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The decision to let the soccer game go on between Atalanta and Valencia ion the Champions League in San Siro Stadium, Milan, accelerated the spread of coronavirus says this report in terh WSJ. Practically the whole town of Bergamo moved to Milan to watch the game for a home team. Italian dfoctors say there was a surge in coronavirus cases two weeks after the game on February 19. The virus then hit both Spain and Italy.  New York also went ahead with games with Madison Square Garden putting 100,000 people through its doors, having not received government guidance to stop. It was not till March 12 that game locations and stadiums were shut down. Doctors in infectious diseases say this was a distinctive amplifier, mass gatherings of people spread the virus quickly, especially one as contagious as this one. This report says in early January the coronavirus arrived from Munich, and in mid-February was still based on rumors about its spread in Lombardy, Italy, so that authorites were lax about it, not understanding the threat being faced.  ...

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The WSJ shows options to travel to Europe from the US for under $200 one way on new budget airlines set up by Iceland (Play airline), Norway (Norse Atlantic Airways), Britain (Condor Airlines), France (French Bee), Italy (Neos). Add in bags and meals and it could run to about $400 one way as you pay for everything else extra. One would travel to that country to locations such as Reykjavik, Oslo, London, Paris, Milan, and connect to other parts of Europe. Flights are from New York, Los Angles, San Francisco, Miami. With fares for Delta, United, and other carriers up significantly this offers another option.

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New bicycle lanes in Paris, Milan, to Mexico City are changing the way cities see people getting to work or moving round. New bicycle lanes are popping up in many cities. In Paris the plan by order of the mayor is to provide 400 miles of pop-up bicycle lanes throughout Greater Paris. Car lanes are giving way and being transformed into bicycle lanes. 

Oakland has moved to have 10% of the roads for bicycle lanes. In Montreal extra 70 miles are added. Bogota added 47 miles.

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Italy's president Conte tells Italians to follow the rules for quarantine, and not to follow old habits of "furbizia" that were used mostly to overcome the bureaucracy by working around rules. The Lombardy region including Milan is now under quarantine for the coronavirus. Programs on television urge people not to mingle, and to stay at home. 

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Its called the most one side win in Champion League's history, the win of PSG Paris over Inter Milan May 31, 2025.

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A huge win for PSG over Inter Milan after 30 years in Champions League. See the video in FR24 as Hakimi and others excel.

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Huge save by Donnarumma gets PSG into the final 8 in European soccer Champions League. Donarumma saved two of 3 penalties of Liverpool in a rematch. Over his career Donnarumma who started at AC Milan has saved 23% of penalties.

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A draft decree in the prime minister's office shows a plan to place quarantine covering the Lombardy region of Italy and nearby provinces, including the cities of Milan, Venice and Modena. The population in this region of 10 million people will face restrictions on mobility. The draft decree says transit in and out of the quarantine zones will be granted only in the event of "grave situations." It urges people to stay inside their homes and not travel. A similar quarantine in China around the Wuhan region helped limit the spread of coronavirus and bring it under control. Today the worst hit and not yet under control are Iran and Italy.

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Cities including London, New York, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Melbourne, Milan, Caracas, Cape Town, Copenhagen, Vancouver, have pledged to become carbon neutral by 2050.

Reducing transport emissions is a big challenge. London has Ultra low Emission Zone which encourages people to switch to low emission vehicles.  Paris is creating 650 kilometres of cycling paths and plans to open up the whole city to bicycles by 2026. Buildings have a large carbon footprint - producing 38% of global carbon emissions. Of this 11% are in the construction materials of steel and concrete, Wood is an alternative material that is being tried in buildings. Passive heating is a way to heat or cool buildings by building underground canals around a building and using the natural temperatures of the earth to cool or heat the air above. This is seen in the Energon building in Ulm, Germany.

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Italy is planning to place a quarantine in the north covering the region around Milan and 11 provinces nearby, in a draft decree from the prime minister's office, says this report in the WSJ. When a final decision is made the quarantine would go into effect March 8 and go on till April 3, 2020. This move is similar to the quarantine steps taken in China which helped limit the health crisis in China from coronavirus. The new decree also includes tight restrictions on travel in the affected areas. 

The new action is being taken as earlier measures have not limited the spread of coronavirus. They were requested by the government in Lombardy, which combined with Emilia Romagna and Veneto are the worst hit of the regions in northern Italy with about 85% of cases. It also means the industrial economy with 40% of GDP is affected.

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Every day lost in the struggle with coronavirus is a big thing, which is why Itay's most affluent northern region has gone from being well equipped with resources of healthcare to seeing the health system overburdened to the point of disaster. This WSJ report shows why this has a lesson and an early warning for how the U.S. and other countries should design their response. It is also why the White House team that includes President Trump in the U.S. emphasized the plan for just the first 15 Days in the news conference at the Brady Room in the White House on March 16. It is saying the first 15 days are critical, not a day to lose.  It does not matter if you are an advanced economy with state of the art hospitals. Social behaviours must change, old rules rewritten and implemented throughout nations, quickly in days. Here WSJ shows lessons learned by Dr. Cereda at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania who trained in Milan and was in constant contact with colleagues in Milan and elsewhere. Many of the lessons relate to not overburdening hospitals and health systems and protecting health systems. This means mild to moderate cases are managed from home and not in the hospital, through massive deployment of outreach services and telemedicine. It means therapies can be delivered at home or through mobile clinics. The second major lesson from Italy is to protect healthcare workers and doctors. The entire White House team with Dr Faucci of CDC and Dr Brx, head of Infectious Diseases in the U.S. news conference of president Trump March 16, focused on the goal of protecting healthcare workers, doctors and hospitals, so they remained strong to take on the crisis. The second goal of the White House team is to protect the elderly with medical conditions. To do this only the most serious patients are treated in hospitals the rest for mild to moderate at home.  Studying the conditions in Bergamo and other parts of Lombardy and northern Italy, is helping U.S. medical leaders to prepare for the current nationwide effort, the 15 days plan announced by the White House. The lessons from the Papa Giovanni Hospital in Bergamo are important say U.S. medical leaders, including Dr. Brendan Carr, head of emergency medicine at Mount Sinai Health System in New York.  He says build capacity in hospital beds before we need it. Clear out hospital space and add new hospital beds.  ...

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Jose Igncacio is only an hour away from Punta del Este, Uruguay. A look at Uruguay destinations, Julia Buckley in The Times describes the attraction of Uruguay as a simpler less well known and less crowded place with big skies and good coastal hotels.  Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, a small nation near Buenos Aires, Argentina, is compared to Lecce in Italy and Buenos Aires to Milan. New wineries provide new coastal hotel locations. And there is a small town quiet feel. Vineyards here are from fifth generation vintners from places like Piedmont, Italy.

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A look at countries in Europe shows different strategies for tackling coronavirus Delta variant as schools reopen in September 2021. Italy requires all teachers to carry a covid digital certificate that shows vaccination or PCR test results. France, Germany and Spain do not require vaccination for teachers to go to schools, and rely mostly on social distancing and mask requirements in schools. Britain not only does not require vaccination digital certificate, but also has not made masks and social distancing mandatory. Health experts say there are serious risks in this approach with mass return to schools and offices after August 2021, and the fall weather with more time indoors. This could lead to a surge in coronavirus as in the US where the reopening of schools and Delta variant has led to surge particularly in states such as Texas, Florida, California. In UK 65% of total population is now fully vaccinated, in Italy 62%. Teachers in Italy fully support the new rules. In Lombardy region with Milan as the capital, only 300 out of 300,000 workers returned to schools without the green pass, according to regional officials. Britain remains an outlier says this report in the WSJ, taking more risks than is proper at this time, and simply hoping for the best. Not the best strategy in this situation.   ...

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Mario Balotelli, the soccer star who played for Marseille decides to go back to his hometown of Brescia, Italy. Along the way turning down offers to play for Flamengo in Brazil or impossible sums of money for playing on a Chinese team. His mother cried when she heard that he was coming back. He was once the only black player on the Italian team when he scored the winning goal against a stunned German team by going from one end of the field to the other. 

His offer from Brescia is 4.4 million dollars but that was enough for him to come home, accepting the offer at once. Even while playing for Milan he preferred to commute the distance and stay in Brescia. 

He will no longer be alone as the only black player on the soccer field. Brexcia is now extracommunitaria as they say in Italy, a multicultural city with 19% of its citizens from other backgrounds. Many players from West Africa are now playing in the Italian league.  

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The 32 year old leader of the movement called Five Star started by comedian Beppe Grillo in Italy, Luigi Maio, now leads the effort to form a government in Italy. The M5S party party won 32% of the vote in Italy's 2018 elections. The Northern League a far right party based on the region near Milan led by Matteo Salvini, came in second. In combination with Berlusconi's Forza Italia it has 37% of the vote, not enough to form a government on its own. The M5S is a centre left party which shares euroskepticism with the Northern League, but remains a centrist party that has little in common with the Northern League and Berlusconi. The FIve Star Movement sees fresh elections as the only next step as it sees no chance of a coalition with the far right parties.   

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In 2012 40 brand name drugs with sales value of $35 billion lost patent protection. In 2013 this figure falls to $17 billion, according to analysts at Credit Agricole Securities. This means the opportunities for generics makers is diminishing. This is leading to consolidation and specialization by generics makers.

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The message of the Five Star Party of Beppe Grillo against cronyism, the older politics in Italy, corruption in government, unrestricted immigration, clearly resonated in the south of Italy with the party winning in southern Italy. FIve Star brings younger faces to the Italian parliament just as Macron's movement did in France. The Democratic Left Party under Renzi was a clear loser as it won about 20% of the vote compared to 32% of the vote and over 216 seats in parliament for Five Star. Renzi and the left parties clearly failed to gauge the voter's mood and frustration with economic conditions- 11% unemployment and 18 million Italians at risk of poverty reports BBC News. About 600,000 immigrants entered Italy from North Africa and other regions creating anti-immigration sentiment that shifted support to Five Star and the right wing Northern League under Salvini, which had broadened its appeal from its local base in Milan to all of Northern Italy under Salvini, 44 years old. The Northern League won in most of Northern Italy and with the Forze italia of Berlusconi won 37% of the vote. A coalition of Five Star and the Nrothern League would bring together 2 Euroskeptic parties. ...

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Since taking over Italy's right wing Northern League Party in 2013, Matteo Salvini, 44 years old, has improved the party's appeal by appealing to parts of Italy's north beyond its base in Lombardy, Piedmont and Veneto. The Milan native called for greater autonomy for the northern region, and even secession, supporting the northerners view that tax money from the prosperous north was being wasted on the poorer regions in the south. He also entered into an alliance with Silvio Belusconi's Forza Italia party. He took a hard line on immigration. Salvini has called for a train service for Milanese only, to draw attention to immigrants from non-EU countries. The head of the Five Star Movement  Party of Beppe Grillo, is Luigi Di Maio, who has called for ending the "taxi service" that brings to Italy migrants stranded on small boats in the Mediterranean. The shift in sentiment in Italy towards immigration has helped parties on the right as it has done in Italy and to a lesser extent in Germany with AfD's larger presence in the German parliament. ...

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The Italy's Moncler retail chain of stores selling designer winter jackets made its IPO on the Borsa Italiana in Milan. It was heavily oversubscribed and up 47% to euros 14.97. Moncler is named after a mountain village in Grenbole, France, and has become a global fashion brand. It has 122 stores and online retail, with revenue of 489 million euros in 2012. Ruffini bought the company in 2003 has 32% stake, Eurazeo French investment company has 45%, and Carlyle Group has the remaining stake.