Europe

31 July 2019; DW: After EU countries agreed to share responsibility for the 131 people on board, Italy's Matteo Salvini said he would allow them to disembark. Italian prosecutors had opened an investigation into conditions on board.

Interior Minister Matteo Salvini announced Wednesday afternoon that Italy had reached an agreement with the EU, and that he would allow 131 migrants on board the Italian coastguard vessel Bruno Gregoretti to disembark.

31 July 2019; DW: The British prime minister's Brexit policy has divided Northern Ireland's main political parties. He wants to take the UK out of the EU without a Brexit deal if Brussels refuses to drop the controversial Irish backstop.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson met with the leaders of Northern Ireland on Wednesday to discuss a controversial Brexit deal and how to resolve the British territory's years-long political crisis.

31 July 2019; DW: Rupert Stadler, who ran Audi until 2018, was arrested last year for his involvement in the "dieselgate" scandal. He faces three separate charges.

Former Audi Chief Executive Rupert Stadler was indicted on Wednesday over his role in the "dieselgate" emissions-cheating scandal.

Prosecutors in Munich filed charges of "fraud, indirect discrimination and false advertising." 

31 July 2019; DW: Russia's military will join the combat against wildfires raging in Siberia as they rip through several remote regions, Kremlin officials said. The fires are affecting Arctic snow, a climate expert told DW.

As residents of several Russian cities struggle with the effects of smoke from vast Siberian wildfires, President Vladimir Putin ordered the military to assist the firefighting effort.

ZAGREB, July 30 (Xinhua) -- Ursula von der Leyen, the new President-elect of the European Commission, said here on Tuesday that Croatia is a success story of the European Union (EU) and role model for other countries.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic informed von der Leyen during their meeting of his country's preparations for the EU Council presidency, which begins on Jan. 1, 2020.

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited Wales on Tuesday as part of a national tour intended to reassure Britons that his hard-Brexit push won’t hurt the economy and rip apart the U.K.

Currency markets were far from reassured, however, as the pound slid to a new 28-month low. And Johnson faced a tough reception from farmers — a group central to the Welsh economy — who fear economic havoc if Britain leaves the European Union without a divorce deal. They say millions of sheep might have to be slaughtered if tariffs are slapped on lamb exports to the EU.

30 July 2019; MEMO: The US Senate on Monday failed to override President Donald Trump’s vetoes of legislation passed by Congress that would have blocked the sales of certain weapons to Saudi Arabia, Reuters reports.

In the first of three separate efforts to overturn the Republican president’s vetoes, supporters failed by a vote of 45-40, well short of the two-thirds needed. Five of the chamber’s 53 Republicans joined Democrats in voting to override Trump.

LONDON, July 29 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Britain on Monday rejected the idea that it could release a Iranian tanker in exchange for a British-flagged vessel seized by the Islamic Republic in the Gulf.

Tensions have spiked between Iran and Britain since after Iranian commandos seized a British-flagged tanker earlier this month. That came after British forces captured an Iranian oil tanker near Gibraltar, accused of violating sanctions on Syria.

MANCHESTER, July 29 (NNN) — The sum of all that is good in the world far outweighs the “craziness” that happens in the world, says Peace Ambassador and author, Prem Rawat: reiterating his news that peace is possible in the world despite the odds against it.  

Speaking to BBC Radio Wales and Magic FM Presenter Tom Price, during an event here recently, Prem Rawat cited a question posed to him on “how peace could be achieved with what is happening in this crazy world”. 

ROSTOV-ON-DON, July 29. /TASS/: Army engineers from Russia’s Southern Military District have eliminated WWII munitions found during restoration works at the Motherland Calls! monument in Volgograd devoted to the heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad, the District’s press office reported on Monday.

"The combat engineers of a motor rifle unit of the Southern Military District eliminated the munitions found at the foot of the Motherland Calls! sculpture on Mamayev Hill in Volgograd," the press office reported.