The woman at the center of a right-to-die battle gripping Italy died on Monday in a private clinic, ending a case that divided the nation and ignited a debate among Italian leaders and the Vatican.
Italian Health Minister Maurizio Sacconi announced the death of the woman, Eluana Englaro, 38, to senators holding an emergency session to debate a bill aimed at keeping her on a feeding tube, Italian news media reported. In response, some senators shouted: “Assassins!”
Englaro was moved last week to a private clinic in Udine, in northeast Italy, that agreed to remove the feeding tube after other public clinics refused. On Friday, doctors began reducing her nutrition intake as protesters gathered outside to pray for her.
Carlo Alberto Defanti, a neurologist who followed her case for years, said she had died suddenly of “unexpected” causes, the Corriere della Sera newspaper said. As recently as Monday morning, doctors said Englaro was in stable condition. A court is expected to decide yesterday whether an autopsy will be conducted, Italian news media said.
Englaro had been in a persistent vegetative state since a car accident in 1992. Her father fought repeatedly in court for the right to remove the tube, saying it was his daughter’s wish not to be kept alive artificially. The Catholic Church was vehemently opposed to removing Englaro’s feeding tube, saying it was tantamount to euthanasia, which is illegal in Italy.
The intense polemics and deep divisions over the case drew comparisons to the case of Terri Schiavo in the US. Schiavo was allowed to die in 2005 after a long legal battle by her husband to remove her feeding tube.
On Friday, when Englaro’s feeding tube was to be withdrawn, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Cabinet introduced an emergency measure forbidding the removal. The decree circumvented a high court decision, and Berlusconi submitted it even though Italian President Giorgio Napolitano had called it unconstitutional and damaging to the balance of powers in Italy. Napolitano said he would not sign the measure.
Instead, late on Friday, the emergency measure was drafted into a bill and the Senate was considering it on Monday when Englaro’s death was announced.
Women’s accessories sold by some of the world’s most popular online shopping firms contained toxic substances sometimes hundreds of times above acceptable levels, authorities in Seoul said yesterday. Chinese giants including Shein, Temu and AliExpress have skyrocketed in popularity around the world in the past few years, offering a vast selection of trendy clothes and accessories at low prices. The explosive growth has led to increased scrutiny of their business practices and safety standards, including in the EU and South Korea, where Seoul officials have been conducting weekly inspections of items sold by online platforms. In the most recent inspection, 144 products from
The US on Monday confirmed that it would resume sales of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia, as concerns over human rights in the kingdom’s Yemen war give way to US hopes for it to play a role in resolving the conflict in Gaza. More than three years after imposing limits on human rights grounds over Saudi Arabian strikes in Yemen, the US Department of State said that it would return to weapons sales “in regular order, with appropriate congressional notification and consultation.” “Saudi Arabia has remained a close strategic partner of the United States, and we look forward to enhancing that partnership,”
Russia yesterday ordered more evacuations in a region bordering Ukraine as it battled to contain an unprecedented push onto its territory by Kyiv’s forces. Ukraine last week sent troops into Russia’s border region of Kursk, in the largest cross-border operation by Kyiv since Moscow launched its offensive more than two years ago. The assault, which has sent tens of thousands of people fleeing, marked the most significant attack by a foreign army on Russian territory since World War II. A top Ukrainian official said that the operation was aimed at stretching Moscow troops and destabilizing the nation after months of slow Russian advances
DEMOCRACY: The Brazilian president’s shifting attitude toward leftist authoritarians is because he does not want to be seen as supporting dictatorships, analysts said Brazil and Nicaragua have expelled each other’s ambassadors in a tit-for-tat diplomatic row, as Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva appears to recalibrate his approach to authoritarian leftist rulers who were once seen as allies. The dual expulsions this week came amid growing tensions between Lula and another supposedly progressive leader, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whose claim of re-election the Brazilian president has yet to acknowledge. Lula and his counterparts in Colombia and Mexico have called on Maduro to release voting tallies from all polling stations to support his win. On Thursday, Brazil announced the expulsion of the Nicaraguan ambassador as