Europe

BERLIN/PARIS, Nov 18 (Reuters) - France, Germany and Spain have reached agreement on starting the next phase of development of a new fighter jet dubbed FCAS, Europe's largest defence project at an estimated cost of more than 100 billion euros ($103.4 billion), Berlin said on Friday.

Germany's Defence Ministry said in a statement that an industrial agreement was achieved after intense negotiations, confirming an earlier Reuters story saying the three countries and their respective industries had struck a deal.

STOCKHOLM, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Investigators have found traces of explosives at the site of the damaged Nord Stream gas pipelines, confirming sabotage had taken place, a Swedish prosecutor said on Friday.

Swedish and Danish authorities are investigating four holes in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines which link Russia and Germany via the Baltic Sea and have become a flashpoint in the Ukraine crisis as gas supplies in Europe run short.

Denmark last month said a preliminary investigation had shown that the leaks were caused by powerful explosions.

MOSCOW, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a phone conversation on Friday to discuss the prospects of creating a gas hub in Türkiye and the extension of the Black Sea grain export deal.

Erdogan supports the initiative proposed by Putin in October of establishing a major natural gas hub in Türkiye, the Kremlin said in a statement.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s electricity grid operator warned of hours-long power outages Friday as Russia zeroed in on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure with renewed artillery and missile attacks that have interrupted supply to as much as 40% of the population at the onset of winter.

Grid operator Ukrenergo said outages could last for several hours with colder temperatures putting additional pressure on energy networks.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s biggest industrial union agreed with employers Friday on a pay deal that will see millions of workers get raises totaling 8.5% over two years as well as one-time payments meant to cushion the effect of sky-high inflation.

The IG Metall union and employers reached a compromise in the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, a key industrial region. In Germany, wage deals are typically hammered out in negotiations between employers’ organizations and unions that cover a whole sector, and an agreement reached in one region is generally applied nationwide.

HELSINKI (AP) — Swedish investigators found traces of explosives at the Baltic Sea site where two natural pipelines were damaged in an act of “gross sabotage,” the prosecutor leading Sweden’s preliminary investigation said Friday.

Mats Ljungqvist of the Swedish Prosecution Authority said the investigators carefully documented the area where the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines ruptured in September, causing significant methane leaks. The parallel undersea pipelines run from Russia to Germany.

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Conservative government on Friday defended its decision to hike taxes for millions of working people in the “squeezed middle” class as it tries to shore up an economy battered by double-digit inflation and the reckless tax-cutting of recently ousted Prime Minister Liz Truss.

MOSCOW, November 17. /TASS/: Russia’s COVID-19 case tally rose by 5,680 over the past day to 21,520,021, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Thursday.

A day earlier 5,380 daily cases were registered.

As many as 1,113 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in Russia over the past day, down 8.7% from a day earlier. The number of hospitalized patients increased in 29 regions, while in 44 regions the figure decreased. The situation remained unchanged in 12 regions. A day earlier, 1,219 people were rushed to hospitals.

MOSCOW, November 17. /TASS/: The special military operation in Ukraine does not depend on weather conditions, it is continuing and its goals will be achieved, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media on Thursday.

"The special military operation is continuing, it does not depend on climatic or weather conditions," Peskov said. He added that "its goals must be achieved."

MOSCOW, November 17. /TASS/: The Western countries are trying to accuse Russia of non-existent intentions to use nuclear weapons, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in an interview with RTVI on Thursday.

"Regardless of the posture we may take on this issue to explain the obvious things they are trying to accuse us of some non-existent intentions [to use nuclear weapons]. This is just a reflection of the course towards the demonization of Russia," Ryabkov said.