Landslide leaves up to a dozen missing on Italian island
MILAN — (AP) — Heavy rainfall triggered landslides early Saturday on the southern Italian island of Ischia that collapsed buildings and left as many as 12 people missing. Italy's interior minister said no deaths had yet been confirmed, appearing to contradict an early announcement by another senior politician. “At the moment there are no confirmed deaths," said Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, speaking from the firefighters emergency coordination center. The prefecture for the Naples region, which includes Ischia, said at least 12 people were missing. Video from the island shows paths that the landslides had cut down slopes, leaving behind traces of mud.
wftv.comStorms trigger landslide on southern Italian island
Several people are missing after a severe storm triggered a landslide on the southern Italian island of Ischia on Saturday, authorities said. The deaths were confirmed by Italian Vice Premier Matteo Salvini, according to the AP and The Guardian. Firefighters in Italy said that a rainstorm began at about 4 a.m. local time, causing flooding and a landslide on the island, Reuters reported. Reinforcements were being sent from nearby Naples but were having difficulties reaching the island either by motorboat or helicopter because of the weather, according to the AP. “It’s a complicated situation, houses have been uprooted by the landslide,” police chief Tiziano Laganà told La Repubblica.
wftv.comReports: At least 8 dead in landslide on Italian island
MILAN — (AP) — A landslide triggered by a storm on the southern Italian island of Ischia has killed at least eight people, Italian Vice Premier Matteo Salvini said Saturday. The news agency ANSA reported that at least 10 buildings had collapsed and more people are missing, including at least three children. At least 100 people were stranded in isolated parts of the island, and the mayor urged people to stay at home. Reinforcements were being sent from nearby Naples, but were encountering difficulties in reaching the island either by motorboat or helicopter due to the weather. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
wftv.comEXPLAINER: What's behind Italy's migrant sea rescue standoff
MILAN — (AP) — Italy’s new far-right-led government has blocked humanitarian rescue ships from accessing its ports, resulting in a standoff with charities that patrol the deadly central Mediterranean, rescuing people in trouble at sea. A third charity ship, carrying 89 people rescued at sea, unloaded all of the people it rescued in Calabria on Tuesday. Italy says it is not responsible for taking on migrants rescued by charity rescue ships. A German captain, Carola Rackete, famously defied Salvini and entered an Italian port despite orders not to, citing an emergency situation on board. Most arrived on their own, or were rescued by the Italian Coast Guard or other national rescue ships.
wftv.comFrance, Germany press Italy to open ports to 1,000 at sea
Italy’s new interior minister, Matteo Piantedosi, has drafted new measures alleging that the non-governmental groups violated procedure by not properly coordinating their rescues, a step setting the groundwork for Italy to close the ports. Italy's posture, maintaining silence to repeated requests for a safe port, has effectively blocked three charity-run rescue boats at sea. It is reminiscent of Italy’s anti-NGO policies under former Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, who is now in charge of ports as infrastructure minister. “We have no doubt that Italy will welcome the ship, ... that Italy will respect international law,” he told French news broadcaster BFM TV. Charities have denied circumventing procedures, and say it is their duty to rescue people in distress at sea.
wftv.comFrance, Germany press Italy to open ports to 1,000 at sea
France and Germany are asking Italy’s new far-right-led government to grant a safe port to nearly 1,000 people rescued by humanitarian groups in the central Mediterranean, some of whom have been stuck at sea for more than two weeks
washingtonpost.comItaly silent as ships with 1,000 rescued migrants seek help
The country's new interior minister, Matteo Piantedosi, has already set the groundwork to ban humanitarian ships from its ports, while appealing to countries whose flags the rescue ships fly to take on the migrants and relieve the burden on Italy. The moves are reminiscent of the anti-NGO posture taken by League party leader Matteo Salvini, now the deputy premier, who prevented humanitarian ships from accessing Italy’s ports when he was interior minister from 2018-19. Even while Italy is de facto blocking the humanitarian ships from disembarking the 1,000 people, interior ministry figures indicate that 6,383 others have been brought to its shores by Italian authorities over the last week. The crew of the Geo Barents is struggling to accommodate the migrants picked up in seven operations starting Oct. 22. The rescued migrants were struggling with the crowded conditions and the uncertainty.
wftv.comThousands commemorate Italy's fascist dictator Mussolini
Several thousand black-clad fascist sympathizers chanted and sang in praise of Benito Mussolini as they marched to the slain Italian dictator’s crypt Sunday, 100 years after Mussolini entered Rome and completed a bloodless coup that gave rise to two decades of fascist rule.
Italy's Meloni easily wins confidence vote in parliament
ROME — (AP) — Italy’s new far-right-led government of Premier Giorgia Meloni on Tuesday night easily won the first of two required confidence votes in Parliament by a comfortable margin. On Wednesday, the new government will face a vote in the upper chamber, the Senate, where it also holds a solid majority. Such attitudes are tantamount to "a lack of respect for the Italian people, who don't need lessons,'' Meloni said. With the confidence votes out of the way, Meloni will be able to get down to the business of governing. “I have never felt sympathy or closeness for any non-democratic regime, including fascism,” Meloni told lawmakers in the Chamber of Deputies.
wftv.comMeloni on critics: Italians don't need lessons from abroad
ROME — (AP) — Italy’s new premier, Giorgia Meloni, on Tuesday laid out her government’s policy plans, firing back at critics at home and abroad alarmed that her far-right politics might undermine European unity or citizens' civil rights. “To pose these questions doesn't mean being an enemy or a heretic but a practical” person, Meloni said in a 70-minute speech. Such attitudes are tantamount to "a lack of respect for the Italian people, who don't need lessons,'' Meloni said. In her election campaign, Meloni, 45, didn't make much fuss about the prospect of becoming the first woman to be Italy's premier. Meloni has been dogged for years by critics who say she hasn't unambiguously condemned fascism.
wftv.comMeloni on critics: Italians don't need lessons from abroad
Italy’s new premier, Giorgia Meloni, on Tuesday laid out her government’s policy plans, firing back at critics at home and abroad alarmed that her far-right politics might undermine European unity or citizens' civil rights. In a speech to Parliament’s lower Chamber of Deputies ahead of a confidence vote required of all new governments, Meloni criticized the European Union for not always being ready for challenges, notably the dramatic energy crisis now threatening households and businesses. “To pose these questions doesn't mean being an enemy or a heretic but a practical” person, Meloni said in a 70-minute speech.
news.yahoo.comEXPLAINER: Is Meloni a far-right firebrand or moderate?
MILAN — (AP) — As Giorgia Meloni becomes Italy’s first female premier, the world is watching closely to see whether she will emerge as a firebrand leader of a far-right party with neo-fascist roots or the more moderate right-wing politician who succeeded in capturing 26% of the vote. Meloni has recently signaled Poland as a key ally for Italy in a speech to a Spanish far-right rally, where she also singled out the success of the far-right in Sweden. On Friday, Meloni chose as foreign minister Antonio Tajani, a pro-EU politician and former president of the European parliament. Meloni is tasked with reducing Italy’s public debt, currently the second-highest in the eurozone at 150% of GDP, while maintaining budget stability. Also, the right-wing League aims to do away with a 10-year-old pension reform that raised the retirement age.
wftv.comEXPLAINER: Is Meloni a far-right firebrand or moderate?
As Giorgia Meloni becomes Italy’s first female premier, the world is watching closely to see if she will emerge as a firebrand leader of a far-right party with neo-fascist roots or the more moderate right-wing politician who succeded in capturing 26% of the vote.
Italy's far-right leader Meloni forms new government
Meloni’s Brothers of Italy, a party with neo-fascist roots, was the top vote-getter in Italy's national election last month. Meloni co-founded the party in December 2012, and it was considered a fringe movement on the right during its first years. Berlusconi and Salvini are longtime admirers of Russian President Vladimir Putin; Meloni staunchly backs Ukraine in its defense against the Russian invasion. Still, while her party's members are the largest force in the Italian Parliament, Meloni needs the support of her two allies to command a solid majority. Salvini had lobbied hard to be appointed interior minister by Meloni — a position he held in a 2018-2019 government formed by populists.
wftv.comItaly's far-right leader formally asks for mandate to govern
Meloni and her campaign allies met for about 10 minutes with President Sergio Mattarella at the Quirinal presidential palace. She emerged to tell reporters that the coalition had unanimously indicated to Mattarella that she deserved the mandate to govern. If Meloni, 45, succeeds, she would be the first woman to become Italian premier. Earlier this week in a meeting with his lawmakers he expressed sympathy for Putin’s motivation for invading Ukraine. That prompted Mattarella to dissolve parliament and pave the way for elections some six months early.
wftv.comWhy Meloni's win in Italy not sitting well with Berlusconi
ROME — (AP) — The honeymoon is finished even before any marriage of political convenience in Italy could be formalized. Salvini on Saturday issued a sort of call for a truce between Meloni and Berlusconi so that three allies' bid to rule Italy isn't derailed. By all accounts, Meloni had vetoed a ministry for a close political aide of Berlusconi who is one of his several female political proteges. "It seems like a point was missing among those listed by Berlusconi — that I can't be blackmailed,'' Meloni told private Italian TV La7. Still, Meloni needs the forces of Berlusconi and Salvini for any viable coalition.
wftv.comMeloni vs Berlusconi — allies get nasty in power plays
Meloni is expected to be asked next week by Italy's president to try to create a governing coalition with campaign allies Berlusconi and right-wing leader Matteo Salvini and become premier. Salvini on Saturday issued a sort of call for a truce between Meloni and Berlusconi so that three allies' bid to rule Italy isn't derailed. By all accounts, Meloni had vetoed a ministry for a close political aide of Berlusconi who is one of his several female political proteges. "It seems like a point was missing among those listed by Berlusconi — that I can't be blackmailed,'' Meloni told private Italian TV La7. Still, Meloni needs the forces of Berlusconi and Salvini for any viable coalition.
wftv.comWhy Meloni's win in Italy not sitting well with Berlusconi
The honeymoon is finished even before any marriage of political convenience in Italy could be formalized. Meloni is expected to be asked next week by Italy's president to try to create a governing coalition with campaign allies Berlusconi and right-wing leader Matteo Salvini and become premier. Behind-the-scenes divvying up of ministries in what would be Italy's first far-right-led government since the end of World War II started after her Brothers of Italy party took 26% of the ballots cast, more than those won by the forces of Salvini and Berlusconi combined.
news.yahoo.comFirst female premier poised to take helm of Italy government
Italy’s left warned of “dark days” ahead and vowed to keep Italy in the heart of Europe. It followed a right-wing victory in Sweden and recent gains by the far-right in France and Spain. The center-left Democratic Party and its allies had around 26% support, while the populist 5-Star Movement — which had been the biggest vote-getter in the 2018 parliamentary election — saw its share of the vote halved to 15%. But he may face an internal leadership challenge, with Meloni’s party outperforming the League even in its northeastern stronghold. “The trend that emerged two weeks ago in Sweden was confirmed in Italy,” acknowledged Democratic Party leader Enrico Letta, calling Monday a “sad day for Italy, for Europe.”"We expect dark days.
wftv.comItaly shifts to the right as voters reward Meloni's party
Italy’s lurch to the far right immediately shifted Europe’s geopolitical reality, placing a euroskeptic party in position to lead a founding member of the European Union and its third-largest economy. Right-wing leaders across Europe immediately hailed Meloni’s victory and her party’s meteoric rise as sending a historic message to Brussels. Near-final results showed the center-right coalition netting some 44% of the parliamentary vote, with Meloni’s Brothers of Italy snatching some 26%. He may also face an internal leadership challenge after the League suffered an abysmal result of under 10% of the vote, with Meloni’s party outperforming the League in its northeastern stronghold. French politician Marine Le Pen’s party hailed the result as a “lesson in humility” for the EU.
wftv.comFirst female premier poised to take helm of Italy government
A party with neo-fascist roots has won the most votes in Italy’s national election, setting the stage for talks to form the country’s first far right-led government since World War II, with Giorgia Meloni at the helm as Italy’s first female premier.
Italy shifts to the right as voters reward Meloni's party
Italy’s lurch to the far right immediately shifted Europe’s geopolitical reality, placing a euroskeptic party in position to lead a founding member of the European Union and its third-largest economy. Right-wing leaders across Europe immediately hailed Meloni’s victory and her party’s meteoric rise as sending a historic message to Brussels. Near-final results showed the center-right coalition netting some 44% of the parliamentary vote, with Meloni’s Brothers of Italy snatching some 26%. Salvini has made clear he wants to return to the interior ministry, where he imposed a tough anti-migrant policy as minister. French politician Marine Le Pen’s party hailed the result as a “lesson in humility” for the EU.
wftv.comItaly voters shift sharply, reward Meloni's far-right party
In a victory speech, far-right Italian leader Giorgia Meloni struck a moderate tone after preliminary results in Sunday’s national election showed her Brothers of Italy party leading contenders. Projections based on votes counted from nearly two-thirds of the polling stations in Sunday’s balloting indicated Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party would win some 25.7% of the vote. In the last election, in 2018, Meloni’s party took 4.4%. Meloni’s party was forged from the legacy of a neo-fascist party formed shortly after the war by nostalgists of Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. Meloni kept her Brothers of Italy party in the opposition, refusing to join Draghi’s unity government or Conte’s two coalitions that governed after the 2018 vote.
wftv.comMeloni's far-right alliance leads in Italian elections
"Italy moves to the right,'' Italian daily La Stampa headlined its front page in an early Monday edition. Her main campaign allies and likely coalition partners are anti-migrant League leader Matteo Salvini and conservative former Premier Silvio Berlusconi. That compared to some 19% by the closest challenger, the center-left Democratic Party of former Premier Enrico Letta. Meloni's strong showing heartened her allies in Europe, intent on shifting the European Union's politics sharply to the right. In the last election, in 2018, Meloni's party took 4.4%.
wftv.comExit poll: Italian far-right leader’s alliance leading vote
ROME — (AP) — Far-right leader Giorgia Meloni’s electoral alliance appeared to hold a wide lead in Italy’s national note, an exit poll on state television suggested shortly after polls closed on Sunday evening. The publication of opinion polls is banned in the two weeks leading up to the election. Polls before then indicated that far-right leader Giorgia Meloni and her Brothers of Italy party, which has neo-fascist roots, was the most popular. Their leaders, Salvini, Berlusconi and 5-Star Movement leader Giuseppe Conte, a former premier whose party is the largest in the outgoing Parliament, saw Meloni’s popularity growing while theirs were slipping. Meloni kept her Brothers of Italy party in the opposition, refusing to join Draghi’s unity government or Conte’s two coalitions that governed after the 2018 vote.
wftv.comItalians vote in election that could take far-right to power
Before publication of opinion polls were banned 15 days ago, far-right leader Giorgia Meloni and her Brothers of Italy party, with its neo-fascist roots, led in popularity, suggesting Italians were poised to vote their first far-right government into power since World War II. But pollsters predicted turnout could be even lower than the record-setting low of 73% in the last general election in 2018. But the three populist parties in the coalition boycotted a confidence vote tied to an energy relief measure. She further distanced herself from Salvini and Berlusconi with unflagging support for Ukraine, including sending weapons so Kyiv could defend itself against Russia. In the final days of the election campaign, Salvini criticized Russian atrocities in Ukraine.
wftv.comEXPLAINER: Italian election only part of picking government
The center-left did not agree on teaming up with left-leaning populists or centrists, which is a big disadvantage in Italian elections. But populist leaders saw their parties' support steadily slipping both in opinion polls and in various mayoral and gubernatorial races since the last national election in 2018. In July, 5-Star Movement head Giuseppe Conte, right-wing League leader Matteo Salvini and former Premier Silvio Berlusconi yanked their support for Premier Mario Draghi during a confidence vote. Her far-right Brothers of Italy, a party with neo-fascist roots, won just over 4% in the 2018 election. Since the last election, a reform has been passed aimed at streamlining Parliament and make its operation less costly to taxpayers.
wftv.com'Crucial' vote could move Italy to right; many might boycott
ROME — (AP) — Italians will vote on Sunday in what is being billed as a crucial election as Europe reels from repercussions of Russia's war in Ukraine. Recently, a right-wing party in Sweden surged in popularity by capitalizing on peoples' fears about crime. Meloni's main alliance partner is right-wing League party leader Matteo Salvini, who blames crime on migrants. Yet Meloni, the sole major party leader to refuse to join Draghi's coalition, is polling the strongest. Italy's tiny Greens party, a campaign partner of Letta, is forecast to capture barely a few seats in Parliament.
wftv.comThe politicians vying to lead Italy's next government
Her Brothers of Italy party has enjoyed a meteoric rise in popularity since the vote in 2018, when it polled just over 4%. ____ENRICO LETTALetta, the 56-year-old leader of the Democratic Party, Italy’s main center-left force, is Meloni’s chief election rival. ___MATTEO SALVINISalvini, the 49-year-old League party leader, had been the unchallenged face of right-wing leadership in Italy until Giorgia Meloni's far-right party took off. When neither then-5-Star leader Luigi Di Maio nor right-wing leader Matteo Salvini budged on who would become premier, Conte got the job. Early in his second stint as premier, Italy became the first nation in the West to be slammed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
wftv.comItaly's fractured left taps young feminist to lift campaign
MODENA, Italy — (AP) — As far-right leader Giorgia Meloni 's push to become Italy's first female premier gathers momentum, the country's fractured left is offering voters a contrasting style of feminist politics. The 45-year-old Meloni's Brothers of Italy Party consistently has led polls going into the Sept. 25 parliamentary vote, putting her in position to be tapped as premier. “Not all female leadership helps women,’’ Schlein told an audience of several hundred at a weekend campaign rally at the Festa dell’Unita in Modena. She faults Italy’s current political class with creating “paternalistic” policies that fail to consult the people they affect. But that effort failed miserably to bring into being an electoral coalition on the left for this vote.
wftv.comVideo of fatal attack on African immigrant shocks Italy
Police investigator Matteo Luconi told Italian news channel Sky TG24 that onlookers called police, who responded after the suspect had fled and attempted to administer aid to the victim. Luconi told Sky TG24 the assailant lashed out after the vendor made “insistent” requests for pocket change. Amanza gave a different version of what happened, saying the attacker became infuriated when Ogorchukwu told the man's companion she was beautiful. “This compliment killed him,’’ Amanza told The Associated Press. “My condemnation is not only for the (crime) but it is also for the indifference,'' Ciarapica told Sky.
wftv.comVideo of fatal attack on African immigrant shocks Italy
Police in Italy arrested an Italian man in the slaying of a Nigerian vendor whose brutal beating death on a busy beach town thoroughfare was filmed by onlookers without any apparent attempt to intervene physically. Video footage of the attack has circulated widely on Italian news websites and social media, eliciting outrage as Italy enters a parliamentary election campaign in which the right-wing coalition has already made immigration an issue. Right-wing leader Matteo Salvini, who is making security a plank of his campaign, also expressed outrage over the death, saying “security has no color and ... needs to return to being a right.”
news.yahoo.comEXPLAINER: Who gains or loses, what's next in Italy crisis
Italian Premier Mario Draghi’s decision to turn in his resignation after his “unity” coalition broke apart dramatically in Parliament was the latest step in a political crisis that could take months before a new government is solidly in place to lead the European Union’s third-largest economy
washingtonpost.comEXPLAINER: Who gains or loses, what's next in Italy crisis
APTOPIX Italy Politics Italian Premier Mario Draghi waves to lawmakers at the end of his address at the Parliament in Rome, Thursday, July 21, 2022. By Thursday afternoon, about the only certainty was Italians are going to the ballot box on Sept. 25, some six months early. Its leader, Giuseppe Conte, drafted by the 5-Stars to be premier in back-to-back governments, had joined his successor's “national unity coalition." But with Salvini itching for years to become premier, Meloni might face a Salvini-Berlusconi deal to make the League leader the next premier. The dramatic and rapid unraveling of Draghi's ‘’unity" coalition is likely to leave its mark on Italy's political landscape.
wftv.comEXPLAINER: Who gains or loses, what's next in Italy crisis
Italian Premier Mario Draghi's decision to turn in his resignation after his “unity” coalition broke apart dramatically in Parliament was the latest step in a political crisis that could take months before a new government is solidly in place to lead the European Union's third-largest economy.
'Your friend Putin': Salvini confronted during border visit
The mayor of a Polish town bordering Ukraine publicly called out the leader of Italy’s right-wing League party for his pro-Kremlin views on Tuesday, derisively calling Matteo Salvini a “friend” of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Przemysl Mayor Wojciech Bakun challenged Salvini during a news conference at the train station in Przemysl, where hundreds of thousands of refugees have arrived since Russia launched its war against Ukraine on Feb. 24. The mayor pulled a T-shirt from his jacket showing Putin's face and the words: “Army of Russia.”
news.yahoo.comItaly's president, 80, is recruited to stay on for 2nd term
Italian President Sergio Mattarella has been pulled away from his impending retirement and reelected to a second seven-year term as the country’s head of state, ending days of political impasse as party leaders struggled to pick his successor.