Europe

MOSCOW, December 13. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has speculated that the European legislators who voted for the resolution against the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline project must be pinning their hopes either on global warming or firewood.

"Some countries are closing down nuclear power plants. Also, they plan to stop using Russian natural gas. Will they opt for firewood? But the place where firewood can be obtained is well known," she told a news briefing on Thursday.

13 Dec 2018; DW: A study has singled out quite possibly the most dangerous holiday of the year: Christmas Eve. While the researchers couldn't explain why, they did have a hunch.

Swedish scientists have found that people are most at risk of suffering a heart attack on December 24, often observed as Christmas Eve, than any other day during the holiday season, said a study published on Wednesday in the medical journal BMJ.

13 Dec 2018; DW: As carmakers wrestle for the emerging electric car market, a German company sealed a key deal to mine a massive lithium deposit under a salt flat in Bolivia. The metal is crucial for making car battery cells.

Lithium deposits hidden below Bolivia's Uyuni salt flat are believed to be the largest in the world. On Wednesday, Germany's privately owned ACI Systems agreed to a partnership with Bolivian state company YLB to exploit the element.

LONDON (AP) — The German parliament has approved a motion stating that the Brexit deal can’t be renegotiated, underlining the stance of the government and European Union allies.

The largely symbolic motion was approved hours before Chancellor Angela Merkel and the other 27 EU leaders gather in Brussels.

British Prime Minister Theresa May is seeking reassurances about the withdrawal deal, which she is struggling to sell to skeptical lawmakers.

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Theresa May is seeking a lifeline from European Union leaders Thursday after winning a no-confidence vote among her own Conservative lawmakers.

May will ask the other 27 EU leaders at a summit in Brussels for reassurances about the deal that she can use to win over a skeptical British Parliament, particularly those within her party who triggered the no-confidence vote in the first place.

Earlier this week, to great uproar in Parliament, May scrapped a planned vote on the deal this week when it became clear she would lose.

12 Dec 2018; AFP: The European Parliament on Wednesday approved an accord with Japan that has been dubbed the world's biggest trade deal, covering economies that represent a third of the world's GDP.

The agreement will go into effect in February and was celebrated as a victory for Europe as a free trade champion in the face of US President Donald Trump's protectionism and Britain's decision to leave the EU.

STRASBOURG, France (AP) — Cherif Chekatt’s criminal career began at age 10. By age 13 he had been convicted. Now, with his third decade still incomplete, he is a fugitive, accused in the deadly shooting at France’s most famous Christmas market.

The 29-year-old has more than two dozen convictions, mostly in France but also in Switzerland and Germany. The rare times he’s been out of jail, he’s moved around. He had lived at his latest apartment, in a grim housing bloc on the edge of Strasbourg, for just a few months before police broke down the door in an unrelated case.

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Theresa May battled on Wednesday to save her job, her EU divorce bill and maybe even Brexit itself as lawmakers in her Conservative Party held a no-confidence vote on her leadership.

Legislators began casting their secret ballots in a wood-paneled room in Parliament after May’s Conservative opponents, who have been circling for weeks, finally got the numbers they needed to spark a vote.

STRASBOURG, France (AP) — French authorities have issued a wanted poster and are calling for witnesses amid a massive manhunt for the suspected shooter nearly 24 hours after a deadly attack at the Strasbourg Christmas market.

A photo of Cherif Chekatt, 29, who was born in Strasbourg, was distributed publicly Wednesday evening.

The poster warns: “Dangerous individual, above all do not intervene.” It asks anyone with information that could help locate him to contact authorities.

MOSCOW (AP) — Two Russian cosmonauts were preparing to venture outside the International Space Station Tuesday to inspect a section where a mysterious leak has been discovered.

The leak was spotted on Aug. 30 in the Russian Soyuz spacecraft attached to the station. The crew quickly located and sealed the tiny hole that created a slight loss of pressure, and space officials said the station has remained safe to operate.