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☆ Israeli police crack down on Arab citizens expressing solidarity with Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-20 | by ( Henriette Chacar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Civil rights lawyers say Israeli authorities are interpreting any expressions of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza as incitement. Police said Abu Amneh, who has over 300,000 followers on Instagram, was promoting hate speech and incitement, something she denies. CLOSE SCRUTINYArabs in Israel - Palestinian by heritage and Israeli by citizenship - make up some 20% of the population. Israeli authorities are interpreting any sympathy for the people of Gaza as support for terror, she said. At least 100 Arab citizens have been detained, most on allegations of incitement and support for terror over social media posts, said the Haifa-based centre for Arab minority rights Adalah, citing data from the State Attorney's office.

Persons: Dalal Abu Amneh, Abu Amneh, Kobi Shabtai, ahlan, Shabtai, Israel, Abeer Baker, We're, Baker, Hassan Jabareen, Eli Levy, Levy, Adalah's, Crispian Balmer, Gareth Jones Organizations: Police, State, Nazi, Palestinian, Thomson Locations: Israel, Gaza, Haifa

☆ Israel Aims to End Its Responsibility for Gaza Strip -Minister
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-20 | by ( Oct. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +1 min

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - One Israeli objective of its military campaign in the Gaza Strip is to end Israel's responsibility over the Palestinian coastal enclave, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Friday. Gaza has no access to the outside world except through Israel, which controls 90% of its land and sea boundaries, and Egypt, which has a narrow land border to the south. The Israeli defense minister, briefing parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said the Gaza campaign that was launched after a deadly Hamas rampage on Israeli towns on Oct. 7, would have three phases. "The third phase will require the removal of Israel’s responsibility for life in the Gaza strip, and the establishment of a new security reality for the citizens of Israel," the minister said, according to a statement from his office. Israel has previously looked to oversee imports into Gaza to prevent military materials from reaching Hamas.

Persons: Yoav Gallant, Gallant, Ari Rabinovitch, Christina Fincher, Crispian Balmer Organizations: Islamists, Foreign Affairs, Defense, Hamas Locations: JERUSALEM, Gaza, Israel, Egypt

☆ On Israel-Lebanon Border, Families Flee on Both Sides as as Violence Flares
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-20 | by ( Oct. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +3 min

Israel on Friday ordered the evacuation of more than 20,000 residents from Kiryat Shmona, one of the biggest towns on its northern border following a heavy cross-border exchange of fire in the area the day before. Survival was uppermost in the minds of Lebanese civilians from the Lebanese village of Dhayra, west of Israel's Kiryat Shmona. Nissim Tsabaria, an elderly Israeli who walks with a stick, waved goodbye to neighbours as he clambered into his car. Local authorities on both sides of the border are hastily seeking accommodation for the growing numbers of refugees, who leave their homes in cars crammed with suitcases. Israel is putting its swelling ranks of evacuees in guest houses and hotels if they don't have families to stay with.

Persons: Avi Ohayon, Sebastian Rocandio KIRYAT, Edo Goldstein, Goldstein, Dhayra, Zahira Omar Swaid, Israel, Daniel Hagari, Nissim Tsabaria, Mortada Mhanna, Crispian Balmer, Edmund Blair Organizations: Reuters, Hezbollah, Hamas, Friday, Locals, Israel Defense Forces, Local Locations: Sebastian Rocandio KIRYAT SHMONA, Israel, TYRE, Lebanon, Lebanese, Gaza, Israel's, Kiryat Shmona, Dhayra, Israel's Kiryat Shmona, Tyre, Iran

☆ Israel aims to end its responsibility for Gaza Strip -minister
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant meets soldiers in a field near Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel October 19, 2023. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun Acquire Licensing RightsJERUSALEM, Oct 20 (Reuters) - One Israeli objective of its military campaign in the Gaza Strip is to end Israel's responsibility over the Palestinian coastal enclave, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Friday. The Israeli defense minister, briefing parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said the Gaza campaign that was launched after a deadly Hamas rampage on Israeli towns on Oct. 7, would have three phases. "The third phase will require the removal of Israel’s responsibility for life in the Gaza strip, and the establishment of a new security reality for the citizens of Israel," the minister said, according to a statement from his office. Israel has previously looked to oversee imports into Gaza to prevent military materials from reaching Hamas.

Persons: Yoav Gallant, Ronen, Gallant, Ari Rabinovitch, Christina Fincher, Crispian Balmer Organizations: Israel's, REUTERS, Rights, Islamists, Foreign Affairs, Defense, Thomson Locations: Israel's, Gaza, Israel, Egypt

☆ Israel to evacuate residents of town near Lebanon border after flare up
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Israel-Lebanon border has seen constant, but so far limited, clashes since a war in Gaza erupted two weeks ago. Persistent violence along the Israel-Lebanon border has raised fears that fighting between Israel and Hamas Islamists in Gaza could spiral into a broader, regional conflict. Evacuees from Kiryat Shmona will be put up in state-subsidised guesthouses, Israel's Defense Ministry said, joining tens of thousands of Israelis who have already left their homes near the southern Gaza border. The Committee to Protect Journalists has said it has documented more than 20 journalists killed since the start of the Israel-Gaza conflict and said it was investigating reports of other journalists killed, injured and reported missing. The latest incident on the Israel-Lebanon border came nearly a week after Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah was killed in southern Lebanon.

Persons: Israel, Daniel Hagari, Issam Abdallah, Ari Rabinovitch, Crispian Balmer, Edmund Blair Organizations: Lebanese, Israel Defense Forces, Israel's Defense Ministry, Protect Journalists, Reuters, Thomson Locations: JERUSALEM, BEIRUT, Kiryat Shmona, Lebanon, Israel, Gaza, Galilee, Lebanon's Iran, Beirut

[1/3] A man assists his elderly father to get into a car so that he can be evacuated from Kiryat Shmona, near Israel's border with Lebanon, in northern Israel, October 20, 2023. Israel on Friday ordered the evacuation of more than 20,000 residents from Kiryat Shmona, one of the biggest towns on its northern border following a heavy cross-border exchange of fire in the area the day before. Survival was uppermost in the minds of Lebanese civilians from the Lebanese village of Dhayra, west of Israel's Kiryat Shmona. Daniel Hagari, spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), said the mass evacuations along Israel's northern border, allowed the army "to expand its operational freedom to act against the Hezbollah terrorist organisation." Israel is putting its swelling ranks of evacuees in guest houses and hotels if they don't have families to stay with.

Persons: Lisi Niesner, KIRYAT, Edo Goldstein, Goldstein, Dhayra, Zahira Omar Swaid, Israel, Daniel Hagari, Nissim Tsabaria, Mortada Mhanna, Crispian Balmer, Edmund Blair Organizations: REUTERS, Hezbollah, Hamas, Friday, Reuters, Locals, Israel Defense Forces, Local, Thomson Locations: Kiryat Shmona, Israel's, Lebanon, Israel, KIRYAT SHMONA, TYRE, Lebanese, Gaza, Dhayra, Israel's Kiryat Shmona, Tyre, Iran

GAZA, Oct 20 (Reuters) - A Greek Orthodox church in the Gaza Strip which was sheltering hundreds of displaced Palestinians was hit overnight by an Israeli air strike, the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem and Palestinian health officials said. The Orthodox Church said in a statement: "The Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem expresses its strongest condemnation of the Israeli air strike that has struck its church compound in the city of Gaza." [1/7]Women react at the Greek Orthodox Saint Porphyrius Church which was damaged by an Israeli strike, where Palestinians who fled their homes take shelter, in Gaza City, October 20, 2023. REUTERS/Mohammed Al-Masri Acquire Licensing RightsGaza's 2.3 million population comprises an estimated 1,000 Christians, most of whom are Greek Orthodox. The Israeli military said its fighter jets had hit a nearby command and control centre that was used to carry out attacks against Israel.

Persons: Gaza's, Mohammed Al, Masri, Nidal al, Michael Georgy, Crispian Balmer, Angus MacSwan Organizations: Gaza's Hamas, Saint Porphyrius, REUTERS, IDF, Thomson Locations: GAZA, Gaza, Jerusalem, Gaza City, Israel

Now, many Israelis are getting the date tattooed on their bodies to commemorate the dead and missing, and bear witness to the collective tragedy. University student Gal Nishman got a tattoo on his back in black and blue ink combining a Star of David with the numerals 7/10. On the other, there is blue, the Star of David, Israel, (showing) that we're here to win." She also had a large lotus flower tattooed on her forearm, saying it represented Israeli residents of the south. "It grows with glory and flourishes even in murky water, especially in murky water," she said.

Persons: Roey Benezri, Levy, Gal Nishman, David, haven't, Sheli Eliel, Hadas, Crispian Balmer, Nuha Sharaf Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, Hamas, University, Thomson Locations: Gaza, Eilat, Israel, EILAT, Magan Michael

☆ Hamas hostages: what we know so far
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Israel has responded by pounding Gaza with air strikes, killing thousands, and has said it will act to free the hostages while wiping out Hamas. Hamas has suggested the hostages could be swapped for approximately 6,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. Israel has said that there will be no end to the blockade of the enclave without freedom for Israeli hostages. Israel says the hostages were taken to Gaza but their exact whereabouts within the enclave are unknown, making their rescue more complicated. U.S. President Joe Biden said his administration is "workin’ like hell" to find American hostages held by Hamas.

Persons: Rachel Goldberg, Hersh Goldberg Polin, Ammar Awad, Israel, Kan, Mia Schem, Jake Sullivan, Jim Risch, Alberto Fernandez, Rishi Sunak's, Sunak, Ofir Engel, Kibbutz Be'eri, Garcovich, Ivan Illaramendi, Benjamin Netanyahu, Gal Hirsch, Hakan Fidan, Joe Biden, Britain's Sunak, Argentina's Fernandez, Emmanuel Macron, Olaf Scholz, Biden, Charlie Devereux, Crispian Balmer, Kylie MacLellan, Patricia Rua, John Irish, James Mackenzie, Patricia Zengerle, Grant McCool Organizations: REUTERS, Monday, Reuters, U.S, French, Tel Aviv . U.S, Thomson Locations: Gaza, Israel, Jerusalem, Rafah, Egypt, Thailand, Argentine, France, Portugal, Portuguese, Chilean, Spanish, Italy, Turkey, Germany, U.S, Franco, Berlin, Tel Aviv

[1/4] A view shows smoke in the Gaza Strip as seen from Israel's border with the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel October 18, 2023. Israeli officials have said that they don't have a clear idea for what a post-war future might look like, though. Trips to Israel by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin this past week had stressed the need to focus on the post-war plan for Gaza, the source added. Israel's coming offensive is set to be much bigger than past Gaza operations that Israeli officials had previously referred to as "mowing the grass", degrading Hamas's military capabilities but not eliminating it. "Whatever worst-case scenario you have, it will be worse," a second regional source said about the potential for the conflict to spread beyond Gaza.

Persons: Amir Cohen, Bidens, Joe Biden's, Antony Blinken, Lloyd Austin, Israel hasn't, Israel doesn't, Biden, Aaron David Miller, Biden's, Benjamin Netanyahu, Netanyahu, Tzachi Hanegbi, Israel's, They're, Hossein Amir, Abdollahian, Blinken, Washington, Miller, Humeyra Pamuk, Jonathan Saul, Andrew Mills, Crispian Balmer, Pravin Organizations: REUTERS, U.S, Carnegie Endowment, International, National Security Council, National Security, Communist, Hamas, Brigades, Hezbollah, Iran, Iranian, Palestinian Authority, U.S . Middle, West Bank, Thomson Locations: Gaza, Israel, DUBAI, WASHINGTON, Washington, Israeli, New York, U.S, Vietnam, Iran, Hamas, Israel's, East Jerusalem, Jerusalem

☆ Gaza Strip: devastated by conflict and Israel's economic blockade
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Palestinians look at the destruction of a house in the aftermath of a strike amid the conflict with Israel in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, October 12, 2023. The Palestinian Gaza Strip has been a frontline of conflict with Israel for decades and cut off from much of the outside world for 16 years. Egypt held Gaza for most of the following two decades, until Israel seized it during a 1967 war. Egypt, which shares a 12-km border with Gaza, has largely supported the blockade, viewing Hamas as a threat to its own stability. More than 90% of water in Gaza is unfit for drinking, the Palestinian Water Authority says.

Persons: Khan Younis, Abu Mustafa, Mahmoud Abbas, Israel, Egypt's, Cross, Tom Perry, Crispian Balmer, Toby Chopra Organizations: REUTERS, Hamas, THE, Watch, Humanitarian Affairs, Palestinian Water Authority, West Bank, Palestinian Central Bureau, Statistics, International Committee, Thomson Locations: Israel, Gaza, Palestinian, GAZA, Gaza City, Egypt, Rafah

But when Israel called up its reservists and declared war this week, the response was swift and overwhelming. Most reservists were already in Israel at the time of the call-up - the largest such compulsory mobilisation since the 1973 Yom Kippur War. But many were out of the country, for a variety of reasons, and dropped everything to rush back. "I cannot sit here and study medicine while I know that my friends are fighting and my family needs protection. A former captain in the Israeli army, he immediately acknowledged the call-up, but didn't tell his children what he was doing.

Persons: Ammar Awad, Rush, Israel, Yonatan Steiner, Nimrod Nedan, L.K, Yonatan Bunzel, Bunzel, Yedidya Shalman, Oren Saar, it's, there's, Alexander Cornwell, Helen Coster, Krystal Hu, Gabriella Borter, Crispian Balmer, Andrius, Nick Macfie Organizations: REUTERS, El Al, Thomson Locations: Israel, Gaza, Sderot, DUBAI, New York, Lebanon, kibbutzes, Lithuania, India, Tel Aviv, Dubai, Thailand, El, WhatsApp, New York City, Rome

Gaza authorities said more than 1,400 Palestinians, mainly civilians, including children, have already been killed and more than 6,000 wounded. The images of the dead infants were included in the video played to NATO. Hamas has denied its militants harmed civilians, accusing Israel and the West of spreading false reports to incite violence against Palestinians. U.S. President Joseph Biden had suggested on Wednesday that he had seen images of children beheaded by militants. Foreign reporters shown sites targeted by Hamas, witnessed ruins of burnt-out houses and streets scattered with dead residents and militants.

Persons: Ronen, Netanyahu, Antony Blinken, Benjamin Netanyahu's, Blinken, Yoav Gallant, Jens Stoltenberg, Israel, Saleh Al, Arouri, Joseph Biden, Gallant, Lloyd Austin, Washington, Andy Gray, Crispian Balmer, Edmund Blair Organizations: Nova Festival, REUTERS, Israel, U.S, NATO, Hamas, Israeli, Brussels, Reuters, ISIS, Islamic, Gaza, U.S . Defense, Thomson Locations: Gaza, Israel's, Israel, JERUSALEM, TEL AVIV, BRUSSELS, Palestinian, Tel Aviv, Islamic State, Jerusalem, United States, Brussels

☆ Israel Releases Images of Slain Children to Rally Support After Hamas Attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-12 | by ( Oct. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +5 min

Gaza authorities said more than 1,400 Palestinians, mainly civilians, including children, have already been killed and more than 6,000 wounded. In quotes published by Hamas, deputy Hamas chief, Saleh Al-Arouri, said: "The plan was to target the army's Gaza team and fight occupation soldiers only." U.S. President Joseph Biden had suggested on Wednesday that he had seen images of children beheaded by militants. But medics, international human rights organisations and journalists have documented that militants killed women, children and the elderly as well as young men and soldiers in their rampage. Foreign reporters shown sites targeted by Hamas, witnessed ruins of burnt-out houses and streets scattered with dead residents and militants.

Persons: John Davison, Humeyra Pamuk, Sabine Siebold, Antony Blinken, Benjamin Netanyahu's, Blinken, Netanyahu, General Herzi Halevi, Yoav Gallant, Jens Stoltenberg, Saleh Al, Joseph Biden, Gallant, Lloyd Austin, Washington, Andy Gray, Crispian Balmer, Edmund Blair Organizations: U.S, NATO, Hamas, Palestinian, Israeli, Brussels, Reuters, ISIS, Islamic, Gaza, U.S . Defense Locations: Sabine Siebold JERUSALEM, TEL AVIV, BRUSSELS, Palestinian, Gaza, Tel Aviv, Israel, Islamic State, Jerusalem, United States, Brussels

☆ U.N. agency says humanitarian access needed to get food to Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ROME, Oct 8 (Reuters) - The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) called on Sunday for the creation of humanitarian corridors to bring food into Gaza as Israeli air strikes pounded the Palestinian enclave following deadly Hamas attacks. "WFP urges safe and unimpeded humanitarian access to affected areas, calling on all parties to uphold the principles of humanitarian law ... including ensuring access to food." The U.N. agency provides direct food assistance to some 350,000 Palestinians monthly, while also offering aid to nearly 1 million Palestinians in cooperation with other humanitarian partners via cash transfers. WFP said it was ready to set up pre-positioned food stocks for people who had been displaced or were in shelters. "While most shops in the affected areas in Palestine currently maintain one month of food stocks, these risk being depleted swiftly as people buy up food in fear of a prolonged conflict," it said.

Persons: Israel, Crispian Balmer, Hugh Lawson Organizations: United Nations, Food Programme, WFP, Thomson Locations: Gaza, Rome, Palestine

☆ Italy plans for possible evacuations from super volcano near Naples
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ROME, Oct 5 (Reuters) - The Italian government is planning for a possible mass evacuation of tens of thousands of people who live around the Campi Flegrei super volcano near Naples, officials said on Thursday. The caldera is dotted with 24 craters and is a much bigger volcano than the nearby Vesuvius, which destroyed the ancient Roman city of Pompeii in 79 AD. Civil Protection Minister Nello Musumeci said this week evacuations would only be triggered in case of "extreme necessity". One of its biggest eruptions took place 39,000 years ago and might have led to the extinction of Neanderthal man, researchers say. Reporting by Angelo Amante; Editing by Crispian Balmer and Aurora EllisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Campi, Nello Musumeci, Musumeci, Campi Flegrei, Angelo Amante, Crispian Balmer, Aurora Ellis Organizations: Civil, Local, Thomson Locations: Naples, Pozzuoli, Greenland

[1/3] FILE PHOTO:Surgeon Rosanna Curinga walks out of Locri Hospital, in Locri, southern Italy, August 27, 2023. Italy's health ministry declined to provide further details. People are leaving Italy because of it," said Professor Foad Aodi, head of the Italian association of foreign doctors. The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the failings of the national health service in Italy, which suffered the second-highest death toll from the pandemic in Europe after Britain. Higher salaries and better working conditions elsewhere are also proving a lure for Italy's own medical professionals, Italy's health unions say, exacerbating staff shortages.

Persons: Rosanna Curinga, Curinga, Abdel Karim Boutimah, Elizabeth Balbuena Delgado, Delgado, Orazio Schillaci, Schillaci, Giorgia Meloni, Andrea Filippi, Foad Aodi, Roberto Occhiuto, Occhiuto, Lorenzo Grillo Della Berta, Antonio De Palma, Francesca Piscioneri, Crispian Balmer, Rupam Nair, Daniel Flynn Organizations: Locri, Cuban, Indian Health Ministry, Italian, Economic Co, Development, Reuters, Union, OECD, Thomson Locations: Locri, Italy, Calabria, Communist Cuba, Africa, Asia, South America, Europe, Santiago de Cuba, Italy's, India, Paris, France, Germany, Britain, Havana, COVID, Morbegno, Milan, Peru, Switzerland, Abu Dhabi, Antonio De Palma ., Cuba, Rome, Delhi

☆ At least 21 dead after Italian bus carrying tourists falls from Venice overpass
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-03 | by ( Manuel Silvestri | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

VENICE, Italy, Oct 3 (Reuters) - At least 21 people died on Tuesday and 18 were injured after a bus carrying tourists to a campground crashed off an overpass near Venice in northern Italy and caught fire, city officials said. Venice city councillor Renato Boraso said one line of enquiry was that the driver, a 40-year-old Italian who was among those killed, had been taken ill before the crash. He said the coach had been carrying 40 passengers, of whom 21 had died and 18 were injured. Venice's city hall said the injured people had been taken to nearby hospitals, with four in a serious condition. The bus was also carrying passengers from France and Croatia, Italian news agency ANSA reported.

Persons: Renato Boraso, Boraso, Luigi Brugnaro, Manuel Silvestri, Michele Di Bari, ANSA, Di Bari, Giorgia Meloni, Emilio Parodi, Gavin Jones, Keith Weir, Alvise, Crispian Balmer, Lisa Shumaker, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: Sky Italia, Rescue, REUTERS, Thomson Locations: VENICE, Italy, Venice, Mestre, Venice's, France, Croatia, Verona

☆ At least 20 dead after Italian bus falls from Venice bridge
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Italian flag waves in front of The "Altare della Patria" also known as "Vittoriano" downtown Rome, Italy, March 23, 2016. REUTES/ Stefano Rellandini/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsROME, Oct 3 (Reuters) - At least 20 people died on Tuesday after a city bus carrying tourists to a campground crashed off an overpass near Venice in northern Italy and caught fire, the city's Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said. The bus veered off the road and fell close to railway lines in the district of Mestre, which is connected to Venice by a bridge. "There are at least 20 dead, but some people are still trapped in the wreckage," he later told Italian state television channel Rai News24. Italy has suffered a number of deadly bus crashes in recent years.

Persons: REUTES, Stefano Rellandini, Luigi Brugnaro, Brugnaro, ANSA, Giorgia Meloni, Emilio Parodi, Alvise Armellini, Gavin Jones, Crispian Balmer, Jonathan Oatis, Lisa Shumaker Organizations: Rights, Sky Italia, Rai, Thomson Locations: Rome, Italy, Venice, Mestre, Italian, Verona, Venice's prefecture

☆ Earthquakes hit Italy super volcano, raising spectre of evacuations
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-27 | by ( Crispian Balmer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

ROME, Sept 27 (Reuters) - A leading volcanologist has warned that mass evacuations might be needed in a town close to Naples, which sits on a so-called Super Volcano that has been hit by hundreds of small earthquakes in recent weeks. Campi Flegrei sits across the bay of Naples from Pompeii, where thousands were incinerated by Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. However, it is a much bigger volcano than Vesuvius and if it ever exploded at full force could kill millions. Speaking in a personal capacity, De Natale said the last time Campi Flegrei suffered a similar burst of earthquakes in the 1980s, some 40,000 people were temporarily evacuated from nearby Pozzuoli. The Campi Flegrei caldera has a diameter of about 12-15 km (7.5-9.3 miles) and last erupted in 1538.

Persons: Flegrei, Vesuvius, Giuseppe De Natale, De Natale, Campi Flegrei, Della Sera, Alvise Armellini, Crispian Balmer, Bernadette Baum, William Maclean Organizations: National Institute for Geophysics, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Naples, Pompeii, Pozzuoli, U.S ., Wyoming, Greenland, U.S

☆ Italy's Top Court Removes Block to Regeni Murder Trial
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-27 | by ( Sept. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's top court ruled on Wednesday that the trial of four Egyptian security officials over the disappearance and murder of an Italian student could go ahead, despite concerns the defendants did not know they had been charged. Reviewing the issue, Italy's top court said in a statement that the legal code relating to this question was unconstitutional given the lack of cooperation from the suspects' home state, opening the way for the trial to resume. Giulio Regeni, a postgraduate student at Britain's Cambridge University, disappeared in Cairo in January 2016. Italian and Egyptian prosecutors investigated the case together, but the two sides later fell out and came to very different conclusions. Italy's legal system is notoriously slow and there was no immediate indication of when the trial might resume.

Persons: Francesco Lo Voi, Giulio Regeni, Magdi Sharif, Tarek Sabir, Hisham Helmy, Ather Kamal, Sharif, Crispian Balmer, Marco Carta, Bill Berkrot Organizations: Britain's Cambridge University, Egypt's General Intelligence Locations: ROME, Rome, Cairo, Cairo city, Italian, Italy

Retail fuel prices in the U.S. and Europe have risen to multi-month highs as crude prices have rallied. "If energy prices increase and stay high, that'll have an effect on spending, and it may have an effect on consumer expectations for inflation, things like that. High interest rates are already curbing demand across Western economies, including for oil. The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday pressed pause on interest rates, but did not rule out one more hike this year. President Joe Biden has already promised to cut prices, though has not said how, and in the short term the impact of autumn refinery maintenance on supplies could keep prices high.

Persons: Mike Segar, Brent, Jerome Powell, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Goldman, PVM's Tamas Varga, I'm, Craig Erlam, Ajay Parmar, Joe Biden, Gordon Balmer, Natalie Grover, Robert Harvey, Mark John, Balazs Koranyi, Dan Burns, Simon Webb, Barbara Lewis Organizations: Exxon, REUTERS, . West Texas Intermediate, Reuters, Retail, Federal, International Energy Agency, Organization of, Petroleum, U.S . Federal Reserve, HSBC, Energy Information Administration, U.S, Diesel, Energy, Petrol Retailers, Thomson Locations: Edgewater , New Jersey, U.S, OPEC, Europe, Brazil, Guyana, United States, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, Britain, France, London, Frankfurt, New York

☆ Jailed Italian Mafia boss Messina Denaro dies: ANSA
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] A screengrab taken from a video shows Matteo Messina Denaro the country's most wanted mafia boss being escorted out of a Carabinieri police station after he was arrested in Palermo, Italy, January 16, 2023. Carabinieri/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsROME, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Italian Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, who was arrested in January after spending 30 years on the run, has died, ANSA news agency reported on Monday. Messina Denaro, 61, was suffering from cancer at the time of his arrest. The son of a mafioso, Messina Denaro was born in the southwestern Sicilian town of Castelvetrano in 1962. Despite his notoriety, prosecutors have always doubted that Messina Denaro became the Mafia "boss of bosses", saying it was more likely that he was simply the head of Cosa Nostra in western Sicily.

Persons: Matteo Messina Denaro, Messina Denaro, Denaro, ANSA, Giovanni Falcone, Paolo Borsellino, Giuseppe Di Matteo, Salvatore, Riina, turncoats, Crispian Balmer, Kanjyik Ghosh, Kim Coghill, Gerry Doyle Organizations: Carabinieri, REUTERS, Rights, Mafia, La Repubblica, Messina, Police, Cosa Nostra, Thomson Locations: Palermo, Italy, Rome, Florence, Milan, Messina, Sicilian, Castelvetrano, Sicily, Campobello

☆ Asylum seekers in Italy told to pay to avoid detention
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-22 | by ( Crispian Balmer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] An Italian Coast Guard vessel carrying migrants rescued at sea passes between tourist boats, on Sicilian island of Lampedusa, Italy, September 18, 2023. REUTERS/Yara Nardi/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsROME, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Asylum seekers in Italy will have to pay 4,938 euros ($5,259) to avoid detention while their request for protection is being processed, the government said on Friday, in a measure apparently aimed at deterring migrants. "They are looking to make detention for migrants the norm, but it is hard to see how they can do that," she told Reuters. At present there are 10 repatriation centres in Italy, which have a current capacity of just 619. In 2022 Italy reviewed 52,625 asylum requests, rejecting 53.5% of them, according to official data.

Persons: Yara, Giorgia Meloni's, Anna Brambilla, Meloni, Luca Zaia, Crispian Balmer, Alex Richardson Organizations: Italian Coast Guard, REUTERS, Rights, Association, Immigration, Reuters, League, Thomson Locations: Lampedusa, Italy, Veneto, Rome, Africa, Europe

☆ Factbox-Migrant Repatriations From Italy Likely to Be Limited and Costly
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-22 | by ( Sept. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +4 min

In 2022 there were 3,916 repatriations to 55 different nations, including 2,724 who were forcibly removed on special charter planes. To put that in perspective, 105,129 migrants arrived by boat alone last year, including 18,148 Tunisians and 20,542 Egyptians. Officials say the trouble is Italy has limited accords with non-EU nations for repatriations, which makes it hard to send migrants home. In recent years, various governments have signed bilateral readmission accords with various countries, including Tunisia, Egypt and Nigeria. At present there are 10 repatriation centres in Italy, which have a capacity to hold 1,338 migrants until their planned expulsion.

Persons: Crispian Balmer, Alex Richardson Organizations: EU Locations: ROME, Bangladesh, Syria, Afghanistan, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Pakistan, Iran, Eritrea, Italy, ITALY, Tunisia, Egypt, Nigeria, Gambia, Senegal

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