Tens of thousands of people marched through the streets of Rome in anti- and pro-migration demonstrations on Saturday, after a far-right citizens initiative seeking sweeping measures against migrants garnered enough support to be brought to Italy’s parliament. The “Remigration and Reconquest” initiative gathered the 50,000 signatures needed to trigger parliamentary discussion, pushing the once-fringe concept of “remigration” into the political mainstream, the AP reports. The proposal promoted by right-wing groups calls for sweeping measures against foreigners, including coercive returns, incentives to leave the country, and broader policies that critics contend could extend to legal residents.
Several thousand demonstrators from around Italy gathered for the anti-migration march, singing the national anthem. On several occasions, many of them raised their arms in the fascist salute, shouting “Duce! Duce!” in reference to dictator Benito Mussolini, who ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943. A rival, pro-migration demonstration saw tens of thousands of people take to the streets in another part of Rome on Saturday evening. That march was attended by various left-wing groups and trade unions, with some demonstrators waving Palestinian flags. Thousands of police were deployed to ensure the two groups would remain apart. No violence was reported.
The debate on migration represents a balancing act for Premier Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing coalition. While the anti-migration League has backed opening discussion, Meloni’s Brothers of Italy and centrist allies have been more cautious about endorsing a proposal linked to extremist circles in the face of concerns over legal risks and internal divisions. Opponents, including rival parties and legal experts, argue the proposal would violate constitutional and international anti-discrimination principles by targeting people based on ethnic background, including naturalized citizens and their descendants. A vote on the measure has not been scheduled.
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The phenomenon El Niño has arrived, the U.S. weather agency said Thursday, and scientists expect the pattern, synonymous with droughts, floods and soaring temperatures, will intensify through the end of the year, potentially to historic strength.
El Niño is a natural climate occurrence that warms surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, bringing worldwide changes in winds and rainfall patterns and erratic weather.
Scientists fear it will exacerbate the heat of a planet already warming from burning fossil fuels while amplifying weather extremes.
“El Niño is here, and it could be one for the history books,” said meteorologist Haley Thiem in an explainer video from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
In its latest advisory, scientists at NOAA said there is a 63% chance “of a very strong El Niño during November-January that would rank among the largest El Niño events in the historical record going back to 1950.”
Every El Niño is different, but major events often follow familiar patterns. This includes drought across parts of the Amazon, Indonesia and Australia; disrupted monsoons in India; and shifting rainfall throughout the tropics.
It typically takes place every two to seven years and lasts around nine to 12 months.
El Niño tends to peak late in the year, but heat in the oceans releases more slowly into the atmosphere, pushing up global temperatures the following year.
In response to the forecast, Marc Alessi of the Union of Concerned Scientists said “the combination of fossil fuel-caused climate change and a potential super El Niño event makes a terrible team,” adding that it could “easily” push global temperatures to record levels.
“While El Niño is a naturally occurring phenomenon, there is evidence that fossil fuel-caused climate change is making El Niño events more intense,” he said in a statement to AFP.
‘Deadly siren’
Mohamed Adow, director of the Nairobi-based climate and energy think tank Power Shift Africa, said for millions of people across the globe, “it’s not just another weather forecast” but a “deadly siren to be feared.”
“It means failed rains, dying crops, rising food prices, and families pushed to the edge yet again.”
Governments across the dry countries of Central America have raised alert levels over El Niño.
In that region known as the “Dry Corridor”—including parts of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua—El Niño’s return has triggered fears of drought and stoked concerns of famine.
The Guatemalan government, for example, says it has 1.1 million rations ready to distribute in the face of a food security emergency.
In East Africa, Adow said the extremes will likely strike “communities already battered by droughts and floods in recent years.”
Predictions from elsewhere in the world mirror those of NOAA, anticipating a particularly strong El Niño.
“The odds are strongly in favor of a moderate to strong, or probably strong to record-breaking, event at this stage,” Carlo Buontempo, the director of Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, told AFP.
Earlier this month, U.N. chief Antonio Guterres urged the world to treat the likely intense incoming weather “as the urgent climate warning it is.”
“El Niño conditions will pour fuel on the fire of a warming world,” he said.
“The only effective response is climate action equal to the crisis—ending the addiction to fossil fuels, accelerating the shift to renewables, protecting the most vulnerable, and delivering early warning systems for all.”
© 2026 AFP

On board the Iberia Airways flight taking Pope Leo XIV from Tenerife back to Rome, the captain made an announcement. A technical problem had been discovered, and the plane wasn’t able to take off. Moments later the pope and some of his entourage left the aircraft.
I was one of the roughly 80 journalists on board travelling with the pope for his June 6-12 visit to Spain, and we were flying on an Iberia Airways flight back to Rome. When he travels, the pope uses a regular plane, and flies out using an ITA aircraft, while the host country often provides the plane on the way back.
The journalists travelling with the pope sit at the back of the plane, while the pope, cardinals, bishops and Vatican staff sit at the front. We pay business class fares for economy class seats, but in return get to meet the pope on the way out while he holds a press conference with reporters on the way home. The food is much better on papal flights with special menus printed with the pope’s coat of arms, which also adorn the head rests.
Papal aircraft have had technical problems in the past, but for a plane carrying the pope to be unable to take off is unheard of. It’s seen as an honour for local carriers to fly the pope, and whether it’s Aereo Dili in East Timor or Emirates in the UAE the flights normally progress seamlessly. So when the captain on Iberia made his announcement, it sparked chaos among the travelling press corps.
Eventually, we were told to disembark and news then filtered through that the pope had been offered the King of Spain’s private plane to fly back to Rome. I watched as Pope Leo walked across the tarmac to get on board and we reporters stayed back waiting for another plane to fly us to Rome.
It marked a chaotic end to what had been an historic visit to Spain by Pope Leo. The first American pope, who is a fluent Spanish speaker, drew huge crowds in Madrid, including around 1.2 million for a Mass and procession. He became the first pontiff to address Spain’s parliament receiving a seven-minute standing ovation from across representatives of the country’s intensely polarized political spectrum.
The large crowd numbers came as a surprise, with the pope telling CNN on the flight over that he knew he was competing with the Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny, who had a concert in Madrid on the night Leo arrived. After plenty of speculation that Bad Bunny might somehow link up with a papal event, the Vatican confirmed that the pair had a brief, behind-closed-doors meeting, although no photos were released.
But the showstopper moment of the trip came at Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia basilica. One hundred years after the death of Antoni Gaudí, the architect visionary behind the building, the pope celebrated a Mass in the basilica and blessed the tower of Jesus Christ, which makes it the tallest church in the world. Choristers from the oldest choir in Europe sang as the basilica was bathed in color by a light show and fireworks. Drone lights then made Gaudí’s face light up the night sky.
Alongside the large-scale events, the pope made time for low-key but moments. He met migrants at the Las Raices camp in Santa Cruz, Tenerife as he highlighted the plight of those risking their lives on wooden boats to cross the sea from west Africa to Europe. And the pope condemned those trafficking migrants telling them to “stop” and “repent,” adding that they would face “divine justice.” He used the last part of his Spain visit to travel to the Canary Islands, a major entry point for new arrivals into Europe, to highlight the plight of migrants, a major priority of his papacy. The pope also met abuse survivors privately and urged Spain’s bishops to listen to victims and make reparations.
Perhaps the most striking part of the visit was seeing the pope appearing the most relaxed and happy since the beginning of his papacy. He spoke off the cuff – which is rare for Leo – when encouraging young people to consider getting married and starting a family and talking about his time playing soccer and American Football in his youth. He pointed out that he still plays tennis and takes exercise.
Leo looked like he was enjoying himself. On one occasion he took to the cockpit of the plane during the trip from Madrid to Barcelona, talking to the pilots on the in-flight radio and waving at the military plane escort. On several occasions he delighted the crowd from the popemobile as he did the “six-seven” hand gesture, something that he likes to do frequently.
The pope taking the Spanish king’s plane meant reporters couldn’t ask him questions at the end during the in-flight press conference which remains a rare opportunity for the pope to engage in a sustained question and answer with journalists.
The last two papal trips have seen dramatic, unscheduled moments. From President Donald Trump’s extraordinary broadside against the pope on the eve of his Africa visit in April, to the unprecedented grounding of a papal flight, the Leo papacy is throwing up plenty of surprises.

One person was killed and 11 others were taken to hospitals after a large tent at a Virginia church event collapsed during a storm and high winds Friday, authorities said.
The tent collapsed around 6:45 p.m. as an event was being held outside of EastLake Community Church in Moneta, Bedford County acting fire and rescue Chief Abbey Johnston told reporters.
Johnston said the pastor was in the process of evacuating the tent, which has seats for 1,500, when the collapse occurred.
“It happened very quickly,” she said.
Johnston did not have the condition of the 11 people who were transported to hospitals. Another 11 were treated at the scene and released, she said.
The tent collapse occurred as most of Virginia was under a severe thunderstorm watch, including in the Moneta area, until 9 p.m. Friday.
“The tent collapsed as a result of, we believe, the winds that came through,” Johnston said. “Initially, I’m told it was a very chaotic scene, trying to account for individuals.”
Johnston said that the commercial tent was properly secured. The fire chief of a different department and members were there when the incident occurred and quickly responded and helped people to safety, she said.
The church had advertised an event with food, a service and water activities for children and ice cream Friday.
It’s part of a “multiply week” celebration, which was advertised as a time for families to come and connect with one another which was to be held under a large tent.
Moneta is a community of around 450 people around 18 miles east of Roanoke.
Pastor Troy Keaton said on Facebook that the “church family suffered a great tragedy tonight.”
“Just as I had walked to the stage to release people to their cars a burst of wind picked up the tent,” Keaton wrote.
He said that “Sadly one of our dear brothers suffered a fatal injury,” and others were injured.
“We are currently focused on caring and praying for them,” he said.

Shalit, the bushy-haired mustachioed television personality who reviewed books and movies on “The Today Show” for 40 years, died Friday. His family told NBC News he “passed away peacefully today after 100 years of an amazing life.”
Shalit appeared on NBC’s “The Today Show” from 1970 until his retirement in 2010, sporting his signature bow ties and large glasses and working numerous puns into his film and book reviews in the “Critic’s Corner” segments.
In addition to his reviews, he interviewed celebrities from Steven Spielberg to the Grateful Dead to Helen Hayes.
“It was always magical for me to see Gene on the screen,” CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric said upon his retirement in 2010. “I think Gene was a master at doing celebrity interviews. He interviewed Sophia Loren and you could tell he was completed mesmerized by her.”
His long tenure on “The Today Show” made him one of the few recognizable film critics, which led to him being featured in several animated shows. “SpongeBob Square Pants” dubbed him Gene Scallop, a fish food critic for whom Shalit provided the voice. He was parodied in four episodes of “Family Guy,” voiced a character playing himself on “The Critic” and was portrayed in “The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence.”
“Saturday Night Live” also parodied the popular critic, with Jon Lovitz and later Horatio Sanz portraying Shalit. On “Second City Television,” he was portrayed by the equally bushy-eyebrowed Eugene Levy.
Born in New York City, he graduated the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where like fellow critic Roger Ebert many years later, he wrote for the Daily Illini newspaper. Early in his career he was a press agent for Dick Clark, a job which ended during a Congressional investigation of payola.
He turned to writing about entertainment in the late 1960s for publications including Look, Ladies’ Home Journal, TV Guide and The New York Times. He also authored four books of humor.
Shalit also broadcast daily essays called “Man About Anything” on the NBC Radio Network from 1970 to 1982.
He is survived by a son and a daughter. Another daughter and his wife, Nancy Lewis, pre-deceased him.