Europe

MOSCOW, October 2. /TASS/: Russia’s Energy Ministry expects the Nord Stream 2 project to be implemented in the applied variant despite the delay with Denmark’s issue of permit, Minister Alexander Novak said at a session of the Russian Energy Week on Wednesday.

THE HAGUE, October 2. /TASS/: The Dutch Public Prosecution Service has sent a request to Russia to detain and extradite citizen of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Vladimir Tsemakh, spokesperson for the service Brechtje van de Moosdijk told TASS on Wednesday.

"The Netherlands Public Prosecution Service (OM) has submitted a request for provisional arrest of Mr Tsemakh to the competent Russian authorities on September 7th 2019, for the purpose of extradition to the Netherlands," she said.

MURMANSK, October 2. /TASS/: The Russian Northern Fleet’s missile cruiser Marshal Ustinov currently on its long-distance deployment to the Mediterranean Sea held a series of shipboard exercises, including air defense drills, the Fleet’s press office reported on Wednesday.

"The ship’s crew held air defense and anti-submarine warfare exercises, and also practiced the ship’s protection and defense during a sea transit," the press office said.

MOSCOW, October 2. /TASS/: Russia has not taken any destructive steps against the US, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday.

"Russia has not taken a single destructive step with respect to the US. Not a single one. If you have a different opinion, then substantiate it and furnish some evidence," he said at the plenary session of the Russian Energy Week forum.

The Russian president has dismissed statements on Russia’s potential meddling in the US 2020 election as laughable.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union denounced on Wednesday North Korea’s decision to fire a ballistic missile off its east coast as “yet another provocative action” and called for fresh talks between Washington and Pyongyang.

“We look forward to the resumption of working-level talks between the US and the DPRK and stand ready to support all international efforts for finding a diplomatic solution leading to lasting peace and security on the Korean Peninsula,” the EU said in a statement, referring to North Korea.

BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) - The World Trade Organization is poised on Wednesday to open the door to hefty U.S. tariffs on European goods over illegal subsidies for Airbus, pushing a 15-year-old row over support for plane giants to the center of fraught global trade relations.

The Geneva body said it would publish at 4 p.m. local time (1400 GMT) its decision on a U.S. request to impose up to $11.2 billion in tariffs on European Union goods, but people close to the case expect WTO arbiters to reduce that by about a third.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Wednesday that it approved of a move by Kiev to sign a peace plan with pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine’s east that it had previously rejected, RIA news agency reported.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday that a plan known as the Steinmeier formula to provide special status for the Donbas region and hold elections there should be written into Ukrainian law.

MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson will on Wednesday make his final Brexit offer to the European Union and say that, if Brussels does not engage with it, Britain will stop talking and leave on Oct. 31 regardless.

In his closing speech to his Conservatives’ annual conference, Johnson will stick to his hard line on Brexit, offering the party faithful details of what he will describe as his “fair and reasonable compromise”.

Manchester, Oct 2 (AFP) Prime Minister Boris Johnson will unveil his plan for a new Brexit deal at his Conservative party conference Wednesday, warning the EU it is that or Britain leaves with no agreement this month.

Downing Street said Johnson would give details of a "fair and reasonable compromise" in his closing address to the gathering in Manchester, and would table the plans in Brussels the same day.

GENEVA, Oct 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Following the seizure of 25 supercars from Equatorial Guinea’s vice president as part of a Swiss money-laundering probe, an auction held by Bonhams fetched nearly $27 million (27 million Swiss francs).

Geneva prosecutors said in February that they had closed an inquiry into Teodoro Nguema Obiang for money laundering and misappropriation of public assets with an arrangement to sell the cars to fund social programmes in the west African state.