Rome
Italy went dark this week as a blackout struck nearly the entire country. Rome happened to be celebrating an all-night festival called White Night, so museums and shops were open and packed with people when the lights went out around 3:30 a.m. Thousands were stranded in the subways. Lights returned to the northern part of the country after seven hours, but the south had no power for nearly 24 hours. Only the tiny Italian island of Sardinia, which produces its own energy, stayed plugged in. Energy officials blamed a tree that fell on a power line in Switzerland and caused a domino effect of overloads and shutdowns—not unlike the blackout that hit North America in August.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Pope seeks inquiry on if Gaza assault is 'genocide'Speed Read In a book for the Jubilee 2025, Pope Francis considers whether Israel's war in Gaza meets the legal definition of 'genocide'
-
Can Europe pick up the slack in Ukraine?Today's Big Question Trump's election raises questions about what's next in the war
-
Biden allows Ukraine to hit deep in RussiaSpeed Read The U.S. gave Ukraine the green light to use ATACMS missiles supplied by Washington, a decision influenced by Russia's escalation of the war with North Korean troops
