Renzi takes ALS ice bucket challenge

(ANSA) - Rome, August 22 - Italian Premier Matteo Renzi on Friday took the so-called Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS research in the wake of celebrities like Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Lady Gaga and Laura Pausini.
    Renzi thanked Italian entertainers Tiziano Ferro, Fiorello, and Lorenzo Jovanotti for nominating him to join the campaign to find a cure for ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.
    The Italian premier then nominated those he wants to pick up the gauntlet, or the bucket, in his wake.
    These are retired football star Roberto Baggio because he helped raise funds for fellow player Stefano Borgonovo, who died of ALS in 2013.
    The premier also nominated is school friend Paolo Livoli, a doctor who works with ALS sufferers, and the editors-in-chief of every news outlet in Italy.
    "I would like all the editors-in-chief of every magazine, newspaper and TV news outfit to get a bucket of iced water on the head as well, because it would mean ALS would get coverage even when people are not making gestures such as this one," said Renzi.
    He then picked up the bucket of iced water and poured it over his head.