Europe

16 August 2019; DW: Amid ongoing pro-democracy protests, French climber Alain Robert scaled a Hong Kong skyscraper with a reconciliation flag. Robert said he hoped to "raise a smile," but many were less than pleased with the stunt.

Alain Robert, a climber dubbed the "French Spiderman," clambered up a building in Hong Kong on Friday, hosting up a flag meant to symbolize reconciliation between the territory and China.

LONDON (Reuters) - The leader of the anti-Brexit Liberal Democrats party said on Friday two senior lawmakers from the ruling party and opposition have indicated willingness to lead an emergency government to prevent a no-deal divorce with the European Union.

Given Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants to take Britain out of the EU on Oct. 31, with or without a negotiated transition, foes are plotting how to bring him down and stop a no-deal Brexit they say would be disastrous for the economy.

16 August 2019; DW: Several months after the EU's migrant rescue mission in the Mediterranean was suspended, Angela Merkel has called for the operation to be resumed once more. The EU rescues were halted following pushback from Italy.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday called for the resumption of European naval missions to rescue migrants in the Mediterranean.

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Danish politicians on Friday poured scorn on the notion of selling Greenland to the United States following reports that President Donald Trump had privately discussed the idea of buying the world’s biggest island with his advisers.

Trump is due to visit Copenhagen in September and the Arctic will be on the agenda during meetings with the prime ministers of Denmark and Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory.

15 Aug 2019; MEMO: Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Thursday that six EU countries had agreed to take in some 150 migrants from a rescue ship that Italy had blocked from docking, resolving the latest standoff over immigration to Europe across the Mediterranean, Reuters reports.

ATLANTA (AP) — If Georgia election officials fail to meet the tight timeline they’ve set to implement an entirely new voting system, they’ll have to quickly pivot to hand-marked paper ballots for the March presidential primaries.

That’s according to a Thursday ruling by U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg.

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

4:05 a.m.

The State Department says it will revoke U.S. visas for crew members on an Iranian oil tanker that was seized by authorities in Gibraltar for sanctions violations but released Thursday.

SOLNECHNOGORSK /Moscow Region/, August 15. /TASS/: The United States is fully aware that China will not engage in the negotiating process on a new arms control system, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the Territoriya Smyslov (Territory of Meanings) National Education Youth Forum on Thursday.

MOSCOW, August 15. /TASS/: US National Security Adviser John Bolton’s claims that Russia stole hypersonic weapon technologies from the United States are unfounded as domestic projects in this area kicked off back in the 1970s, military expert and Editor-in-Chief of Arsenal of the Fatherland journal Viktor Murakhovsky told TASS on Thursday.

MOSCOW, August 15. /TASS/: Medical assistance has been provided to 74 people after a passenger plane made an emergency landing in the Moscow Region, a medical source informed TASS on Thursday.

"A total of 74 people have sought medical attention, one of them remains hospitalized," the source said.