Italy

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.

ROME, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The Italian government has approved a so-called "growth decree" designed to kickstart the country's shrinking economy, Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio announced late on Thursday.

"This decree will have a positive impact on our growth, making it sustainable," Di Maio, who leads the populist Five Star Movement and who also serves as minister of labor and economic development, told reporters in televised comments.

ROME, April 2 (Xinhua) -- The economic gap between Italy's wealthy, industrialized northern regions and the agrarian, poorer south dates back generations.

Latest statistics show the gap is still expanding, while the government floats a plan that could widen it even further.

Italy's Ministry of Economy and Finance this week released new figures, showing the difference in wealth between northern and southern regions is reaching record proportions.

ROME, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Italy is likely to be forced to compensate for lower exports and perhaps even the return of thousands of mid-level and blue collar workers when Great Britain finally withdraws from the European Union.

The country had been expected to leave the European Union March 29. But the government secured an extension as the so-called "Brexit" negotiations stalled, with British lawmakers deciding which of four plans (or perhaps no plan at all) will be used to guide the first-ever departure of a nation from the European Union.

ROME, March 28 (Xinhua) -- Starting in April, Italy will begin the process of repatriating nearly 800 cultural and historical artifacts that had been illegally smuggled from China.

This represents the biggest repatriation of Chinese artifacts in more than two decades and it is part of a wide array of agreements strengthening cultural, economic, and political ties between Italy and China.

The agreement over the cultural and historical objects also helps solidify Italy's status as one of the world's leaders in the battles against stolen and illegally imported artifacts.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Saturday replaced Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati as archbishop of Santiago, Chile, after he was placed under criminal investigation in the country’s spiraling church sex abuse and cover-up scandal.

Francis accepted Ezzati’s resignation and named a temporary replacement to govern Chile’s most important archdiocese: the Spanish-born Capuchin friar and current bishop of Copiapo, Chile, Monsignor Celestino Aos Braco.

ROME, March 23 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte held talks here Saturday on jointly elevating the China-Italy relations into a new era and witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to advance the construction of the Belt and Road.

During their talks, Xi noted that the China-Italy relations are rooted in the history of the two countries' thousand-year-old exchanges, with strong public support.

ROME, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's upcoming visit to Italy would boost the prospects of stronger bilateral cooperation within the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) framework, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told Chinese media on Wednesday.

"The tradition of our relationship is very ancient, as our two cultures can be traced back to one or two thousand years ago," Conte said, noting that Xi will be the first Chinese president to visit Italy in a decade.

21 Mar 2019; DW: A school bus driver on Wednesday allegedly held 51 children and their chaperones hostage on a bus in the northern Italian city San Donato Milanese before setting it on fire.

All of the children were rescued when the bus crashed following a police chase, allowing officers to force open the back door and help students off the bus, as the driver threatened suicide.

20 Mar 2019; DW: A rescue boat carrying nearly 50 migrants has docked at the Italian island of Lampedusa. Interior Minister Matteo Salvini had denied the ship access to Italian ports, but relented in order to bring aid workers to trial.

Sicilian prosecutors on Tuesday ordered the seizure of the Italian-flagged ship "Mare Jonio." The rescue boat was allowed to dock at the Italian island of Lampedusa while accompanied by coast guard ships, following nearly two days at sea.