Europe

ZARINSK, October 15. /TASS/: The positive dynamics of the development of light industry, which the industry has shown over the past 5 years at a level of at least 5% per year, has been replaced by stagnation in 2019. The reason was the fall in consumer demand and stagnation in retail trade, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of Russia Viktor Evtukhov told reporters on Tuesday.

15 October 2019; AFP: Switzerland's glaciers have lost a tenth of their volume in the past five years alone -- a melting rate unmatched during observations stretching back more than a century, a study showed Tuesday.

Measurements on 20 Swiss glaciers have shown that melt rates this year have reached "record levels", according to the annual study on the state of the glaciers, published by the Cryospheric Commission at the Swiss Academy of Sciences.

LONDON (Reuters) - British police have ordered a halt to Extinction Rebellion protests in London after a week of civil disobedience by climate change activists who have targeted government building and major financial institutions.

“Any assembly linked to the Extinction Rebellion ‘Autumn Uprising’... must now cease their protest(s) within London,” the police said in a statement late on Monday.

Police said 1,445 people had been arrested in the protests so far.

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday criticized U.S. President Donald Trump for not having coordinated his decision to impose sanctions against Turkey, adding that the European Union is discussing its options and should act together.

Trump on Monday announced a package of sanctions to punish Turkey, a week after reversing U.S. policy and moving troops out of the way to allow Turkey to attack Washington’s allies in northern Syria.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin’s envoy for Syria on Tuesday called Turkey’s military offensive in northeast Syria “unacceptable” and denied Ankara’s operation had been cleared by Moscow in advance, Russian news agencies reported.

Alexander Lavrentiev, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s envoy for Syria, was speaking to reporters in Abu Dhabi during an official visit there by Putin.

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain’s acting government has lowered its growth forecasts due to domestic and external factors such as trade tensions and raised its deficit estimate, just as political gridlock narrows Madrid’s room for maneuver on budgetary matters.

In a document that is part of draft budget plans submitted to the European Commission on Tuesday, the government said it expects economic output to expand by 2.1% this year, less than a previous forecast of 2.2%. It sees growth of 1.8% next year, below a previous forecast of 1.9%.

GENEVA, Oct 15 (NNN-TELESUR) — Venezuelan Ambassador to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Hector Constant denounced the impacts of the illegal economic, financial, and commercial blockade imposed by the United States on the South American nation.

Constant said that illegal economic measures prevent Venezuela’s development.”It affects the country’s efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development objectives of the U.N. Agenda 2023,” he added.

GENEVA, Oct 15 (NNN-TELESUR) — Cuban Ambassador Representative to the United Nations in Geneva Pedro Luis Pedroso denounced at a meeting of Heads of Delegations of the World Trade Organization (WTO) the effort of the United States to hinder the commercial relations with the island.

STOCKHOLM, Oct 15 (NNN-PTI) — Indian-American Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer jointly won the 2019 Nobel Economics Prize on Monday “for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty.”

“The research conducted by this year’s Laureates has considerably improved our ability to fight global poverty. In just two decades, their new experiment-based approach has transformed development economics, which is now a flourishing field of research,” said the Nobel committee in a statement.

ANKARA, Oct 15 (NNN-ANADOLU) — The European Union said on Monday that Turkey’s security concerns in northeast Syria should be addressed though political and diplomatic means, not through military action. 

The EU Council said in a statement that Turkey should cease its anti-terrorist Operation Peace Spring in northeastern Syria and withdraw its forces.