BRITAIN-ECONOMY

BRUSSELS - Britain is protesting a European Union request for an additional 2.1 billion euro ($2.65 billion) contribution to the EU coffers at a time of increasing pressure at home for the country to leave the bloc. British officials on Friday confirmed a report in the Financial Times that his nation had been asked to top up its contribution by some 20 percent. 

SWEDEN-SUBMARINE HUNT

STOCKHOLM - Swedish authorities say they have called off their weeklong search for a suspected submarine in the Stockholm archipelago. Military authorities said Friday that they have ordered naval and amphibious forces to end their hunt for the submarine, though some ground forces will remain involved. 

BRITAIN-GESTAPO IMPOSTOR

LONDON - At the height of World War II, Hans Kohout wanted to give the Nazis advance word of a top-secret British tactic that could neutralize an enemy's air defenses, leaving major cities exposed to devastating air raids, according to secret intelligence files released Friday. Kohout, a naturalized British citizen, knew about it from his work at a plant doing defense-related work. 

POLAND-RUSSIA-UKRAINE

WARSAW, Poland - Poland's former prime minister, Donald Tusk, denied Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that their two nations carve up Ukraine. That claim was made by former Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski in an interview with Politico published Sunday. It sparked a huge outcry in Poland, and Sikorski almost immediately backed away from the allegations, saying his memory had failed him. 

BRITAIN-BRAIN TUMOR

PRAGUE - A clinic in Prague says British boy Ashya King has completed his proton beam therapy treatment for a life-threatening brain tumor. Prague's Proton Therapy Center says the treatment took place without complications and during his 30 radiation sessions Ashya "was getting better and better." 

FRANCE-ISLAMIC STATE

PARIS - France's military chief says an overnight air raid has destroyed an arms depot for the Islamic State group in Iraq. Gen. Pierre de Villiers told Europe 1 radio that two French fighter jets dropped a total of 70 bombs, destroying a dozen buildings used for arms production and storage. 

GERMANY-ECONOMY

BERLIN - A survey finds that a downward trend in German consumer confidence has come to an end, despite cooler growth prospects for Europe's biggest economy. The GfK research group said Friday that its forward-looking consumer climate index edged up to 8.5 points for November from 8.4 in October. It found that Germans' willingness to buy has increased amid low unemployment and that income expectations continue to improve, while consumers' economic outlook has stabilized.