Europe

MOSCOW, November 8. /TASS/: The medium altitude of the International Space Station’s (ISS) flight orbit has been raised by 800 meters with the help of the engines of the Progress MS-12 cargo spaceship docked to the station, a spokesman for the Central Research Institute of Machine-Building (TsNIImash) that is in charge of the Mission Control Center, told TASS on Friday.

MOSCOW, November 8. /TASS/: The United States is deliberately dragging its feet and is looking for an excuse to get rid of the New START Treaty, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Friday.

"We are very much concerned about the prospects for the New START Treaty, which will expire in February 2021," he stressed speaking at the Moscow Nonproliferation Conference. "This is the last of the bilateral tools in the sphere of control over our countries’ strategic offensive arms."

BOLSHOI KAMEN /Vladivostok/, November 8. /TASS/: The Project 1155 large anti-submarine warfare ship Marshal Shaposhnikov and the Project 949A Antey-class multipurpose nuclear-powered submarine Irkutsk currently undergoing their upgrade for Russia’s Pacific Fleet will be capable of using the latest Tsirkon hypersonic weapons, Deputy Defense Minister Alexei Krivoruchko said on Friday.

Munich (Germany), Nov 8 (AFP/PTI) The outgoing president of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker said Friday he believes the US will not impose new tariffs on imported European cars in the coming days.

President Donald Trump's administration has been threatening since last year to impose tariffs on auto imports to defend the US automaking sector, a symbol of American manufacturing.

MOSCOW, November 8. /TASS/: The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained supporters of the international terrorist organization, the Islamic State (IS, outlawed in Russia), that had collected at least 10 million rubles ($157,000) for the terrorists, in the Dagestan Region, the FSB Center for Public Relations (CPR) told TASS.

MOSCOW, November 8. /TASS/: The bill on recognizing individuals as foreign agents, the first reading of which was approved by the Russian State Duma in January 2018, may be approved fully by the end of the year, Chairman of the Federation Council’s (upper house) Commission for the Protection of State Sovereignty and Prevention of Interference in Russia’s Internal Affairs Andrei Klimov told reporters on Friday.

8 November 2019; AFP: Sweden, often held up as a safe and peaceful utopia, has experienced an unprecedented wave of bombings this year as criminal gangs increasingly use explosives to settle scores.

Regularly placed near the top of the UN's Human Development Index and among the world's richest countries in terms of GDP per capita, the Scandinavian country is facing an unusual challenge as bombings become a regular occurrence.

8 November 2019; AFP: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a stark warning against China and Russia on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, urging Western allies to defend hard-won freedoms.

"Western, free nations have a responsibility to deter threats to our people" from governments like China, Russia and Iran, Pompeo said, speaking just a few metres (yards) away from where the Wall ran past the German capital's world-famous Brandenburg Gate.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Friday, weighed down by lingering uncertainty about how close the United States and China were to a trade deal and on rising U.S. crude inventories.

Benchmark Brent crude was down 92 cents at $61.37 a barrel by 1046 GMT, after dropping more than $1 earlier in the session. Brent is on track to end the week 0.5% lower.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down 87 cents at $56.28 a barrel.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain issued more than 100 flood warnings on Friday, with residents in parts of northern England advised to evacuate their homes amid concern that lives were in danger, after deluges brought a month’s rainfall in less than 24 hours.

Dozens were trapped in a shopping center in the city of Sheffield overnight after becoming stranded and about 100 others were rescued from another mall nearby by firefighters in inflatable dinghies.