Europe

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain’s Supreme Court plans to convict and sentence Catalan separatist leaders to a maximum of 15 years in prison over a 2017 bid for independence, a judicial source said on Saturday.

The most prominent of the 12 Catalan leaders on trial would be found guilty of charges of sedition and misuse of public funds but none would be convicted and sentenced for the more severe charge of rebellion, the source told Reuters.

The decision was taken unanimously by the seven members of the top court, the source added.

12 Oct 2019; MEMO: A Russian court sentenced a US-Israeli woman to seven and a half years in jail for drug offences on Friday, a ruling Israel condemned as disproportionate and which her family said Moscow had linked to the fate of a Russian citizen detained in Israel, reports Reuters.

Frankfurt Am Main, Oct 11 (AFP/PTI) Germany's federal transport authority KBA has ordered Daimler to recall hundreds of thousands of diesel vehicles for breaking emissions rules, the auto giant said Friday.

"We estimate that the recall will concern a six-digit figure," it said, adding that it will "cooperate with the authorities".

The KBA has ordered the recall of successive waves of Daimler vehicles in recent years as it has uncovered excessive emissions but the company has always contested involvement in the so-called "dieselgate" scandal that broke in 2015.

BRUSSELS, Oct 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — EU countries have agreed to “intensify” Brexit talks with the UK over the next few days.

The development comes after a meeting in Brussels between Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay and EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, described by both sides as “constructive”.

But UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said there was “a way to go” before a deal could be reached.

The UK is due to leave the EU at 23:00 GMT on Oct 31.

BRUSSELS, Oct 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — EU governments threatened sanctions against Turkey over its offensive in Syria, angrily rejecting President Tayyip Erdogan’s warning that he would “open the gates” and send 3.6 million refugees to Europe if they did not back him.

Turkey has stepped up its air and artillery strikes on Kurdish militia in northeast Syria, escalating an offensive that has drawn warnings of a humanitarian disaster and also raised the prospect of new U.S. sanctions on Ankara.

PARIS, Oct 12 (NNN-AGENCIES) – European leaders would mull sanctions on Turkey, over its military campaign in Syria, during next week’s European Union summit, France’s European Affairs Minister, Amelie de Montchalin, said.

“Obviously, EU sanctions against Turkey are on the table. This will be discussed at the European Council next week,” de Montchalin told France Inter radio.

“Today, nothing is closed. Everything is debated,” she said.

MOSCOW, October 11. /TASS/: A military transport plane An-72, which went missing on Thursday in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), has crashed, the Congolese radio said on Friday citing the DRC civil aviation authority.

According to the radio station, there were four crew along with some civilian and military passengers, including members of DRC President Felix Tshisekedi’s staff.

In the meantime, Russia’s embassy to the DRC confirmed to TASS that Russian nationals were onboard the An-72.

MOSCOW, October 11. /TASS/: The crash of the SSJ-100 passenger jet that occurred in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport this May has not affected the demand for these airplanes. Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov said on Friday on the air with the Rossiya-24 TV Channel.

"This was not related to flight safety. This was an issue linked to a human factor and therefore it could not influence and has not influenced to date the desire to purchase and use these aircraft," Manturov said.

VLADIVOSTOK, October 11. /TASS/: A tactical group of the Pacific Fleet’s warships held an air defense drill in the Sea of Japan to repel a notional enemy’s air attack, the Fleet’s press office reported on Friday.

"The tactical group of warships from a harbor defense unit of the Pacific Fleet’s main naval base in Peter the Great Bay held a tactical exercise for comprehensively employing air defense and electronic warfare capabilities to repel a notional enemy’s air attacks," the press office said in a statement.

MOSCOW, October 11. /TASS/: The man who made history by performing the first-ever spacewalk in 1965, Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, has died in Moscow, his aide Natalya Filimonova told TASS on Friday. Leonov was 85.

Leonov passed away at the Burdenko Hospital after a long illness, Filimonova said. He will be buried at the Federal Military Memorial Cemetery (in Mytishchi, the Moscow Region) on October 15.

The Cosmonauts Training Center has confirmed Leonov’s death.