Europe

ROME, Aug 29 (NNN-Xinhua) — Italian president Sergio Mattarella summoned outgoing Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Thursday in order to ask him to try to form a new coalition government.

“President Sergio Mattarella has summoned professor Giuseppe Conte Thursday at 9:30 a.m. (local time),” the president’s office said in a statement late on Wednesday.

The latest development in the Italian political crisis came after negotiations between anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) and center-left Democratic Party (PD) reached a positive, although still partial, result.

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government on Thursday dared lawmakers who want to stop a no-deal Brexit: change the law or change the government if you want to stop Britain leaving the European Union on Oct. 31.

Britain is weeks away from leaving the EU but has yet to secure a deal with Brussels to soften the impact of breaking away from its biggest trading partner. Johnson says he wants a deal, but will leave without one if necessary.

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s Queen Elizabeth did not question the government’s request to suspend parliament for over a month ahead of Brexit, House of Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg said on Thursday.

“The queen, her majesty, had no discretion over this. There is no precedent for the queen refusing a request by her prime minister under these circumstances,” Rees-Mogg told the BBC.

He denied a suggestion that moving to suspend parliament had put the monarch, who by convention avoids any involvement in politics, in an awkward position.

ROME (AP) — Two Italian political parties agreed Wednesday to try to form a new coalition government, putting aside past rivalry to forestall an election that could put right-wing nationalist Matteo Salvini in power as premier.

Luigi di Maio, the leader of the populist 5-Star Movement, said he had informed Italy’s president of his party’s potential partnership with the opposition Democratic Party that would see Giuseppe Conte return as prime minister.

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson maneuvered Wednesday to give his political opponents even less time to block a chaotic no-deal Brexit before the Oct. 31 withdrawal deadline, winning Queen Elizabeth II’s approval to suspend Parliament. His critics were outraged.

Though Johnson previously had refused to rule out such a move, the timing of the decision took lawmakers — many of whom are on vacation — by surprise.

28 Aug 2019; MEMO: Italy has grounded two planes used to rescue migrant boats in the Mediterranean as the country’s far-right interior minister continues his hard-line stance against migrants.

ENAC has confirmed it has grounded two aircrafts operated by the German NGO Sea-Watch and the French NGO Pilotes Volontaires, Moonbird and Colibri, on the grounds they are approved for recreational not professional use.

Sea-Watch has said the decision is political and in breach of international law.

NOVOSIBIRSK, August 28. /TASS/: Three people were killed after a wall collapsed in the Russian city of Novosibirsk, according to the Emergencies Ministry.

A search and rescue operation involving sniffer dogs is underway at the site as more people may be trapped under the rubble.

MOSCOW, August 28. /TASS/: Russian Railways and the consortium German Initiative for the Development of High-Speed Rail Lines in Russia, which includes Siemens, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Bahn and others, have signed a memorandum of cooperation on the design, financing and implementation of the Moscow-St. Petersburg high-speed railway, TASS reports from the signing ceremony.

General Director of Russian Railways Oleg Belozyorov and CEO of Siemens Mobility GmbH Sabrina Soussan signed the document.

ZHUKOVSKY /Moscow region/, August 28. /TASS/: Moscow and Ankara are in talks on the delivery of Russian electronic warfare systems, as well as the Sukhoi Su-35 and Su-57 fighter jets to Turkey, head of Russia’s Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation Dmitry Shugayev told reporters on the sidelines of the MAKS 2019 International Aviation and Space Salon.

ZHUKOVSKY /Moscow Region/, August 28. /TASS/: The Russian Defense Ministry’s transport planes will make several dozen flights during the second phase of the delivery of air defense missile systems S-400 to Turkey, the director of the federal service for military-technical cooperation, Dmitry Shugayev, told the media on the sidelines of the 14th international aerospace show MAKS.

He said that the second delivery, launched on August 27, will be by air. "Several dozen flights will be made, in the first place, by Defense Ministry planes," he said.