Child abducted to US by father returns to Italy after district court ruling
One-year-old Ethan Nichols returned to Italy on Thursday after a US federal judge ruled in favour of his Italian mother in a high-profile abduction case, Ansa reported.
Ethan was secretly flown to the US by his father, Eric Howard Nichols, in August 2024.
Nichols and Ethan’s Italian mother, Claudia Ciampa, had ended their romantic relationship a few weeks earlier and had agreed to jointly parent the child.
After Ciampa discovered that Ethan had been taken to the US, she immediately notified police in Italy, who started a cross-border investigation into the pair’s whereabouts with the help of American authorities.
After being located by authorities in Orange County, California, in November 2024, Ethan was removed from his father and reunited with his mother in the US pending an official court ruling.
District Judge David O. Carter on Wednesday ruled that Ciampa may immediately return to Italy with Ethan.
"This case exemplifies the very conduct the Hague Convention sought to deter – the abduction of a child from their home country by a parent seeking a more sympathetic court," Judge Carter wrote in his ruling, according to PR Newswire.
Nichols “took a breastfeeding infant across international borders, believing that his American citizenship would grant him a more favorable forum. Meanwhile, Ms. Ciampa endured 82 days of heart wrenching separation from Baby Ethan,” the judge wrote.
“This Court will not serve as a refuge for such actions," he added.
Because Nichols was in Italy and not the US when he took Ethan from his mother, he does not face criminal charges in Orange County.
Should he return to Italy, he would face child abduction charges there.
Italian consumer group calls for ‘offensive’ Estonian song to be banned from Eurovision
Italian consumer group Codacons has called for Estonia’s Eurovision entry to be banned from the competition, saying that it includes offensive stereotypes about Italians being coffee- and spaghetti-loving mobsters, Italian media reported on Thursday.
Espresso Macchiato, by Estonian rapper Tommy Cash, is an electro-swing track blending broken English with Italian.
It opens with the lyrics: “Ciao bella, I’m Tomaso, addicted to tobacco. Mi like mi coffè very importante.”
Cash goes on to rap: “Mi money numeroso, I work around the clocko. That’s why I’m sweating like a mafioso.”
Codacons said on Thursday it had filed a formal complaint with the European Broadcasting Union, which owns and operates Eurovision, questioning the appropriateness of a song that “offends an entire nation and community”.
“Notwithstanding the freedom of artistic expression that must characterise events such as Eurovision, we cannot help but raise doubts about the inclusion of a song that is offensive to a plurality of individuals in a competition followed by audiences all over the world,” Codacons said in a statement.
The song’s lyrics “contain stereotypes about Italy and Italians – the usual cliches of coffee and spaghetti, but above all the mafia and the ostentation of luxury, which convey a message of a population tied to organised crime,” the statement added.
Gian Marco Centinaio, an MP with Italy’s hard-right League party, also condemned the track on Thursday, writing on Instagram that its author “should come to Italy to see how good people work before writing such stupid songs full of stereotypes.”
Referring to the event organisers, he said: “I sincerely hope they prevent him from participating.”
The 2025 Eurovision contest will take place in Basel, Switzerland, from May 13th to 17th.
Italian PM Meloni backs minister convicted of disclosing confidential information
A junior minister in Italian PM Giorgia Meloni's government was handed an eight-month suspended prison sentence on Thursday for disclosing confidential information – but the premier insisted he will keep his job.
A Rome court found that Andrea Delmastro, a junior justice minister, had revealed confidential information regarding conversations about anarchist Alfredo Cospito and members of the mafia serving prison sentences.
He passed on the information to Giovanni Donzelli, an MP from Meloni's Brothers of Italy party.
Donzelli then used the information in a parliamentary debate on Italy's restrictive ‘41-bis’ detention regime.
Prosecutors had requested that Delmastro be acquitted, saying it wasn't clear that he was aware of the secrecy of the information when he shared it, media reports said.
The court imposed a one-year ban on holding public office, which was also suspended, the reports added.
Meloni said she was "shocked" by Delmastro’s conviction, noting that prosecutors had asked for the case to be dropped before requesting that the minister be acquitted.
"I wonder if the judgment is truly based on the features of the case. Undersecretary Delmastro remains in his position," she said in a statement.
Delmastro said he won't step down, calling the conviction "political".
Elly Schlein, leader of the centre-left Democratic Party, said he should be forced to resign.
"Delmastro's conviction demonstrates the inadequacy of this administration," she said.
With reporting from AFP.
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