Amy Kazmin Author Rss

Food that is a normal part of human diet in south-east Asia has been finding a market in Europe

Amy Kazmin — Mon, 24 Apr 2023 10:37:03 +0000

In years past, while working as journalist in south-east Asia, I encountered many people for whom insects were a normal part of their diets.

I met Cambodians who caught and ate insects to survive the near starvation of the Khmer Rouge genocide. In Thailand’s lively night markets, street vendors sold deep-fried grasshoppers, crickets, worms and other bugs as snacks. I met a Thai entrepreneur whose start-up produced fried insects in modern, branded packaging for grocery stores.

This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Amy Kazmin

Former Italian prime minister, 86, spends second day in intensive care undergoing treatment for lung infection

Amy Kazmin — Thu, 06 Apr 2023 11:43:26 +0000

Italy’s former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is suffering from leukaemia, his doctor revealed on Thursday, as the 86-year-old remained in intensive care for a second day undergoing treatment for a lung infection.

Berlusconi, who was Italy’s longest-serving postwar prime minister, was admitted to the intensive care unit of Milan’s San Raffaele Hospital on Wednesday.

This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Amy Kazmin

Move comes in response to a surge in cases of the virus following the end of Beijing’s zero-Covid regime

Amy Kazmin — Wed, 28 Dec 2022 14:19:38 +0000

Italy will test all air passengers arriving from China for coronavirus, as it become the first western country to impose restrictions after the abrupt end of Beijing’s zero-Covid containment policy prompted a surge in cases in the world’s second-largest economy.

Orazio Schillaci, Italy’s health minister, announced the controls on Wednesday, saying it was “essential to ensure surveillance and detection of possible variants of the virus in order to protect the Italian population”.

Some Asian countries, including Japan and India, have also imposed new testing requirements for Chinese arrivals, in anticipation of a wave of visitors after president Xi Jinping’s government scrapped what was left of the zero-Covid regime that closed it off from the world for almost three years.

Under former prime minister Mario Draghi, Italy had strict vaccination rules and required people to show proof of vaccination in order to enter most public places and businesses. Yet such controls, including requirements to mask on public transport, have been gradually phased out.

Members of Italy’s rightwing government, led by Giorgia Meloni, were highly critical of the former government’s strict vaccination and masking policies, calling them curbs on individual freedoms.

Additional reporting by Giuliana Ricozzi and Stefania Palma in Rome, Guy Chazan in Berlin and Jasmine Cameron-Chileshe in London

This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Amy Kazmin