- 'Difficult day': Oct 7 commemorations begin with festival memorial
- Commemorations begin for anniversary of attack on Israel
- Tunisia voting ends as Saied eyes re-election with critics behind bars
- Drowned by hurricane, remote N.Carolina towns now struggle for water
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- 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
Far-right Meloni to take over as Italy's first woman PM
Giorgia Meloni formally takes over as Italy's first woman prime minister on Sunday, a day after being sworn in as the leader of the country's most right-wing government since World War II.
The handover of power from outgoing premier Mario Draghi to Meloni will take place at Rome's Chigi Palace and a first cabinet meeting will follow shortly afterwards.
The symbolic act at the seat of Italy's government will see former European Central Bank chief Draghi, in charge since February 2021, hand over a bell used by the cabinet president to manage cabinet debates.
European Union chiefs, wary of the far-right taking power, on Saturday said they were ready to cooperate with the new coalition government led by Meloni's post-fascist and Eurosceptic Brothers of Italy party.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen congratulated Meloni and said she held "good" telephone talks with her, while Meloni said she was ready to work with the bloc's leaders.
La Stampa daily spoke of a "European beginning" on its front page on Sunday. "Meloni: down to work, with pride", blared the Corriere della Sera.
- Challenges ahead -
On Saturday, Meloni and her 24 ministers took the oath before President Sergio Mattarella at the Quirinal Palace in Rome, once home to popes and kings of Italy.
The 45-year-old's appointment is a historic event for the eurozone's third-largest economy and for Brothers of Italy, which has never been in government.
It won 26 percent of the vote in last month's election, compared to eight and nine percent respectively for Meloni's coalition partners, former leader Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia and the far-right League led by Matteo Salvini.
A former admirer of former dictator Benito Mussolini, Meloni has managed to distance her party from its fascist roots.
Major challenges including soaring inflation and Italy's high debt ratio -- the eurozone's highest after Greece -- await the new government.
Meloni's cabinet, including six women, suggests a desire to reassure Italy's partners. She appointed Giancarlo Giorgetti as economy minister, who served under the previous government of Mario Draghi.
Giorgetti, a former minister of economic development, is considered one of the more moderate, pro-Europe members of Salvini's League.
Meloni also named ex-European Parliament president Antonio Tajani, of Forza Italia, as foreign minister and deputy prime minister.
Salvini will serve as deputy prime minister and minister of infrastructure and transport, which will likely disappoint Salvini.
He wanted the role of interior minister, a post he previously held between 2018 and 2019. That went instead to a technocrat, Rome prefect Matteo Piantedosi.
- 'Common values' -
The talks to form a government had been overshadowed by disagreements with her two would-be coalition partners.
Italian news media made much of the recorded comments by Berlusconi defending Russian President Vladimir Putin, remarks he insists have been taken out of context.
Salvini, too, is a long-time fan of Putin and has criticised Western sanctions imposed on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
Despite her Eurosceptic stance however, Meloni has been firm in her support for Kyiv, in line with the rest of the European Union and the United States.
On Saturday she affirmed her desire to work with NATO, which she described as "more than a military alliance: a bulwark of common values we'll never stop standing for".
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg and US President Joe Biden sent their congratulations to Meloni, as did Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky.
But the tensions with her coalition partners are already raising questions as to whether she will be able to maintain a majority in Italy's notoriously volatile parliamentary system.
Conservative European leaders including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Polish premier Mateusz Morawiecki hailed a victory for the right.
Ch.Lefebvre--CPN