Europe

LISBON, Oct 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Portugal votes on Sunday with Prime Minister Antonio Costa’s Socialists tipped to win a second straight term after presiding over a period of solid economic growth following years of austerity.

Costa’s likely re-election bucks the trend of declining centre-left fortunes and the rise of far-right, populist parties seen elsewhere in Europe.

EDINBURGH, Oct 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Tens of thousands of Scottish independence supporters marched in Edinburgh on Saturday, as calls grow for a fresh vote on Scotland breaking away from the United Kingdom with Brexit scheduled for within weeks.

The demonstrators, many carrying Scottish flags, some wearings kilts and a few playing musical instruments – including bagpipes – set off from Holyrood Park in the heart of the Scottish capital.

Some chanted “What do we want? Independence” as the throng of people made its way up the city’s famous Royal Mile.

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday defended the Trump administration’s approach to Ukraine, which is driving an impeachment inquiry in Congress, and called it typical of the transactional way countries deal with one another.

Pompeo said the focus from the media and commentators on President Donald Trump and Ukraine is “wrong” because it doesn’t “impact real people’s lives.”

WOODBINE, Ga. (AP) — A former Georgia police officer who fatally shot a fleeing, unarmed black man was acquitted Saturday of voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter.

The jury, however, found Zechariah Presley guilty of violating his oath of office in the 2018 shooting of Tony Green, 33, in coastal Camden County near the Georgia-Florida state line.

Presley was ordered to be jailed pending sentencing Oct. 18. He faces a prison term of one to five years.

HELSINKI (AP) — North Korea’s chief negotiator said that nuclear talks with the U.S. had broken down, but Washington maintained the two sides had “good discussions” in Sweden that it intends to build on in two weeks.

The North Korean negotiator, Kim Myong Gil, said the talks in Stockholm on Saturday had “not fulfilled our expectations and broke down. I am very displeased about it.”

KIEV, October 4. /TASS/: The Normandy Four summit (Russia, Ukraine, Germany, France) may be held at the end of October, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadim Pristayko said on Friday.

"We hope that [a meeting in] the Normandy format will take place at the end of October," UNN news agency quoted Pristayko as saying.

On Wednesday, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said that dates for the next summit in the Normandy format have not been discussed yet, but considering Russian President Vladimir Putin's schedule, the meeting is unlikely to be held in October.

MOSCOW, October 5. /TASS/: Russia will establish the system of accounting for greenhouse gas emissions at the level of economic entities — companies and enterprises by 2025, according to the Russian social-economic development forecast for 2020-2022.

The forecast was prepared by the Economic Development Ministry and submitted to the State Duma by the government together with the federal budget draft.

TASS, October 5: Seismologists registered an earthquake of 5.3 magnitude in the area of the Aleutian Islands (US) close to Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, a source in the regional branch of the Geophysical Service at the Russian Academy of Sciences told TASS.

"The earthquake was registered at 3:48 pm local time (6:48 am Moscow time - TASS)," the source said.

No injuries or damages were reported, and no tsunami alert was issued.

MOSCOW, October 5. /TASS/: A special fire hazard regime will be introduced on the territory of Russia's Amur region from October 10 due to increasing danger of wildfires in the area, local ministry of forestry and firefighting told reporters on Saturday.

"We will give people an opportunity to finish cleaning their yards, and heads of settlements — to prepare for the start of the fire hazard season until October 10," Amur region's acting minister of forestry and firefighting Alexey Sevostyanov said.

MOSCOW, October 1. /TASS/: The upgraded T-90M may become the main battle tank for the Russian Army, Uralvagonzavod Special Representative for Military and Technical Cooperation, Army General Alexei Maslov told TASS on Tuesday.