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☆ Opinion | The Birth Dearth and the Smartphone Age
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-05 | by ( Ross Douthat | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

My newsroom colleagues Jason Horowitz and Gaia Pianigiani have a lovely report this week about family-friendly policies in the Italian province of Alto Adige-South Tyrol, which has the highest birthrate of any region in an aging, depopulating Italy. Their story is a portrait not just of a particular policy matrix but also the culture that policy can help foster. Some of what Carney describes is a set of habits that’s beyond the reach of policy. (I don’t think there’s much the government can do to persuade parents to “Have Lower Ambitions for Your Kids,” to select one of his more striking chapter titles.) But some of the sense of overwhelmingness that comes with modern parenting seems like it could be mitigated, not just through a once-a-year benefit or tax credit, but also through small consistent signals of support: the family discount on groceries, the convenient in-home child care option, the open play space, the flexible work space.

Persons: Jason Horowitz, Gaia Pianigiani, —, “, Tim Carney, conspires, Carney Organizations: Italy’s, ”, The Washington Examiner Locations: Italian, Alto Adige, South Tyrol, Italy

☆ What Happened When This Italian Province Invested in Babies
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-01 | by ( Jason Horowitz | Gaia Pianigiani | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In a municipal building in the heart of the alpine city of Bolzano, Stefano Baldo clocked out of work early for his breastfeeding break. “It’s clear I don’t breastfeed,” Mr. Baldo, a 38-year-old transportation administrator, said in his office decorated with pictures of his wife and six children. But with his wife home with a newborn, one of the parents was entitled by law to take the time, and he needed to pick up the kids. But the Alto Adige-South Tyrol area and its capital, Bolzano, more than any other part of the country, bucked the trend and emerged as a parallel procreation universe for Italy, with its birthrate holding steady over decades. The reason, experts say, is that the provincial government has over time developed a thick network of family-friendly benefits, going far beyond the one-off bonuses for babies that the national government offers.

Persons: Stefano Baldo, Mr, Baldo, “, Giorgia Meloni, Pope Francis Locations: Bolzano, Italy, Europe, South Tyrol

☆ Dozens of Migrants Die After Their Dinghy Deflates in the Mediterranean
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-14 | by ( Gaia Pianigiani | More About Gaia Pianigiani | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

A European humanitarian aid group said on Thursday that about 50 migrants died after their small boat deflated during an attempt to cross the central Mediterranean Sea. A ship belonging to the charity, SOS Mediterranee, spotted the deflating rubber dinghy on Wednesday, in international waters under the Libyan rescue jurisdiction. The survivors told the charity that they had been adrift for four days, since the engine on their dinghy broke. Some 50 other people were with them when they departed from the Libyan port of Zawiya, they told the rescuers, including two infants and four women. Valeria Taurino, the director general of SOS Mediterranee, said the situation on board was “disastrous.”

Persons: Valeria Taurino, ” Organizations: SOS Mediterranee Locations: Zawiya

☆ Contested Migrant Deal Between Albania and Italy Moves Forward
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-29 | by ( Elisabetta Povoledo | Gaia Pianigiani | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

An Albanian court on Monday gave the green light to an agreement allowing Italy to send migrants who are rescued in the Mediterranean by Italian ships to detention centers in Albania while their asylum claims are considered. The deal is part of the Italian government’s multipronged efforts to stem migration, in particular Mediterranean Sea crossings, sending the message that many undocumented migrants will not be allowed directly into Italy, even temporarily. The agreement was signed in November by the leaders of the two countries, but challenged by opposition lawmakers in Albania, who argued that it violated the country’s Constitution. On Monday, the Albanian Constitutional Court ruled otherwise, clearing the way for the deal to be taken up by Parliament, where Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party holds 75 of the 140 seats.

Organizations: Monday, Albanian Constitutional, Edi, Socialist Party Locations: Italy, Albania, Albanian

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy on Tuesday heralded an agreement she had struck with Albania, a non-European Union nation, to outsource the processing and containment of migrants as a breakthrough for one of the continent’s most defining challenges. “I believe it could become a model of cooperation between E.U. countries in managing migration flows,” Ms. Meloni told the Rome-based daily newspaper Il Messaggero. “I think this agreement features a bold European spirit.”But Italian politicians caught by surprise by Ms. Meloni’s announcement in Rome on Monday questioned whether the agreement — struck earlier this week with the nation across the Adriatic Sea — was legal, ethical, practical or even real. “Before further commenting, we need to understand what exactly they want to do,” Anitta Hipper, a spokeswoman for the European Commission, said on Tuesday.

Persons: Giorgia Meloni, “, Ms, Meloni, Anitta Hipper Organizations: European Union, E.U, European Commission Locations: Italy, Albania, European, Rome

☆ A Leaning Tower in Italy (Not Pisa) Becomes a Worry
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-30 | by ( Gaia Pianigiani | More About Gaia Pianigiani | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Garisenda Tower in Bologna is not as famous as the Tower of Pisa, but it leans a little more. Lately, though, the dynamic of its movement has become worrisome, and city officials decided recently that the central square where it stands a few meters apart from the much taller Asinelli Tower will be closed off, most likely for years. The tower, which, along with the Asinelli Tower, makes up the “two towers,” a symbol of the city, has historically slanted four degrees. But recent surveys have found traces of unexpected rotation in its incline and other imperceptible movements that need to be studied more carefully, the authorities said. “The point is not that the tower is collapsing,” Mayor Matteo Lepore of Bologna said in a phone interview.

Persons: Matteo Lepore, Bologna, “, ” Locations: Bologna, Pisa

☆ An Italian Island Reflects Giorgia Meloni’s Challenges on Migration
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-15 | by ( Gaia Pianigiani | More About Gaia Pianigiani | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On Italy’s southernmost island, Lampedusa, thousands of migrants crowded a reception center built for 600, as small boats hailing from Tunisia kept arriving. Outside Rome, a bus carrying migrants en route from Sicily to a center in the north crashed into a truck on Friday, killing the drivers of both vehicles and injuring 19 migrants. The huge challenges posed by immigration were in the spotlight again in Italy this week, undermining the efforts of the far-right ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to show that she had made progress in dissuading migrants from coming. In the years leading up to her election last year, Ms. Meloni positioned herself as a hard-line opponent to migration, calling for a “naval blockade” and suggesting that the boats used to rescue migrants be sunk once the migrants were taken off them. Since taking power, she has changed tactics, signing a European Union deal with Tunisia aimed at stemming the flow of migrants from that country, and working with the bloc to facilitate the redistribution of those who do arrive across member states.

Persons: Giorgia Meloni, Meloni Organizations: European Union Locations: Lampedusa, Tunisia, Rome, Sicily, Italy

☆ Rape Cases Seize Italy’s Attention and Expose Cultural Rifts
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-03 | by ( Gaia Pianigiani | More About Gaia Pianigiani | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Ms. Veltri was referring to the sensation created by another recent case of gang rape in Palermo, which is still under investigation. This summer, seven young men met a 19-year-old woman at a downtown club. A frame from security video that appeared in the news media showed them carrying her through the streets, as she could barely walk. Another shot showed them leaving her on the ground as they headed to a nearby deli. In an interview in an Italian newspaper, she spoke of having suicidal thoughts.

Persons: Veltri, ” Organizations: Repubblica Locations: Palermo, Rome

☆ Toto Cutugno, Singer Whose ‘L’Italiano’ Struck a Chord, Dies at 80
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( Gaia Pianigiani | More About Gaia Pianigiani | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Toto Cutugno, an Italian singer and songwriter whose 1983 hit song “L’Italiano” became a worldwide sensation and was still hugely popular decades later, died on Tuesday in Milan. His longtime manager, Danilo Mancuso, said the cause of Mr. Cutugno’s death, at San Raffaele Hospital, was cancer. In a career that began when he was in his late teens, Mr. Cutugno sold more than 100 million albums worldwide. “He was able to build melodies that remained stuck in the audience’s mind and heart,” Mr. Mancuso, who had worked with Mr. Cutugno for 20 years, said in a phone interview. “The refrains of his most popular songs are so melodic.”

Persons: Toto Cutugno, ”, Danilo Mancuso, Cutugno’s, Cutugno, Mr, Mancuso Organizations: San Raffaele Hospital, Mr Locations: Italian, Milan

☆ For Europe’s Older Population, Heat Is the New Covid
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Gaia Pianigiani | More About Gaia Pianigiani | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The successive heat waves that have scorched Italy and the rest of southern Europe over the past week have forced those who can afford it to seek shelter in air-conditioned homes and offices or at seaside retreats. But for many seniors, heat has become the new Covid. She visits Ms. Grillo once a week to help her with daily chores and assist with medical appointments and legal problems. As temperatures rise, the threat to Europe’s elderly is now widespread, with southern European nations being joined by others as far north as Belgium in putting heat plans in place, many aimed at safeguarding older populations. For Italy, the extreme heat has forged a pincer with the country’s most pressing demographic trend — an aging population — to present an especially acute crisis.

Persons: ” Ms, Antonelli, Grillo Locations: Italy, Europe, Belgium

☆ New Heat Wave Descends on Europe, as It Struggles to Adapt
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Gaia Pianigiani | More About Gaia Pianigiani | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Tourists sheltered under umbrellas as they lined up at Florence’s majestic cathedral this week, looking for shade. Locals splashed their faces at water fountains, all seeking a respite from Europe’s latest heat wave. “It feels like home,” said Alina Magrina, a 64-year-old tourist from California, parts of which, like much of the southern United States, have been hit by sweltering temperatures, too. Yet, though Europe is warming more swiftly than the global average, each year it seems particularly unprepared. A report published this week attributed 61,000 deaths in Europe to its searing temperatures last summer.

Persons: ”, Alina Magrina Locations: California, United States, Florence, Ponte, Europe

News of General Surovikin’s detention was earlier reported by The Financial Times. There were conflicting reports in the Russian news media about General Surovikin’s fate. One popular account posted a recording of an interview with a woman it said was General Surovikin’s daughter, who denied that her father had been arrested. The question is a critical one for Mr. Putin as well. For years, Mr. Putin has allowed different factions to exist inside the Russian military.

Persons: Wagner Group’s, Sergei Surovikin, Surovikin, Yevgeny V, Dmitri S, Peskov, Surovikin’s, ”, “ He’s, Vladimir V, Putin, Sergei K, Prigozhin, Putin’s, Shoigu, Valery V, Prigozhin’s, Shoigu’s, ’, Samuel Charap, “, Mr, Charap, ” Steven Erlanger, Anton Troianovski Organizations: New York Times, The Financial, RAND Corporation Locations: U.S, Russia, Ukraine, NATO

☆ Berlusconi Seizes Italy’s Attention Even in Death
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Elisabetta Povoledo | Gaia Pianigiani | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Not even death could keep Silvio Berlusconi from center stage. And Mr. Berlusconi, who loomed over Italian politics as prime minister and power broker for decades, still dominated the country a day after his death on Monday at 86. Mourners brought flowers to his palatial villa. His critics debated whether he had transformed Italy for good or ill. His most ardent admirers declared that he was foremost in their thoughts and prayers. “I think this was his greatest charisma.”

Persons: Silvio Berlusconi, —, Berlusconi, Deborah Bergamini, “ Organizations: Forza Italia, Mr, RAI Locations: Italy

☆ In Flood-Stricken Area of Italy, Residents Fear This Won’t Be the Last of It
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Gaia Pianigiani | Elisabetta Povoledo | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When the floods hit in the northern Italian town of Lugo this past week, overflowing a local watercourse and sending water gushing into streets and the surrounding fields, Irinel Lungu, 45, retreated with his wife and toddler to the second floor of their home. As rescue workers navigated submerged streets in dinghies to deliver baby formula and rescue older people from their homes, the couple watched in the cold as the water rose higher and higher. Swelled rivers and canals have submerged vast swaths of the countryside. Hundreds of dangerous landslides have paralyzed much of the area. And some landlocked towns in the mountains are completely isolated, essentially reachable only by helicopter.

☆ After Earthquakes and Drought, Floods Devastate Northern Italy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Elisabetta Povoledo | Gaia Pianigiani | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Eleven years ago this month, back-to-back earthquakes struck the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, which this week was devastated by another disaster: Widespread flooding that has caused at least 14 deaths and left thousands more homeless. On Friday, rescue workers continued to clear streets of mud, while towns in the Ravenna area remained submerged. Hundreds of roads were blocked by landslides making travel in the region difficult — with some towns cut off completely — and power was still out in some places. Officials said the full extent of the damage was still not clear in the region, which had recently been plagued by drought and where few have forgotten the devastating 2012 earthquake. “We couldn’t have imagined that we would commemorate the 11th anniversary of the earthquake — moreover with the satisfaction of having rebuilt practically everything or almost everything — with a new earthquake to deal with, because that’s what it is,” Stefano Bonaccini, the president of the Emilia-Romagna region, said in reference to the flooding at a news conference on Friday evening.

☆ Russia-Ukraine War News: Pope Francis Discusses Peace Efforts
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Gaia Pianigiani | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

A photo provided by the Vatican shows Pope Francis, center left, with the prime minister of Ukraine, Denys Shmyhal, center right, during a private audience in the Vatican on Thursday. Pope Francis discussed peace efforts in Ukraine with the country’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, during a private audience at the Vatican on Thursday, their first known meeting since Russia launched its full-scale invasion. The relationship between Ukraine and Francis, who has long called for peace and decried what he called barbaric acts of war, was troubled in the early months of the conflict. Mr. Shmyhal also asked the pope for help in “returning home Ukrainian children” who have been deported to Russia. Early in the war Ukrainian officials criticized the pope’s decision not to name Russia or its president, Vladimir V. Putin, as the aggressor in the conflict.

☆ What Is the Synod of Bishops?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Gaia Pianigiani | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Synod of Bishops is a religious assembly of bishops from all over the world who gather in Rome to discuss issues vital to the Roman Catholic Church and act as an advisory body to the pope. The word synod means “coming together.” It stems from ancient Greek, and is a combination of the word “together” and “road” or “way.”Pope Francis announced on Wednesday that for the first time at an upcoming synod, women and laypeople will be able to vote. As a result, half of the 70 non-bishop voting members will be women, and five nuns will also have voting rights. Preparation for such events requires years, as church leaders hold consultations and listen to their local communities before the selected bishops travel to the Vatican to gather around the pope, who ultimately decides possible changes to the church’s discipline or administration. The Vatican has described synods as opportunities for bishops “to interact with each other and to share information and experiences, in the common pursuit of pastoral solutions which have a universal validity and application.”

☆ Italy’s Senate Signs Off on Meloni’s Migrant Crackdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Gaia Pianigiani | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Italy’s Senate on Thursday passed the first comprehensive immigration package by the hard-right government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, which would curb integration efforts, create new government-controlled migrant centers to house those waiting on asylum applications and more detention facilities, as well as establish harsher punishment for people smugglers. Under the new policies, migrants will have to stay in the centers until their asylum applications are processed, which can take up to two years in Italy. While they wait, they will not be able to seek independent lodging and will have a hard time beginning any organic form of integration into communities. Italy is also planning information campaigns in the migrants’ countries of origin to dissuade them from leaving, in exchange for extra visa quotas. Ms. Meloni leads a coalition whose main parties have strong anti-immigrant agendas.

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