Italy

ROME (AP) — The three suspects in Italy’s cable car disaster that killed 14 people were allowed to leave prison Sunday after a judge indicated that most of the blame fell on a service technician who intentionally disabled the car’s emergency brake because it kept locking spontaneously.

Judge Donatella Banci Buonamici said there wasn’t sufficient evidence suggesting the owner of the Mottarone cable car company, Luigi Nerini, or the maintenance chief, Enrico Perocchio, knew the technician had deactivated the brake on several occasions even before the May 23 disaster.

ROME (AP) — When Italy won the Eurovision Song Contest with an over-the-top glam-rock performance, the victory signaled more than just a psychological boost for one of the countries hardest hit by COVID-19: Held before a live, indoor audience of 3,500, the annual kitsch fest confirmed that Europe was returning to a semblance of normalcy that was unthinkable even a few weeks ago.

ROME (AP) — Whistleblower protection groups urged the World Health Organization on Wednesday to launch an independent review into the case of an Italian researcher who reported being pressured to falsify data in a now-spiked WHO report into Italy’s coronavirus response.

(Reuters) --- At least 13 people died and three were seriously injured on Sunday when a cable car linking Italy's Lake Maggiore with a nearby mountain in the Alps plunged 20 metres to the ground, local officials and rescuers said.

The Stresa-Mottarone cable car takes tourists and locals from the town on Lake Maggiore, almost 1,400 metres above sea level to the top of the Mottarone mountain in 20 minutes.

ROME, May 21 (Xinhua) -- The leaders of the Group of Twenty (G20) issued here Friday a joint declaration at the close of the Global Health Summit aimed at coordinating worldwide efforts against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Rome Declaration is made up of 16 "mutually reinforcing principles" that "reconfirm our commitment to global solidarity, equity, and multilateral cooperation" and to promoting "sustained financing for global health," the G20 leaders wrote.

ROME, May 20 (Xinhua) -- The Italian government on Thursday approved a 40-billion-euros (48.9 billion U.S. dollars) relief package to support the country's businesses and workers affected by the COVID-19 restrictions.

The new relief measures included 17 billion euros of financial aid to companies, and nine billion euros for business credit support, according to Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

Another four billion euros will be destined to the labor market, with various measures to support the most vulnerable workers and unemployed people.

18 May 2021; MEMO: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Pope Francis that the international community must sanction Israel for its brutal violence against Palestinians, stressing that Palestinians continue to be subjected to massacres as a result of global inaction, Turkish media reported yesterday.

Erdogan, according to TRT, urged the pontiff to keep speaking about the ongoing onslaught against Palestine.

(Reuters) --- Leaders of the world’s largest economies back “voluntary licensing” of COVID-19 vaccine patents, the draft conclusions of a summit show, watering down a U.S. push for waivers and earlier commitments to supply more funds to the World Health Organization.

The draft document, seen by Reuters, lists commitments of G20 nations and other countries and is to be adopted on Friday at a Global Health Summit in Rome, one of this year's major events to coordinate global actions against the pandemic.

ROME, May 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Argentina’s President Alberto Fernandez said he was hoping to renegotiate his country’s debt “as quickly as possible”, after talks with the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Rome.

Fernandez told reporters it had been a “very constructive” and “very frank meeting, where we expressed our will to resolve the problem of Argentine debt”.

He said he wanted to “find an agreement as quickly as possible”, while adding: “We cannot think about an agreement which demands more efforts from the Argentine people.”

(Reuters) --- Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi will not be able to enact key reforms demanded by the European Union because his unity government is too divided over the issues, rightist leader Matteo Salvini said on Saturday.

Salvini, who heads the League, told newspapers he would back Draghi to become the next president in a parliamentary vote due in early 2022. If Draghi accepts the post, his coalition would automatically fall, opening the way for early elections.