LECCO - Lombardy has been hit by a series of heavy rain, floods and landslides as severe weather has forced over 1,000 people in the region to evacuate their homes.

 Lecco has been the most severely hit city in the region after water levels in the nearby Pagnona reservoir rose dangerously above maximum capacity. Authorities feared the dam could fail to hold back the rising water or burst altogether and circa 800 residents were evacuated from the area. 

ROME – Two weeks before the election of the Food and Agriculture Organisation new Director General,  Georgia’s dark horse candidate Davit Kirvalidze is emerging as a compromise figure who might win unexpectedly by uniting delegates divided between the early strong favourites from France and China, FAO watchers say.

 “Dr Kirvalidze is not the first choice of all member states but he is a candidate who would be acceptable to many states,” a diplomatic source told the Insider.

PALERMO - A former League consultant and Forza Italia member of parliament has been arrested, along with his son, for alleged corruption, bribes, money laundering, and links to notorious Cosa Nostra boss Matteo Messina Denaro.

 Paolo Arata, who was formerly Matteo Salvini’s leading energy consultant, and his son Francesco have been arrested by local Sicilian officials following months of investigations into the two. Inquiries found that they are purportedly responsible for bribes of between 11,000 and 115,000 euros to local wind energy companies in exchange for political favours.

ROME - One year on from Italy’s decision to close its ports to humanitarian vessels and the first political stand-off over the fate of people rescued in the Central Mediterranean Sea, at least 1,151 vulnerable men, women and children have died, and over 10,000 more forcibly returned to Libya, exposed to additional unnecessary suffering. These avoidable deaths expose the human cost of reckless European migration policies, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and SOS MEDITERRANEE said Wednesday.