12 people injured in Venice after tree falls at crowded bus station
12 people, including three minors, were injured in Venice on Monday after a large tree fell in Piazzale Roma, the city’s main bus and tram station, according to Italian media reports.
A 39-year-old mother of two from Mestre was reported as being in critical condition after she was struck by the trunk of the tree.
Two others were in serious but non-life-threatening condition, while three minors suffered light injuries.
Of the 12 people injured in the incident, 11 were tourists, reports said.
According to eyewitnesses' accounts, the tree fell in a particularly crowded part of the station shortly before 3pm local time.
One of the injured people was sitting on a low stone wall under the tree when it fell, eyewitnesses said.
Venice officials opened an investigation into the incident on Monday.
Francesca Zaccariotto, Venice’s councillor for public works, said the tree "had been monitored like all the other trees in the city, but no issues or warning signs had been detected.”
Italy’s Meloni to host Macron in Rome amid reconciliation rumours
Italian PM Giorgia Meloni is set to host French President Emmanuel Macron in Rome on Tuesday for talks hoped to ease tensions after years of strained relations.
The Italian prime minister was to host a one-on-one meeting with Macron on Tuesday evening in what Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper called a "turning-point summit".
The meeting comes just weeks after the tense relations between the pair were laid bare at a summit of European leaders in Tirana, Albania, on May 16th.
Meloni was in Tirana but didn’t attend a meeting including Macron, the leaders of Germany, Britain and Poland, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Meloni said she didn’t join the summit because she opposes the idea of sending European troops to Ukraine to enforce any potential peace agreement between Kyiv and Moscow.
Macron later said the Italian premier’s behaviour was based on a "misunderstanding", as the discussion was centred on “achiev[ing] a ceasefire," and there was no mention of sending troops to Ukraine.
Besides the war in Ukraine, the two leaders have also taken different stances over the punishing trade tariffs threatened by US President Donald Trump.
So far, Meloni has sought to act as a bridge between the US administration and Brussels, warning that any retaliatory measure from the bloc could trigger a full-blown trade war and stressing the importance of maintaining strong transatlantic ties.
While also noting the importance of US-EU negotiations, Macron has backed a firmer stance in response to US tariffs, openly backing the rollout of retaliatory measures should talks fail.
EU hits food delivery company Delivery Hero with €329 million fine
The EU on Monday hit German food delivery company Delivery Hero and its Spanish subsidiary Glovo with a €329 million fine after they violated antitrust rules.
EU regulators said that Delivery Hero used its stake in Glovo between 2018 and 2022 to limit competition by exchanging sensitive information and agreeing not to poach each other's employees, dividing national markets for food delivery among themselves.
Delivery Hero and Glovo are two of the biggest food delivery companies in Europe, delivering restaurant meals and groceries to customers’ homes.
The European Commission said the two companies admitted their involvement in the scheme and agreed to pay the fines to settle the case.
"Cartels like this reduce choice for consumers and business partners, opportunities for employees and incentives to compete and innovate," it said.
Delivery Hero faces a €223 million fine, while Glovo will have to pay around €106 million, the commission noted.
The EU's decision was the first where the Commission found and sanctioned a labour market cartel, according to EU competition chief Teresa Ribera.
It was also the first time the Commission sanctioned “a no-poach agreement, where companies stop competing for the best talent and reduce opportunities for workers," Ribera said.
With reporting from AFP.
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