Italy’s youthful deputy prime minister and foreign minister Luigi di Maio addressed the public from his office, speaking directly into a hand-held camera streaming live on Facebook. From China, ” Di Maio said. “These are the specialised medical staff who faced the coronavirus emergency in China, and in this moment have arrived in Rome,” Di Maio said. “Not a single EU country responded,” Italy’s ambassador to the EU wrote last week. “Dear Italians ... you are not alone,” commission president Ursula von der Leyen said in message delivered in her best Italian.

Source: The Irish Times March 18, 2020 19:10 UTC