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Italy has moved closer to reinstating a national holiday in honour of patron saint Francis of Assisi, after its lower house overwhelmingly backed an initiative that cast the move as critical to the country’s identity.

The right-wing government of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni supports the proposed legislation, saying St Francis is at the “core of our nation’s identity”.

On Tuesday, the bill, which would give millions of Italian workers the day off on the saint’s feast day on 4 October, received 247 votes in favour and only two against. There were also eight abstentions.

A national holiday was previously observed in Italy for the medieval friar celebrated for his dedication to the poor, but it was discontinued in 1977.

While Italy is largely Catholic, with nearly 80% of Italians identifying with the religion, a much smaller percentage can be considered observant, with only 19% attending church at least once a week, according to 2023 data by the Italian statistics agency ISTAT.

According to another survey from November 2024 conducted by the Italian institute of sociological research CENSIS, 15.3% of Italians consider themselves to be practising Catholics.

The proposal will next go to the Senate for approval.

Speaking after Tuesday’s vote, Lorenzo Fontana, the president of the Chamber of Deputies, said: “I am delighted that the chamber has given the initial green light to this proposal: rediscovering St Francis also means reviving his message of peace, which is more relevant than ever.”

The vote was also heralded by Grazia Di Maggio, a politician who belongs to Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party.

“It will be the day when Italy will remember, once again, that it is a land with a tradition, a faith, and a soul that no one can ever erase,” Di Maggio said.

During her time in office, Meloni has sought to promote traditional Catholic values, placing particular emphasis on the family.

As Italy looks to add another public holiday to the calendar, France has recently backed away from removing two of its own.

Before being ousted from his position on 8 September, now-former French Prime Minister François Bayrou claimed the move was necessary to rebalance the country’s economy.

However, the idea proved unpopular, with his successor Sébastien Lecornu pledging to overturn the plan, following mass strikes across the country.

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Charlene Paterson

First Minister John Swinney has apologised to a young footballer who had to wait five hours for an ambulance after breaking her leg.

Brooke Paterson, 19, was injured while playing for Linlithgow Rose away at Cumbernauld United in North Lanarkshire on Sunday.

The central midfielder from Bo’ness, near Falkirk, has since undergone surgery in Forth Valley Hospital.

Speaking in parliament, Swinney apologised to Ms Paterson and expressed his “regret” at the situation.

The Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) has also apologised for any distress caused by the delay in getting to the match, which it said was due to high demand and hospital turnaround times.

After the case was raised by Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar at First Minister’s Questions, Swinney said that it appeared the ambulance call had been misclassified, meaning it did not have “the priority it should have had”.

“That is not acceptable,” he said.

“That is an error that has been made and we have to look into whether that is the case and whether there are other steps that need to be taken to remedy that.”

Sarwar accused Swinney of having “broken the system” and said families across the country were suffering as a result of waits for accident and emergency treatment.

Charlene Paterson

Ms Paterson said she ran to get the ball at the same time as a United player during the Lowland League match.

“She went for a slide tackle and I got the bad end of it,” she told BBC Scotland’s Drivetime programme.

“It just snapped straight away. I heard the snap and knew something bad happened.

“I just remember being in total agony and screaming and crying. I couldn’t focus – people were trying to talk to me and I couldn’t hear anybody. I was in a lot of pain.”

Teammates and onlookers at Guy’s Meadow Stadium rushed to her aid and several phoned for an ambulance after realising the seriousness of her injury.

“The ambulance said that it wasn’t a 999 emergency and I had to wait,” she said.

“The hours kept adding on and adding on, and I was getting more and more upset and frustrated. I was cold as well because I was lying on the ground.”

People covered her in jackets to keep her warm and comfortable as it got dark.

“I was more annoyed at the fact that they let me lie there on the wet grass, completely freezing with a bad injury,” she added.

“They took their time to come and get me. I just couldn’t believe they could do that to anyone.”

Charlene Paterson

When asked if the apology from the SAS was enough, she said: “I don’t know.

“I don’t know that they won’t do that to someone else and it’s obviously happened before. An apology isn’t enough to fix these problems.”

It is not known when Brooke will leave the hospital, as she is still struggling with the pain as well as putting weight on the injured leg.

“I’m just really, really sore and tired all the time,” she said.

The footballer said she had suffered bad injuries before, adding: “I know I can come back from something like this, but I know it’s going to take a while.

“I just need to remember why I play football in the first place and that will keep me going. It’ll get hard at points but I can’t give up. I’ve came too far to give up on football now.

“When I’m playing football, all my worries go out the door. I don’t have any problems when I’m playing football. It’s always brought me joy no matter what.”

Ambulance apology

A SAS spokesperson said: “We would like to sincerely apologise to Ms Paterson for the delay in the ambulance response and for any distress caused.

“We can confirm that we received a number of calls on 21 September to attend this incident but due to high demand and hospital turnaround times which ranged between 90 minutes to three hours in the area, this significantly delayed our response and we unfortunately could not attend immediately.

“When a time is appropriate, we would ask Ms Paterson or her family to contact our patient experience team directly so we can look into this case further and personally discuss our response. We hope Ms Paterson is recovering well.”

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Speaking at the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev drew attention to the weakening credibility of global institutions.

“Serious violations of international law have become ‘a new normality,’ which undermines global stability and erodes confidence between peoples, between political leaders, and between states,” he said.

He reaffirmed the need for a strong international governance in tumultuous times, for which the UN needs to adapt and reform.

“A central pillar of this bold effort to renew the UN should be a reform of the Security Council,” Tokayev said, adding that Asia, Africa, and Latin America must be represented more fairly and that “middle powers” deserve a stronger role.

“Above all, a credible UN for the 21st century requires Member States to take concrete steps toward durable peace and security. Otherwise, the UN is doomed to forever mitigate consequences while root causes forever proliferate,” Tokayev warned.

He also called for updating the UN Charter to reflect modern realities, pointing to the WWII-era “enemy state” clauses as outdated.

He expressed concern over conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza and the overall trend of increasing military spending, which last year hit a record €23 billion.

Divisions a matter of personal choice

“When political leaders make irresponsible statements or take reckless decisions, manipulating religion and identity for political gain, they in fact seriously damage the trust and goodwill in striving for peace,” Tokayev stressed.

Kazakhstan’s leader also emphasised his country’s role as a hub for global investment, logistics and sustainable development, citing €340 billion in FDI, major transit projects and hosting the UN SDG Centre for Central Asia and Afghanistan.

He called for regional solidarity through the “Central Asia Plus” format and stressed support for inclusive development in Afghanistan.

“Kazakhstan believes that inclusive development in Afghanistan is a basis for long-term regional peace and stability,” he noted.

Addressing climate change, he advocated for urgent cooperation to protect the Caspian Sea and strengthening water security, announcing a UN-backed ecological summit in April 2026.

The speech also highlighted AI as both an opportunity and a risk, with Kazakhstan aiming to become a digital leader, while continuing political reforms, sustaining strong economic growth, and advancing energy transition and agricultural exports.

$4 billion rail equipment deal

The biggest outcome of President Tokayev’s trip to New York was inking an agreement with Wabtec for $4.2 billion (€3.5 billion). The document envisages production of 300 freight locomotives with improved characteristics in Kazakhstan and their servicing.

Following the deal, Donald Trump commended Kazakhstan on “the largest railroad equipment purchase in history” through his Truth Social account.

“I just concluded a wonderful call with the Highly Respected President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Kemeluly Tokayev. They have signed the largest railroad equipment purchase in history, $4 billion dollars worth of United States locomotives and rail equipment,” Trump wrote.

Tokayev also praised the deal, highlighting that it will support Kazakhstan’s transport industry as well as the development of the Middle Corridor.

“We highly value Wabtec’s key role in advancing our mechanical engineering and rail transport industries. In partnership with this company, Kazakhstan is building both physical networks and intelligent, integrated, data-driven transport corridors,” said the Kazakh president at the round table with US businesses.

Wabtec has been present in Kazakhstan since 2009. Its locomotive plant in Astana has produced over 600 locomotives, invested €196 million, and achieved 45% localisation.

Overall, more than 630 US companies operate in Kazakhstan, including Chevron, ExxonMobil, Boeing, Visa, Mastercard, Meta, and Citibank.

Other deals, other meetings

Tokayev’s trip to New York was productive, with the president holding over 20 high-level meetings with heads of state and CEOs of companies.

He met with President of the European Council António Costa, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Montenegro Jakov Milatović, Prime Minister of Luxemburg Luc Frieden, Prince of Monaco Albert II, President of France Emmanuel Macron, President of Finland Alexander Stubb, and Prime Minister of Belgium Bart De Wever.

He also presided over the signing of a distribution agreement between Amazon Kuiper and Kazakhtelecom, which gives the latter access to Kuiper satellite network. Under this agreement, Amazon Kuiper plans to deploy its own ground infrastructure in three Kazakh cities, investing approximately €170 million.

With PepsiCo Foundation Chairman, Stephen Kehoe, Tokayev discussed already launched construction of a snack production plant in the Almaty region, with an investment of $368 million.

The Smithsonian Institution will also launch Kazakhstan Cultural Heritage Fund, which will aid in the research, documentation and exhibition of Kazakhstan’s cultural legacy.