Italian Deputy Prime Minister Salvini acquitted of migrant kidnapping charges

Palermo, Italy Reuters A court on Friday acquitted Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini of charges of kidnapping over 100 migrants aboard a boat he had blocked at sea for nearly three weeks in 2019, as part of a policy to curb irregular arrivals. After a three-year trial, judges rejected a prosecutor’s request to hand […]
Italy’s Lampedusa pleads for help after thousands of migrant arrivals

Lampedusa, Italy Reuters The small Italian island of Lampedusa is being overwhelmed by the number of migrants arriving on its shores, its mayor said on Thursday, after thousands of people landed from North Africa on flimsy boats over the past two days. Lampedusa sits in the Mediterranean between Tunisia, Malta and the larger Italian island […]
NGO accuses Italian, Maltese politicians of crimes against humanity on migrants

Rome, Italy Reuters A German charity said on Wednesday it had reported senior European politicians including Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini to the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity over their treatment of migrants. Those accused by the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights include Maltese Premier Robert Abela and Salvini, who […]
Right-wing Meloni sworn in as Italy’s first woman prime minister

Rome, Italy Reuters Giorgia Meloni was sworn in as Italy’s first woman Prime Minister on Saturday alongside her cabinet team, giving the country its most right-wing government since World War II. She takes office at an especially fraught moment, with Italy’s debt-laden economy once again heading into recession, firms buckling under the weight of soaring […]
Italy’s Salvini sent to trial on migrant kidnapping charge

Palermo, Italy Reuters Matteo Salvini, leader of Italy’s right-wing League party, must stand trial on charges of kidnapping over his decision to prevent more than 100 migrants from landing in the country in 2019, a judge has ordered. Salvini, who was interior minister at that time, left the migrants stranded at sea until prosecutors ordered […]
IMMIGRATION: MIGRANTS SAFEGUARD ITALY’S CULINARY HERITAGE AMID HOSTILE RHETORIC

THIN LEI WIN, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on how migrants are involved in keeping alive the country’s agricultural and culinary heritage which those who oppose their presence take so much pride in…
Hundreds of refugees and Roma homeless in Italian eviction drive

Rome, Italy Thomson Reuters Foundation Hundreds of migrants and Roma have been left homeless following two days of evictions in Italy, as its interior minister said on Wednesday that he was restoring order to the country. Volunteers running the Baobab camp in Rome said that police forcibly evicted about 150 refugees and undocumented migrants on […]
Postcards: Driven from camps, Roma face uncertain future in Rome

ELAINE ALLABY, writing for Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on the plight of the Roma people in Italy…