Tag Archives: ITALY

Business

Retail sales in the Euro area rose by 3% in February

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Statistics on the dynamics of retail sales in the euro area in February were better than the forecast of analysts. Sales increased by 3% compared to the previous month, with forecast growth of 1.5%.

On an annualized basis, retail sales declined 2.9%. Analysts had expected them to decline by 5.4%. Sales of goods belonging to the non-food group increased by 6.8%. Fuel sales in the euro area rose by 3.7%. At the same time, sales of food products decreased by 1.1%. Retail sales in the European Union increased by 2.9% month-on-month in February. Compared to the same month in 2020, they decreased by 2.2%.

The leaders in terms of sales growth in monthly terms were such countries as Austria, Slovenia, and Italy. The largest decline was recorded in Malta.

Compared to February of the previous year, the highest growth rate of retail sales was observed in Belgium, Austria, and Croatia. At the same time, Portugal, Slovakia, and Malta showed the highest rates of decline in retail sales.

Europe, Scandals

Arrested Italian officer had limited access to NATO secrets

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Italian soldier Walter Biot, who was arrested for spying for Russia, had limited access to classified information about NATO activities.

This was stated by Defense Minister Lorenzo Guerini at a meeting of the parliamentary defense committee, ANSA reports.

“The officer held a position that allowed him to view classified material, but his duties, which did not include command or management activities, allowed him to access evaluation documents and recommendations, but not to direct operations or details of national and NATO capabilities,” Guerini said.

He noted that the Ministry of Defense has not yet received access to the case materials and cannot assess the degree of secrecy of the documents handed over by Biot to the employee of the Russian Embassy.

Recall that on April 1, Italian security forces detained Italian and Russian servicemen as part of an investigation into espionage.

The arrests were made immediately after a secret meeting between the two soldiers. Both were arrested at the scene after handing over classified documents by an Italian officer in exchange for a sum of money.

The Russian military was expelled from Italy because he has diplomatic status.

Biot is married and has four children. One of them has serious health problems and needs constant and expensive care. Perhaps this was the reason why the officer decided to sell the information.

Europe

In Italy, the number of victims of coronavirus exceeded 110 thousand

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In Italy, more than 331 thousand tests for coronavirus were performed per day, which gave 21,932 positive results. Compared to Thursday, the number of detected cases of infection decreased by 1,717. This is stated in the bulletin of the Ministry of Health of the country for Friday.

The ratio of the number of tests performed to the number of positive results obtained, as well as the day before, was 6.6%. Cases of infection were detected in all regions of the country, but most of all-in Lombardy (3,941), Campania (2,057), Apulia (2,044), Piedmont (1,942), Lazio (1,918), Emilia-Romagna (1,830), and Veneto (1,567).

To date, the number of accurately identified carriers of coronavirus in Italy is 565,295 (plus 0.32% per day). 28,704 people (minus 0.85%) were hospitalized with symptoms of the disease. 3,704 seriously ill patients (plus 0.62%) are being treated in intensive care units. Another 532,887 asymptomatic patients are quarantined or in-home self-isolation (plus 0.38%).

During the day, 19,620 people were recognized as recovered, while 481 fatal cases provoked by COVID-19 were registered. A total of 3,629,000 people were infected with the coronavirus during the pandemic, including 110,382 deaths and 2,953,377 recoveries.

According to Il Sole 24 Ore on the evening of April 2, 10,697,459 coronavirus vaccinations were made in Italy. The number of those who completed the full course of vaccination from two vaccinations reached 3,351,019, which corresponds to 5.62% of the country’s population.

Europe

Italy Investigates Threats to the Head of the Ministry of Health for His Support of Lockdown

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Police in Italy seized computers and other devices allegedly used by four Italians to send death threats and offensive emails to the country’s health minister to protest his strong stance on lockdown.

This was reported by AP.

Police said Friday that the emails were sent between October and January from foreign computer servers and contained threats of retaliation against Health Minister Roberto Speranza and his family, “including explicit death threats.”

Four Italians in four different Italian cities and between the ages of 35 and 55 were investigated for “escalating threats,” according to a statement from the Carabinieri.

Speranza is part of the camp of the “strict” Italian government, which favors severe restrictions to contain the spread of the virus.

His popularity in national polls was high throughout the pandemic. He was one of the few government ministers to keep his job after Mario Draghi became prime minister in February.

Scandals

Espionage scandal: Italy expels two Russian Embassy employees

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An Italian soldier arrested on suspicion of spying for Russia sold information not only about Italy, but also about NATO.

Two employees of the Russian embassy are being expelled from Italy because of the espionage scandal. This is reported by the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Luigi Di Maio.

“The Italian government protested to the Russian Ambassador to Italy, who was summoned to the Foreign Ministry. He was also informed of the immediate expulsion of two employees involved in a serious case. I thank our special services and all state bodies working for the benefit of the security of our country, ” the minister said in a statement.

The Russian Foreign Ministry commented on the expulsion of its diplomats from Italy.

“We regret the expulsion of two Russian diplomats from Italy. We are investigating the circumstances of the decision, ” the report says.

According to CorrieredellaSera, an Italian soldier arrested on suspicion of spying for Russia sold information not only about Italy, but also about NATO.

For the transfer of documents to a Russian serviceman, he was supposed to receive 5,000 euros.

The captain of a Navy frigate accused of selling confidential documents is in custody.

Recall that in Rome on March 30, a Russian officer accredited to the Russian embassy, as well as a captain of the Italian Navy, was detained, who are accused of spying for the Russian Federation and disclosing state security secrets.