Italy

ROME, March 11 (Reuters) - More than 1,300 migrants have been rescued in three separate operations off the southern tip of Italy, the coastguard said on Saturday, two weeks after at least 74 people died when their boat hit rocks near the coast.

Growing numbers of migrant arrivals have piled pressure on Italy's conservative government, which took office last October promising to reduce the flow only to see a sharp increase in such landings this year from both North Africa and Turkey.

ROME, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced new measures against human traffickers Thursday, after holding a cabinet meeting in the seaside town of Cutro, the site of a recent shipwreck that claimed at least 72 lives.

She said the cabinet had signed off on a new migration flow management decree featuring harsher penalties for human smugglers and more effective expulsion practices.

"The fact that the entire Cabinet of Ministers traveled to hold the meeting here and now is proof of how serious we take this subject," Meloni said.

ROME, March 3 (Reuters) - Top mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro was captured thanks in part to a hand-written note found hidden in his older sister's house, judicial documents show, after police arrested the woman on Friday.

Rosalia (Rosetta) Messina Denaro, 67, was detained in Sicily on mafia membership charges, Carabinieri police said, releasing a 57-page arrest warrant.

Her brother, Matteo Messina Denaro, 60, was Italy's most wanted man until his arrest on Jan. 16, after 30 years on the run. He was caught in Palermo, outside a private clinic for cancer patients.

ROME, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- Purchasing power in Italy fell by 54 percent over the last year, as high inflation, reduced trade and slower economic growth caused in part by the Russia-Ukraine crisis took their toll on the daily life of Italians, according to a new report published by Italian think-tank Nomisma on Monday.

The report, titled Changing World Observatory, did not cover data from any other European countries.

CROTONE, Italy, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Rescuers recovered three more bodies on Monday, a day after a wooden sailboat carrying migrants to Europe smashed onto rocks in inclement weather off southern Italy, bringing the death toll to 62, including at least 14 children.

Many of the victims washed ashore close to where the vessel sank near Steccato di Cutro, a seaside resort on the eastern coast of Calabria, while some of the bodies were recovered from still-stormy seas.

STECCATO DI CUTRO, Italy (AP) — Rescue crews searched by sea and air Monday for the dozens of people believed still missing from a shipwreck off Italy’s southern coast that drove home once again the desperate and dangerous crossings of migrants seeking to reach Europe.

STECCATO DI CUTRO, Italy, Feb 26 (Reuters) - At least 59 people died, including 12 children, when a wooden sailing boat carrying migrants from Turkey to Europe crashed against rocks near the southern Italian coast early on Sunday, authorities said.

The incident reopened a debate on migration in Europe and Italy, where the recently-elected right-wing government's tough new laws for migrant rescue charities have drawn criticism from the United Nations and others.

ROME (AP) — The Italian coast guard and firefighters have recovered more than 30 bodies after a wooden migrant boat broke apart in rough seas Sunday near the southern coast of Italy’s mainland, authorities reported.

State TV quoted the local prefect’s office as saying that by late morning 33 bodies had been recovered and 58 people were rescued. The Italian news agency AGI said that among the bodies was that of a baby a few months old.

MILAN, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Weeks of dry winter weather have raised concerns that Italy could face another drought after last summer's emergency, with the Alps having received less than half of their normal snowfall, according to scientists and environmental groups.

The warning comes as Venice, where flooding is normally the primary concern, faces unusually low tides that are making it impossible for gondolas, water taxis and ambulances to navigate some of its famous canals.

MILAN, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Weeks of dry winter weather have raised concerns that Italy could face another drought after last summer's emergency, with the Alps having received less than half of their normal snowfall, according to scientists and environmental groups.

The warning comes as Venice, where flooding is normally the primary concern, faces unusually low tides that are making it impossible for gondolas, water taxis and ambulances to navigate some of its famous canals.