Tom Kington

Italian police have impounded an entire neighbourhood built illegally on the outskirts of Naples, part of an operation magistrates hope will uproot the mafia wealth hidden behind the day-to-day mob shootings that plague the city. In three raids this month, police sealed off with crime-scene tape 50 new buildings containing more than 300 flats.

Sandwiched between temperate Europe and African heat, Italy is on the front line of climate change and is witnessing a rise in tropical diseases such as malaria and tick-borne encephalitis, a new report says. Italy was declared free of malaria in 1970, but it is making a comeback, said the Italian environmental organisation Legambiente.