Month: July 2022

A trial opened Thursday in the 2018 collapse of a bridge in Genoa, Italy, with 59 individuals charged in the deaths of 43 people. The Morandi Bridge was crowded with travelers during the height of Italy’s summer holiday season when it collapsed during a rainstorm on August 14, 2018, sending cars plunging 45 meters (148 feet) into a dry riverbed below. Those on trial include employees of Autostrade per l’Italia, which operated the bridge, and its maintenance unit SPEA, as well as past and present Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport managers and civil servants. Autostrade and SPEA have reached a …

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With Azerbaijan’s print media curtailed by years of economic and political pressure, online news outlets are filling the gap. Media analysts in Azerbaijan say the country’s print media have almost disappeared, but that the country is seeing a growth in online media. The decline of newspapers is the biggest loss Azerbaijani media has faced in over a decade, said media rights expert and lawyer Alasgar Mammadli. “Newspapers in Azerbaijan were once very powerful and at the same time a serious alternative source of news. In this sense, it is a serious loss,” he told VOA. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said …

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Boris Johnson announced his resignation on Thursday, triggering a search for a new British leader. Below is how the process to find Johnson’s successor will work: Candidates putting themselves forward for the leadership, and there could be many, must be nominated by other Conservative lawmakers. How many nominations they require will be set out by the committee in charge of running the contest. In 2019 it was increased to eight nominations to speed up the process. Conservative lawmakers then hold several rounds of votes to whittle down the field. Each time they are asked to vote for their favored candidate …

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Spain’s famous “running of the bulls” resumed Thursday in the northern Spanish city of Pamplona for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared in 2020.  Officially known as the San Fermin festival, Pamplona’s running of the bulls is one of Europe’s most celebrated events. It features specially bred fighting bulls, guided by six tame steers that keep the herd together as several thousand runners, most of them dressed in white with red neck scarves, run through the city’s narrow streets ahead of them.  The course runs more than 800 meters and ends in Pamplona’s bullring. Thursday’s run lasted …

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Ukrainian refugees have spread across Europe and the world since Russia invaded their homeland in February, but Polish officials estimate less than half of them have stayed in Poland. But as Greg Flakus reports from the Polish border town of Medyka, many are choosing to stay close to make quick visits across the border – and return home for good when the time comes. …

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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is the latest Conservative leader to feel his party’s wrath following a string of resignations from his scandal-plagued government. Here are three leaders previously ousted by their fellow Tories: Margaret Thatcher Britain’s longest-serving prime minister of the 20th century tearfully stepped down in November 1990 after a Cabinet revolt. She had vowed to fight on after narrowly winning the first round of a leadership ballot, but then accepted that her position had become untenable. Although she had won a third term by a landslide in 1987, her introduction of a universal “poll tax” payable by …

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 They shared laughs, smiles, memories. There also were tears, fears, unease.  Through the range of emotions, one common thread bonded them together: Brittney Griner.  Wearing “BG” shirts and holding signs, several hundred fans rallied in support of Griner on Wednesday, hoping their sentiments would reach the WNBA player 6,000 miles away in a Russian jail cell.  “It’s really painful and hard to watch, and it’s really taken a toll on a lot of us,” said Kelly Gedney of Surprise, Arizona. “We can feel the fear that she has. It’s scary to me that she’s in a cage when she is …

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Russian influence peddlers appear to have narrowed their focus as they continue attempts to sow disunity and undermine Western efforts to support Ukraine, according to new research from the cybersecurity firm Recorded Future. While traces of Russian influence operations can be found targeting many of the countries that have been backing Ukraine with weapons, financial support or other aid, it appears the most intense efforts have centered on a handful of countries viewed by the Kremlin as perhaps the most vulnerable. “We believe that France, Germany, Poland, and Turkey are the primary targets of this influence narrative based on observed …

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