Deaths occur in Turkey with Italy and Greece also badly hit and thousands evacuated
Eight people have died and thousands have been evacuated from their homes as extreme wildfires continue to rage in parts of southern Europe.
Related: The photo that has come to define Turkey’s wildfires
Continue reading...It is more than three months since Mauro Morandi left Budelli after living alone there for 32 years
Every morning, Mauro Morandi woke up to the uninterrupted sea view that only he was privy to. Immersed in nature, he was intimately in tune with the dawn sounds and habits of the wildlife that surrounded his home, a former second world war shelter on Budelli, the Mediterranean island where he had lived alone for more than 30 years.
Now the 82-year-old is adjusting to life in a one-bedroom apartment next to a shop with a Sky TV sign outside, surrounded by neighbours and with only a glimpse of the ocean in between the gaps separating the buildings opposite on nearby La Maddalena, the largest of an archipelago of seven islands off the north coast of Sardinia, Italy.
Continue reading...Tokyo Games wins in 100m and high jump in space of 11 minutes prompt outpouring of national pride
Stunned and ecstatic after claiming two gold medals in the space of 11 minutes, as Lamont Marcell Jacobs won the 100m final and Gianmarco Tamberi shared first place in the high jump, Italians have been celebrating a golden Sunday at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
“It is Italian sport’s most beautiful day,” said Giovanni Malagò, the president of the Italian Olympics Committee. “They have made history. Our grandchildren’s grandchildren will talk about it. This is better than the Eurocup,” he added, referring to Italy’s Euro 2020 football victory last month.
Continue reading...Wildfires break out across much of southern Europe, with temperature reaching 45C in Greece
Turkey has launched an international appeal for help in taming fires raging across the country that have killed eight people in recent days, as what has been described as one of the worst heatwaves in decades intensifies in south-east Europe.
Following criticism of the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, after it emerged that Turkey has no firefighting planes, authorities in Istanbul were promised water-dropping planes from the European Union. The country is battling deadly wildfires along its coastline for a sixth day.
Continue reading...At least five people were wounded and holidaymakers evacuated after wildfires devastated a pine wood near a beach in Pescara, Italy, as one of the worst heatwaves in decades swept across south-east Europe.
About 800 people were evacuated from their homes, including a convent of nuns, after a fire broke out in the 53-hectare (131-acre) Pineta Dannunziana nature reserve, as the fires continue to be active on different fronts
Continue reading...Wildfires burn across Italy, Spain, Greece and Turkey in heatwave bringing temperatures above 40C
At least five people have been wounded and holidaymakers evacuated after wildfires devastated a pine wood near a beach in Pescara, Italy, as one of the worst heatwaves in decades swept across south-east Europe.
A five-year-old girl was taken to hospital but her condition is not believed to be life-threatening, according to reports.
Continue reading...The increasingly draconian approach to irregular migration betrays the spirit of the 1951 refugee convention
Seventy years ago, the 1951 UN refugee convention established the rights of refugees to seek sanctuary, and the obligations of states to protect them. Increasingly, it seems that much of Europe is choosing to commemorate the anniversary by ripping up some of the convention’s core principles.
So far this year, close to 1,000 migrants have died attempting to cross the Mediterranean, more than four times the death toll for the same period in 2020. Many will have been economic migrants. Others will have been fleeing persecution. Increasingly, Europe does not care. All were “irregular”. And all must be discouraged and deterred through a strategy of cruelty.
Continue reading...Alessio Mamo has photographed the illegal, brutalist buildings and gaudy, now decaying, villas in the south of Italy that mafia bosses constructed
Words by Roberto Saviano and Lorenzo Tondo
Read more on how the mafia made a killing from the destruction of Italy’s south
Continue reading...An ancient Roman ship carrying a cargo load of wine jars, or amphorae, has been found underwater in the Mediterranean Sea off the Italian island of Sicily. The vessel was discovered during an underwater reconnaissance expedition by the island's Regional Agency for Environment Protection. The findings will shed light on Rome’s trade activity in the Mediterranean, where the Romans traded spices, wine, olives and other products in north Africa, Spain, France and the Middle East
Continue reading...Catholic church had denied 13-year-old girl sexually assaulted and killed in 1955 a funeral due to arcane rule
There had never been so many people at a funeral in the history of Montedoro, a village suspended in time among wheat fields and abandoned sulphur mines in central Sicily.
Its 1,500 inhabitants had waited for this moment for more than half a century, and on Wednesday gathered in hundreds in solemn prayer in the village church around a small white coffin.
Continue reading...International Organization for Migration links rise in deaths to decrease in sea patrols
At least 57 people have died after a migrant boat capsized off the Libyan coast, taking the total death toll in the central Mediterranean in 2021 to almost 1,000 – four times as many as in the same period last year.
Flavio Di Giacomo, Italy’s spokesman for the International Organization for Migration, said the shipwreck raised the death toll to 987. “Last year there were 272. We must no longer hesitate, and do everything to strengthen the system of patrols at sea,” he said.
Continue reading...A violent hailstorm in northern Italy brought part of the highway between Milan and Naples to a brief standstill on Monday. Hundreds of cars were damaged as the hail battered their windscreens, forcing drivers to pull up by the roadside, and causing authorities to close some of the route for a short time. A number of people were hurt, mainly by glass shards from cracked windscreens. No one is believed to have been seriously injured
Continue reading...Ireland and Italy among those joining France in requiring vaccine passes to enter bars and restaurants
An increasing number of European governments are planning to prevent unvaccinated people from being able to attend hospitality venues such as bars and restaurants this summer, as Emmanuel Macron celebrates the fruits of the recent announcement of the policy in France.
France on Monday passed the threshold of 40 million people having received at least one vaccine dose – close to 60% of the population. Macron tweeted: “Together we will defeat the virus. We continue!”
Continue reading...Firefighters are working to put out wildfires that have spread quickly across parts of south-western Sardinia, destroying 20,000 hectares (50,000 acres) of forest and forcing 1,500 people to be evacuated from their homes. On Sunday the EU sent four firefighting planes, including two Canadair planes provided by France, to support 11 aircraft working to extinguish the fires raging close to 13 towns. Efforts have been hampered by strong and hot winds
Continue reading...Real estate holdings published for first time show it owns 4,051 properties in Italy, 1,120 abroad
The Vatican has released information on its real estate holdings for the first time, revealing it owns more than 5,000 properties, as part of its most detailed financial disclosures ever.
The information released on Saturday was contained in two documents – a consolidated financial statement for 2020 for the Holy See and the first ever public budget for the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (Apsa).
Continue reading...Find could prove there were human settlements in area centuries before city was founded
The discovery of the remains of a Roman road and dock submerged in the Venice lagoon could prove there were permanent human settlements in the area centuries before Venice was founded, researchers say.
Scuba divers discovered what appeared to be paving stones beneath the lagoon in the 1980s, but only after more recent research were the relics confirmed to have formed part of a road system.
Continue reading...Government seeks to drive up vaccination rate amid resurgence in coronavirus infections
The Italian prime minister, Mario Draghi, has urged all Italians to get Covid-19 jabs after his government approved restrictions on unvaccinated citizens as it scrambles to contain a resurgence of infections.
Draghi told a press conference on Thursday that the country needed to act quickly to avoid the kind of infection levels that are being seen in the UK and elsewhere in Europe, as well as to protect the economy.
Continue reading...Italian government earmarks €5m to help villages get rid of volcanic cinders from erupting volcano
Dozens of Sicilian towns face bankruptcy due to the cost of cleaning up the volcanic ash left by Mount Etna, which has been erupting regularly since February.
The Italian government on Monday allocated €5m to compensate several villages struggling to pay to get rid of the volcanic cinders, the cost of which can reach more than €1m with every eruption.
Continue reading...Nightclubs across the world have been linked to outbreaks, leading some countries to open up to vaccinated clubbers only
They only wanted to enjoy themselves on the sunny Sardinian coast last summer after a tough two-month lockdown. But instead, young Italians, who had frequented nightclubs, returned home either with Covid-19 or laden with feelings of guilt, regret or anger at the authorities.
Nightclubs, such as those in Spain, France, the UK, Austria and Thailand, have triggered coronavirus outbreaks since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Continue reading...Government expected to bar unjabbed from some indoor venues and launch ‘green pass’ for travel
The Italian government is expected to impose restrictions on unvaccinated people as it scrambles to stem a resurgence in Covid-19 infections.
In a similar move to that seen in France, those not fully vaccinated could be barred from being served indoors at restaurants and bars and from entering stadiums, museums, theatres, cinemas, swimming pools and gyms.
Continue reading...