From Italy and the World

Heavy fighting continues in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, especially around the village of Robotyne, where Ukrainian forces have been trying to break through heavily mined Russian defensive lines, according to Ukrainian and Russian accounts. “We came close to Robotyne. Have not yet entered the settlement itself. Fighting continues in trench…

CNN  —  Here’s some background information about the Berlin Wall, which enclosed West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, in an attempt to prevent East Germans from fleeing to the West. It became a symbol of East/West relations during the Cold War. The Berlin Wall began as a border of barbed…

CNN  —  One person died and several others were wounded after a large fire broke out on a cargo ship in the North Sea off the Netherlands, the Dutch coast guard said. Rescue boats and helicopters were used to get the 23 crew members off the ship after some had…

London CNN  —  The United Kingdom’s government has been heavily criticized for underestimating Russia’s Wagner private military company (PMC) for nearly a decade, despite it posing a major threat to the country’s interests, in a report by the UK Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee published Wednesday. “For nearly 10 years, the…

US intelligence officials have warned that Russia is building a drone-manufacturing facility in country with Iran’s help that could have a significant impact on the war in Ukraine once it is completed. Analysts from the Defense Intelligence Agency told a small group of reporters during a briefing on Friday that the drone-manufacturing facility…

CNN  —  The United Nations has said that Russian accounts of a rocket attack on a camp holding Ukrainian prisoners of war in July 2022 are not supported by the evidence. More than 50 Ukrainian prisoners were killed in the strike that year on a detention center in the town…

CNN  —  Moldova has summoned the Russian ambassador in Chisinau after a media report surfaced alleging the embassy installed spying devices on its rooftop, according to the Moldovan foreign ministry. It comes after the Insider media outlet and Moldova’s Jurnal TV reported this week after a joint investigation that 28…

CNN  —  Here is a look at the life of J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter book series. Birth date: July 31, 1965 Birth place: Gloucestershire, England Birth name: Joanne Rowling Father: Peter Rowling, aircraft factory manager Mother: Anne (Volant) Rowling, lab technician Marriages: Neil Murray (December 26, 2001-present);…

CNN  —  A Brussels court on Tuesday found six out of ten suspects guilty of “terrorist murder” in the 2016 Brussels attacks, according to Belgian public broadcaster RTBF. Belgium began its largest ever trial last year to determine whether 10 men played a part in the suicide bombings on March…

CNN  —  Italy is facing multiple kinds of extreme weather at once, with southern parts of the country scorched by blistering heat, while the north is battered by deadly storms. On Tuesday alone, extreme weather killed at least three people, according to Italian authorities. A teenager and a woman were…

CNN  —  The head of Russia’s space agency has extended an offer to Moscow’s partners in the BRICS group – Brazil, India, China and South Africa – to participate in the construction of a joint module for its planned orbital space station, state media reported Monday. Construction of the planned…

CNN  —  One fighter was shot twice, sent from the hospital back to the front, where he drank melted snow to live. Forced to assault Ukrainian positions repeatedly, until a grenade blinded him. Saved from the trenches by a doctor who made him a hospital orderly. Another was jailed at…

Russia’s foreign ministry on Monday urged international organizations to condemn the recent Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow and Crimea.  “We regard what happened as another use of terrorist methods by the military-political leadership of Ukraine, intimidation of the civilian population. These attacks had no military meaning,” the foreign ministry said in a…

CNN  —  Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov says that Ukraine will continue carrying out attacks on Russian-occupied Crimea and the Kerch Bridge that connects it to the Russian mainland, while also admitting that Ukraine’s plan for its sluggish counteroffensive is behind schedule. As Russia has pummeled the southern port city…