Matteo Salvini

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Migrants stand aboard the Open Arms Spanish humanitarian boat as it arrives near Lampedusa coast in the Mediterranean Sea, Thursday, Aug.15, 2019. A Spanish aid boat with 147 rescued migrants aboard is anchored off a southern Italian island as Italy's ministers spar over their fate. (AP Photo/Francisco Gentico)

Patience wears thin for migrants stranded off Italian coast

By FRANCES D'EMILIO and RENATA BRITO - Associated Press

A migrant stands on the deck of the Open Arms Spanish humanitarian boat near the coast of the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, southern Italy, Sunday, Aug. 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Francisco Gentico)

Migrants jump off rescue boat to try to reach Italian island

By FRANCES D'EMILIO - Associated Press

A migrant reads verses of the Quran aboard the Open Arms Spanish humanitarian boat as it arrives near Lampedusa coast in the Mediterranean Sea, Thursday, Aug.15, 2019. A Spanish aid boat with 147 rescued migrants aboard is anchored off a southern Italian island as Italy's ministers spar over their fate. (AP Photo/Francisco Gentico)

Italy sends Open Arms migrant ship to Spain

Associated Press

Migrants are evacuated by Italian Coast guards from the Open Arms Spanish humanitarian boat at the coasts of the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, southern Italy, Saturday, Aug. 17, 2019. Italy’s hard-line interior minister buckled under pressure Saturday and agreed to let 27 unaccompanied minors leave a migrant rescue ship after two weeks at sea, temporarily easing a political standoff that has threatened the viability of the populist government. (AP Photo/Francisco Gentico)

Italy’s Salvini agrees to let 27 minors off migrant ship

By NICOLE WINFIELD - Associated Press

Migrants are evacuated by Italian Coast guards from the Open Arms Spanish humanitarian boat off the coast of the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, southern Italy, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2019. A Spanish aid boat with 147 rescued migrants aboard is anchored off a southern Italian island as Italy's ministers spar over their fate. (AP Photo/Francisco Gentico)

Aid group: Italy must let all migrants off rescue ship

By FRANCES D'EMILIO - Associated Press

A migrant reads verses of the Quran aboard the Open Arms Spanish humanitarian boat as it arrives near Lampedusa coast in the Mediterranean Sea, Thursday, Aug.15, 2019. A Spanish aid boat with 147 rescued migrants aboard is anchored off a southern Italian island as Italy's ministers spar over their fate. (AP Photo/Francisco Gentico)

The Latest: 9 migrants let off rescue boat at Italian isle

Associated Press

Italian deputy premier and Labour and Industry minister, Luigi Di Maio, arrives at the lower chamber to meet his 5-Star Movement (M5S) members of Parliament, in Rome Monday, Aug. 12 2019. The meeting was called to analyze the political situation after Di Maio's former ally in the government, deputy premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, said last week that the ruling majority no longer exists and called for early elections. (Angelo Carconi/ANSA via AP)

Italian Senate cuts short vacation to set no-confidence vote

By GIADA ZAMPANO - Associated Press

Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister, Matteo Salvini receives media attention at the end of a political rally as part of his 'Italian summer tour', in Taormina, Southern Italy, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2019. Italy on Friday edged closer to holding an election as early as this fall that could move the country farther to the right, with anti-migrant Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini already unofficially campaigning for the premiership and declaring it makes “no sense” to keep alive the feuding populist coalition government. (Carmelo imbesi/ANSA via AP)

Matteo Salvini, Northern League head, has eyes on prime minister of Italy

By Eric J. Lyman - Special to The Washington Times

Italian premier Giuseppe Conte gives a press conference at Chigi Palace in Rome Thursday evening, Aug. 8, 2019. Italy faced a government crisis Thursday as Interior Minister Matteo Salvini of the right-wing League party called for a new election, saying his party's coalition with the populist 5-Star Movement had collapsed over policy differences. (AP Photo/Alberto Pellaschiar)

Italy edges closer to an election, perhaps in late October

By FRANCES D'EMILIO - Associated Press

Italian premier Giuseppe Conte gives a press conference at Chigi Palace in Rome Thursday evening, Aug. 8, 2019. Italy faced a government crisis Thursday as Interior Minister Matteo Salvini of the right-wing League party called for a new election, saying his party's coalition with the populist 5-Star Movement had collapsed over policy differences. (AP Photo/Alberto Pellaschiar)

Italy’s Salvini pushes for a new election over deadlocks

By COLLEEN BARRY - Associated Press

Italian Interior Minister and deputy Premier Matteo Salvini listens to journalists questions during a press conference he held in Rome, Thursday, July 25, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Migrants on Italian coast guard ship to go to 5 EU nations

Associated Press

Italian Deputy-Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini meets the media in Rome, Monday, July 15, 2019. The Italian premier's office on Sunday distanced itself from a lobbyist who is under investigation for allegedly seeking Russian money for Interior Minister Matteo Salvini's pro-Moscow League party, saying the man attended a recent dinner for visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin only because a Salvini adviser intervened on his behalf. (Maurizio Brambatti/ANSA via AP)

Italy’s Salvini bows to pressure to respond on Russia report

Associated Press

Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin pose for a photo at the Chigi palace in Rome, Thursday, July 4, 2019. Putin emphasized historically strong ties with Italy during a one-day visit to Rome that included a meeting with Pope Francis. (Alexei Druzhinin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Italy: Salvini aide behind lobbyist presence at Putin dinner

By FRANCES D'EMILIO - Associated Press

FILE - In this Friday, Nov. 18, 2016 file photo, the League leader Matteo Salvini speaks to the media near Red Square outside the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia. Opposition lawmakers want to question Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini about allegations a Russian oil deal was devised to fund his pro-Moscow League party. Democratic Party lawmakers demanded Thursday, July 11, 2019 that a parliamentary inquiry be held. They want to question Salvini, the BuzzFeed journalist who made the allegations, Italy's ambassador to Moscow, Russia's ambassador to Rome and a former Salvini associate who allegedly brokered the proposed deal. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev, File)

Italy: Lawmakers want Salvini to explain alleged Russia deal

By FRANCES D'EMILIO - Associated Press

Italy's deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini, right, is greeted by supporters in Trieste, Italy, Friday, July 5, 2019. Salvini said Friday that Italy is ready to use more resources to &quot;seal the border with Slovenia and definitively stop the entrance of illegal migrants.&quot; But he stopped short of mentioning a plan to build an anti-migrant wall along the Slovenian border, previously mentioned by the League's regional governor. (AP Photo)

Italian minister Salvini closes migrant center in Sicily

By COLLEEN BARRY - Associated Press

Doctors tend to a pregnant woman on a Mediterranea Saving Humans NGO boat, as they sail off Italy's southernmost island of Lampedusa, just outside Italian territorial waters, on Thursday, July 4, 2019. An Italian humanitarian group whose boat has been barred from docking in Lampedusa said the health of the 54 migrants it rescued at sea is rapidly deteriorating, prompting fears of another standoff with Italy's populist government. Mediterranea Saving Humans said Friday in a tweet that its sailing boat ALEX was off Italy's southernmost island of Lampedusa, just outside Italian territorial waters, and that it has been banned from entering Italian jurisdiction by ministerial decree. (AP Photo/Olmo Calvo)

The Latest: Spain rescues 300 migrants; 3 were on a kayak

Associated Press

Doctors tend to a pregnant woman on a Mediterranea Saving Humans NGO boat, as they sail off Italy's southernmost island of Lampedusa, just outside Italian territorial waters, on Thursday, July 4, 2019. An Italian humanitarian group whose boat has been barred from docking in Lampedusa said the health of the 54 migrants it rescued at sea is rapidly deteriorating, prompting fears of another standoff with Italy's populist government. Mediterranea Saving Humans said Friday in a tweet that its sailing boat ALEX was off Italy's southernmost island of Lampedusa, just outside Italian territorial waters, and that it has been banned from entering Italian jurisdiction by ministerial decree. (AP Photo/Olmo Calvo)

Italian rescue ship docks in Italian port against ban

By COLLEEN BARRY - Associated Press

An Italian Coast Guard boat patrols next to the Sea-Watch 3 vessel, in the Mediterranean Sea just off the coasts of the southern Italian island of Lampedusa, Thursday, June 27, 2019. Carola Rackete, the captain of the humanitarian rescue ship said that Italian law enforcement officials have told them that a resolution is near for 42 migrants rescued at sea that Italy’s populist government has so far refused to allow to disembark. (ANSA/Matteo Guidelli via AP)

Migrant aid ship rams Italian police boat; captain arrested

By ANNALISA CAMILLI and FRANCES D'EMILIO - Associated Press

Italian Deputy Premier and Interior Minister, Matteo Salvini, attends a RAI state TV program in Rome, Wednesday, June 26, 2019. A German humanitarian ship carrying 42 migrants rescued off Libya two weeks ago is in Italian waters within sight of Lampedusa island in defiance of a ban by the country's hard-line interior minister. Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said he wouldn't allow any of the migrants to disembark and threatened Wednesday to deploy law enforcement. (Riccardo Antimiani/ANSA via AP)

German captain defies Italy again, moves closer to port

By COLLEEN BARRY - Associated Press

In this Thursday, June 6, 2019 photo, boxes of cookies are on sale at a Cannabis light store in Rome. It’s been called Italy’s ‘’Green Gold Rush,’’ a flourishing business around light marijuana that has created 15,000 jobs and an estimated 150 million euros worth of annual revenues in under three years. But the budding sector is facing a political and judicial buzzkill. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Italy’s ‘cannabis light’ creates buzz even if the pot won’t

By ALESSIA MELCHIORRE and COLLEEN BARRY - Associated Press