Emma Bonino, Italian rights campaigner, dies at 78

Emma Bonino, the Italian politician and longtime human-rights campaigner, has died at 78, her party Più Europa announced. She rose to prominence in the 1970s after publicly challenging Italy’s abortion ban, helping drive its legalization in 1978, and later championed divorce, gender equality, due process, anti-death-penalty efforts and other civil-rights causes. Bonino held seats in Italy’s Parliament and the European Parliament, served as an EU commissioner and Italy’s foreign minister and minister for European affairs, and remained active in politics into her 70s. Admired across much of Italy’s political spectrum despite ideological differences, she was praised after her death by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and other officials. Bonino also battled lung cancer and continued public advocacy while undergoing treatment.