BEIJING: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni arrived in Beijing on Saturday, Chinese state media said, in her first visit to the country since she took office nearly two years ago.

During the five-day trip she is due to meet President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang, with boosting bilateral trade and ending the war in Ukraine topping the agenda.

“Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni arrived in Beijing on the afternoon of 27 July for an official visit,” state broadcaster CGTN said in a post on the Weibo social network.

Meloni will be looking to “relaunch bilateral relations in sectors of common interest”, an Italian official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

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ROME: Italian police have arrested the owner of the agriculture company who dumped a 31-year-old Indian worker on the road without medical assistance after his arm was severed by heavy farm machinery, causing his death, a tragic incident that shocked the country and its leadership.

Satnam Singh was abandoned by his employer after a strawberry wrapping machine severed his arm in Lazio, near Rome, last month and died due to “copious bleeding”, the ANSA news agency reported.

The Sikh casual farm labourer died in a hospital in Rome two days later after being airlifted there when he was eventually found.

Police on Tuesday arrested the alleged gang master, Antonello Lovato, on suspicion of causing Singh’s manslaughter death, the report said.

Prosecutors said in a statement that the Sikh farmer, who died of a massive haemorrhage in a Rome hospital, “would in all likelihood have been saved if he had been promptly assisted”.

“We were waiting for this news, we were angry,” the president of the Lazio Indian community, Gurmukh Singh, said.

“The worst thing (Lovato) did was to leave him outside his home instead of taking him to hospital,” he was quoted as saying.

“An accident can happen, but not calling for medical assistance is unacceptable,” he said.

Singh’s death has spurred outrage at gang mastering, which is widespread in Italy, especially in the south of the country, and modern forms of slavery.

According to an earlier report, Lovato loaded Singh and his wife into a van and left them by the side of the road near their home.

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Rome: Italy suffered massive damages and disruptions after exceptional downpours battered its northwestern regions over late last week, local authorities said.

The stormy weather led to intense flooding and extensive landslides in the Alpine Aosta Valley region, which borders France, particularly affecting Piedmont, Xinhua news agency reported on Monday.

In the Aosta Valley, concerns centred on the town of Cogne and the renowned Breuil-Cervinia ski resort, Civic Protection Chief Fabrizio Curcio told local media after an emergency meeting with rescue teams and regional authorities that extended into the early hours of Monday.

Since Sunday, both places have been isolated due to a landslide that severed the main road providing access to the region.

In addition, the centre of Cervinia was inundated by flooding.

Several other villages in Aosta Valley and Piedmont were also cut off.

In total, around 500 people, including tourists stranded in resorts along the slopes of the 4,600-metre-high Monte Rosa, had to be evacuated by helicopters.

“Our current priorities are focused on evacuating those still in need to lower Aosta Valley, and on restoring the road system and essential services, including the damaged aqueduct,” Curcio said.

In Piedmont, at least 480 rescue operations were conducted up to Sunday night, involving 100 staff and 170 volunteers from the Civic Protection, according to the latest data provided by the regional government.

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Rome: The Italian Senate has approved a controversial constitutional reform put forward by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government.

A total of 109 members voted in favour of the reform in the smaller of the two chambers of Parliament in Rome on Tuesday, with 77 against.

The reform still faces several more hurdles before it can become law.

The ruling parties celebrated after the vote, while the opposition protested and symbolically held up copies of the constitution.

The constitutional reform stipulates that in future the Prime Minister would be directly elected for five years and the coalition supporting the winning candidate would be given at least 55 per cent of seats in both Houses of Parliament to make sure it has a workable majority.

The 109 votes secured in the Senate fell well short of the two-thirds majority needed for constitutional changes in both chambers in Italy.

It is also not expected to receive such a majority in the Chamber of Deputies. If the two-thirds majorities are not secured, the measure has to be put to a referendum.

The last time such a referendum was held, was in 2016, the then head of government Matteo Renzi lost the vote and had to resign as a result.

The right-wing government in Rome wants to use the reform to combat the chronic instability of Italian governments.

Italy has had a total of nearly 70 governments since the end of the Second World War. While many agree that the political system therefore needs to be overhauled, the Meloni government’s reform has been sharply criticised by the opposition.

They fear that Meloni could take important powers away from Parliament and the President.

Opposition leader Elly Schlein said that the reform would turn the governmental structure in Italy upside down, and concentrate power in a single person.

The opposition announced its intention to take action against the plan.

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Rome; Two shipwrecks occurred on Monday off the Italian coasts, killing at least 11 migrants, while another 66 remain missing, the Italian authorities said.

A search and rescue operation by Italy’s coast guard is ongoing in the Mediterranean as of late on Monday, hours after two migrant boats encountered problems near the Italian coasts, Xinhua news agency reported.

A merchant ship in the area conducted the initial rescue after launching an SOS call as it discovered a wooden sailboat in distress some 120 miles (193 km) off the coast of Calabria in southern Italy.

The merchant ship rescued 12 people and assisted them until an Italian coast guard vessel arrived. One woman died shortly after disembarkation due to severe medical conditions, according to the Coast Guard.

“Searches for possible survivors of the shipwreck of the sailing boat continue,” the Coast Guard said in a statement.

The Coast Guard specified that two Italian patrol boats and an ATR42 aircraft were currently involved in the search, and another patrol ship with medical teams on board would soon join them in the area. As of Monday evening, no more survivors have been found.

The 66 people who are feared dead include 26 minors, according to local media citing sources among medical staff.

According to the survivors’ statement, the sailing boat departed from Turkey last week, carrying migrants and refugee seekers from Iraq, Syria, Iran, and Afghanistan.

Italian prosecutors have launched an investigation into the shipwreck, the latest in a long string of deadly incidents involving economic migrants and refugees attempting to reach Europe via the Mediterranean.

In an earlier incident, a rescue ship with the German aid group Resqship found 10 migrants dead and managed to save 51 others on board a boat in distress off the waters of Malta, not far from Lampedusa, Italy’s southernmost island.

The survivors were mainly from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Egypt, and Syria, according to Rai News 24. The ship was ordered by the Italian Interior Ministry to dock in Lampedusa, where survivors would receive assistance.

Migrants travelling by boat through the central Mediterranean Sea face dangerous conditions and high mortality rates due to weather conditions and poor-quality vessels. Nearly one thousand people have died or disappeared crossing the Mediterranean so far this year, and 3,155 in 2023, according to the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration.

–IANS

int/sha

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Apulia (Italy): Prime Minister Narendra Modi held bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Italy and Japan after the conclusion of the G7 Summit’s Outreach Session in Italy’s Borgo Egnazia on Friday.

PM Modi began the day holding back-to-back bilaterals with French President Emmanuel Macron, British PM Rishi Sunak, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

He then attended the G7 Outreach Session on AI and Energy, Africa and Mediterranean which was followed by interactions with several world leaders, including US President Joe Biden, before the official photo-op.

Imparting further momentum to the India-Italy partnership, PM Modi congratulated Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni for the success of the G7 Summit.

“The leaders held discussions on expanding India-Italy Strategic Partnership in various spheres, including defence, cyber security, trade and investment, manufacturing, space, telecom, AI, digital, critical minerals, clean energy, and mobility, among others,” the Ministry of External Affairs said after the bilateral between PM Modi and Meloni.

After holding talks with Japanese PM Fumio Kishida, PM Modi said: “It was a delight to meet PM Kishida on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Italy. Strong ties between India and Japan are important for a peaceful, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific.

“Our nations look forward to working together in defence, technology, semiconductors, clean energy and digital technology. We also wish to advance ties in infrastructure and cultural linkages.”

The visit to Italy was Prime Minister Modi’s first overseas trip after assuming office for the third consecutive term, and also his fifth consecutive participation in the G7 Summit.

Before leaving for Italy, PM Modi had warmly recalled his visit to the country for the G20 Summit in 2021.

“Prime Minister Meloni’s two visits to India last year were instrumental in infusing momentum and depth to our bilateral agenda. We remain committed to consolidating the India-Italy strategic partnership, and bolstering cooperation in the Indo-Pacific and the Mediterranean regions,” the Prime Minister had said in his departure statement.

After the conclusion of the G7 Summit’s Outreach Session, PM Modi met with several world leaders, including US President Joe Biden.

“It’s always a pleasure to meet POTUS Joe Biden. India and USA will keep working together to further global good,” the PM posted on X along with pictures of his meeting with the US President.

He also interacted with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Jordan King Abdullah, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the sidelines of the event.

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Apulia (Italy): Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with several world leaders, including US President Joe Biden, after the conclusion of the G7 Summit’s Outreach Session in Italy’s Borgo Egnazia on Friday.

“It’s always a pleasure to meet POTUS Joe Biden. India and the USA will keep working together to further global good,” the PM posted on X along with pictures of his meeting with the US President.

The visit to Italy is Prime Minister Modi’s first overseas visit after assuming office for the third consecutive term and also his fifth consecutive participation in the summit.

While there was no formal bilateral meeting scheduled between the two leaders, the US National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan had told reporters en route to Brindisi that Biden and PM Modi will have an “opportunity to encounter one another” during the G7 session as the schedule remains “fluid”.

After speaking at the G7 Outreach Session on AI and Energy, Africa and Mediterranean, PM Modi also interacted with Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Jordan’s King Abdullah and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

PM Modi also met his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau on the sidelines of the event. Earlier in the day, PM Modi held back-to-back bilateral meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron, British PM Rishi Sunak, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

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