From Italy and the World

CNN  —  French authorities arrested about 150 people overnight as protests broke out for a second night over the fatal police shooting of a teenager, officials said Thursday. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin tweeted that “town halls, schools and police stations were set on fire or attacked” during a night of…

The Kremlin has gone to great lengths to reassert President Vladimir Putin’s authority, with meetings and events designed to show the unity and solidarity of the state and the military under his leadership. But in the minds of many commentators, it won’t be easy to draw a line under the extraordinary…

CNN  —  The British Royal Household released its annual financial statement on Thursday, revealing that official spending for the year 2022-2023 exceeded the Sovereign Grant and other royal earned income. It attributes the high costs to the “exceptional period of transition” in the Royal Household, which saw Queen Elizabeth II’s…

CNN  —  The Kremlin has gone to great lengths to reassert President Vladimir Putin’s authority, with meetings and events designed to show the unity and solidarity of the state and the military under his leadership. But in the minds of many commentators, it won’t be easy to draw a line…

CNN  —  Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin planned to seize two of Russia top military officials when he launched a short-lived mutiny on Saturday, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing Western officials. Prigozhin’s plot involved the capture of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and top army general Valery Gerasimov when…

CNN  —  It was dinner time and the restaurant – a popular pizza joint in the center of Kramatorsk – was crammed with people. Just after 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, a Russian missile ripped through, killing at least 10 people. For millions across the country, the strike was yet another reminder…

CNN  —  Swedish authorities approved a Quran-burning demonstration outside of a mosque in the center of Stockholm on Wednesday. The burning will coincide with the Muslim holiday of Eid-al-Adha, one of the most significant in the Islamic calendar. The decision to allow such an inflammatory protest may threaten Sweden’s chances…

Paris CNN  —  French authorities appealed for calm Wednesday after a night of violent protests in several suburbs of Paris sparked by the death of a 17-year-old boy who was allegedly shot dead by police during a traffic stop. French authorities investigating the shooting detained one officer on suspicion of…

CNN  —  Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has arrived in Belarus, the country’s President Alexander Lukashenko said Tuesday, days after the mercenaries’ 36-hour military insurrection posed an unprecedented challenge to the authority of Russia’s leadership. “I see that Prigozhin is already flying on this plane. Yes, indeed, he is in Belarus…

Alexander Lukashenko delivers a speech in Minsk, Belarus, on June 27. Press Service of the President of the Republic of Belarus/Reuters Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko claims he convinced Russian leader Vladimir Putin not to “destroy” the Wagner group and its chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, talking up his role in halting the mercenaries’ military insurrection that…

CNN  —  Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko claims he convinced Russian leader Vladimir Putin not to “destroy” the Wagner group and its chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, talking up his role in halting the mercenaries’ military insurrection that caused crisis in Russia at the weekend. Lukashenko on Tuesday described his view of the…

CNN  —  Russian missiles struck the busy city center of east Ukrainian city Kramatorsk and a nearby village on Tuesday, killing at least two people and injuring dozens, according to local officials. “Russia deliberately targeted crowded areas,” Ukraine’s Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko said on Telegram. Twenty-two people were…

CNN  —  For two days after Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin called off his abortive mutiny, Russian President Vladimir Putin said nothing in public. Having faced the greatest challenge to his authority in 23 years, and almost witnessed his country tip into civil war, many expected the president to respond with…

Russia’s short-lived insurrection has handed Joe Biden the most perilous version yet of a dilemma that has confounded the last five US presidents: how to handle Vladimir Putin. Every US commander in chief since Bill Clinton has sought in some way to engage the former KGB officer, whose mission to restore Russian greatness was…

CNN  —  In his first comments since ending a short-lived rebellion, Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, said he called it off to prevent Russian bloodshed and that the rising was a protest rather than attempt to topple the government. “The purpose of the march was to prevent the destruction of PMC…

CNN  —  A candidate from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party won a local leadership post for the first time on Sunday in a resounding victory for a group whose anti-migrant, Euroskeptic and anti-Muslim agenda is under surveillance by German authorities. The AfD’s Robert Sesselmann triumphed over incumbent Jürgen…

Kyiv CNN  —  Seismic shifts in Moscow must surely spell similar earthquakes along the front lines in Ukraine. But as of Monday, that’s yet to happen. Ukraine’s forces have announced slight changes along the southern front during the weekend and more sustained progress around the largely symbolic city of Bakhmut…

London CNN  —  A new suspect has been named in the racist murder of Black teenager Stephen Lawrence in southeast London over 30 years ago. Matthew White, who died in 2021, was named by London’s Metropolitan Police Service (Met) in a statement Monday which apologized for a “significant and regrettable…

CNN  —  Wagner mercenary boss Yevegeny Prigozhin over-reached and lost. His hubris-fuelled insurrection failed through a combination of hot-headed ambition and his inability to read Putin’s inner circle, of which he was a member, properly. As one informed Moscow resident told me, the “system wasn’t ready for the radical change”…

CNN  —  Russian President Vladimir Putin has just survived his biggest ever challenge – but has largely remained out of the spotlight since then. The long-time Russian leader has not addressed his country since delivering a somber speech on Saturday morning, at the height of an insurrection led by his…

Moscow CNN  —  Some Russians greeted the weekend’s armed insurrection led by the head of the Wagner paramilitary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, with sympathy, appearing to welcome the mercenary fighters. In the southern Russian city Rostov-on-Don, which was briefly occupied by Wagner troops, videos showed residents cheering them on, taking pictures…