World News
Voting begins for Italy’s legislative elections: the far right remains the favorite
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Steph Deschamps / September 25, 2022
The polls opened Sunday morning at 7:00 a.m. in Italy, for legislative elections in which the right and, above all, its extremes are considered favorites. Some 51.5 million people are expected to vote this Sundayand some were already lining up before the opening of the polls, under a cloudy sky. The polls will close at 11:00 p.m. and the first exit polls will give an indication of the results. These early elections, after the fall of Mario Draghi’s coalition government, could well see the emergence of the far-right Fratelli d’Italia party and its leader Giorgia Meloni becoming the first woman to head an Italian government.
The party, which describes itself as “the movement of patriots and conservatives,” cannot hide its fascist family tree, heir to the Italian Social Movement (MSI) founded in 1946 by dignitaries of the Mussolini regime. With only 5% of the votes in the House and Senate in the 2018 elections, the “Brothers of Italy” have risen to power from the opposition, criticizing both the management of the coronavirus pandemic and immigration policy and standing out from Mario Draghi’s broad national unity coalition, supported by all other parties.
An ex-fan of Mussolini, the 45-year-old Roman has succeeded in de-demonizing her party and catalyzing the discontent and frustrations of her compatriots around her name. On social issues, Giorgia Meloni is ultra-conservative: “Yes to the natural family, no to the LGBT lobby! Yes to sexual identity, no to gender ideology! Yes to the culture of life, no to the abyss of death!”, proclaimed in June the one who also promises to fight “against the Islamization of Europe”.
But the mass is not said: “unpredictable, the elections are played on the emotion and at the last moment”, reminds AFP Emiliana De Blasio, professor of sociology at the Luiss University of Rome, while emphasizing the key role of undecided and the importance of the final rate of participation. The scores of the 5 Star Movement (M5S, ex-antisystem), credited with having instituted a minimum income for the poorest, and the Democratic Party (PD, left), well established locally, could also hold surprises, especially in the south of the country.
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Eva Deschamps / October 31, 2023
Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas on October 7, 63 employees of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) have already lost their lives in the Gaza Strip. Ten aid workers have been killed in the last 72 hours, according to this new toll released by the agency on its website on Monday.
At least 22 UNRWA staff were also injured. Since October 7, 44 UNRWA facilities have also been destroyed. Of its 22 health centers, only nine are still operational, the UN agency said, warning that the provision of health care is made even more difficult by the very low fuel supply.
The UN agency had previously reported that several of its warehouses had been looted. “Due to the very limited aid available and overcrowded shelters, growing tensions are being reported within the displaced communities,” it stressed. Some 672,000 refugees are living in 149 UNRWA facilities across the Gaza Strip, “in increasingly difficult conditions”. “The ability to provide vital assistance was further hampered by the 36-hour communications blackout between October 27 and 29”, UNRWA added.
In all, an estimated 1.4 million people have been displaced in the Gaza Strip. Over 120,000 of them have taken refuge in public buildings such as hospitals and schools.
“The aid currently available is insufficient to meet the most basic needs of displaced people and the communities hosting them”, warns the UN agency.
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Sylvie Claire / October 31, 2023
This research into mammal reproduction in space could prove crucial for future solar system exploration missions.
Mouse embryos were grown on board the International Space Station (ISS) and developed normally, according to a Japanese study published in the scientific journal “iScience” on Saturday, October 28.
This is “the very first study to show that mammals might be able to thrive in space”, claim Yamanashi University and the Riken National Research Institute.
The researchers, including Teruhiko Wakayama, a professor at Yamanashi University’s Center for Advanced Biotechnology, and a team from the Japanese space agency Jaxa, sent frozen mouse embryos aboard a rocket to the ISS in August 2021. The astronauts thawed the embryos at an early stage, using a specially designed device, and cultured them on board the station for four days.
The experiment “clearly demonstrated that gravity had no significant effect”, noted the researchers. After analyzing the blastocysts (cells that develop into fetuses and placentas) that were returned to their laboratories on Earth, they observed no particular changes in the state of DNA and genes.
“In the future, it will be necessary to transplant blastocysts grown in microgravity on the ISS into mice to see if the mice can give birth,” in order to confirm that the blastocysts are normal, say Yamanashi University and the Riken Institute.
This research could prove crucial for future space exploration and colonization missions. As part of its Artemis program, NASA plans to send humans back to the Moon to learn how to live there in the long term, and to prepare for a trip to Mars in the late 2030s.
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Steph Deschamps / October 25, 2023
The world’s oldest dog died last weekend in Portugal. Bobi, a purebred Rafeiro de l’Alentejo, was 31 years and 165 days old, reports the British public broadcaster BBC on Monday.
Last February, Bobi entered the Guinness Book of Records as not only the oldest living dog, but also the oldest dog of all time.
The old record had been held for almost 100 years by Bluey from Australia. He died in 1939 at the age of 29 years and five months.
Bobi has spent his entire life with the Costa family in the village of Conqueiros, near the west coast of Portugal.
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