Europe

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil edged further below $59 a barrel on Wednesday, pressured by concerns about weaker demand for fuel due to slower economic growth and forecasts of a further rise in U.S. crude inventories.

Prices gained some support due to signs from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries that further curbs to oil supply could come in December. OPEC and its allies meet on Dec. 5-6 in Vienna to review output policy.

Brent crude LCOc1, the global benchmark, slipped 11 cents to $58.63 a barrel by 1045 GMT. U.S. crude CLc1 gained 9 cents to $52.90.

BRUSSELS/DUBLIN (Reuters) - Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Wednesday that last-ditch talks between the European Union and Britain had so far failed to resolve issues standing in the way of an amicable Brexit, with EU sources reporting a “standstill”.

Difficulties centred on trade and the status of the Irish border, although the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, was quoted as saying he was optimistic about a deal.

LONDON, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- British Royal Mail is facing the first national postal strike in a decade after its workers voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday in favor of industrial action in a dispute over job security and terms and conditions of employment.

Over 97 percent of votes from members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) backed action. The turnout was 76 percent. Most of the staff agreed to walk out in what they said a "fight of our lives".

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union officials hoped to sketch out a Brexit deal with Britain within hours, but negotiations stretched into early Wednesday in the latest effort at producing an agreement in more than three years of false starts and sudden reversals.

The bloc said it might be possible to strike a divorce deal by Thursday’s EU leaders’ summit, which comes just two weeks before the U.K’s scheduled departure date of Oct. 31. One major proviso: The British government must make more compromises to seal an agreement in the coming hours.

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Violent clashes erupted for a second night in Barcelona between police and protesters angry about the conviction of a dozen Catalan separatist leaders, as Spain launched an investigation Tuesday into an activist group organizing the demonstrations.

Thousands of people held vigils near the Spanish government offices in Catalonia’s four provinces. But the gatherings turned into melees, with protesters hurling firecrackers and other objects at anti-riot officers and kicking temporary fences around the official buildings.

MOSCOW, October 15. /TASS/: Ukrainian citizen Konstantin Davydenko charged with spying in Russia and sentenced to seven years in prison is on the exchange list between Russia and Ukraine, Davydenko’s lawyer Dmitry Dinze told TASS on Tuesday.

"The Ukrainian Embassy in Russia confirmed to me that Davydenko is on the exchange list," Dinze said.

MOSCOW, October 15. /TASS/: Starting from November 1, 2019, export duty on oil in Russia will increase by $1.1 and amount to $88.3 per metric ton, the Russian Ministry of Finance said in a statement on Tuesday.

The average price of Urals oil in the monitoring period from September 15 to October 14, 2019, was $60.08 per barrel, or $438.6 per metric ton.

MOSCOW, October 15. /TASS/: The Yantar Shipyard on the Baltic coast will accept the world’s largest air-cushion amphibious assault ship Mordovia operational in the Baltic Fleet for repairs in early November, Shipyard spokesman Sergei Mikhailov told TASS on Tuesday.

"The ship will arrive at the Shipyard for repairs in late October - early November," the spokesman specified.

MOSCOW, October 15. /TASS/: The Russian Embassy in Minsk monitors the situation regarding the detention of Russian national Anna Bogacheva in the Belarusian capital, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated on Facebook. Bogacheva is provided with all the necessary support, the ministry added.

MOSCOW, October 15. /TASS/: The Black Sea Fleet’s submarines Krasnodar and Stary Oskol will wrap up their deployment as part of the Russian Navy’s permanent Mediterranean task force in early 2020, a source in the shipbuilding industry told TASS on Tuesday.

"The deployment of the two submarines in the Mediterranean Sea on a rotating basis will last until the beginning of 2020, after which they will sail to St. Petersburg for planned repairs at the Admiralty Shipyard," the press office said in a statement.