ROME — Well-placed sources inside the Food and Agriculture Organization report rising speculation that Italian Maurizio Martina, the UN agency's deputy director general, will run for director general in 2027. 

 Martina, 45, assumed his post at FAO in January, 2021. He served before that as Secretary of State and Minister for Agricultural Policy in the Democratic Letta, Renzi, and Gentiloni administrations. He was vice secretary, then secretary, of the Democratic Party. 

  ROME -- An earthquake of 4.4 magnitude hit the Phlegraean Fields area near Naples on Monday evening, according to reports from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV).