Italy

ROME (AP) — The Italian government’s new sports minister has signed a letter to UEFA supporting the country’s bid to host the 2032 European Championship.

“Sustainable, long-term development of Italian sports venues represents one of the government’s priorities,” Andrea Abodi, the minister and the former president of Serie B, said in a statement released by the Italian soccer federation on Monday. “Italy’s candidacy for Euro 2032 represents a fundamental factor in accelerating that process.”

MILAN, Nov 6 (Reuters) - A German-flagged charity vessel refused to leave the Sicilian port of Catania on Sunday, after Italian authorities said not all the migrants it was carrying could disembark, the NGO responsible for the vessel said.

"The captain of the Humanity 1, who is legally responsible for the safety of all people on board, has refused the request to leave the port with the remaining 35 survivors on board," the German NGO said.

MILAN (AP) — Italy allowed a humanitarian rescue ship carrying 179 migrants to enter a Sicilian port and begin disembarking minors early Sunday, while refusing to respond to requests for safe harbor from three other ships carrying 900 more people in nearby waters.

Italy’s new far-right-led government has closed its ports to rescue ship run by non-governmental groups and insists that the countries whose flag the ships fly must take in the migrants. It granted the Humanity 1 alone access to port to land minors and people needing medical attention.

MILAN (AP) — Italy’s new far-right led government adopted a measure Friday formalizing the closure of its ports to rescue ships run by humanitarian groups as four vessels with more than 1,000 migrants continued to press for a safe port.

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi told reporters Italy would allow a German migrant rescue ship to arrive in Sicily to land minors and those with medical emergencies, but he said the ship must then return to international waters with the rest of the migrants.

MILAN (AP) — Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni on Wednesday defended her government from criticism that a decree banning rave parties could be used to clamp down on sit-ins and other forms of protest while thousands of fascist sympathizers were allowed to march to the crypt of the country’s slain Fascist dictator.

The decree on illegal raves was among the first actions of Meloni’s far-right-led government. Both the political opposition and judicial magistrates voiced alarm the tough law-and-order stance signaled the government’s possible intolerance of disobedience.

ROME, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Galeazzo Bignami, a lawmaker of the rightist Brothers of Italy party who sparked outrage in 2016 after a newspaper published a picture of him wearing a Nazi swastika on his left arm, was named junior infrastructure minister on Monday.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who personally announced Bignami's appointment at a news conference, is the leader of Brothers of Italy, a group which traces its roots to the post-fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI).

PREDAPPIO, Italy (AP) — Several thousand black-clad fascist sympathizers chanted and sang in praise of Benito Mussolini as they marched to the slain Italian dictator’s crypt Sunday, 100 years after Mussolini entered Rome and completed a bloodless coup that gave rise to two decades of fascist rule.

ROME, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- Prices in Italy jumped by 11.9 percent in October compared to the same month a year ago, the highest in nearly four decades, according to provisional data released by the National Statistics Institute (ISTAT) on Friday.

The figure was 3 percentage points above the then-record 8.9-percent of annual inflation in September, and it was the highest since 1983 in Italy. It was also the first time that the country's inflation experienced double digits since Italy's adoption of the euro currency in 1999.

ROME, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- The new Italian cabinet led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni won the confidence of the lower house of parliament on Tuesday, with 235 votes in favor, 154 against and five abstentions.

The cabinet must now pass the second confidence test in the senate on Wednesday in order to become fully operative.

Ahead of the vote, Meloni outlined the key points of her government's program, vowing to lead the country as best she can through what she described as some of the toughest times in decades. She also pledged to follow European Union (EU) rules.

ROME, Oct 25 (Reuters) - New Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni unveiled her policy priorities in her maiden speech to the lower house of parliament on Tuesday. Here are some of the highlights.

RUSSIA/ENERGY

"Those who believe it is possible to trade Ukraine's freedom for our peace of mind are wrong. Giving in to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's blackmail on energy would not solve the problem, it would exacerbate it by opening the way to further demands and blackmail."