Italian navy says more than 200 migrants saved after boat sank in waters between Libyan coast and Italian island of Lampedusa At least 14 people have died after a boat sank in the Mediterranean between Libya and Italy in the latest disaster to hit the relentlessly busy migration route, the Italian navy said. Two commercial ships are reported to have been first at the scene of the shipwreck on Monday,...
Rupert Murdoch is eager to unite his European pay-TV businesses and turn BSkyB into a £22bn television giant. It would, says the Sunday Times, give the broadcaster "enhanced clout in the battle for football rights." But a Sunday Telegraph report claims that Ofcom "is poised to obstruct" any such deal "based on media plurality concerns." Continue reading... ...
From Boy George to Naomi Campbell, public humiliation has led the way in celebrity punishment as Italy's ex-prime minister has found "Being a copper I like to see the law win," says Captain Gregory in Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep . "I'd like to see the flashy well-dressed mugs like Eddie Mars spoiling their manicures in the rock quarry at Folsom, alongside of the poor little slum-bred...
Works by Caravaggio, Titian and Rubens at risk to Roman traffic after air conditioning packs up at cash-strapped gallery Concerns have been raised about the preservation of one of the world's finest art collections after it emerged that a cash-strapped museum in Rome had resorted to opening its windows to reduce humidity. Home to masterpieces by Caravaggio, Titian, Raphael and Rubens, Rome's Borghese...
Plight of honeybee to be theme of British enclosure at World Fair in Milan He is usually associated in the public mind with beautifully tailored, if somewhat expensive, suits, but Sir Paul Smith, fashion designer to the stars, is expected to be announced as a winner of a competition to design the UK pavilion at the 2015 World Fair in Milan. Smith is one of a team, led by artist Wolfgang Buttress, which...
Former PM who was convicted of tax fraud arrives in limousine and will get gradual introduction to one-day-a-week role Silvio Berlusconi stepped out of a shiny black limousine on Friday morning to begin serving his sentence for tax fraud at a hospice for Alzheimer's patients outside Milan. Scores of reporters were kept at a distance from the entrance to the hospice. Italy's former prime minister gave...
Euro-MPs from across the continent and political spectrum describe their weekly routine At the beginning I found it unbelievably difficult to get things moving in the European parliament, and to get people's attention. No one listens to you automatically. Continue reading... ...
UN committee against torture told that 848 priests have been defrocked and 2,572 given lesser sanctions in past decade The Vatican has released comprehensive statistics for the first time on how it has disciplined priests accused of raping and molesting children, saying 848 priests have been defrocked and another 2,572 given lesser sanctions over the past decade. The Vatican's UN ambassador in Geneva,...
Micro-fractures on lower part of statue's legs likely due to 19th-century move from Florence square to Accademia Gallery Florence's museum authority has played down the risk of Michelangelo's 500-year-old David statue falling down because of fractures in its ankles. "Even if there is an earthquake of 5.0 or 5.5 on the Richter scale, Florence will stay in one piece. And David would be the last...
CCTV footage released by an Italian investigative TV programme appears to show Amanda Knox on the night of Meredith Kercher's death in November 2007. The figure in the film has a similar walk to Knox and is wearing clothes like those she was pictured in following the murder. If it is found to be her it will cast doubt on her claim that she was at the house of her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito that...
Chief mechanic of Ferrari's grand prix team who was fired after the 'Spygate' scandal Until it all went wrong, Nigel Stepney was celebrated as the chief mechanic of the Ferrari grand prix team during the era in which Michael Schumacher was breaking records with a run of five consecutive world titles in the Italian cars. But the career of Stepney, who has died aged 55, after being hit by a lorry on...
Torture committee dismisses Holy See's argument that its obligation to enforce UN treaty stops at boundaries of city state The Vatican has been given another hostile interrogation by a United Nations committee over its record on clerical sex abuse. Continue reading... ...
Archbishop Silvano Tomasi gives a defensive statement on the Vatican's response to clerical sex abuse after a delegation from the Holy See was grilled for two hours by the UN committee against torture. The delegation faced a barrage of questions about past policy decisions, the juridical distinction between the Holy See and Vatican City and information on specific cases Continue reading... ...
Vatican accuses 'ideological' NGOs of putting pressure on UN as delegates face likely questioning on sex abuse and abortion The leadership of the Roman Catholic church faces a fresh grilling by UN human rights observers on Monday as a delegation from the Holy See makes its debut appearance before the Committee Against Torture (CAT) in Geneva. Three months after the Vatican railed against the highly...
Football Ultras clash in a series of violent incidents before the Coppa Italia final in Rome between Napoli and Fiorentina. Three Napoli fans were taken to hospital with gunshot wounds, with one man, Ciro Esposito in a critical condition on Sunday. Five police, two match stewards, a firefighter and an AS Roma fan were also injured in violence that delayed the match kick-off time by 45 minutes. The...
Anger over claims that the leader of some of Italy's most notorious fans was consulted about the start of final Italian football officials and police were accused on Sunday of capitulating to hooliganism over claims they had negotiated permission to play Italy's equivalent of the FA Cup final with a leader of some of the country's most notoriously violent fans. The start of Saturday's Coppa Italia...
Roderick Bailey has written a gripping history of Britain's undercover role in fomenting anti-Fascist activity in wartime Italy In the spring of 1934, Mussolini was informed of a "Jewish plot" to overthrow the Fascist government. An Italian Jew named Sion Segre Amar had been arrested while smuggling anti-Black Shirt propaganda into Switzerland from Turin. He belonged to Italy's pro-British...
Ciro Esposito is one of three Napoli supporters treated for gunshot wounds after clashes before Coppa Italia final A 27-year-old football fan is fighting for his life in a Rome hospital following some of the worst football-related violence seen in Italy. Ciro Esposito was among three Napoli fans taken to hospital with gunshot wounds during violent clashes before Saturday night's final of the Coppa...
New report full of more distortions shows just how tangled the Italian courts have become in seven years on the hunt and why Knox deserves another chance The longer the Italian courts consider the Meredith Kercher case and we have now had three trials, six presiding judges, two hearings before the Italian high court and a third on the way the more the country's institutions of justice have covered...
Standing ovation for four officers jailed for the death of a teenager in Ferrara angers campaigners and politicians A major police union in Italy has provoked outrage after giving a five-minute standing ovation to three officers convicted of the manslaughter of an 18-year-old. The mother of Federico Aldrovandi, who died in the northern town of Ferrara in September 2005 on his way back from a night...