Meloni Discusses With Trump Case of Italian Journalist Detained in Iran

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met with President-elect Donald Trump (center), accompanied by Sen. Marco Rubio (right) and Rep. Michael Waltz (left) at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday (EPA)
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met with President-elect Donald Trump (center), accompanied by Sen. Marco Rubio (right) and Rep. Michael Waltz (left) at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday (EPA)
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Meloni Discusses With Trump Case of Italian Journalist Detained in Iran

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met with President-elect Donald Trump (center), accompanied by Sen. Marco Rubio (right) and Rep. Michael Waltz (left) at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday (EPA)
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met with President-elect Donald Trump (center), accompanied by Sen. Marco Rubio (right) and Rep. Michael Waltz (left) at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday (EPA)

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni surprised on Sunday her allies, both local and regional, after her plane landed at Miami International Airport from where she headed to the Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, to meet President-elect Donald Trump before his inauguration on Jan. 20.
Trump greeted her warmly. The two leaders met for an hour in the presence of Trump’s close aide Elon Musk, who has a close relationship with the Italian visitor.
Sources in the delegation that accompanied Meloni said the PM raised the case of detained Italian journalist Cecilia Sala, who was arrested in Iran last month on charges of espionage.
Meloni is trying to exchange the release of Sala for detained Mohammad Abedini, an Iranian businessman, who was arrested at Milan's Malpensa airport on a US warrant for allegedly supplying drone parts that Washington says were used in an attack last January that killed three US service members in Jordan.



Over 12,300 Civilians Killed since Start of Ukraine War, UN says

A woman reacts at the site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in central Kyiv, Ukraine, December 20, 2024. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/File Photo
A woman reacts at the site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in central Kyiv, Ukraine, December 20, 2024. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/File Photo
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Over 12,300 Civilians Killed since Start of Ukraine War, UN says

A woman reacts at the site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in central Kyiv, Ukraine, December 20, 2024. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/File Photo
A woman reacts at the site of a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in central Kyiv, Ukraine, December 20, 2024. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/File Photo

More than 12,300 civilians have been killed in the Ukraine war since Russia invaded nearly three years ago, a UN official said on Wednesday, noting higher casualties in recent months amid the use of drones, long-range missiles and glide bombs, according to Reuters.

"Russian armed forces intensified their operations to capture further territory in eastern Ukraine, with a severe impact on civilians in frontline areas, particularly in the Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions," Nada Al-Nashif, United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement, referring to developments since September 2024.

"We are deeply concerned by the impacts on civilians of the increased use of drones and the use of new weapons," she added, referring in part to Russia's use of highly destructive guided bombs or glide bombs in residential areas.