Italy

ROME, July 12 (Xinhua) -- The year 2020 saw a dramatic worsening of world hunger, which affected an estimated 720 million to 811 million people, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said in a statement on Monday.

The warning came with the launch of "The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2021" (SOFI) at the FAO headquarters in the Italian capital.

07 July 2021; MEMO: Italy has loosened restrictions on arms exports to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Reuters reported government sources saying yesterday, in a move aimed at easing diplomatic tensions with the two Gulf states.

Italy halted the sale of thousands of missiles to Saudi Arabia and the UAE in January, citing at the time Rome's commitment to restoring peace in war-ravaged Yemen and protecting human rights.

“There is darkness today with the death of Fr. Stan but he is truly a light for thousands of people of India and elsewhere.” This is how Indian Jesuit priest Father Cedric Prakash reacted soon after hearing about the death of jailed fellow Jesuit Father Stan Swamy on Monday. 

Fr. Stan, who championed the cause of indigenous and marginalized people in eastern India’s Jharkhand state, died in Mumbai’s Holy Family Hospital.  He was being treated there for Covid-19, which he contracted behind bars in Taloja jail, near Mumbai.

ROME, July 6 (Reuters) - A charity group asked the European Union on Tuesday to find a port where it can dock to disembark hundreds of migrants it has rescued in the central Mediterranean over recent days.

Some 572 people, including 183 minors, are currently onboard the Ocean Viking vessel, the SOS Mediterranee organisation said after it picked them up in six operations in Maltese and Libyan search and rescue areas.

The group said maritime authorities had not helped in the operations and urged the European Union to intervene.

MILAN, July 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Italian police said they had broken up a number of online schemes offering to sell fake European Union digital COVID-19 status certificates or purported coronavirus vaccines.

The investigation, coordinated by the cybercrime prosecutor’s office in Milan, showed that thousands of people were ready to pay for false certificates, a police statement said.

The EU on Thursday launched a digital COVID-19 certificate designed to help citizens travel across the 27-nation bloc and open up summer tourism.

MATERA, Italy, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Ministers of foreign affairs and development from the world's 20 biggest economies on Tuesday called on the entire international community to build inclusive and resilient food chains, to ensure adequate nutrition for all, in line with the goal of "Zero Hunger" set for 2030.

In their first face-to-face meetings in nearly two years, the Group of 20 (G20) ministers gathered in the southern Italian city of Matera for the one-day talks.

ROME, June 29 (Reuters) - The United States hopes for more stable and predictable relations with Russia but if the latter continues to "be aggressive", then Washington will respond, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a newspaper interview published on Tuesday.

"But if Russia is going to continue to take reckless or aggressive actions, we'll respond — not for purposes of conflict, not to escalate, but because we will defend our interests and values," he told Italian daily La Repubblica.

MATERA, Italy, June 29 (Reuters) - Foreign ministers from the Group of 20 major economies met face-to-face on Tuesday for the first time in two years, with host Italy aiming to push multilateral cures for global crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.

The one-day gathering in the heat-soaked southern city of Matera will include debate on how to improve cooperation on an array of issues including global health, the climate emergency and international trade.

ROME, June 28 (Xinhua) -- All regions of Italy on Monday become the so-called "white zone," with the lowest level of anti-coronavirus rules in the country's four-tiered system.

People are no longer required to wear face masks outdoors except for large gatherings. But masks are still mandatory on public transport, in all public offices and indoor spaces.

Masks are "strongly recommended" in the presence of the vulnerable, such as the elderly, according to the technical-scientific committee advising the government on the coronavirus emergency.

ROME (AP) — Hush-hush diplomacy. In-person visits. And a very public no-surprises agreement on Iran.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid will meet in Rome on Sunday as their new governments look to turn the page on former President Donald Trump and former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose close alliance aggravated partisan divisions within both countries.