Italian PM discusses ‘new approach’ to irregular migration in Tunis visit

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met with Tunisian President Kais Saied in Tunis on Wednesday to discuss what she called a “new approach” to irregular migration and economic cooperation deals between the two countries, AFP reported.

In a video address released after her meeting with Saied, Meloni said “Tunisia cannot be a country of arrival for migrants” from the rest of Africa and vowed to “involve international organisations to work on repatriations”.

Meloni also signed off on three new financial agreements between Rome and Tunis, including a 50-million-euro fund for energy projects in the African country.

The Italian PM’s official visit to Tunisia – the fourth in less than a year – came two and a half months after she disclosed the first details of Italy’s Mattei plan, a blueprint of planned energy cooperation deals with a number of African nations. 

The plan has so far been at the centre of heavy criticism, with its detractors saying it’s a way for the current government to strike advantageous anti-migration deals with African countries after electoral campaign promises to curb sea arrivals went unfulfilled.

Ryanair’s CEO hits back at Italy’s competition watchdog after commercial probe

Ryanair CEO Micheal O’Leary on Wednesday said Italy’s competition watchdog AGCM should “stop taking action against Ryanair” and “do something against online travel agency pirates instead”, Ansa reported. 

O’Leary’s words came after the AGCM opened a probe into Ryanair’s commercial practices for allegedly “compromising the market’s competition dynamics” by limiting or blocking the sale of its flight tickets by travel agencies. 

“The inability of the AGCM to protect Italian consumers is indefensible”, said O’Leary, adding that the watchdog should turn its attention to travel agency “pirates” that “have a reputation for scamming consumers and inflating ticket prices”.

This is not the first time Ryanair, which is the largest airline carrier operating in the country, has been in an open dispute with the Italian competition authority. Last September, the AGCM launched an investigation into Ryanair for allegedly trying to “extend its market power” by offering other tourist services such as hotel and car rental reservations.

Italy pushes ahead with Messina Strait bridge project

Italy’s Deputy PM Matteo Salvini said on Wednesday that the government’s objective is to start construction of a controversial bridge crossing the Messina Strait to connect Sicily with the Italian mainland “by summer 2024”.

The announcement came just a day after Italy’s Environment Ministry filed some 239 requests for further documentation regarding the project’s construction plans – requests which will be fielded “within 30 days” according to Salvini. 

The dream of building a bridge over the Strait of Messina dates back decades, with Silvio Berlusconi’s government backing the plan in the early 2000s; but critics say it’s highly impractical, a risk of mafia infiltration and a waste of public funds that would be better spent on improving existing infrastructure.

Earlier this month, Salvini, who has made building the bridge his personal mission, insisted that the project “will represent the flagship of Italian engineering”.

Michelangelo’s sketch sells for over $200,000 at New York auction

A square scribbled on a piece of paper by Italian Renaissance genius Michelangelo was sold for $201,600 – 33 times its estimated value – at New York’s auction house Christie’s on Wednesday, AFP reported.

The small work, which depicts a block of marble with the word simile, or “similar” in English, is believed to have been drawn by Michelangelo while working on the Vatican’s famed Sistine Chapel ceiling, a Christie’s specialist told AFP.

Christie’s specialists found the sketch and a letter from Michelangelo’s last direct descendant Cosimo Buonarroti attached to the back of a different drawing, which had been in a private collection for decades, the auction house said in a statement.

Fewer than ten of Michelangelo’s works are thought to be privately owned, with most housed in Florence’s Casa Buonarroti museum.