Italian army removes and defuses 250 explosives encased in ice for more than 100 years after hikers’ sightings
A significant cache of unexploded bombs from the first world war emerged this summer from rapidly retreating glaciers in the Dolomites, the Italian army has said.
The devices, which included Italian artillery shells and French mortar bombs, were removed and defused by the army’s Julia Alpine brigade, according to a statement.
Continue reading...Protests and fringe violence expose sharp divide between marginalised and immigrant youth and those with greater prospects
Martina Miccichè was filming riot police kicking and beating a teenager with batons as they dragged him along Piazza del Duomo, the central Milan square hosting its cathedral, when she was struck by a flying object, causing a deep gash and bruising near her right eye.
The journalist had joined hundreds of mostly young people marching through the northern Italian city on Saturday afternoon to protest over soaring living costs and unaffordable housing, echoing the wider wave of economic discontent fuelling protests across Europe.
Continue reading...Fox News and others have toed president’s line – seemingly hoping unrest abroad will make people vote Republican
Donald Trump sought to capitalize on the scenes of unrest in France, telling a crowd in Kansas on Monday that “migrants” and “communists” were responsible, and that the scenes were “what the radical ‘Dumocrats’ want to do to America”.
As Republicans struggle to convince voters across the country ahead of November’s midterm elections, Trump’s allies in the conservative media have followed suit, seemingly hoping that the scenes in France can scare people to the polls.
Continue reading...Government planning tougher security measures as France also says military forces will be deployed
Italy’s government is sending 500 soldiers to Milan and vowed a “firm response from the state” after protests against the cost of living descended into clashes with police, vandalism and looting. Further demonstrations are planned on Saturday.
The government of the far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, also announced new security measures, including an offence of violent participation in a demonstration, tougher penalties for rioters, and financial liability for parents whose children take part in vandalism and looting.
Continue reading...Hundreds at Lisbon tent camp demand action, as Giorgia Meloni says march in Italy was exploited by ‘hooligans’
The angry protests that have convulsed Spain and France in recent weeks have spilled over to Italy and Portugal, with rioters clashing with police and setting property on fire in Milan, and a tent encampment springing up in Lisbon over the weekend.
A march in central Milan on Saturday to protest against rising living costs began peacefully but ended with masked rioters throwing stones, paving blocks and other objects at riot police and setting fire to barricades made from bar tables.
Continue reading...Doctors say pontiff is ‘fit for discharge’ after operation to remove cancerous tumour from his lung
Pope Leo has been discharged from hospital in Rome after undergoing an operation to remove a cancerous tumour from his lung.
Leo, 71, was deemed “fit for discharge”, his doctors, Luigi Carbone and Stefano Margaritora, said in a statement published by the Vatican.
Continue reading...Vatican says pontiff had lower lobe of right lung removed in ‘successful, on schedule and as planned’ operation in Rome
Pope Leo has lung cancer, the Vatican said late on Tuesday.
Leo, 71, underwent an operation and had the lower lobe of his right lung removed, with tests confirming a diagnosis of lung adenocarcinoma, the Vatican said in a medical bulletin, which followed an earlier statement saying the pope’s operation had concluded “successfully, on schedule and as planned”.
Continue reading...Luca Olmetto was trapped roughly 10 metres below ground in the Gorroppeddu cave in the Urzulei mountain range
A 31-year-old man has been pulled alive from a cave on the Italian island of Sardinia after being trapped roughly 10 metres below ground for 26 hours following a rockslide.
In a huge and complex operation, rescuers worked non-stop after Luca Olmetto became trapped in the Gorroppeddu cave in the rugged Urzulei mountain range in central-eastern Sardinia on Sunday afternoon.
Continue reading...Pontiff says it was detected at an early stage and procedure will take place in the coming days
Pope Leo XIV has said he will undergo surgery in the coming days to remove a nodular lesion on his lung that was recently discovered during medical checks.
The 71-year-old said the nodule was found at an early stage and was “circumscribed” or well localised. The Vatican later said Leo would undergo surgery in the first days of this week, with an expected recovery time of a week.
Continue reading...Marsala on island’s west coast badly affected after powerful storm approached from Mediterranean
Two tornadoes have struck the coastal town of Marsala in western Sicily, injuring dozens of people, damaging buildings including a school, and overturning cars.
A series of videos began to circulate on Friday morning showing two waterspouts approaching the Sicilian town from the sea as people braced for their arrival.
Continue reading...Gang breaks into cellar of Marchesi Antinori in Cortona and loads two trucks with 30,000 bottles before getaway
Thousands of bottles of wine worth €5m (£4.2m) have been stolen from a prestigious winery in Tuscany in what is thought to be the biggest heist of its kind in Italy.
A gang of at least seven masked individuals broke into the cellar of Marchesi Antinori, a family-owned winery dating back to the late 1300s, in Cortona after shutting off the alarms and surveillance cameras before using company forklifts to load two large trucks with 30,000 bottles of wine and making off.
Continue reading...Parties vow to challenge law in court, arguing that extra reward for those with 42% of support distorts public representation
A controversial overhaul to electoral law that critics say is aimed at boosting Giorgia Meloni’s chances of clinging on to power in elections next year has been given final approval by the Italian parliament.
Meloni, the Italian prime minister, says the new system, which introduces a fully proportional model, including bonus seats for any coalition that wins the most votes, will bring about greater political stability, while opposition parties argue that it mainly serves the interests of those in power.
Continue reading...Authorities crack down on trade they says risks spiralling out of control – but operators say they are being targeted unfairly
On the edge of Piazza Navona, one of the grandest squares in central Rome, Barry and Linda, visitors from Texas in the US, stepped out of a golf cart. They planned to cross the square on foot, perhaps stopping to admire Lorenzo Bernini’s 17th-century Fountain of the Four Rivers, before being picked up by their driver at the opposite end.
The couple had already done a walking tour on day one of their trip, and had been so exasperated by a stifling three-hour shuffle along a corridor towards the Sistine Chapel on day two that by the third day they wanted to give their tired feet a rest.
Continue reading...Critics say decree also banning burqa in schools shows Italian PM worried about losing far-right voters in next year’s elections
The Italian government has been accused of ramping up divisive rhetoric to try to court far-right voters ahead of next year’s general election after it passed a decree aimed at capping the number of newly arrived migrants in classrooms and banning the burqa and niqab in schools.
The prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, who leads the far-right Brothers of Italy party, said her government had approved what she called “commonsense measures that do not divide but genuinely help to integrate”.
Continue reading...Combination of Miuccia Prada with Belgian designer Raf Simons once again spins gold for fashion house
Miuccia Prada’s style formula is simple: begin with a great skirt. Her personal uniform is a knee-length skirt, A-line or pleated, most often with a plain sweater and kitten heels.
The Prada collection that opened Milan fashion week made a compelling case for her favourite outfit, with a skirt the star of every one of the 63 looks – no dresses, no trousers. It won the room over, so expect to see the personality skirt on a high street near you soon.
Continue reading...While England makes its first foray into unfamiliar territory, it’s proved a boon for Italy’s cash-strapped municipalities
A nightly tourist tax may be unfamiliar territory in the UK, but countries in continental Europe have been cashing in on these kinds of levies for decades.
Tourists usually need to pay the tax on the day they check out of a hotel or holiday let, and are often surprised by an extra fee on top of their accommodation costs.
Continue reading...Kalie McCrystal was hoping to break record in Alps
Athlete was last seen on Tuesday afternoon
Canadian athlete Kalie McCrystal has gone missing during preparations for a record attempt in the Alps.
McCrystal, from Squamish in British Columbia, was on a “reconnaissance/training session” in the run-up to her attempt at ascending and descending the 14,692 ft (4,478m) Matterhorn on the Swiss-Italian border.
Continue reading...Lorena Isceri was thrown off a motorway bridge, allegedly by ex-boyfriend Federico Vella
A 45-year-old woman abducted and thrown off a motorway bridge near Florence has become the seventh alleged femicide in Italy since mid-August.
Lorena Isceri was abducted on Thursday afternoon, allegedly by her ex-boyfriend, Federico Vella, in the Rifredi area of Florence, before being forced into the boot of his car and driven towards a bridge on the A1 motorway.
In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123 and the domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247. In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 988 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org
Continue reading...Futuro Nazionale party’s speedy poll rise poses questions whether PM will return to her roots before election
Giorgia Meloni’s government has become the longest-running in Italy since the second world war – a milestone the prime minister is determined not to let pass unnoticed.
In the port area of Bari, the capital of the southern Italian region of Puglia, where Meloni hosted the G7 in 2024 and where she spends her summer holiday, preparations are well under way for a festival-style showcase of her rightwing administration.
Continue reading...After judge allows partial access rights, Catherine Birmingham and Nathan Trevallion say the enforced separation ‘broke each of our hearts’
A couple have told of their heartache, trauma and stress after fighting for two years for their right to parent their children as they choose in the glare of the world’s attention.
The three children of a Melbourne woman, Catherine Birmingham, and her British partner, Nathan Trevallion, were removed from their “dilapidated” off-grid home in Italy last year.
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