Italian | Common News Update

Feb222021 by adminNo Comments

Italian ambassador to DR Congo killed after convoy attacked during ‘kidnap attempt’

World

Italy's ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo has been killed in an ambush, the United Nations has said. Luca Attanasio, 43, who was married with three young daughters, was in a convoy on his way from the eastern regional capital Goma to see a feeding programme in Rutshuru, close to the borders with Rwanda and Uganda. An Italian military policeman, Vittorio Iacovacci, 30, and an unnamed Congolese driver who was working for the UN's World Food Programme also died, the government in Rome said. Image: The vehicle in which the Italian ambassador was travelling. Pic: AP Italy's foreign minister, Luigi Di Maio, said the circumstances of the "brutal attack" were still unclear and "no effort will be spared to shed light on what happe...

Feb202021 by adminNo Comments

Italy’s president, pope mark year anniversary of first Italian COVID-19 case

World

Feb. 20 (UPI) -- Italy's President Sergio Mattarella and Pope France marked the one-year anniversary of the first Italian COVID-19 case by honoring health workers. The first Italian COVID-19 case was identified in Lombardy on Feb. 20, 2020 in a 38-year-old man, a research article shows. Two tourists from China had tested positive in Rome on Jan. 30. A few days after the first Italian tested positive, additional cases popped up in the surrounding area, and soon other cases, mostly in the northern area. Areas in Lombardy and Veneto went into lockdown first and by March 8 lockdowns began nationwide. Advertisement Mattarella announced the creation of a National Day to honor "health, social welfare and volunteer personnel," in a message Saturday to the President of the National Federation of O...

Dec272020 by adminNo Comments

‘A real turning point’: Vaccine rollout begins in Italian city where COVID crisis shocked the world

World

Flanked by a police escort, a paramedic emergency vehicle, its hazard lights flashing, speeds through town towards the main hospital.An emergency Christmas delivery handed to medical staff.A small green refrigerated bag then hurried inside the Papa Giovanni XXIII hospital, followed by two police officers.The COVID-19 vaccine has arrived in the northern Italian city of Bergamo.This city, which was devastated by the pandemic, can learn to breathe again. Image: Earlier this year, Dr Roberto Cosentini oversaw what looked like a warzone without bombs and bullets It is early days of course, but the vaccination process has begun.The symbolic first dose given to the city's head of doctors Guido Marinoni - looking after patients and the most v...

Oct152020 by adminNo Comments

German, Czech, Italian virus records deepen Europe worries

Health

BERLIN -- Record daily infection figures in Germany, the Czech Republic, Italy and elsewhere added to fears on Thursday that Europe is running out of chances to control its latest coronavirus outbreak. France has set a 9 p.m. curfew for many of its biggest cities as governments across the continent take increasingly tough action.New infections have surged across Europe over recent weeks as the fall kicks in, prompting authorities in many places to start reimposing restrictions that were relaxed over the summer. The Czech Republic, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, France and Britain are among the countries causing particular concern.While Germany, the European Union's most populous nation, is still in comparatively good shape, alarm bells have started ringing there too. On Thursday, the cou...

Aug42020 by adminNo Comments

The Latest: Italian air traffic picking up post lockdown

Health

MILAN — Italian air traffic controller provider ENAV says that air traffic in July showed signs of recovery from the coronavirus shutdown. Air traffic in July was three times higher than a month earlier in Italy, as the first Western nation to be hard hit by the coronavirus epidemic started to emerge from lockdown, ENAV reported Tuesday. ENAV said 75,200 flights were recorded last month, down 60% from a year earlier but significantly higher than June’s 26,000. Further recovery is expected in August. On the first August weekend, flights were down by just half from last year’s number. Nearly half of flights in July were international, one quarter domestic and one-third were fly-overs with no take-off or landing in Italian airspace. ——— Philippine capital back under lockdown as virus...