In this edition

• Meloni's electoral reform collapses in parliamentary revolt

  Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suffered a second major parliamentary defeat this year when her government's electoral reform amendment failed a secret ballot, with defectors from her own coalition joining the opposition to block the measure.

  Concetta Vassallo · 461 words

• Sicily swelters as Italy's heatwave peaks: outdoor workers demand protection

  Sicily faces the peak of Italy's intensifying summer heatwave, with outdoor workers across the island joining strikes in Milan, Bologna and Florence to demand emergency protections as temperatures near or exceed 42 degrees Celsius.

  Concetta Vassallo · 512 words

Recent headlines from this bureau

• Sicily swelters as Italy's heatwave peaks: outdoor workers demand protection
• Meloni's electoral reform collapses in parliamentary revolt
• Sicily braces as wildfire risk peaks amid 42-degree heat
• Sicily's water frontier: Aeolian Islands weigh desalination against sea transport
• Etna's secret origin reshapes volcanic science
• Etna's ash cloud grounds Catania flights for second week
• Drones test volcanic gas readings to forecast Etna eruptions
• Etna's eruption traps tourists and reshapes Sicily's summer season

Geography & climate

Hot Mediterranean, increasingly arid; Etna's volcanic weather.

The Mediterranean's largest island — Etna, the coasts, the interior, the smaller archipelagos.

Economy & culture

Agriculture, tourism, energy and refining, fishing, a large public sector.

Greek, Arab, Norman and Spanish layers; the Mafia and the anti-Mafia; the frontier of European migration.