Italy

ROME (AP) — For decades, Italy has worked to recover ancient Roman-era statues, Etruscan vases and other treasures that were looted from its soil and sold to museums around the world. Now, the country is coming to terms with the fact that it, too, has stolen items in its museum collections: the relics of a brutal colonial empire in North Africa that it hasn’t fully reckoned with.

ROME, May 7 (Reuters) - Italy remains dissatisfied with the apologies offered by Paris after a French minister accused Rome of mishandling the influx of migrants, Italy's foreign minister Antonio Tajani said on Sunday.

"Clearer words are needed," Tajani, who is member of the conservative Forza Italia party, told Italian state-owned television RAI in an interview.

"I hope that the French government changes its position and that an apology comes that represents a contrast to the positions adopted by the Interior Minister. I will be happy to accept them."

MILAN (AP) — Former Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte has been physically attacked during an official appearance in Tuscany by a man protesting against Italy’s lockdowns and other measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic, Italian media reported Friday.

The man struck Conte in the face, and the assailant was immediately detained by law enforcement, the news agency LaPresse reported. Conte didn’t appear to have been seriously harmed.

“Dissent is legitimate, but this violent demonstration falls outside the democratic context,” Conte said in a statement.

ROME, May 4 (Reuters) - Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani called off a trip to Paris on Thursday, saying the French interior minister had insulted Italy with comments that were highly critical of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

The French minister, Gerald Darmanin, had earlier told RMC radio that Meloni was "unable to solve the migration problems on which she was elected" and accused her of "lying" to voters that she could end a crisis over growing numbers of boat migrants.

MILAN (AP) — A day and a half of nonstop rain has caused caused flooding in Italy’s populous Emilia-Romagna region, leaving at least two people dead as riverbeds left dry by drought overflowed their banks.

One person was swept away by floodwaters while riding a bicycle in the Ravenna province, and another died near Imola when a residence was hit by a flood-triggered landslide. Another person was missing.

NAPLES, Italy (AP) — Napoli fans experienced a full range of emotions Sunday, first celebrating in anticipation of the club’s first Italian league title since the days when Diego Maradona played for the club — then reacting to a draw that pushed back the celebrations for at least a few days.

Napoli was held to a 1-1 draw at home by regional rival Salernitana.

29 Apr 2023; AA: Pope Francis highlighted the dangers that are threatening world peace, the Vatican media reported Friday. 

“At the present time, those dangers are many indeed; but I ask myself, thinking not least of war-torn Ukraine, where are creative efforts for peace?,” he said during an address to a distinguished Hungarian audience that included the country’s president, premier, diplomats and senior Christian clergy members in Budapest, according to the Vatican News agency.

ROME (AP) — Ukraine’s prime minister said he asked Pope Francis during a private Vatican audience Thursday to help facilitate the return of Ukrainian children who were forcibly taken to Russia.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, briefing reporters on his half-hour audience with the pontiff, said he also invited Francis to come to Ukraine.

“I asked the Vatican and the Holy Father for help in getting back children taken by force by Russia,” the prime minister said.

ROME, April 26. /TASS/: Ukraine hopes to be "fully prepared" for EU membership in two years, Prime Minister Denis Shmygal said in an address published in Italian economic newspaper Il Sole - 24 Ore on Wednesday.

"We have an ambitious plan to be fully prepared for EU membership in two years," the message reads.

Shmygal arrived in Rome on Wednesday for a conference on Ukraine's reconstruction, organized by the Italian government. The authorities and business representatives from the two countries will attend the event. More than 600 companies are expected to participate.

ROME, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Europe's main stock exchanges opened higher on Tuesday, following news that China's economy exceeded expectations in the first quarter (Q1) of 2023.

China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced on Tuesday that the country's economy grew by 4.5 percent year on year in Q1, 2023. Compared to the last three months of 2022, the economy expanded by 2.2 percent.

"China's national economy made a good start this year, and market expectation saw significant improvement," said NBS spokesperson Fu Linghui at a press conference.