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Gas accounted for around 51% of Italy's total electricity generation in 2022, making the country the most gas-reliant among Europe's largest economies, data from Ember shows. INDUSTRIAL BASEKey to natural gas' staying power in Italy's generation mix is the country's high level of industrial energy demand. However, Italy's power costs have climbed sharply since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 cut natural gas supplies to Western Europe and sent regional power costs soaring. This week's ENI deal offers additional protection for consumers by further reducing Italy's reliance on Russia for natural gas supplies, even as it cements Qatar's position as Italy's top LNG supplier. Higher gas supplies may also help reduce overall power costs, and in turn should help boost the competitiveness of Italy-based businesses relative to regional rivals.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Gavin Maguire, Edwina Gibbs Organizations: REUTERS, Italy's ENI SpA, Gas, Energy Institute, United States, Department of Commerce, LSEG, ENI, Reuters, Thomson Locations: LITTLETON , Colorado, QatarEnergy, Southern, Italy, Europe Italy, Europe, United, Ukraine, Western Europe, Germany, Russia, United States, Algeria, Qatar

☆ EU ministers weaken position on vehicle emissions
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A sign directing towards electric vehicle charging points is seen in a car park in Manchester, Britain, September 8, 2023. The European Union has progressively tightened road vehicle emission limits since 1992. Spain, which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, presented a compromise text agreed by the Council of the European Union, the grouping of EU ministers. The EU countries agreed not to change the existing "Euro 6" test conditions and emissions limits for cars and vans, although they will be lower for buses and heavy vehicles. They also accepted new particle emissions limits for brakes and tyres.

Persons: Phil Noble, Hernández, Adolfo Urso, Roberto Vavassori, Sudip Kar, Alvise Armellini, Giulio Piovaccari, Philip Blenkinsop, Hugh Lawson, Barbara Lewis Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Union, European Union, of, The, European Commission, EU, Italian Industry, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, Thomson Locations: Manchester, Britain, Rights BRUSSELS, France, Italy, Czech Republic, Spain

PARIS, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Belgium said on Thursday it would review the potential health risks linked to Apple's iPhone 12, becoming the latest European country to react after France ordered a halt to sales citing breaches of radiation exposure limits. Apple on Wednesday said the iPhone 12, launched in 2020, was certified by multiple international bodies as compliant with radiation standards and that it was contesting France's findings. But Paris' move to halt iPhone 12 sales until Apple fixes the radiation issues detected in two tests raised the prospect of further bans in Europe. Researchers have conducted a vast number of studies over the last two decades to assess health risks resulting from mobile phones. According to the World Health Organisation, no adverse health effects have been established as being caused by mobile phone use.

Persons: Mathieu Michel, digitalisation, Michel, Marine Strauss, Tassilo Hummel, Giuseppe Fonte, Ingrid Melander, Mark Potter Organizations: Apple, World Health, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Belgium, France, Paris, Europe, Belgium's, U.S, Brussels, Rome

☆ Italy plans state-backed fund to promote AI startups
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ROME, May 30 (Reuters) - Italy's government plans to set up an investment fund backed by state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) to promote startups investing in Artificial Intelligence (AI), cabinet undersecretary Alessio Butti said on Tuesday. The upcoming vehicle will "promote study, research and programming on AI in Italy," Butti said in a statement. Many experts say new regulations are needed to govern AI because of its potential impact on national security and education, as well as jobs. A government source told Reuters Rome planned to earmark around 150 million euros ($165 million) to launch the fund. CDP is expected to invest its own resources in the scheme through CDP Venture Capital, a fund with around 3.2 billion euros in assets under management.

☆ How Italy’s Heart of Gold is Melding with More Modern Jewelry Machinery
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( Victoria Gomelsky | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

It also is a hub for jewelry companies that continue to promote traditional handicrafts even as they experiment with cutting-edge techniques such as powder metallurgy — reducing precious metals to powder to be used in 3-D printing, or what the industry calls additive manufacturing. It is the kind of advancement that will allow jewelers to execute designs that are impossible to achieve through traditional casting methods, ensuring both quality and consistent results. “Vicenza is, without any doubt, the technological core of the machinery production for the gold sector,” Giovanni Bersaglio, the chief operation officer at Berkem, a supplier of plating equipment and chemical solutions for the jewelry industry, based in nearby Padua, wrote in an email. In 2022, exports of Italian gold and silver jewelry reached 9.8 billion euros (about $10.5 billion), a 22.5 percent increase over the same period in 2021, and a 40.8 percent increase over the same period in 2019, according to Confindustria Federorafi, a national association representing companies in Italy’s jewelry manufacturing sector. Damiano Zito, the chief executive of Progold, which designs and manufactures jewelry in Trissino, a small town about 15 miles west of Vicenza, said the pandemic highlighted an issue that has plagued the Italian industry for the better part of the past decade: its dwindling number of skilled workers.

☆ Italy moves to ban lab-grown meat in drive to protect home products
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Angelo Amante | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

It does not apply to products made or sold elsewhere in the European Union, in Turkey or in the European Economic Area (EEA). The nationalist administration of Giorgia Meloni has pledged to shield Italy's food from technological innovations seen as harmful, and renamed the agriculture ministry the "ministry for agriculture and food sovereignty". Minister Francesco Lollobrigida, one of Meloni's closest allies, says laboratory products endanger the traditional link between agriculture and food. The ban on "cell-based" meat is not the only initiative the right-wing government in Rome has put in place to block non-conventional food from being served on Italian tables. Agricultural lobby Coldiretti on Tuesday praised the government's move against "synthetic food", saying the ban was needed to safeguard home production "from the attacks of multinational companies".

ROME/PARIS, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Italy's Vega rockets have been grounded and an investigation is under way after the latest model failed on its second mission, destroying two Earth-imaging satellites and further complicating Europe's access to space on top of the war in Ukraine. A spokesperson for Arianespace said both the Vega C and its Vega predecessor had been grounded pending the findings of an investigative commission co-chaired by technical officials from the European Space Agency and Arianespace itself. Italy's Vega C rocket is due to play an increasingly crucial role in Europe's access to space after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine forced Arianespace to stop using Russian Soyuz vehicles. But Arianespace has been forced to scrap plans to announce a Vega C launch schedule for 2023 in coming weeks. Analysts said only a few operational alternatives to Vega C exist, such as potential rideshares aboard U.S.-based SpaceX's bigger Falcon 9 or Firefly Aerospace's new Alpha launcher, which can loft roughly half the payload weight of Vega C.Other options, though somewhat larger than Vega C, include rockets from Japan and India.

The letter, seen by Reuters, is signed by the head of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) at the U.S. Treasury, and mentions a loan provided by some Italian banks and state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP). The Italian government adopted on Thursday a scheme allowing ISAB to be placed under trusteeship, while Lukoil continues talks on selling the asset. A similar move was taken by Germany when in September it took control of a refinery owned by Rosneft (ROSN.MM). The government could call on "an oil company that operates in the sector, and it is obvious to everyone that this (company) could be Eni, and this will ensure continuity of production," he said. Reporting by Giuseppe Fonte and Alvise Armellini, Editing by Christina Fincher and Louise HeavensOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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