Italian court

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's party has cleared a by-election test, holding off a challenge from a new far-right rival. The result, reported by Reuters, is being read as confirmation of Meloni's grip on the right wing of Italian politics despite the emergence of a competing force courting her base. The vote offers an early measure of her coalition's standing.

Three Egyptian security officials have been convicted in absentia over the kidnapping of Giulio Regeni, the Italian Cambridge University student found tortured and killed near Cairo in 2016. The verdict, handed down by an Italian court, is seen by human rights advocates as a rare step toward accountability, though none of the convicted men is likely to be extradited or serve prison time.

Italy is moving to prevent diplomatic damage to its relationship with Egypt following a verdict in the case of Giulio Regeni, the Italian researcher who was tortured and killed in Cairo in 2016. Rome is seeking to keep the fallout from the ruling from straining cooperation with Cairo, balancing demands for justice with strategic and economic interests in the partnership.