VERONA -- Francesco Lollobrigida, Italian Minister for Agriculture, has burnished his reputation as the doziest member of the nation's lacklustre "post-fascist" cabinet by proclaiming that at least one plate of Italian cheese must be on the menu of every restaurant in Italy, a requirement he said would be enforced by legislation.

 ROME -- Spain’s Equality minister, Ana Redondo, has criticised Giorgia Meloni’s government after the Italian parliament passed a measure allowing anti-abortion activists to enter abortion consultation clinics. 

  Redondo took to ‘X’ to express her dissent: “Allowing organised pressure against women who want to terminate a pregnancy is undermining a right recognised by law. It is the strategy of the extreme right: to threaten to take away rights, to curb equality between women and men.”

 ROME – Daniele De Rossi has agreed to stay on as AS Roma's head coach after the end of the season, AS Roma said on social media.

 Former Roma player and “club legend” De Rossi took over as head coach of AS Roma in January, replacing Jose Mourinho after the club was struggling to find its form.

 De Rossi’s initial contract only ran to the end of the 2023-24 season, however after an impressive run of form which has seen Roma only lose two games under De Rossi, the club owners Dan and Ryan Friedkin held discussions with the coach to see him continue as permanent manager.

 ROME -- The Israeli artist and curator, Ruth Patir, has said the Israel pavilion at the 60^th Venice Biennale will remain closed until “a ceasefire and hostage release agreement is reached.” The exhibition, which should have opened on Tuesday morning, instead displayed a sign stating the team’s decision, and was guarded by Italian soldiers.

 Patir explained, “As an artist and educator, I firmly object to cultural boycott, but I have a significant difficulty in presenting a project that speaks about the vulnerability of life in a time of unfathomed disregard for it.”