Europe

LONDON (Reuters) - Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage told Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Friday that he must drop the Brexit deal he struck with the EU and agree to a leave alliance for the Dec. 12 election or face a fight over every seat in Britain.

Farage, who as UKIP leader pushed then-Prime Minister David Cameron to call the Brexit referendum and then helped lead the campaign to leave the EU, said on Friday Johnson had until Nov. 14 to agree to his demands.

MADRID, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Spain has offered to host the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 25) in Madrid following the decision from Chile to step down as host for the event due to the ongoing street protests in the South American country.

The acting Spanish government of Pedro Sanchez issued a communique on Thursday indicating Spain would be willing to host the conference respecting the dates the event was due to be held on in Chile, which is Dec. 2-13.

KIEV, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday said the doors of the alliance are open for those who wish to join, including Ukraine.

"As a sovereign state, Ukraine has the right to choose its security systems. NATO membership is the decision of the members of the NATO Alliance and those who want to join it. The spheres of influence are a thing of the past," he told the Ukrainian Parliament.

MOSCOW, October 31. /TASS/: The Baltic Fleet’s army corps has received the latest Tor-M2 surface-to-air missile systems, the Fleet’s press office reported on Thursday.

MOSCOW, October 31. /TASS/: Total household debt in Russia has hit an all-time high and reached 10.6% as of October 1, 2019, according to the presentation of head of the Central Bank’s Financial Stability Department Elizaveta Danilova. In the previous month, total household debt reached the record high of 2014 of 10.4%.

The dynamics of household debt (the ratio of monthly debt payments to monthly income of borrowers) is largely due to the growth of unsecured consumer lending, the presentation says.

VOLGOGRAD, October 31. /TASS/: Belgium’s Ambassador to Russia, Jean-Arthur Regibeau, believes that the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline will help strengthen economic relations between Russia and the European Union.

"We believe, that we are rather positive in the sense that it would increase economic relations between the two sides, but it has to clearly respect rules set by the European Union [in the energy sector]," the Belgian diplomat told TASS on Thursday.

MOSCOW, October 31. /TASS/: Turkey has failed to abide by its obligations under the Syria ceasefire as it continues military activities in Syria’s border areas, Commander of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) Mazloum Abdi said on Twitter on Thursday.

"Turkey has not adhered to the ceasefire agreement with the USA and is continuing its war. Turkey, with jihadists, began to occupy Christian villages, trying to break into Tall Tamir dominated by Assyrians, and threatened with annihilation. The USA must fulfill its obligations," the tweet reads.

BAYONNE (France), Oct 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — An octogenarian accused of wounding two men in a shooting at a mosque in southern France has been charged and ordered held in detention, the prosecutor’s office said.

Claude Sinke, who stood as a candidate for the far-right National Rally in 2015 regional elections, tried to set fire to a mosque in Bayonne in the southwest on Monday, and shot two men, aged 74 and 78, who came out to investigate.

BRUSSELS, Oct 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Belgian police found 12 migrants alive in a refrigerated truck at a motorway parking area in northern Belgium on Wednesday after the driver alerted authorities, a federal police spokeswoman said.

The driver, who was transporting fruit and vegetables, called the police after he found 12 men of Syrian and Sudanese origin and took them to the Immigration Office in the city of Antwerp.

The men were discovered while travelling between Antwerp and Brussels on Tuesday, a police spokeswoman said.

All 12 were “in good health,” she said.

MOSCOW, October 31. /TASS/: Head of Russia’s State Space Corporation Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin gave instructions to allocate funds for making two additional Soyuz MS manned spaceships, including due to the need to deliver NASA astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).