Today in Italy: A roundup of the latest news on Friday
Minister abandons speech amid pro-choice protest, PM Meloni urged to 'grow up' over media criticism, model ponders lawsuit over League party's 'racist' poster campaign, and more news from around Italy on Friday.
Italy’s family minister abandons speech amid pro-choice protest
Family and Equal Opportunities Minister Eugenia Roccella on Thursday abandoned a speech in Rome on Italy’s declining birth rate amid protests by pro-choice and anti-government protesters, news agency Ansa reported.
Protesters held banners reading “I decide” and reportedly heckled Roccella until she decided to leave the venue.
The protest came after the Italian government in April passed a contested measure allowing pro-life activists to access abortion consultation clinics.
Though abortion is legal in Italy, women face major challenges when trying to access the procedure as the majority of gynaecologists – about 63 percent according to 2021 figures – refuse to perform them on moral or religious grounds.
Writer Rushdie urges PM Meloni to ‘grow up’ over media criticism
Indian-born best-selling writer Salman Rushdie on Thursday urged Italian PM Giorgia Meloni to be more tolerant of criticism, saying she should “be less childish and grow up”, AFP reported.
“At my personal risk, I have to say that politicians should grow a thicker skin,” Rushdie told journalists at Turin’s international book fair, where he was due to appear on Friday.
“It is normal that some people should speak about [politicians] directly, even badly, also using a bad word like the one Roberto used,” he said in reference to a controversial defamation case filed and won by Meloni against Italian anti-mafia reporter Roberto Saviano.
Meloni and members of her administration have long faced accusations of using defamation lawsuits to try to silence journalists and intimidate detractors.
Government pledges to fight spread of Fentanyl
The Italian government on Thursday vowed to fight the spread of synthetic opioid Fentanyl after the first confirmed case of the drug being detected in Italy in April.
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said at a press conference on Thursday that the phenomenon “must be nipped in the bud”, adding that Rome is “ready to make deals with all countries to fight synthetic drugs”, including with China – one of Fentanyl’s primary source countries.
Prosecutors in Perugia, Umbria, last week launched an investigation following the discovery that Fentanyl had been used as a cutting substance in a dose of heroin seized several weeks earlier.
Up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine, Fentanyl has been linked to a rising number of fatal and non-fatal overdoses in the US in recent years.
Model considers suing League over ‘racist’ poster campaign
A Ukrainian-Italian model was seeking legal advice over the use of her photo in a poster campaign by Italy’s anti-immigrant League party, Italian media reported on Wednesday.
Anna Haholkina, who lives in Rimini, said she was considering a potential defamation suit against the party after it used her image, not just because she didn’t want to be “affiliated with any party, but, above all, because these electoral posters are racist”.
The posters, which have sprung up in Milan in recent weeks, featured two images: a photo of Haholkina next to a caption reading “free women”, and a photo of a woman wearing a niqab captioned “women forced to cover their face”. A slogan at the bottom of the poster read: “Which side do you want to be on?”
Haholkina said that, though she signed a photo release waiver with a stock image provider, the provider’s rules specified that the images could not be used for political campaign purposes.
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Italy’s family minister abandons speech amid pro-choice protest
Family and Equal Opportunities Minister Eugenia Roccella on Thursday abandoned a speech in Rome on Italy’s declining birth rate amid protests by pro-choice and anti-government protesters, news agency Ansa reported.
Protesters held banners reading “I decide” and reportedly heckled Roccella until she decided to leave the venue.
The protest came after the Italian government in April passed a contested measure allowing pro-life activists to access abortion consultation clinics.
Though abortion is legal in Italy, women face major challenges when trying to access the procedure as the majority of gynaecologists – about 63 percent according to 2021 figures – refuse to perform them on moral or religious grounds.
Writer Rushdie urges PM Meloni to ‘grow up’ over media criticism
Indian-born best-selling writer Salman Rushdie on Thursday urged Italian PM Giorgia Meloni to be more tolerant of criticism, saying she should “be less childish and grow up”, AFP reported.
“At my personal risk, I have to say that politicians should grow a thicker skin,” Rushdie told journalists at Turin’s international book fair, where he was due to appear on Friday.
“It is normal that some people should speak about [politicians] directly, even badly, also using a bad word like the one Roberto used,” he said in reference to a controversial defamation case filed and won by Meloni against Italian anti-mafia reporter Roberto Saviano.
Meloni and members of her administration have long faced accusations of using defamation lawsuits to try to silence journalists and intimidate detractors.
Government pledges to fight spread of Fentanyl
The Italian government on Thursday vowed to fight the spread of synthetic opioid Fentanyl after the first confirmed case of the drug being detected in Italy in April.
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said at a press conference on Thursday that the phenomenon “must be nipped in the bud”, adding that Rome is “ready to make deals with all countries to fight synthetic drugs”, including with China – one of Fentanyl’s primary source countries.
Prosecutors in Perugia, Umbria, last week launched an investigation following the discovery that Fentanyl had been used as a cutting substance in a dose of heroin seized several weeks earlier.
Up to 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine, Fentanyl has been linked to a rising number of fatal and non-fatal overdoses in the US in recent years.
Model considers suing League over ‘racist’ poster campaign
A Ukrainian-Italian model was seeking legal advice over the use of her photo in a poster campaign by Italy’s anti-immigrant League party, Italian media reported on Wednesday.
Anna Haholkina, who lives in Rimini, said she was considering a potential defamation suit against the party after it used her image, not just because she didn’t want to be “affiliated with any party, but, above all, because these electoral posters are racist”.
The posters, which have sprung up in Milan in recent weeks, featured two images: a photo of Haholkina next to a caption reading “free women”, and a photo of a woman wearing a niqab captioned “women forced to cover their face”. A slogan at the bottom of the poster read: “Which side do you want to be on?”
Haholkina said that, though she signed a photo release waiver with a stock image provider, the provider’s rules specified that the images could not be used for political campaign purposes.
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