VENICE – The appearance in the Lagoon city of a new piece of art shows all the hallmarks of Banksy’s mysterious hand at work, though the graffiti artist is yet to claim the work as his own.
The piece, which seem to have been painted some time on Thursday or Friday, was spotted by artist and collector Lapo Simoeni on the island of Dorsoduro. It hovers above the waterline of a canal, and shows a migrant child, in a life jacket, holding a pink flair to signal for help.
ROME – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is considering suspending aid to Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. An agency spokesperson explained, “our greatest challenge does not come from the guns, that are yet to fall silent in this conflict - instead, it is the obstructive and uncooperative role of some of the Houthi leaders in areas under their control.”
VATICAN CITY – “Communication is a tool to build, not to destroy; to meet, not to clash; to discuss, not to monologize; to orient, not to disorient; to understand each other, not to misunderstand; to walk in peace, not to sow hatred; to give a voice to those who have no voice, not to be the megaphone for those who shout louder." Such was Pope Francis’ message to members of the Foreign Press in Italy, as he discussed the role of journalism and the media in the 21st century.
ROME - Divisions in Italy’s coalition government were, once more, plain to see as Matteo Salvini and Luigi Di Maio clashed over the disembarkation of migrants from a seized NGO rescue ship despite Italy’s ports ostensibly remaining closed.
SAN MARINO - Hot Giro d’Italia favourite Primož Roglič oozed class as he continued his fantastic early season form to win two stages in the opening week of the grand tour. Coming into the Giro having won every stage race he has started so far this year, Roglič stamped his authority on the race in the very first stage, blowing his closest competitors away over a short but punchy opening 8-kilometre time trial in Bologna.
LEGNANO - Matteo Salvini’s League have been hit by once more by a political scandal after the Mayor of Legnano was placed under house arrest for alleged corruption. The local councillor for public works and the local budget councillor, both of the Forza Italia party, have also been detained and are under house arrest and in prison respectively, police sources said.
Gianbattista Fratus, Legnano’s Mayor and a member of the League party, is accused of electoral corruption and, according to prosecutors, “a very scarce sense of legality.”
ROME – The government’s sale of arms to Riyadh is once again a cause of controversy, as Five Star move to block the deals in parliament and port authorities in Genoa threaten to boycott a suspect ship.
Italy has sold arms to Saudi Arabia since Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s series of deals in 2016, which were worth some 411 million euros. This has always been a sensitive topic, since the Saudi Arabian government is widely believed to use them against civilians in Yemen, and is posed to once again become a serious cause of division within government.
ROME – Leonardo, a defence-contractor which is partly government owned, paid 171 million euros in 2017 to unidentified intermediaries while selling Eurofighter jets to Kuwait, reported Il Fatto Quotidiano. Law 185 in Italy, which governs the sale of arms to foreign powers, allows the company to say nothing further on the identity or activity of the supposed brokers.
NAPLES - Italian deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini was welcomed to Campania by widespread demonstrations while in Naples on official business on Thursday.
A procession of hundreds of protestors marched through the streets of the city before settling in Piazza del Plebiscito, in front of the Prefecture where Salvini, in his capacity as Interior Minister, was attending a meeting on public order and security.
