Latest Italy government News

Abortion returns to the spotlight in Italy 46 years after it was legalized

Apr. 23, 2024 08:32 AM EDT

ROME (AP) — Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni’s far-right-led government wants to allow anti-abortion groups access to women considering ending their pregnancies, reviving tensions around abortion in Italy 46 years after it was legalized in the overwhelmingly Catholic country. The...

UK home secretary to visit Italy to discuss stopping migrants arriving on boats

Apr. 22, 2024 19:07 PM EDT

LONDON (AP) — Britain's Home Secretary, James Cleverly, is visiting Italy as part of the U.K. government's efforts to crack down on migrants arriving by small boats. Cleverly will meet his Italian counterpart, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, and discuss how Italy and Britain...

Italian court drops charges against migrant rescue ship crews and ends long-running legal battle

Apr. 19, 2024 13:50 PM EDT

ROME (AP) — An Italian court on Friday dismissed a long-running case against rescue ship crews of three humanitarian organizations, dropping charges accusing them of collaborating with smugglers as they helped rescue thousands of migrants at sea. The judges in the Sicilian city of...

Italy's leader keeps the focus on migration on her fourth visit to Tunisia in a year

Apr. 17, 2024 14:17 PM EDT

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — The head of Italy's right-wing government acknowledged Wednesday that Tunisia cannot serve as a dumping ground for migrants, days after Tunisia's president reaffirmed his unwillingness to let Europe outsource migration problems by sending those not welcome there to his...

Milan's famous La Scala names new director of the opera house after months of controversy

Apr. 17, 2024 11:34 AM EDT

ROME (AP) — Milan's La Scala, one of the world’s most prestigious and historic opera houses, has named Fortunato Ortombina as its new director, ending months of political controversy. He will step into the post in September at the famed Teatro alla Scala. The city's mayor,...

Italy opens new slander trial against Amanda Knox. She was exonerated 9 years ago in friend's murder

Apr. 10, 2024 10:06 AM EDT

FLORENCE, Italy (AP) — Amanda Knox was back on trial for slander Wednesday for wrongly accusing a Congolese man of murdering her roommate while the young women were exchange students in Italy. Knox herself was convicted of the slaying before being exonerated in a case that grabbed the global...

Amanda Knox faces a new slander trial in Italy that could remove the last legal stain against her

Apr. 10, 2024 07:44 AM EDT

MILAN (AP) — Amanda Knox faces another trial for slander this week in Italy in a case that could remove the last legal stain against her, nine years after Italy’s highest court threw out her conviction for the murder of her 21-year-old British roommate. Knox, who was a...

Japan approves plan to sell fighter jets to other nations in latest break from pacifist principles

Mar. 26, 2024 00:57 AM EDT

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Cabinet on Tuesday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it’s developing with Britain and Italy to other countries, in the latest move away from the country’s postwar pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow...

Italy follows France in raising security after the IS-claimed concert hall attack in Russia

Mar. 25, 2024 13:53 PM EDT

BERLIN (AP) — Italy followed France on Monday in stepping up security following the attack on a suburban Moscow concert hall and the claim of responsibility by an affiliate of the Islamic State group. The attack renewed attention in Europe on the risk from the extremists, and...

IOC says it was tricked by Russian prank callers amid tension ahead of Paris Olympics

Mar. 21, 2024 14:31 PM EDT

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — The International Olympic Committee believes its president Thomas Bach fell prey to a prank telephone call amid rising tensions with Russia over restrictions on its athletes competing at the Paris Games. The IOC on Thursday detailed a call from people...