Europe

20 Mar 2019; DW: A rescue boat carrying nearly 50 migrants has docked at the Italian island of Lampedusa. Interior Minister Matteo Salvini had denied the ship access to Italian ports, but relented in order to bring aid workers to trial.

Sicilian prosecutors on Tuesday ordered the seizure of the Italian-flagged ship "Mare Jonio." The rescue boat was allowed to dock at the Italian island of Lampedusa while accompanied by coast guard ships, following nearly two days at sea.

19 Mar 2019; DW: A court in Münster on Tuesday ruled partly in favor of three plaintiffs from Yemen who believe that their relatives were killed in a 2012 US drone strike that was relayed via an airbase in Germany.

The Münster Higher Administrative Court ruled that the German government must take "appropriate measures" to ascertain whether US operations conducted via the Ramstein Air Base are in line with international law.

19 Mar 2019; DW: US Ambassador Richard Grenell is acting like "a high commissioner of an occupying power," the deputy leader of the Free Democrats (FDP) has said. Grenell has also drawn rebuffs from Germany's two governing parties.

Wolfgang Kubicki, the deputy chairman of the opposition Free Democrats (FDP), said Richard Grenell's repeated interference in German sovereignty should prompt Foreign Minister Heiko Maas to immediately declare Grenell persona non grata.

20 Mar 2019; DW: While Europeans view Germany as in the ascendancy, French and British power is viewed as "in decline," a new survey has revealed. Many worry about long-term prospects and fear Brussels is "out of touch" with citizens.

In a survey published late Tuesday by the Pew Research Center, nearly half of all respondents in 10 EU member states said Germany plays a more important role in the world that it did a decade ago.

PARIS, March 19 (Xinhua) -- The departure of Britain from the European Union would affect the growth in France, even if the divorce scheduled for the end of March were amicable, the national statistics institute Insee said on Tuesday.

It projected that an orderly Brexit would trim French economic activities by 0.3 percent over several quarters.

If the EU and Britain failed to agree on a deal, "the increase in customs duties following this hard Brexit would weigh on the French economy," Insee said, estimating that the impact would be 0.6 percent.

GENEVA, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese telecoms giant Huawei Technologies was the top corporate filer of international patent applications in 2018, leading an Asia-based innovation surge accounting for over half of the applications submitted at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) last year, WIPO said on Tuesday.

BERLIN, March 19 (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday during the Global Solutions Summit that she is willing to fight "until the last second" of March 29 for an orderly Brexit.

There would not be much time left, but a few days would still remain, Merkel said on Tuesday, 10 days prior to the scheduled date for the Brexit.

LONDON, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Downing Street confirmed Tuesday that British Prime Minister Theresa May will write to European Council President Donald Tusk asking for Britain's departure from the bloc to be delayed.

The latest development came after the bombshell decision by the Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow to stop May putting her Brexit deal to politicians for a third time.

Media in London quoted an official Downing Street spokesman as saying it has plunged Britain into a constitutional crisis.

19 Mar 2019; AFP: Germany launches its auction Tuesday for the construction of an ultra-fast 5G mobile network as a transatlantic dispute rages over security concerns surrounding giant Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei.

The United States has warned it could scale back the sharing of sensitive information with Berlin if it does not exclude hardware made by Huawei from the infrastructure, arguing that Chinese equipment could help Beijing spy on Western companies and governments.

19 Mar 2019; DW: Two Chinese fanciers battled it out in an online auction to buy the star racer, smashing the previous record of €376,000 ($425,000). New interest from Asian markets in recent years has given the flagging practice a lift.

Belgium's best long-distance racing pigeon, Armando, was the subject of a bidding war between two anonymous Chinese buyers, putting enthusiasts into a spin on Sunday.