Urda, death toll rises to 69. Lagarde to leave early

The death toll from the Urda rail disaster in Spain has risen to at least 69, with over one hundred injured and fifty people still hospitalized. Pedro Sánchez’s government has declared three days of national mourning, while the fate of four Italian or Italian-origin citizens reported missing by the Foreign Ministry remains to be confirmed. The first technical report from the Spanish transport investigation agency is beginning to outline the dynamics of the collision between the Renfe train and the one operated by Iryo. This is the story leading this edition, and one the newspaper will continue to follow.

On the domestic front, the general strike called by Usb had its most visible moments in Genoa, where tires were burned at the Albertazzi port checkpoint, and in Turin, where some farmers dumped manure in front of the City Hall. Two different forms of protest, the same day of mobilization against the cost of living, low wages and rearmament.

On the economic front, two updates should be read together. Christine Lagarde will step down as ECB president on 7 February 2027, nearly nine months ahead of her mandate’s natural expiry: a transition that fits into an already busy schedule of changes at the top in Frankfurt, with the departures of Schnabel and Lane expected in the following months. In Italy, meanwhile, Istat confirms that GDP was flat in the third quarter, with year-on-year growth slowing to 0.8%: on the same day, Piazza Affari closed as Europe’s worst-performing stock exchange.

On the international front, a humanitarian truce brokered by the United States allowed aid to reach Oleshky, in Ukraine’s Kherson region, and civilians to leave an area on the front line: a specific opening, not a broader agreement.

Finally, two stories that broaden the view beyond the day’s news: a World Health Organization survey places Italy among the European countries with the highest levels of depressive symptoms among healthcare professionals, with nurses more exposed than doctors; and in Pompeii the recovery of a cabinet sealed by the 79 A.D. eruption yields everyday objects — cosmetics, coins, a child’s necklace — from a household interrupted.

For the rest, the 6:30 edition stands: Cinema & Entertainment, News, Culture, World Affairs and Geopolitics, Europe, Italy, Health, Sport and Tech & AI remain as published this morning, not repeated here. Those looking for updates on the Euclid telescope will find none: no development sufficient to warrant a new piece, the Tech section remains covered by this morning’s article. The next edition tomorrow at 6:30.