Italy’s top story on Thursday:

Italy’s far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni vented her anger Wednesday over her exclusion from negotiations over the EU’s top jobs, saying unnamed leaders were acting like “oligarchs” and betraying voters, AFP reported.

Her complaint came on the eve of a two-day summit of the European Union’s 27 leaders in Brussels intended to divide up jobs in the wake of this month’s European Parliament elections.

Six leaders acting as chief negotiators reached a deal Tuesday to divvy up the key posts among the alliance dominating the parliament: the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) and its partners, the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and the centrist Renew Europe.

Meloni’s government has pushed for a top job for Italy, as she believes the election success of her hard-right European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) grouping – shaping up as the EU parliament’s third force – should be reflected in the bloc’s leadership.

She pointed the finger at “those who argue that citizens are not mature enough to make certain decisions, and (believe) that oligarchy is basically the only acceptable form of democracy,” according to AFP.

Women’s rights activists paint Spanish Steps red

Campaigners highlighting violence against women spread red paint across Rome’s famous Spanish Steps on Wednesday, saying it represented the victims’ blood, AFP reported.

Six activists from the Italian group “Bruciamo Tutto”, or “Burn Everything”, were led away by police following the protest involving what they said used children’s washable paint, according to AFP.

Their name comes from a call to action made by the sister of Giulia Cecchettin, a university student killed by her ex-boyfriend last year in a case that triggered nationwide grief and anger at violence against women.

“Don’t hold a minute’s silence for Giulia, but burn everything,” Elena Cecchettin said, calling for a revolution in what she said was a culture that allowed such violence.

STIs on the rise among Italy’s youth

The incidence of sexually transmitted infections is on the rise among young people in Italy, according to data collected by the Higher Health Institute (ISS)’s national STI sentinel surveillance systems.

The rate of bacterial infections caused by chlamydia, gonorrhoea and syphilis increased between 2021 and 2022 according to a report presented by the institute in Rome, Skytg24 reported on Wednesday.

The number of cases of gonorrhoea reported to the system grew by more than 30 percent, from 820 to 1200, between 2021 and 2022, while reports of syphilis grew by 20 percent and chlamydia 25 percent over the same period. The highest rates of increase in chlamydia infections were seen in women under the age of 25.

“In three out of four cases the infection is asymptomatic, so many girls are unaware they have it for a long time,” said Barbara Suligoi, director of the ISS’s Aids Operations Centre.

“What is needed is more information… and clear pathways for those who need early counselling if they suspect they have contracted an STI.”

Sicily’s Lago di Pergusa reduced to ‘puddle’ by drought

Sicily’s Lago di Pergusa, the island’s only natural reservoir, was reduced to little more than a puddle this week following a months-long drought, La Repubblica newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Giuseppe Maria Amato, a spokesperson for the Italian environmental organisation Legambiente’s Sicily chapter, said the lake’s disappearance was accelerated by the “total inattention and inertia” of regional authorities.

“We have been asking for years for the restoration of the environmental monitoring system and the cleaning of the various canals that carry water from the lake’s natural catchment area,” he told local newspaper La Sicilia.

Sicily declared a regional state of emergency over its drought situation back in February, following eight months of what the ANBI Observatory on Water Resources described as “almost total aridity”.