Workplace deaths ‘insult to collective conscience’: head of state

Italian President Sergio Mattarella said workplace deaths were an “intolerable insult to collective conscience” as parliament prepared to open an inquiry into labour conditions in Italy following a deadly railway accident in August 2023, Ansa reported. 

“Safety on the job is the necessary condition to put the fundamental and inalienable right to health into effect,” he added. 

Last August, five track maintenance workers lost their lives in a rail accident in Brandizzo, near Turin, after being hit by a train.

Two workers survived the accident and were among 15 people later placed under investigation by prosecutors in Ivrea.

The investigation focused on why maintenance works were allowed to begin before receiving confirmation that traffic on the line had been halted.

Mussolini’s granddaughter quits Meloni’s party over ‘centrist sensibilities’

The granddaughter of Italy’s Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini said on Thursday she was leaving PM Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party after recently opposing its stance on LGBTQ rights and backing a contested citizenship reform proposal.

Rachele Mussolini said she was moving to the centre-right Forza Italia party, currently led by Foreign Minister and Deputy PM Antonio Tajani, who succeeded Silvio Berlusconi following his death last June.

“It is time to turn the page and join a party that I feel is closer to my moderate and centrist sensibilities,” Mussolini, aged 50, told ANSA.

Mussolini, a city councillor in Rome, won the most votes of any candidate at the 2021 council elections.

Carmaker Stellantis pauses electric Fiat 500 production amid low demand

Carmaker Stellantis said on Thursday it would halt production of the electric version of the famous Fiat 500 in Italy due to weak demand, AFP reported. 

“This measure is necessary due to a current lack of orders,” Stellantis said in a statement.

The move came after electric vehicle (EV) sales stalled in many European countries, partly because of the end of a number of government incentives.

The carmaker added that it was investing 100 million euros to give the compact model a stronger battery and boost production capacity at the Fiat Mirafiori factory, outside Turin.

The current Fiat 500e offers a range of up to 320 kilometres (199 miles).

Europe intends to end sales of new fossil-fuel-powered cars in 2035 but uptake of electric vehicles has been hobbled by high prices and limited battery range.

Interior ministry mulls ban on Rome pro-Palestine rally 

Italy’s interior ministry was considering banning a pro-Palestine rally set to be held in Rome on October 5th, a report from Il Fatto Quotidiano said on Thursday. 

The report said that authorities feared that the event may pose concrete risks for public order. 

The October 5th rally was announced in early September by the Giovani Palestinesi (Young Palestinians) group to “support the Palestinian people and their national liberation movement”.

The event was set to take place two days before the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ October 7th attacks.