set to return Ukrainian navy ships seized a year ago, as it prepares for a summit to try and resolve the wider conflict between them, Interfax news agency said.

“In accordance with agreements concluded with the Ukrainian side, three Ukrainian ships … are being towed from the port of Kerch to an approved transfer point,” border officials with the Russian secret service told the Interfax news agency.

The transfer was to take place on Monday, they added.

SIMFEROPOL, November 18. /TASS/: The first batch of olive oil from Syria was delivered on Monday to Crimea to be later sold in other Russian regions, the republic’s Minister for Industrial Policy Andrei Vasyuta told TASS on Monday.