Italy

ROME, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) and China must continue to cooperate in the fields of science, research and innovation in order to tackle global issues such as climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, experts from industries and institutions agreed during an online panel discussion held on Wednesday.

ROME (AP) — Europe’s second wave of coronavirus infections has struck well before flu season even started, with intensive care wards filling up again and bars shutting down. Making matters worse, authorities say, is a widespread case of “COVID-fatigue.”

Record high daily infections in several eastern European countries and sharp rebounds in the hard-hit west have made clear that Europe never really crushed the COVID-19 curve as hoped, after springtime lockdowns.

ROME, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- Strict anti-COVID-19 measures including the mandatory use of face masks everywhere will be reintroduced in Italy, starting on Thursday, in an effort to curb a rising trend in infections registered in the latest weeks.

The decision was announced on Wednesday by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, after a meeting in which the cabinet passed a specific decree that will keep such rules in place until Oct. 31 at least.

VENICE, Italy (Reuters) - A long-delayed flood barrier system successfully protected Venice from a high tide for the first time on Saturday, bringing big relief to the lagoon city after years of repeated inundations.

“Today, everything is dry,” mayor Luigi Brugnaro said on Twitter. “Pride and joy.”

The network of 78 bright yellow barriers that guard the entrance to the delicate Venetian lagoon lifted from the sea bed as the tide, driven by strong winds and rain, started to climb.

Rome, Oct 2 (AP/PTI) The US and the Vatican butted heads over China on Thursday as the Holy See chafed at US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's public call to take a harsher stance against Chinese restrictions on religious freedom.

The State Department sought to play down the differences, but tensions were palpable during Pompeo's two-day visit to Rome.

ROME (Reuters) - China’s Huawei is ready to be thoroughly examined to show that its technology does not pose any risk to the countries that will include its equipment in the creation of 5G networks, the head of its Italian unit said on Wednesday.

“We will open our insides, we are available to be vivisected to respond to all of this political pressure...,” President Luigi De Vecchis said at the opening ceremony of the group’s cyber-security centre in Rome.

The comments came on the same day that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo began a two-day visit to Italy.

ROME, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- Marking the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste for the first time since its inception, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on Tuesday launched a call to action to tackle what it called "the big challenge of our time."

Despite the restrictive conditions due to the coronavirus pandemic, a comprehensive conference brought together officials and experts from the FAO, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), other UN agencies, and country representatives in a virtual debate.

SERIATE, Italy (AP) — If there is anything the Rev. Mario Carminati and the traumatized residents of Italy’s Bergamo province remember about the worst days of the coronavirus outbreak, it’s the wail of ambulance sirens piercing the silence of lockdown.

Around the clock for weeks on end, ambulances screamed through Bergamo’s valleys and towns in a terrifying soundtrack of death, as mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers gasping for air were rushed to the hospital. Thousands never came back.

ROME (Reuters) - Italian President Sergio Mattarella, taking aim at British Prime Minister Boris Johnson for suggesting his country was more freedom loving than others, said on Thursday that Italy loved freedom, but was also serious.

Johnson told parliament in London on Tuesday that Britain had a worse coronavirus infection rate than nations like Italy and Germany because it was a “freedom-loving country” which therefore resisted social restrictions to curb the disease.

MILAN (Reuters) - Italy will make testing for COVID-19 compulsory for people traveling from Paris and some areas in France, Health Minister Roberto Speranza said on Monday, amid growing concern over new infections in Europe.

“European data is worrying. Italy is doing better than other countries but we need to be cautious ...”, Speranza wrote on Twitter.

A health ministry spokesman said the new testing will start from Tuesday.

French health authorities reported 10,569 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Sunday, down from the previous day’s record increase of 13,498.