Europe

French police stopped two topless protesters who approached the motorcade of US President Donald Trump as he made his way up the Champs-Elysees to a ceremony in Paris marking 100 years since the end of World War I.

One of the protesters, with slogans written on her body, got within metres of the rear of the motorcade after jumping over a barricade.

She was grabbed by a police officer, while a second woman could be seen being hauled away by security services on the edge of the famous avenue, live television pictures showed.

11 Nov 2018; AFP: People in Russian-backed separatist controlled areas of eastern Ukraine voted for new leaders on Sunday in polls condemned as illegal by Kiev and Western countries.

The elections in the Donetsk and Lugansk "People's Republics", which broke away from Ukraine's pro-Western government in 2014, took place after the killing of the rebel Donetsk "president" in a bomb attack in August.

PARIS, Nov 11 (AFP) Europe should not spend higher defence budgets on US-made weapons, French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview due to air Sunday, after a defence row with President Donald Trump.

One of dozens of world leaders attending World War I commemorations in France this weekend, Trump tweeted after landing in Paris that Macron's call for a "real European army" was "insulting".

ABU DHABI, November 11. /TASS/. Ministers of oil producing countries can discuss the oil production cut at the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee meeting on Sunday.

DONETSK/LUGANSK, November 11. /TASS/. International observers at the elections of heads of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics and MPs have stated that the voting is in line with European standards and the voter turnout is unprecedented.

As of 2 p.m. Moscow Time, the voter turnout reached 56.5% and 65.9% in the LPR and DPR, respectively, local election officials said.

10 Nov 2018; AFP: European Union chief Donald Tusk on Saturday accused US President Donald Trump of being averse to a "strong and united" Europe and also warned against the emergence of a "brownshirt" nationalist front in EU elections next year.

His comments came as Trump, in France for World War I centenary commemorations, blasted French President Emmanuel Macron over his proposals for a European army.

PARIS (AP) — After French President Emmanuel Macron said Europe needs to defend itself from the United States, aides said he was misunderstood.

But the idea isn’t so far-fetched.

Macron is leading a rearguard action to salvage the system of international cooperation the U.S. helped build, but which President Donald Trump has chipped away at since taking office.

While Trump came all the way to Paris for commemorations marking 100 years since the armistice that ended World War I, he’s skipping an international peace forum that Macron is launching Sunday.

PARIS (AP) — President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron are trying to project unity after Trump lashed out at one of America’s strongest allies in Europe.

Trump had claimed Macron insulted the United States when the French president pushed the idea of the continent having its own defense force.

The American and French leaders have had an up-and-down relationship, but they told reporters that they are good friends as they prepared for talks at the Elysee Palace on Saturday.

BERLIN (AP) — Artists and intellectuals across Europe are calling for the founding of a continentwide republic to replace its many nation states.

Activists planned to proclaim a “European Republic” in dozens of cities at 4 p.m. (1500 GMT) Saturday, almost exactly 100 years after the end of World War I.

The event is being organized by a group calling itself the European Balcony Project. Its listed supporters include political scientists, philosophers and writers such as Austrian literature Nobel prize laureate Elfriede Jelinek.

VIENNA, November 10. /TASS/. The retired Austrian colonel suspected of spying for Russia attended NATO seminars and transferred information obtained there to Russian special services, Salzburger Nachrichten daily reported on Friday.

According to the newspaper, the colonel attended NATO seminars through partnership programs and transferred data collected there to Russia. Austria is not part of the North Atlantic Alliance, and the country maintains a neutral status.