Italy’s top story on Tuesday:

Italy was on maximum alert after Iran’s missile strikes on Israel on Saturday night, two weeks after Israel attacked Iran’s consulate in Syria.

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi on Monday held a meeting of the government’s national committee for public security, including the leaders of the country’s policing and intelligence agencies, to discuss the situation.

Italy has been on its highest-level terror alert since October 2023 following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war; the latest developments mean Iranian sites will be added to the government’s list of monitored locations, according to Il Sole 24 Ore.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani on Sunday told journalists that Italy’s embassies in Tel Aviv and Tehran would remain open and provide updates throughout the night “so that there is no risk either for embassy officials or for Italians living in these countries.”

TV presenter Amadeus becomes latest to leave Rai

One of Italy’s best-known TV presenters confirmed on Monday he would leave state broadcaster Rai amid allegations of a government “purge”.

Amadeus, the 61-year-old who has hosted a range of popular programmes on Rai, including the Sanremo Music Festival, became the latest in a string of stars to leave the broadcaster.

Last summer, high-profile journalist Bianca Berlinguer, daughter of late Italian Communist Party leader Enrico Berlinguer, quit Rai after 34 years and joined rival network Mediaset, while Rai3 lost two other popular left-leaning chat show hosts, Fabio Fazio and Lucia Annunziata.

Unions representing Rai staff accused management last week of “reducing the public service broadcaster to a government mouthpiece” amid allegations that Giorgia Meloni’s administration held excessive influence over the state-owned network.

Italian men arrested for raping Canadian tourist

Two men were arrested in the Sicilian capital of Palermo on Monday after a Canadian tourist filed a police report accusing them of rape.

The 30-year-old, who spoke no Italian, had reportedly been visiting her boyfriend in hospital and had sought information from a hospital attendant who offered to pick her up from her B&B to spend the evening together.

The two left to meet up with the man’s friend and all three late returned to the woman’s accommodation, from which point on she told police she lost all memory of the evening.

A hospital examination confirmed that the woman had been raped and she was able to identify one of her attackers to police from his instagram profile, according to Italian news reports.

ITA and Lufthansa present new merger proposal to EU

Italian national flag carrier ITA and German airline Lufthansa are “confident” Brussels will accept their updated proposal for a merger after the EU rejected the deal on competition grounds, Il Sole 24 Ore reported on Monday.

The European Commission had in March raised objections to Lufthansa’s proposed purchase of a 41 percent minority stake in ITA, giving both companies until April 26th to address officials’ concerns that the takeover would give ITA excessive control over certain routes.

On Monday the Commission reportedly confirmed that the operators had provided a “detailed response” with “possible remedies” and that it would come back with a decision by June 6th.

In a statement, Lufthansa said it remained “confident that the European Commission will approve the participation in ITA Airways and that ITA can become part of the Lufthansa family by the end of this year”.