From Italy and the World

Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman listens to lawmaker’ statements during a US Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing about at the government’s policy towards China in “the era of strategic competition” at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, February 9, 2023. (Amanda Andrade-Rhoades/Reuters) US State Department Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman has…

CNN  —  At least four people were killed and several others injured in an avalanche that struck the French Alps over the weekend. Emergency workers were deployed after the incident at the Armancette glacier near Mont Blanc in southeast France, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin tweeted on Sunday. Rescue work is…

Ballina, County Mayo, Ireland CNN  —  Lauren and Emily Blewitt may have been in preschool at the time, but they were old enough to know that then-Vice President Joe Biden had committed a serious breach of mealtime etiquette. “He was just eating our chips!” Lauren, 10, says – a mixture…

Oksana Markarova speaks during a rally in Washington, on March 27. (Tom Brenner/Reuters) Seven-year-old Karolina plays the piano at the Ukraine House cultural center in the United States capital, poking at keys, swinging her sneakers underneath. She could be any child playing the piano — except the legs swinging below…

Paris CNN  —  Between four and 10 people are believed to be trapped under rubble in the southern French port city of Marseilles after a building collapsed early on Sunday, according to French authorities. A “violent explosion” at around 12:30am local time is believed to be the cause of the…

CNN  —  Residents in the German city of Hamburg have been warned of heavy smoke and possible toxins in the air after a major fire broke out at a warehouse. Video circulating on social media shows the warehouse engulfed in flames early Sunday morning, with smoke billowing into the sky.…

Smoke billows during shelling on the outskirts of Chasiv Yar on April 7. (Oleksandr Klymenko/Reuters) The blasts in the eastern Ukrainian town of Chasiv Yar echo between buildings every minute or two, a CNN team reports. Artillery, grad rockets and mortar fire were all audible in the town at different…

Belfast CNN  —  Cori Conlon grew up thinking Protestants were “the bad guys.” They went to different schools, played different sports, had different flags, and sang different songs. She said she was oblivious to the complexities of Northern Irish politics, but knew only one thing: to stay away from the…

Konstantinivka CNN  —  “God protects me,” says 73-year-old Tamara. She’s one of the few people who have stayed in the town of Konstantinivka, eastern Ukraine. “If there is a need, God will save me. If not,” she adds with a shrug, “it is what it is.” Tamara has lived in…

Kyiv CNN  —  A group of 31 Ukrainian children have been reunited with their families months after they were taken from their homes and moved to Russian-occupied territories. A CNN team on the ground in Kyiv watched as the last of the children climbed off a bus on Saturday to…

CNN  —  Farmers in central and eastern Europe protested this week against the impact of cheap Ukrainian grain imports, which have undercut domestic prices and hit the sales of local producers. Protesters blocked traffic and border checkpoints with tractors along the border between Romania and Bulgaria, in an effort to…

In this still from a video by humanitarian organization Save Ukraine, children return to Ukraine months after they were taken illegally to Russia. (Save Ukraine) Thirty-one children are back in Ukraine after they were taken illegally to Russia, according to Save Ukraine, a Kyiv-based humanitarian organization. The children — pulling…

CNN  —  Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has had a number of unintended consequences. One of the less expected was that over a year into the conflict, President Xi Jinping of China would receive a courting from European leaders. Given the EU’s hard stance on Russia, you’d be forgiven for thinking they’d take…

CNN  —  Russian authorities arrested a Chinese LGBTQ blogger Wednesday for allegedly violating a law that bans so-called same-sex “propaganda,” according to Adel Khaydarshin, a lawyer representing the blogger and his partner. Chinese national Haoyang Xu was found guilty during a hearing Thursday, Khaydarshin said. He’s being held in a…

CNN  —  Russian investigators have formally charged Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich with espionage, Russian state media reported Friday, adding he denied the accusations.  “The FSB investigation charged Gershkovich with espionage in the interests of his country. He categorically denied all accusations and stated that he was engaged in…

Xi Jinping (C), Emmanuel Macron (L) and Ursula von de Leyen meet in Beijing on April 6. (Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images) Beijing’s “top priority” is to push for a ceasefire and end the war in Ukraine, Chinese leader Xi Jinping told European Union Commission Chief Ursula Von der Leyen and French…

Hostomel, Ukraine CNN  —  The sheared nose cone of the Antonov An-225 cargo plane towers over Yevhen Bashynsky. Affectionately known as the Mriya, or “Dream,” the leviathan plane was the pride of Ukraine and of 38-year-old Bashynsky, one of its pilots. This is the first time Bashynsky has come back…

CNN  —  The escalating climate crisis is shifting many people’s purchasing patterns and this extends to the $500 billion dollar global beauty industry which is grappling with a range of sustainability challenges across product manufacturing, packaging and disposal. Strategy and consulting firm Simon Kucher’s Global Sustainability Study 2021 found 60%…