Barcelona-based Payflow, a YC-backed salary-advance fintech with ambitions to evolve into a neobank, has banked a $9.1 million Series A funding round — bringing its total raised since January 2020, when the business was founded, to $13.6M. Investors in the round include a mix of national and international funds, including Spain’s Seaya Ventures, a new […]
Female conductor takes the helm in first for Italian opera
Ukrainian Oksana Lyniv makes history with three-year posting at Bologna’s Teatro ComunaleA female conductor will take the helm at an Italian opera house for the first time in January.The Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv said she was surprised to learn …
‘She understood her power’: the death of mafia boss Pupetta Maresca
Naples authorities refuse a public send-off for the convicted murderer known as Lady CamorraNo crowds attended the cortege for Assunta Maresca, better known as Pupetta Maresca, who died at home this week in Castellammare di Stabia aged 86. Maresca, a c…
24C in Spain, 15C in the Alps: oddly warm end to 2021 in parts of Europe
Records broken in Bilbao and Segovia, and avalanche warnings in Alps where it is too warm even for fake snowSpain registered record-breaking temperatures this week and areas of the Italian Alps are forecast to reach up to 15C above the seasonal average…
At least 13 dead after third migrant boat in three days sinks in Greek waters
People still missing despite major rescue effort as smugglers switch to more perilous route from TurkeyAt least 13 people have died after a migrant boat capsized in the Aegean Sea late Friday, bringing to at least 27 the combined death toll from three …
Amazon fined €1.1 billion by Italy for antitrust abuse
Investigators find online shopping giant unfairly promoted its logistics business.
Italy fines Apple and Google for ‘aggressive’ data practices
Apple and Google have been fined €10 million apiece by Italy’s competition and market authority (AGCM) which has found they did not provide their users with clear enough information on commercial uses of their data — in violation of the country’s consumer code. The regulator also accuses the pair of deploying “aggressive” practices to push […]
National Geographic green-eyed ‘Afghan Girl’ evacuated to Italy
Sharbat Gula left Afghanistan after Taliban takeover that followed US departure from countryNational Geographic magazine’s famed green-eyed “Afghan Girl” has arrived in Italy as part of the west’s evacuation of Afghans after the Taliban takeover of the…
Meredith Kercher killer Rudy Guede could be freed within days
Man convicted of murdering British student asks for sentence, due to end in January, to be reducedRudy Guede, the only person definitively convicted of the murder of the British student Meredith Kercher, could be freed in the coming days after completi…
Spotify’s new Podcast Subscriptions expand to global markets
Just a few months after launching support for podcast subscriptions to U.S. creators, Spotify today is making the service available to creators in global markets. The company says the service, which allows creators to mark episodes as “subscriber-only” content, will now become available in 33 new markets worldwide. When podcast subscriptions publicly launched in the […]