Second journalist at Italian investigative news site targeted with ‘mercenary spyware’
A second Italian journalist from a news organisation that exposed fascist salutes and chants within the youth wing of PM Giorgia Meloni’s party has been targeted with “mercenary spyware”, Ansa reported on Wednesday.
Ciro Pellegrino is the second reporter at Italian news outlet Fanpage to be the victim of a spyware attack after his editor-in-chief, Francesco Cancellato, was also targeted earlier this year.
Cancellato said in January he had received a notification from messaging platform WhatsApp warning that he had been targeted with software produced by Paragon Solutions – an Israeli cyber defence firm that had a client relationship with Rome at the time.
Cancellato is the author of an investigative story that exposed how members of Brothers of Italy’s youth wing had engaged in fascist chants, Nazi salutes and antisemitic rants.
Besides Pellegrino and Cancellato, four other individuals have reported being subjected to spyware in recent months.
They are: David Yambio, an Italy-based human rights activist; Luca Casarini and Beppe Caccia, the Italian founders of the NGO Mediterranea Saving Humans; Father Mattia Ferrari, a chaplain on a migrant rescue ship owned by the same NGO.
Pellegrino, who has long been critical of Meloni’s government on social media, told Ansa on Wednesday that he had received a notification from Apple informing him of a “mercenary spyware attack”.
As of Friday morning, it wasn't yet clear when Pellegrino’s mobile phone was attacked or whether Paragon software was used in his case.
“At first I thought it was a scam, but then I found out it was all true,” Pellegrino said.
“I feel a lot of anger and surprise. I still can't believe this is happening to me.”
Pellegrino said he intends to file an official complaint with police authorities in the coming days.
British film director Loach slams plans to tear down Milan’s San Siro stadium
British film director Ken Loach has condemned Inter Milan and AC Milan’s joint plans to tear down the iconic San Siro stadium to build a new football ground on the same site, Italian news agency Ansa reported on Thursday.
In a letter addressed to Italian journalist Lucia Tozzi, Loach said he felt “horror at the possibility of losing the San Siro stadium”.
San Siro “is one of the greatest and most historic football stadiums in the world” and the “thought that it will be destroyed is shocking,” Loach said.
"Football has always been a sport of the people [...]. When capacity is reduced and ticket prices increase, many working-class fans will be excluded. Their passionate support will be lost,” the director noted.
"We all trust that the people of Milan [...] will not allow this destruction to happen."
Inter Milan and AC Milan, which currently rent San Siro for home matches, have long looked to replace the current stadium with a modern ground owned by both clubs.
The clubs presented a joint bid to build a new “state-of-the-art” stadium on the site of San Siro in early March.
The proposal includes an offer to purchase the land where city-owned San Siro is located and the construction of a 70,000-seat stadium to the immediate west of the current ground.
Under the proposal, San Siro would face demolition following the construction of the new stadium.
Fans of both Milan-based teams have expressed concerns that the construction of a new ground could lead to major hikes in ticket prices and lower numbers of seats for ordinary supporters in favour of high-end hospitality areas.
'Fantapapa': online game rides conclave excitement with cardinal fantasy team
As cardinals prepare to elect a new pope, almost 60,000 people around Italy have signed up for a new online game that allows users to pick their favourite papal candidates, according to AFP.
Fantapapa mimics fantasy football (fantacalcio in Italian) – where users pretend to be managers of professional football teams.
"People are intrigued by Vatican power dynamics," Pietro Pace, 42, one of the game's two founders, told AFP.
"Playing allows them to try to get inside these dynamics and remove some of the mystery that shrouds them," he added.
Fantapapa asks players to choose a team of 11 cardinals, including a captain (the most likely to become pope) and a goalkeeper (the least likely to be elected pontiff), providing an insight into users' favourite frontrunners.
As of Tuesday, Matteo Zuppi was the cardinal selected by the most people, followed by Pietro Parolin, Luis Antonio Tagle, and Pierbattista Pizzaballa.
Players win points if a team member is mentioned prominently in Italian media. Extra points are allocated if one of the picks is elected.
Bonuses are assigned to those who correctly guess the new pope's political leaning, religious order and mother tongue, as well as the name he’ll choose to take.
Fantapapa has no money prize.
“It's just for fun and eternal glory," Pace said.
With reporting from AFP.
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