Italy

MILAN (AP) — A banner emblazoned with the words “Honor to Mussolini,” unfurled just steps from the Milan piazza where the fascist dictator’s body was hung upside down after his 1945 execution. One-armed salutes and fascist slogans shouted at protests. Italy’s right-wing interior minister skipping commemorations for the 74th anniversary of the country’s liberation from Nazi occupation.

20 May 2019; DW: Italy's far-right interior minister has condemned the seizure of the ship, saying migrants on board should not have set foot in Italy. However, the condition of the refugees had swayed the authorities' opinion.

Italian prosecutors on Sunday impounded rescue vessel Sea-Watch 3 for breaching immigration rules despite government attempts to block the ship from reaching an Italian port.

(ANSA) - mantua, May 17: A mother who killed her two children in December 2017 was acquitted Friday after a court ruled she was not in her right mind.

The court said 41-year-old Antonella Barbieri was unable to understand what she was doing when she killed five-year-old Lorenzo Zeus at Suzzara near Mantua and two-year-old Kim at Luzzara near Reggio Emilia on December 7 that year.

ROME, May 18 (Xinhua): China's poverty reduction approach can serve as a useful model for developing countries around the world, United Nations (UN) experts and Chinese officials said at a seminar on poverty reduction.

The seminar took place at the third International Seminar on Global Poverty Reduction Partnerships held here during the 2019 International Cooperation Expo earlier this week.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis issued a groundbreaking new church law Thursday requiring all Catholic priests and nuns around the world to report clergy sexual abuse and cover-ups by their superiors to church authorities, in a new effort to hold the Catholic hierarchy accountable for failing to protect their flocks.

ROME, May 7 (Xinhua): The detente between Italy and France for the celebration of the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci's death did not last long, with diplomatic and political relations between the two countries quickly returning to their usual prickly state.

Italy and France have a long history of challenging relations, but 2018 was particularly intense.

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Pope Francis is visiting Bulgaria, the European Union’s poorest country and one that taken a hard line against migrants, a stance that conflicts with the pontiff’s view that reaching out to vulnerable people is a moral imperative.

On a two-day trip that began Sunday, Francis plans to tour a refugee center and dive into the Vatican’s complicated relations with the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. He will then have daylong stop Tuesday in neighboring North Macedonia, the first by a pope.

ROME, May 2 (Xinhua): Italy on Thursday marked the 500th anniversary of the death of Renaissance genius Leonardo da Vinci, kicking off what authorities are calling "the year of Leonardo" that will end on April 15, the anniversary of the master's birth.

Born in 1452 near the Tuscan village of Vinci (hence his designation as "da Vinci", which means "from Vinci"), Leonardo went on to become a prolific painter, anatomist, architect, scientist, engineer, set designer, and inventor, embodying the quintessential Renaissance man with his interdisciplinary approach to art and science.

11 Apr 2019; AFP: International anti-mafia stings may have increased in recent months, but Italian organised crime groups constitute a social and economic "cancer" that the world seems to underestimate, experts say.

The most high-profile recent operation saw 90 mobsters from the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta mafia arrested in December in six different countries, in raids involving hundreds of police officers.

5 Apr 2019; DW: Euroskeptic parties are joining forces ahead of the elections for the European Parliament in May. A few days ago, about 500 young members of such parties met in Rome. The summit was organized by the youth wing of Italy's anti-immigrant League party, which hopes to win a large share of the vote. Surveys indicate that Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini's party could emerge victorious in Italy.