Europe

LONDON/PARIS (Reuters) - The United Kingdom will ultimately leave the European Union on the terms of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s deal, a senior Downing Street source said on Thursday, as EU leaders mulled offering London a three-month flexible Brexit delay.

More than three years after voting 52%-48% to be the first sovereign country to leave the European project, the United Kingdom is waiting for the EU to decide how long the latest delay to Brexit should be.

ROME (Reuters) - Italy’s 2020 draft budget does not imply a significant deviation from European Union rules, the Italian government said in a letter sent to the European Commission on Thursday.

Italy’s fiscal plan assumes a rise in the structural deficit, the measure excluding business cycle swings and one-off expenditure and revenue, of 0.1% of GDP. Under EU rules, it should fall 0.6% of GDP.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s Brexit minister Stephen Barclay said on Thursday he hoped opposition lawmakers would think again and allow the government’s proposed timetable for passing Brexit legislation to pass.

Parliament on Tuesday blocked Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s attempt to fast-track legislation needed to ratify and implement the Brexit deal he reached with Brussels last week.

Responding to a member of the Scottish National Party, Barclay said: “I hope the honorable gentleman will think again and enable the program motion (timetable) to go through.”

PARIS (AP) — Rich countries gathered Thursday in France to discuss replenishing an international fund that is meant to help poor nations tackle climate change, but which is falling short of its targets because the U.S. has stopped contributing.

The two-day meeting in Paris aims to replenish the Green Climate Fund, which has spent much of the $7 billion it received from governments in the past five years.

BRUSSELS (AP) — After spending four tumultuous days engulfed in the chaotic ramifications of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper lashed out Thursday at Turkey for its military assault across the border on Syrian Kurdish fighters.

Speaking at the German Marshall Fund, Esper said Turkey’s “unwarranted” invasion into Syria jeopardizes gains made there in recent years as the U.S.-led coalition and allied Syrian Kurdish forces battled the Islamic State group.

LONDON (AP) — Police raided two sites in Northern Ireland and questioned a truck driver as officers investigate the death of 39 people found in a container at an industrial park in southeastern England.

The truck and the trailer with the people inside apparently took separate circuitous journeys before ending up on the grounds of the Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays, 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of London on the River Thames.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — More than two months before the phone call that launched the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, Ukraine’s newly elected leader was already worried about pressure from the U.S. president to investigate his Democratic rival Joe Biden.

KIEV, October 23. /TASS/: Ukraine has been placed last in a list of countries by purchasing power among the 42 countries in Europe, a study carried out by the GfK (Growth from Knowledge) company among European states for 2019 suggests.

"Sixteen of the countries considered by the study have above-average per capita purchasing power, while twenty-six fall below the European average. Ukraine takes last place with a per capita purchasing power of 1.830 euros," the study results show.

MOSCOW, October 23. /TASS/: Russia’s small business involved in manufacturing can step up work with countries on the African continent through entering the projects of big companies, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sergei Katyrin said in an interview with TASS.

MOSCOW, October 23. /TASS/: The Russian Defense Ministry has published a map showing the patrol zone of the Russian military police, which arrived today in northeastern Syria in accordance with the agreement between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The document notes that the Russian and Turkish military will patrol the 10-km wide area near the Syrian-Turkish border.