Europe

ROME, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- Italian President Sergio Mattarella began talks with political parties on Wednesday, a day after Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte's populist government collapsed.

The prime minister resigned late on Tuesday, and was asked by Mattarella to remain in office as caretaker of current affairs.

The fresh crisis in the eurozone's third-largest economy was ignited by tensions within the coalition supporting Conte's cabinet, made of far-right, anti-immigrant League party and anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S).

BERLIN, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the visiting British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday reiterated the Brexit with a deal, but were different in approaches.

In his first trip abroad since assuming office, Johnson called again for re-negotiations for the Brexit agreement between Britain and the European Union (EU) in order to avoid Britain leaving the bloc without a deal on Oct. 31.

MOSCOW, August 21. /TASS/: Washington’s illegal sanctions have created new opportunities for cooperation between Caracas and Moscow, Venezuelan Executive Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said at a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow on Wednesday.

"Illegal sanctions imposed on our countries have created great opportunities [for Venezuela and Russia] to boost cooperation," she said.

MOSCOW, August 21. /TASS/: Techmash Group (part of the state hi-tech corporation Rostec) is entering the international arms market with its latest Tornado-S multiple launch rocket system armed with 300mm smart shells, the Rostec press office told TASS on Wednesday.

MOSCOW, August 21. /TASS/: Russia stands in full solidarity with Venezuela in thwarting pressure and blackmail against that country, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday opening a meeting with Venezuela’s Executive Vice President Delcy Rodriguez.

SEVASTOPOL, August 21. /TASS/: The personnel of a coastal defense brigade of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet destroyed a notional enemy during drills in the Crimean mountains, the Fleet’s press office reported on Wednesday.

"During a force-on-force company-level tactical exercise of the Black Sea Fleet’s separate coastal defense brigade at the Angarsky training range in Crimea, the personnel practiced measures to block and eliminate a notional enemy in mountainous terrain," the press office said in a statement.

KIEV, August 21. /TASS/: A Kiev court has compelled the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine to open a case against former Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko and Foreign Minister Pavel Klimkin on charges of abusing their power while in office.

"Kiev’s Solomensky District Court has obliged the National Anti-Corruption Bureau to open a criminal case involving abuse of office accusations against Foreign Minister Pavel Klimkin and former President Pyotr Poroshenko," the Ukrainian News reported on Wednesday, citing the court’s materials.

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Wednesday Tehran may act “unpredictably” in response to the United States’ “unpredictable” policies under U.S. President Donald Trump.

Tensions between Tehran and Washington have risen since President Trump’s administration last year quit an international deal to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions and began to ratchet up sanctions. Iranian officials denounced the new penalties as “economic warfare”.

PARIS (Reuters) - Brexit Britain’s overtures to U.S. President Donald Trump risk further complicating the search for common ground this weekend at a Group of Seven summit already clouded by transatlantic rifts over trade, Iran and climate change.

The summit host, President Emmanuel Macron of France, has set the bar low for Biarritz to avoid a repeat of the fiasco last year when Trump threw Canada’s G7 summit into disarray by leaving early, scotching the final communique.

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz will run for the leadership of the Social Democrats (SPD) with a female colleague from the former communist east on a ticket that represents a commitment to the coalition with Angela Merkel’s conservatives.

The SPD, divided over whether it should remain in government, is searching for a new leader after Andrea Nahles quit in June in the wake of the party’s worst performance ever in May elections for the European Parliament.