Italy

Welcome to today's Morning Brief, where we're following the rise of Giorgia Meloni, Russia's decision to grant Edward Snowden citizenship, and Cuba's vote ...

The report also said that some orders of torture—including electric shocks and asphyxiation— [came directly](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/venezuela-rejects-un-report-detailing-torture-rights-abuses/2022/09/26/9878ddfc-3db0-11ed-8c6e-9386bd7cd826_story.html?utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=wp_world) from President Nicolás Maduro. No to the ideology of gender.” On immigration, she has pushed for a Mediterranean “ [naval blockade](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/26/italy-meloni-right-wing-migration/)” and previously declared that Italy’s existing policies could transform it into the “ [refugee camp](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/26/italy-meloni-right-wing-migration/) of Europe.” The trip’s agenda will likely be dominated by security issues, especially over [Taiwan](https://www.reuters.com/world/us-harris-japanese-leader-condemn-chinas-actions-taiwan-strait-statement-2022-09-26/) and North Korea, which fired a ballistic missile on Sunday. Anatoly Kucherena, Snowden’s lawyer, said that he was not [summoned](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/26/putin-snowden-citizenship-russia/) in Putin’s recent military mobilization because he does not have [prior military](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/26/putin-grants-russian-citizenship-to-us-whistleblower-edward-snowden) experience. It marks a historic turn for the country, which has a fraught legacy of sending gay men to [labor camps](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-63035426). But the election was marked by [record-low voter turnout](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/26/world/europe/italy-election-meloni-what-to-know.html?smid=tw-nytimesworld&smtyp=cur), with just 64 percent of people participating, almost a ten percent drop compared to the last general election. According to Amnesty International, four children have been killed by government forces since the protests began, due to “deliberate and unlawful firing of live ammunition at protesters.” [soften](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/15/world/europe/giorgia-meloni-italy-right.html) her position ahead of the election, Meloni is known for her hard-line stances, famously [proclaiming](https://www.economist.com/europe/2022/09/22/giorgia-meloni-and-her-brothers-of-italy-look-set-to-win-the-next-election): “Yes to the natural family. The demonstrations were sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in police custody for allegedly wearing insufficiently modest clothing. In the coming months, Italy’s economic outlook—a key factor in this election—could prove to be a major test for new leadership. Her success was largely built on “the credibility crisis of her adversaries on the left and her allies on the right, who have all become increasingly inconsistent in the eyes of the public,” he wrote. She is expected to head the country’s most right-wing government since the era of fascist leader Benito Mussolini.

The leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy has kept out of sight since winning the election.

Her party was born out of a post-war movement rooted in the fascist past of dictator Benito Mussolini. He also warned that nobody would get a job in the new cabinet by planting party flags on seats. A Meloni government would be judged by its actions, he said. She picked her daughter up from school and worked off some stress in the gym. One former League leader, Roberto Maroni, has even suggested it is time for Mr Salvini to stand down. Several European countries have expressed alarm at her victory.

Russian gas currently accounts for about 10% of Italian imports, down from around 40% before Russia invaded Ukraine in February, according to the people. A very ...

Italy sees its 2023 budget deficit below 5% of national output despite a darkening economic outlook triggered by the energy crisis, three sources close to ...

It is therefore likely that Draghi will sign off on the draft budget. The Treasury forecasts gross domestic product (GDP) will grow by 3.3% this year, up from the 3.1% target which was set in April. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Italy's GDP is set to drop to 0.4% due to the Ukraine war in 2023, from 3.4% this year, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said in ...

(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 26 - Italy's GDP is set to drop to 0.4% due to the Ukraine war in 2023, from 3.4% this year, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said in its intermediate economic prospects Monday. Italy GDP to drop to 0.4% due to war in 2023 - OECD Eurozone inflation is forecast to drop from 8.1% to 6.2% while G20 inflation will fall from 8.2% to 6.6%, said the forecasts.

The nationalist Brothers of Italy group, led by Giorgia Meloni, emerged as the largest party in the ballot and will lead the most right-wing government in Rome ...

Marrazzo, a former leader of the Arcigay LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) association who unsuccessfully stood in the Sept. Meanwhile, her party's culture spokesman caused a stir by saying last week that gay couples "are not legal". Federico Mollicone later clarified he was referring only to gay couples who adopt. Meloni, 45, was raised by a single mother and is unmarried with one daughter. She presents herself as a defender of Christian values and an enemy of what she calls "gender ideology" and the "LGBT lobby". Explaining her opposition to gay parenting rights, she has said that "unlucky children" who are up for adoption "deserve the best" - meaning a father and a mother.

The far-right Brothers of Italy (FdI) won 26% as a party, and the right alliance that FdI lead received the 44% of the votes, winning the absolute majority in ...

[Anadolu Agency website contains only a portion of the news stories offered to subscribers in the AA News Broadcasting System (HAS), and in summarized form. In the 400-seat Lower House, the right alliance will be represented with 235 seats. New heads of both houses of the parliament will be elected in the first sessions.

“Of course I do not want women to be slaves, but if I proposed to give our women the vote, I would be laughed at," Italian dictator Benito Mussolini told ...

That is a lesson Americans can pay attention to as Republicans bring their own extremists into government, supporting the campaigns of election deniers, Oath Keepers and participants in the Jan. She believes that nonwhite immigration threatens Italian identity — and her version of Great Replacement theory, which she calls " [ethnic substitution](https://twitter.com/broderly/status/1552247082681081863/photo/1)," is among the most extreme of its type. "I don't consider myself a threat, a monstrous person, or a dangerous one," she told the Post, calling herself and her party "conservative" for centering freedom, the family, strong borders, and the defense of Italian nationalism. Each step toward normalization paved the way for today's unprecedented situation: a prime minister of a major European country who admires Mussolini and has direct links to neo-fascism. You don't need to understand her Spanish to perceive that this is a demagogue whose delivery recalls that of Il Duce. "We have networks connecting us, our think tanks work with the International Republican Institute, with the Heritage Foundation, we do cultural exchanges, and many of their fights are about things we have talked about." Like many Republicans, Meloni has done her best to present her extremism as mainstream and unexceptional. "I think there is a deliberate plan to erase everything that identifies us: culture, Nation, family are under attack," she [stated](https://twitter.com/broderly/status/1552247118961819649/photo/1) in March 2019. [“LGBT lobbies”](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62659183), and same-sex unions that harm "the natural family." "She must not count in political life.” Ninety years later, the top figure in Italian politics will finally be female: Giorgia Meloni, head of the neo-fascist Brothers of Italy party, is set become prime minister after her party received 26% of the vote in Sunday's elections. Now Italy is the country to have the first female-led far-right government, ending an era of male monopoly of authoritarian governance. Her party’s slogan, "God, Fatherland, Family," dates back to the regime.