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A28 world news
Dialuna 26 September 2022

Italians vote in election that could take far- South Korea says North

right to power Korea test-fired missile

toward sea

(AP) — Italians voted
Sunday in an election that
could move the country’s
politics sharply toward
the right during a critical
time for Europe, with war
in Ukraine fueling sky-
rocketing energy bills and
testing the West’s resolve
to stand united against
Russian aggression.

Polls opened at 7 a.m.
(0500GMT) and by noon
turnout was equal to or
slightly less than at the same
time during Italy’s last gen- Meloni is part of a right-wing Early voters in Rome ex-
eral election in 2018. The alliance with anti-migrant pressed concerns about Ital-
counting of paper ballots was League leader Matteo Sal- ian politics as a whole.
expected to begin shortly af- vini and Silvio Berlusconi,
ter they close at 11 p.m. (2100 the three-time premier who The election in the euro-
GMT), with projections heads the Forza Italia party zone’s third-largest economy
based on partial results com- he created three decades ago. is being closely watched in
ing early Monday morning. Italy’s complex electoral law Europe, given Meloni’s criti-
rewards campaign coalitions, cism of “Brussels bureau-
Publication of opinion polls meaning the Democrats are crats” and her ties to other (AP) — North Korea fired a short-range ballistic
is banned in the two weeks disadvantaged since they right-wing leaders — she missile Sunday toward its eastern seas, extending a
leading up to the election, failed to secure a similarly recently defended Hungary’s provocative streak in weapons testing as a U.S. air-
but polls before that showed broad alliance with left-lean- Viktor Orban after the Eu- craft carrier visits South Korea for joint military ex-
far-right leader Giorgia ing populists and centrists. ropean Commission recom- ercises in response to the North’s growing nuclear
Meloni and her Brothers of mended suspending billions threat.
Italy party, with its neo-fas- Nearly 51 million Italians of euros in funding to Hun-
cist roots, the most popular. were eligible to vote. Poll- gary over concerns about South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile
That suggested Italians were sters, though, predicted turn- democratic backsliding and launched from the western inland town of Taechon flew
poised to vote their first far- out could be even lower than the possible mismanagement 600 kilometers (370 miles) cross-country on a maximum
right government into power the record-setting low of 73% of EU money. altitude of 60 kilometers (37 miles) before landing in wa-
since World War II. Close be- in the last general election in ters off North Korea’s eastern coast.
hind was former Premier En- 2018. They say despite Eu- Elections are being held six
rico Letta and his center-left rope’s many crises, many vot- months early after Mario The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said the launch did not
Democratic Party. ers feel alienated from poli- Draghi’s pandemic unity pose an “immediate threat to U.S. personnel or territory,
tics, since Italy has had three government collapsed in late or to our allies,” but still highlighted the destabilizing im-
Letta, for his part, tweeted a coalition governments since July. Italy’s president, Sergio pact of North Korea’s illicit nuclear weapons and missile
photo of himself at the ballot the last election — each led Mattarella, saw no alternative programs.
box. “Have a good vote!” he by someone who hadn’t run but to have voters elect a new
wrote. for office. Parliament. The launch came as the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier
USS Ronald Reagan and its strike group arrived in South
Fire breaks out at world’s biggest produce Korea for the two countries’ joint military exercises that
aim to show their strength against growing North Korean
threats.
market in Paris South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said its nuclear envoy Kim

Gunn held telephone calls with Sung Kim, U.S. President
(AP) — A billowing column of dark town unto itself, with more than 12,000 peo- Joe Biden’s special representative for North Korea, and
smoke towered over Paris on Sunday ple working there and warehouses filled with Funakoshi Takehiro, director-general for Asian and Ocea-
from a warehouse blaze at a massive pro- fruit and vegetables, seafood, meats, dairy nian affairs at Japan’s Foreign Ministry, to discuss trilateral
duce market that supplies the French products and flowers from across France and cooperation in face of North Korean threats.
capital and surrounding region with around the world.
much of its fresh food and bills itself as Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in a state-
the largest of its kind in the world. ment Tokyo is “doing its utmost” to gather information
on North Korea’s launch and confirm the safety of ships
Firefighters urged people to stay away from and aircraft, although there were no immediate reports of
the area in Paris’ southern suburbs, as 100 of- damages.
ficers and 30 fire engines battled the blaze at
the Rungis International Market. The North Korean threat is also expected to be a key agen-
da when U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris visits South
Capt. Marc Le Moine, a spokesman for the Korea next week after attending the state funeral in Tokyo
Paris fire service, said no one was injured. of slain former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
The fire was brought under control and there
was no risk of it spreading from the soccer Sunday’s test could soon be followed with a more pro-
field-sized warehouse, covering an area of vocative weapons demonstration as South Korean officials
7,000 square meters (1.7 acres), he said. said they detected signs that North Korea was preparing
to test a missile system designed to be launched from sub-
The cause of the blaze was unknown but will marines. The office of South Korean President Yoon Suk
be investigated, he added. Yeol said Saturday that he was briefed on such develop-
ments before his flight back home from a visit to Canada.
The sprawling wholesale market is a veritable