Europe

HARTLEPOOL, England (AP) — In Hartlepool, a tough, proud English port town whipped by bitter North Sea winds, people have long felt ignored by politicians in far-off London. But not anymore.

Political parties in Britain’s Brexit-dominated December election are battling fiercely to win Hartlepool and places like it: working-class former industrial towns with voters who could hold the key to the prime minister’s office at 10 Downing Street.

MOSCOW, November 12. /TASS/: Pilots of the 279th separate shipborne fighter air regiment of the Northern Fleet’s naval aviation will start training flights at the NITKA land-based aircraft carrier simulator near the town of Saky in Crimea in the third ten-day period of November, a source in the regional defense circles told TASS on Tuesday.

BRUSSELS, November 12. /TASS/: Representatives of the European Union, Russia and Ukraine have failed to reach progress on the key issue of mutual withdrawal of gas claims, including the Stockholm arbitration court and revocation of Kiev’s antimonopoly decisions, at the gas consultations so far, a European source in Brussels told TASS on Tuesday.

MOSCOW, November 12. /TASS/: Russia’s promising Lider-class destroyer may get ceramic armor protection, Head of the (Ship) Structural Strength and Reliability Division at the Krylov State Research Center Valery Shaposhnikov told TASS on Tuesday.

"Proposals have been given on the system of the rational structural protection of the ship being developed," the scientist said.

This relates to "protective structures based on ceramic and special fabric materials, which have been developed and tested," he added.

MOSCOW, November 12. /TASS/: A meeting between Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Vladimir Zelensky of Ukraine would make little difference if it’s not well-prepared, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, adding that Moscow was focused on the next Normandy Four summit.

BERLIN (Reuters) - German police detained three people in the western city of Offenbach on Tuesday on suspicion of planning a bomb attack on behalf of the Islamic State militant group, prosecutors said.

The three suspects wanted to kill as many “infidels” as possible in the planned attack in the Rhine-Main region, Frankfurt prosecutor Nadja Niesen said in a statement.

The main suspect is a 24-year-old German of Macedonian origin who wanted to manufacture explosives and had tried to buy a weapon online. His two accomplices are Turkish nationals aged 22 and 21.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil rose further above $62 a barrel on Tuesday, supported by hopes that U.S. President Donald Trump may signal progress on trade talks with China and lower inventories at a U.S. oil hub.

Concern about slower economic growth and oil demand due to the fallout from the 16-month U.S.-China trade dispute sent prices lower on Monday. Trump gives a speech later on Tuesday and investors are keen for an update on the talks.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s opposition Labour Party said on Tuesday it was subject to a large-scale cyberattack on its digital platforms just weeks before a national election but it was confident no data breach occurred.

British security services have warned that Russia and other countries could use cyberattacks or divisive political messages on social media to attempt to disrupt the Dec. 12 election.

“We have experienced a sophisticated and large-scale cyber attack on Labour digital platforms,” a party spokesman said in a statement.

KIEV, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- The troop pullback process in the area of Petrivske village in eastern Ukraine was completed, the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) spokesperson Oleksander Shtupun said on Monday.

"The third day of the actual process of personnel, weapons and military equipment pullback finished today at noon. Now the verification is carried out by the Special Monitoring Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and searching and eliminating of the explosives should start tomorrow according to the schedule," Shtupun told Ukrainian media.

LONDON, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's hopes of winning a majority in the general election were given a massive boost Monday.

Nigel Farage, leader of the anti-EU Brexit Party announced at an election rally in northeast England that the party will not contest more than 300 Conservative seats in the December election.

Farage had earlier indicated the party would contest almost all of the 650 parliamentary seats, a move that could have harmed the Conservatives prospects of winning an outright majority next month.