- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Italy targets climate activists in 'anti-Gandhi' demo clampdown
- US trade chief defends tariff hikes when paired with investment
- EU court blocks French ban on vegetable 'steak' labelling
- Meta AI turns pictures into videos with sound
- US dockworkers return to ports after three-day strike
- DR Congo to begin mpox vaccination campaign Saturday in east
- Meta must limit data use for targeted ads: EU court
- Oil extends gains, jobs report lifts Wall Street
- US hiring soars past expectations in sign of resilient market
- As EU targets Chinese cars, European rivals sputter
- Top EU court finds against FIFA in key transfer market ruling
- Oil extends gains, Hong Kong stocks resume rally
- 'A man provides': Ukrainian miners send families away as Russia advances
- EU states greenlight extra tariffs on EVs from China
- Hong Kong stocks resume rally, oil dips after Middle East-fuelled surge
- Crude stable after Israel-Iran surge, Hong Kong stocks resume gains
- Hera spacecraft to probe asteroid deflected by defence test
- US dockworkers to head back to work after tentative deal
- After Helene's destruction, North Carolina starts to rebuild
- Dockers end three-day strike at Montreal port
- What next for OpenAI after $157 billion bonanza?
- Israel-Hamas war causes 86-percent dive in Gaza GDP: IMF
- Milan's Morata moves house after Inter-fan town mayor 'violates' privacy
- 'Devastating' storm hits Augusta National but Masters will go on
- Relief in Brazil, Asia over delay to EU deforestation rules
- Oil prices jump, stocks fall on Middle East tensions
- Biden says 'discussing' possible Israeli strikes on Iran oil facilities
- Oil prices rise, stocks fall on Middle East tensions
- Oil rallies, stocks mostly retreat on Middle East tensions
- Phasing out teen smoking could save 1.2 mn lives: study
- 'Welcome relief': Asia producers hail EU deforestation law delay
- Japan PM slated to announce plans for 'happiness index'
- Turkish inflation falls less than expected in September at 49.4%
- Easing inflation lifts profit at UK supermarket Tesco
- Skiing calls on UN climate science to combat melting future
- China wine industry looks to breed climate resilience
- Tokyo rallies on weak yen, Hong Kong drops after surge
- Dutch airline KLM unveils 'firm' cost-cutting measures
- Carpe diem: the Costa Rican women turning fish into fashion
- Senegal looks to aquaculture as fish stocks dwindle
- Will AI one day win a Nobel Prize?
- Climate change, economics muddy West's drive to curb Chinese EVs
- Argentina's Milei vetoes university budget after huge protests
- TotalEnergies plans to grow oil and gas production until 2030
- 2024 Nobels offer glimmer of hope as global crises mount
- Tokyo rallies on weak yen, Hong Kong reverses after surge
- Tunisia readies for vote as incumbent Saied eyes victory
- High childcare costs in US weigh on women's employment
- US voters seek help with crushing childcare costs
Politics a family affair for Italy's far-right leader Meloni
A like-minded sister, a brother-in-law tipped for government and a campaigning mother -- politics is a family affair for Italian far-right leader Giorgia Meloni, even if her partner does not share all her views.
The 45-year-old is on course to become Italy's first woman prime minister after her Brothers of Italy party, which has neo-fascist roots, triumphed in Sunday's general election.
The self-described "Christian mother" has put defending traditional family values at the heart of her campaign, and her own family is key to both her backstory and support network.
Meloni is very close with her older sister Arianna, who was also involved in far-right politics from a young age.
Arianna is part of the Brothers of Italy family, married to Francesco Lollobrigida, head of the party's parliamentary group in the lower Chamber of Deputies and tipped for a ministerial post in a Meloni-led government.
Talking to La Stampa daily after the election, Arianna described her sister as "very brave and very determined" and a "perfectionist".
She rejected suggestions that Meloni -- who campaigned on a motto of "God, country and family" -- would change Italy's abortion laws, saying: "She is on the side of women and acquired rights."
The sisters were brought up in the working-class Rome neighbourhood of Garbatella by their mother, Anna Paratore, who has herself a keen interest in politics.
In an interview with French television in 1996 -- in which then-teen activist Meloni praised dictator Benito Mussolini -- Paratore was presented as a long-time activist for the post-fascist right.
After the elections, her mother -- a romantic novelist who has been an enthusiastic supporter of her daughter's career -- dismissed as "nonsense" concern about Meloni's radical past.
Paratore added that she would be happy to see the end of the citizens' income, an anti-poverty measure criticised for encouraging unemployment that Meloni has pledged to abolish.
"I rejoice in her success, but I don't know if I would have wished her all this," she told Corriere della Sera newspaper, noting the challenges ahead.
- Leftist partner -
Paratore brought up her daughters alone after their father walked out when Meloni was very young, moving to the Spanish Canary Islands.
In her best-selling autobiography published last year, Meloni describes how her mother almost had an abortion when she was pregnant with her, only to change her mind at the last minute.
Meloni also wrote about the absence of her father, saying it left "perhaps a deeper wound than a father who dies... because when he leaves you are forced to deal with his ghost".
She holds up her own experience of parenthood as part of her appeal, declaring in a 2019 speech that went viral: "I am Giorgia, I am a woman, I am a mother, I am Italian, I am Christian."
The day after Sunday's vote, she posted on Instagram a note from six-year-old Ginevra, saying: "Dear mummy, I am so happy that you won. I love you so much!"
Ginevra's father is television journalist Andrea Giambruno, 41, who Meloni met in a broadcast studio while giving an interview.
Meloni has said that Giambruno -- who the press note would become Italy's "First Gentleman" if Meloni becomes premier -- is "on the left" politically and "we don't have the same ideas".
However, in an interview Wednesday with Corriere, Giambruno -- who works for Silvio Berlusconi's Mediaset media empire -- said: "It was a joke, I'm not on the left.
"It's just that we have divergent views on some ethical issues, such as assisted suicide."
Asked about their discussions on LGBTQ rights, drug legalisation and abortion, Giambruno said there was "no discussion on abortion", as Meloni will not challenge the law.
"On the rest, we don't argue, we talk, and each puts their position across," he told the newspaper.
The couple are not married but Meloni has dismissed as "nonsense" suggestions her marital situation is at odds with her political emphasis on the importance of children having a mother and a father.
"If you are not married you cannot defend the natural family based on marriage. A bit like saying you if you are young, you cannot care about the problems of the elderly," she wrote in her book.
She added: "Andrea is intelligent and confident in himself. He is very good at his job, and this makes him one of the few men in the world capable of not suffering if they have a successful woman next to them."
D.Avraham--CPN