Italy’s right-wing government has backed a bill that would ban laboratory-produced meat and other synthetic foods, highlighting Italian food heritage and health protection. If the proposals go through, breaking the ban would attract fines of up to €60,000 (£53,000). Francesco Lollobrigida, who runs the rebranded ministry for agriculture and food sovereignty, spoke of the importance of Italy’s food tradition. The farmers’ lobby praised the move. But it was a blow for some animal welfare groups, which have highlighted lab-made meat as a solution to issues including protecting the environment from carbon emissions and food safety. Coldiretti and other agriculture lobbies have collected half a million signatures in recent months calling for protection of “natural food vs synthetic food”, and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is among those who have signed. “We could only celebrate with our farmers a measure that puts our farmers in the vanguard, not just on the issue of defending excellence… but also in defending consumers,” she told a “flash mob” organised by Coldiretti outside her office in Rome.(BBC)…[+]

Russia’s security and intelligence services have achieved greater success in Ukraine than its army, says a leading UK defence think tank. Russian spy agencies began preparing for the invasion of Ukraine as far back as June 2021, says a report by the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi).  The Federal Security Service (FSB) has quickly dominated populations in occupied areas of Ukraine, Rusi adds. The report was compiled using sources including captured documents, it says. Ukrainian intelligence officials, intercepted communications and on-the-ground research also contributed. Researchers say the FSB has been able to download government computer hard drives to identify pro-Kyiv individuals that its agents want to arrest and interrogate. Electronic warfare units have been deployed to cut off occupied parts of Ukraine from the outside world to help them enforce control, Rusi says. According to the think tank, the head of Russian foreign intelligence, the SVR, told President Vladimir Putin they needed more time to prepare and asked for the invasion to be delayed. His request was denied.(BBC)…[+]

India has welcomed the birth of four cheetah cubs – more than 70 years after the animals were declared officially extinct there. India’s environment minister announced the good news, calling it a “momentous event”. The country has been trying to reintroduce the big cats for decades, and last year brought eight cheetahs over from Namibia as part of the plan. Another 12 cheetahs were brought to India from South Africa last month. The four cubs were born in Kuno National Park wildlife sanctuary to one of the females that came from Namibia last September. Announcing the news on Twitter, Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said he was “delighted”. “I congratulate the entire team of Project Cheetah for their relentless efforts in bringing back cheetahs to India and for their efforts in correcting an ecological wrong done in the past,” he said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also welcomed the “wonderful news”. The cubs were believed to have been born five days ago, but they were spotted by officials on Wednesday, the Press Trust of India reported.(BBC)…[+]

Twitter boss Elon Musk has announced a shake-up of the social media platform’s paid Twitter Blue feature. From 15 April only verified subscribers will have posts recommended to other users and be allowed to vote in polls. Under the policy, posts from non-paying accounts will not be included in the “For you” stream of recommended tweets. Last week, the firm said it would remove the verified status of some “legacy” accounts, which date from before Mr Musk bought the firm. Users currently pay $7 (£5.70) a month for blue-tick verification, which also allows access to additional features. Mr Musk said the changes were “the only realistic way to address advanced AI bot swarms taking over. It is otherwise a hopeless losing battle.” “Voting in polls will require verification for same reason,” he added. In an earlier post, Mr Musk said paid verification significantly increases the cost of using bots and makes it easier to identify them.(BBC)…[+]

Two women have been stabbed to death at a Muslim religious centre in the Portuguese capital Lisbon, police say. The attack took place at the Ismaili Centre on Avenida Lusíada. The suspect, who was in possession of a large knife, was shot in the leg by police. He was then detained and has been taken to hospital. The motive for the attack is not yet clear. Police said they received a call at about 11:00 local time after the suspect entered the centre. Officers asked the suspect to stop the attack, but he disobeyed and was shot. Speaking to SIC Notícias, the leader of the Ismaili community Nazim Ahmad said the attacker was Afghan and the two victims were Portuguese women. A statement on the Ismaili website said the community was “shocked and saddened by this incident and is providing support to the families of the victims”. “The perimeter of the building has been secured and the Ismaili community is co-operating fully with a police investigation,” it read. Prime Minister Antonio Costa said it appeared to be “an isolated act” and discussing a possible motive was “premature”.(BBC)…[+]

An Australian man armed with a budget metal detector has hit the jackpot, finding a 4.6kg rock containing gold worth A$240,000 (£130,000; $160,000). The man, who doesn’t want to be named, made the discovery in Victoria’s goldfields – which were the heart of Australia’s gold rush in the 1800s. Darren Kamp, who valued and bought the specimen, said it is the biggest he’s seen in his 43-year career. “I was just gobsmacked… It’s a once in a lifetime find,” he told the BBC. Mr Kamp hadn’t thought too much of it when a man wearing a large backpack walked into his prospecting store in Geelong, about an hour south-west of Melbourne. Normally people come in with fools gold or other rocks that look like gold, Mr Kamp says. But he pulled this rock out and as he dropped it into my hand he said, ‘Do you think there’s A$10,000 worth in it?'” “I looked at him and said, ‘Try A$100,000’.”  The man then proceeded to tell him the rock in Mr Kamp’s hand was only half the find. All up, the 4.6kg rock contained 83 ounces – or about 2.6kg – of gold.(BBC)…[+]

Prosecutors in Osaka have indicted a man for murdering a female acquaintance with thallium, which was used as rat poison. Kazuki Miyamoto, 37, is accused of killing 21-year-old university student Hinako Hamano last October by lacing her drink with thallium. Thallium was also recently found in his female relative, who has been in a coma since 2020, local media reported citing sources. Just 1g of it could kill an adult. But police have not found a motive, nor how he had laid hands on the poison. The suspect was arrested on 3 March in Kyoto. Thallium is a soft metal which dissolves in water and has no taste or smell- making it hard to detect outside a laboratory setting. Mr Miyamoto, a real estate agent, is believed to have administered thallium to Ms Hamano sometime around 11 and 12 October when he visited her flat in Kyoto. He had told police the two were dining out on the night of 11 October before heading to Ms Hamano’s home for drinks, the Japan Times said, citing investigators.

According to Mr Miyamoto, Ms Hamano experienced severe coughing fits. He then contacted her family, who took her to a hospital the next day. Hamano died on 15 October of severe respiratory failure – thallium was found in her vomit and urine, the Asahi Shimbun reported. (BBC)…[+]

Germany’s transport network is at a near standstill as the country experiences one of its largest strikes in decades. Staff at airports, ports, railways, buses and subways walked out shortly after midnight for a 24-hour stoppage. Two of the Germany’s largest unions are demanding higher wages to help with the rising cost of living. The country’s Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said she was optimistic an agreement would be reached this week. “Many public service workers are suffering the high energy prices and high inflation,” she told Reuters on Monday. “That’s why it’s our job to find a good agreement.” There have recently been smaller walkouts by other public servants. Monday’s “mega strike”, as it has been dubbed in local media, has affected commuter and regional trains operated by Deutsche Bahn, Germany’s national rail operator. Local transport services, including trams and buses, are also not operating in seven states.(BBC)…[+]

More severe weather could be on its way to the US state of Mississippi following the tornadoes which killed 26 people, the governor has warned. Governor Tate Reeves said significant risks remained in parts of the state. Hundreds of people have been displaced in the wake of the tornadoes which tore through Mississippi and Alabama on Friday night. The mayor of one of the worst affected towns said he had lost personal friends in the disaster. Friday’s tornado was the deadliest in the state of Mississippi in more than a decade. At least 25 people have died in the state, with one person confirmed dead in neighbouring Alabama. Trees have been uprooted, trucks have overturned into houses and power lines have been brought down by the tornado – classified as “violent” and given the second-highest rating possible. More than 36,000 people remained without power as of Monday morning in what is one of the poorest regions in the country. On Saturday, survivors of the disaster could be seen walking around, dazed and in shock. Sunday, on the other hand, has been a hive of activity. Volunteers, some coming from neighbouring Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee, have been helping with the clean-up operation. President Joe Biden has declared a state of emergency and deployed federal resources to help with the rescue and response in some of the worst-hit towns. The devastation is so great, it must be difficult to know where to begin. Crews are working to remove broken trees that are pinning down power lines, with thousands of people losing power during Friday’s storm.(BBC)…[+]

A paedophile who directed sex attacks on girls in the Philippines from his home in the Scottish Highlands has been jailed for 12 years. Gary Campbell, 59, paid for abuse to be carried out by adults as he watched and recorded it on the internet from his home in Lochinver in Sutherland. Campbell’s youngest victim was thought to have been four years old. He admitted 13 charges including rape, assault, and inciting children to become providers of sexual services. A the High Court in Edinburgh, Lord Beckett said: “Over a period of more than two years you were intermittently sexually corrupting young children. “You will appreciate these are grave crimes indeed, for which there is no alternative to a prison sentence.” Campbell’s crimes were committed between June 2012 and August 2014. The high court heard that police raided his home in May 2021 as part of a child sex abuse investigation.

It was triggered by the discovery that he had made a series of payments to a Filipino woman after she was arrested for livestreaming child sexual abuse online.(BBC)…[+]