Palestinian PM asked to return despite resignation

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas  on Tuesday asked Rami Hamdallah to return as prime minister. Hamdallah would have five weeks to form a government, said Nabil Abu Rudeineh,  the Presidency Spokesman . Hamdallah resigned June 21, two weeks after succeeding Salam Fayyad as prime minister, after a disagreement with Abbas over the powers of the two deputy prime ministers appointed by Abbas. Abbas accepted Hamdallah's resignation but asked him to remain as head of a caretaker government until a new one was formed. The caretaker government's mandate expired at the end of July, but he remained in office.