Centre-left coalition secures local election wins in Genoa and Ravenna
Left-wing candidate Silvia Salis was announced as Genoa's new mayor on Tuesday, beating right-wing challenger and acting mayor Pietro Piciocchi in the first round of voting on May 24th and 25th.
Salis, who was supported by a coalition led by the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) and the populist Five Star Movement, won 51.48 percent of the vote compared to Piciocchi's 44.20 percent, according to Ansa.
The former hammer thrower and Olympic athlete dedicated the win to her father, who died in the days leading up to the electoral campaign.
The centre-left coalition's Alessandro Barattoni also won the vote for mayor in Ravenna without the need for runoff elections.
Barattoni secured just over 58 percent of the votes, while his right-wing challenger, Nicola Grandi, stopped at 24 percent.
As of Wednesday, leftist candidates were also ahead in the southern provincial capitals of Matera and Taranto, which will head into runoffs on June 8th and 9th.
PD leader Elly Schlein expressed satisfaction with the latest results.
"Today is a step towards building the alternative" to PM Giorgia Meloni’s coalition, she said.
Italy's business lobby Confindustria urges EU to speed up trade deals beyond US
Italy's business lobby group Confindustria on Tuesday called on Brussels to speed up trade agreements with other countries as negotiations with Washington over US President Donald Trump’s tariffs continue.
Last week, Trump announced punishing 50-percent tariffs on goods imported from the EU starting June 1st.
He later postponed the tariffs’ enforcement date to July 9th to allow further negotiations with the EU.
"After updating the [trade] agreements with Chile and Mexico, the European Union must absolutely conclude one with Mercosur," Confindustria President Emanuele Orsini said, according to Italian news reports.
The Mercosur (short for Southern Common Market) is a South American trade bloc consisting of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
A deal with Mercosur alone “is not enough,” Orsini warned.
“We must aim to reach agreements with Australia, make progress in our negotiations with India and the ASEAN [Southeast Asian] countries, and look at the 54 African Union countries that have joined the free trade area", he added.
Orsini also called on the EU to temporarily suspend its tight budget discipline rules to allow member states to join "a significant plan to support industrial investment across Europe".
EU investigates four porn platforms over child safety concerns
The EU on Tuesday launched an investigation into four pornographic websites over alleged failures to prevent children from accessing adult content in breach of the bloc's strict digital laws.
The European Commission said its investigations into Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX and XVideos focused “on the risks for the protection of minors, including those linked to the absence of effective age verification measures".
The commission found that the four platforms did not have "appropriate and proportionate measures to ensure a high level of privacy, safety and security for minors".
It also noted that the websites did not have adequate procedures to prevent negative effects on users' mental and physical well-being.
"Our priority is to protect minors and allow them to navigate safely online,” EU digital chief Henna Virkkunen said.
“Together with the digital service coordinators in the member states we are determined to tackle any potential harm to young online users," she added.
Brussels noted that the launch of formal proceedings did not prejudge the investigation's outcome, and that there was no deadline for its completion.
If proven, violations risk fines of up to six percent of a firm's global turnover.
Platforms found guilty of serious and repeated violations can also be banned from operating in Europe.
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