Europe

LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Boris Johnson accused Britain’s main opposition leader on Thursday of trying to dodge an election, after rebellious lawmakers rejected the U.K. leader’s call to trigger a snap poll and moved to block his plan to leave the European Union next month without a divorce deal.

Johnson remained determined to secure an election as the only way out of Britain’s years-long Brexit impasse. His office said he would argue in a speech later that politicians must “go back to the people and give them the opportunity to decide what they want.”

ROME, Sept 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has told President Sergio Mattarella that he is in position to form a new government, which will be sworn in on Thursday, a presidential official said.

The swearing-in ceremony, involving the whole cabinet, will take place at the presidential palace at 10 a.m. (0800 GMT).

Roberto Gualtieri, an influential member of the European Parliament from the Democratic Party (PD), will be economy minister in Italy’s new government, Conte said.

VLADIVOSTOK, Sept 5 (NNN-SPUTNIK) — Malaysia does not feel threatened by the US plans to deploy missiles in the Asia-Pacific region or by Chinese warships there, but it is worried about potential accidents, its prime minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, told Sputnik news agency in an interview.

In August, US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper said he would like to deploy medium-range missiles in Asia, adding, however, that this could take a long time.

VLADIVOSTOK (Russia), Sept 5 (Bernama) — Prime Minister Dr Mahathir and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Summit (EES) where both leaders discussed efforts to further strengthen bilateral ties between the two countries.

During the 30-minute discussion in the port city overlooking Golden Horn Bay, near the borders with China and North Korea, they also spoke about trade and innovation.

Mahathir and Putin previously met on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit held in Singapore last year.

LONDON (AP) — The Latest on Britain’s bid to leave the European Union (all times local):

9:50 p.m.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has failed to win sufficient parliamentary support for an early national election on Oct. 15.

The vote was 298 in favor and 56 opposed, not enough to force the election because a large number of lawmakers abstained, meaning he failed to reach the required threshold.

Under U.K. law, Johnson needed the support of two-thirds of the 650 legislators in the House of Commons, which equates to 434.

MOSCOW, September 4. /TASS/: The Russian State Duma (lower house of parliament) Commission on Foreign Interference in Russia’s Internal Affairs will invite the leadership of German media outlet Deutsche Welle to one of its sessions, head of the commission Vasily Piskarev told reporters on Wednesday.

According to him, the commission plans to "address the leadership, the management with a request to attend" the commission’s meeting. "We will be happy to receive them, and we will get the answers to the questions that interest us," the MP added.

MOSCOW, September 4. /TASS/: Russia’s Foreign Ministry has undertaken efforts to control any meddling in the country’s domestic affairs from abroad surrounding the recent Moscow protests, Acting Deputy Director of the Ministry’s Information and Press Department Ilya Timokhov said on Wednesday.

BRUSSELS, September 4. /TASS/: The permanent representatives of the EU’s 28 member-countries have agreed on a six-month prolongation of restrictive measures against Russian individuals and legal entities that were due to expire on September 15, a source in the EU Council told TASS on Wednesday.

According to the diplomat, the EU Council will officially approve this decision next week. Then it will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union and enter into force.

VLADIVOSTOK, September 4. /TASS/: India has ordered from Russia a total of $14.5 billion worth of weapons and other military equipment, the chief of the federal service for military-technical cooperation, Dmitry Shugayev, said on Wednesday.

"Last year and today saw the emergence of a tremendous portfolio of contracts in contrast to all previous years, $14.5 billion. This is an impressive figure, it’s a real breakthrough," Shugayev told the media on Wednesday.

PARIS, September 4. /TASS/: The Council of Europe (CoE) has almost fully received Russia’s debt payments for 2017 and 2018, Spokesperson to the CoE’s Secretary General Daniel Holtgen told TASS on Wednesday.

"I can confirm that the money for 2018 and 2017 (54.7 million euros) has been 97% transferred by this morning, some technicalities still need to be arranged between our authorities, but we are sure they will be resolved," he said.