Jean Andre Quemener, 32, from Jersey, is killed in jump from 2,239-metre Sass Pordoi
A British Base jumper has died in an accident in the Italian Dolomites.
Jean Andre Quemener, 32, was reportedly unable to activate his wing suit after jumping from the 2,239-metre Sass Pordoi in Canazei, a mountain resort popular with Base jumpers in the Val di Fassa area.
Continue reading...Three magistrates singled out over their challenges to government’s hardline immigration policies
A simmering row over the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary in Italy has erupted after the far-right interior minister publicly singled out three magistrates who have challenged his hardline anti-immigration policies.
In an escalation of his battle with the judges and the courts, Matteo Salvini said he would ask the state attorney to examine whether the magistrates should have abstained from passing verdicts in cases involving immigrants because their opinions conflict with government policy on security and immigration.
Continue reading...Italy’s debt amounts to 132% and servicing it costs more than annual education budget
The EU is poised to punish Italy over its “snowballing” spending and borrowing, putting Brussels on a collision course with the populist government in Rome.
In a move expected to raise tensions with Italy, the European commission paved the way for an initial fine of as much as €3.5bn (£3.1bn) on Wednesday after advising the country had met the threshold for disciplinary action.
Continue reading...Bickering between the League and M5S has intensified since European elections
The fate of Italy’s coalition government lies with the far-right deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, a day after the prime minister threatened to resign if Salvini’s League and its coalition partner, the Five Star Movement (M5S), could not patch things up.
Giuseppe Conte, a law professor who was plucked from obscurity a year ago to steer the coalition, issued the ultimatum to Salvini and M5S’s Luigi Di Maio during a press conference on Monday night, urging them to set aside their many differences and “revive the spirit” of the coalition government’s early days, or seek new elections.
Continue reading...Gianmarco Negri was elected in small town of Tromello, beating far-right League candidate
Italy’s first transgender mayor has said the “arrogant and oppressive” politics of the far right would sooner or later be overcome by a “kindness revolution”.
Gianmarco Negri, a 40-year-old lawyer, was elected mayor of Tromello, a small town south of Milan, last week. Capturing 37.5% of the vote, his leftwing platform scored him a clear victory over the candidate for the far-right League, who came second with 26%.
Continue reading...Ship strikes dock and tourist river boat on busy canal in Italian city
The mayor of Venice has said cruise ships must change their routes after a huge holiday vessel crashed into a wharf and tourist boat, injuring five people.
Luigi Brugnaro said it was no longer conceivable that cruise ships could pass through the busy Giudecca canal and called for a new route to open immediately.
Continue reading...People flee in panic as a cruise ship crashes into a dock in Venice. The ship also struck a tourist boat, its horn blowing as onlookers ran down the dock. At least five people were injured.
Continue reading...Mount Etna, Europe’s tallest and most active volcano, erupted on Friday, spewing lava and volcanic ash into the sky above Catania. The overnight eruptions led to rivers of lava streaming down the south-eastern slope of the Sicilian volcano. Mount Etna has seen an increase in seismic activity in recent days
Continue reading...Migrants working in areas supplying Philip Morris, British American Tobacco and Imperial Brands allege abuses including low pay and illegal contracts
Three of the world’s largest tobacco manufacturers, Philip Morris, British American Tobacco and Imperial Brands, are buying leaves that could have been picked by exploited African migrants working in Italy’s multi-million euro industry.
Workers including children, said they were forced to work up to 12 hours a day without contracts or sufficient health and safety equipment in Campania, a region that produces more than a third of Italy’s tobacco. Some workers said they were paid about three euros an hour.
Continue reading...Tiny Esino Lario claimed all its assets were up for grabs – but it was actually working with a tech firm to raise awareness of issues facing villages
Last month a mountain village in northern Italy put all its assets up for sale. A website advertised that everything must go.
Street signs started at €1,250. A pilgrimage site cost around €600,000, with a 15% discount applied. The town hall was a bit cheaper – €200,000. Benches came at €280 each, but with an enticing three-for-two promotion.
Continue reading...Overgrown and weathered, many historical monuments are disappearing as public funds for culture fail to match modern Italy’s inheritance
Legend has it that the grotto hidden among the craggy cliffs on San Marco hill in Sutera in the heart of Sicily holds a treasure chest full of gold coins. In order to find it, three men must dream simultaneously about the precise place to dig.
Treasure or no treasure, the grotto itself is an archaeological gem, its walls adorned with a multi-coloured Byzantine-esque 16th-century fresco depicting Jesus, the Virgin Mary and Saints Paulinus, Luke, Mark and Matthew.
Continue reading...Deal would create world’s third-largest automaker and ‘save €5bn a year’ by sharing research
Fiat Chrysler has proposed a merger with France’s Renault that would create the world’s third-largest carmaker and save billions needed to invest in the race to make electric and autonomous vehicles.
The merged company would produce 8.7m vehicles annually and save €5bn ($5.6bn or £4.4bn) each year by sharing research, purchasing and other activities, according to a statement released by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA). It said the deal would involve no plant closures but did not address potential job cuts.
Continue reading...France, Germany, Italy and others go to polls on Sunday, with gains expected for nationalist parties
The western world’s largest democratic exercise is nearing its finale as tens of millions of EU citizens in 21 countries go to the polls on Sunday, the last of four days of voting in European parliament elections that will shape the bloc’s future.
Polls suggest the vote will produce a more fragmented parliament than ever before, with the two centre-right and centre-left groups that have dominated Europe’s politics forecast to lose their joint majority for the first time, and nationalist and populist forces to make gains.
Continue reading...Isaías Rodríguez says US sanctions against Caracas means he cannot afford to carry out his duties
The Venezuelan ambassador to Italy has resigned, saying his government’s financial difficulties have made his job impossible.
In a letter addressed directly to President Nicolás Maduro and posted on Twitter, Ambassador Isaías Rodríguez reiterated his “immense respect for Maduro’s battle” but insisted the sanctions imposed by the US mean he cannot carry out his duties.
Continue reading...Schoolchildren’s video presentation compared Salvini decree to 1930s racial laws
An Italian teacher has been suspended over a video made by her students that compared a security law drafted by Italy’s far-right interior minister, Matteo Salvini, to Mussolini’s racial laws, provoking a storm of protest against her suspension across the country.
Rosa Maria Dell’Aria was last week suspended for 15 days on half pay after an investigation by the education ministry’s provincial authority in Palermo found she had not “supervised” her students’ work.
Continue reading...Matteo Salvini and Marine Le Pen are joining with allies to create what may be the third-largest bloc in the European parliament
Italian deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini led a rally of his European far-right allies in front of Milan’s Gothic cathedral on Saturday. He pledged to change history after this week’s EU elections by making the populist alliance one of the largest groupings in the European parliament.
Flanked by France’s Marine Le Pen and leaders from nine other nationalist parties, Salvini began his speech to the packed Piazza del Duomo by quoting the British writer GK Chesterton: “The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him but because he loves what is behind him.” He added that his group would remould Europe “not for our sake, but for our children”.
Continue reading...Famous as the setting for the hit film and TV series Gomorrah, the towers of Le Vele became synonymous with poverty and organised crime – until residents took charge
“When I think of my life in Le Vele, my skin crawls with rage,” says Omero Benfenati.
He looks out from a dark, narrow passageway framed by suspended steel stairways that block the natural light and lead up to abandoned apartments. Most of the windows are bricked up, and liquid leaks from split pipes on to the sewage and refuse-strewn asphalt several storeys below.
Continue reading...League head attempts to burnish his credentials as leader of Europe’s far-right with home-turf rally
Nino Governale was the perfect target for the teenage Matteo Salvini. The PE teacher hailed from Sicily and could hardly get through the weekly lesson at the prestigious Alessandro Manzoni high school in Milan without being goaded by his pupil.
“Salvini was as arrogant at 14 as he is today,” Governale says. “His favourite game was to antagonise. At that time he was against all southerners – we were the enemies coming to Milan and stealing jobs.”
Continue reading...Pope Francis aide crawls into manhole to return power for hundreds of homeless in unused state-owned building
An aide to pope Francis has shimmied down a Rome manhole in order to restore electricity for hundreds of homeless people living in an unused state-owned building.
Cardinal Konrad Krajewski broke a police seal to turn the electricity back on on Saturday evening in the building where 450 people, including about 100 children, had been living without lights or hot water since 6 May, according to Italian news reports
Continue reading...No law can end abortions, however severe its restrictions and however harsh its penalties. Each day almost 70,000 unsafe abortions are carried out around the world, and they are vastly more likely to happen in countries with strict laws. What such legislation does do is force some women to continue pregnancies against their wishes, while risking the lives and wellbeing of others. Women in the US have seen their ability to terminate pregnancies dismantled piece by piece. Now states are racing to outlaw or dramatically curb abortions with extreme and unconstitutional bills. The aim is to directly challenge Roe v Wade, the US supreme court ruling that established that abortion is legal before the foetus is viable outside the womb, at around 24 weeks. Last Tuesday, the governor of Georgia signed a bill essentially banning abortions after six weeks from 2020. Some described it as a sign that men who wish to control women’s bodies have no idea of how they actually work. More likely, those who pushed hardest for the change understand all too well that many women will not know they are pregnant until it is too late.
Five other states have signed similar bills; several more are considering them. (Others have introduced more incremental curbs.) The Alabama senate will this week consider a near-total ban on abortion – with prison sentences of up to 99 years for doctors – which Republicans initially tried to sneak through without even a vote. The state’s lieutenant governor said he believes Roe v Wade will be overturned thanks to Donald Trump’s appointment of conservative jurists.
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