The story of Thursday 9 May 2024 with the main news from the 7.30pm radio newspaper. Talks for a ceasefire agreement have concluded in Cairo and the war cabinet is meeting in Tel Aviv this evening, while the air raids on Rafah continue. In Rome this morning a group of girls and boys contested the minister of the Roccella family during an event on birth rates. Minister Giorgetti admitted that the tax on extra profits brought zero euros to the state coffers. American musician and producer Steve Albini, one of the pillars of alternative rock of the last 30 years, has died at the age of 61.
The negotiations for a ceasefire agreement in Gaza are in the balance
While witnesses in Rafah denounce that the attacks by the Israeli military have spread beyond the eastern neighborhoods under evacuation orders, the negotiations for an agreement on the ceasefire in Gaza remain in the balance: the two sides have left Cairo, but the Egyptian mediators admit that not all issues have been resolved. CIA chief William Burns also returned to Washington. The Hamas delegation has already returned to Doha, Qatar, and confirmed its acceptance of the mediators’ proposal; The war and security cabinet meets in Tel Aviv this evening, with the agenda above all being how to proceed with the fighting in Gaza and Lebanon in the wake of the US decision to block the sending of weapons to Tel Aviv.
A short while ago, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated that Israel will defeat the enemy even on its own. However, the White House’s decisions weigh on the Israeli government and also on the negotiations.
A short while ago, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby declared that the Biden administration “shares the goal of a lasting defeat of Hamas but an invasion of Rafah does not guarantee this goal.” Meanwhile, the bombings on the Strip continue: in Gaza City and above all in Rafah, where even today there are dozens of victims and where the attacks by Israeli troops are also spreading to the neighborhoods of the city which are not affected by the evacuation order.
According to UN agencies, since May 6, when the evacuation order was given, between 80 thousand and 100 thousand people have already left the city; the crossings remained closed today for the 4th consecutive day, no aid is coming in. The World Health Organization says hospitals only have fuel supplies for another three days and Unicef estimates there are 600,000 children in Rafah, many of them sick and malnourished.
Minister Roccella contested in Rome and the case of Serena Bortone
In Rome this morning a group of girls and boys contested the minister of the Roccella family during an event on birth rates. A banner was displayed, “I decide on my body”, and a back-and-forth began with the minister, who in the end gave up the speech she was supposed to give, and then reported that she had been censored. To our microphones a high school student who participated in the protest:
Statements of condemnation came from almost all parties, including the opposition. The President of the Republic Mattarella criticized the protest by citing the Constitution and speaking of “the foundations of civilization”. On the right there is a cry for censorship, while in these hours the Rai journalist Serena Bortone, who had denounced the company’s no to Antonio Scurati’s anti-fascist monologue, is undergoing disciplinary proceedings.
(by Anna Bredice)
The whole government is now crying out for censorship and is shielding itself around the contested party, all in defense of Roccella, instead shifting the accusations onto others, onto the opposition, from which Meloni now in the lead says they expect total solidarity. The tones of Giorgia Meloni, of La Russa, almost all the ministers of the right-wing government cry out for censorship. The Head of State Mattarella also intervened and telephoned Minister Roccella telling her that “those who challenge those who think differently are in conflict with the principles of the Constitution”. A message that could be applied to everyone, starting with those who exercise real censorship. Today Minister Roccella, who left the stage choosing not to continue because she was challenged, a minute later lashed out at the opposition saying that what she suffered was real censorship, and not the evocation of fascism as Scurati claims.
The objective is already clear in these words, and it is to overturn the accusation of censorship. No longer that of Rai against writers or anti-fascists, but that which the minister suffers at the hands of student collectives. Forgetting the difference between dissent or protest and censorship which is always applied by those who have power, in this case Rai towards those who do not fall within the orders given from above. The Minister of the Family is not the first time that she has been challenged. The first episode happened last year at the Book Fair, today the third episode during the States General of the birth rate, where the government is present in large numbers to support policies for families, but it was Minister Roccella who asked to include the amendment in the Pnrr which finances the presence of anti-abortion associations in clinics. This is where the students’ choice to protest the minister with signs “I decide about my body” comes from.
(by Massimo Alberti)
Banks toast record profits thanks to the ECB maintaining high rates. Profits untouched by the government: Minister Giorgetti admits that the tax on extra profits has brought zero euros to the state coffers. A sensational failure of a rule heralded by Meloni herself as an act of social justice, but then built to protect the banks.
Quarterly period. And at the top levels of the credit institutions, and among the shareholders, there is a toast. Thanks to the rates kept high by the European Central Bank, which hit the production system and the holders of variable mortgages hard with increases of almost 80%. Some data: Banca Intesa net result of 2.3 billion euros, more than 17.6% compared to the first quarter of 2023 Unicredit, net profit: 2.6 billion, more than 24% on 2023. Not too bad for small companies either: Mps , 333 million, +41.2%. Popular Sondrio: the best quarter in its history, 53.8% year on year. Il Sole 24 Ore calculated that the net profit of the 7 main Italian banks listed on the stock exchange was 6.36 billion in the first quarter of 2024, 26% more than the previous year, above the estimates of analysts and investors. Of this money, which passed largely from the pockets of citizens to those of shareholders through dividends, and collected thanks to an endogenous element, namely the monetary policy of the European Central Bank, the state has not seen, and therefore redistributed, not even a single euro. “We want to collect a few billion euros to cut taxes,” Giorgetti said when bringing the law to the council of ministers. “help families and businesses against the increase in interest rates”, Salvini said at the press conference. After the changes made, zero euros is the tax revenue produced. In fact, the banks could not pay the tax by strengthening their assets, and so the largest banks put away over 3 billion, reducing interest expenses, and thus saving more money. A double gift in exchange for which they cut credit and increased the rates applied. Meloni had claimed the rule as his personal decision against the “unfair” profits of the banks. But in September we will have to cut because “there is no money”.
Farewell to musician and producer Steve Albini
American musician and producer Steve Albini, one of the pillars of alternative rock of the last 30 years, has died at the age of 61.
(by Niccolò Vecchia)
For many of us, especially in Italy, the name Steve Albini will not be familiar. Many more will know some of the records he has produced in his career: In utero by Nirvana, Rid of me by PJ Harvey or Surfer Rosa by the Pixies. But the list of his productions is almost endless, also due to the completely free and independent approach that Albini has always applied to his profession as a sound engineer, as he loved to be defined. In addition to this he was also the frontman of cult groups, in particular Big Black and especially Shellac, with whom he continued to perform and with whom he still had many concerts to play during this summer and a record coming out in a few days , on May 17th. Steve Albini will not be on those stages: the news of his death, due to cardiac arrest, arrived last night. His musical legacy, and also his example of an indomitable artist, incapable of bending to the rules of the music business, will continue to keep us company, and hopefully inspire us, for a long time to come.
