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☆ 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

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

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