Category Archives: Giorgia Meloni

French prosecutor seeks murder charges over killing of far-right activist

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Political tensions rise after fatal attack at protest in Lyon as Emmanuel Macron hits out over remarks by Italian PM

A French prosecutor is seeking murder charges against seven suspects in the fatal beating of a far-right activist that has fuelled political anger beyond France’s borders, prompting Emmanuel Macron to tell Italy’s Giorgia Meloni to keep out of French affairs.

Quentin Deranque, 23, died from head injuries after being attacked by at least six people on the sidelines of a far-right protest in Lyon on 12 February. Most of the 11 suspects who have been detained are from far-left movements.

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Italy’s rape law stalls as Matteo Salvini claims it could be used for ‘vendettas’

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Parliament delays debate over law defining sex without consent as rape, after comments by far-right deputy PM

Italy’s parliament has delayed a debate over a landmark law that would define sex without consent as rape amid a rift within the ruling coalition.

The measure, the result of a rare pact between the far-right prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, and her main political opponent, the centre-left leader, Elly Schlein, passed in the lower house last week and had been expected to get final approval in the senate this week.

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Libyan general accused of crimes against humanity arrested in Tripoli

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Osama Almasri Najim was arrested in Italy in January on an ICC warrant, only to be released and flown back to Libya

A Libyan general wanted by the international criminal court (ICC) for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity has been arrested in Tripoli.

Osama Almasri Najim, the former chief of Libya’s judicial police, was arrested over allegations of torturing prisoners, leading to the death of one, at Tripoli’s main prison, Libya’s prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday.

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Do populists always crash the economy?

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Argentina is counting the cost of its turn to Javier Milei. Politicians from Donald Trump to Giorgia Meloni and Nigel Farage will be closely watching what happens next

“Cambio, cambio.” Under the blazing sun, dozens of money changers are hawking US dollars along Florida Street, a bustling pedestrian strip in Buenos Aires. Known as arbolitos (“little trees”), they are thriving ahead of the 26 October midterm elections in a country long used to saving in the greenback.

“The best time to buy is now,” says one arbolito, declining to give her name. “[The dollar] went down a little but it is a fake-out – it’ll rise again.”

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Giorgia Meloni condemns Italian union leader for ‘Trump courtesan’ remark

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Prime minister says CGIL head is ‘clouded by resentment’ and accuses the left of hypocrisy towards women

Giorgia Meloni has condemned the boss of Italy’s biggest trade union after he referred to the prime minister as the “courtesan” of Donald Trump.

Maurizio Landini, the leader of CGIL, which organised several pro-Palestinian protests before the Gaza ceasefire deal, made the remarks on TV on Tuesday, the day after world leaders, including Meloni, met in Egypt for a Middle East peace summit.

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Italian investigative journalism TV host targeted in bomb attack near Rome

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Rudimentary but powerful device detonates outside home of Report presenter Sigfrido Ranucci in Campo Ascolano

A prominent Italian investigative journalist has been targeted in a bomb attack, with the rudimentary but powerful device almost destroying his car and damaging a neighbour’s home.

Sigfrido Ranucci, who hosts Report, an investigative programme aired by the state broadcaster, Rai, said the explosion happened about 20 minutes after he returned to his home in Campo Ascolano, close to Rome, on Thursday night.

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Italy’s far-right government revives holiday for saint at ‘core of our nation’s identity’

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Millions of Italian workers expected to get day off every 4 October in honour of Saint Francis of Assisi

Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government in Italy has revived a national holiday in honour of the country’s popular patron saint, Francis of Assisi, in a nod to “the very core of our nation’s identity”.

Millions of Italian workers are expected to get a day off each 4 October, the feast day of Saint Francis, after the lower house of parliament approved overwhelmingly a bill making it a public holiday. The measure will pass to the senate for the final nod.

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Italy first in EU to pass comprehensive law regulating use of AI

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Legislation limits child access and imposes prison terms for damaging use of artificial intelligence

Italy has become the first country in the EU to approve a comprehensive law regulating the use of artificial intelligence, including imposing prison terms on those who use the technology to cause harm, such as generating deepfakes, and limiting child access.

Giorgia Meloni’s rightwing government said the legislation, which aligns with the EU’s landmark AI Act, is a decisive move in influencing how AI is used across Italy.

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Europe’s far-right leaders attack ‘hate-mongering left’ after Charlie Kirk murder

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Viktor Orbán claims death of Turning Point USA’s founder was ‘result of international hate campaign’ as prominent figures pay tribute

European far-right leaders have lauded Charlie Kirk, the influential 31-year-old conservative US activist who was fatally shot on Wednesday, with several also claiming his death was a consequence of violent leftwing rhetoric.

The European parliament briefly descended into chaos as far-right MEPs demanded a minute’s silence to honour Kirk, a rising star of Trump’s Maga movement, who was hit in the neck by a single bullet as he addressed students at Utah Valley University.

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Giorgia Meloni ‘disgusted’ at posting of photos of her and other women on porn site

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Italian platform Phica closes after sharing altered images of PM, her sister, opposition leader and others

The Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, has said she is “disgusted” that photos of her and other women were posted on a pornographic website, and called for the perpetrators to be swiftly identified and “punished with the utmost firmness”.

Images of Meloni’s sister, Arianna, and the opposition leader, Elly Schlein, were also discovered on the Italian platform Phica, which had more than 700,000 subscribers before its managers closed the site on Thursday, blaming users for “using the platform incorrectly”.

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Zelenskyy’s European ‘bodyguards’: which leaders joined Trump talks in Washington?

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Presidents, PMs and heads of Nato and European Commission accompany Ukraine’s leader at White House

European leaders gathered in Washington on Monday for Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s meeting with Donald Trump in the Oval Office, in a show of support for the Ukrainian president. Their presence came amid expectations that Trump would try to bully Zelenskyy into accepting a pro-Russia “peace plan” that would include Kyiv handing territory to Moscow. The Europeans have been described as Zelenskyy’s “bodyguards”, with memories fresh of the mauling he received in February during his last Oval Office visit. So, who are they?

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European leaders including Starmer to join Zelenskyy in Washington for meeting with Trump

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Emmanuel Macron, Friedrich Merz and others will aim to push back against ceding of Ukraine territory in ‘peace plan’

European leaders including Britain’s Keir Starmer will join Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, at a White House meeting on Monday with Donald Trump, in an extraordinary joint effort to push back on a US-backed plan that would allow Russia to take further Ukrainian territory.

As well as the UK prime minister, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, Italy’s PM, Giorgia Meloni, and the Finnish president, Alexander Stubb, will all accompany Zelenskyy in the Oval Office.

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Europe’s leaders raise pressure on Trump to involve Ukraine in Putin talks

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Move comes as Germany warns White House against any deal hatched ‘over heads of Europeans and Ukrainians’

Europe’s leaders have raised the pressure on Donald Trump to involve Ukraine in a planned summit with Vladimir Putin, as Germany warned the White House against any deal hatched “over the heads of Europeans and Ukrainians”.

Speaking before a bilateral meeting expected to take place between the US and Russian leaders on Friday in Alaska, the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said he hoped and assumed that Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, would also be involved.

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Giorgia Meloni faces awkward weekend at funeral of pope whose values she opposed

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Italian PM and pontiff could not have been further apart on issues such as migration, climate crisis and economy

It is an awkward weekend for Giorgia Meloni. The Italian leader will host a gathering of world leaders to say goodbye to a much-revered pope whose public views – from the treatment of people fleeing war to the climate crisis – were diametrically opposed to hers.

While Pope Francis was a staunch advocate for asylum seekers, and blessed the vessels that saved refugees at sea, Meloni once said Italy should “repatriate migrants back to their countries and then sink the boats that rescued them”.

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Moscow may gain key role in Iran nuclear deal as US talks progress

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Russia touted as possible destination for Iran’s uranium stockpile and could also act as arbiter of deal breaches

Russia could play a key role in a deal on the future of Iran’s nuclear programme, with Moscow being touted not only as a possible destination for Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, but also as a possible arbiter of deal breaches.

Donald Trump, who abandoned a 2015 nuclear pact between Tehran and world powers in 2018 during his first term, has threatened to attack Iran unless it reaches a new deal swiftly that would prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.

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Meloni says Trump to visit Rome after Washington talks over tariffs

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Trump praises Italian PM and accepts invitation that could present chance for him to meet other European leaders

Giorgia Meloni said Donald Trump had accepted her invitation for an official trip to Rome, as the pair met in Washington in an attempt by the Italian prime minister to bridge the gap between the EU and US amid trade tariff tensions.

Meloni said Trump’s trip could happen “in the near future” and could present an opportunity for him to meet other European leaders.

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Trump’s polarising appeal leaves European populists in a tight spot

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Nationalist parties have tended to praise the US president’s politics, but many voters dislike his treatment of Ukraine

Europe’s rightwing populist parties are split over how far to distance themselves from Donald Trump’s pressure on Ukraine, with some fearing unflinching solidarity with the US president’s brand of nationalism will damage their efforts to widen their domestic support.

Broadly, unease over Trump’s treatment of Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the ominous encroach of authoritarianism by the new US administration, is strongest among the populist parties in western Europe and some Nordic countries.

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Starmer to hold talks with Zelenskyy and Meloni before Ukraine defence summit

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Prime minister will host more than a dozen countries over weekend as Europe tries to secure deal to end war

Keir Starmer will hold talks with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni in Downing Street on Sunday before a major London defence summit aimed at securing “lasting and enforced” peace in Ukraine.

Fresh from his trip to see Donald Trump in the White House on Thursday, Starmer has headed back to London to host the defence summit, where more than a dozen world leaders will gather to discuss Ukraine.

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Placebo frontman Brian Molko charged with calling Meloni ‘fascist’ and ‘racist’

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The singer is being charged with defamation of the far-right Italian prime minister leader while performing at a festival in Turin in 2023

Placebo frontman Brian Molko is being charged with defamation after appearing to call the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, a “piece of shit, fascist, racist” in Italian while performing at a festival in Turin in 2023.

In August 2023, Meloni sued Molko over the comments. Prosecutors subsequently opened an investigation into the claims and have charged Molko with “contempt of the institutions”.

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‘Vicious cycle’: how far-right parties across Europe are cannibalising the centre right

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Hardline agendas, especially on immigration, are copied by mainstream conservatives in vain effort to win back votes - but it’s not working

Far-right parties could become the largest force on the right in Europe within a decade, experts have said, as mainstream conservative parties look to copy their hardline agendas, especially on immigration, in a vain effort to win back votes.

Germany’s conservatives last week sparked fury when their leader, Friedrich Merz, the country’s likely next chancellor, broke a longstanding pledge by relying on far-right votes to adopt a non-binding motion urging a drastic immigration crackdown. The leader of Alternative für Deutschland, Alice Weidel, hailed “a historic day for Germany” as the Bundestag, for the first time in its history, passed a vote with the backing of her party, which is second in the polls weeks before this month’s elections.

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