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We will have many responsibilities in the fields of education, science and sport. We will seek ways to strengthen the European Research Area, recognise qualifications acquired by adults more effectively, and make the teaching profession more attractive and sustainable, said Raminta Popovienė, Minister for Education, Science and Sport, as quoted in the statement. #ErasmusPlus #EuropeanResearchArea #EducationPolicy (translated)

The President of the Council Giorgia Meloni, during the Assolombarda assembly, emphasized the need for structural responses to the high energy costs and criticized the European emissions trading system, promising interventions of 60 billion to support Italian companies. #CaroEnergia #GiorgiaMeloni #TransizioneEnergetica (translated)

LETTERE MERIDIANE — “TEATRO-EDICOLA” OF SAN SEVERO CONQUERS THE WORLD SOURCE: https://www.letteremeridiane.org/2026/10/il-teatro-edicola-di-san-severo-conquista-il-mondo/?fbclid=IwY2xjawU4oqFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBwZG9mAXNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR5rVEwYs6UUXg7v-P0SyIQ_DRb_F6ZiY58OcseYoV4J7atcTiERnhWaqKM2pw_aem_Njle1jq1XLzHr93KLBUcVA After “Broadway World”, the “Los Angeles Journal”, “The Psychologist (British Psychological Association)” and Hollywood Beat Magazine, its “academic consecration” has now arrived courtesy of Stanford University. As I have already emphasised in my article on the revival of the GIO Festival in Foggia, celebrated by BroadwayWorld for the world stage premiere of the Giordano’s opera Marina (1888), the province of Foggia has long ceased to be peripheral. It happens when it finds an idea that shifts the coordinates: well, in San Severo, 40 kilometres from Foggia, it has happened again. Only this time an orchestra was not needed; six chairs were enough. The celebrated Teatro-Edicola of San Severo artistic director Francesco Gravino of the theatre company Foyer ’97 has been featured in the academic journal “Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR)” as an academic case study. The news, relayed on 19 September 2026 by ANSA Nazionale, looked like a misprint. Then it became clear that it was not. SSIR, an award-winning publication covering multisectoral solutions to global problems, included the project in its Dispatches section with the reportage “The Six-Seat Revolution”. It is the inverse trajectory to that of the GIO Festival: not a forgotten opera returning to a grand historic Italian horseshoe theatre, but an entire theatre reborn inside a disused place, forgotten by man. There are moments when past and future intertwine to create something visionary, innovative, artistically “revolutionary”: San Severo experienced one of those moments on the morning of 27 March 2026, during World Theatre Day, when the shutter of a newsstand closed for six years in Via Matteo Tondi was reopened “not to sell newspapers, but to offer stirring stories”, to quote Gravino’s motto. The idea of the visionary Francesco Gravino, artistic director, stage director and actor of the San Severo company Foyer ’97, active for at least 30 years in Capitanata, centred on the kiosk, hexagonal in metal and glass, granted free of charge by its owner Pino Frau, by now an urban relic created by the publishing crisis of the early 2000s: today in Italy active newsstands have fallen from about 35,000 in 2005 to about 20,000 in 2024, a decline of 42.8%. Gravino and eleven other actors restructured it in two weeks of work, without institutional funding, and transformed it into what is now under examination by the London commission of Guinness World Records as the “world’s smallest theatre”. The formula is deliberately austere: six spectators at a time outside, actors inside at less than a metre’s distance, 15-minute performances, continuous rotation from 11:00 to 20:45, texts ranging from Goldoni to Chekhov, from Ibsen to Dacia Maraini. On the door a QR code with an original theatrical warning: “Warning! This QR code transforms passers-by into actors. Scan only if ready.” The numbers immediately showed that it was no boutade: more than 60 people in a single afternoon, three inaugural days that sold out. But above all a positive echo that went beyond the borders of San Severo. “Broadway World” (just as in the previous case of the GIO Festival), the world’s most influential theatre criticism outlet with over 5.5 million monthly views, devoted exclusive coverage to it on 27 April 2026: “An Abandoned Italian Newsstand Just Became the World’s Smallest Theatre”. Not a mere listing, but an analysis: “There is no foyer, there is no balcony, there is no grid. There is barely a wing. What there is is something almost unrecognisable as an evening at the theatre, and for that very reason it is all the more powerful.” “Broadway World” captured Gravino’s manifesto idea: “This is a theatre of proximity. In an era of digital distance, we are putting human contact back at the centre,” framing it as “More than a clever exercise in site-specific theatre. It is a reappropriation.” All of this, in a Mezzogiorno of Italy often narrated only in terms of organised crime and marginalisation. To that seal of approval was added another, even more disorienting for a newsstand in San Severo: the “Los Angeles Journal”, one of the most influential publications on the West Coast for the performing arts. On 12 May 2026, it headlined thus: “San Severo’s Teatro-Edicola as an Innovative Model for Los Angeles Theaters?” opening as follows: “In a city in southern Italy that Hollywood has never heard of, a theatre director has just built the smallest stage in the world: six seats, fifteen minutes, zero distance. Los Angeles should pay attention.” The “Los Angeles Journal” does not indulge in folklore, but places the kiosk in Via Matteo Tondi alongside the prestigious 1,600-seat Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, the Pantages of Broadway in Hollywood, the 99-seat plan of Rogue Machine, the Odyssey, the Victory Theatre and the Hollywood Fringe. It even recalls Ethan Marks’s Electrical Box Theatre, a veritable electrical box lined with red velvet in downtown Los Angeles, to argue that Gravino has taken to the extreme the question Los Angeles has been asking itself for decades: How small can a stage become before it ceases to be a stage? And it recognizes the San Severo urban model: almost zero cost, two weeks of work and six chairs, in return for immediate provincial, regional and national media coverage, recognition by the San Severo’s Municipal Administration, and a format exportable anywhere. Then, the third American piece came from “Hollywood Beat Magazine” on 20 April 2026: Six seats. Fifteen minutes. One actor. No stage. The magazine recounts the kiosk in Via Tondi left disused for almost six years, the contemporary six-seat cultural outpost, placing Francesco Gravino in a distinguished genealogy: Richard Schechner and environmental theatre, Jerzy Grotowski and poor theatre, Nicolas Bourriaud and relational aesthetics. But it closes with pragmatism: it is not a thesis, it is fixing a street corner, that is, repairing an urban street corner by asking not how large a theatre can become, but how small it must become again to recover its original power. And finally, the celebrated London-based “The Psychologist”, the journal of the “British Psychological Society (BPS)”, the oldest psychological society in the world, transformed the Teatro-Edicola into a scientific case study: on 30 July 2026 it published “The world’s smallest theatre — and Psychologists’ next act”, starting from the same detail, the morning of 27 March when the metal shutter of the hexagonal kiosk in Via Tondi reopened after six years, six people inside, an actor at less than a metre’s distance beginning Chekhov. It describes the formula: six spectators, 15 minutes, 11 actors over 10 hours, from Goldoni to Euripides, inside a kiosk where the fourth wall does not break because architecturally it never existed. But the BPS goes a step further: it cites the 2025 studies by Damien Gabriel in IBRO Neuroscience Reports, that live performance generates measurably stronger emotional and physiological activation than video, and introduces Edward Hall’s proxemics: below one metre is intimate space, reserved for doctors, close friends, lovers. In that one-square-metre space, the actor’s breath is audible, micro-expressions legible, the self-other boundary becomes permeable. The Teatro-Edicola “does not make theatre better, it makes it inevitable”. And it is here that one understands why Stanford is studying it as an academic case study in social innovation, not as a case of artistic originality. In Italy, meanwhile, the national media circuit had already picked up the phenomenon: RaiNews — TG2 Storie brought it to RaiDue at midnight on 19 April. RTL 102.5 devoted space to the format conceived by Gravino and developed by Foyer ’97 in the heart of San Severo in Via Tondi, defining it as a permanent micro-stage capable of bringing theatre into public space. ANSA.it, Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno, La Repubblica, TG2000, Radio Capital, Swiss RSI, ANSA Brazil and many others followed. And for the record: Fiorello praised it in La Pennicanza as an artistic case inspired by his Edicola Fiore, and Biagio Antonacci, on his tour in the Augustan amphitheatre of Lucera, made a “fact-finding” stop at the Teatro-Edicola singing the celebrated and nostalgic Iris in front of an audience certainly larger than the “six seats”. Francesco Gravino’s theatre company Foyer ’97 was not born yesterday: behind it lie the Teatro-Cantina of 2016, the underground theatre, and in 2011 a performance on the bell tower of a church in the centre of San Severo at 45 metres high. The Teatro-Edicola completes, in Gravino’s words, “the entire vertical extension of theatre: underground, street level, rooftop”. And it is preparing for its thirtieth anniversary in 2027 aiming to purchase the kiosk to make it permanent, exporting the “San Severo Model” to Rome, Lucca, and to the festivals of Santarcangelo and Todi. As with the GIO Festival, someone might dare to claim that it is merely a stunt, but when BroadwayWorld places you alongside the Los Angeles Opera House, the “Los Angeles Journa”l proposes you as a model for Hollywood, “Hollywood Beat Magazine” reads you through Grotowski and the “British Psychological Society” uses you to explain mirror neurones, it is no longer a stunt but an excellent artistic and academic positioning. To those who still whisper that Foggia and Capitanata are provincial, the answer is now written on two opposite and complementary fronts: on 5 June in Foggia a 138-year-old opera found the stage again at the Giordano ending up on BroadwayWorld; on 27 March in San Severo a 4-square-metre kiosk invented a stage that did not exist, ending up at Stanford, in Los Angeles, in Hollywood and in London. The periphery, when it has a precise idea, becomes the centre. Even with six chairs. Luciano Magaldi Sardella

The number of long-term unemployed receiving citizen's money for at least five years has risen to 1.4 million, with particularly high rates recorded in Berlin and Bremen, while the AfD is using this situation for its populist agenda. #Bürgergeld #Langzeitarbeitslosigkeit #AfD (translated)

The author said the quote explained socialism’s electoral success in Spain and elsewhere, arguing that politicians created dependency on the state and that this dependency generated voters. They referred to people relying on government transfer payments, subsidies and social safety nets. #Socialismo #Política #Elecciones #ES

The author wrote that quotes circulating in the information space, which they said suggested Russians were mocking the United States, had made the saga seem like a circus. They argued that the issue remained serious and described the US energy deal with Putin’s Russia as harmful and irrational. #US #RU

Manuel Ostermann wrote that a former employee at the Dortmund immigration office is suspected of having manipulated residence permits and travel documents. So far, at least 24 conspicuous cases have come to light, and investigations are underway, he stated. For him, the case raises the fundamental question of whether, in the filling of government positions, only suitability, qualifications, and professional performance should continue to count. Especially in agencies that decide on stays and documents, in his view, neither political nor societal wish criteria should be decisive. Ostermann opposed selection based on skin color, origin, migration history, or quotas and argued that the state must choose the most suitable applicants to gain trust. https://t.co/GwOYtz6jbw #Eignung #Leistung #Vertrauen (translated)

Niels Koerts wrote that he would join BNR Beurs at 6:30 PM to discuss, among other things, a statement from Minister of Finance Eelco Heijnen. According to Koerts, Heijnen had said that investors had to keep track of their own returns for their tax returns. Koerts predicted that this would lead to great chaos. #beleggen #belasting #financien (translated)

Tobias Huch wrote that he had previously questioned the figure of around 73,000 deaths in Gaza mentioned by Hamas based on sources and facts. After accounting for the people who had died of natural causes, he arrived at about 50,000 dead, including an estimated 25,000 to at most 30,000 civilians. This corresponds to a ratio of one killed terrorist to one civilian; in urban wars, according to his portrayal, ratios of 1:7 to 1:19 are common. He concluded that Israel protects civilians and only targets the terror group. Huch also stated that he labeled the claim that the majority of those killed by Israel were women and children as an anti-Semitic lie. Now, according to his assessment, Hamas's numbers confirm his earlier statements: the actual death toll is around 53,000, with the majority being men of military age, there are virtually no starvation deaths, and the ratio of terrorists to civilians is 1:1. According to Huch, these are not Israeli figures, but figures from the Hamas Ministry of Health with a detailed breakdown of the causes of death and descriptions of the victims. #Gaza #Israel #Hamas (translated)

The representation of East Germans in leadership positions remains low, and sociologist Michael Hartmann calls for quotas to improve the unequal distribution, while the East Commissioner of the federal government demands more East Germans in elite positions. #Ostdeutschland #Führungspositionen #Gleichstellung (translated)

The Italian government under Giorgia Meloni tightens school policy by decree, introducing a ban on burqas and limiting the quota of foreign children to 30 percent per class, while critics dismiss the measures as campaign tactics and symbolic politics. #Italien #Meloni #Schulpolitik (translated)

Jonathan Krispijn wrote that he announced his departure from Ongehoord Nederland a year earlier and started Krispijnpunt for himself. He said that a fellow fighter and Robert Jensen encouraged him to take that step. According to Krispijn, his own channel gave him more space to delve into subjects. He mentioned documentaries about the events of October 7, Geert Wilders' relationship with the VVD, and his ties to Israel. He also said he investigated why Wilders voted against independent research into sadistic ritual abuse. Krispijn wrote that GeenStijl and Nieuwrechts openly criticized him after publications from Krispijnpunt. In November 2025, according to Krispijn, the weekly National Agenda show started, in which he discussed the media, particularly De Telegraaf. He said he confronted editor-in-chief Kamran Ullah about a Nazi cartoon concerning Lidewij de Vos and explained who the newspaper's shareholders were. He also mentioned a documentary about the influence of politics on the media, and reports on demonstrations in the Netherlands, a trip to Ceuta, and an interview with Jared Taylor about the white race. Krispijn wrote that Krispijnpunt now had almost 30,000 subscribers, about 1,300 regular donors, and a total of 3,000,000 YouTube views. He thanked his supporters and asked readers to contribute either once or monthly. According to him, the channel aimed to grow to 60,000 subscribers and 3,000 regular donors in the coming year. He also reported that the website was expanded with articles from editor Fabio Bellarmino. #journalistiek #onafhankelijkheid #Krispijnpunt (translated)

"With Prime Minister Andrej Babis – he said in recent days – we worked on a package of common proposals" In a divided Europe on the European system of trading CO2 emission quotas (ETS), Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni – after unsuccessfully trying to suspend it – announced the Rome-Prague axis, translated into a document already received by the EU Commission. #Ets #Emissioni #Industria (translated)

Italy and the Czech Republic are calling for greater flexibility in the allocation of free CO2 emission allowances and a postponement of ETS 2 for road transport and buildings, while tensions among EU member countries will persist due to differing positions on the Emissions Trading System. #Ets #Emissioni #Industria (translated)

"Enough with drag queen shows, diversity quotas, and gender pronouns. Only the ethics of the warrior." Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, speaking in Quantico, Virginia, claimed the line with which the Pentagon has dismantled programs and initiatives related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and gender identity. #Esercito #Diversità #EticaGuerriero (translated)

A young man runs to the police. "Mr. Officer, I know something, I know something. I can even prove it. Here, take my phone. Everything is stored here." It turns out he can't prove anything, but half a dozen of his friends (and female friends) and he now have problems with youth pornography, animal pornography, and depictions of violence. I can assure you, out of 100 youths, at least 80 have a criminal problem as soon as a public prosecutor takes a closer look at the content. The rate for all others, up to boomers, is probably only slightly better. Source: More than 50% from WhatsApp groups. As soon as the public prosecutor's office continues the investigation, the whole school will have investigative procedures hanging over them, along with the entire soccer club and the volunteer fire department... Whoever voluntarily hands over their phone to the state has, in the truest sense of the word, lost control over their life. The only downside is that all their contacts are also implicated in the process. #Jugendkriminalität #Datenschutz #Recht (translated)