Europe

MOSCOW, August 17. / TASS /: The approved Russian Communist Party rally for fair and transparent elections began on Sakharov Avenue in Moscow on Saturday.

The main theme of the rally is "For fair and transparent elections! For the rule of the law and citizen's social rights," TASS correspondent reported from the event.

The leader of the Communists, Gennady Zyuganov, and other representatives of the Communist Party’s leadership, State Duma deputies, politicians, and public figures are taking part in the rally.

MOSCOW, August 17. / TASS /: The Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) is still analyzing the data from the flight recorders of the A321 aircraft, which belly-landed on August 15 in the Moscow suburbs, a source in the department told TASS on Saturday.

17 August 2019; DW: Germany’s ex-spy chief Hans-Georg Maassen faces possible exclusion from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives over his alleged far-right stance. The call comes CDU party chief Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.

Kramp-Karrenbauer told Germany's Funke Media newspaper group Saturday that as Christian Democrat (CDU) chairperson she would not let her party be undermined as the Tea Party movement had done by "radicalizing” the US Republicans.

17 August 2019; DW: A fire broke out at the Tokyo Star hotel in Odessa overnight, killing eight people. Ukrainian authorities have opened a criminal investigation into whether fire safety requirements were breached.

A fire in a hotel in the Ukrainian port city of Odessa has killed eight people and left 10 people hospitalized, city police said on Saturday.

17 August 2019; DW: Berlin has reportedly banned Sigmar Gabriel from taking a position on the supervisory board at a Polish investment firm. But an alleged attempt by the US ambassador to keep him from another job seems to have failed.

A Luxembourg-based financial concern, Kulczyk Holding, was interested in hiring German politician Sigmar Gabriel on its supervisory board, but the move was blocked by the German government, German officials said.

ROME, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- The feud between Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and Matteo Salvini, the man who may be looking to replace Conte as Italy's head of government, heated up this week after Conte accused Salvini of "disloyalty" with an "obsession" of preventing migrants from entering Italy.

MADRID (AP) — The latest on Iranian supertanker at center of Persian Gulf tensions (all times local):

12:35 a.m.

The U.S. government says it has a warrant to seize an oil tanker at the center of a diplomatic standoff because of violations of U.S. sanctions, money laundering and terrorism statutes.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Washington says a seizure warrant and forfeiture complaint were unsealed Friday.

The U.S. is seeking to take control of the oil tanker Grace 1, along with all of the petroleum aboard and $995,000. The ship is now in Gibraltar.

MOSCOW, August 16. /TASS/: Firefighters have extinguished 49 wildfires in Russian regions in the last 24 hours, the Aerial Forest Protection Service said on Friday.

"On 15 August 2019, 49 wildfires were extinguished in Russia on the territory of 21,934 hectares," the service said. "As of 12am on 16 August 2019, 148 wildfires were registered in Russia on the territory of 244,556 hectares, with active firefighting efforts underway," the service added.

MOSCOW, August 16. /TASS/: Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov has discussed ways to resolve the situation on the Korean Peninsula and the implementation of trilateral projects with the North Korean diplomats during his visit to Pyongyang, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement following Morgulov’s consultations with North Korean’s First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui and Vice Foreign Minister Im Chon-il.

YEKATERINBURG, August 16. /TASS/: The Ural Airlines’ belly-landed Airbus A321 plane was fully operational prior to takeoff, CEO of the airline Sergey Skuratov told TASS on Friday.

"We have a great maintenance center, we control every move of planes, therefore, we have no doubt it was fully operational. Although, they will definitely study it in the airline," he said.

The Ural Airlines will give a special bonus to the crew of the Airbus A321 plane.