Pallade Veneta - News from Venice, Veneto, Venetia and Italy, as well as from around the world

US lawmakers backed the decriminalization of marijuana nationwide in a vote Friday that will eliminate punishments for providing or possessing the drug if it is signed into law by President Joe Biden.

Stock markets wavered on Friday as a solid US jobs report raised expectations of an aggressive US interest rate hike to tame runaway inflation.

Street protests gripped Sri Lanka Friday as demonstrators blocked main roads across the country, a day after hundreds tried to storm the president's home in anger over an unprecedented economic crisis.

Pep Guardiola has revealed Portugal defender Ruben Dias will miss Manchester City's vital matches against Atletico Madrid and Liverpool next week.

Shouts, the doors are kicked down and a window smashed. In a matter of seconds, the hotel is surrounded and its occupants find themselves on the ground, wrists tied, or with their hands against the wall and a Kalashnikov in the small of their back.

Chris Rock's professionalism after being assaulted by Will Smith on live television was what allowed the Oscars to go on, the show's producer said in comments broadcast Friday.

Wales flanker James Davies has retired at the age of 31 because of concerns over long-term health risks following a concussion, it was announced Friday.

Off-spinner Simon Harmer ended an absence of more than six years by taking four wickets and putting South Africa in charge on the second day of the first Test against Bangladesh at Kingsmead on Friday.

Two women that survived the Russian airstrike on a theatre sheltering civilians in Ukraine's besieged city of Mariupol earlier this month told AFP about the "horror" they endured.

Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov was permitted to leave the country and has travelled to Berlin, his team told AFP on Friday.

Faced with a Russian blockade of its own ports, Ukraine is seeking to export the farm goods that many countries depend on via the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta.

It is here on the charming Deribasovska pedestrian street that Viktor Oliynik has planted his easel to capture in pastel colours the wartime transformation of Odessa, whose architectural gems are now partially hidden behind sandbags.

Lazio coach Maurizio Sarri said Friday that striker Ciro Immobile has become the "scapegoat" for Italy's failure to qualify for a second consecutive World Cup finals and claimed Serie A is "30 or 40 years behind" continental rivals.

Rangers top scorer Alfredo Morelos has been ruled out for Sunday's clash against Celtic with fears the Colombian could miss the rest of the season.

Ralf Rangnick said he finds it hard to understand why Manchester United defender Harry Maguire was booed by England fans before this week's friendly against Ivory Coast.

US lawmakers were expected to vote Friday to decriminalize marijuana nationwide, eliminating punishments for providing or possessing the drug in a major step towards bringing federal laws in line with the states.

Top EU officials warned China's leader Xi Jinping at a virtual summit Friday that any attempt to aid Russia's war in Ukraine could hurt business ties between the two economic superpowers.

Atmosphere is guaranteed when Marseille travel to France's industrial heartland to play traditional rivals Saint Etienne on Saturday with divergent ambitions for both sides in the Ligue 1 clash.

Stock markets rose on Friday following a healthy US jobs report while oil prices steadied as US allies mulled new measures to calm the crude market.

Marta Ortega on Friday took the reins of Zara-owner Inditex, the group founded by her father, and faces an immediate challenge after the fashion giant temporarily closed shops in Russia, its second biggest market.

Tottenham manager Antonio Conte believes it will be a "miracle" if his side qualify for next season's Champions League.

The US labor market has almost recovered from the mass joblessness caused by the pandemic, adding hundreds of thousands of positions last month and sending the unemployment rate nearly to where it was before Covid-19 broke out nationwide.

Erling Haaland is again an injury doubt for Dortmund before Saturday's game against RB Leipzig with the hosts needing a win to stay in the Bundesliga title race and a capacity crowd expected for the first time in two years.

The first international aid convoy in three months will soon enter Ethiopia's war-stricken Tigray region, the UN said on Friday, one week after the government and Tigrayan rebels agreed to a conditional truce.

Liverpool's push for a historic quadruple has been given a boost by the return of Trent Alexander-Arnold after the influential right-back missed England's friendlies with a hamstring injury.

Off-spinner Simon Harmer struck in the last over before tea as Bangladesh started their reply to South Africa's first innings total of 367 on the second day of the first Test at Kingsmead on Friday.

A Russian governor on Friday accused Ukrainian helicopters of bombing a fuel storage depot in western Russia, sparking a huge fire, in Kyiv's first reported air strike on Russian soil.

Tom Herring knows exactly what he was doing on April 2, 1982. He was 31, a member of the 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment, and on weekend leave before Easter.

Russia's foreign minister on Friday praised India's refusal to condemn the Ukraine invasion, saying Moscow and Delhi would find ways to circumvent "illegal" Western sanctions and continue to trade.

Bok choy emojis, clips of Gucci gift bags stuffed with celery and video of drones delivering broccoli -- vegetable memes are the new currency in Shanghai's sardonic social media scene, with the city locked down and pining for greens.

The Kremlin on Friday offered to "explain" Moscow's actions in Ukraine to French actor Gerard Depardieu after he denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin's "crazy, unacceptable excesses".

With her wheelchair perched on her lap, Ukrainian world champion powerlifter Raisa Toporkova escaped with friends from the occupied city of Enerhodar where Russian forces were shelling Europe's largest nuclear power facility.