Page 2 - Italy

Japan to jointly develop 'next-genenration' fighter jet with UK, Italy

Japan announced on Friday that it will jointly develop its next-generation fighter jet with the UK and Italy as Tokyo looks to expand defence cooperation beyond its traditional ally, the United States. The Mitsubishi F-X fighter jet will replace the aging fleet of F-2 that Japan previously developed with the United States. Japan's F-X and Britain's Tempest, a successor to the Eurofighter Typhoon, will be combined into the next-generation combat aircraft for deployment in 2035. The deal will give Japan greater support in countering China's growing assertiveness and allow Britain a bigger presence in the Indo-Pacific region. Friday's fighter jet announcement came four days after Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced spending targets aimed at building up Japan's military capability, including a huge boost in defence spending over the next five years. To meet the five-year spending total of 43 trillion yen (USD 316 billion), the government will need an extra 4 trillion yen (USD 30 ..

Covid-19 hospitalisations in Italy rise by 19.5% in a week: Report

Hospitalisations of Covid-19 patients have surged in Italy, so have admissions to intensive care units (ICU) albeit at a slower rate, a report showed

Italian cabinet passes new budget law, plans measures worth $35.8 bn

The new budget included a package aimed at alleviating skyrocketing energy costs for companies and households, as well as tax cuts for employees and self-employed workers

French border checks in force over Italy's migration policy

Lines formed Sunday at Italy's northern border crossings with France following Paris' decision to reinforce border controls over a diplomatic row with Italy about migration policy and humanitarian rescue ships that shows no end in sight. The Ventimiglia-Menton crossing along the picturesque Mediterranean coast has often been a flashpoint of the migrant debate, with makeshift camps giving shelter to migrants who try to cross into France after arriving in Italy. On Sunday morning, several dozen migrants were sleeping on mattresses under a highway overpass numbers that could swell as France cracks down on crossings. France announced this week it was sending 500 extra officers to beef up its frontiers with Italy, and announced serious passport controls, in retaliation for Italy's delays in helping humanitarian ships that rescue migrants in the Mediterranean. Police checked cars crossing the border Sunday, stopping migrants, and patrolled trains. After a weekslong-standoff, Italy allowe

Italy's support for Ukraine 'subject of debate' amid widespread protests

A growing number of Italians argued that current policies risk prolonging the war while diverting resources the government should be spending domestically.

France, Germany press Italy to open safe port to 1,000 people 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. Humanitarian groups caring for the rescued migrants on three ships in the central Mediterranean are sounding an alarm about deteriorating conditions, including people sleeping on floors in the cold and spreading fevers. 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. Piantedosi has also asked the countries whose flags they fly to intervene. 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 Salvi

Moody's downgrades Italian economy amid inflation, energy concerns

Moody's slashed its assessment of the country's banking system from "stable" to "negative", and said it expects conditions for the banking sector to deteriorate further over the coming 12 to 18 months

Italy's right-wing govt slammed for anti-rave decree, oppn sounds alarm

Italy's new interior minister on Wednesday defended the government from criticism that a decree banning rave parties could be used to clamp down on sit-ins and other forms of protest while thousands of fascist sympathisers were allowed to march to the crypt of the country's slain Fascist dictator. The decree on illegal raves was among the first actions of Premier Giorgia Meloni's far-right-led government. Both the political opposition and judicial magistrates voiced alarm the tough law-and-order stance signalled the government's possible intolerance of disobedience. Critics noted that no action was taken against the weekend march by several thousand Mussolini admirers wearing Fascist symbols and singing colonial-era hymns in Predappio, the late dictator's birth and burial place, while the government in Rome took extraordinary action to break up a rave party in the northern city of Modena. Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that he deplored

Italy's economic growth streak continues; GDP expands 0.5% in Q3

According to the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), it was the seventh three-month period in a row that Italy's economy expanded

Italy's leader Meloni forms nation's first far-right-led govt since WWII

Giorgia Meloni on Friday formed Italy's new ruling coalition, assembling the country's first far-right-led government since the end of World War II and becoming the first woman to obtain the premiership. A presidential palace official announced that Meloni and her Cabinet would be sworn in on Saturday. Meloni's Brothers of Italy, a party with neo-fascist roots, was the top vote-getter in Italy's national election last month. A few hours before the new government's formation was announced, Meloni, 45, a career politician, told reporters that she and her allies had unanimously asked President Sergio Mattarella to give her the mandate to govern. Obtaining the premiership capped a remarkably quick rise for the Brothers of Italy. Meloni co-founded the party in December 2012, and it was considered a fringe movement on the right during its first years. Meloni made no public comments before leaving the Quirinal presidential palace. Earlier in the day, she met with Mattarella along with her

PM Modi congratulates Italian leader Giorgia Meloni on her victory in polls

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday congratulated Giorgia Meloni for her leading her party to victory in the Italian polls and said he looked forward to working together to strengthen the ties between the two countries. Meloni, who heads Brothers of Italy, has led a coalition of right-wing parties to victory and is set to be the first woman prime minister of the country. Congratulating her, Modi tweeted, "We look forward to working together to strengthen our ties.

He's back: Italy's Silvio Berlusconi wins Senate seat after tax ban

Just in time to celebrate his 86th birthday, former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi is making his return to Italy's parliament, winning a seat in the Senate nearly a decade after being banned from holding public office over a tax fraud conviction. Berlusconi, who has made personal comebacks a hallmark of Italian politics for three decades, was re-elected to Italy's upper house with more than 50% of the votes Sunday in the northern city of Monza, where he also owns a soccer team that was recently promoted to Italy's top division. While overall his party lost ground compared with the 2018 general elections, it fared better than expected and Berlusconi's victory was particularly heartfelt. Regaining a seat in the Senate was a sort of personal revenge for Berlusconi, after all the judicial problems he went through, said Massimiliano Panarari, political analyst at Rome's Mercatorum University. In 2013, the Senate expelled Berlusconi because of a tax fraud conviction stemming from his

Italy's EU partners vigilant as far right party set to take power

Italy's European Union partners are signalling discomfort, even vigilance, after Italy, one of the bloc's founding members, swung far to the political right. The result of Italy's latest election raises troubling questions about whether Rome will maintain its commitments to EU principles, laws and ambitions. The French prime minister on Monday said her government, along with EU officials, would be watching to ensure that basic human rights are guaranteed in Italy after Giorgia Meloni's neo-fascist far-right Brothers of Italy Party topped the vote count in Sunday's parliamentary election. In Europe, we uphold some values and obviously we will ensure, and the president of the commission will ensure, that these values on human rights, the respect of other people, especially the respect of the right to abortion will be respected by all (member states), Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne told French broadcaster BFM TV. Such statements among the longtime EU partners are highly unusual and .

Giorgia Meloni: Will Italy rock the boat?

Europe's decisive swing to the right continues

Giorgia Meloni's right-wing bloc set wins big in Italian election

Giorgia Meloni won a clear majority in Italian election, setting herself up to become the country's first female prime minister at the head of the most right-wing government since World War II

Pope Francis urges Italians to have more children, welcome migrants

Pope Francis traveled to southern Italy on Sunday to close out an Italian church congress that coincided with Italy's national election, and delivered a message that hit on key domestic campaign issues including immigration. Neither Francis nor his hosts referred to the vote during the open-air Mass, though Italy's bishops conference had earlier urged Italians to cast ballots in the eagerly watched election that could bring Italy its first far-right government since World War II. At the end of the outdoor Mass in Matera, Francis spoke off the cuff asking Italians to have more children. I'd like to ask Italy: More births, more children, Francis said. Italy has one of the lowest birth rates in the world and Francis has frequently lamented its demographic winter. Far-right leader Giorgia Meloni, who campaigned on a God, family and homeland mantra, has also called for Italy to reverse its demographic trends by proposing bigger financial incentives for couples to have children. Francis

Italy can get through upcoming winter without Russian gas, says Eni CEO

Before the start of the conflict in Ukraine, Italy was the second largest importer of Russian gas in the EU behind only Germany

Italian health agency approves 2 Omicron-specific Covid-19 booster shots

Italy began distributing Covid vaccines in December 2020, but the new boosters represent the first time the country has approved a vaccine dose engineered for a specific variant of the virus

Inflation in Italy surges by 8.4% to reach a 37-year high in August

Prices in Italy were 8.4 per cent higher in August than they were a year earlier, a level that had not been recorded since December 1985, the country's National Institute of Statistics reported

Israel to sell 2 spy planes, logistics services to Italy for $550 mn

Israel Aerospace Industries announced signing a contract worth over USD 200 million to provide special mission aircraft to a European member of NATO but did not disclose which country is the client