Italy

ROME (AP) — Thunderstorms hampered Monday the search for more than a dozen hikers who remained unaccounted for a day after a huge chunk of an Alpine glacier in Italy broke off, sending an avalanche of ice, snow and rocks down the slope. Italy’s state TV said another body was recovered, raising the known death toll to seven.

Nine others were injured when the avalanche was unleashed from the Marmolada glacier Sunday afternoon when dozens of hikers were on excursions, some of them roped together.

ROME, July 3 (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and the leader of the 5-Star Movement Giuseppe Conte will meet on Monday to try to resolve tensions which could bring down Draghi's 16-month old government.

Conte, who was Draghi's predecessor as premier, took the reins of the 5-Star Movement after his own government collapsed in February last year, but relations with Draghi have grown more difficult as 5-Star's fortunes have waned.

ROME, July 3 (Xinhua) -- Euro currency zone economies are responding unevenly to the economic turbulence of recent weeks, raising the stakes for the European Central Bank (ECB) as it prepares to raise interest rates for the first time in more than a decade.

The economic indicator most economists are keeping an eye on is inflation. Prices across the 19-nation currency zone rose a record 8.6 percent in June compared to the same month in 2021, according to Eurostat.

ROME, June 19. /TASS/: Italian energy company Eni reported on Sunday that it continues to receiving gas volumes from Gazprom in reduced volumes.

"Gazprom announced that today it will deliver volumes of gas in line with the quantities delivered in the last days," the company said in a statement.

In recent days, Italy has received smaller than requested volumes of gas, ranging from 50 to 65%.

ROME, June 19 (Reuters) - Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio on Sunday accused his own 5-Star Movement party of undermining government efforts to support Ukraine and weakening Rome's standing within the European Union.

His outburst could signal an imminent schism in the group he once led, with 5-Star officials due to meet later on Sunday to consider Di Maio's position following other recent broadsides.

ROME, June 14. /TASS/: World War 3 is already here, La Stampa quoted Pope Francis as saying on Tuesday.

"A few years ago, it occurred to me to say that we are experiencing World War 3 in bits and pieces. Here, for me today World War 3 has already been declared," the pontiff said at a meeting with editors of Jesuit magazines. "And this is an aspect that should make us reflect. What is happening to humanity that has had three world wars in a century? And this is bad for humanity, it’s a calamity," the Italian newspaper quoted Francis as saying.

ROME, June 14 (Reuters) - Pope Francis has taken a new series of swipes at Russia for its actions in Ukraine, saying its troops were brutal, cruel and ferocious and that the invasion violated a country's right to self-determination.

In the text of a conversation he had last month with editors of Jesuit media and published on Tuesday, he praised "brave" Ukrainians for fighting for survival but also said the situation was not black and white and that the war was "perhaps in some way provoked".

MILAN (AP) — Edoardo Ronzoni inspects a construction site near Milan that he shut down in March as costs for materials skyrocketed. He can’t complete a half-built roundabout at an intersection known for fender-benders because asphalt, cast-iron pipes and concrete are too expensive — prices exacerbated by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Public works projects in Italy are grinding to a halt just as the European Union is injecting 108 billion euros ($114 billion) in pandemic recovery money meant to launch a construction frenzy.

ROME, May 18 (Xinhua) -- Italy backs the bid by Finland and Sweden to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the country's Prime Minister, Mario Draghi, told journalists here on Wednesday.

Draghi met the press along with Finland's visiting Prime Minister Sanna Marin at Palazzo Chigi, the seat of Italy's government. He said that Italy was willing to speed up the two applicant countries' accession procedures.

MILAN, May 15 (Reuters) - Italian police thwarted hacker attacks by pro-Russian groups during the May 10 semi-final and Saturday final of the Eurovision Song Contest in Turin, authorities said on Sunday.

Ukraine's Kalush Orchestra won the contest with their entry "Stefania", riding a wave of public support to claim an emotional victory that was welcomed by the country's president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.